burning love

Strangers-45

We walked through the woods silently. Daryl was by my side, with Bailey on his back. I held Daryl's crossbow that my mom had gotten back for him. We stopped in the woods to take a quick break and feed the kids the little bit of food that we had left. We decided to set up camp. Carl made a fire and we all sat around it. Bailey sat between my legs and Daryl was on watch, we were all still on high alerts after Terminus even though it was a few months ago. This being said I'm atleast seven months along now, I'm pretty close but I'm scared. At this rate I'm gonna have to give birth on the side of the road, screaming and drawing to much attention to us. I don't wanna in danger the group. I let the thought subside as I started playing with Bailey's hair that was in desperate need of a hair cut. Daryl came over and sat next to me as someone else went and took his spot.

"We are being watched." Daryl whispered to me. I looked up at him scared.

"Don't worry I won't let anything happen to you I promise." Daryl said. I nodded my head and then laid my head on Daryl's leg and Bailey laid in front of me.

The next morning we woke up bright and early so we could get moving again. Rick and Abraham were discussing Abraham's plan to get back on the road to D.C. for Eugene. Sasha and Bob were walking together finally taking their relationship public. We all walked in the woods just silent having nothing to really say. The piercing scream through the woods is what broke the silence we all looked around to check that everyone was alright. Carl instantly ran towards the scream and we all ran after him. We stopped at the scene of a man sitting on top of a rock trapped by two walkers, he looked like a priest. Daryl and Rick kill the walkers and the priest hops down from the rock and looks at us, but then swiftly turns around and pukes. It was like he wasn't use to this after almost four years. 

"Thank you, I'm father Gabriel." The man introduced himself, ha I was right.

"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick asked.

"None." Gabriel answers. We all look at each other astonished.

" How many people have you killed?" Rick asked.

"None, I am a man of God?" Gabriel answered.

"Why?" Rick asked.

"Because God is the only protection I need." Gabriel answered. We all looked around at each other, not really sure if we should trust this man or not.

"Do you guys have a camp?' The priest asked nervously. 

"No. Do you?" Rick asked. 

"Yes, I have a church. I can take you there if you would like," the priest offered. Rick nodded his head and the priest took us to this church. We walked through the woods watching to make sure nothing bad would happen. We walked to the doors of the church and Rick and Daryl go into the church first checking all the rooms with the guns up and at the ready.  Rick looked at the empty cans behind the altar and then signaled us in that it was clear. We all stepped in and I sat down on the bench feeling exhausted. I was so exhausted lately and I hated it. I closed my eyes for a moment until a felt a presence next to me. I opened my eyes and saw Maggie sitting next to me. 

"May I check the baby?" Maggie asked me. I nodded my head and smiled.  She dug around in her bag until she found a stethoscope. She put the two earbuds in her ear and held the end part to my stomach. I was a little nervous at first because of the stress I've been under lately. Maggie smiled and looked at me,

"Do you wanna hear?" She asked. I nodded and put the earbuds in my ears. The sound was amazing, it was amazing to know that my baby was still alive and to hear it's heart beat brought tears to my eyes. Daryl came over and I handed him the earbuds and he placed them in his ears, he smiled for once in a very long time and placed his hand on my belly rubbing it in circles. Maggie took the stethoscope back and placed it in her bag and left us be.