Daughter of a Dixon

Chapter 24

My eyes opened slowly , and I immediately saw the ceiling of the church . It was surprisingly clear.

I feel strong arms around me, and I turn over on my side. Carl lays there, his eyes closed and his face looks peaceful. Leaning forward, I press a kiss to his nose. He stirs, but he does not wake up.

"Sorry Carl. I gotta get up," I whisper to the sleeping boy. Carefully , I slip out of his grasp and get to my feet. Almost nobody is in the church , except for a sleeping Beth, Maggie, Sasha,Tara, Rosita, and Gabriel. Seeing as how I'm the only female awake, I walk outside , my axe in hand.

The morning air is comforting in my face, and I realize the church has been hot and stuffy all night . My hair is not a mess, strangely enough , and it doesn't look as dirty as I would have expected . Hmm, maybe Carl kept me clean and tidy while we slept .

A laugh escapes my throat , and I look around . Dad, Rick, Glenn, and Abraham are skinning a deer or two, while Eugene, Tyreese, and Judith, work on chopping wood. Well, Judith is just crawling around .

I slide past the barriers in front of the door and glide over to the baby. I scoop her up into my arms, and she giggles . "Thanks," Tyreese smiles, wiping some sweat off of his forehead .

"No problem," I grin, and whisper sweetly to Judith," I was wrong . I'm not the only girl awake."

Quickly, I make my way back into the church. But I have a reason. Carl is awake now, his hair slightly messy. Beth and Sasha are beginning to awake, as well as Rosita and Tara. Maggie still sleeps, but I know she'll wake up soon. Gabriel is nowhere to be seen.

I smile at Carl, then head to the pew at the front . A line of water bottles fills up the seat, and I scoop seven of them up. Then, I make my way back to the door and go outside. The men are still at work , barely acknowledging me.

Gracefully, I go over to Eugene and Ty, handing them each a bottle of water . They nod their heads at me gratefully, which causes me to smile. Without getting too distracted, I skip over to where the other men are, and I hand out water. They take it joyfully . Abraham high fives me, Dad kissed my forehead, Glenn gives me a fist bump, and Rick also high fives me.

I let them go back to their work as I hold one last bottle. I twist the cap off, taking a long sip. But it's not for me. I know, Judith should be drinking milk , but she needs water. I give her the bottle, but I hold on to it so she doesn't spill it. She sips greedily. From where I stand, I can feel most of the men's eyes on me and Judith.

"She's so good with her.." I heard Tyreese's deep voice whisper.

"Summer would be a good mother," Another deep voice said. I casually glanced around and saw that it was Abraham that had said that. Sheepishly, I turned back to Judith. She had almost finished the whole bottle . When there was only about five sips left, she let go of the bottle . Keeping a hand on it, I took one big sip and twisted the cap back on.

Her eyes met mine, and it's like I could sense what she was thinking .

"I gotta potty, Summer."

Sighing, I squeezed us past the barriers in front of the church , and swung the doors open. Screams erupted then from the back, and I pulled out my knife . Running in the scene, Judith clutched my arm .

Anxiously, I ran through the church, until finally , I burst through the doorway of Gabriel's office . He stood in there, in front of his tidy desk, holding a gun to Carl's head. He looked peaceful, but Carl looked frightened. I saw that Beth had been cut in the arm by him, and it was a large scratch, just not deep. She was crying though , so I suspected more had happened before I got in there. Tara was standing nervously at the doorway.

"Tara, change her please . Go I got this," I whispered to her. She looked at me and nodded, taking Judith and walking away. I clenched my knife tightly .Carl's feared gaze met mine, and I sent him a look. "I got this. Hold on and don't move," I thought, hoping he knew.

Taking a deep breath and gulping slightly , I knew what I had to do. My legs trembled , but I kept them still. Without another thought, I launched myself at Gabriel.

Carl flung himself out of the way just in time. Gabriel and I's bodies toppled over the desk. All the tidiness was gone now, and his things were a mess.

As we landed on the other side, his head smashed into the wall. By now, his eyes had closed, and I knew he was unconscious .

Two arms pulled me , and I glanced behind me . Rick was there, helping me up.

"Thanks," I nodded at him, and got up.

"Tara told us what happened . You did what you had to do," Rick added, staring at Gabriel's limp body . that's when I noticed that Dad was being held back by Ty and Abraham.

I ran to him, and the two men let go of him. He ran forward and embraced me with his strong arms.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, kissing my forehead .

"Gabriel tried to kill Carl, and he did something to hurt Beth," I whispered .

With the same look of worry in his eyes, he rushed into the room and scooped Beth up. She was still sobbing. A pang of guilt sifted through me. It was my fault. I hadn't woke anyone up or tried to find Gabriel. I hadn't warned Rick that I didn't know where he was .

It was all my fault .