This is my first fanfic so please review! It takes place right after season three episode 8. I want to stay as true to the characters as possible so if something seems out of whack, let me know! Also, disclaimer I ownnothing so please don't sue me AMC!

Chapter One

-Lexi-

"It was you! You lied! You betrayed us all!"

The Governor's accusation of Merle rang out in the makeshift amphitheater, shocking the crowd and chilling Lexi to the bone.

She hated the redneck, more than she could ever say. Although a part of her knew Caitlyn had been broken since she had dragged her out of Emory Hospital, before her encounter with him she had been steadily regaining her sanity. She'd spent nearly a week lucid and functioning in Woodberry, before Merle's advances. Since then she'd become as in and out as ever, rarely conscious of their surroundings and never aware of the threat that lurked beyond the walls.

Still, as they stripped Merle of his weapons Lexi felt a growing uneasiness in her stomach. Something wasn't right in this.

She'd seen the destruction the terrorists had wrought first hand. During the attack she'd made her way through the fray like a mad woman, adrenalin coursing through her veins, in a desperate attempt to reach Caitlyn who was trapped in the apartment they shared. Although she had kept her head down as she raced across the street, she could have sworn she saw Merle, crouched behind a park bench, firing shots at the terrorists as the climbed out over the wall. She swore she could remember freezing right behind him when the woman's scream made her stop dead in her tracks.

"Rick! Rick!"

Reckless though it was, Lexi had frozen in spite of herself. She'd seen a man near Rick's height standing over Thomas' body, pistol drawn. Her heart had skipped a beat as she saw cold blue eyes stare out at her. But then he was gone, climbing over the school bus on the eastern wall and fading into the night. Seconds later, a bullet wizzed by her head and struck the stop sign behind her, waking her from her stupor and sending her sprinting to the front door of their townhouse. Still, she hadn't been able to silence the voice in the back of her mind.

What if it was him?

"This is one of the terrorists!"

The Governor's cry brought Lexi's mind back to the present, as she saw a hooded man being dragged to the center of the ring. The way they had him bound and covered reminded Lexi of the images of hostages that used to play on Al Jazeera years before.

Good god, this is getting out of hand.

"Merle's own brother!" The Governor screamed, dramatically ripping the man's hood off to the gasps and jeers of the crowd.

Lexi stared down at the man in the flickering torchlight her heart racing. He was clearly younger than Merle. His hair, though soaked through with sweat from being covered by the hood, was still a tawny brown, and apart from where his eyes naturally crinkled his face was unlined. Lexi wasn't sure if the years of hard drug use Merle was ever so keen to discuss created the illusion of a formidable age difference, but as she watched the man's eyes dart back and forth, evaluating his surroundings with a look of bewildered fury on his face, she was sure that like his brother, this man was a force to be reckoned with.

This man is dangerous. She thought, shivering slightly as his piercing blue eyes connected with her green ones, and almost backing away entirely as his mouth twisted into a contemptuous snarl.

And yet as the Governor called on the crowd to tell him what should be done with the criminals, and the cries of "Kill them! Kill them!" began to reverberate through the arena Lexi could feel the voice in her mind getting stronger.

He'll know about Rick. You NEED to know about Rick.

So as the Governor shoved the hood back on his head and led the strange man and Merle out of the amphitheater with promises of an execution in the days to follow, Lexi retreated back into her mind and began to formulate a plan. However slim the chance may be, Caitlyn's future depended on it.