ANDREA:
The order of "Don't kill it" had been one of the strangest, if not the strangest and most absurd thing she had ever heard. She and Merle had reached the first floor before any of the other occupants of the house and upon throwing open the door, discovered four walkers tottering up the street as men from the fence guard went for not rifles or bats but poles and ropes similar to the devices Hershel Greene had used to detain his barn walkers. At first Andrea had questioned how the hell walkers could have gotten into the town with all of the strict measures to keep them out, but she threw the thought aside and sprinted towards the nearest walking corpse that was attempting to enter the cafeteria. Merle was hard on her heels, shouting at her and she could distinguish the words, "Don't kill it."
She had every intention of telling him to shove it up his ass when the Governor cut her off in his vehicle. He too had a net and warned Andrea with one hard look to back off as he looped it around the walker's neck and yanked it to the ground where several of his men detained it and started dragging it off towards the west side of the street.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded with her hands still wrapped around her axe.
"You go on home now," said the Governor dismissively. "This doesn't concern you at the moment."
The fact that she was facing the self-proclaimed leader of the town in a t-shirt and pajama shorts did not stop her from demanding answers as she walked after the Governor. "You almost ran me over to stop me from putting down a walker and I think I have the right to know why!"
The Governor put up a hand to her and though his body language did not suggest violence, his tone could not have been more menacing. "When I find that it's the right time to tell you why, you'll know. Until then, I think you'd best go along with Merle."
The gate was closing once again to her left while men from all four corners of the town came together to restrain the walkers and guide them through a heavy metal door half hidden behind thick green foliage. The walkers swiped their arms out wide, mindlessly trying to catch one of their captors but for every walker there were at least three men to subdue them. Blinds opened all along the street and faces peeked out from behind curtains to view the scene down on the street but as quickly as they appeared, they vanished.
Something was off about this entire operation. Not putting down walkers but leading them away on ropes and poles like they were overly excited horses went against everything she believed and she wasn't about to stand by and watch it happen without answers.
Merle's hand closed around her wrist. "Go back to the room," he instructed quietly.
"Tell me what's going on," she demanded, facing him with her heart pounding.
"Not now," he said, trying to push her along, but she planted her feet firmly on the pavement and refused to budge.
"No, I've been completely honest with you and I think I deserve to know the truth, so if you don't tell me I'll find out for myself one way or another, you know I will!"
"Damn it, not now," Merle hissed, now pinching her arm insistently.
"Merle, come lend us a hand here," called Martinez and this time Andrea knew he was not intentionally poking fun at Merle's handicap. As Merle turned to answer, Andrea shook herself free and got all of ten feet away before Merle's arms closed around her waist and the two of them went down in the grass. He was stronger, even with the loss of his hand, and he pinned her down with his knees, though she didn't try very hard to fight back. There would be a time for that, but it was not now, not with so many people watching them behind closed windows. She lay still, scowling at Merle's half-swollen face and then he raised a finger to his lips.
"Later," he said in a tone just audible over the sounds of the men handling the walkers. "Just go back now, lock the door, and wait for me and then I'll tell ya whatever the hell y'wanna know." Andrea twisted to try and sit up but he pointed straight at her face, all traces of humor gone from his own. "Deal?"
"Get off of me," said Andrea, trying to use her legs to help her gain some sort of grip on the grass, but he was too heavy. He leaned over her so that she could smell the toothpaste clinging to his breath.
"Deal or not, baby?"
"Okay, fine, just get off, I can't breathe!"
He stood up and hauled her to her feet. There was a warning look in his eyes as he hurried off to help tend to the walkers, but Andrea had no intention of returning to the room. She didn't move, wondering if she should go to Michonne and reveal her suspicions or attempt to confirm them herself by doing a bit of sneaking around. After all the crap she went through to get Michonne to stay, Andrea thought she deserved some answers, especially since she hadn't caused any trouble herself.
Checking to see if anyone was watching her, she hastened to the wall of greenery that concealed the door and felt her way around it, searching for another entrance. She found one curving around to the side about ten feet up and scaled the wall by coiling her arms around the vines and branches that grew outward. She quickly glanced over her shoulder before darting inside the shattered window and starting to crawl through a narrow tunnel. Bangs and shouts preceded her as she crept forward, axe in hand, but as she emerged above a long stretch of dirt, she darted back into the shadows to watch from her vantage point.
Below her the men were herding the walkers into a cage in the far corner of the stadium all at once which was not going well. Merle had one walker in a headlock and brought his knee up to its chin before throwing it down and scrambling out of the cage to avoid the clutches of the other walkers. The men simultaneously released their ropes and yanked off the herding poles and the cage doors swung shut with a loud clatter. Shupert and the younger man Andrea believed to be named Tim strung chains around the doors to keep the walkers inside while the rest of the men stepped back and admired their handiwork.
"That isn't enough," said the Governor. "If you're going for the big stunt, Merle, we're gonna need at least six more."
"I'll check the traps first thing in the mornin'," said Merle. "If there ain't a catch, I'll just do a lil' huntin' b'fore lunch and be back in with the rest've 'em."
"What d'you think your woman's gonna make of this?" asked Martinez.
Andrea didn't want to stick around to hear Merle's answer. His woman? Was that what she was now? Well, I can tell you that she thinks this is some messed up shit going on here, Martinez, she thought darkly. The first mistake you made was not batting those walkers' brains out on sight and whatever the hell you have here is going to come back around and bite you in the ass, just you watch.
Now she had evidence to confront the Governor with and she knew the time had come to stop playing coy with the men of this place. Unlike the other citizens of Woodbury, Andrea was not a longtime resident and she knew the horrors of the outside world better than almost anyone else. Whatever this little set up was, she wanted no part of it and would reject any affiliation with those involved until it was closed down.
Or I leave. That was always an option, just like Michonne wanted. But after the rebellious attitude she had put up on behalf of staying, she didn't want to see that smug look on Michonne's face.
She started to back up the way she came when suddenly a hand closed over her mouth and held her down. Struggling, she attempted to kick her attacker off, but whoever it was, they were not letting up. Her face was pressed down onto the rusty bottom of the tunnel and she heard her opponent whistle, a sharp, piercing sound that was ten times louder than normal within the confinements of the tube. Moments later the same hands that held her in place were lifting her up and lowering her down into the stadium.
"Watch it; she bites more than some of those biters," said a voice above her, which she recognized to be Crowley's.
Shupert set her on her feet in the middle of a semicircle where the men had gathered. The Governor was shaking his head in disappointment but while some of the men looked excited, Merle's face was the only one lacking for emotion though his eyes clearly told her, I'm so gonna kill you when this is over.
"Just couldn't resist sneaking around, huh?" asked the Governor.
"I don't think you have any right to lecture me on shadow work with what you have going on here," Andrea snapped. "What are you using those walkers for, entertainment?"
"Distraction," answered the Governor. "An escape from reality whenever people need reminding that not everything has to be death and destruction. We stage fights with them to show the people that we can overcome, we have. In this arena, we always win and that gives folks a boost of confidence."
"That is bullshit. What happens when they go outside the walls?" said Andrea, her voice shaking in anger. "This is surreal, what you're doing, and it's a lie. You're teaching them that they're untouchable."
"No one's going to go outside the walls, Andrea. No one wants to. If luck is with us, the bleachers in this arena are the closest anyone will ever have to get to biters again unless someone wants to volunteer to be the next staged fighter. Are you volunteering?"
Martinez laughed and Andrea had a strong urge to knock out all of his even white teeth with her Beretta, but abstained. Instead she rounded on Merle who had not spoken up on her behalf like she suspected he would.
"And what's your say in this? Do you think this is right?"
"Ain't what I think that matters," Merle responded carefully and Andrea caught on to the subtle caution. He could not speak freely just now, but his avoidance of the direct question suggested that he might not agree with the Governor's ruling. At least, not completely.
"Oh, that's right; you're the one scheduled to go up against ten walkers in your big stunt tomorrow after you hunt them down and trap them like animals."
"That's what they are, sweetheart, in case y'didn't notice," said Merle to a smattering round of laughter from the other men.
"They were people once, damn you," Andrea snarled. "Good people who deserve a better death than this." When she saw that she had not changed anyone's mind, she nodded in a very sarcastic manner. "Okay, if you all have your heads so far up your asses that you don't realize the long-term damage this will do, fine by me, but I won't watch it happen. Don't think you can bamboozle me like you did the people in this town. I won't play host to your sick games."
"That's enough, let's go now," said Shupert, tugging on her arm but she was ready for him. She brought her shin up right between the big man's legs and he bent double, clutching his manly parts with a howl. His pain evidently was not enough to keep him at bay for long because he straightened up three seconds later and his muscular arm came up over his head to strike her down. Andrea felt a sharp jerk at the back of her shirt and fell back onto her bruised tailbone as Merle towed her backwards and blocked her from Shupert's view.
She couldn't see his face, but Andrea knew it had to be a look of last-chance warning that Merle was giving Shupert because only that could have made the bigger man back off.
"Easy now, boys," said the Governor, intervening. "Merle, get her back inside and see that she stays there. Maybe tomorrow you'll have a change of heart, Andrea. I hope you can see what we're trying to do here is for the people."
"I already told you I'm not going to watch-,"
"Shut up, just shut up," snapped Merle out of the corner of his mouth. "Get up." He frog-marched her out of the stadium the way he had come and did not stop pushing until they were almost to the apartment building. Yanking her around fiercely by the arm he lowered his voice to a hoarse whisper and demanded, "What the hell's the matter with you, woman? D'you realize y'couldda gotten both've us in some very serious shit tonight? I'm talkin' confinement, food rations, possible imprisonment all 'cause y'couldn't do like I told ya and just go back t'bed."
"Well, there's your problem," Andrea retorted. "I'm not your woman, you bastard, and if you think I'm going to be taking orders from you-,"
"They all think you're with me now, or did I not make that clear when I laid out the guidelines for movin' in with me? Look, if y'want t'keep a low profile 'round here, y'gotta do what I say. I know these people better'n you ever will and I know what pushes their buttons. Insubordination riles up Phillip—the Governor, I mean-,"
"Phillip?"
"Focus, Andrea! Y'can't go 'round accusin' 'im and challengin' his authority."
"I'm not; I'm questioning his sanity," Andrea retorted.
Merle shook her. "Are y'tryin' t'get y'self killed or does bein' a bitch just come naturally t'you?"
Andrea swiped out her hand to clout him upside the head, but perhaps Merle had come to expect this from her, for he blocked her and said rather threateningly, "Now, that shit's gettin' old. Y'wanna stay here or get kicked back out on the road again? Learn some humility, keep your head low, and put on a false face, sweetheart, 'cause the only way t'keep the Governor happy is t'make 'im think that he's got you sold."
"Act stupid, you mean," Andrea corrected.
"No, act oblivious," said Merle. "And learn from the master."