TWD- Little Heart Of Iron

54. Silent Panic.

A loud panic would cause everyone to be worried for Blake, and she didn't want that. There were more important things to worry about.

Like the fact that It'd been two hours since Daryl said he'd be 'right back'. 

So, Blake panicked silently. She sat inside the church, up against one of the walls near the painted glass windows. Her right leg was shaking with nerve and anxiety. Her forehead was damp with a thin layer of sweat, and she swore her chest was closing up with each breath she took.

Daryl was gone. Her dad was gone. Had he left her forever? No. He wouldn't do that. If he was gonna leave forever, he'd take Blake with her. Just like he took her when he left with Merle.

But the question still stood- why had he left if he said he'd be back?

So many questions ran through Blake's mind at a million miles per minuted. She hated it. And the fact that she was sleep deprived wasn't helping.

Despite her attempts at hiding her worry, her silent panic hadn't gone unnoticed. Especially by Maggie.

So, the older woman had been trying to keep Blake distracted by playing Uno. Elliot had, of course, made sure to grab his deck of Uno cards of all things while escaping the prison. Maggie asked the boy if she could borrow them.

Blake sat across from Maggie, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she looked threw her deck of cards. She had six left and one of then was a wild card. She would use that one last.

"We should be more worried about them. About Carol and my dad," Blake said as she put a blue five card down into the discard pile.

"Honey, he said he'd be back," Maggie said, putting a yellow five down. Blake had no yellows, so she picked up a card from the draw pile and, luckily, it was a yellow one. She put that card down on top of Maggie's.

"But that was two hours ago. My dad said he'd be right back. And he wouldn't lie to me. Not like that," Blake said, a slight pout on her face.

"You know what I'm gonna say, right?" Maggie asked softly, putting down a green one card. "You can't keep gettin' yerself all worked up. Ain't good for you."

"I'm the perfect amount of worked up," Blake retorted, putting down a draw four wild card. The move was almost out of spite, especially since she'd been saving it for her last move. "My dad's gone. So is Carol, and Tyreese, and Rick, and Sasha, and Bob. It's worryin' me, and I can't change it." Blake put down a red six card. "The color's red, now," Blake muttered.

Maggie had seen her share of teen angst, especially since she had a younger sister. "Listen, sweetheart. Your dad is smart. He'll probably find his own way back. He's a tracker, remember?" Maggie reassured.

Before Blake could respond, the front door of the church slammed open. Blake snapped her head over, expecting to see Daryl. But no, it was just Rick, Tyreese, and Sasha. No Daryl, Bob, or Carol.

Blake watched with her eyebrows furrowed as Sasha marched over to Gabriel, who was in the middle of doing something by one of the pews. The round of Uno had been abandoned, but Maggie probably would've won anyway. "Stop," Sasha said quietly, but her tone was borderline threatening. "What are you doing?" Sasha asked. Gabriel looked up at her. He seemed confused and a bit scared but only because of the way Rick and Tyreese stood behind Sasha like body guards. "What are you doing?" Sasha asked again, her calm demeanor starting to break. She fought herself to keep quiet, though. "This is all connected. You show up, we're being watched, and now three of us are gone." Sasha's eyes glistened with anger, and her expression was eerily calm.

We're bein' watched?

"I...I don't..." Gabriel stuttered. He looked genuinely confused, from what Blake could see. But Blake also knew that people were good at lying. Sometimes too good. "I don't have anything to do with this," he said, taking a step back as he looked between everyone in the room.