CHAPTER FORTY
"Liar!"
——
"Listen, there are children. Some of them are sick and they won't survive" Rick announces and seems to be gaining some sympathy from people in the crowd. "I have a tank and I'm letting you walk away from here. What else is there to talk about?" The governor asks and Jane scoffs. "You have two of our people held hostage and my sister. There's a lot to talk about... Governor" Jane snaps leaving silence among the group.
"You know, I could shoot you all. You'd all shoot back, I know that. But we'll win and you'll be dead. All of you. Doesn't have to be like that. It's your choice" The governor states and Jane sighs looking around until she hears walkers snarling in the distance and the governor handily shoots the several oncoming walkers in the head. "Noise will only draw more of them over. The longer you wait, the harder it'll be for you to get out" The governor states as Rick and Jane look up at him in disbelief.
"You got maybe about an hour of sunlight left. I suggest you start packing" The governor suggests and Jane scoffs. "What do you gain from this? Mentally?" Jane questions as Joslyn lets out a chuckle. "A ego to large for his head" Joslyn states and is punched in the face by the woman behind her again. Jane controls herself this time and balls her fist up knowing she is unable to do anything.
"We can all— We can all live together. There's enough room for all of us" Rick pleads as he chokes up his words. "More than enough. But I don't think my family would sleep well knowing that you were under the same roof" The governor says and Jane widens her eyes at his statement and shakes her head. "There's multiple cell blocks we can choose from. We can— We can live in different ones" Jane says even thought it pained her to say it. She just wants to get back to Glenn new she even though her sister is in front of her right now all she can think about is Glenn and if he's okay. "It could work. You know it could" Hershel agrees turning his head slightly.
"It could've but it can't. Not after Woodbury. Not after Andrea" The governor argues. "You took me and Glenn hostage and allowed him to be tortured the best thing for Woodbury was for it to go" Jane states. "I'm sorry but there's no debate anymore. We're not leaving" Jane states and The governor looks over at Rick. "She's right. We're not going anywhere. You try to force us we'll just fight back" Rick retaliates and it's obvious his words are making the governor more upset.
"The gunfire will just bring more of them out. They'll take down the fences. Without the fences this place is worthless. Now, we can all live in the prison or none of us can" Rick states as his final offer which makes the governor jump down from the tank and holds Michonne's katana to Hershel's neck pushing Joslyn out of the way. Jane widens her eyes and looks down at Hershel who doesn't seem all that scared. Jane looks to a scared girl who has ponytails in her hair. "Hey! Is this what you all want? A war over a dirty prison!" Jane questions looking around. "Look, I've fought him before and after, we took in his old friends. They've become leaders in what we have here. Now, you put down your weapons, walk through those gates, and you're one of us. We let go of all of it, and nobody dies. Everyone who's alive right now. Everyone who's made it this far. We've all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive, but we can still come back. We're not too far gone.", Rick says. Hershel smiles, knowing that Rick has found what he lost.
Jane looks over to her sister who sends her a sweet smile as Rick gives his speech. "We get to come back, I know we all can change.", Rick continues looking over to Jane who places a hand on his forearm and smiles at him reassuringly.
"Liar" The governor mutters and Jane notices Joslyns eyes widen so she moves her eyes towards the governor and sees him slash the katana down, partially decapitating Hershel. "Oh my god..." Jane mumbles softly as she grabs her gun from behind her and points it towards the governor. "No!" Jane screams as her, Rick and the Prison inhabitants open fire. While Carl manages to hit the Governor in the arm, a bullet from the returning volley hits Rick in the thigh, "Rick! Rick!" Jane screams as she covers him and shoots towards random people before helping Rick and dragging him behind the overturned bus for cover.
"Rick! Are you okay?" Jane questions as Rick winces in pain. "Here" Jane says as she rips parts of her shirt and wraps it around Ricks leg and ties it while gunfire heavily unloads on them. Jane covers Rick and begins shooting able to get one person in the shoulder then duck for cover as gunfire immediately goes towards her. Jane peaks and sees what's going on and sees whoever is controlling h the tank drive it straight through the fence and ultimately collapses it, destroying the crops in the process. The Governor and some of his militia use the tank for cover, while the rest attack/invade the prison in cars and pick-ups. The third war officially begins.
"Jane! You have to go, now" Rick pleads as he tries to shoot some people. "I'm not leaving you here alone" Jane states as she checks the clip in her gun. "Im not letting you die because of me! Go! Now!" Rick shouts and Jane looks at Rick and shakes her head. "I can't..." Jane mumbles as her eyes starts getting watery. "You need to find Glenn. I'll be okay. I promise" Rick says sadly as he places a hand on Jane's cheek but quickly pulls away. "There getting closer. I'll try my best to cover you. Go" Rick begs and Jane sighs as she begins running into straight gun fire but surprisingly doesn't get hit with a single bullet but she sure was close to some.
With the tank blasting holes on the prison's building's walls, the inhabitants begin evacuating to the best of their ability. "Maggie! Where's Glenn?" Jane asks frantically and she points towards the bus which is ready to go. Jane rushes on the bus but doesn't see Glenn. She checked every seat and he was nowhere to be found. The noise from the battle is drawing in even more walkers from outside the prison boundaries. Herds began to pour in through the destroyed fences, interrupting the battle between the two groups. Jane rushes off the bus and sees nothing but smoke and walkers and she grips her gun tightly and shoots walkers left and right.
Jane is suddenly surrounded by a pool of walkers and doesn't know how she'll get out of this but she keeps on fighting and shooting until loads of gunfire is heard and the walkers begin dropping like flies. Jane looks in the distance where the gun fire is coming from and sees her sister Joslyn emerge out of a field of smoke with a large assault rifle. Jane can't help it but she runs towards her sister and hugs her tightly. "I didn't think you'd be happy to see me" Joslyn says as they pull away from the hug. "I'm not. I'm just really glad you're not dead" Jane replies as she sees a walker behind Joslyn and quickly shoots it.
"Where are your people?" Joslyn asks and Jane shrugs. "We've spilt up. I cant find Glenn and I left Rick" Jane begins to panic while looking around frantically. "I hate to say it but we have to leave" Joslyn says grabbing Janes arm and shooting a few walkers who come by. "What? I can't. I need to find Glenn" Jane protests. "This place is overrun with infected! We can't say here!" Joslyn shouts and Jane starts to walk away from her but Josly grabs Janes arm and begins dragging her away. "I lost you once I'm not losing you again" Joslyn argues and Jane suddenly gives up on fighting back while she looks at the place she once called home. The pair walk away, away from the Prison, which has been overrun by hordes of walkers.
"We have to go" Joslyn states as herds of walkers stream in through the destroyed ruins. The prison became overrun, damaged beyond repair.
WORD COUNT: 1455