Lucy couldn't help but scrunch up her nose as she, Kate, Andrea and Michonne walked down the streets of Woodbury the next morning. It was very much a town with residents now out but she still couldn't help but feel uneasy like this was too good to be true.
"It's real," Andrea stated as she took in the sights around her. The people, the security. It was like a private little town thriving in the middle of the world falling to shit.
"You four have been out there for a long time," Rowan smiled as she turned to look at the women. "While you were, the Governor was doing this."
Andrea couldn't help but watch as Rowan waved to a heavily pregnant woman who was on the semi busy streets of Woodbury, "How many people do you have here?"
"Seventy three," Rowan answered. "Eileen's about to pop, so her kid will make seventy four."
At Rowan's words Kate who had remained silent looked down. She really couldn't help it but seeing the pregnant woman and hearing she was about to pop had made the sadness she still had from losing Lennon fresh. Maybe if she had been here when she went into labor they could have saved him. Maybe she'd still have her son.
"Still a work in progress," Rowan continued talking. "But Rome wasn't built in a day."
Lucy rolled her eyes at that comment, "That's a bold comparison."
"I think we've earned it," Rowan defended as she turned to look at the redhead. "Walls haven't been breached in well over a month, we haven't suffered a casualty in the inside since early winter."
"How's that possible?" Kate asked curiously as she finally broke her silence, coming out of her thoughts of what-ifs.
"Our Governor set a strict curfew. Nobody out after dark," Rowan spoke as she answered Kate's question. "Noise and light kept to the bare minimum. Armed guards on the fence and controlling the perimeter to keep the biters away."
Andrea made a face at the last thing, "I saw what your patrols do on the way in last night," she admitted. "They had a dead one strung up like an ornament."
Rowan came to a stop at Andrea's words, "I won't make excuses, those men put their lives at risk every day to protect this town. We've lost more than a few friends out there. Everybody copes in their own way but I'll raise it with the Governor," she nodded before walking off.
After Rowan walked off Lucy just turned to Kate and gave her a look. She half hoped Kate was just as suspicious of this place as she was. ___________________________________________________________________________________
The Governor stood in the infirmary room with Doctor Stevens as he listened to the pilot talk, telling them about his group.
"Things were orderly, the fences held, people were protected. Food supplies were lasting. Then one of the men inside got bit, not sure how. He went haywire, panic swept through the camp. Someone opened the gate to escape, others were bitten and infected. These people went crazy. The whole place went to hell in a few hours. My team grabbed whatever supplies and vehicles we could abandoned our post."
After the pilot spoke, the Governor heard him cough so he gave him some water, "How many of you escaped?"
"Maybe it was ten in my group. We got maybe fifty miles from the post before getting jammed on the highway. I took the bird up in the air to scout ahead. She took a beating in the riot, but we had no choice. My guys?"
At his question the Governor just shook his head no. "Let me go find the rest," he offered as he watched a pained expression pass the pilot's face. "Bring them here, where they'll be safe. They're out there, waiting for you, exposed. Tell me where they are and I promise if they're still alive I'll bring 'em here." __________________________________________________________________________________________
After leaving the infirmary the Governor soon headed over to Milton's laboratory, "Did you finish your homework?" he asked as he walked inside.
"Unfortunately," Milton spoke as he glared at Merle who was standing beside him. "The dogs eating it already."
"What the hell you call me?" Merle growled out as he glared at Milton.
The Governor looked between Merle and Milton with his eyes finally landing on Merle, "Hey, where are we? Back in the schoolyard? You want to take his lunch money while you're at it?"
Merle couldn't help but look down quickly, "Sorry, governor," he apologized though it was muffled.
"Maybe I've wasted my time with you," the Governor sighed as he shock his head. "Maybe you haven't learned anything at all."
"He was trying to smoke in here," Milton added in just to add it in.
"And you expect better?" the Governor asked as he looked at Milton. "Keep poking the bear and you're bound to get mauled, remember that," he nodded before looking back at Merle. "Tell me about the girls?" he asked referring to the two women that Merle knew.
Merle rolled his eyes before answering, "Names are Andrea and Kate."
"What, you know them?" Milton asked curiously as he raised an eyebrow.
"They from that group in Atlanta?" the Governor asked knowing Merle talked about the group that left him a lot.
Merle nodded in response, "Yeah. Same one left me on the roof, forced me to mutilate myself."
"Do they know your brother, Daryl?" the Governor asked as he locked eyes with Merle. If there was one other thing Merle talked about more than the Atlanta group it was his brother.
"Yeah, they did," Merle answered knowing they did indeed know Daryl.
"Then talk to them again, see what else you can find out," the Governor said before seeing Merle nod and walk away. It was after that, that he turned to Milton. "Show me something!" he demanded before Milton lead him to one of the walkers they had brought in last night. One of the walkers that had been on chained. "What do you make of it?"
"Oh, pretty impressive really," Milton smiled proudly as he looked down at the decapitated walker body. "Major kudos for ingenuity. You take away their arms so they can't grab, you take away their jaws so they can't bite. Take away their ability to eat, they lose interest in doing so. They're no longer in attack mode, you can be in their presence without a threat. They become...docile, in a sense," Milton said as he told what he had found out.
"Lurkers," the Governor muttered almost to himself.
Milton nodded, "Mmh, docile. Or lurkers, you know? Whatever you like...."
"Why keep 'em?" the Governor asked curiously.
"Repellent," Milton answered.
"Camouflage," the Governor theorized as he walked a bit closer to the bodies. "Walk with the biters, they think you're a biter. Low profile, that's smart," he said as he saw Milton nod. "They're still pretty thin. If they're not eating, why don't they starve."
Milton scrunched up his nose at that question, "They are....starving. They just do it slower than we do."
"Feels like we're trying to impose logic on a chaos," the Governor mused.
"That is not a bad thing," Milton spoke not seeing the issue there.
"No?" the Governor asked as he locked eyes with Milton. "What does it buy us? More questions, more theories, no answers."
Milton pursed his lips as he shrugged, "Not yet! If I could talk to those women..." he trailed off knowing he wanted to talk to them or at least the set that had, had the walkers on chains.
"Merle's handling it," the Governor said almost matter of fact.
"I don't want to question your judgement, governor..."
the Governor laughed at that, "Sure you do," he said honestly. "That's why I need ya. That and your tea," he said as he watched Milton walk off to get him a cup of tea and he followed behind him.
"Ah, well then," Milton said as he reached his tea kettle and he poured the Governor a cup of tea. "With all due respect letting Merle talk to those women is an unsupervised mistake. Now you've always said every tool kit needed a hammer, but do you really feel a hammer's the right tool for that job?" he asked before handing the cup of tea to the Governor. _______________________________________________________________________________
Sitting in the Governor's apartment later that day Kate moved uncomfortably in her seat as she looked across the table at Lucy. She knew Lucy hadn't wanted to come to this but Kate had talked her into it, saying Michonne and Andrea would be here too, though she really hadn't expected some geeky looking dude named Milton to be here either.
"Eight months?" the Governor asked as he grabbed the last bit of food he prepared and walked over to the table. "Hard to believe you ladies lasted so long out there."
"Because we're women?" Lucy asked almost offended by his statement.
The Governor shook his head as he offered Lucy a smile as he sat down, "Because you're alone."
"We had each other," Lucy shrugged as she looked at Kate and smiled slightly. If she kept looking at Kate then maybe she'd be okay.
"Two against the world," the Governor sighed as he shook his head. "It's long odds."
Lucy turned her head to the Governor and shot him a glare, "We manage," she said not revealing that they had, had others too at one point. "And they managed too," she finished as she turned to look at Andrea and Michonne.
"Oh, we're impressed," the Governor replied as he again offered Lucy a smile but she seemed like a tough sell.
"Very," Milton added in finally talking.
"Survival in the wild is tough sledding," the Governor spoke again as he looked away from Lucy and at the other women. "Wake up every morning on the ground, wondering if today's the day. Will it be quick and final or slow and...well without end? Will someone have the good sense to kill my brain, or will I come back as one of them?"
After the Governor finished, Milton swallowed the bite of food he had in his mouth before speaking again. "Do you think they remember anything, the person they once were?"
Andrea shook her head at that question, "I don't think about it."
"Milton believes there might be a trace of the people they were, still trapped inside," the Governor spoke as if to justify why Milton had asked what he did.
"Like an echo," Milton clarified as he looked at the blonde woman. "Surely, it must have crossed your mind."
"One time yeah," Andrea admitted honestly albeit a bit sarcastic. "Right before it tried to bite me."
Milton raised his eyebrow at her words, "And then you killed it? I say it only because no one here likes to refer to them as him," he said seeing Andrea become visibly upset. "Or her...the two you had in chains, who were they?" he asked as he turned to look at Michonne. "The way you controlled them, used them to your benefit. You did know them, didn't you?"
"Let them eat," the Governor scolded as Milton just kept on.
Blushing Milton nodded his head, "My apologies."
After a really long silence Kate spoke up in between bites, "So what you have here, you expect it to hold? What if a herd comes through?"
"It'll hold," the Governor said as he looked at Kate.
"What's your secret?" Kate asked curiously as she took a drink of her water.
The Governor smiled at Kate's persistence, "Really big walls."
"That solider had walls too and we all know how that turned out so..." Andrea trailed off as she laughed silently.
"I guess we do," the Governor nodded considering Andrea's words. "The real secret is what goes on within these walls. It's about getting back to who we were, who we really are. They're just waiting to be saved. And people here have homes, medical care, kids go to school, adults have jobs to do. There's a sense of purpose, we're a community."
Milton smiled as the Governor talked, "With a lot of guns and ammunition."
"Never hurts," the Governor smiled at that add on.
"And really big walls," Andrea added in sarcastically.
"And men willing to risk everything to defend them. Compromise our safety, destroy our community. I'll die before I let that happen."
After another awkward silence Lucy ran a hand through her hair, "Looks like you're sitting pretty at the end of the world."
"Do I strike you as the kind of man who sits pretty?" the Governor asked honestly. "You reap what you sow. We're the seed, now that winter has passed, it's time to harvest."
"Time to hope?" Andrea asked sounding almost a bit hopeful.
"We're going out there, we're taking back what's ours! Civilization. We will rise again. Only this time we won't be eating each other," the Governor said hoping his words helped.
Andrea smiled slightly and reached for her cup as she looked at everyone else, "To civilization then."
After Andrea's toast, Lucy heard a knock on the door and she watched as the Governor excused himself before going to answer it and she kept her eyes glued to him as she watched him open the door to reveal that man named Shumpert. The one who had been guard on their rooms last night.
She couldn't help but wonder what the two men were whispering about or why when the conversation ended that the Governor looked slightly pleased as he turned around but then slowly masked his face back to a neutral one.
"Sorry to cut breakfast short but this can't wait," the Governor apologized as he looked at all four women.
Michonne stood up and just glared at the Governor, "We want our weapons!" she told him knowing she wanted her weapon while she was here. Just in case.
"Well, we can make these meals to go and your weapons will be waiting outside but you should take time to relax. Get your strength back," the Governor spoke trying to get Michonne to change her stance. "Have a look around. Who knows? You might like what you see." ______________________________________________________________________________
"You like this place don't you?" Lucy asked as she walked around Woodbury with Kate. They had split from Andrea and Michonne who were also exploring.
"How can you tell?" Kate asked as she gave Lucy a smile, reaching for her hand.
Lucy took Kate's hand, "The way your eyes light up say a lot," she nodded because they did really say a lot. "I've only ever seen you look that way when you look at me or when you talk about Zac."
"Don't you like it?" Kate asked curiously as she ignored the comments Lucy made, especially the one's about Zac.
"Not really," Lucy admitted as she squeezed Kate's hand. "It just..something doesn't sit right. I just think we should go back out there. Try our odds again."
Kate stopped walking at those words and she dropped Lucy's hand, "But we could die out there Luce," she said not sure if she wanted to die. "This place can keep us safe. Hell maybe if we had been here when I was pregnant with Lennon then he could have been saved or maybe I would have known sooner that something was wrong."
"Maybe but we weren't," Lucy replied as she shook her head. "And we won't die out there. We made it this far."
"We had others then," Kate argued. "Viv, Sutton, Alice...but they are gone now and it's just us. We could die if we don't find somewhere safe and here seems safe to me."
"And here seems too good to be true," Lucy spoke her voice firm. "There has to be somewhere else safe. If you want somewhere safe I will find it but it's not here."
Kate laughed bitterly at Lucy's words, "You won't even give it a try first to see," she snapped out not even sure why this was causing an argument but it was. "Just give it a try for me? Please."
Instead of answering Kate verbally, Lucy just shot her a tiny glare before walking off. ________________________________________________________________________________
A soldier paused from his work as he stood in the middle of his camp watching a car heading towards it. "Vehicle approaching, corporal," he said informing the corporal that there was a car coming.
The corporal nodded his head, "Alright, stay alert."
The soldier heard him and watched as the car came into their camp and it was then that he and his fellow soldiers raised their gun at it, even when the person shook a white looking fabric through the window and asked them not to shoot.
"Identify yourself," The corporal spoke loudly so the person in the car could hear.
At that the Governor put on his best smile and got out of the car, "Hey, hey, hey! We found your guy, Wells! Lieutenant Wells? His chopper went down."
"Well, where is he?" The corporal asked as he looked the man over.
"We got a little settlement," the Governor spoke as he smiled at the man. "Now he's badly hurt, but he's alive! And the other guys didn't make it, I'm sorry. But Wells, he told me I would find you here! He wants me to bring you to him!"
The soldier who had been the one to spot the care turned to another soldier behind him, "They found Wells, they got him, they found him!"
Smirking at that the Governor nodded, "We sure did!" he smiled as he pulled out his gun and shot the corporal who had also turned around when the soldier did. "We found you too!" he added on as his men popped up from behind the trees and grass surrounding this place and his smirk grew more as his men started shooting, killing off all the soldiers that had been here.
Walking close to a soldier that he spotted crawling on the ground, the Governor reached down when he was within distance and took the man's gun and raised it up, beating the man in the head with the butt until he was dead. It was after that, that he hollered out for his men to check if the others were all dead and he turned to see that one of his men was looking at him shocked.
"Never waste a bullet, son," the Governor told him before looking back at his men. "Pick up the rest of these weapons," he ordered out hearing one of his men say a yes sir. Standing there after that he looked around before spotting a soldier who had only been hit in the leg and was trying to escape. Raising the gun in his hand he shot the man until he died and then he turned to face the man who earlier had been looking at him shocked.
"Go put a merciful end to that young man's day," the Governor said before smirking again. "Let's see what uncle Sam brought us, shall we?" he asked as he looked at a few of his other men before going to look at the vehicles and weapons that would now be theirs. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Lucy who had been on her way to go apologize to Kate slowed down in walking as she watched the gates of Woodbury open and a few military vehicles come in and she walked a bit closer to the crowd that was gathering around as the Governor and his men got out and she turned her head to briefly see the Governor go over to talk to Merle and Milton and then he came back to the front, where most of the people were now gathered.
Moving towards the back some as she felt a bit uncomfortable being in the middle of all these people Lucy just crossed her arms waiting for whatever the Governor was going to say.
"We brought in five new people yesterday," the Governor spoke as he looked at the people crowded around him and the vehicles they had just drove in. "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. I promised I'd bring them back here alive but they didn't have our walls or our fences. Biters got there before we did," he lied though he made his words sound sincere enough that his citizens would believe him. "Now, the men had trucks, trucks had weapons, food, medicines, things we need. Now, we didn't know them, but we'll honor their sacrifice by not taking what we have for granted. Won't be long before dark so go on home. Be thankful for what you have. Watch out for each other."
Once the speech had ended Lucy just shook her head and looked around at the people leaving, people who seemed to buy everything the Governor said. Uncrossing her arms she turned on her heels, seeing Michonne sitting off on a bench looking as unimpressed as she felt and she knew then that maybe she wasn't alone in hating this place. If only Kate could see that.
"If only," Lucy muttered to herself as she walked back to where her and Kate were staying and she went inside, soon plopping down on the bed, not moving until Kate came in the room.
"You still mad at me?" Kate asked as she shut the door behind her.
Lucy sat up as she eyed Kate, slowly moving towards the end of the bed and reaching for Kate, to pull her down into her lap. "Not mad," she spoke as she kissed Kate's shoulder blade. "I just wish you'd see this place isn't all sunshine and roses."
"And I wish you'd see it could be....could be nice," Kate sighed as she wrapped an arm around Lucy's neck. "Can't you just give it a day or two?"
Pondering Kate's question Lucy heaved a sigh, "For you, I guess I could," she admitted though she felt uneasy about agreeing to it but she would for Kate. "But only a day or two and if I hate it, we leave."
"Deal," Kate smiled before leaning down to peck Lucy's lips. ______________________________________________________________________________________
Later that night, the Governor closed his blinds as he held a drink in his hand and took a few sips. Walking past the bed where a naked Rowan was still passed out he stopped in front of a picture and he looked at sadly for a bit before continuing his walk towards a door.
When he reached that door, he took out a key and opened it, going inside and sitting down in the chair in the middle of the room. Once he was in the chair, the Governor looked in front of him at the wall where several fish tanks were. Fish tanks full of heads. Several heads but the newest additions were the heads of the two walkers that had been on chains as well as Pilot Wells.
Just staring at them silently he raised the drink that was still in his hands to his lip and he took another sip.