In the Very End: Book One

Chapter 27

He yelped in pain and shoved my head into one of the tanks. When he pulled me backwards, I took the tanks with me. They shattered to the ground; glass, water, and heads spilling everywhere.

He dragged me across the glass to a head that was chomping the air in hopes for food. It was soon kicked away and Michonne appeared before me. She booted the man in the face. I tried to grab my gun, but it was out of reach. That's when I noticed a piece of glass still attached to a tank.

The man took hold of me, making it hard to grab the glass. Michonne tried pulling him back, which clearly wasn't working. I finally got a hold of the glass and yanked it off of the tank. The sharp edges sliced through my skin, making my hand gush with blood, but the adrenaline in my veins was so thick that it barely hurt. Gritting my teeth through the pain, I swung my arm around and stuck it into his eyeball.

A blood curdling scream followed and I was set free. I was expecting it to go right through, but I guess my estimates were wrong. Michonne lifted her katana and was about to end it but as I stood, I was suddenly looking down the barrel of a gun. Behind it was Andrea.

"What have you done?" she asked, shaking her head.

We all slowly circled around each other, holding knives to each other's throats. Michonne finally put her sword down, leaving Andrea and I with a stare down. Michonne walked away and I followed after. I stared at the ground as we made our way out of the building. That must've been the Governor. We snuck through the town and got outside of the walls, back to where we first came from. We slowly emerged from under a train.

"Are you okay?" Rick asked, pulling me away from Michonne. Glenn latched onto my hand and guided me to him and Maggie.

"Where in the hell were you two?" Rick asked.

"Taking care of something," Michonne replied. "I didn't ask her to come."

"Get what you came for?" Rick spat.

"Not exactly," I replied. "The Governor was almost dead until we ran into Andrea."

"She's alive?" Rick asked.

"Held a gun to my head," I said with disbelief.

"Where are the rest of your people?" Michonne asked.

"They got Oscar," Glenn notified, looking pissed and beat up.

"Daryl's missing," Maggie informed.

"Daryl's missing?" I asked. "What the hell do you mean he's missing?"

"When he saw you were gone, he went looking," Maggie said.

"I have to go find him," I said, running towards the walls.

"Quinn!" Rick called. He grabbed my shoulder, slowing me down. "Quinn."

I shrugged his hand off. "Don't. You know goddamn well I ain't leaving here without him."

Rick gave me a long look. "Go. We'll be down once we figure out a plan."

I continued back towards Woodbury. I climbed over the unoccupied walls and jogged to a lit up area. I hid behind a cement block and waited for the Governor to speak. He was wearing a bandage over his eye. I couldn't let him find me, he would kill me for sure.

He shrugged. "What can I say? There hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed."

I noticed a man next to him was holding a crossbow; Daryl's crossbow.

"I thought we were past it—past the days when we all sat huddled, scared in front of the TV during the early days of the outbreak. The fear we all felt then, we felt it again tonight. I failed you. I promised to keep you safe. Hell, look at me. I should tell you that we'll be okay, that we're safe, that tomorrow we'll bury our dead and endure, but I won't because I can't. 'Cause I'm afraid. That's right." He nodded. "I'm afraid of terrorists who want what we have, who want to destroy us. It gets worse, 'cause one of those terrorists is one of our own. Merle."

Merle? He was still alive?

"The man I counted on, the man I trusted," the Governor continued. "He lead 'em here and he let 'em in. It was you. You lied."

They stripped Merle of his weapons.

"Betrayed us all."

Next, two men came in holding a squirming figure. My heart skipped a beat. I held myself from running out into the rink. In order to save Daryl, I had to be alive, too.

"This is one of the terrorists." He ripped the bag off of Daryl's head. "Merle's own brother."

Merle and Daryl stared at each other for a while before Daryl caught sight of me. I nodded slightly, letting him know that I had his back and we'd all get out of here alive.

"What should we do with them?" the Governor asked.

"Kill them!" people shouted.

The Governor smirked. "You wanted your brother, now you got him. But first, I think we should kill the girl."

The crowd got silent and I met Daryl's gaze. My heart stopped beating and my face grew hot. Someone grabbed my neck and yanked me towards the crowd of people. A knife was held to my throat and people went crazy.

They chanted an awful chant: "Kill them all!"

"It's not up to me anymore," the Governor said. "The people have spoken."

I could see the hurt and confusion on Daryl's face. There was nothing he could do.

"I asked you where your loyalties lie. You said here. Well, prove it." He gestured to Merle. "Prove it to us all. Brother against brother. Winner goes free. Fight to the death!"

"You're sick!" I shouted. "You're putting on a show for all these people when you know damn well—"

"The only sick one here is the one who killed my daughter," he mumbled. "And the one who took my eye!"

"Let 'er go," Daryl growled. "I said let 'er go!"

"The people have spoken," the Governor repeated. "She'll watch you die and then we'll kill her, too."

"Go to hell," I said through gritted teeth.

Daryl, he might die tonight and I didn't get to tell him that I loved him.