meanstreak
rick grimes 𝘹 fem!𝘰𝘤
© WANDARYEN ──── 2024

Our time together as a family didn't last more than a few hours. After the initial dinner and long conversations spent amongst each other — pure bliss radiating throughout the entire building.

Bob, Carol, and Daryl were missing. From who or what — I'm unsure and the momentary happiness inside me deflated quickly in under an hour.

Rick, Sasha, and Tyreese went out on a man hunt to find our missing people while I stayed back with the rest and anxiously waited for their return.

My sister was sitting beside me while she was cleaning one of the hand guns on her lap. I had my arms crossed firmly over my chest while my leg bounced subconsciously and my gaze fixated on the church doors.

"Sienna."

"What?"

"Your leg."

My leg stopped bouncing and suddenly the church grew more quiet now that I had stopped. I inhaled a small deep breath, dropping my arms from my chest.

Maggie looked over at me and placed her hand gently on my leg. "I know you're probably worried."

"There's no word to describe how I'm feeling right now." I brought my thumb towards my mouth and anxiously started biting the skin around my cuticle. "If we keep losing people then I'm going to lose my mind."

She removed her hand from my leg and reached for my wrist, forcing my hand away from my mouth with a soft scowl. "Don't start doing that again — it took you so long to break that habit."

"There's no other cure for anxiety, sister." I stated as calmly as possible.

"No, but — you need to remain calm, please." She moved her hand to hold the back of my neck, forcing me to meet her steady gaze. "I can't lose you too."

The doors to the church opened wide and I immediately sprung to my feet.

I held my breath watching Rick, Tyreese, and Sasha return but not with Daryl, Carol, nor Bob. I had let go of that breath in disappointment, letting my shoulder slouch before I stepped past my sister's legs to stand out in the open.

Sasha walked over to Gabriel with a wild look in her eyes, making my eyesbrows slightly furrow in confusion. "This is all connected! You show up, we're being watched, and now three of us are gone!"

Rick started stalking towards Gabriel while extending a hand out in my direction — in which I took gracefully and followed.

Gabriel held up his hands immediately when the three of us crowded him. "I — I don't — I don't have anything to do with this."

Sasha yanked out her knife defensively, causing Gabriel to jump back quickly, and knocking some silverware off the table.

"Sasha, put that away." Tyreese instructed his sister from behind.

Ignoring her brother, she took a step closer while pointing the knife towards his neck. "Where are our people?!"

Rick grabbed her arm and gently pulled her back towards me. I placed my hands on her shoulders before passing her over to her brother — she didn't put up a fight but the weapon remained in her grasp.

I took a step around the siblings and positioned myself in front of them protectively beside Rick. "What did you bring us here?" I question with my chin lifting upwards. "What were your intentions?"

Gabriel, whose body started shaking aggressively, looked desperately between Rick and I without lowering his hands. "Please, I — "

Rick took a step forward. "Are you working for someone?"

"Im alone — I'm alone." He stuttered his response.

I narrowed my eyes at him questionably while crossing my arms against my chest. "I heard about the woman in the food bank — when you went with my people to scavenge for food. What did you do to her?" I raised my finger and pointed towards the wall of the church. "You'll burn for this? We saw the markings and the writing — that was for you."

"Why? What are you gonna burn for, Gabriel? What?" Rick caught Gabriel off guard by grabbing him by his black suited jacket, yanking him closer to his face as his voice deepened. "What did you do?" He refused to answer and pealed his fearful gaze away from Rick's.

"What did you do?!" I pressed forward.

Rick dropped his hold on the suit and shoved Gabriel backwards — causing the man to stumble. Visible tears formed in his eyes while he slowly sat down on the steps of the Alter. "I lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. They started coming — my congregation. Atlanta was bombed the night before and they were scared. They were— they were looking for a safe place, a place where they felt safe. And it was so early. It was so early. And the doors were still locked." His lip trembled and Rick slowly took a step backwards to return to my side. "You see — it was my choice. There were so many of them and they were trying to pry the shutters and banging on the sidings, screaming at me. And so the dead came for them. Women — children. Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart, begging me for mercy."

A burning feel grew at the pit of my stomach while my mouth gaped open in surprise. "Begging me for mercy! Damning me to hell! I buried their bones — I buried it all. The Lord sent you here to finally punish me." He grabbed his legs and pulled his knees to his chest, loud choked sobs echoing through the church. "I'm damned. I was damned before. I always lock the doors. I always lock the doors."

"There's something out there lying on the grass!"

Rick and I simultaneously turned at the same time — my gaze immediately finding Glenn's who was standing between the front doorframe. Panic drawn across his face while he gestured towards outside.

Sasha was the first one to take off running — moving past Glenn and darting outside of the church.

"Sasha!" Rick called out for her but she didnt stop. My feet finally picked up and I ran after her as Rick, Glenn, and Tyreese followed after.

"Bob!" She cried out, running towards his body and kneeling down beside him. I rushed to her aid and kneeled down on the other side of Bob. One leg was missing — torn or bitten off, I had no clue. The sight of it was vile. Can you help me?" She asked, tears streaming down her face. "Help me — help me pick him up! Please."

I nodded eagerly, shouting towards the men. "Come on!" I put one arm around my neck, Sasha doing the same with the other, and the boys grabbed at Bobs good leg and his other thigh while supporting his waist.

We carried him back into the church as quickly as possible before laying him down on the ground with a soft thump. He jolted awake immediately, springing upwards when Sasha kneeled beside him.

"I was in the graveyard." He breathed heavily, looking over at Sasha then down at his leg. "Somebody knocked me out. I woke up outside this place — It looked like a school." He explained. "It was that guy, Gareth. And five other ones. They were eating my leg right in front of me. Like it was nothing. All proud like they had it all figured out."

"Did they have Daryl and Carol?" I quickly asked.

Bob looked up at me and slowly shook his head. "Gareth said they drove off." He adjusted his position but let out a painful groan, causing Sasha to jump to his aid.

"He's in pain. Do we have anything?" She asked desperately, looking around the group for some answers.

Rosita, who was sitting beside Eugene had her hands on her knees, giving Sasha a nod. "I think there are pill packets in the first aid kit."

"Save 'em." Bob blurted out, making Sasha look at him in confusion. "No."

"Really." He pressed, lifting one arm to pull down the shirt over his shoulder and revealing the bite mark. I closed my eyes and leaned my head down. "It happened at the food bank. It's okay." He explained quietly.

"Bob?" My eyes shot open and I looked over at Gabriel standing to the side awkwardly. "There's a sofa in my office. I know it's not much, but — "

Sasha looked up at the man and thanked him. Tyreese now stood over Bob, bending over to pick him up off the ground.

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

I moved to stand by his side, Gabriel's gaze flickering between us before nodding. "It's an elementary school. It's close."

"How close?" I asked quickly.

"It's just a 10-minute walk through the woods from here," he sighed. "Due south of the graveyard."

"Time for a reality check." Abraham pulled us out of our conversation, forcing us to turn around to give him our attention. "We all need to leave for DC right now."

Rick cocked his head to the side slightly, "Daryl and Carol are gonna be back. We're not going anywhere without them."

Abraham stood in a tall stance as he gripped the gun he was currently holding in the palm of his hands. "I respect that, but there's a clear threat here to Eugene. I need to extract his ass before things get any uglier. So if y'all won't come, good luck to you. We'll go our separate ways."

He started moving hastily — I turned quickly, my eyes glued to his backs. "You're leaving on foot?"

Abraham stopped in his tracks and turned to face us again. "We fixed that damn bus ourselves."

Rick shifted on his feet then started walking towards Abraham. "There are a lot more of us." He pressed. I took a sharp inhale nervously and began following Rick towards the others.

"You want to keep it that way? You should come." Abraham spoke.

I stopped just a few inches back from Rick as he got closer to Abraham, his voice deep and angered. "Carol saved your life! We saved your life."

"Well, I am trying to save yours! Save everyone's."

"We're not going anywhere without our people." Rick spoke sternly.

Abraham narrowed his eyes. "Your people took off."

"They're coming back!"

"To what, picked-over bones?!" Abraham's voice boomed loudly inside the Church making me flinch.

Rick took an angered step forward and grabbed his arm. "You're not taking — " Abraham quickly shoved Rick back as his face hardened. "Do not lay hands on me!" On instinct, both Glenn and I quickly stepped forward.

"Abraham!" Rosita snapped as I grabbed a hold of Ricks arm gently, trying to turn him to me but he shook his arm from my grip and stretched it out in front of me while pushing me back behind him.

Glenn rushed over, putting a hand on both Abraham and Ricks chest to shove them back, getting in the middle. "Hey, hey, stop! Now!" He snapped, shooting Rick a hard glare then turning to Abraham. "Do you really think that you're gonna be any safer leaving right now in the middle of the night?!"

Abraham looked down at Glenn then over at Rick. "Yeah. Yeah I do." When the man spun around with intent to walk away, Glenn quickly grabbed his arm only to pull away when Abraham spun around. "What about tomorrow? We need each other for this. We need each other to get to DC. We can get through all of it together!"

Tara pushed past Rick and I, looking between Glenn and Abraham before speaking up. "I have an idea. If you stay just one more day and help, I'll go with you to DC no matter what. Okay?"

Silence filled the entire church while he pondered the idea. "Glenn and Maggie, too."

I swiftly moved around Rick's protective stance, my chest suddenly rising and falling with building anxiety. "You're not taking them anywhere with you. They're my fucking family."

Abraham, clearly unphased by my anger, gave me a single nod. "Then you can come too."

Rick grabbed the back of my shirt then yanked me back suddenly. "No."

Abraham slightly nodded, "good luck, then. I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here." He turned to Rosita her small figure standing beside Abraham with a confused look on her face. "Rosita, grab your gear. Now." He spoke sternly, not giving her a chance to deny.

He changed his stance, his head tilted high as he spoke out towards Eugene who was sitting by himself on one of the benches. "Eugene, let's go."

"I don't want to." His small voice sounded from behind me but I never looked back.

"Now." Abraham spoke with more force and I could hear Eugene mumble a quickly 'okay', as he got up from the bench.

Eugene started following Abraham towards the front door of the church until Rick's demand stopped them in their tracks. "You're not taking the bus."

Abraham slowly turned around and stared at Rick a moment before speaking. "Try to stop me."

Rick began stalking toward the red haired man in the same motion Abraham handed his gun towards Eugene.

More panic rose in my chest, Glenn and I quickly moving forward once more and he positioned himself between the older men. "Wait, hey!" Arms stretched, Glenn shifted his head towards Abraham. "You stay — you stay and help us, and we will go with you."

My face growing pale, I moved forward in attempt to deny him but Rick beat me to it.

"No." Rick spoke deeply, earning a look from Glenn. "It's not your call." He stated before turning back to Abraham. "You stay, help us. Half a day."

Abraham pondered the thought before giving Glenn a small nod. "Come high noon, we're taillights. I'm not waiting for the other damn shoe to drop."

"And we will leave with you." Maggie's soft voice now spoke from behind me, causing me to spin around on my heel with my eyes narrowed. "I said, no!" I turned back to Abraham and jabbed a finger in his direction. "That's my fucking sister! My family and you can't have them." The anger in my system was growing at an alarming rate and even after the show down between Abraham and Rick, I no longer cared about the importance of my own life. "If you want Glenn and Maggie then you'll have to kill me."

"Sienna," Rick's stern voice scolded me from behind. I raised a shaky hand in his direction — silencing him without having to turn around.

"I said you could come with." Abraham spoke calmly.

"No!" Rick shouted.

"Sienna!" Maggie was suddenly at my side, grabbing my shoulders and forcing me to face her. "You're not leaving," I quickly shook my head, angrily forcing her arms away. "I'm older and we need to find Beth — I don't care what you say — "

Maggie's face softened, her hand reaching up to caress my face. "Your family is right here." He gazed flickered towards Rick.

"We have to find our sister." I barely whispered, grabbing her hand and gripping it tightly with mine.

She gave me a small smile, "you have to find our sister. I want your face to be the first thing she sees when you find her — and you will. I wont be gone for too long. We'll see each other again." I looked down at the floor as warm tears filled my eyes, her hand gripped mine tightly as the church grew silent.

"12 hours, then we go." Abraham spoke behind us.