FATHERS RIFLE • C.Grimes

ೀ⋆｡˚ CHAPTER 30 ೀ⋆｡˚

the next morning, the group continued to travel through the woods. faye quietly eaves dropped on sasha and bobs conversation, pulling a face of disgust everytime she heard their lips smack together.

"HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!" a man's voice could be heard deeper into the woods. "dad, come on! come on!!" carl desperately pleaded with his dad to go and help the stranger. rick let out a sigh, hesitating for a moment before rushing over to the source of sound.

"HELP HELP!!" the strangers yells rung out through the forest, getting louder as the group got closer. a few feet away, a man dressed as a priest sat ontop of an abnormally large rock. carl quickly shot one of the many walkers who was reaching up for the man, hungry for his blood as the others rushed around, taking out the rest.

faye plunged her knife into the last walker, wiping the splattered blood from her cheek onto her sleeve.

"come on down." rick told the priest, who anxiously sat ontop of the rock. the man hopped down from the rock, his demeanour nervous, his eyes darting around at everyone.

"you okay?" rick spoke softly but guarded. the priest looked back at rick for a moment before throwing up onto the ground beside him. "yum." faye sarcastically remarked, looking away and pulling a face of disgust. "sorry." the priest sheepishly apologised, wiping his mouth.

"i'm gabriel." he introduced himself. "do you have any weapons on you?" rick asked.

gabriel chuckled for a moment "does it look like i'd have any weapons on me." he held his arms out. "we don't give two short and curlies what it looks like." abraham spoke up, annoyance clear in his tone.

"i have no weapons of any kind." the priest reassured them. "the word of god is the only protection i need." faye scoffed at the man's words making him furrow her brows at her.

"sure didn't look like it." she shrugged, crossing her arms. "i called for help. help came." gabriel smiled. "why don't you call for a cure then do us all a favour." she sarcastically smiled back.

gabriel stayed silent for a moment, his eyes glued to the floor. "do you have a-any food?" he turned his attention back onto rick. "whatever i had left has just hit the ground."

"we have some pecans." carl fetched some pecans from his pocket. "thank you." gabriel gratefully accepted them.

"that's a beautiful child." he looked back at baby judith who was cooing in tyreeses arms. faye tensed at the man's words, after the past few days they'd had she knew she couldn't trust any stranger and she knew damn well she wouldn't let anyone hurt judith.

"do you have a camp?" gabriel diverted the conversation onto something else, seeing everyone's tense faces. "no. do you?" rick replied bluntly.

"i have a church." he nodded.

"hold your hands up above your head." rick demanded, leaving no room for discussion. gabriel obliged, lifting his arms letting rick pat him down.

"how many walkers have you killed?"

"not any, actually."

"how many people have you killed?"

"none." gabriel looked back at rick as if the man was crazy.

"why?"

"because the lord abhors violence."

faye rolled her eyes again, looking up at her dad and giving him a "is he serious" look in which daryl shrugged in response.

"what have you done. we've all done something." rick muttered, glaring at the priest. "i'm a sinner. i sin almost everyday. but those sins, i confess them to god. not strangers." gabriel glanced around at the group.