One Eye Open
Author's Note: Well, I was rather disappointed by the result of Carol's actions - Rick sending her on her way. I realize it may be the end of her - or not - but I thought of having her meet with the Governor in a short time...just to talk. The title is played on the phrase "sleep with one eye open" and probably on the Governor's "one eye" deal. You can decide, lol.
"If you believe that the killing of innocent people is right, then you are not part of my future."
- King Abdullah II
"In this life now, you kill or you die. Or you die and you kill."
- The Governor
By: VampireQueenAkasha
~O~
Damn, she should have kept that watch.
Carol wasn't sure how long it had been since she spent time searching that little apartment. Keeping track of the time almost seemed pointless - T-Dog had made a joke about that before - but she liked to remind herself how long she'd spent doing something in a world like this.
Though Rick had sent her away, Carol had found herself unable to stay angry for too long. In fact, she just felt tired. She wasn't sure what kept her going, but it sure as hell wasn't her food because she was running short of that as it was. She didn't even know where she was going...
That evening, she decided to spend the night in her van, pulling a few blankets from the apartment. Fortunately, there had been only a few Walkers roaming inside and she easily took care of them. She found herself thinking how crazy she was for wishing one of them would just fight back harder and finish it.
Oh well. Might as well just get some sleep.
She didn't get much of it because a few Walkers approached her van and she ended up having to move.
Goddamn it.
Carol traveled down that road for the remainder of the evening, her eyes heavy and her stomach empty. She decided to stop and search a shopping plaza for something to eat.
Well, that idea went downhill when she was nearly overrun by a mob of Walkers. Fortunately, she was able to find some boxes of stale cereal to sate the painful hunger in her belly. It wasn't much, but at least she was able to keep herself from starving for a little while.
It was still dark when Carol found a place behind a building to park the van and attempt some kind of sleep.
She managed to get a little bit of sleep in when she was awoken by the most wonderful smell she'd ever scented in a long time. She straightened in the seat, looked around and frowned thoughtfully before catching sight of a pillar of smoke through the trees. Curious and still quite hungry, she decided to check it out.
But she needed her gun, of course.
Rick at least had some sense to give that to her.
Carol slowly and carefully left her van and ventured toward the smoke pillar. It led her to a small campsite where a fire had been made and a few rabbits were cooking over it. Carol's rumbling stomach betrayed her and she quickly aimed her gun toward a man emerging from the trees. He held up his hands quickly.
"Whoa, take it easy!" he said.
He had a patch over his eye and was wearing a long coat. Truth be told, he was quite handsome on the eyes - a pretty-boy type as Michonne would put it. It occurred to her that the man she was facing was the Governor. She had caught a glimpse of him during the attack on the prison. The attack HE had lead.
Shit...
"I guess you smelled the rabbits, huh?" The Governor's smile was friendly, but Carol wasn't buying it.
The Governor took a spot beside the fire on an old lawn chair. He gestured to Carol. "I have plenty."
Carol's weapon lowered slightly, but she found herself unable to resist the smell of the cooking meat. Truth was, she was so hungry, she would have taken food from Satan if he offered it. Still quite cautious, she watched as the Governor took one of the rabbits and offered some of the meat to her. She was reluctant to take it from his hand, and he clearly saw this, so he corrected the error and placed it onto a small folding table he'd pilfered and pushed it toward her.
"There you go." The Governor told her, smiling. "Better?"
Carol carefully reached for the rabbit - keeping her gun on him the whole time - and picked it up with one hand. It was greasy and hot, but her hands were cold anyway. So she decided to eat some and noticed the Governor was eating some too. He chuckled softly and wiped his mouth.
"Carol, is it?" he said.
Carol paused and frowned warily. "Yes."
"Thought so." The Governor was silent for a moment. "Maybe you should take a seat."
"Why?"
"I just thought you and I could talk. That's all."
Talk? Carol ate the rabbit he had killed, so maybe hearing him out for a short time was necessary.
She took a seat in the chair, keeping her weapon trained on him and reluctantly listened. The Governor rubbed his hands together, licked his lips and seemed to consider a decent way to approach the situation.
"Did you think it was right, what Rick did?" he asked. "Throwing you to the wolves like that?"
Carol's eyes mildly widened. She hated how it betrayed her.
"Yeah, I saw you out there. I was looking around for some things myself." The Governor chuckled. "I thought of putting a bullet in both your heads. Had a good line of sight, you see. But then, I thought to myself, I said 'Phillip, now that ain't right doing that to this lady here. Not after what she's been through'. In fact, I thought, 'Well, damn, I have me one hell of a kindred spirit'."
"How so?" Carol was quite careful with how she spoke. This man felt like a time bomb to her. One wrong step and they'd both be dead.
"We've both had our lives ruined." The Governor's gaze suddenly looked predatory. "By Rick."
"I made a choice. I have to deal with the consequences."
The Governor chuckled, a little bit spitefully. "Really? And when do THEY have to deal with them? Who's to say they're above reproach?"
"I didn't say that..."
The Governor leaned back in his chair. "You had any children, Carol?"
Carol nodded her head weakly. She hated how her resolve was slowly peeling away. "I did."
"Tell me about them."
"Just one..."
Carol wasn't sure why she told the Governor about Sophia, the barn incident, how they'd lost her and how she'd ended up a Walker and everything else that happened along the way. She even told him about Ed and his death. How she'd been internally glad for it. The entire time, the Governor had been silent and just sat there, listening intently. His brows formed a thin line and he snorted when she had finished.
"Sounds to me like it was Rick's fault to begin with." he said.
Carol shook her head. "No, that's - "
"And you DEFEND him?" The Governor interrupted her and stood up. "Have you noticed how much things go wrong with your little group? From what you were saying, things were pretty damn fine before he showed up. You guys had a nice setup going on before HE came into the picture, am I right?"
Carol didn't answer. She didn't like how he made a few valid points.
"This Hershell fella sounded like he was just minding his own business and they came along, expecting him to shelter them. Then they screw up the barn he had full of Biters who weren't hurting anybody." The Governor laughed coldly. "Everywhere he goes, something ends up going wrong. Sounds to me like you did the right thing and he didn't like that. He didn't like someone making choices for him."
Carol was silent for a while.
"What about you?" she asked. "What did he do that made you hate him so much?"
"How about attacking Woodbury for one?" the Governor pointed out. "How about killing my friends? Now sure, I did the same thing, but it was only after I was attacked first. I would have left your little band alone if you hadn't gone out of your way to prove anything. I even told him that in our little deal. If you were living behind our walls, how would you see you? We saw you as a possible threat and needed to protect our way of life. Rick must have seen the same thing. Who says your group were the only ones allowed to live?"
"You took our friends."
"How did I know they were friends of yours? It was only after the fact."
Carol remained silent. She didn't like how the Governor posed a point.
He reached into his pocket and removed a photo of his wife and daughter. He offered it to Carol on the table. She took it, studying the smiling faces of the woman and the child. For a moment, she noticed a change come over the Governor's only good eye. Some semblance of humanity returned and there was a smile on his face that wasn't at all menacing.
"My daughter, Penny and my wife." he told her. "Penny had been sick. But I was looking for a way to cure her. Milton was working on that. It didn't seem right to let the others know, seeing since they were already terrified of the Biters. But then Michonne..." He licked his lips - a distracted gesture - and attempted to keep himself calm. "She killed her right in front of me. Not as an act of mercy or anything like that, but to spite me. To hurt me in the worst way imaginable. Now you can call it whatever you want, but to me, she killed my daughter. I had hoped to find a way to bring her back, and she destroyed any hope I had left."
Carol swallowed hard, attempting to keep herself calm as well.
The Governor chuckled and leaned back. "Rick did the same thing to your little girl. She was too far gone. Who says you couldn't have helped her?"
When Carol remained silent, he stood up and she immediately did the same.
"You can go." he said, "But I'm telling you right now, that little group of yours? They will pray. They will wish that when I am done. The Biters had gotten to them. They're going to pray that they HAD been torn to pieces. And you? Sleep with one eye open tonight."
Carol turned to go and let out a non-committal murmur. "You do the same." she replied.
The Governor actually laughed.
"Carol. I think I'm going to like you."
It'll pass...
She walked back to the van, but looked over her shoulder.
The Governor was still watching her and gave a two-fingered salute when she rode away.
Something told her she had to go back to the prison. Regardless of what they felt about her.