Walk With Me
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A/N : Late again, sorry. I'll try to update again tomorrow since this is short
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( Andrea POV )
The way they operated reminded me of armed forces, but they all looked so normal. Something that Y/N, who was in the military rarely appeared to be. I turned to face the man I assumed was in charge as Merle rushed up a couple steps, taking over watch for someone. "Are you ..military?"
He looked at me for a second before placing his hands into his pockets and starring at those on watch at what I assumed was the front gate,"Hardly, couple of vets, but by and large we're just self trained."
Although I didn't turn around I could tell Michonne was starring at everything and everyone without an ounce of trust, she stood away from us, silent. But I could sense her there. Clearing my throat I motioned to the weapons they carried," That's some heavy artillery their packing."
He sighed, and I lightly turned around to see Michonne carefully moving forward,"Some men arrive with guns, but most of the weapons are scavenged over time."
"And the other side of town?" I fully turned, Michonne now closer to me as I looked back at the silent and dark streets that lay behind us. This place seems much bigger than I first noticed, but is it all safe? "The rest of the streets? Are they all guarded like this? It-it can't be."
He turned to look at me, though now his face looked distorted thanks to the awful lighting of the area,he just nodded at me and simply said,"It can, and it is."
Before I could respond the man walked forward and turned to face Merle who whistled and laughed,"We got us a creeper governor." Wait..governor? A man with a gun was about to shoot but Merle stopped him,"May I?" He smiled and handed it over to a grinning Merle,"Thank you."
With his attention still off me I walked a bit closer to the steps,"Governor, they call you that?"
I turned to look at him, expecting to see some sort of reaction on his face or in his eyes but he didn't even spare me a single glance of curiosity. He continued to stare up at Merle as he answered,"Some nicknames stick around, whether you want them or not."
"Buzz is a nickname," he still didn't look at me and I continued,"Governor is a title." With no response I walked forward to the wall and found a small opening. Out of curiosity I looked through and was able to see the walker they had been talking about,"There is a difference." A shot rang out and the walker fell down, but with the noise I noticed another one appear out of the shadows, and then another. Without any wait I watched as they both tumbled to the ground with shots in the head.
"Clear."
"We'll get them in the morning."What? Why? I turned around from the wall to look at me and he easily read the confusion on my face,"We can't leave them to rot, it creates an odor. Makes people uneasy. "
So there are other people here? More than just these guys..I looked past the governor at the darkness of the rest of the town but I still saw nothing and heard nothing,"What people? There's no one here....It's a ghost town."
He stayed silent for a bit before motioning back towards the darkness with his head,"This way." I was still left in confusion but I stayed silent as I slowly followed behind him and Michonne followed behind me with her eyes constantly starring at every little detail. After a bit of a walk that only made me exhausted body more sore, we arrived at a building that the governor brought us into and opened a door. It was a small bedroom with a bed, a dressor, a loveseat against the wall and a window. Going inside it seemed to have its own bathroom.
"You'll be more comfortable here. It's not the four seasons, but it does have a hot shower." With both me and Michonne in the room staring at it he stopped walking and stood looking at us both,"Water is limited though, so keep it short." I looked to my right and noticed there was a table right next to the doorway with fruits out, also water bottles and there was also a small plate that held a knife, fork, and spoon. What is this place.. I still didn't trust them, whether it be how generous there were or because Merle was on there side. I just didn't trust them. "We got food, water, fresh clothes. Hope this works." Michonne immediately went to the love seat removing a black covering to make sure nothing was there, while I went and sat down on the bed to give my legs a break. Ignoring me the governor turned to face Michonne,"I know you'd feel better with your sword, more secure, but you're safe here."
She stayed silent for a bit, not facing him. But slowly she turned to look back at him, and even in her silence she glared at him and he seemed disturbed by the silence.
I cleared my throat to take away the sudden tension and spoke,"We appreciate it." He looked away from Michonne and just nodded at me. To change the subject I remembered what got us here in the first place,"Oh, what about the pilot? Will he make it?"
He side stepped out of the doorway, his eyes still trained on us,"Well Dr. Stevens is doing all she can at the moment. Now I know you got a lot more questions but I've got work to do." I had my mouth opened to ask something else but I quickly snapped it shut at the sudden statement from him. With a sigh he pointed behind him at another man that stood against the opposite side of the hallway,"My man will be outside the door if you need anything else. I'll see you tomorrow."
With a last wary look at Michonne he turned and left, michonnes response was to stare at the guard placed on us and then slam the bedroom door shut to block his view from us,"Let's get some rest, I'll stay on this side of the bed so you can take the other half-"
"I'll sleep on the couch."
I shook my head,"I know this isn't great but, you might as well rest well for one night." I patted the bed with my hand before laying down and closing my eyes," Please."
I heard her sigh, then footsteps and then I finally felt the other side of the bed sink behind me as she laid dog and turned to face the opposite direction from me,"Happy." I smiled to myself without answering,"Who was that man? The bulldog looking one."
To this I opened my eyes and just stared forward at the food that faced me," He was part of the group I was with before, but stuff happened. We all thought he was dead." She hummed in response and I slowly closed my eyes, my body already settling itself into the bed as sleepiness began to take over me,"Goodnight."
"Night Andrea."
~~~
The next morning it was a lady with dark hair and extremely pale skin wearing a dress and tall boots that came to knock on our door. Michonne was the first to wake up, jumping onto her feet ready to attack though her hands seemed to forget for a moment that her katana was gone. Her simply getting up startled me awake and I tiredly watched as the door was slowly opened by the woman. After getting up and waking up completely, the woman took us out into the town and I watched in surprise as tons of people walked around like nothing in life had changed. This woman was told to come and show us around in a way. Though she seemed very interested in the fact that me and Michonne had been surviving out alone for more than half a year.
"While you were, the governor was doing this."
I watched at the woman waved at another lady that was pregnant and I suddenly remembered Lori. She must be near birth by now. "How many people do you have here?"
"73," me and Michonne looked at each other for a second before continuing to focus on the woman,"Eileen's about to pop so her kid will make it 74 soon. It's still a work in progress but Rome wasn't built and made in a day."
"That's a bold comparison."
She simply smiled at my words,"I think we've earned it, we haven't been breached in well over a month. We haven't suffered a casualty on the inside since early winter."
I looked to the side to see two woman looking and talking about flowers, they're living so..normally here. With curiosity and surprise I responded to her,"How is that possible?"
"Our governor set a strict curfew. Nobody is allowed out after dark. Also, any light and noise is kept to a bare minimum. Then there's the armed guards on the fence and patrolling the perimeter to keep the biters away-"
I nodded at her,"I saw what your patrols do on the way in last night. They had a dead one strung up like a little ornament," as I said this I stepped in front of her and her smile disappeared. In all honestly her complete composure changed and she stopped walking, standing tall with her clipboard in hand now dropped to rest against her thighs.
"I won't make excuses." she said this mellowly before looking at the men on patrol,"But those men put there lives at risk everyday to protect this town. They've lost more than a few friends out there. Everyone copes in there own way," she raised her clipboard again and began to walk forward. "But I'll raise it with the governor."
Me and Michonne looked at each other, talking with out eyes before following after the lady.
( Governor POV )
"Tell me about the girl."
Merle looked at me like a child who'd just been scolded, but I didn't care at the moment. Those two women weren't going to give me any answers, especially that quiet one. "Her names Andrea."
The man behind me, a 'scientist' type, peaked up in interest,"Wait, you know her?"
I raised an eyebrow at him and tilted my head, I ignored the man and focused on Merle,"Was she part of that Altanta group you told me about?"
He nodded, his tongue flicking against his teeth as he hating having to think about it,"Yeah. Same one left me on the roof, forced me to mutilate myself. I was hoping to run across the other one who saved me."
What other one? I walked closer to him, and the man behind me moved to the other side of the room,"Does she know your brother, Daryl?"
"Yeah, she did."
I got as close to him as I could, my voice dropping to a whisper so that only Merle to could hear the directions coming from my mouth,"Talk to her again. See what else you can find out. " He nodded and left without another word.
( Andrea POV )
"Eight months?" I sat at a round table with Michonne to my right and a man with glasses across from me. The governor stood behind me with food to eat which he began to serve onto empty plates in front of us. "Hard to believe you two ladies survived out there for so long."
"Because we're women?"
He stopped mid pouring of the food and looked at me in my eyes,"Because you were alone."
"We had each other."
As he poured Michonne food she just watched him carefully as well as the food, trusting nothing at all even though she had watched him make it the entire time,"Two against the world, it's long odds." He then moved onto the man with glasses and served him.
"We managed."
"Oh, we're impressed."
"Very." The governor continued to speak as he finished serving his own plate and walking behind me again."Surviving in the wild is tough sledding. Wake up every morning on the ground wondering if today is the day. Will it be quick and final? Or slow and without end?" I was going to speak up but then he sat down and continued,"Will someone have the good sense to kill my brain, or will I come back as one of them?"
He finally stopped talking and I just stared at my food, picking some up onto the fork I had in hand and slowly placing it into my mouth. It wasn't the best thing in the world, but after all this time, food has simply become food to me. Whether it's good or bad. As I started calming down again the man with the glasses spoke up again,"Do you think they remember anything?" I stopped midway of shoving more food in my mouth and looked up at him,"The person they once were-"
"I don't think about it."
He slowly closed his mouth and just nodded at me, looking away awkwardly. "Milton believed there might be a trace of the person they were,"this time it was the governor speaking. "Still trapped inside..like an echo."
The man with glasses, Milton, poured me a cup to drink and handed it to me,"Surely it must have crossed your mind at some point."
I felt a sour taste in my mouth as they continued to try and get me to answer this question. And for once I decided to give it to them, and I nodded with a small,"Yeah." They looked up curiously,"At one time I did. Right before it tried to bite me," and I simply payed attention to drinking out of the cup I was handed. The two men fell silent and stopped eating, and I tried my hardest to not look up at them.
"And then you killed it?" It? I paused mid sip, but still refused to look up at them,"I say 'it' because no one here like to refer to them as him." I looked up as I felt his eyes on me and I felt that sour taste in my mouth come back. He focused on my reaction far too much,"Or her." I felt myself glare a bit but before anything could happen Milton simply said ,"Ahem and gave another cup to Michonne who didn't grab it. She can sense it to, something is up. "The two you had in chains, who were they?" Milton now focused on Michonne who unlike me had no issue completely ignoring his very existence. His prying was beginning to anger me. "The way you controlled them, used them to your benefit. You did know them," she finally looked with a glare on her face. "Didn't you?" Her angry face and clenching of her fork was enough to shut his mouth, her shook lightly out of fear and the governor finally stepped in to tell him to stop. He was frightened and apologized, making sure to not look at Michonne anymore. "My apologies."
They want something from us. But what.
( Michonne POV )
I kept feeling a chill on my back, someone was watching us. And not just one of the people who live here, it was one of the guards. "I don't trust him."
Andrea turned to look at me as we walked down the street slowly,"Why not?" I gave no answer as I stared at the ground thinking of how that stupid man continued to question us. If only I had my katana I could have- "Have you ever trusted anybody?"
I looked at Andrea as she smiled at me, having been with her for a while I grew to enjoy her company. She made me more calm but trust, is hard. "Yeah, of course." With a turn of my head I noticed the man guarding our door last night watching us, I knew it.
"Then give this a day or two, that's all I'm asking. Some time to get out shit together-"
"My shit never stopped being together."
She sent me a small smile as she continued to walk in front of me," Didn't look that way when Milton asked about your walkers. I'm surprised he didn't get a fork in the eyes." I smiled a bit at the thought but withing seconds it was gone, I should have shoved a fork in his eyes.
I scoffed and responded,"It was none of his damn business."
She hummed,"I guess it's none of mine either, huh?" I stared at her back thinking about it, no I would tell you. Just not them. She suddenly stopped and turned around to face me,"Seven months together, all we've been through. I feel like I hardly know you? I'm sorry, but it's the truth. You know basically everything about me, you remind me of the girl who died to save me. Slowly she gave up some information at least, but even then it didn't make sense-"
"You know enough," I felt a lump in my throat, and I'm not that girl you always mention. I'm not that military girl.
"Those walkers were with us all winter long, protecting us, and you took them out without any hesitation. That had-"
"It was easier than you think." She kept her mouth open wit her words still stuck in her throat. She finally closed her mouth with a sigh, and I walked in a different direction. The last thing I did was look to my side at the man starring at us and I glared at him, Fuck off.
~~
Not that much later, cars we'd never seen before came driving into the town and out stepped the governor and his stupid men. Those are military vehicles... Unlike all the other towns people, along with Andrea, I stayed away from them. I sat in a seat, my right leg up on a table just starring at them with a glare. Soon the governor got up onto the back of a truck so that everyone could hear him.
"We brought in three new people yesterday. One was a helicopter pilot with a national guard outfit. Even though he's clinging to life, he told us about his convoy on the highway, his men." The man suddenly stopped talking and I payed close attention to his face as he looked down at the floor. I saw no remorse," I promised I'd bring them back here alive." Liar. "But they didn't have our walls, or our fences. Biters got there before we did." I lowered my leg from the table and sat up straight, this lying -"Now the men had trucks. And the trucks had weapons, food, medicine. Things we need. Now , we didn't know them! But we'll honor their sacrifice by not taking what we have here for granted!" Everyone stayed silent ,even his own men that looked away in what I could only label as shame. They killed them, they all killed them and I fucking know it. "It'll be dark soon, so go on home. Be thankful for what you have. Watch out for each other."
All I could do was shake my head as I watched Andrea speak with the devil. We need to leave this place, and fast.
Sorry it took long again to update, please forgive me.
Family stuff is just getting worse and its even harder for me considering I'm not allowed to speak half the time, and starting school again so I'm ready to be hit by waves of depression from going to class.
~CKS