The women have gotten their job done. This chapter will concentrate on the mission to kill the Governor. This is an odd group, Merle, Oscar, Axel, Daryl, and Jesse. They don't want to bring Woodbury down; they want to change Woodbury.

Redemption Tour

Merle led his team toward the Woodbury Town Hall and the Governor's Quarters. He had Oscar and Axel close to him and put Daryl on drag. He took a back alley approach and they moved quickly. It wasn't completely dark but the streets were empty. He entered the Town Hall from the back. They carrying automatic rifles but he was hoping to do most of this as quietly as possible.

The hallway was empty and they moved toward the front offices. This was where the Governor's soldiers hung out. The Governor might be with them. If he wasn't here he might be in his quarters or in the secret room.

Merle held his hand up to stop the men behind him and motioned for them to scatter out. He eased up to the open door to listen. He could hear one of the men say, "The Governor is down the street in the warehouse. He told me to tell you guys to wait here until he comes back."

Merle recognized the next voice as belonging to Martinez, "I am tired of this shit. I want out. Merle was the smart one. He is out and he can start over somewhere else. You do what you want to do. I don't care if it is almost dark. I am getting a truck and going out those gates. You can come with me but if you come after me I am going to kill you."

Merle smiled and waited to see if anyone would go with him. There was a chance that they would kill Martinez for trying to leave. He heard at least two sets of boots head his way. Merle turned and motioned for his band to stand down.

Martinez and Shumpert walked out into the hall. Merle gently closed the door behind them and Martinez started when he saw Merle and the other men but held his hands up. Merle said, "Are you ready to take on the Governor?" The two men nodded and Merle said, "It's going to get interesting here."

Merle motioned for Axel and told him to go on the street and give a burst of gunfire and then get behind cover. Merle ordered Axel to kill the Governor on sight. He told Daryl to take the back way and check on the women and get Jesse. He trusted Jesse to help him make decisions.

Daryl started back and heard the first burst of gunfire. Then he heard another longer burst. He moved as fast as he could but by the time he was back to the warehouse he saw Jesse and the women moving Andrea. Jesse agreed to come with him and they hurried back to the town hall.

Merle asked Martinez and Oscar to step in the room with him. He could hear the conversation going on inside and knew the Governor would be here any second. He hoped that Axel would kill him or at least shoot at him so that they would know that he was close.

Merle took a second or two to calm his nerves. He was trying to make up for some of the shit that he had done in this world but it wasn't going to be easy. He shook himself like a dog and held up his automatic weapon on the ready as he stepped into the room, "I'm back, motherfuckers".

The men inside turned their heads and at least two pointed their weapons at Merle. They were sitting together and he let out a burst of fire at them and Oscar used his weapon to cover the others. The two fell over and one of the soldiers that Merle trusted held his hand up and pointed to the bodies. Merle nodded and the other man moved to the bodies and put them down.

Another man went for his gun and Oscar shot him down. Martinez and Shumpert entered the room and said, "Make your choice. Either you join us and take down the Governor or be prepared to meet your maker. Drop all your weapons and step over there away from them" and he pointed to the other side of the big room.

Suddenly, they heard the clatter of weapon fire from outside and in the distraction another two of the men in the room went for their weapons. Martinez killed the man closest to him and Oscar took out the other. There were only four men left in the room and they dropped all their weapons and hustled to the other side. Merle, Oscar, and Shumpert left the room to meet the threat outside. They were met by a volley of weapon fire and they dropped to the floor and Merle rolled to the other side of the hall and broke through that door. The other men followed him and he could hear Daryl and Jesse approach from the rear of the hall.

Merle yelled, "Daryl, find some cover and don't let anybody in. Daryl kicked in a door and dragged out an office desk and turned it sideways. Jesse had stood up and put a burst of fire down the hall to push back some approaching fighters. Daryl and Jesse pushed the desk closer to the front of the hall.

Martinez went to the window and sent a warning message to the fighters outside. He was in it to win it now. No going back. He either defeated the Governor or he was dead in the water. One of the men said, "Let me help". Martinez knew him to be man who only worked inside the town to do maintenance work and he said, "Grab a weapon and move over here. Stay back from the window.

Jesse had went back to the back door and used another desk to block entrance from that direction. He positioned himself so that he could watch the stairwell and the other offices.

Merle saw that the rest of the Governor's men were advancing toward the building. He figured that they would throw in some fire bombs and drive them out. Merle looked at Oscar and Shumpert and said, "We have to get out now and get behind them. I am going out now. He knew the window opened out to a bush. Merle took a running start and went through the window. He landed on the bush and quickly rolled off to the left. Oscar was right behind him and they moved together toward the street. They were being fired upon but their jump had surprised the Governor's men. Merle and Oscar kept moving and shot out some lights so that the other side would be as much in the dark as they were.

The town fell silent. Merle had used his prep time with his team to tell them that they would try to take out the Governor and as many men loyal to him as possible. Then, they would take control of the town and turn it over to a civilian government. He knew there were good people here that didn't know the truth about the Governor.

Merle and Oscar moved to a hiding place that he had scouted out months ago. Those guarding the gates were continuing to stay on duty and had not joined in the fray. Merle was worried that the Governor might open the gates if he thought that he was losing control of Woodbury and he sent Oscar to make sure that didn't happen. Merle had been impressed with Oscar; he might have been a convict at the beginning of all this but he was a standup guy that you could trust to do the hard jobs.

Jesse, Martinez, Shumpert, and Daryl were still holding the town hall. They conferred in the hall way. They had moved enough office furniture to slow down any attackers. The weapons had been gathered. Martinez said, "Let's move upstairs. I know a way out from there."

Martinez took the three men who had surrendered and put them in an office and locked the door. He knew that they would be able to find their way out but he couldn't just kill them. He led the rest upstairs to the roof and grabbed a ladder that he had seen there the last time he had been there. It was now very dark but he maneuvered the ladder so that it formed a bridge between this building and the next. Jesse volunteered to be the first over and he crawled over in seconds. Jesse held the ladder on his side and Martinez came through next, then Shumpert and last Daryl came across and they pulled the ladder in.

There was the sound of an explosion from the front of the building and saw that it was on fire. Martinez led them to the next building and they used that ladder to the ground on the other side. Martinez moved this group left closer to the gates. They saw that the building was burning and it wouldn't be long until they knew that they had escaped.

They found Axel hiding behind a dumpster. He had shot at the Governor at the beginning and then hid. Martinez moved them toward the other side of the street and they found cover in an abandoned storefront. Daryl and Jesse moved upstairs and began firing at the fighters flooding into the burning building.

Merle had left his hiding spot and began to make his way to the Governor's apartment. He thought that the man might flee if he thought that he was losing Woodbury. He found a window that faced out onto the street and he could see the Governor point to the town hall and motion his men toward the building with fire bombs. The street lit up then and he saw a few figures move across the street and hoped it was Daryl and Jesse moving to another position. The Governor had ran when he saw that his men were being attacked from the other side and Merle waited for him in the dark hall.

Merle could hear the Governor run up the stairs. He moved so that he couldn't be seen in the light from the window. He wasn't going to make a dramatic speech before he killed him. Phillip Blake was a sneaky bastard and it was best to do it quickly. The Governor had locked his apartment and Merle stepped closer and shot him twice in the head with his pistol. He began dragging the body down the stairs and toward the street. The fighting was over out there and the last of the Governor's men had come out with their hands up. It was all over but the shouting.

Merle found Daryl and Jesse and hugged both of them. Martinez began to organize his men to protect the town. It was a long night as they waited until daylight to make any decisions. The next morning the citizens of Woodbury began to filter out of their homes and toward the main street. Martinez gave a short speech and every adult citizen of Woodbury had to take a tour of the Governor's apartment to view his wall of human heads and his imprisoned zombie daughter. Merle knew that that they needed to know what kind of man that their leader had been.

Martinez chose a group of citizens to lead the town. Karen, David, Milton, the town doctor, and a variety of others were chosen to make decisions for the town. Oscar and Axel had chosen to stay in Woodbury and in the early afternoon Merle, Daryl, and Daryl left Woodbury via the back door and made their way to their vehicle.

They checked the safe house and saw that there was evidence that the women had been there but were gone now. Daryl drove toward the compound and knew that he never wanted to see Woodbury again. Jesse had promised to send them some seeds to start gardens, but he wasn't going back either.

The sun was still high in the sky as they came toward the compound. Merle turned to the other two and said, "Mission Accomplished".

AN

I hated that they killed Oscar off in the show and I thought that he would have been a stand-up guy. Martinez gets to be a leader and Shumpert still doesn't get anything to say.

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