ch.35

self help

"well look who it is." the man i've been dreading to see alive grinned, stopping a few pews away from me.

"and i guess the others know we're here too." gareth spoke, loud enough for the others in the office to hear.

"you don't have to do this, it's not remotely right." i uttered, shaken by his figure standing a couple feet away from me, he laughed looking me in the eye.

"don't worry, i wasn't planning on killing you. just a few of your friends, maybe more." he stated, slowly stepping closer.

"they left me alone, to go find more of our people. they're most likely not coming back, i'm the runt of the group." i panicked, praying for them to believe my lies.

he shook his head letting out a chuckle, "see i know you're lying because we've been watching you." he started, his eyes soon drifting to where the office door was.

"we know who's here. there's melanie of course and bob unless you put him out of his misery already." he grinned, watching my expression turn to disgust.

"... eugene, rosita, martins good friend tyreese, carl... judith."

when he ended his sentence my heart dropped, knowing rick left me here to keep everyone safe but i feared it was now out of my control.

"rick and the rest walked out with a lot of your guns." he stated, inching closer to me as his people spread out along the sides of the pews.

"we have a baby and a kid. don't do this." i warned him, getting angrier as he stepped closer.

"you guys should step out before we take your lovely ninja out with a bang." he yelled loudly for the other to hear, raising his eyebrows at me.

"it wasn't the plan because i like her a lot, but she's the only one not cowardly hiding. she's sacrificing herself for you, might as well not take her for granted."

i rolled my eyes, seeing he was now inches away and if i didn't take my chance, i wouldn't get another.

i swung my gun smacking him in the face with it, pushing him away. his people closed in on me, grabbing my arms, some pointing guns at my head.

gareth shook his head no to the men, holding his face, "unarm her and hold her down until we're done here."

i tried yanking my arms away from them but they wouldn't budge. my eyes watched as gareth walked over to the office shaking the door handle.

    "no!" i screamed to him, worry flooding throughout my body, "take me, kill me, but leave them alone!"

"how would your husband feel about that?what's his name again, glenn, right?"

  "just wait until the rest come back and kill all of you." i gritted through my teeth, giving him a death glare.

    his face turned dark as he moved closer, placing a hand on my cheek. i yelped, feeling his once soft touch turn hard.

"punish her a bit, she needs to know where we stand. the rest of you, let's get this door down!" he told his men causing my eyes to widen.

"don't you fucking touch her!" i heard glenns voice roar, soon silenced gunshots killed the men near the office door.

"put your guns on the floor." rick stated, who was hidden in the darkness at the back of the church.

    "rick, one word from me, they'll snap her neck and start firing into that office. so lower your gun-" gareth was cut off by a silenced gunshot hitting his hand.

the two men beside me still holding on fell to the ground. i took a step forward, only to be cut off by a groaning gareth who pulled me back beside him.

"put your guns on the floor and kneel." rick sneered, coming into view, the others slowly flooding the church.

"do what he says." gareth uttered in pain, i looked up meeting eyes with glenn who was on the other side of rick.

    he reached his hand out for me to grab, which i did, causing our bodies to collide as we held each other.

glenn stood there with his gun still raised in one hand, and the other wrapped around my body sending death glares to gareth.

the remaining people did as they were told, dropping their weapons and kneeled. soon our people surrounded gareths group.

"no point in begging, right?" gareth asked rick who was standing in front of him.

"no" rick mumbled, calmly keeping himself composed.

"still you could've killed us when you came in. there has to be a reason for that." gareth started, grinning towards my direction, "she's the runt, might as well kill her too."

glenns body tensed at his words, his breathing becoming heavier.

rick chuckled, "we didn't want to waste all the bullets, and melanie... you call her a ninja for a reason."

"we used to help people, we saved people!... things changed. they came in and— after that" he started, groaning in pain in between sentences, "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."

rick tilted his head, giving it a thought, "but you'll cross someone's path. you'd do this to anyone, right? besides, i already made you a promise."

with that rick pulled the hatchet from his belt loop, swinging it down onto gareths head.

i covered my mouth seeing the blood splatter everywhere, glenn shielded my eyes away from the others who were taking out the rest of gareths men.

once it was over, i removed my face from glenns shoulder when the room went silent. his eyes fixed on the body rick had just slaughtered.

"this is the lords house." gabriel muttered, in disbelief of what he was seeing, causing me and glenn to look up at him.

"no, it's just four walls and a roof." i uttered, pulling glenns hand to walk with me back into the office where everyone gathered at, saying their last words to bob.

he smiled as we walked in seeing both me and glenn, he patted a place for me to sit by his body.

i released glenns hand before taking a seat, everyone around us watching.

"damn you're a strong women." he chuckled, causing me to smile as i looked down at him.

"you're a strong man." i stated, earning a head nod, "you could say that, i'm not gonna tell you otherwise."

his smile faded looking between glenn and me, "you guys deserve happiness, you all do." he started, referring to everyone in the room, "don't let this world hold you back from it."

i nodded my head as tears began to brim my eyes, bob squeezed my hand reassuring me. soon i felt glenns hands on my shoulders, telling me my time was up.

i stood up giving him one last smile before turning around with glenn, exiting the room._____________

    "this is our route to dc. we'll stick to it as long as we're able. if not, well, you got our destination. once eugene gets to the big brains left up there, things are gonna bounce back."

    abraham informed rick, who's body didn't move a muscle as he talked, like he couldn't believe we were leaving.

     i held baby judith as they talked, saying one of my last goodbyes.

    "let's go!" abraham yelled for us to get going, causing me to plant a kiss on her head before handing her to carl.

   "you be good for your dad." i stated, earning a smile, "maybe when we meet again you'll have one of your own in there" carl mentioned, pointing at my stomach.

    i shook my head, turning to where rick was, staring at me.

"don't do that." i mumbled, tilting my head as i stepped closer to him.

   "do what? i'm admiring my last moments with you."

    his words caused me to chuckle, "i bet you are.... don't worry i'll fight to make sure they aren't our last."

   "are you sure you wanna leave right now? what about davina and beth? what are they gonna say when you aren't here?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips, hoping i would change my mind.

   "i already promised, just tell them i'm on holiday. they'll be fine without me, they can survive." i joked, trying to not talk myself out of going to dc.

   "okay" he uttered, nodding his head before looking away from my blue eyes.

    "we will meet again, that's a promise." i assured, giving him one last hug before boarding the bus.

   i took a seat next to glenn, moving to look out the window. my eyes scanned over the rest of the group one last time, a sad frown forming on my face.

    rick gave us one last nod as he fiddled with his hands. i finally pulled my eyes away from the group, turning to look at glenn.

    i forced a smile, trying to assure him that i'd be okay.

    "we're together, that's all that matters." he whispered, grabbing my hand in his as he looked at me.

   i nodded, placing my head on his shoulder, "that's all that matters."___________

my eyes never left the window as i watched the world outside the bus pass.

glenn would occasionally squeeze my hand that was interlocked with his, but we didn't talk much.

   "how long will it be?" i questioned, finally breaking the silence as i turned around in my seat to see eugene, "after you get on that terminal and do what you have to do?"

    "depends on the number of factors including density of the infected around target sights worldwide" eugene replied, causing glenn to spin around in the seat and face him too.

   "wait, target sites? are you talking about missiles?" he asked eugene, who gave him a weird look, "that's classified."

    "i thought we were over that?" glenn argued, earning a nod from me in agreement.

"what if we all live?" eugene asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

    "the secrets will matter then?" i questioned, soon regretting starting this whole conversation when eugene started a talking spree, stating scientific facts that confused us all.

   after he finished we all paused looking at him, "why the hair?" glenn asked, making me to let out a chuckle, trying to hold in my laughter.

   "because i like it." eugene answered causing me to smile, while patting glenn on the shoulder.

"...and no one is taking scissor or clippers to it anytime soon. do you hear me, miss espinoza?"

we all laughed and smiled towards each other, embracing the moments of happiness we did have.

   "yes, loud and clear." she responded, while my eyes shifted back to the front view window while the rest continued to talk.

    abrahams eyes flickered to mine when he realized i was also seeing what he was.

a small herd of walkers, i would say a dozen, grouped together along the road. we both watched as we passed them, us both taking our eyes off of what was ahead.

the next thing i knew, we were swerving on the road, dodging unknown objects. i didn't have a chance to look and make sure everyone was okay because before i knew it the bus was flipping in the air.

a shriek left my mouth, feeling an impact on both sides of my body. i opened my eyes realizing glenn was now on top of me.

    glenn quickly stood up after crushing me, lending me a hand to help me up.

i shook my head, "i need a minute, i'm gonna pass out if i stand up."

   "the engines on fire. we gotta get out of here" rosita stated while glenn kept his eyes on me, watching me worriedly.

i tried sitting up, not realizing the broken glass below me, i placed my hands down for support only to let out a groan in pain.

    i stood up by glenn placing my hands out in front of me, seeing the red blood spill from my cuts. glenn looked down seeing the blood, causing him to panick.

"all right you and i go first, knock em back, clear the way for melanie and rosita to get out, then we all start hitting them." glenn commanded, earning a nod from abraham in agreement, following him.

   "tara?" abraham questioned as he followed glenn. "yeah?" she replied, looking to him as she stood next to eugene.

   "you cover eugene, come out when it's clear." he instructed her, earning a nod, "okay."

  i looked down at my hands, pulling out as many glass pieces as i could before grabbing my knife from my belt loop, mentally preparing myself for the pain.

   rosita went ahead of me, watching abraham kick the door down, soon jumping out. she quickly jumped into action, me following in her footsteps.

   i raised my knife to the walkers head, smashing it into its skull, soon moving onto the next one until there were none.

    i knelt down, blowing on my hand hoping that would ease the pain. "check eugene, see if he's hurt" abraham instructed, pointing in eugenes direction .

    "i'm fine. just cuts and dings is all" he assured, looking at all of us with no emotion.

"check him!" abraham repeated, only this time in a more stern voice causing me to look up at him in annoyance.

   "is that your blood?" tara questioned me, kneeling down by my side as a huge puddle of blood began to form on the ground.

   "yeah, it's fine. first aid kit's in the bus, ill see what we have." i mumbled, realizing both me and abraham were both bleeding a lot.

   i stood up, turning back to the bus only to see it soon igniting in flames. glenn pulled me away from the burning bus as he held my hand steady checking out the cuts.

   "we'll find another vehicle down the road. the mission hasn't changed" abraham stated, turning everyone's attention to him.

   "we smashed a hard stop. we spent a lot of time rolling things out of the road. the church is just 15 miles back that way-" eugene suggested, pointing in the direction of the church, only to be cut off by abraham.

"no, we don't stop. we don't go back. the road fights back the plan gets jacked, you all know that."

    i back up from where him and eugene were having a yelling frenzy, letting glenn step in to try and calm abraham down.

"hey, hey, hey. you okay?" he questioned abraham, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him from moving.

   "i am fit as a damn fiddle." he answered, looking to glenn.

"we are going with you. you are calling this thing. i just need to know you're good." glenn stated, trying to assure abraham.

   "i am stressed and depressed to see that ride die, but if you say we're rolling on. i'm good" he responded, causing a slight smile to form on my face as i wrapped my hand with a torn rag.

   glenn nodded, glancing between the two of us, "we're rolling on."

"maybe we can find some bikes" tara started, while i watched abraham nod, "bikes don't burn."

glenn soon ushered me and tara to walk with him as abraham led the way. i gave tara a smile before moving to his side.

________________________________3/8/2021