Angel in the Apocalypse

30

It wasn't until the next morning that someone came to find me. To my surprise, it was Daryl. At first, he stood in silence, waiting for a sign that he was not wanted.

"Lori told me about what you said last night." He spoke. "Figured you wanted to be alone so I left it until this morning."

Without looking at him, I nodded my head in thanks.

"I guess we're about to go look for Rick."

I still stayed silent. Daryl sighed.

"Shane ain't have no right to say what he did. He don't know nothing."

"He's right," I spoke for the first time.

I looked back at Daryl and gestured for him to sit beside me. He dropped his crossbow and sat on the ground with me.

"Father does love humans more than angels." I began. "Father left Heaven to live a life among humans. He left secretly, so the angels did not know about his disappearance until it was too late."

"What do you mean by 'too late'?" Daryl questioned.

"Heaven had changed for the worst. We believed that Father was giving us orders, so we would not dare disobey or question him." I explained. "We did not know that someone else had taken his place."

"So the whole no havin' kids thing..."

"That was Father," I answered. "I told them the best-case scenario."

"If bein' kicked outta your family is the best, what's the worst?"

"Both you and your child being hunted down and killed by your family," I told him. "You see, if an Angel and a human have a child, it creates a Nephilim. Which are, according to Father, an abomination that should be destroyed."

"What about if an Angel has a kid with another Angel?"

"To lust is to sin," I answered. "There are only a few times where it is okay for an Angel to lust and love someone."

Daryl gave me a look that told me to continue.

"Very rarely are Angels given a soulmate. We consider them to be a gift from Father." I explained. "A soulmate is the one person who can see an Angel truly. They can see our wings."

I sighed.

"But as I said, that rarely happens."

Before either of us could say anything else, Shane came over and asked Daryl to help him load up a truck. As Shane, Andrea, and Daryl finished putting everything into the truck, a car came into view. Everyone drew their weapons and rushed over, not knowing if the people inside said car were a threat. As soon as Rick stepped out of the car, everyone stood down.

"Dad!" Carl yelled out.

He ran to hug his dad with Lori following right after. Maggie, surprisingly, rushed to hug Glenn instead of her father.

"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery," Hershel spoke up.

"Are you hurt?" Lori worried over her husband.

"No, but what happened to you?" Rick asked.

"I was in a car accident."

"Accident? How?" Rick asked, confused.

"I went looking for you."

"Snuck out on her own." Shane snitched. "I brought her back."

"Are you crazy?" Rick asked what we were all thinking when Lori had left. "You could've..."

"Who the hell is that?" T-Dog interrupted.

He was pointing to a person who was still in the car. The person had on some sort of blindfold and looked to be unconscious.

"That's Randall," Glenn told us.

The group got the man out of the car and put him inside of the shed as Hershel had said. Instead of going to the shed to help Randall, Hershel made his way over to me.

"I need your help." He told me.

"You are on your own with this."

"That boy's leg is busted; he's lost a lot of blood. He needs a miracle." Hershel argued.

"He will not get one from me," I told the man. "I told you to leave with Rick but you did not listen. I told you that you would pay."

I noticed Daryl watching us from a distance. I went to leave the older man but he was not having it.

"You're an Angel. You're supposed to save people." Hershel told me.

"I serve Heaven, I do not serve man, and I certainly do not serve you."

With Hershel stunned into silence, I decided to walk away. I went in the direction of Daryl and the farmhouse while Hershel walked alone to the shed.

"What was that about?" Daryl asked once I reached him.

"Hershel wanted me to heal the boy even though I told him he would get no help from me."

"Glad to see you ain't no pushover," Daryl said.

"I am an Angel of the Lord. It would take something a lot stronger than an elderly man to push me over." I said, matter-of-factly.

I looked over at Daryl's face and saw a scowl.

"Oh, you meant that in another way," I said as I looked away from him. "I apologize."

When Hershel was finished operating on Randall, the group got together to talk about what happened and what would happen to the kid. Everyone was gathered around the table. I stood behind Sophia, getting a smile from the girl.

She had changed so much since the quarry. She no longer shrunk into herself or tried to make herself seem small. Ever since gun training, she seemed to have found her confidence.

I smiled back at the girl, who then turned to her mother.

"We couldn't just leave him behind," Rick spoke, catching my attention. "He would've bled out... if he lived that long."

"It's gotten bad in town," Glenn added.

"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked.

"I repaired his calf muscle as best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage," Hershel explained while he looked at me. "Won't be on his feet for at least a week."

I stared right back at the man, refusing to regret not helping the boy.

"When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way," Rick told us his plan.

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the Walkers?" Andrea questioned.

"He'll have a fighting chance."

"Just gonna let him go?" Shane spoke up. "He knows where we are."

"He was blindfolded the whole way here. He's not a threat." Rick argued.

"Not a threat." Shane scoffed. "How many of them were there? You killed three of their men, you took one of them hostage, but they just ain't gonna come looking?"

"They left him for dead." Rick all but yelled at his friend. "No one is looking."

"We should still post a guard," T-Dog spoke.

"He's out cold right now; will be for hours," Hershel told us.

"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane said as he walked away. "Look at this, folks. We back in fantasy land."

Before Shane could make it out of the room, Hershel spoke up making Shane stop in his tracks.

"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet. Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all. This is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor- keep your mouth shut."

Shane did nothing but look at the man before he stormed out of the house. I was honestly surprised that Hershel had that in him.

"Look, we're not gonna do anything about it today," Rick said, getting everyone's attention back to the problem at hand. "Let's just cool off."

With that, the meeting was over and everyone went their separate ways.