Malevolent. The Walking Dead

[ 014 ] waiting game

014: waiting game

Silence was deafening. It was probably the loudest thing Joey had ever heard. They all were exhausted from running and hiding, and Joey thought, perhaps, it was a never ending cycle ━ just when things seemed to be going okay, something went wrong. Maybe luck was never going to be on her side. Digging your grave made you sweat.

Carl kept tapping on his holster, while standing stagnant in the middle of the room. Joey felt herself growing more agitated, while Bob stirred in his sleep on the couch. Every so often she would listen closely to his breath to decipher whether they were groans similar to those that wandered outside. She didn't know whether Tyreese was going to have to put him down or Sasha. Either way, he was teetering on the edge and Joey was scared he might completely jump off when they were hunkering down and trying to hide from the group of people from Terminus who were advancing on them every minute.

She had continued to carve the image of a boy into the wood panels, but had to stop herself when she went to draw his hat. It would make it too obvious it was Carl and it made her skin crawl that she would even want to draw him in the first place. So she pulled a piece of the rug she had pushed away over top of the carving as they continued to wait. More taps from his hands.

The silence only seemed to get louder as the night progressed. There was a weird itch on Joey's neck, and she wasn't sure if it was her subconscious alarming her something was wrong, or her paranoia continuing to eat away at her brain. Either way, she shifted uncomfortably in her place on the ground and hugged her knees closer to her chest, and fiddled with her knife.

There was a short moment before the sound of something banging on the front door of the church interrupted the silence, and the sound of the wood door breaking open and creaking into the empty room made them all sit up straight. Joey nearly got up, but Carl tugged on her arm to keep her from moving, to avoid making any more noise. His hand held tightly onto her wrist, before letting go and cocking his gun up to face the door. Gabriel's breaths grew heavier as he held his rosary close to his mouth, knuckles nearly turning white from grasping so hard onto it, like it was a lifeline. Joey held onto her knife and positioned it close to her chest.

"Well, I guess you know we're here," a voice echoed from behind the door, and Joey could immediately tell it was Gareth. His voice sent chills down her spine as she was reminded of the sweaty, stuffy containment of the train car and the human stew that was swirling around in her stomach. "And we know you're here. And we're armed. So there's really no point in hiding anymore," he called out again, and Joey crept slightly over to the gun that Bill had left for her, and moved to stand up, turning off the safety and pointing it at the door.

The sounds of their creeping footsteps rang out in the empty church, soles on the weak pieces of wood creaking enough to make Joey's skin crawl. She wasn't sure whether she was expecting them to come or not ━ but her mind instantly went to Bill and Finn, and whether Gareth and his group of cannibals had eaten them already and were coming for second helpings. It wouldn't completely surprise her, and Joey wasn't sure why she wasn't more concerned for herself.

"We've been watching you. We know who's here," Carl looked to Joey, who tried to avoid looking back at him, but when she did, he instantly looked down at Judith, who was turning in her sleep. Joey thought the voices had woken her up.

"There's . . . Bob, unless you've put him out of his misery already. And Eugene. Rosita. Martin's good friend Tyreese. Joey. Carl . . . Judith," Joey could feel her hands shaking as she tried to keep a steady aim on the door in case anyone came through. She noticed how she was the closest one to the door. Her heart stammered in her chest even more. "Rick and the rest walked out . . . with a lot of your guns. Listen, we don't know where you all are, but this isn't a big place. So let's just stop this now, before things get more painful than they need to be," he spoke, and Joey tried to tighten her grip on her gun. Gabriel's shaking and panting, paired with her eyes constantly moving to Judith was not any help in calming her down.