𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐱. carl grimes

THIRTY: pile of shit you call a brain

My eyes flutter open as I feel someone nudge my shoulder, shaking me awake. When I finally adjust to the light in the room I look up to see Carl, looking down at me. Startled, I lift my head from his lap quickly, hitting him on the nose with my head.

"Finn!" He exclaims, gripping his nose.

"Shit!" I whisper as I reposition myself on the pew. I scot close to Carl and take his face in my hands to examine his nose but he pulls away. "What?" I ask softly, worried he was mad at me but instead of answering he nods his head in the direction of Sasha yelling at Gabriel. I couldn't hear what she was saying so I get up and shimmy past Carl to get a better view. I slowly make my way the front of the group and watch the scene unfold.

"Where are our people?" Sasha spits harshly at Gabriel, taking a step closer to him. I also take a step closer to Sasha, wondering if I heard her correctly. Did she really just say people were missing?

Gabriel stumbles back as Sasha gets closer and puts his hands up, "I-I don't know"

Sasha interrupts his pleads by now screaming, "Where are our people?" as she pulls out the knife from the holster on he waist. At this Gabriel stumbles back even farther and the rest of the group lets out cries telling Sasha to stop. I even try lunging after Sasha but I get held back by Tyreese.

Instead, Sasha slowly lowers the knife after listening to our cries and desperately yells at Gabriel one more time, "Where are our people?" After this she allows Rick to push her back, letting him step forward and take charge.

"Why'd you bring us here?" Rick asks, calmly as he walks closer and closer to Gabriel.

Gabriel continues to distance himself from our leader waving his hands in the air, "Please I-"

"Are you working with someone?" Rick asks.

"I'm alone! I'm alone!" Gabriel pleads, "I've always been alone"

Rick shakes his head slightly, "What about that women in the food bank, Gabriel? What did you do to her?" Rick continues to inch towards Gabriel as he presses on, "You'll burn for this? That was for you? Why? What are you going to burn for Gabriel?" Suddenly, Rick then lunges forward, grabbing onto Gabriel's collar and forcing him into the table.

As Rick does this I feel an arm pull me back behind the rest of the crowd. I turn around to see Carl standing in front of me with his hand wrapped around my wrist. Rick continues to yell at Gabriel as I harshly ask, "What was that for?"

Carl looks me in the eyes and lifts my hands in between us. "I didn't want you to get hurt, Finn" he says softly.

I feel my cheeks heat up to about a thousand degrees and my eyes meet the floor. I start fiddling my feet to get out all the nervous energy and whisper, "Thank you Carl." I then look up from the floor and meet his eyes as I notice Rick's yelling had stopped. "I can handle myself though." I tell the boy and I rush back in front of the crowd.

Once I push my way to the front I see Gabriel huddled over, tears spilling from his eyes. "They were- They were looking for a safe place. A place they felt safe." Gabriel explained as he looked at each and every one of us with a look of pure terror. "And it was so early. It was so early. And the doors were locked. You see.." Gabriel pauses for a moment and looks at the floor before continuing, "it was my choice. There were so many of them and they were trying to pry the shudders and banging on the sidings, screaming at me. And so the dead came for them."

I feel shivers run up my spine at the thought of the dead and the possibilities of what happened once they came; the blood spilt, the lives lost, and the agony of it all.

"Women.. children... entire families calling my name as they were torn apart." Gabriel tells us, his voice cracking at the end. "Begging me for mercy. Damming me to hell" the priest says now sobbing.