(TW!! Mentions of abuse, drug usage, decapitation, and war!!)
It's been a few days, we're back at the prison and my wound is perfectly normal again.
To say Alyssa was pissed would be an understatement.
"You left!" She yells, jumping up off of her bunk.
I hang my head in regret as she approaches my masked figure. "They needed a p-"
"Look at me while you're telling these lies!" She orders, stomping her foot. I wince and look up at her.
Her eyes are narrowed her jaw is clenched, her hands are on her hips and she's looking at me like a mom looks at a kid who just took candy from the jar after being told no.
"Well?"
"They needed an extra person and I volunteered." "And you didn't even say goodbye? You could have died!" The mom-like figure squeals, throwing her hands up.
I purse my lips and nod, "I know, I know."
She's still slightly pissed at me but I'm convinced Alyssa forgets anything after like a day or two.
"How's the foot...not-foot...foot." Damien peeks his head into Daryl and I's cell.
I scoff, "It's fine. I can't even feel it anymore." Damien nods and fully steps into the cell, leaning against the wall. I'm putting my laundry away in my dresser so I can't see him.
"'s Alyssa still pissed?"
I nod, "I think so." I turn around and lean on the dresser, now facing Damien. "She's right. I left without telling her and I could have died." I shake my head and run a hand through my hair. "God I'm an ass," I whisper.
"Hey," His voice is soft as he approaches me. "Yeah, you are." I groan and nod,
"Thanks." Damien smiles a downturned smile and nods.
"Just here to tell the truth. But listen, you would have left-"
"Get out." Daryl rasps, storming into the cell. Damien quickly turns to him before shooting me a confused glance.
I shrug but by the look in Daryl's eyes, he's about to cry.
I nod to Damien and he nods back, walking out without another word.
I turn to look at Daryl who is pacing angrily around the cell. "Daryl?" I squeak, nervously.
I can't deny that I'm nervous to be in the same cell as Daryl. I don't think Daryl would ever lay a finger on me but there are a few thoughts in the back of my head that on one certain occasion, his fist will connect with my jaw.
"Rick made Carol leave." He doesn't look at me as we speak.
"What?" I gasp, stepping closer slowly.
"She killed Karen and David, Rick didn' want 'er here."
"Oh my god," I whisper, looking away from Daryl.
I don't think Daryl wants to talk about it anymore because he quickly changes the subject, "Where's the wax for my crossbow strings?"
I point to my backpack, "Somewhere in there." He nods and grabs my backpack. I turn around and begin loading my laundry into my dresser again. His hand digs around quickly before it stops at the bottom of my bag.
After hearing his hand stop, I realize that the wax is in the front pocket, not at the bottom. But the Dilaudid is.
I told Daryl I'd stopped after I had to admit it to save Alyssa. He believed me, no questions asked.
"The fuck is this?" He pulls the medicine and the syringe out of my bag. My blood runs cold and I slowly turn to him.
"I-uh-I just never pulled it out of my bag." I lie, picking at my cuticles at the sight of it.
He scoffs, "You never pulled it out of your bag?" I nod, biting my lower lip nervously.
"All this money is from a gas station, and you just forgot to take it out of the bag?!" Nick yells. He'd found my go bag just two days before I was supposed to go.
SMACK
My head whips to the left as his hand collides with my cheek, and the familiar sting rises throughout my whole face. "Never lie to me again." He hisses, shoving the money in his wallet.
"It just slipped my mind." I can't hide the shakiness to my voice but I don't think Daryl notices.
"You're using again." Those terrifying words slowly make their way out of Daryl's mouth and to my ear.
"I told you-"
"You never did stop." Daryl realizes. "You lied." His voice is a mere whisper before it gets loud, "You lied!" He takes a big step closer and my eyes flash with fear.
I back as close to the dresser as I can, my heart pounds in my ears and I can practically see Nick standing right in front of me.
I quickly close my eyes and turn my head to the left, ready to be hit. "I'm sorry!" I yell, squeezing my eyes shut.
But nothing ever happens.
I slowly open my eyes and look at Daryl who is staring at me, wide-eyed.
"I'm not Nick." He assures me, slightly offended. I nod,
"I know." My hands are shaking and my breathing is ragged.
He sets the drug down on our bed and steps closer, going in for a hug.
I inch closer to the dresser but when I realize he's not going to hit me, I walk into the hug.
His strong arms wrap around me and immediately make me feel safe. "I'm sorry," I whisper into his neck. I feel his head nod,
"I know."
BOOM
The prison shakes. We quickly break the hug and look around before looking at each other. "C'mon," I say, grabbing my backpack, which has my dagger in it, my gun, and whip, and running out of the cell.
As I'm running, I see Alyssa rush into the cell block. She hadn't gotten sick, so thank god, and she was bringing her stuff back into her cell.
"What was that?" She quickly asks, running up to me as she sees me. "I dunno, it came from outside," I recall, grabbing her wrist and beginning to quickly make our way outside.
Everyone is running outside, trying to find the source of the explosion.
"Get back!" Rick yells as he runs outside.
Everyone is watching through the fence, I can practically hear everyone's heartbeats racing.
There are six cars outside of the last fence and a tank. The source of the explosion was a guard tower which is now on fire, dark grey smoke wafting up and out of it.
"Oh fuck." I whisper.
"Rick!" A familiar voice booms from on top of the tank.
"Was that-" "The Governor." I finish Alyssa's sentence.
"Come down here. We need to talk." The Governor orders.
It's quiet for a moment while Rick weighs his options until he yells, "It's not up to me! There's a council now. They run this place." His voice is loud and deep, barely hiding his fear.
"Is Hershel on the council?" The Governor asks, looking to the right. A woman grabs Hershel out of a red van. I hear Beth and Maggie gasp from behind me, their fear evident.
"What about Michonne?" My heart stops at his words.
This time, it's a man who grabs her, walking her to where Hershel is kneeling in front of the tank. "She on the council too?"
"Michonne." Damien whispers from next to me.
"I don't make decisions anymore!" Rick yells.
"You're makin' the decisions today Rick. Come down here, let's have that talk.
Rick thinks for a second before handing Daryl his gun and walking over to the gate, creaking it open, and beginning to walk down the gravel road.
Daryl approaches Tyreese, Sasha, Damien, and I. "We can't take 'em all on." He whispers. "We ain't got the numbers no more. We'll go through the admin building to the woods, like we planned. When's the last time someone checked the stash on the bus?"
"Day before we hit the Big Spot." Sasha recalls, her voice in a whisper as well. "We were running low on rations then, we're even lower now."
"Yeah, we'll manage. Things go South, everybody heads for that bus. Let everybody know."
"What if everybody doesn't know when things go bad? How long do we wait?" Tyreese asks.
"As long as we can." Daryl answers, walking away.
Alyssa turns to me, "What if I..." I crouch down in front of her and hold her biceps,
"They'll have to kill me first. You stay with Damien or me, understand? I will do everything in my power to make sure that we do not get split up."
Alyssa's lip quivers and she nods, "PBND." She whispers. I smile,
"PBND."
Rick speaks to the Governor through the fence for his protection. They talk at normal volume so we can't hear them from up behind our fence. The only thing I'm able to make out is, "...sundown to get out..." And I know everyone else heard it because we all exchanged glances.
Two people are guarding Michonne and Hershel to make sure they won't get up and run. I feel my blood set on fire at Michonne being used like that.
I hear another snippet of their conversation, "...I have a tank. And I'm letting you walk away from here..."
Suspense builds as we await for something, anything. The air is thick with tension and my heart pounds.
Daryl quietly grabs the cart of guns and brings it over to us, he secretly hands Alyssa, Damien, and I a machine gun. I feel his hand on the small of my back as he whispers, "You okay?" I nod,
"Amazing." I inhale before I whisper back.
Alyssa's breath shudders as she checks to make sure her gun is loaded.
Damien flicks the brim of her red hat and crouches down in front of her. "God you're a badass." He whispers.
A gunshot causes us all to flinch, "Just him tryin' to be a badass by shootin' Walkers." Damien reassures Alyssa. Her trembling form stands in front of him,
"I don't like killing people." She whispers, looking at her feet.
"Good." Damien and I say at the same time. She looks at us confusedly, I stand next to Damien, in front of her.
"You shouldn't like killing people." I pause, trying to think of the right words to say. "But sometimes you have to. To save us...to save you." She bites her lower lip and nods.
Damien looks from Alyssa to me, then back to Alyssa. "God you guys are complete images of each other." Alyssa and I look at each other before she says,
"I don't think we're that alike."
"You both bite your lower lip when you're nervous or trying to think of what to say."
I scoff, "Okay, thanks, but we need to get ready to fire if something goes bad," I say, putting my hand on Damien's shoulder before walking over to the fence and aiming my gun in the holds of the chains.
Damien nods and stands up, motioning for Alyssa to get ready at the fence as well.
She stands next to Carl, who is standing next to Daryl, and I stand next to Daryl.
"We got to do something." Carl whispers.
"Your dad's got it." Daryl assures him.
"They're talking. We could kill the Governor right now."
"Yeah from fifty yards?" Carl looks at Daryl,
"I'm a good shot. I could end this right now."
"Yeah, or you could start somethin' else." It's quiet for a moment before Daryl continues, "You gotta trust 'im."
By the way Rick hangs his head, I can tell he's really trying to figure something out.
I can't hear anything but Rick looks back at the Governor and I can tell they're having an intense conversation.
The Governor suddenly jumps off the tank and runs to the same red van Hershel and Michonne were taken out of. He reaches in and grabs Michonne's katana before walking over to Hershel and holding it up to his neck.
My heart stops and my blood runs cold. Alyssa gasps quietly, "No."
Maggie and Beth cry at the fence line, Alyssa's hands shake slightly at the thought of seeing someone decapitated, let alone Hershel decapitated.
Rick shifts uncomfortably. He begins to talk loudly to them, still not loud enough for any of us to hear.
The Governor slowly removes the katana from Hershel's neck and a sense of relief washes over his nervous body.
The Governor says something before bringing the katana into Hershel's neck, slicing his head almost off. Blood spits out of his neck and his head tips to the side.
My eyes widen in horror, the sight is enough to make anyone stay up at night.
Maggie lets out a blood-curdling scream as she and Beth sob. Alyssa quickly turns away and cries, lowering her gun. She covers her mouth to muffle her sobs, her eyes wide and her body shaking with each cry.
"Oh my god." I whisper as Hershel's body falls to the ground.
"NO!" Rick screams, shooting his gun. Immediately everyone begins firing as well, trying their best to aim for the Governor and the Governor only.
Daryl grunts before firing his gun, Beth yells out "Daddy!"
My shoulder jerks back repeatedly as my machine gun fires, bullets ricocheting around the prison and the cars around the tank.
I turn to Alyssa who is crouching behind a wall, refusing to shoot. I look back at the cars before firing a few times and running over to her, crouching in front of her.
"'Lyss, listen to me." I pant, my words slightly shaky. "You are so brave. So. Brave. What Damien says is true. We are alike. Hell of a lot alike. And if I'm trying my best to be brave right now," I cup her face. "You have to too. Now I want you to go out there, show those dicks who's boss, and walk out looking badass as hell."
Alyssa's crying face nods but doesn't respond. Her shaky hands grab her gun and I help her stand up before hugging her. "You choose your story." I break the hug and run back to the fence, firing my gun again.
The tank begins driving, tearing down both fences and making its way up to us.
The cars follow shortly after, speeding up the hill.
My bullets finally kill two people, their bodies fall to the ground.
The tank fires at the prison behind us, destroying the walls. Smoke twists and swirls, the sound of explosions covers any other sound. The smell of fire fills my nose as Alyssa runs up to me.
"Adrian!" Alyssa yells desperately. "I'm out of ammo!" I cuss silently, "Run for the bus! I got you!" Alyssa nods and bolts to the bus, my bullets protect her from any harm.
I see two Walkers silently approaching Daryl without him noticing. He just keeps firing in front of him. "Daryl!" I scream, quickly trying to alert him before he gets bit.
He quickly turns and kills both Walkers, nodding silently to me as a thank you.
I guess the sounds of the explosions and bullets are drawing more Walkers in as I look and see multiple Walkers following closely behind our enemies.
I look around quickly for any sign of Damien or Daryl but I can't find them anywhere. All I see are more Walkers around the prison.
The safest place is for me to run all the way down the hill to Michonne, so that's what I do.
I crack my whip on a few Walkers' heads before continuing to run.
"Michonne!" I scream, catching her attention. She shoots a few more Walkers as I bolt out of the yard, Michonne grabs my wrist and begins running with me as we narrowly avoid the hands of Walkers.
I look back at the prison but all I see is smoke, fire, and Walkers.
I small whimper comes out of my mouth as we make it into the woods. "Alyssa." I quickly turn to Michonne.
"I sent her on the bus. What if-"
"She'll be fine. But we gotta go." Michonne says urgently, squeezing my biceps.
Tears form in my eyes as I look back at the prison, "Damien-" "Stop." She says firmly. "You're never gonna survive if you don't try to focus on keeping you alive."
I nod and turn to the woods in front of us, "I'll find them. Daryl too."
"What do you and Alyssa say? PBND or something?" Michonne asks, beginning to walk.
I begin walking, fire in my eyes and ice in my veins. "Pretty bitches never die."
(Summary:) The Governor makes a comeback by destroying the prison. Adrian had sent Alyssa on the bus and she had gone with Michonne. She doesn't know where Damien, Alyssa, or Daryl are and she has to figure out how to move forward without focusing on them.