.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

Ellie and Stella had crawled over to the pile of pillows on the floor where they lay as the Greene girl cried her way into a short moment of sleep. Stella had been holding her shaking body in her arms, hoping to radiate just a bit of comfort, warmth, or security for her.

It scared Stella to see the girl like that. She was growing extremely worried and she wasn't sure if it was the greatest idea to tell Maggie, knowing that the two of them were in the same broken state and Stella didn't want to make the situation worse for Maggie.

The Grimes girl was abruptly awoken by someone shaking her gently. Her eyes flew open and within a second her fingers had wrapped around the knife under her pillow however she was quick to let it go as she saw that it was Levi who had woken her up.

"What's going on?" She whispered to not wake Ellie.

Levi nodded toward the door leading to the church. Stella stared at him in confusion for a moment as her foggy mind began to wake up completely. She stealthily crawled out of bed and was assisted to a stance by Levi's helping hand. As Stella stood up her eyes scanned over his face, desperate to understand what was happening. The boy's eyes were two worried dots on his face and sweat trickled down the side of his face.

The pair walked out to the main part of the church, stepping out into complete turmoil. The members of their group were scattered over the open surface. Some ran around panicked and some were peeking out the windows, their hands clutched to their weapons.

"What's happening?" Stella asked under her breath.

"Bob, Daryl, and Carol are gone," Levi informed her as he began to walk ahead.

Stella's blood froze. Her eyes darted around the room seeing the scared faces that had replaced the smiles from earlier when they were eating. Stella took a few quick steps after Levi.

"What do you mean gone? They left?" She asked.

Levi walked up to one of the church benches and picked up a magazine for his gun. "No one knows. Sasha says she saw someone in the woods. They think it's Gabriell's men."

"Where's Gabriel now?" Stella looked around.

"The other room. Started weeping after we confronted him. Pathetic." Stella could see Levi's shaky hands as his chest rose and sank rapidly. She wrapped her hands around his, making him show his movements down and look up at her.

"You okay?" She asked, two worried eyes traveling over his face.

The boy cleared his throat, trying to straighten up. "I'm worried about Daryl. He wouldn't just leave like that."

Stella nodded and caressed the boy's hand with her thumb. The soothing feeling made Levi steady his breathing, his eyes traveling back to Stella's, sending her an appetitive smile. But the peaceful moment was short-lived and soon interrupted by Glenn's voice that echoed through the church. "There's something! There's someone outside lying in the grass!"

The pair spun around, their hands immediately wrapping around their weapons. Sasha didn't hesitate to run out the door and Levi ran after her.

The whole group hurried to the door. Stella didn't make it outside before she heard Sasha's scream and her heart twisted.

The blonde finally made it outside. It was pitch black and walkers kept stumbling out of the darkness that surrounded them. Stella's gaze fell upon the cluster of people that sat leaned over something. She caught a glimpse of Sasha sobbing and instantly understood what they had crowded around. Bob.

Stella wrapped her hand around her machete and scanned her surroundings. Her weapon sliced through the walker's heads, letting them drop to the ground one by one. The people that had flocked around Bob had now risen to their feet and were fighting off the dead while Sasha hunched over Bob crying. Stella ran forward and took down the closest walker before placing her weapon back into her holster. She crouched down to help Sasha carry him inside when her eyes saw something that stopped her heart from beating for a moment. Something that no time in an apocalyptic world could prepare her for. Something that reminded her of a horror movie. Bob wasn't just unconscious. He was missing a leg.
The sight made something in Stella's stomach turn and her eyes water. However, she was forced to push whatever unsettling, awful, and horrendous feeling away in order to assist the man inside.

Placing Bob's arm around each of the two women's shoulders, they stood up and rushed inside. On their way up the steps, Stella stopped at the sound of bullets flying through the air. Sasha shouted at her when she stopped and looked around in panic. Stella knew that her group wouldn't fire their guns like that. She knew that someone must've been shooting at them. Her eyes desperately scanned the dark area to find her father or Levi. Before she managed to catch a glimpse of either of them Sasha began to force her inside. The two placed Bob to the ground while the rest of their group poured inside. Stella ran to the door at the sight of Levi, with her father only a few steps behind.

Two warm arms wrapped around her and she sighed in relief.

"Is there someone out there shooting at us?" Stella asked her father. The man nodded before his gaze was laid upon Bob who lay in the path up to the alter. Stella couldn't help but feel a sour taste fill her mouth seeing the state that Bob was in. Levi, who noticed the girl's reaction, took her hand as the two walked over to the rest of the group, crouching down next to them. They seemed to have woken Bob up already. The man's voice was hushed and strained like he was in agony which wasn't odd since he was missing a whole body part. Something like that doesn't just happen naturally. Someone had removed his leg. But what awful people would just do that?

"I was in the graveyard. Somebody knocked me out." Bon explained and Stella's grip on Levi's hand tightened at the thought of the people who had kidnapped Bob, being so close to what their group had come to call their shelter. "Woke up outside this place. It looked like a school. It was that guy...Gareth."

Something seemed to grip Stella's lungs. The man's name brought an instant crippling sensation of unease. A stab of regret hit her for not doing what her father said they should've done and gone around Terminus until every last one of them was dead. She looked up and met Ricks's gaze and they both seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"And five other ones. They were eating my leg right in front of me." Bob's voice broke. "Like it was nothing. All proud. Like they had it all figured out."

A few beats of silence passed before Levi let out a shaky breath. "Bob.. did they have Daryl and Carol?"

Bob looked up at the boy. "Gareth said they drove off."

The group around Bob all exchanged shocked looks with each other. Another shaky breath escaped Levi's lips and Stella felt him squeeze her hand harder. Stella's head clouded with questions that tangled themselves into a web of confusion. They left?

They wouldn't do that. Not without saying anything.

Stella's thoughts were interrupted by Bob's pained grunt.

"He's in agony. Do we have anything?" Sasha asked Rosita who nodded.

"I think we have something in the first aid kit." She said and stood up.

"Save 'em'," Bob said making every pair of eyes shift back to him.

"No." Sasha immediately shook her head.

"Yeah, really." Bob insisted. The man sat up, hissing in pain as he did. He slowly pulled the shirt off his shoulder, revealing the bloody bite wound. Stella gasped quietly, her eyes watering. Everything was happening all at once. First Ellie's breakdown, then Bob's leg, then Daryl and Carol leaving, and now this.

Stella didn't know Bob that well. He had been with them since prison but she hadn't talked to him much back then. She regretted that now. She had gotten to know him more these past few days. She thought he was really funny. He played with Judith a lot and came up with games for Carl that even Stella enjoyed. Stella also knew that he meant a lot to Sasha. The woman now stared mindlessly at Bob's wound.

"It happened at the food bank." He explained. Tears slowly crept down Sasha's cheeks as she tried to force a reassuring smile on her face. Stella's heart shattered at the sight and she held onto Levi a little tighter. She couldn't imagine what it was like seeing the love of your life in such pain and not being able to do anything about it. Bob soon collapsed back onto the floor, agonized grunts leaving his mouth.

"There's a sofa in my office," Gabriel said. "I know it's not much but..."

Stella looked up at the man. She still wasn't completely sure if they could trust him. Gabriel could be working with Gareth but she didn't want to think that. The man seemed nice despite everything.

"Thank you." Sasha sobbed. Tyreesee lifted Bob into Gabriell's office while some members of the group followed him.

Stella rose to her feet along with Levi. The boy stared in front of him, his brows furrowed and anger pulsing through his body. He couldn't believe what he just heard about Carol and Daryl. They wouldn't leave without a word like that.

"You okay?" Stella asked.

Levi swallowed hard before meeting her eyes. "You don't believe what Gareth said, right? About them just leaving like that?"

Stella didn't know what to believe. "No, they wouldn't do that. Maybe they followed something or someone." She smiled briefly before turning around.

"Do you know the place Bob was talking about?" Rick asked Gabriel. 

"It's an elementary school. It's close." He answered.

"How close?" Stella stepped into the conversation. She wanted to get revenge on Gareth and his group just as much as anyone else. She wanted to see them dead for what they did to their group, for what happened to Tristian, for Bob, and for possibly keeping Daryl and Carol captive.

"It's just a ten-minute walk through the woods from here. To south of the graveyard." The priest told her. Stella nodded to her father.

"Let's go now. Let's finish this." She told him. Rick opened his mouth to say something when Abraham spoke up.

"Time for a reality check." He said. The man stood with his rifle in his hands, his eyes narrowed and traveling between each face of the group. "We all need to leave for DC, right now."

Stella glared at him. Did he not have any sympathy? Anger gripped her and her eyes were shooting daggers his way.

"Now? Are you serious?" Stella huffed. "You might want to take a look around. Did you see what just happened? Plus, Daryl and Carol are still out there. We're not going anywhere without them."

"I respect that but there's a clear threat to Eugene," Abraham spoke. "I need to extract his ass before things get any uglier." The man's gaze drifted from Stella and to the rest of the group. "So if y'all wont come it's up to you. Good luck. We'll go our separate ways."

He turned around sending his daughter a quick glance and a nod. The red-haired girl seemed to hesitate before grabbing her backpack and weapons.

"You leaving on foot?" Rick questioned.

"We fixed that damn bus ourselves," Abraham said as he turned back around to face the group.

Rick took several quick steps forward. "There's a lot more of us." He said, his words sharpened with a threatening tone.

"You wanna keep it that way?" Abraham stepped forward as well. The two now stared at each other like predatory animals. "You should come."

With a few harsh and quick steps Rick was up in Abraham's face, his features darkened with anger. "Carol saved your life. We saved your life!"

"I'm trying to save yours!" Abraham roared back. "Save everyone. Save my daughter!"

"You're not going anywhere without our people."

"Your people took off!" Words sent a harsh pang into Levi's chest. He glared at Abraham over Ricks's shoulder.

"They're coming back!" Rick defended them.

"To what? Picked over bones?!" Both men connected several shoves and punches to the other's chest making Stella instinctively step forward.

"Dad!" Melissa shouted, forcing the ginger man to a stop. Glenn had pushed his way between the two men and was now holding them away from one another.

The pair soon calmed down. Chests rose and fell heavily, eyes pierced at each other, and lines of anger appeared on them. They stood in front of one another, glaring the other down.

"Do you  really think you're gonna be safer leaving right now in the middle of the night?" Glenn asked Abraham.

"Yeah." Abraham's furious eyes traveled between Glenn and Rick.

"What about tomorrow?" Glenn asked. "We need each other for this. We need each other to get to DC. We can get through all of it together."

Several moments of silence passed. Abraham stared at Glenn with his jaw clenched as he pondered what he had just said before Tara stepped forward.

"I have an idea." She spoke up. "You stay just one more day and help, I'll go with you to DC no matter what. Okay?"

Abraham looked up capturing Levi's gaze in his. "Levi, too."

"No." Rick and Stella said in unison.

"Good luck then." Abraham nodded. "I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here. Melissa, grab your gear."

The shorter redhead looked up at her father and sighed. "Dad-"

"Now." He then looked over at Eugene. The man sat slumped in one of the benches, his tired eyes staring at the ground. "Eugene, let's go. Eugene. Move it." Abraham demanded.

"I don't want to."

"Now." One final word laced with threats and aggression. The man let out a breath and stood up slowly before unwillingly joining up next to Abraham. The four of them turned around sending scattered nods and goodbyes to the rest of the group.

"You're not taking the bus," Rick spoke up as they began to walk toward the door.

"Try to stop me." Abraham's words lingered in the air for a moment before Rick marched forward with his fists clutched by his sides. Levi reacted quickly and jumped between the two preventing a fight from erupting. The boy sent Rick a glance telling him to calm down before turning to Abraham.

"You stay and help us, I'll go with you." Levi's words captured Stella's ability to breathe for a second.

"No." She spoke up. "Then I'm going to."

"Absolutely not," Rick said.

"If he's going I'm going." She stepped forward, sending Levi a nod. The boy looked hesitant. He didn't want her to take any unnecessary risks but he also wanted to be able to protect her.

"Stella, you're not going," Rick spoke up again.

"That's not your call." She said.

"I'm your father." He argued.

"And I'm an adult and I'm choosing to make this decision."

"Are we gonna have to stand here and listen to your family drama all day," Abraham said, crossing his arms.

"You stay, you help us and we'll leave with you tomorrow." Stella turned back to the ginger man.

"Half a day. 12 hours. Then we go." Abraham said, shoving his belongings back into the church benches.

Stella looked up at Levi whose eyes remained slightly concerned. She smiled briefly to let him know that it was fine when she suddenly felt someone grab her arm and pull her aside.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Rick said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not letting Levi leave on his own. You'll get to DC and meet us there." Stella said. The more she thought about it, the stupider it sounded. She didn't want to leave her family behind but if they put an end to Gareth and his crew and got Carol and Daryl back before tomorrow, they could all leave together.

"I'm not letting you leave on your own," Rick said. His jaw was clenched and the veins pulsed on his head.

"I'm not alone. I've got Levi." She argued.

"I don't care what you have to say. You're not going." Rick said turning on his heel before Stella had any time to say something.

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟐𝟕𝟖𝟔 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍
this is so rushed I'm so so sorry guys I've been so busy and I know that I say that a lot but I'm not feeling great at the moment. writing helps so I won't quit but I just can't handle the stress rn but I'll try to update as much as possible