Chapter 2
"A little touch of heavenly light"

"Is she awake," asked Kyle with uncertainty in his voice. He was always the one concerned for Ava despite seeing her take down plenty of walkers without a hint of fear in her eyes. Ava sat up slowly with the help of Rick. She asked, "What happened?" Rick answered her in a low voice, "You blacked out." Looking around, she saw no sign of Michonne, Glenn, or Maggie. The next question to be asked.

"Where are the other three," muttered Ava as she rubbed her right eye. Her right eye lacked some vision due to an incident as a kid that caused damage to her eye. Moving her hand off of her face, she looked at Rick for an answer. He said, "They went behind one of the vehicles over there. They are going to wait out here, while we go in." Jeff looked a bit unhesistant about the plan given that the chants had died down. Daryl may have been in the town, but was it worth going in there? He could have been dead already.

Ava said, "I think it would be safer, if they came, Rick." Perhaps his judgement was off as the leader of their small group. Plus, she could see that he wasn't entirely sure of the plan. The woman named Michonne would make anyone question where her loyalties truly lied.

Rick said, "I told them that we would give them a signal, if we need their help. Also, Michonne can lead them back in, if anything happens out here." Ava nodded slowly though Ian interjected this conversation.

Kyle asked, "Are you sure that you can trust her to keep them safe?" He was always the uncertain one in the group, fear driving most of his actions in this world that he took. Rick looked up at Kyle and said, "No, but if she wants to prove that I can ever trust her, she'll handle this." Ava stood up on her own and said, "Enough chit chat, I want to go get my brother."

She hadn't seen him for quite some time. They were close as kids though different life paths caused them to drift apart in their adult lives. Rick stood up from where he had been kneeling beside her and said, "It's not just Daryl, Merle is in there as well. Though he should be safe since he was the one that brought Maggie and Glenn here." His tone was sharp, hate seething from his mouth when he mentioned Merle.

Ava looked a bit shocked. Not by the actions taken by Merle towards Maggie and Glenn. She knew what he was capable of, being his younger sister. They never saw eye to eye. In fact, he treated her like rubbish compared to how a brother should treat his sister. Moving away from the two, she looked up at the wall. Two people remained on the wall, two less than before she blacked out.

Seeing the flames dying down in the town, she could tell the town was quiet. What were they waiting for? Did they already get the blood that they so wanted for their dead men and women? Observing the wall, she wondered what could possibly destroy it. Arrows sure wouldn't do the trick. Looking back at Kyle, she said, "Correct me, if I am wrong. We still have the stuff that we took from the fort, correct?" He thought for a second though Jeff beat him to the punch. Jeff said, "Ava, we have enough to blow that whole wall up." A mischievous smile was on his face then followed by her own.

This smile was abandoned soon though. She thought of what had happened before the blackout. "Kill them" ran through her mind a few times. Them. It wasn't referring to one person, but rather two people or more. Ava looked over at Rick, who had fallen quiet since she had taken the lead of their group. She said, "The chanting wasn't referring to a single person. It was referring to a group of people and I have a feeling that it is Merle."

Rick said, "Highly doubtful, but that is your call. They are your brothers, so you should decide what you want to do." He was backing down from the leadership role. Ava could tell from how the others looked to him before that he was always depended on as the leader. Much like herself with the two men that traveled with her. Ava said nothing for she was completely unsure. Unsure if she would want to save Merle after everything he had done to her.

Jeff asked, "So what's the plan, Ava?" Taking a second more to observe, she saw fire growing in one part of the town. Not far from where they were standing. The chants were starting up again resulting in an unsettling feeling in her mind. The fear that something was going on.

The wall's guards left their posts, perhaps too intrigued for their own to keep watch. Flames becoming smoke in the dark sky was much more entertaining to them. Looking back to the woods, she saw no sign of movement. Despite the huge threat ahead of them, walkers were always the biggest threat in this new world. She suspected as always, walkers would show up eventually. They always had the worst timing to show up at places.

She took the backpack off her back and knelt on the ground, unzipping the biggest part of the backpack. Looking through it, she found a few grenades which the group had acquired when Kyle joined them. Handing the grenades to Kyle, she closed the backpack. Putting it on her back, she stood up with her eyes on the wall again. No guards still. Ava said, "Kyle and Rick, you'll take the grenades and set them off near the wall. This should blow the wall to hell then get into the town as quick as possible. Give Michonne, Glenn, and Maggie a signal." Kyle looked at her as if she was crazy for a second.

Kyle said, "Ava, the blow will attract so many walkers. It's too risky." Ava rolled her eyes a bit. She said, "It's risky for us, but this is a huge town. The walkers will act as another weapon for us." Her tone was cool considering she was talking about using the townspeople as bait. She looked to the other two men in the group for objections though found none. With that, Ava continued on, "Give the signal to those three to expect walkers though hopefully, we can get my brother before anything happens. Jeff and I will head into the town before you blow the wall to hell. This will give us a head start to finding Daryl and the explosion should cause a majority of these numbskulls to run there with walkers approaching shortly after."

The plan was a bit ridiculous. She knew it was a huge risk attracting walkers with grenades, but there was no way around it. The gunfire had been just as loud as a grenade would be. It had been so loud which was what drew the three people to the town in the first place. Breaking the wall down gave Maggie, Glenn, and Michonne a better chance than leaving them outside. Ava had seen the opening to the town when she had walked to the town in the first place. Walking away from them, she made her way to it. She had expected Jeff to follow her.

Turning around just once, she saw Rick had followed her instead. He said, "I told Jeff to stay with Kyle because I have already been in the town once." How stupid of her to have not suggested him to go with her. He had been the only one to go in, so it would have made more sense. Ava shrugged her shoulders and asked, "Care to lead the way?" Shrugging her shoulders had been her way of admitting to a mistake. He nodded and took the lead.

Crawling under the part of the wall that Michonne had only crawled out from under a couple minutes ago, they reached the inside of the town called Woodbury. Ava whistled quietly at the site of the town.

Despite the scene of some rubble and smashed windows, it looked like an actual town. The sight brought back memories of the town that she had transferred to as a college student. Feeling water building up her eyes, she blinked. She hadn't cried this whole time during the outbreak. Tears were not an option now that Daryl depended on her. Rick had looked back, noticing the buildup of water.

As they walked towards the sounds of chanting building up, they heard a huge bang. Looking back, they saw a car fly up off of the wall. It was a glorious site to see, the car flying up in partial flames. That noise caused some panic in the streets that had been empty when they had entered. Moving into the shadows of an alley, they watched as a few people ran in the direction of the wall that had collapsed. Another bang was heard. Music to Ava's ears, no doubt. Rick spoke, "Only few groups at a time are moving to the wall. There is a lot more people in this town than that."

Their plan wasn't working as well as they thought. Ava said, "Something has to be happening for them not to go running to that like a wild pack." Seeing the people letting up and hearing gunfire, the two moved out of the alley and alongside the sidewalk towards the chants. Rick led the way through the town with Ava trailing behind him. She took the bow off of her arm and got an arrow out, prepared for anyone to try to shoot her.

The easiness of running didn't last long as four men opened fire on them. Ducking behind a vehicle, Rick shot at the men anytime he had a chance to turn around a corner. For Ava, she loaded arrows into her bow and carefully aimed just above the hood of the car at the men. Two arrows hit their targets, one in the neck. One in the eye. The man who had an arrow in his neck, also received a bullet in the chest thanks to Rick. The other two men kept firing away. Preparing another arrow, Rick stopped Ava from doing so.

He said, "You have to go find Daryl, we're wasting time. I'll cover you until you're out of sight of these two." Looking at him, she wanted to protest. Splitting up was never the best idea. It was how she had lost two of her best friends when they had split up at the mall that they had hidden in for some time. Rick's eyes were what convinced her otherwise. They showed in his eyes that he was pleading for her to go. Ava thought, 'These darn eyes will be the death of me or him, I swear.' Instead of protesting, she nodded.

Both got up and moved out from behind the vehicle. Ava moved at a quicker pace than Rick, trying to get out of sight faster, so he could stop covering her. A bullet nearly grazed her arm though she heard the man that had fired the shot, go down. A thud of his gun was what she had heard. The other man, he kept firing at Rick. Rick was good at covering people. He had done it plenty of times as a sheriff deputy. However, good was just never enough for anyone. Hearing a gunshot followed by a thud near to her, Ava turned around.

She saw Rick had fallen to his feet, blood leaving his body. From where? She wasn't sure though she loaded an arrow into her bow before the man could shot another bullet and hit him right in the forehead. A clean shot. Falling to her own feet, Ava looked over his body and saw the shot had been to his leg. Everything was truly going to hell. How was he suppose to run through the woods with walkers chasing them after this?

Rick said, "Go on after your brother, I'll be fine." Ava shook her head because she could hear them now. The screams of people fleeing. Walkers were entering where the wall had blown up. Still a distance from the two, but it didn't take long for walkers to get someone. She offered her hand to help him up, but a blonde woman came running to them. Ava looked at her with confusion and asked, "Who in the hell are you?!" The woman bent down and started to apply pressure on his wound. She said, "Andrea, now go to Daryl. He's up there." She pointed ahead to where the chanting still occurred. 'Damn woman, we don't have time to just sit here. Walkers are coming' thought Ava.

Rick only looked at her and nodded, indicating that she could trust the new woman that had appeared. Ava got to her feet and swiftly walked through the town, jogging at some clearings when no one could be seen. So many thoughts were running through her mind. Would she bother to save Merle? The chants of 'kill them!' still kept going through her mind. The world was no longer what it had been, this was proof.

Reaching the empty looking buildings, she slowly made her way forward under a makeshift bleacher. It wasn't a safe trip after all for she heard moaning from behind her. A walker was behind her. Ava turned around and loaded an arrow in the bow, faster than the walker could reach out for her. Letting go of the string, the arrow hit the walker right in the eye. It fell to the ground with a thud, Ava only taking a moment to look at it. She muttered under her breath, "Ugly skank." Turning her attention back to the scene in front of the makeshift bleachers, she saw two men fighting.

It wasn't a fair fight, more of a one sided fight. The one man was kicking the other's ass, brutally. The sounds of moaning and growling could be heard from where she stood. Walkers? Who used walkers to fight? Moving to the left side of the bleacher, she looked through the bleachers still. A man with one eye covered by a white patch was standing nearby, watching the fight with amusement.

Clearly he was more concerned with the fight rather than his town falling to the depths of hell. Other men stood off to the distance, watching with amusement as well. Reaching the end of the bleacher, she stepped out though no one noticed her presence yet given her dark attire. The one man fell to the ground once again, a walker mere inches from him. It looked close enough to grab him this time. Reaching for an arrow, Ava loaded it onto the string of the bow. If she missed, the walker was going to get the man. If she hit the walker, she'd give away her presence to the arena.

Pulling the string back, she let go. Ava barely ever missed her target, but her eyesight was indeed off. Plus, this was a far range target not an entirely close one. Also, the chance of the other man moving could happen meaning she'd kill a live person over a dead one. The arrow spun slowly and made it's way towards it's target.

Would it hit or not? The chants, 'kill them' running through the arena as they awaited the death of a man.

Author's Note: Thank you to all of the reviews so far! :D It's great to hear that you guys are enjoying this so far, I really enjoyed writing this chapter as it's the start of the downfall of Woodbury. Someone asked if romance will occur in this story soon. Yes, it will though not just yet. I promise it'll happen in this story though! The next chapter will include more walker blood spraying out of their brains, the fate of the two men in the arena, and some more of the other characters in this story. Please review with any opinions that you may have whether good or bad, it's always appreciated. :]