Out of the Woods (the Walking Dead) PART 3

Chapter 3

Out of the Woods (The Walking Dead)

Four Walls and a Roof:

There was a point in the night when Suzy could no longer take her eyes off that front door. She couldn't ignore the feeling in her gut something was very wrong. Daryl wasn't back yet. Why? There had to be a reason. What if he was hurt or captured by someone and she didn't do a thing about it? She didn't think she could stop watching the door until he returned in one piece. What's the point? Her inner self-thought, not like he wants you to care.

"Hey," Rosita approached from the side and gently grabbed her arm to pull her along, "It's getting late. We should try getting some rest before we leave tomorrow."

Suzy didn't reply. She stood firmly in the middle of the aisle as she stared intensely at the front doors of the church. If Rosita didn't know any better, she would've thought Suzy was waiting for something else to come in, something really bad.

"Suzy, come on-" Rosita insisted, "Suzy-"

"No-" Suzy raised her voice in reply, "Not while he's still out there."

"You think something happened to him?" Rosita asked, "Suzy, he'll be back."

"We don't know that," Suzy said. Just then, Sasha approached the two of them. She seemed worried as well now. Suzy oddly found it comforting since it helped her feel less crazy. She couldn't be the only one paranoid.

"Any of you seen Bob?" Sasha asked.

"No," Rosita replied.

"Tyreese said he thought he saw him wander out there," Sasha said, "He hasn't come back. I'm gonna go out to look around for him."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rosita asked. Sasha didn't wait for her to even finish the question before rushing out the door. Suzy debated going with her even though she knew Rosita would object. She was out there already anyway and didn't see anything. Well, she thought she did for a split second until it disappeared. She heard it too. Maybe it was Bob. Maybe it wasn't...

"I'm telling Rick," Suzy said before turning to walk down the center aisle of the pews and go straight to Rick who was still busy sitting next to Father Gabriel, both of them drinking the Communion wine.

"Rick?" said Suzy, "Daryl and Carol are gone."

Rick looked up at her confused as did Gabriel. Rick immediately stood and got close to her face so they could speak more quietly to each other since Gabriel was still sitting there in earshot.

"Are you sure?" Rick asked.

"Positive," Suzy replied, "I was following Daryl out, but he told me not to follow him. I don't know where they went and now Sasha can't find Bob."

"Where is Sasha now?"

"Out there looking for Bob," Suzy shrugged, "I don't know how smart that is though. It's too dark out and I swear to god I thought I heard something else out there."

"Heard something?" Rick asked, "Like what?"

"Like someone was lurking through the trees not that far out. Close enough to watch us at least."

Rick patted her shoulder before telling her to stay there to watch Gabriel. He readied his gun and alerted everyone of the situation. He had everyone gather up and take a seat so he could double-check who was there and who wasn't. He chose Tyreese to be the one to come out with him to make sure Sasha was safe. Gabriel stood and put both his hands to his chest to try to ease his anxiety.

"I'm sure they're fine if that's what you're worried about," Suzy heard Gabriel say. Suzy slowly turned around and gave him a judgmental glare. Did he really think false hope was going to be comforting right now? She didn't have to use her words to warn him to keep his mouth shut. He should know better than to keep running his mouth at a time like this because if it meant keeping everyone else safe, he was going to be the first to go. For all they knew, he was responsible for the situation at hand right now. Was this his plan all along? Pick off their group one by one until there were none of them left? As she looked at that blank clueless face he had, she knew that was stupid. There was no way he was that competent to make a plan that complex. What good would it do for him? It was like she already thought, he would be the first to go and he should know that more than anyone else in that church. What could he possibly gain from this? At the same time, she remembered what she and Carl found out and around the building earlier that day. "You'll burn for this", the knife marks on the windows. He could pretend all he wanted, she knew he was hiding something. She just hoped it wasn't something that would cost anyone here their lives.