STALKER

I was sleeping when my walkie went off

"Y/n, do you copy?" Gabriel asked. I grabbed the walkie

"I copy" I said

"Get ready and meet me by the gate" Gabriel said

"Okay just give me a couple minutes" I said before I got ready for the day. When I got downstairs, Lyra was already eating

"You don't even bother waiting" I said

"What? I was hungry" She said. I took some of her food and walked out the door

"Hey?! What the hell?!" She yelled at me as I walked towards the gate. When I got to the gate Gabriel, Rosita, Carl and some others were already there. The gate opened and we saw a Whisperer, who had spears pointing at them in every direction. It was the same one that told us Alpha wanted to meet with us. The Whisperer took off their mask and revealed their face. It was a woman with red wavy hair

"I'm the one that knows Aaron" She said

"We know who you are" Gabriel said

"The people you sent out, they're in trouble, trapped in a cave where Alpha has placed her horde. Now, they could still be in there or they might've gotten out. I don't know" The woman said

"You said the horde was in a field" Gabriel said

"It was" The woman said

"Now it's in a cave" Gabriel said

"She moved it" The woman said

"The whole thing. Right before they got there" Gabriel said. The woman sighed

"I'm just telling you what happened" The woman said

"I'm not sure you are" Gabriel said

"I'm trying to help" The woman said

"Why?" Rosita asked

"The baby that they left at Hilltop, he's my nephew. And I would do anything to see him again" The woman said

"Where's the baby's mother?" Gabriel asked

"Dead" The woman said

"If I give you a map, can you show us where the cave is?" Gabriel asked

"Yes" The woman said. Gabriel nodded which signaled that they could lower their weapons. The woman walked towards us. She stopped in front of Rosita. That's when Rosita clocked the woman and knocked her out cold

"You're a liar. The cell" Rosita said

—————

We were waiting for the mystery woman to wake up. She was currently in a cell. Me, Rosita, Gabriel, and Carl watched as she woke up. She sat up and looked at us

"It's from the last one. The last Whisperer we had in here" Rosita said referring to the dried blood stain

"You killed him?" The woman asked

"No. I did" Gabriel said

"Yeah, I watched him do it. Some pretty brutal shit" I said

"It was the one your people sent to spt on us. He killed my baby's father two days ago" Rosita said. The woman sighed

"I don't know anything about that" The woman said

"Right. Never heard of him" Rosita said

"I haven't" The woman said but Rosita wasn't convinced

"I don't- uh.." The woman said

"It's amazing how much you say you don't know. Let me lay it out for you. You're gonna work very hard in this room. You're gonna have to convince all four of us that you're different from the ones who lie and walk with the dead and eat worms" Gabriel said

"You know, worms are actually a good source of prot-" I was cut off

"Not the time" Carl said

"My bad, my bad. Continue on" I said

"And what if I can't?" The woman asked

"Then you die. No torture. No games. No second chances" Rosita said

"You'd be the third one, by the way" Gabriel said

"If it goes south, I call dibs" I said

"All I've done is tell you the truth" The woman said

"You haven't. This is not for show. I am a servant of God. I've taken many confessions, and I can tell when people are holding things back" Gabriel said

"Holding things back is the same as lying" Rosita said

"Outside at the gate, the story you had about being the aunt of the baby.." Gabriel trailed off

"It's not a story" She said

"It does tug at all the right heartstrings, but you're hiding something, which makes the whole thing a lie" Gabriel said

"Ask God if I'm lying" She said

"I've spoken to God. He told me to hang you" Gabriel said. I wasn't sure if he was actually speaking to God

"I, uh.. I killed my sister. I killed my sister. I killed.. I killed her for Alpha. She didn't even have to ask. I just did it. You believe me now, Father?" The woman asked as tears streamed down her face. Gabriel nodded

"Then you should get me a map" The woman said. Gabriel turned to look at the three of us

—————

We were in the meeting room. The woman known as Mary had explained to us where this horde was

"So, 14 miles inland here?" Gabriel asked

"Yes" Mary said

"Any other way in or out?" Scott asked

"There are others in this area. I'm not sure where. And they'll be guarded" Mary said

"Did Earl send those new weapon sets?" Gabriel asked Carl

"Yeah, there should be enough for all of us" Carl said

"Good. We're gonna need them" Gabriel said

"What about the border? It's gonna be guarded all the way down to-" Rosita was cut off

"It's clear. It's too long for Alpha to defend. Most of the patrol will be near the cave" Mary said

"Take her back to her cell" Gabriel said. Mary was escorted out. Once they were gone, me, Carl, Gabriel, Scott, Laura, and Rosita were the only ones left in the room

"So, two rescue parties. Rosita, Carl and I will take the first-" Gabriel was cut off

"We don't know if any of this is real" Rosita said

"Don't we? You said you were sure she wasn't lying" Scott said

"I am, and she isn't. Y/n, what does your gut say?" Gabriel asked me

"My gut isn't saying anything so.." I trailed off as I put my thumb up, agreeing with Gabriel. The others didn't respond

"You're all hesitating because you're afraid of them, right? You shouldn't be. That's why I brought her in here. So you could see" Gabriel said

"See what?" Laura asked

"That they're cowards. We broke her. Completely. And if we can break her, we can break others. If you come across one of them, keep them alive, start pulling teeth, and taking fingers. Get information, because we now know the more pain and fear you pour over them, the sooner they drop the act, which is what it is" Gabriel said. Gabriel had shocked me once more. I didn't expect him to say something like that or lose his cool. I would've said something like that, but Father Gabriel? Ain't no damn way, my guy is not talking to God, that's Satan. The others didn't even know how to respond

—————

"

What do you mean you're leaving?" Lyra asked me as I got ready

"I've got to go, your daddy and the others need help" I said

"Let me come" She said

"Honey, you know damn well I can't do that. If it was just walkers, I'd let you come, but this is different. I'll be back soon" I said as I gave her a kiss on the forehead. I walked out and met up with the others

"How many can you see in the herd?" Laura asked over the walkie

"100 at least. It's hard to tell, but it looks like there are Whisperers in it. It's on its way. What should we-" The walkie cut out

"Echo post, say again. We lost you" Laura said but there was no response. Only static

"Echo post, respond" Laura said, but again, it was just static

"Something must've happened. We should hurry" Carl said

"That watch tower's two miles away. We can't let this next wave bunch up at the gate the way the last one did" Gabriel said

"Why would they send a herd now?" Scott asked

"We have a defector giving us information. They're trying to stop us before we act on it" Gabriel said

"We're gonna have to split up if we want to cover both gates" Laura said

"That means less people out there" Scott said

"We don't have a choice" Gabriel said. Laura walked past us

"Show of hands- how many people here have been on gate duty?" Laura asked. A bunch of people raised their hands. Laura was giving the instructions when Gabriel stopped her

"Hold up. New plan. Rosita and Laura, stay back on gate security with a skeleton crew. You and aimed take a squad out to the outpost, break up the herd, and then move on to the cave. Good?" Gabriel asked

"Yeah. Yeah" Scott said

—————

It was dark as we walked on the road. But we stopped when we saw fresh bodies. I walked over to one of the corpses

"The blood is still wet. This happened recently" I said

"What the hell happened?" Scott asked

"I would like to know as well" Carl said. Gabriel grabbed his walkie

"You don't see anything coming?" Gabriel asked

"No, nothing" Rosita responded

"No sign of a herd. No walkers. What the hell is going on?" Scott asked

"Someone did this, a person" I said

"They were forced to call. Must've held the knife to her throat to make him call us and lie" Gabriel said

"Why?" Scott asked

"Most of us are out here. There's hardly anybody.. back home" Gabriel said

"Shit" Carl said

"They're here" Rosita said

"We have to hurry back" I said

"No.." Gabriel said

—————

So, instead of going back home to help, we were hiding in the woods, waiting for Beta to return with Gamma. And wouldn't you fucking know? Beta happened to be walking on the same street that we were currently watching. We went to ambush

Beta began running as Mary dropped to the ground. I began shooting at Beta as did the others. Beta was a huge dude, I was shocked he could run so damn fast. Mother fucker was Sonic or some shit. Gabriel then pointed his gun at Mary

"No, I wasn't.. I-I didn't.. I didn't betray you. I just- I-I drew him out here because he was gonna.. Please. I'm telling the truth" Mary said. Gabriel closed his eyes before lowering his weapon

—————

It was morning when we got back. We were at Cheryl's grave

"This was Dante" Gabriel said

"Scouts in the tunnels are saying the Whisperers sealed whole sections off. Aaron" Scott said as he turned to see Aaron. We all rushed over. I wanted to know where the others were. Where Daryl was. Scott embraced Aaron, before Gabriel did the same

"You're alright" Gabriel said. I embraced Aaron after Gabriel had finished

"Yeah. We, uh.. What happened?" Aaron asked

"Aaron, where are the others?" Gabriel asked

"We got seperated. Most of us got out" Aaron said

"Most of you?" Scott asked

"Not everyone" Aaron said

"Where's Daryl?" I asked

"I don't know" Aaron told me

(1864 words)
07/13/22