Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Eloise didn't know how long she and the group had been walking with the herd but she grew bored quickly. With nothing else to do, she looked for any walkers who weren't too mangled and tried to think about what they looked like before they died. She did that with as many walkers as she could until Rick pulled them behind a bush to talk.
"All right, new plan. Flares from a few guns aren't enough. Too many walkers, too spread out. We're. not going to the armory. We need our vehicles back at the quarry. All of us drive. We'll need to round 'em up. We leave, we come back." Rick said and Jessie instantly nodded before her face dropped.
"But Judith... to the quarry and back-"
Eloise looked down at the baby in her arms who was surprisingly quiet the whole time.
"I'll take her." Gabriel announced, making everyone turn to him. "I can keep her safe in my church until you all lead the walkers away." Eloise looked back and forth between Gabriel and the top of Judith's head that she could see through her neck whole. It was obvious to say everyone was a little skeptical about his plan.
"Can you do this?" Michonne asked, making Eloise cut her gazed from the baby and back up to Gabriel. He gave Michonne a chilling smile. "I'm supposed to. I have to. I will." Rick turned to Eloise and nodded his head, agreeing to Gabriel's plan. Eloise walked over to Gabriel, gently taking the baby out of her poncho and into his. She watched as Gabriel, 'shh'ed into Judith's ear to calm her down, calming Eloise down as well. "Please take care of her." Eloise whispered and Gabriel gave the girl a smile. "I promise I will."
"Take Sam." Jessie abruptly spoke, making her youngest son panic. "No. I'm not leaving you." "Sa-" "Mom, I'm not. I can keep going. Please." Sam stared at her son for a few seconds before nodding. "Okay."
Gabriel gave the group one last smile before walking away and towards the church. They all watched as he walked away before they started walking again; Rick still leading then Sam, Jessie, Eloise, Carl, Ron and Michonne.
...
Eloise knew they were walking for a long time considering it was dark out now. She couldn't see any faces of the walkers so she was bored again, just watched as her boots sloshed in the mud with every step until she accidentally rammed into Jessie's back. Eloise shot her head up to see why she stopped and then she saw the scene before her eyes.
Sam had let go of Rick's hand and started crying, Jessie stopped to try and calm him down. "Sam? Sam? Come on, come on. Sweetheart? Sam?" Jessie whispered and soon everyone else was joining in, trying to calm down the boy but he only got worse.
And his cries grew louder.
In an instant, two walkers came up, grabbing onto his face and shoulder, biting into him. He was down within seconds. But that wasn't the worst of it.
Jessie started hysterically screaming out to Sam, blowing their cover. As much as Eloise felt bad for the woman, she didn't want her sobbing to get them all killed. Jessie wailed as Eloise tried to shake her arm out of the woman's grasp so she could get at least a few feet away from her but Jessie wouldn't let go. She used Lou's hand as her only way of support.
