The Room Where it Happens

That same old feeling was back, one that is so hard to describe. It was like we had lost again and we didn't even know we were in the game. All the hope, getting knocked out of your body by just a couple of words. Hope for a plan, hope for a real future, hope for a life. It was just gone. And I knew that hope was a dangerous thing to have these days, but damn was I hopeful.

Eugene laid unconscious on the floor. That was Abraham's doing. As soon as Eugene revealed his secret, the secret that broke any hope that we still held onto, Abraham's emotions came crashing down. All his anger balling up into his fists and knocking Eugene out cold. He admitted that he was a coward and in no way could survive in this world on his own, but his one strong suit was lying. So he told a lie. A lie so big that Abraham and anyone else who believed him dedicated their whole life to fulfilling.

"I know-- I know that was the last thing anyone was expecting to hear," Rick said. He took a long pause as his eyes remained focused on the floorboards. "And I know we're all thinking the same thing, but we have to think about right now, not what could have been." I looked up at him from my seat on the pew. He cleaned his knife of walker blood as he spoke. "They think they're in control. We're in here and they could be anywhere." He now referred to Gareth and his group, getting us back on track with the original plan. "But we know exactly where they are."

"Plan's got stones, I'll give you that," Abraham said, it was the first time he spoke since Eugene revealed his true colours.

"We make our move before they do," Glenn said.

"That's right," Rick nodded, "They're not counting on us thinking straight."

"Are we?" I questioned. "I mean three of our people are still out there, three of our strongest people. My brother is still out there," I pressed, not understanding why we weren't grouping together first before making such a big play.

Rick stood up straighter, eyeing me, "Remember what these people are capable of? We need to get rid of the threat before the threat gets rid of any of us," he fought.

"Don't you think that'd be easier with all of our people?" I questioned. "Rick this is Daryl we're talking about, and my brother, and Carol who if it wasn't for her we wouldn't even be here right now." I shook my head.

Rick sighed, "We don't know where they went or why--"

"So we track them then."

"In the dead of the night? We have the advantage here with Gareth, we have to take it," he explained, his lips pursing into a thin line.

"Well, count me out. I'm going after our people," I stated. Rick was about to object. I stood up, my eyes dialled in on him. "It's my brother, don't fight me on this."

"Fine."

--------

We split our group up. Rick, Michonne, Sasha, Glenn, Maggie, Tara, and Abraham went after Gareth. Carl, Tyreese, Eugene, Rosita, Gabriel, Bob and Judith remained back at the church, locking themselves inside Gabriel's office. We blew out all of the candles, making it look as if we'd abandoned the place. I, on the other hand, left separately. Rick headed due south of the graveyard, just as Gabriel instructed. I followed the tracks going north.

Rick marched off a lot faster than I did, making their way to the elementary school as fast as possible. Instead, I examined the muddied-up tracks, distinguishing between those of a walker's and a human's. I ducked under a tree branch, finally catching onto a set of steady imprints and setting off into the bush.

I understood why Rick was so eager to find Gareth, I knew he was acting for the greater good of the majority rather than the few that were missing. But the last time I acted for the greater good of the group I unknowingly lost Roy and I was not about to lose Lincoln too. I pulled out a flashlight, knowing I'd draw attention towards me if anything was lurking nearby, but having a good lead on a set of tracks was worth the risk.

I followed the two sets of footprints for a good twenty yards, checking the leaves for any blood droplets or tree branches that had been snapped in the pathway. I held my gun close to my chest with my left arm, while my right hand held the flashlight to guide my way. It wasn't until the leaves that coated the forest floor started crunching that I clicked the light off. My heart rate picked up, my ears on high alert for another noise. The sound of a branch swishing back and forth caused me to raise my gun into view, peering through the night vision scope. I scanned the area to my right, the forest lit up in neon green. There was nothing out of the ordinary. I stepped to my left, turning my body slowly when the sound of a twig snapping from behind me caused my whole body to jerk. I swung the barrel of the gun around, the image of a man's face just feet away from the scope.

"Would you watch where yer pointin' that thing," the masculine hum of Daryl's voice rang in my ears as his hand latched onto the barrel of my gun, pushing it away from his face.

My arms dropped the gun around my neck and hung to my side. "You asshole! You scared me nearly half to death," I whispered harshly, pushing on his chest.

He smirked at my actions, rubbing the spot on his collar bone that my hand had hit, "Tell me how you really feel, Red--"

I grabbed both his cheeks and placed his lips on mine. He fell into me, unexpectedly. Unlike last time, in the view of our whole group, he wrapped his arms around my back, holding onto me to steady us from falling. I exhaled into him, happy to have him back.

"Where's Lincoln and Carol?" I asked abruptly, the thought jumping back into my brain and causing me to finally draw away from him.

He looked at a loss for words for a moment, trying to recollect himself, "Lincoln and I tracked her down and when we found her some kid showed up. Lincoln went after him and we followed until I got cut off from them when a herd blew through," he explained, "Tried to find them, but the herd messed up all the tracks so I came back to warn y'all. Why you out here by yerself?" His brows furrowed, worryingly.

"It's Gareth. His group has been watching us, they're after us," I confessed, letting him know that his hunch was right. "Rick took a group of us after them, but I went looking for you guys--" I stopped hearing an odd noise echo through the trees. It sounded like wood creaking, but it was different from that of an old tree swaying in the wind. "Did you hear that?" I asked. My head turned towards the direction of the church.

"Hear what?"

Just then the loud sound of a metal object splitting wood carried through the trees, before a door banging open hit my ears. My feet took off in a sprint before my brain could even process what I was doing. I smacked my face against low-hanging branches and pushed myself through bushes in a fight to get back to the chapel. Daryl was hot on my heels, but I was much faster. All this time we thought we had the one up, but they never stopped watching us from the moment they left Bob on our doorstep. They waited for their move. They wait for Rick to leave.

I finally stepped into the clearing of the graveyard, slowing my steps as I approached around the side. Daryl was still too far behind me. I raised my gun up in front of my chest as I turned around the corner, my eyes locked on the front steps. No one stood to watch outside, but sure enough, the door was split and pried open. My heart slammed against my ribcage, the dead of the night not giving me a view of anyone inside yet. I'd have to go in. I walked slowly, strategically placing my feet on the ground so I wouldn't be detected. My foot hit the first step and I could hear their voices carrying from inside.

"Rick and the rest walked out with a lot of your guns," Gareth called out. My foot hit the second step. "It's your last chance right now to tell us you're coming out." I was on the third step now. I could see Gareth and one of his men in the middle of the aisle. I could hear Daryl coming around the side.

"Are we done now?" Gareth's hooded sidekick asked, wanting to break down the door already. I entered the doorway, my presence shadowed by the darkness looming from behind me. I raised my gun to my eye line upon seeing the two men stationed on either side of Gabriel's office.

"We'll hit the hinges," Gareth ordered.

I took a deep breath in, my line of sight locked in on the man whose hand hovered over the doorknob. My finger hit the trigger only milliseconds apart, two bullets whizzing past Gareth and killing both men by the door. Their bodies dropped and revealed the blood splatter that coated the walls behind them. They all turned in unison, a gasp escaping their lips as they tried to identify me.

"Put your guns on the floor," I ordered my tone disgusted but eerily calm. I could hear Daryl's footsteps stomp up the porch, taking cover behind me.

I stepped into the moonlight cascading through the side windows. Gareth pointed at the door upon seeing me, "Red, we'll fire right into that office. So you lower your gun--"

I cut him off, sending a bullet straight through the palm of Gareth's hand. "My name is Scar," I spat. Gareth shouted out in agony as his gun dropped to the floor and he knelt down, gripping onto his mangled hand. "Put your guns on the floor and kneel," I repeated, now pointing my weapon at the hooded man standing tall beside Gareth.

"Do what she says," Gareth whimpered out in pain, sucking in shallow breaths trying to keep it together. People began to lower their weapons, placing them on the floor along with themselves. The hooded man continued to stare me down, his ego so large that he refused to kneel. "Martin, there's no choice here."

"Yeah, there is," Martin said, looking at the four of them compared to the two of us.

"Wanna bet?" Rick's deep voice boomed from behind me. The rest of our group filtered in behind us. Rick walked up the aisle alongside me as Michonne and Abraham went up along each side of the pews. Martin finally knelt, slamming his gun down on the floorboards in defeat.

Rick walked past me, eyeing Gareth as he stood over him, his gun remaining still on his forehead. Gareth sat up as best he could to look at Rick.

"No point in begging, right?" Gareth tried to make light of it, seeing where Rick stood.

Rick's face remained still, angered. I don't think he even blinked as he studied Gareth's face. "No."

"Still, you could have killed us when you came in. There had to be a reason for that." Gareth was drawing at straws. Rick cocked his head to the side.

"We didn't want to waste any more bullets," I answered him. Gareth's eyes flashed towards me, before back to Rick.

"We used to help people. We saved people." he tried to explain. His breath was staggered, petrified of the man that stood before him. "Things changed. They came in and--" Gareth choked on the words unable to even say them, "After that…" he paused, "I know that you've been out there, but I can see it. You don't know what it is to be hungry." Rick let out an amusing exhale at Gareth's defence. "You don't have to do this. We can walk away. And we will never cross paths again. I promise you." Gareth pleaded.

"But you'll cross someone's path," Rick answered. He raised his gun higher, clicking off the safety before deciding against it and dropping his gun back to his side. "You'd do this to anyone, right?" He said, his hand now gripping onto the handle of his machete. "Besides, I already made you a promise."

There was a pause, the whole room was silent, waiting for the next move. Then, the sound of the blade of the machete sliding against the sheath it was drawn from caused all of us to instinctively react. Rick's arm came down, the blade lodging into the centre of Gareth's skull. Sasha then lunged forward, gripping her hands onto Martin's hoodie as she threw him up against the banister before sliding her knife into his chest. All the anger coursed out of her with each stab for what they did to Bob. Abraham used the back of his gun to beat another man to death, crushing his skull under the base of it. Michonne did the same, knocking out the only woman in the group and bashing her head in with her weapon.

The sound of it was daunting. Rick would not let up, hacking down on Gareth's body well after he was already dead. His hair hung low over his forehead, beads of sweat and blood dripping from the strands as it sprayed up at him. He wailed down one more time before finally stopping, exhaling a deep breath.

My eyes looked to my right as Michonne retrieved her Katana sword from the woman she had just killed. She stared down at the weapon like everything had come full circle. Maybe you could say it had. That everything that went down tonight was always meant to happen.

"It could have been us," Rick said, looking around at the massacre that just unfolded. He tried to justify our actions, but we all already knew that statement to be true. We never sought out people to kill them. We sought out safety. And when people threaten our safety we react.