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»08 THE MAN WHO KEPT HIS PROMISE
THE NIGHT WAS silent. Not even the dead leaves crunched beneath the group's pointed toes; they were calculated, blood-hungry, and zeroed in. West felt her soft steps against the chilled ground, but the lowering temperature was no match for the extra blood pumping through her veins and heart. She watched anxious, periodic clouds of breath escape from Lina's mouth. She watched her hands shake. West stared at her own self, through the vision behind her HK-51. Her hands were steadied and unmoving. No sound or extension of air escaped her lips, there wasn't even a twitch in her jaw. Her feet roved skillfully, one foot planting itself in front of the next at a slighted horizontal angle. Not even a walker was drawn to their direction, as if it was entirely meant to be. The night was perfect, the moon shining down on their straight path up the hill to the church. The fog was caressing but not overbearing. It was enough for them to see through, but become unnoticed if there was a watch-guard. Nothing stood between them and the church.
"Remember what these people are capable of." Rick's words rang in her head as they made their way up the graveled path.
Their hushed voices had formed the ultimate plan — to pretend they had left, and that the group had split up. They'd go for the most vulnerable, the ones left in the Church with less weaponry. They'd wait for Rick's half to return, and they'd kill them too.
To no surprise, Rick's suspicions were on point, and Gareth and the others had entered the Church.
West followed closely behind him and Josiah as they tiptoed carefully up the steps. The door was left ajar from when Gareth had entered, leaving not much room for it to crack. Rick pushed it gently, and no noise emit itself. They crowded in the back of the church, Rick pointing directions as to where he wanted each person. West and Michonne took the left side. She watched his finger, acknowledging who was to be shot first.
The intruders stood in front of each office door, on the alter. West hadn't moved with this much precision in a long time. She knew which spots to step to avoid a loud creak from the planks of wood below her.
"Are we done?" Martin asked Gareth. West creeped slowly up the left side, aiming sharply.
After a brief pause, Gareth said, "We'll hit the hinges."
West pulled the trigger, a headshot sending the man on the right side of Gabriel's office to the ground. Abraham cleared the other one, both shots silenced. Their blood splattered against the wall. Gareth and Martin's heads whipped every which way.
"Put your guns on the floor." Rick said as he creeped up the aisle.
Gareth spoke rapidly, leaving no breath to spare, "Rick, we'll fire right into that office, so you lower your gun—ah!" Another silenced shot, this time coming from Rick himself, blasted two of Gareth's fingers off. Lina's mouth formed an O shape as she watched. Gareth held up his fingers in agony, whimpering and crying out.
