Destination Life or Death

11.

It was night time and a few weeks after terminus. Sasha and I were looking for a man that we both had seen following us. We ran into a group of 4 walkers and after killing them, Rick and Tyreese came over to us. "He's getting away," Sasha said, panting for breath as we were surprised by the walkers. "Who?" Tyrese asked from behind us. "Somebody was watching us." I said looking at Sasha and then over to the tree line where we had just seen the person watching. "If we go in there now" Tyrese paused, "Some of us aren't coming back" he said looking out with us. "Carl is out there somewhere" I said looking at them and then up at the sky "Alone and scared" I said turning to look at Rick, who was covering his mouth and with a sigh, "We have to wait till morning" he paused and put his hand on my shoulder. "We'll find him" he said nodding to me and looking back at the tree line before walking away. Sasha followed him. "Come on kid," he paused. "Let's get some rest," he said, leading me over to a small camp we had set up by the church. "Carol and Daryl are missing too" Rick paused. "Hopefully Carl isn't alone" he said quickly to all of us before going and sitting by himself. Carl was all he had other than Judith and as much as he was hiding it, he was scared at what had become of his son. Sasha walked up to the new man in our group, Gabriel. "Stop," she paused "What're you doing?" she said, standing a few feet in front of him. He didn't answer. "What are you doing?" Sasha's voice was stern, angry. "This is all connected" she paused again. "You show up, we're being watched and now three of us are gone." She was angry but also sad and she was showing it. "I don't-" he paused looking over all of us. Michonne, Rick, Sasha, Tyrese, Eugene, Maggie, Tara, Abraham, Rosita, Glenn and I. "I don't have anything to do with this!" He said, obviously a bit frightened. Sasha pulled out her knife as everyone jumped to her telling her no. "Put it away! '' Sasha would listen to Tyrese before anyone else. "Who's out there?" she asked Gabriel again, almost ignoring us. "I don't have anything... to do with this!!" He repeated himself. I stepped up to Sasha putting my hand on her arm. "I don't think he knows anything, Sasha." I said looking at her and then back at him. She ignored me and pushed closer to him, "Where are our people?!" she yelled, loud this time. Making him repeat himself once more. Rick stepped between them and looked at Gabriel. "Why'd you bring us here?" he asked not to move his eyes from the priest. "Are you working with someone?" He asked another question as the man didn't answer the last. I looked at Rick then back at the man waiting for an answer. "I'm alone. I'm alone." I looked at him and pulled Maggie back to talk in private. "You really think HE knows what he's doing?" I asked, looking at him, then her. "I mean," I paused and looked around the church we had camped in. "Look at this place, we are literally accusing a priest that supposedly never killed anything, of having a secret team that stalks us?" I asked , laughing a bit and then rolling my eyes. Maggie nodded and looked at the group. "Guys, stop," I said quickly before stepping between the man and Rick. "When Carl found me, I was alone" I paused knowing I've never told them much about my past before them. "I was surrounded by walkers but that wasn't the first time we met." I sat down on the front pew while everyone stared at me "The first time I met Carl and saw you, it was a few months after everything ended-" Rick interrupted and shook his head. "It had been at least 4 months when you came." I nodded and closed my eyes, "I was hiding in one of the cars on the road you had gone through. When you told people to get into cars and wait for the hoard to pass. Carl got into the car I was hiding in." I paused before looking at the confused and honestly disappointed look Rick had on his face. "I asked him not to tell you, and he left, without saying a word." I finished before standing up "What's the point of this Dez?" Rick asked, putting his hand on his head and then looking at me again. "I was alone from then till Carl found me, and not once did I threaten your life.'' I paused and looked around. "We need to trust Rick, we need to trust him." I said nodding and looking at Gabriel. Before Rick could talk the man began from behind me "I always lock the doors at night" he said, beginning to cry. "They started coming, My congregation." he paused, "Atlanta was bombed the night before and they were scared. They were looking for a safe place, a place where they felt safe." he said looking around the building and then to all of us. "And it was early. It was so early. And the doors were still locked" he paused and hung his head as tears came from his eyes. "You see...it was my choice. There were so many of them and they were trying to pry the shutters and banging on the siding, screaming at me. And so the dead came for them. Women, Children. Entire families calling my name as they were being torn apart" he paused and was sobbing at this point, "Begging me for mercy. Damning me to Hell. I buried their bones, I buried it all." He looked at Rick and then at me. "The lord sent you here to finally punish me." He said, sliding down to the floor, "I'm damned. I was damned before. I always locked the doors. I always locked the doors" he said, still sobbing. I looked at Rick and then Michonne confused, I hadn't seen someone this emotional since before the world ended.

As everyone fell asleep I looked to Michonne. "I'll take watch" I said nodding and then went to the window to watch as she laid down on the pew. I knew Carl needed help, and I knew that as everyone said we should wait, I didn't want to. So I planned to leave once Michonne was asleep and make a trap that would wake them up if walkers came. Carl and I had made at least 50 of these things by now, I did it quickly and tied it on the railings of the front stairs. I pulled a large black backpack I had been carrying over my shoulder and looked into the black sky before pulling my hair out of the bun I normally kept it in and started walking towards the location I last saw Carl. Once I got to the area, I looked at the ground. Daryl had taught me a little bit about tracking after we left the Terminus and needed to hunt. I looked at the ground and saw sweeps in between leaves like someone had run through here. I heard a branch snap behind me and turned quickly but saw nothing so turned back and followed in the direction of the tracks. As I walked, I saw a small amount of light coming closer and closer, lighting up the area and surface around me. As I reached a chain link fence that now had vines growing on it, I saw a shadow duck behind a tree. I turned around and pulled out my small black pistol "Who's there?" I asked , aiming at the tree. I saw the figure. Michonne walked out with her hands up and walked towards me "What the hell you think you're doing kid?" she asked, walking past me towards the light. "Well you're not stopping me '' I said, catching up to her now. She wore her katana on her back and my katana on her side. "You'll need this" she said deeply before crouching behind the chain link fence. I peeked past the vines and saw Carl passed out and sat against the wall while Gareth and some other Terminus people were eating some kind of meat they were cooking in the campfire in front of them. I looked over to Gareth as he went over to Carl and woke him up "Looks like no one's coming kid" he said with a mocking smile. "Oh just Shut up" Carl said, rolling his eyes and turning his head so he didn't face him. I rolled my eyes and crawled to an opening in the fence with Michonne behind me. Once I was in we walked up behind them. "He may be an idiot" I paused and held up my gun. "But he's our idiot," I said, winking at the boy before firing at Gareth's head. Michonne started shooting at the last few as they shot at us while I snuck my way through random crates that had been stacked around the area. I started to untie him quickly. "Thank you Dez," he said looking at me and then standing up. "Awe Carl" I said smiling "don't get all soft on me now." I smiled wider, yet tears started to fill my eyes as I fought off the last of the people. "I thought you died stupid" I said looking at him and pulling him into a hug after flicking the blood off my katana. I hugged him again and looked at Michonne who had now been looking at us. I smiled at both of them and nodded. "Rick is gonna beat my ass" I said laughing before taking a sigh of relief and throwing my right hand over Carl's shoulder and walking out of the fence.