Angel Warrior

“Rick, I’m tellin’ you, these people are dangerous,” Shane tried to convince Rick on why they should kick the group of five to the curb.

“Shane, one of them is military, two of them raised by one, what are the odds that we’ll ever find someone with the amount of skills that they have?” Rick sighed, fed up with the constant badgering on his decisions. If one of the new group members were a problem, then he’d do something but as of right now, they were doing good in his eyes. With Hunter, they were getting twice as much game, keeping everyone well fed - Sam and Dean do good on security watch while Gabriel and Castiel kept everyone else entertained. The rest of Rick’s group warmed up to them pretty quickly, enjoying their company and felt safe knowing they have three members with military background. The only one who seemed to be unsettled was Maggie and that was only when Sam and Dean were around. Rick had asked Hunter about that but she just told him not to worry about, that they knew each other before the turn, is all.

“Who cares, man?! I don’t! We won’t need them when we get to Fort Benning,” He growled, glaring at Rick angrily before stalking off, rubbing his shaved aggressively as he went. Rick sighed heavily, moving to sit on one of the porch steps, running a hand down his face before pinching the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut to ward off the oncoming headache. Shane and Andrea have been fighting with him about his decision to let the five stay - Hershel was none too happy about having more people on his land either - saying it was quite suspicious how they never revealed their last names and such; Rick just figured they’re private people who don’t go telling their full names to people they don’t know for more then a couple days.

A throat clearing behind him made him look up and over his shoulder, smiling at Hunter as she came forward to take a seat next to him on the step.

“I’m sorry for eavesdropping on your conversation with Shane but, well, when you hear people talking smack about you, you tend to overhear,” She smirked at him as he chuckled softly, nodding in agreement with her words.

“Listen, I’m sorry about Shane, he’s just not used to having to rely on others for anything,” Rick tried to defend Shane’s behavior but one look at Hunter’s face and he knew it was a lost cause.

“Rick, I know I’m not one to talk about being unstable but at least I have a grip on mine - Shane doesn’t and he’s spiraling. I may have not been here long but I know when I see a mentally damaged man,” She whispered, staring intently into his eyes, hoping she got her message across. Shane was dangerous and spiraling quickly - if what she gathered from her short stay here, he’s on a war path of a jealous lover, willing to kill anything and anyone who got in the way of what he rightly thought belonged to him - Lori and Carl.

“What should I do then, hm? Kick him out?” He sneered, glaring at her like she brought all the problems that was going on within the group - which he knew wasn’t true but the thought of his best friend, his brother, being mentally unstable because of this world left a sour taste in his mouth. He didn’t want to think about what he’d have to do.

“No. For now, you do nothing. Stay clear of him, give him things to keep his mind and hands busy - anything to keep him from planning anything. Have him go out on a run and kill walkers, I don’t know,” She waved her hand hastily, “Look, the reason I came over here was because I heard a mention of Fort Benning,” Rick cut her off before she could finish.

“Yeah, I know. That’s where we’re heading after Carl’s all healed up,” He stopped when she shook her head frantically.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you - there is no Fort Benning. It got overrun when this whole shit storm started,” Hunter pressed, eyebrows furrowing in frustration. Rick stared at her in shock for moment before denial set in.

“Are you sure? How do you know?” He asked, urgently as he shifted his body to face her full-on, leaning forward a bit into her personal space as he got desperate; Hunter glared at him as she shifted away from him a bit.

“Because I was driving up from my station in Albany when it got overrun and I passed it on my way to Atlanta,” She explained, voice tight and void of emotion. She was reliving the moment when she saw the Army base - just crawling with walkers and half eaten bodies littering the ground. It reminded her too much of Iraq and Hunter knew she had to get into the safety of the woods before a flashback hit her again, as it always did when she remembered all her dead brother in arms out there.

“That’s all I have to say, I’m going out to hunt,” Hunter snapped, standing quickly and stalked over to her car, snatching her compound bow off the hood and took off into the woods at a jog, Rick staring after her, stunned. Gabriel, who had been watching the two talking, jogged over to Rick and leaned over the railing.

“What happened?” He demanded, eyes flashing gold for a split second. He had to keep his temper in check if he had to stay with this group, he couldn’t risk getting onto anyone bad side just to get booted later - but if they were upsetting Hunter, then they’d have to deal with him.

Rick just stared at him for while, uncomprehending, until Gabriel looked intently at the woods before turning back to him, his jaw dropping to form a small ‘o’. He sighed heavily, scrubbing his hands over his face - Rick never seemed to catch a break lately.

“Hunter and I were just talking, she mentioned Fort Benning, I asked how she knew and she told me she saw it. Next thing I know, she’s jumping up like her pants were on fire, saying she’s going out for a hunt,” Rick explained, voice weary and body slumped as even his bones felt tired.

Gabriel groaned, “Did she mention her base in Albany?” He swore under his breath when Rick nodded, biting the inside of his cheek as he debated if he should explain or not. Knowing Hunter, she probably bottle it all up and deny talking about it ever again; besides, Rick was the leader of their little group and he had to know what was going on within the group, especially if someone was mentally damaged.

Sighing, Gabriel spoke quietly, “Hunter has bad days, as you know, where her PTSD gets out of hand. When it happens, she goes off into the safety of the forest and works through it. At first, I was really worried - ya know, with her running off every time it happened. But she always came back fine and she’d reassure me afterwords that I had nothing to worry about, she just climbs a tree and hangs out on a branch - I had followed her one day to see what she was doing,” He explained when Rick just stared at him, confused. “The reason I’m telling you all this is because of what happened at her base in Albany. Walkers were everywhere, there was no way for her to save any of them and it took a toll on her - reminded her of her tour days in Iraq.

“She’s getting better though, I think she just needed to be around new people. The base in Albany was too large, she couldn’t keep an eye on everyone and while it wasn’t her fault, she still thinks it was and carries that guilt everywhere. Here, she can protect and serve these people with everything that she has - she’ll die to protect you all, I hope you know that,” Gabriel slapped the railing as he backed away, sparing the forest one more glace before turning and walked briskly back to camp.

Gabriel knew he should go out and check on Hunter, a bad feeling he’s been having all day only got worse when she went into the forest but he also knew that, once he went after Hunter, Rick will know something’s up and send more people, leading to a bigger situation and Gabe couldn’t have that. He could have Sam or Cas distract Rick for a bit while went out but he needed to bring someone, just in case. Someone who wasn’t really part of Rick’s group nor Gabe’s, someone who could hold their own if shit went down in the forest.

Then he remembered Maggie - or Bela, whatever she went by now.

Reaching out with his senses, Gabe found her in the stables, tending to the horses - perfect. They have a straight shot to the forest without alerting the others in the house. Now that he knew where she was hiding, he went off to find Sam to give him the special task; it didn’t take Gabe long to find him either, sitting under one of the trees surrounding their small camp, conversing quietly while wheedling stick knifes from a few branches.

“Sam!” He approached the two, eyes flickering to Dean before resting on Sam again, beckoning him to come with Gabe with a nod of his head. Sam gave a slight nod as he stood up, handing Dean his wooden shank before following him, hands tucked in his jean pockets, wondering what his angelic boyfriend wanted to discuss. They only went a few feet from where Dean is, well out of hearing reach but close enough for the older brother to keep an eye on them.

“Listen, I need you or Dean or both of you to distract the group for a while, mainly Rick,” Gabriel started, speaking in hush tones while his eyes darting around them, looking for any eavesdroppers before zeroing in on Sam’s confused hazel orbs.

“Why? What’s going on?” Sam grew more concerned when Gabriel kept eyeing the forest, rubbing his mouth as he thought - Gabe only did that when he was nervous and it was making Sam anxious, not knowing what was going on with his boyfriend.

“It’s Hunter, I have this bad feeling that something’s gonna happen and it only got worse when she took off for a hunt,”

“Then let me come with you,” Gabriel was already shaking his head before Sam could finish.

“No, you’ll only serve as a distraction to me and we can’t do that - don’t look at me like that! You know as well as I do, that as soon as we get past the forest line, we’ll be at each other like rabbits,” Sam’s cheeks flushed pink as Gabriel called him out on his thoughts, “This is Hunter, our sister, who could possibly be in danger and we don’t need distractions, I’m sorry but it’s true,” Sam chewed on the inside of his cheek as he mentally ran through all the residents on the farm to suggest to Gabe on who to take but he drew up blank.

“Then who are you taking?”

Gabriel hesitated for a bit before answering, knowing Sam’ll pitch a fit, “Maggie,”

Sam stared at Gabe like he had two heads, “Bela? You’re taking Bela with you? A demon?” The incredulous in Sam’s voice almost had Gabe bristle but he took a deep breath to regain his emotions, knowing that Sam was still trying to get adjusted to having the woman who terrorized the brothers around again - while ignoring his hunter instincts to rid the demon - so, Gabriel couldn’t really fault him for those.

“Yes, her powers are similar to mine and will help with trying to find Hunter. Human senses are too dull and while yours’ are toned from being a hunter, they’re still not up to level with angels and demons - especially archangels. Plus, she’s not from either group, no one will notice her missing for a few hours - you have to trust me on this,” He pleaded, the two having an intense staring contest until Sam nodded, a heavy sigh through his nose as he consented. Gabriel gave him a firm but passionate kiss as a thank you, turning to jog down to the stables, hoping to catch Maggie before she left the stables; Sam just watched him leave with a fond shake of his head and a light chuckle, returning to his spot next to his brother.

Gabriel peaked around the corner from the stable doorway, grinning wickedly when he saw Maggie brushing down a horse contently, not paying attention to her surrounds like she was suppose to - he could have fun with this. It’s been a while since he pranked anyone and Gabe was getting antsy, his fingers twitchy to make some sort of mythical creature wreak havoc on everyone but he refrained himself, figuring everyone was already on edge with the whole zombie apocalypse thing, they don’t need him being a dick on top of it. But he can give a spook to someone every now and then.

Sneaking quietly in, he crouched and practically crawled over to the stall Maggie was in; he waited until her back was turned and popped up with a shout. Maggie gave a startled shout and twirled around, hand flying to her chest as her eyes flashed black at the sight of Gabriel - the horse just snickered at them as Gabriel practically rolled around on the stable floor, clutching his sides as he laughed.

“Gabriel!” She shouted, face red in embarrassment as she glared at the archangel. Maggie rose an eyebrow at the hysterical archangel, face cooling down as her embarrassment faded. “Okay, c’mon, it wasn’t that funny,” Gabriel still continued to laugh, borderline sobbing at this point; Maggie frowned, exiting the stall and stood off his shaking form. “Alright, what the fuck is wrong with you?” She added a shift kick to the shin to further her point in making him answer. It took a few minutes but he stopped long enough to regulate his breath, pains in his body from his painful laughter.

“I need your help,” He muttered, still on the floor, still curled in the fetal position; Maggie just scoffed, going to the empty stall at the end to toss her tools away.

“And what do you need my help for?” She asked, her southern twang settled oddly on his ears - he was so used to her being British that even after years of hiding in the south, it still sounded weird to him.

“Hunter,” At her expectant face, he elaborated with a small eye roll, “She went off into the woods and I’ve been having this bad feeling all day, which only got worse when I saw her take off,”

“Are you sure that’s just not your protective archangel instincts?” She chuckled a little when he flipped her off, finally getting up off the floor and joining her by the stall. “Alright, I’ll help you save the fragile archangel,” He gave her a look at that and she just shrugged innocently.

“You can’t say that shit, she’s still human and she has a choice,” Maggie cut off his tiresome protests with a look of her own.

“This is Hunter we’re talkin’ about. If there’s a tiny chance that she could fix all of this, you really think she’s just gonna walk away and be the anti-hero?” At his defeated look, she smiled sadly at him and patted his shoulder, “It’ll be alright, we still have a while before she finds it but we won’t even get that amount of time if we don’t move it right now, c’mon,” Maggie consoled him as she guided him by the shoulders out of the stables and into the woods, both of them checking over their shoulders to see if anyone was watching them.

Gabriel fluttered his wings nervously as they broke the forest line, ignoring Maggie’s look of interest as she watched the three sets of golden wings be revealed to her - she’s always just seen the large set and as shadows, never corporal and solid; he had to find Hunter, had to know she was safe and unharmed in his range of sight.

He’d never forgive himself if something happened to her, again, under his watch.