We got to the prison and unloaded all that we had gathered. Glenn and Maggie came over to help.
"Seems like you all hit the jackpot. Everything go smoothly?" Glenn asked.
"Nah," Daryl said as he passed them.
"What happened?" Maggie asked.
"Nothing too extreme," I said.
"But something did happen?" she asked.
"Yeah. But I'll tell you about it later. Let's just get this stuff inside," I said.
We got the last of the things and proceeded to lock ourselves in.
"Everything go okay in here?" Rick asked once we were all settled.
He looked between Merle and Michonne.
"We were on our best behavior, Officer Friendly," Merle said.
"Michonne, what happened?" I asked not trusting Merle's word.
"Nothing...that I couldn't handle," she said.
I sighed.
"Nothing happened, Kari. They had a couple of heated arguments but they didn't escalate," Andrea said.
"Arguments? The hell about?" Daryl asked, crossing his arms.
"What should be done about the governor," Hershel said walking in.
I went up and kissed his cheek. I hadn't greeted him since we came back.
"You okay, honey?" he asked softly.
"Yeah," I said, not wanting to blow up like I did back in King's County.
"We have the weapons. Now what are we gonna do?" Merle asked.
"Kari?" Michonne and Andrea asked looking to me.
"Isn't it obvious? We kill the son of a bitch," I said.
"It's not that simple," Merle said.
"Of course it is. We go over to Woodbury and slit his throat. How is that not simple?" I asked.
"You do know that that place will be heavily guarded now more than ever, right? He suspects you'll come to try and finish him off. He'd be a damn idiot if he didn't. Do you really think he'd take something like that lightly?" Merle asked.
"We can get in and get out in a flash," Michonne said sternly.
"His minions ain't ever gonna let you get passed them," he retorted.
"I think we can handle them. He already suspects our retaliation but I bet he doesn't think we'd ever attack in the early hours of the morning. His men do have to sleep after all," I said.
"So you all are still wanting to go by yourselves?" Hershel asked.
"We started this, Hershel. I did. It's my fault that we're in this situation. And if I can't finish it, then I might as well die," I said.
This had been on my mind ever since the shoot-out. It's something that hung over my shoulders and wouldn't be lifted until I did what needed to be done.
"You're still on that?" Maggie asked a little hurt.
"Look, I know we talked about this before but it's the truth. I can't help it. I would die for every single person in this place...aside from Merle," I said.
"After we bonded on the ride back to Woodbury," Merle said.
"We didn't bond, Merle. Anyway, look if we do this thing like how we plan, we can end it," I said.
"You can't be sure. We can't be sure of a lot of things nowadays," Hershel said.
"One thing I can be sure of, is I'm gonna take his head. It doesn't matter how but I am gonna take it," I said sounding determined.
There was suddenly the sound of gunshots that came from the field. There was no one on watch so it couldn't be any of our people. I had a bad feeling in my stomach and there was no way that it would let up anytime soon.
"What the hell was that?" Glenn asked.
He went over to open the door but I quickly stopped him.
"Wait. Guys, stay back. I'll see what's going on," I said.
I slowly pulled the door back. Carefully peeking through the opening, I could see him.
"That son of a bitch," I said under my breath.
I took a step forward but someone pulled me back. I turned around to see it was Daryl. It was starting to get annoying at how often he was stopping me from pursuing the Governor recently. He closed the door again and locked it
"He's here," I said.
"I figured that. But we don't need ya losing your shit right now," he said sternly.
"So then what are we supposed to do?" I asked.
"We fight," Rick came up and said.
"He'll kill us the second we step out of here," I said.
"What if we killed him first?" Carl said.
We all looked to him. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"When I found Tyreese and the others, there was a path that led to the back of the prison. What if we used that to go around and catch them off guard?" he said.
I looked to Rick.
"You know that's not a bad idea," I said.
He nodded then looked at everyone else.
"If we're gonna do this, we have to do this right. Carl, I want you to take your sister and Hershel to the farthest cells. We'll lock up this block so they won't have a way to get to you," he said.
"I'm not gonna let my girls get in the crosshairs of all this," Hershel said.
"Daddy. I'll stay. We'll protect each other," Beth said going over to hold his hand.
"And I'll protect them," Carol said going next to the both of them.
"Thank you, Carol. Maggie. Glenn. I want you two to be with them as well," I said.
Maggie came over to me.
"No way. I'm not letting you do this on your own," she said.
"This is something I have to do on my own. I have to, Maggie. And I can't have you out there cause then I'll worry. You know better than anyone how much I worry. So please, stay with them. I can't lose you. And Glenn, the only reason why I'm asking you to stay is because I know wherever she goes, you'll go too," I said looking over at him.
"I get it," he said.
Maggie looked over at him.
"Are you serious right now?" she asked.
"Maggie, this is something she has to do. Please. She's only doing this for your own good," he said, trying to reason with her.
"And what about her own good? I spent months thinking you had died, Kari...and I can't...I won't go through that again," she said, her lip trembling.
I went up to her and placed a hand on her cheek.
"What makes you so sure I won't make it out of this?" I asked, looking her in the eye.
"You just said that you didn't care if you died," she retorted.
"That's true. But only because I'd know what I was dying for. My family. If it means that you all get to live to see another day, then that's perfectly fine by me," I said.
"We ain't got time for this. He's already getting impatient," Merle said.
"He's right. We should go," Michonne said.
"Yeah...yeah. Maggie, please stay with them. I will be back. I promise," I said.
"Don't make promises you can't keep," she said, crossing her arms.
"I will come back. And when I do, I'm gonna be giving you shit about it for as long as we live," I said with a smile.
She tried her hardest to keep it hidden but she couldn't help but smile too.
"Fine. This is insane but...you do whatever it takes to take him down," she said.
"Oh I will. Everyone who is staying behind, get your weapons and ammo. We need to hurry," I said.
We all went over to the table we had set up the weapons at and started loading them up as quickly as we could.
"Rick can I have the keys?" I asked once I had my weapon ready.
He unhooked them from one of his belt loops and handed them to me. I walked over to where we kept Merle.
"If I let you out, are you with us?" I asked.
He looked up at me.
"If I say no, will you kill me?" he asked.
"No. But if the Governor makes his way in here, I'm sure that's what he'll do to you," I said.
"Those really my only options?" he asked.
"Pretty much. So what do you say? Fight by your brothers' side or have the Governor take you out?" I asked.
He sighed.
"Looks like you got another fighter on ya team," he said.
"Good answer," I said.
I unlocked his cell and let him out. He went over to pick up a weapon.
"You sure about this?" Michonne asked.
"Can we trust him?" Andrea asked.
"Guess we'll have to find out won't we?" I said.
I then made my way up to Daryl.
"You know if he screws up, it's on you, right?" I said blatantly.
"Don't worry. I got him. And thanks for letting him out. Giving him a chance," he said.
"Don't make me regret it," I said.
He nodded and bit down on his lower lip.
"Okay all those who are staying behind, please get to the cells upstairs as far away from the main entrance," I said.
Maggie and Beth came up to me.
"Please come back to us," Beth said.
"I will," I said, giving each of them a hug.
"Take care of them," I said going up to Glenn and giving him a hug.
"You know I will. Take care of yourself," he said.
I nodded.
"I don't like this," Hershel said when I got to him.
"Please trust that I'll be back. I need you to stay safe in here," I said.
"Honey, I don't doubt your fighting spirit," he said.
"Then what's bothering you?" I asked.
"If you get this done, who is it that's gonna be coming back to us," he said.
"I've changed, Hershel yes. But not so much that I don't know the difference between right and wrong," I said.
"You sure about that?" he asked.
I shook my head.
"Please, Hershel. I don't have the time to deal with this right now. We have to get going," I said.
I kissed his cheek then went to Carol and Carl.
"You take care, okay?" I said.
"Always. You too," she said.
I gave the both of them a hug and led them all to the cell block. After they were all in, I locked them in. Maggie placed her hand on mine.
"Be safe," she said.
"You too," I said.
I then turned to look at the others that remained. There was six of us in total. Six against however many men he decided to bring.
"You all ready?" I asked.
"Let's take out this asshole," Michonne said.
I nodded.
"Let's get going, then," I said.
We took whatever ammo was left over. We'd need to make to most of these bullets. And so we would.