Mikaela looked down after, trying to realize what just happened. She tried to rationalize it; she couldn't. How could Nick be there, but then just.. leave? Was her brother really still out there? She'd just seen him. The real, physical him. Was he here? Mikaela's stomach was upset after, as she felt cramps and a wave of uncomfortable feelings. She ran to the bathroom, before falling onto the toilet and vomitting whatever she had left in her stomach.
"God.." Mikaela groaned, feeling weak. She breathed heavily, before chucking up more. She grabbed the sink to help support her, as she spit out anything left in her mouth. "Ugh.. fuck.."
She took a second, before finally spitting again. She heard something move, before glancing up. A figure was blocking the doorway, and she couldn't see as her vision had gone somewhat blurred.
"Get it all out?" A familiar voice asked as Mikaela wiped her eyes.
Standing before her, Chance, her ex-boyfriend from the Atlanta camp, had been leaning in the doorway.
"Chance?" Mikaela asked softly, getting up this time. "Chance.."
"Watch out, hon." Chance said with a small smirk. "Don't wanna mess up these clothes. Hard to find in an apocalypse."
Mikaela laughed a little. "You're... okay?" She asked before looking back at the toilet. "How..?" She asked, before turning back to see Chance. He was gone. Just like Nick. And before she knew it, the same feeling came back, and she was hurling more chunks.
Michonne had scoped around more outside, before approaching a door in the wall. With her sword in hand, she took it out just in case it was a door to the outside. But she figured getting out wouldn't be that easy. She opened the door slowly, before looking on the other side.
It was an old parking lot, concrete, with bleachers on it. It looked like an old mill; the one she could see from the streets, towering over some buildings.
"Shit," Michonne said, before stepping in. This place was big.
She moved forward, before hearing a rattling. Like in a cage. She drew her sword, looking around steadily. She quickly looked around the corner, seeing a cage full of walkers. What was this? Why would they have a cage of walkers? She was confused, but ready to eliminate the enemy. She walked over to the cage, before slashing the chain off. She stepped back, hearing the walkers pour out of the cage, before swining her sword.
Slash, slash, and another slash. She smirked as she slashed every walker, getting a sweat on. The sun was heavy on her, and she had beads of sweat on her body. Soon enough, the walkers lay on the ground in minced peaces. She laughed a little to herself before wiping the sword off to make it pristine again.
She heard the door behind her open up, and a metal tin drop. She turned around, seeing one of the Governor's men standing there, confused and startled that she was there. He was carrying a tin bucket of guts for the walkers' foods, most likely, she thought. She'd been caught red handed doing whatever. She didn't care. She didn't care if she got kicked out of this place. This place meant nothing to her.
Later that night, in the cellblock, Adam, Matt, Ethan and Darrion all sat in a circle, with Delta and Skylar sitting beside each other. Brittany and Taylor had been in Lori's room, saying their prayers as the prison had been.. ominous. Lori was gone. Lori Grimes. Lori Grimes was gone. Ethan's mom. The one who had been there since the start. The one who had been a mom to Adam. The one who would pick them up from school if they were sick, because Rick or Shane were too busy working at the station. The one that would cook a home-cooked meal every Sunday because she wanted the family to stick together.
Adam looked down, as Ethan coughed. Matt looked down at the cement ground, seeing blood marks from what looked to be the walkers before they came in. Their cells had been set up so they could sleep, and they hadn't gotten to meet Rick, yet.
Rick had gone out after taking care of Lori's life, into the catacombs to let out his rage. To stop these walkers. This never would have happened if there weren't any of them. If there were doctors, hospitals, police, and a stable life; none of this would have happened.
Brittany walked out of the cellblock, looking at Ethan and Adam. "I'm sorry," she mumbled softly.
Ethan nodded. He took a moment to speak, before nodding again. "Thanks, Brittany. It means a lot. Of course it doesn't change the fact she's dead," Ethan said, thinking back to when Brittany had explained what happened to her family. His words instantly felt like lemon in his mouth, squeezing his tastebuds with a bitter taste.
Brittany looked down, brushing some of her hair to the side before nodding. Ethan sighed. "I'm sorry," he apologized.
"I know. It's rough. We've all been there." Brittany said, looking back up before giving Adam a nod, who just nodded, before walking back out to the cells. It was dark, and there were candles lit on the ground and a few lanterns powered by batteries sitting on the ground.
Andrea had walked back into the room with Michonne behind her, seeing Mikaela bunched up in bed. Andrea frowned, wondering what was wrong with her.
"Sorry we were gone so long, Michonne got in a bit of trouble." Andrea apologized before sitting at Mikaela's bedside. "What's the matter?"
"I just feel sick. Don't get too close.. I don't want to spread it.." Mikaela said softly, wiping her eyes.
Andrea stood up, nodding. "Okay. I'll ask the Governor for some medicine.. or that doctor."
Michonne scoffed. "They'll give it to you, and that's just another reason to stay."
"For the last time, we're not leaving!" Andrea said, throwing her arms in the air. "What's it gonna take to get you to stop?"
"I don't like it here. I don't get a good vibe. Ariel's here not even two days and she's head over heels in love with some guy that hasn't even introduced himself to us." Michonne said, growling at Andrea.
Andrea looked down. "Look. Your judgement is a lot, to me." She said softly. "I'll think about it. But can't we just enjoy the time we do have here?"
Michonne rolled her eyes, before walking to the bathroom and shutting the door.
"Why was she in trouble?" Mikaela managed to say, swallowing hard.
Andrea sighed. "She was snooping around, and got into some classified stuff, I guess."
Mikaela rose a brow. "Odd."
Andrea nodded, walking over to the shelf where the water was. "Tell me about it."
Mikaela laid back down, under the blankets. "I think I'm sick. I just need to sleep."
Andrea rose a brow. "You don't want me to get any medicine?"
Mikaela shook her head, smiling faintly at Andrea. "No, thank you."
Andrea sighed, before nodding. She drank the water, before sitting down in her own bed. "Well if you want me to, just holler."
Mikaela nodded slowly, before nestling herself deep in the blankets, smiling a little before closing her eyes. She was glad that her body decided to get sick in the safe town, instead of the hazardous forests.
The next morning in the prison, Rick was the first to become awake. He had immediately grabbed an ax, quickly moving out of the cellblock. Matt watched him do so, figuring he'd go let his anger out by hitting a wall or something. The child hadn't been named yet, but Carol and Heather had managed to get it to sleep. They needed to find food, quick. Ethan knew that, and he'd gotten up early before waking up Taylor. He knew that she would go out with him to a store or something to find baby formula.
She agreed, and the two had geared up to go out to the stores. He had let Carol know they were going, and she nodded slowly, knowing it needed to be done. She advised that they check a nursery if possible, too. Ethan nodded at the suggestion, figuring it was a good one.
In Woodbury, Michonne had grown beyond restless. She began packing her bags, not listening to any of Andrea's complaints.
"I'm leaving. How's this," Michonne said, before looking up at Andrea. "You can come, or you stay. I'll leave that choice up to you."
Andrea's eyes were wide. She wouldn't leave her best friend, but she'd finally found sanctuary. She found safety. She found civilization.
"I'm not gonna make myself choose. You know I wanted a life. We talked about this place for.. months." Andrea said, as Mikaela was still asleep in the back. Same with Ariel. She'd gotten home late, from her fiasco with Shumpert.
Michonne sighed. "You're gonna have to."
Andrea frowned. "Fine. You know what? Leave. See what it's like to be alone. At least before us, you had Ariel."
She looked up from her bag again, growling. "Bitch." She said, before zipping up the bag, and storming out of the apartment. The sun had barely risen, and Andrea wasn't even sure that the gates would open for her.
Michonne approached the Governor's apartment building, before walking up the stairs inside. She walked to the door, and pounded on it with her fist. The Governor slowly made his way to the door, before opening it and seeing Michonne.
"Give me my sword." Michonne demanded, looking at the Governor with eyes that could kill.
The Governor frowned. "You know our rules."
"I don't have to follow your rules when I'm out of these walls. And that's exactly what I'm going to do." Michonne said, teeth tight as she was furious.
The Governor looked down. "I'm sad to see you decide to go."
Michonne rolled her eyes, before pushing him to the side, walking in to the display case, grabbing her sword. Andrea's gun was placed right next to it. She scoffed, before walking back to the door. "Open the gates for me,"
The Governor nodded. He closed the door after she left, walking to his dresser to get clothes on. Michonne. Leaving? He knew exactly what he had to do.
Outside, at the gates, Michonne waited impatiently. The guards wouldn't open the doors without the Governor's permission. As Michonne turned around, she saw Andrea, Mikaela and Ariel walk out of their apartments behind the Governor.
"Michonne, what the hell are you doing?" Ariel stammered, not pleased in her sister's decision.
Michonne rolled her eyes. "I'm making the right decision."
"Hardly." The Governor said, before Andrea ran over to her.
Andrea looked at the bag she carried, and saw Michonne's sword. "Michonne.. you're tired. You need sleep. Come on."
Michonne shook her head. "I'm not staying." She said softly. "Maybe I'll see you in another life, Andrea. You wanna come looking for me, you go right ahead. If you don't, that's fine too."
Andrea had a tear forming in her eye. "No. You don't have to do this."
"No. I do." Michonne said, before she saw the Governor give the signal to open the gates. "Catch you later. None of you want to come; it's pretty clear."
"We don't want to come because it's dangerous out there." Ariel said, looking at Michonne before shaking her head. "You can be such an idiot, Michonne, you know that?"
"I'm making the right decision. Now, are you coming, or not?" Michonne asked, looking at the three.
Nothing. Nobody moved, spoke, or even breathed. Michonne just nodded, before turning around.
"Catch you all on the flipside." She said, walking from the safe streets of Woodbury, to the unguarded outside.
The doors began to close, and Andrea walked over to them, putting her eye to the crack, watching Michonne walk back off into the forest. She turned around, seeing the Governor already walk back to the apartment before looking at Ariel and Mikaela.
"She made her decision." She spoke softly, sighing, before beginning to walk back to the apartment.
The Governor walked back to his own apartment, before knocking on Anthony's door. It took Anthony a minute or so to answer, as he was probably still sleeping, before he opened the door. Anthony gave the Governor a confused look, before he spoke.
"I need you to do me a favor." The Governor asked softly, looking down at Anthony. He was capable of doing the favor, as he'd done it before.
Anthony nodded. "Yeah?"
"Michonne left." The Governor said before glancing down the hall, and back to Anthony.
He paused for a second.
"You failed to get Delta to come back, and that caused us to lose Olivia and Carlos. They're still in the chambers." He explained, knowing that he couldn't deal with them just yet.
Anthony nodded. "I won't let you down. Give me some time to get ready, and I'll be out of here. I'll bring her back." Anthony said before sighing. "Dead or alive?"
"I want her dead." The Governor ordered.
Anthony nodded slowly. "I can do that."
The Governor nodded again, before walking back to his own apartment so he could get ready for the day. Today was a celebration day.
At the prison, everyone was awake by now. Ethan and Taylor had left. Took the green Hyundai, and booked it. The rest of the prison had been woken up by cries from the baby. It was hungry, and needed to be fed. And Hershel did a medical check up on it, and said there was nothing wrong with the baby. It was perfectly healthy.
Adam watched as Carol and Heather took care of it, and Ellen was off to find Rick. She wasn't going to let him kill himself out of anger. Ellen always found herself looking after Rick. When he would go off, she'd be the one to bring him back.
Matt and Skylar had began to sort out all of the food items they found when Adam had tried to save Brittany. Darrion was cooking breakfast, as Glenn and Maggie both helped. T-Dog had been outside burning bodies in the field. Scott was too, as he had remained outside of the prison for most of the night. He had taken watch in the guard tower after getting back from the tombs.
In the car, Ethan drove before pulling into a daycare. He figured they would have some stuff, at least. Formula, toys, car seats, and other items for children. It'd be better to stock up now, so they wouldn't have to worry about it in the future. Taylor sighed before getting out of the car, taking her gun out. Ethan did the same, before leading the way to the daycare. He put his hand on the front door, before moving the knob. Locked.
He groaned, before looking back to Taylor.
"Oh shut up, there's windows." Taylor said, moving her gun so she could use the gun to break the window on the side of the building. Ethan looked down the side, raising an eyebrow.
"Or we could just crawl through the open one." Ethan said with a small laugh, before walking down to the cracked window. Taylor rolled her eyes.
She climbed through the window sill, as Ethan followed. The building was empty, from what it looked like. No walkers could be heard, which was a good thing. Ethan wasn't sure if he could put down children walkers. Especially after the loss of his mother, from a child.
Taylor walked down the hall, keeping her gun clenched tightly in her hands. Ethan had gone to check the rooms down the hall so Taylor wouldn't have to worry about looking behind herself. She slowly made her way to the kitchen, moving the half-door that was built to stop children from entering the kitchen, but still allowed adults through. She stepped over it, as it was stuck in the hinge.
She made her way to the counter, sighing. She opened the cupboards, preparing her nose for anything that might smell. She looked up, finding nothing but formula mix. She smiled to herself, quickly grabbing the mix. She heard Ethan come down the hall, before looking at the doorway. before turning to view it.
"Found some." Taylor said, smiling. "It was pretty easy."
Ethan sighed. "Nothing down the halls. There's a crib, but it's all rotted out."
Taylor sighed. "Shit." She muttered, before hearing a thud in the pantry from the other side of the kitchen.
"We'll look for one at the Piggly-Wiggly. No biggie." Ethan said, before moving to the other side of the kitchen and opening the pantry, getting ready to stab a walker before being jumped by something.
"Ahh!" Ethan shouted, falling back as a possum attacked his face, clawing at it, before running off to the hole under the sink.
Ethan groaned in pain before standing. "What the hell.." He said, before feeling his face. "I'm bleeding." He said as he looked at his hand.
Taylor sighed, before holding out her hand. "Come on, we'll go to Piggly-Wiggly, and then we can get toys and band aids for you. We can get the Dora ones, and maybe even a sticker for you, to make you feel special."
Ethan glared at her, before taking her hand and helping himself up to stand fully again. "Yeah. Whatever."
Michonne ran through the forest, knowing someone was following her. She couldn't tell who, but someone was. She had her sword out, before hiding against a tree to hear the footsteps. She was silent, hearing them clearly. She then booked it.
She continued to run for a while before running out to a street. Next to the Piggly-Wiggly. She sighed, quickly kneeling as she heard voices. Two figures walked out of the Piggly-Wiggly, as she watched them through the glass of a car's window.
"She's gonna like this rubber duck." Taylor said with a small chuckle, tossing it into the back of the vehicle. "I know she will. Kid growin' up in a prison will."
"Yeah, whatever." Ethan chuckled. Michonne observed the Dora bandaid on his cheek, rolling her eyes.
The two began to pack it up, before Taylor turned around and saw him. Anthony. Her eyes were wide, before shouting Ethan's name. Ethan quickly turned to him as well, eyes wide also.
"Anthony?" Ethan asked, rubbing his eyes.
Anthony smirked as he walked out from the corner of the building. "Bunch of assholes I haven't seen since the start of all this." He said, shaking his head. "I've got a fucking bone to pick with you. You fuckers left me."
Ethan stuttered. "W-What? We didn't--"
"I don't fucking care what the story is." Anthony shouted, before raising his gun. "Get in the car. We're going somewhere."
"Anthony, you're not serious.." Taylor said, growling almost.
"Get in the fucking car." Anthony ordered, stepping forward. "Now,"
The two followed his orders, as the two sat in the back seat of the car. Anthony climbed into the front of the car; the driver's seat, before starting the car, and speeding off.