the claimed child-the walking dead

chapter five//the church where sinners suffer

candles flickered, lighting the shadowed church. tilly didn't quite know what to make of the low roofed structure, and she paced the four walls over and over again, counting her steps to herself. she was on her fourth round of pacing the entirety of the room, when she stopped abruptly at the sight of a shadow falling over her bare toes. it was the preacher, a look of sincerity on his face as he approached with a can of food. tilly glared from him, back to the can of refried beans, wondering whether or not to take it. "i noticed you look very malnourished-more so than the rest, it seems. i couldn't stand by without offering some of this to you." he spoke warmly, too kind for tilly's liking. she didn't trust him, and she took a step back. "i understand your people cleaned that gash on your head?" he motioned to her forehead, and she blinked at the sudden movement of a raised hand, and she dashed around him before shoving herself into the corner behind a pew, gripping the dusted wood that must have once been polished. the suited, white collared man sighed, before walking back to the front of his church, doing something tilly couldn't see from her safe spot. she did, however, hear the creaks of the wood floor as members of the group-she guessed they were kind of her group-advance on the preacher as one of the people-sasha-questioned the preacher. "what are you doing? this is all connected-you show up-we're being watched, and now three of us are gone." sasha accused. tilly's mind swirled. maggie had said daryl and carol had gone off willingly. and now someone else was gone-what was his name...bob? tilly gulped as the preacher stuttered denials, and the sound of a knife unsheathing echoed through the small space. other members were quick to attempt to get sasha to put down her weapon, to stop this. but she continued. "where are our people?" she spat. but now, even as she gave up, backing away from the shaken man, rick stepped forward, assuming his natural place as leader-and protector-of the group. tilly couldn't see the stone cold look on rick's face, but she heard the seriousness of his tone, as he inquired "why'd you bring us here?" but the man persisted-he was alone, alone-not working with anyone. it was comical, really. this man was weak-tilly knew this because weak recognized weak, and both of them were people who needed to leech off of others to survive this type of world. the difference was that tilly didn't pretend to deny this fact. while she may not have trusted him to hand her unharmed food to rid himself of more mouths to feed, she didn't think he was smart enough to work with other survivors, not the likes of terminus survivors, anyway. "i was always alone." his words rang true to him, but also to tilly, and it felt like a knife had been stuck and twisted in her heart-for she, too-felt deeply alone. silent tears trickle down her cheeks, unnoticed by everyone else, as she wished for her papa. the blurred words 'you'll burn for this' made it into tilly's head-and she refocused as rick lunged at father gabriel, and she felt all her muscles tense, like she did the moment before joe kissed her. she shoved away thoughts of joe-he was dead and gone, and unfortunately for her, so was papa. she angrily shoved thoughts of the deceased out of her mind. father gabriel was falling to the ground, collapsing into a pile of tears and snot on the floor as the group looked on. there it was-the priest giving his own confession, bloodshed and sin filled as a confession could possibly be. tilly shivered, rubbing goosebumps that ran down her arms, as she listened to the preacher describe his congregation-those who trusted him and reached for him-he left them to die alone, scared, as they were ripped into. 'you'll burn for this'. tilly would never forget the phrase now, it had been etched on her soul in a way that made her want to vomit. but this was the kind of sick vomiting would not purge. the kind of darkness you couldn't scrub away. 

//

they had found bob. he had been placed outside the church, staining the grass with blood where he had lost a limb-but not from a walker, no-this was a clean, practiced slice. a butcher cut. walkers smelled blood like a shark in water that had just been dumped with chum, and soon they were everywhere. everyone ran outside, some bending to gather bob up off the ground and inside to safety, others-like rick-to slaughter the dead. what an oxymoron, tilly thought. if the situation wasn't so serious, she might laugh. gunshots sounded through the air, cutting through the silence. someone was playing games, and rick was fed up. he gathered them into a tight circle near the candles, where shadows played cruel tricks-making even sweet baby judith appear to have demons on her face. tilly stayed ramrod straight against a pew, a few feet away from everyone else. bob was solemn, shuddering his way through what had happened. "it was gareth." he spoke, chilling tilly's insides. she didn't even notice her fists were clenched until she felt warm blood drip down onto her fingers. she licked it, unseen in the dark shadows behind the pew. it had an odd iron taste, as it always did when it ran into her mouth from her nosebleeds. "they were eating my leg right in front of me." bob struggled to get the horrifying words out. tilly froze from licking her fingers, leaning forward on her heels, on edge. "did they have daryl and carol with them?" rick spoke. tilly almost stopped breathing, anxious to hear the answer. "gareth said they drove off." bob answered, before gasping for breath. tilly blew out a breath. this carol lady meant nothing to her, save for the fact that she had helped get them out of terminus, but she was glad to hear daryl was presumably alright.