42. old enemies, new feuds
QUINN
BENDING DOWN SHE TOOK A HOLD OF THE corpse its feet, lifting its legs up so she could drag it over towards the car. The morning sun shone its light down on her as she worked to get rid of all the bodies that Rick, Milo and Carl had left in the courtyard.
Michonne was standing on the trailer, reaching out to the corpse in Quinn's hands and helping her put it on the ever growing pile that was already placed on the trailer.
'You need some help with that?' The familiar accent of Rick Grimes echoed through the morning air. Quinn turned to look at him, he seemed tired but satisfied. As he should be because she heard the medicine had already started working on some of the infected.
'No,' Michonne answered. 'Do your thing.'
Nodding Rick turned around, heading towards the gardens to return to his work of being a farmer.
'We could've used an extra set of hands,' Quinn said, jumping down from the trailer and walking over to where the last corpse lay on the concrete.
'Nah,' Michonne said, smiling slightly. 'We got it. Let the man return to his plants.'
Chuckling, Quinn shook her head before bending down and taking the corpse its arms, pulling it up and dragging it towards the car where Michonne helped to lift it up.
'You heading out?' The tired voice of Hershel spoke from behind them, making the two women turn to look at him.
'You want to come?' Quinn asked him.
Hershel stared at her, seeming to consider the offer, before nodding finally. 'Hell yeah,' he said, a small smile forming on his features. Opening the door of the car, he sat down in the passengers seat.
Quinn climbed in the back and let Michonne take place behind the wheel. She started the engine, driving the car down towards the gate, which Milo opened for them. She gave her brother a small wave as they drove passed him outside, into the forest.
Michonne pulled the car to a stop and they started unloading the corpses, throwing them on a big pile. Soon her back was hurting and her arms aching but she kept her mouth shut and continued the work. Finally they had unloaded them all and she let out a heavy sigh. While Hershel and Michonne threw some gasoline on the pile, she lit a match. And when they were done she threw it between the bodies and took a step back, watching as the fire devoured their flesh.
Michonne was the first one to turn away, making her way back to the car. Quinn and Hershel followed, before the smell of melting flesh would become too much to bear. Suddenly a figure stepped from behind a tree, punching Michonne in the face with the back of his gun, making the woman fall to the ground immediately, out cold.
Hershel reached for his gun and Quinn raised her dagger as her eyes fell on the figure his face. Her breath caught in her throat and it felt like her heart stopped. Because right there, right in front of her, stood the Governor, his gun pointed at both of them. He was alive and looked as if he had never left at all.
Slowly Hershel lowered his gun but Quinn was frozen on the spot, staring daggers at the man as she tried to think of anything she could do to take him out without them getting hurt.
'Put it down,' the Governor spoke, nodding to her dagger.
She knew it was pointless, that there was no way out of this and so she slowly lowered her weapon, putting her hands in the air. Seeing the man standing there before her made her body burn up with a raging fire of anger. Flashes of Andrea's bloody and bruised body passed through her mind, as well as Merle, dead and chewing on a body.
'Walk,' he said, gesturing with his gun for them to start moving.
Not really having another option she started walking, followed by Hershel. She noticed the Governor taking Michonne's leg and dragging her along and anger flared up inside of her once again. They walked through the forest until a caravan became visible behind the trees.
She threw a glare over her shoulder at the Governor and he mentioned for them to go inside. Biting her tongue she did so, sitting down on one of the benches with Hershel beside her.
The Governor carried Michonne inside, putting her down on another couch and started binding her hands. When he was done he walked over to Quinn and Hershel, binding theirs as well. The rope was way too tight around her wrists and her arms were already aching from being in an uncomfortable position but she didn't dare to make a sound.
A groan left Michonne's lips, her eyes opening slowly, looking around before finally falling on the Governor's face, making an angry frown appear on her features. Quinn only now noticed the ugly cut across her forehead, which must've appeared when the man hit her down.
He walked forwards, placing a band aid across the cut, making Michonne crawl further backwards on the couch. 'Don't touch me,' she snapped.
The Governor ignored her and reached in his pocket instead, taking out some food and throwing it on the table between them. 'You should eat,' he said, 'it's gonna be a long day.' Upon seeing their gazes he added, 'nobody's gonna hurt you.'
Quinn narrowed at him, those words made her feel like he had forgotten all about what happened, as he was putting on the same righteous man act he had when they first met, maybe thinking it would work again. But Quinn would never forget everything he'd done and so she didn't even try to push away the hatred that boiled her in stomach.
'I don't believe that,' Hershel suddenly spoke up, his voice calm but his eyes cautious.
'Well, I don't care,' the Governor replied.
'Just tell us what this is,' Hershel asked. 'Please.'
It wouldn't matter what he said, she would never believe him anyway, no one in their group would and so she didn't understand what Hershel was trying to do.
'It isn't personal,' the one eyed man said.
'Then what is it?'
He sighed deeply. 'Michonne, I want you to know...Penny, my daughter, she was dead. I know that now. I don't want to hurt you, I don't wanna hurt anyone. I need the prison, that's it. There are people I need to keep alive. You three are gonna help me take it. No one needs to die.'
Silence fell over the four of them and Quinn felt her beat speeding up by looking at the man. Her hands were itching to get free and hit him until he wouldn't be able to stand anymore.
'I'm gonna kill you,' Michonne broke the silence, her voice filled with poison.
'No, you won't,' the Governor told her.
'I'm gonna take my-' 'Stop it,' Hershel interrupted her before leaning forwards, his eyes focused on the Governor. 'You want the prison?'
'Yeah,' this one replied, nodding, 'and I'll take it as peacefully as I can.'
'Governor,' Hershel started but the one eyed man cut him off, 'Don't call me that.'
Hershel nodded slowly. 'Your people, our people, we can find a way to live together.'
Quinn shared a glare with Michonne, both of them knowing there wasn't any possibility of that ever happening.
'These people you need to keep alive, do you love 'em?' Hershel continued.
'You're a good man, Hershel,' the Governor said, 'a better man than Rick.'
'Everything you've said, the way you've said it, you've changed. So has Rick,' the older man kept trying.
'The two of us will never be able to live together. Michonne and I, Quinn and I, we'll never be able to live together.'
'We'll find a way,' Hershel said calmly and suddenly the Governor turned towards the man, raising his voice and screaming. 'I found a way!' He took a deep breath before adding more calmly, 'I'm trying hard. There's all kinds of ways I could do this. This way, you get to live and I get to be...' he interrupted himself, as if they weren't allowed to hear those words. He turned away from them before walking towards the door.
'You say you want to take this prison as peacefully as possible,' Hershel tried one last time. 'That means you'd be willing to hurt people to get it. My daughters would be there. That's who you'd be hurting. If you understand what it's like to have a daughter, then how can you threaten to kill someone else's?'
The Governor stared at the old man, his features drawn in an angry frown, his cold blue eyes like ice. 'Because they aren't mine,' he replied, his voice low, before turning around and leaving the caravan.
'Rick! Come out here, we need to talk!' The voice of the Governor echoed over the field and Quinn felt herself wince at his words.
She, Michonne and Hershel were seated inside one of the cars his men had put up as a bloccade outside the fence. It turned out they had a tank, with that thing, breaking down the fence wouldn't be a problem. They had to stop him before he could do something but with them being captured she wasn't sure what it was they could do.
'It's not up to me!' Rick shouted back, his voice sounding far away. 'There's a council now, they run this place!'
'Is Hershel on the council?' The Governor mused and on his cue the doors of the car were opened and Hershel was pushed outside. 'What about Michonne? Or Quinn? They on the council too?' The two women were pulled outside as well, forced on their knees in the grass, right before the tank on which the Governor was standing.
Quinn could see her group standing on the courtyard but they were too far away to make out their expressions. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest watching them, hoping they'd be smart about this.
'I don't make decisions anymore!' Rick screamed.
'You're making decisions today, Rick,' The Governor told him. 'Come down here, let's have that talk.'
Narrowing against the sun she watched as Rick came walking down from the courtyard, heading up to the part of the fence where they were standing behind. Now that he was close she could see the panic hidden in his eyes. 'Let 'em go, right now,' he said once he reached the fence but Quinn could tell he knew that statement wouldn't do anything. 'I'll stay down here,' he offered. 'Talk as long as you want. But you let 'em go. You got a tank you don't hostages.'
'I do,' the Governor replied. 'This is just to show you I'm serious. Not to blast a hole in our new home. You and your people you have till sundown to get out of here or they die.'
Rick shook his head. 'Doesn't have to go down this way.'
'I got more people, more firepower,' the Governor replied, gesturing around. 'We need this prison.'
Rick didn't seem to able to reply, letting the words sink in but not having an answer ready.
'There it is,' the Governor spoke up when their leader stayed quiet. 'It's not about the past. It's about right now.'
'There are children here. Some of 'em are sick. They won't...they won't survive,' Rick said.
'I have a tank,' the one eyed man replied, raising his voice to a louder volume. 'And I'm letting you walk away from here. What else is there to talk about?'
Rick gave a slight shake of his head, seeming unable to think straight and Quinn couldn't blame him, seeing as how her own head was spinning.
'I could shoot you all. You'd all shoot back, I know that. But we'll win you'll be dead. All of you. Doesn't have to be like that, like I said, it's your choice,' the Governor spoke
He was interrupted by the snarls of walkers coming from behind them. Quinn threw a glare over her shoulder, watching as he took out his gun and shot both of them down. The gunshots echoed over the field, making her wince.
'Noise will only draw more of them over,' the former leader of Woodbury said, placing his gun back in its holster and turning to look at Rick again.
Quinn took a shaky breath, also turning back forwards to look at Rick. She had no idea what they could do to get out of this situation.
'The longer you wait, the harder it'll be for you to get out of here. You got maybe about an hour of sunlight left. I suggest you start packing.'
Rick stayed quiet, staring at the Governor, the panic now clearly written all over his face. Quinn could tell he was struggling. Struggling to do what was right and to do what needed to be done. Struggling to not fall back into his old habits, but knowing that doing so might be the only thing that could save them now.
'We can all...' Rick started but interrupted himself to take a deep breath, as if he needed to convince himself about what he was going to say next. 'We can all live together,' he said. 'There's enough room for all of us.'
'More than enough,' the Governor replied. 'But I don't think my family would sleep well knowing that you were under the same roof.'
'We'd live in different cell blocks,' Rick tried. 'We'd never have to see each other till we're all ready.'
'It could work,' Hershel said, turning to look at the Governor. 'You know it could.'
'It could've,' the one eyed man said. 'But it can't. Not after Woodbury. Not after Andrea.'
She could Michonne tense up next to her by those words and Quinn wanted to scream at him for even saying her name. She wanted to stand up, climb on that tank and kill him, put a bullet right through his brain. But she couldn't and her trying to do something would only make things worse. And so she bit her tongue to keep it all in.
'Look, I'm not saying it's gonna be easy,' Rick said, his voice calm despite the situation, as if he finally figured how to handle himself. 'Fact is, it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder than standing here shooting at each other. But I don't think we have a choice.'
'We don't,' the Governor replied. 'You do.'
'We're not leaving,' Rick stated, some of his old fire and determination leaking back into his voice. 'You try and force us, we'll fight back. Like you said, the gunshots will just bring more of them out. They'll take down the fences and without the fences this place is worthless.' He took a deep breath before continuing. 'Now, we can all live in the prison or none of us can.'
Hearing footsteps behind her, she noticed the Governor climbing down the tank, taking Michonne's katana in his hand and walking up to Hershel, placing the shining steel right at his throat.
Quinn her eyes widened, her stomach turning inside of her. She felt completely useless, wanted to do something but all she could do was watch as Rick tried to talk his way out of this.
'You,' Rick suddenly said, pointing at someone in the Governor's army. 'You in the ponytails. Is this what you want?' Then he raised his voice. 'Is this what any of you want?'
'What we want,' a man in the tank replied, 'is what you got. Period. Time for you to leave asshole.'
'Look I fought him before,' Rick said, '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. You're one of us.'
Quinn felt a small smile appear on her lips upon hearing him talk like this. He still had it, that fire and determination that made her trust him in the first place.
'We let go of all of it,' Rick continued, '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. We get to come back. I know, we all can change.'
Silence lingered in the air after his speech. And she knew he was telling the truth, out of the depths of his heart because he had come back, he had been too far gone and he came back. And so could all of them.
But with one word, all of that collapsed. With one word her heart plummeted in her chest and the world came crashing down.
'Liar,' the Governor whispered and before she knew what was happening he raised the katana above his head, bringing it down against Hershel's neck, cutting it in half, blood streaming out of it like a fountain.
She gasped for air as Hershel's body fell to the side, falling down next to her as his blood colored the grass a bright red. The Governor bended over him and hit his neck once again, until it was completely detached from his body. Blood spread out around the wound, reaching her but she couldn't move, staring at Hershel's cold and dead eyes. He was gone.
A U T H O R 'S N O T E
It finally happened...the moment I've been dreading so much to write...This was so awful to watch and even more awful to write. I will forever hate the Governor for this. I loved Hershel so much and this was just way too painful....
Now that it's out of the way however we're getting to a whole new storyline, one that I'm very excited to write about. As we all know the group is going to be split up. Who do you want Quinn to end up with, or Milo? Share your thoughts :)
Thanks so much for all the votes and reads guys, I love getting them so much! Also, I noticed this fanfic is number 1 in the #Michonne tag, which is a-m-a-z-i-n-g! There are a lot of walking dead fanfics out there with this tag and to have mine at the top of that list is just awesome. Especially because I love Michonne so much and she is such an important character in this fanfic.
Anyway, have a lovely weekend and I will see you all again monday!
xXx
UYM