82

                                    

                                          
I woke up feeling Daryl quickly stand up. I looked and saw Rick asleep but Carol and Daryl were still awake.
                          
"What's wrong Daryl?" I asked, yawning and rubbing my eyes.
                          
"I thought I heard something in the trees over there but it was nothing." He told me. I stayed awake since I couldn't sleep anymore.
                          
A few hours later, it was soon getting light. I kissed Rick's cheek and his eyes fluttered open. He smiled when he saw me.
                          
"Good morning Rick." I said, smiling.
                          
"Morning." He said, standing up. He took his jacket off and made me wearing it.
                          
"Aww aren't you a gentleman?" I said, smirking.
                          
"Can't have you catching a cold." He said, pecking my lips.
                          
We started walking again but I didn't see Daryl and figured he was hunting. We heard a noise coming from the woods and Rick aimed his gun but saw that it was Daryl with some squirrels.
                          
"We surrender." He said, making me chuckle at his humor. Him and Rick moved and was talking while I was now next to Carl.
                          
"Maddie, when are you due to give birth?" Carl asked.
                          
"Okay I'm four months now so I'm due in about five months." I answered. "Why? Can't wait for the baby?" I asked.
                          
"Of course I can't wait." He said, smiling.
                          
"You can feel the baby if you want." I said. He put his hand on my belly and the baby just happened to kick slightly.
                          
"They kicked." He said, smiling. We continued walking until we heard someone yelling for help. "Come on Maddie. Come on." He said, begging me to go help him. I looked at Rick and before he could talk, Carl gently pulled my hand making go with him.
                          
"Carl." Rick said but couldn't stop him.
                          
We came up to someone standing on a big rock. I pulled my knife out and went up and stabbed a walker in the head. Carl shot the walker beside me, Rick slammed the other walkers against the rock and Daryl killed the other walker.
                          
"Are you okay?" I asked, looking at the man. He was shaking and it looked like he was crying.
                          
"Come on down, there's no more walkers." Rick said. He started to get down and soon stood in front of me. Rick made me go behind him to protect me just in case the man tries something. "You okay?" He asked.
                          
The man put his finger up then threw up in front of us. Daryl started to scratch his head making him look confused on why the man was throwing up.
                          
"Sorry." The man apologized.
                          
"It's alright, it happens." I assured him.
                          
"Yes thank you." He said, looking at us. "I'm Gabriel." He introduced himself.
                          
"Do you have any weapons on you?" Rick asked.
                          
"Do I look like I would have any weapons?" Gabriel asked.
                          
"We don't give two curlies what it looks like." Abraham said.
                          
"I don't have any kind of weapon." He told us. "The word of god is the only protection I need." He added.
                          
"It sure didn't look like it." Daryl said, with his hand against the tree.
                          
"I called for help and you all came." He said. "Do you have any food or whatever?" He asked. "What I had left just hit the ground." He said.
                          
"We got some crumbs." Carl said, handing him crumbs from the food we had.
                          
"Thank you." He thanked him. Judith started to make a little noise, which I found cute. He looked at her before speaking. "That's a beautiful child." He said. None of us said anything but I thought I saw a small smile on Rick's face. "Do you have a camp?" He asked.
                          
"No." Rick replied. "Do you?" He asked Gabriel.
                          
I was starting to hold onto Rick's shirt tight because I felt like I was going to fall over. He looked at all of us before answering.
                          
"I have a church." He responded.
                          
"Hold your hands above your head." Rick said. I was confused why Rick said that but I didn't question it. He did as he was told and Rick started to search him for any kind of thing he can use to hurt us. "How many walkers have you killed?" He asked him.
                          
"Not any actually." He told us. He survived this long without killing any walkers?
                          
"Turn around." Rick said, searching him again. "How many people have you killed?" He asked. I feel like he's going to say that he hasn't killed any people.
                          
"None." He said. I knew it.
                          
"Why?" Rick asked.
                          
"Because the lord apposes violence." He told us.
                          
"What have you done?" Rick asked. Gabriel was hesitant to answer the question. "We've all done something." Rick said.
                          
He's right. We had to kill people but they were trying to kill us and take our things or just to kill us for the hell of it.
                          
"I'm a sinner." He said. "I've sinned almost everyday. But those sins, I've confessed them to god. Not strangers." He said.
                          
"You said you had a church?" Michonne asked.
                          
By that time, I was closer to Rick not because I was scared which I wasn't, I just felt like I was going to pass out. He nodded his head and we all started following him to the church.
                          
"Maddie, are you okay? You were grabbing onto me tight and got closer to me." Rick asked, worried.
                          
"I was just getting a bit dizzy and thought I was going to pass out." I told him.
                          
"Do you need to sit down for a bit?" He asked.
                          
"No, I'm fine now. I'll just hold onto your arm." I said, wrapping my arm around his arm and put my head on his shoulder.
                          
"Earlier, were you watching us?" Rick asked Gabriel.
                          
"I keep to myself. Nowadays people are just as dangerous as the dead don't you think?" Gabriel replied.
                          
"No." Rick said.
                          
"People are worse." Daryl said.
                          
"Well I wasn't watching you. I haven't been beyond the stream near my church in more than a few times since it all started. That was the furthest I've gone until today." He told us. "Or maybe I'm lying." He added. That caused me to squint my eyes at him. "Maybe I'm lying about everything and there's no church ahead at all." He said, making me glare at the back of his head. "Maybe I'm leading you into a trap so I can steal all your squirrels." He said, chuckling after.
                          
He turned and saw none of us laughing at his humor.
                          
"Members of my flock had often told me that my sense of humor leaves much to be desired." He said.
                          
"Yeah it does." Daryl said. We continued walking until we arrived at a white church.
                          
"Hold up." Rick said, when we got to the doors. "Can we take a look around first?" He asked, walking towards the church doors. "We just want to hold on to our squirrels." He said. I saw Rick smile which to be honest, that was pretty funny. He gave Rick the keys and turned to me. "Stay out here with Carl, Maddie." He said. I nodded my head and they went inside and looked around.
                          
"If you don't mind me asking, are you expecting a baby?" Gabriel asked me.
                          
"I am." I said, with a straight face then looked back inside.
                          
"Congratulations." He said. I turned and nodded at him then looked away again. "How far along are you?" He asked.
                          
"17 weeks." I replied.
                          
"Who's the father?" He asked. "Is he still with us?" He asked.
                          
"Yeah, he's the one that asked to look around." I said. This man sure asks a lot of questions.