Beauty and Her Beast (Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

55

We walked off into the woods, ready for whatever those termites had planned for us. It was all for show, of course. We knew that as soon as enough of us left the church, they'd make their move. We were right. Almost as soon as we disappeared into the woods, the termites came out of the woods on the opposite side of the road. Now it was just a waiting game. We watched quietly as they approached the church. They stopped for a moment when Gareth held up his hand, then they continued. They're walking right into our trap.

One of them pried the door open, all of them walking in. We slowly came out of the woods once we were sure they were all inside. We watched from the windows. When they got farther inside, we made our move. Rick pressed a finger to his lips, leading us slowly inside, signaling the others to spread out so we were surrounding them.

Gareth was making threats as his people moved to the doors, trying to open them. I wasn't listening to a damn word he said. My breath caught in my throat when Judith started crying, and in turn, causing Faith to cry. "I don't know. Maybe we'll keep the kids. I'm starting to like these girls.

Gareth gave them one more chance to open the door, and just before they were going to breach, Rick shot the two men in the head. "Put your guns on the floor."

Gareth pointed to the door with two fingers. "Rick, we'll fire right into that office. So you lower your gun-"

Rick fired again, shooting Gareth's fingers off and causing him to lean over in pain. We came out of the dark, our weapons aimed. "Put your guns on the floor and kneel." Rick ordered.

"Do what he says." Gareth strained, getting down on his knees. Everyone else listened when they noticed we were surrounding them, but one man didn't budge. "Martin, there's no choice here." Gareth insisted.

"Yeah, there is."

Abraham emerged from the darkness almost right next to him. "Wanna bet?" Martin reluctantly dropped his gun, getting on his knees.

I stood back with Glenn, keeping our guns raised. Gareth turned to face Rick when he walked around him. "No point in begging, right?"

Rick stared down at him. "No."

"Still, you could have killed us when you came in. There had to be a reason for that."

Rick shrugged. "We didn't want to waste the bullets."

"We used to help people. We saved people." Didn't he just say there was no point in begging? I rolled my eyes. "Things changed. They came in and-" He groaned, bowing his head for a moment. "After that... I know that you've been out there, but I can see it. You don't know what it is to be hungry. You don't have to do this. We can walk away. And we will never cross paths again. I promise you."

"But you'll cross someone's path." Rick nodded. He pointed at him with his gun. "You'd do this to anyone, right?" Rick shifted, resting his hand on the machete with a red handle. "Besides, I already made you a promise."

Rick pulled the machete out, slashing it across Gareth's face. Everyone else then started beating or stabbing whoever they had their gun aimed at. Glenn, Maggie and I stared on in shock as these people were brutally killed. I wanted to feel bad, but I didn't. God knows how many people they've killed just because they were hungry.

We all stood there when it was over, staring at their mutilated bodies. "It could have been us."

~*~

Today we were saying goodbye to Bob. One by one we held his hand, talked to him, then left the room. I smiled, sitting on the edge of the couch and grabbing his hand when Maggie got up. "I didn't know you very well, or very long. But I thought of you as a brother in this big...messed up group we call a family." We both smiled.

"Hey," his voice was raspy. "When you find Daryl...kick his ass for leaving you."

I laughed, bringing his hand up to kiss it. "Thanks, Bob, I will."

I stood up, nodding to Rick as I left the room.

~*~

Bob died only minutes later. We buried him not long after, and Gabriel was kind enough to read something from his Bible. While Sasha marked his grave, we spoke with Abraham. He pulled a map from his pocket, holding it out for Rick. "This is our route to DC. We'll stick to it as long as we're able. If not, well, you've got our destination. Once Eugene gets to the big brains left up there, things are gonna bounce back. This group should be there for it. You should be there for it."

"They will be." Maggie spoke for Rick.

"We will." Michonne nodded.

Rick looked back at us, nodding. "We will."

"Let's go."

We said goodbye to our friends, all of us hoping that we would see them again. We stood on the stairs on the church as they stared at us from inside the bus. Abraham closed the doors and just like that, they were gone. I couldn't help wondering if this would be the last time we would see them.