Chapter 25

I didn't really get to see much of Woodbury. When we arrived we were greeted by armed men with guns who pulled me from the car and blindfolded me. I tried to struggle, to stop them, but it was no use, they were outnumbered me and were each stronger than me. I heard Maggie being pulled from the car, she was swearing. We were led along blind and separated. I ended up in an empty room in what looked like a warehouse. One of the men then tied me down to a chair and smirked at me. The look in his eyes made me recoil in fear. Merle had disappeared, leaving me with the armed men. Thankfully they left me alone, leaving the room and locked the door behind them.

They must have left me alone for a good twelve hours or so. I think I must have fell asleep at some point, because I was suddenly jolted awake by a hand on my face. For a moment, I was disorientated, thinking I was back in the prison. But then everything rushed back to me and I cowered away from the hand.

"So you're awake" the man commented, moving to lean back on a table in the middle of the room, "let me introduce myself, I'm Phillip – they call me the Governor round here"

It was clear he was trying to reassure me, to trick me into thinking he was a good guy. But I saw that look in his eyes. This wasn't a nice man, he was pretty damn evil. I could just tell. I spotted Merle stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and his jaw tight. He was watching the Governor with a sort of controlled hate in his eyes. He didn't like this man all that much either.

"Merle here tells me you were in a camp together before you got separated"

"Yes"

"And that you're still with that group, with his brother"

"Yes"

"Are you going to give me more than a one word answer?"

"I doubt it" I snapped, raising an eyebrow at him, "I've been brought here against my will and tied to a chair! What do you expect me to want to say to you?"

Before I could even finish speaking he was up and in front of me, his hand out and striking me so hard that the chair fell over with me still tied to it. My head smacked off the floor and my vision went blurry for a moment. The chair was pulled back up and my eyes focused on the man in front of me.

"Now, are you going to tell me where you group is?" he asked, his voice too velvety and slick.

"No way" I spat. He responded with a punch to my jaw. I tasted blood as it flooded my mouth.

"Now, now, Daisy, you don't want to get on my bad side"

"I won't betray them to a sick freak like you, they're my family…you're just a bully"

The Governor leaned back on his heels, folding his arms, his head cocked to one side. He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at me. Flashing me a sickly grin, he turned on his heel and started heading for the door.

"Have a think about what I've said, Daisy, while I go pay your friend a visit. Maybe she will be a bit more forthcoming than you've been so far" the Governor called as he disappeared out of sight.

"Yeah good luck with that asshole!" I yelled after him.

I was trying to sound confident but really I was scared out of my mind. That man was pretty crazy, a man made for a world like this. He had no problem knocking a teenager like me about for information. You could tell just by looking in his eyes that he really didn't care about who he hurt. I looked up, taking in a ragged shaking breath, to see that Merle was still in the room.

"You should do what he wants" Merle rasped at me "he ain't afraid to hurt you"

"What happened to you Merle? You might be a tough old redneck but bringing us here to be beat up by a psychopath? That's just wrong" I demanded "what would Daryl think if he could see you now?"

"You were the ones who left me! I had to chop off my own damn hand! The Governor found me damn near dead and surrounded by walkers!"

"So now you're his puppet?"

"I ain't nobody's puppet! I got a good set up here, Daisy! I just wanted to find my brother"

"I would have helped you and you know it! I still will! You could get Maggie and me out of here, we can go back to the group" I pleaded "please Merle!"

"I can't Daisy" Merle snapped.

Merle left the room, slamming the metal door behind him. I slumped back in my chair, well as much as I could considering I was tied up pretty good. I hung my head. This whole situation was just plain awful. How the hell was I going to get out of this? Glenn would have went back to the prison and told them all that Merle had taken us by now, but they didn't have the faintest idea where we were. I'd drove us here and I didn't have a clue where we were. We couldn't count on them coming to find us, we had to get out on our own. Easier said than done I'm afraid.

I'd been on my own for a good few hours, my body aching and numb at the same time from sitting in the same position for so long. As the day wore on – well I assumed it was daytime but the warehouse didn't have any windows for me to know for sure – I let myself daydream of getting out of here, that the Governor was just going to let us go. It was just a daydream. I jumped as the door crashed open. One of the Governor's men sauntered into the room, a cocky grin on his face, a knife twirling in his hands. He eyed me up in a way that made me feel sick to my stomach. He practically had the words 'creepy pervert' tattooed on his head.

"Ain't you a pretty little thing" the man drawled, his eyes dancing across my body. I shuddered.

"Stay away from me" I spat.

"Ah I see why the Governor likes you, feisty!"

He stepped towards me, resting his hands on my shoulders. I recoiled as far as I could.

"Leave the girl, the Governor wants her" another man said from the doorway.

The pervert leered in front of me before cutting the ropes loose from the chair, leaving my hands still bound. He grabbed me by the crook of my elbow and dragged me up to my feet, hauling me across the room. My muscles screamed in protest and they were forced to work so abruptly. My legs wobbled, the creep having to support me until I regained my balance and the ability to move. The two men led me along a dark corridor, lit only by a few flickering lights, until we reached another room in the warehouse. It was large with a table in the middle of the room, the rest of the room was in disarray. Maggie was stood in the middle of the room, stood flush against the table, her arms covering her bare chest. My throat constricted just looking at her stood there half naked, tear tracks down her cheeks. The Governor was stood behind her, clearly threatening her.

"Oh Daisy, so glad you could join us" the Governor drawled, running his hand slowly down Maggie's bare back "we were just getting to the good part"

Bile rose in my throat as he leaned closer to Maggie, pushing her forwards so she was leaning over against the table. She let out a small cry. The Governor looked up to me as he started removing his belt.

"Stop it!" I yelled, thrashing against the two men that were holding me back "don't hurt her! Please, don't hurt her!"

"Tell me where you group is and how many of you there are and I won't have to hurt her" the Governor retaliated.

"Don't tell him anything" Maggie ordered but her voice was barely more than a whimper. Her face was bruised and she was shaking.

"Maybe you need just a little more persuasion" the Governor mused, pulling a gun from his waistband and pressed it against Maggie's temple.

I took in the situation. If I told him about the prison then he'd go there, he'd try and hurt my family and friends. But if I didn't tell him what he wanted to know then he was going to hurt Maggie, and most likely me too. He was holding that gun against Maggie's head and I was certain he would use it if I didn't hand over the information he so clearly was desperate to hear.

"We're staying in the prison near Newnan" I sighed. The Governor took a step back from Maggie, letting her stand up.

"You cleared the prison? It's in the red zone"

"Most of it yeah, it was overrun when we got there"

"How big is your group?"

"There are twelve of us now" I confessed. Of course there were a few more of us, but the children were just young, I didn't count them as fighting members of our group.

The Governor's jaw was tight as he left the room, followed by his henchmen. The lock clicked behind them. I rushed over to Maggie, helping her back into her ripped and bloody bra and top. Shaking, she pulled me into a hug.

"I had to tell them, Maggie…I'm sorry" I whispered.

"It's ok, we're going to be ok" Maggie soothed, rubbing my arm softly.

"How are we going to get out of this?"

"I don't know but we will, we've got to get back to the others"

Before we could come up with some sort of plan, the two men from earlier came back into the room…with three walkers on chains trailing behind them. Maggie and I backed up, nearly tripping over the table in our haste. The creepy man chuckled at us, sauntering across the room with attitude and confidence.

"What's going on?" Maggie demanded.

"The Governor is done with you, he's got what he wants from the two of you, so we're going to let the biters finish you off" he sneered, unclipping the chains from the walkers and exiting the room.

"You can't just leave us in here with them" I yelled but they had already shut the door.

The walkers were growling in the doorway there eyes locked on us. They started shambling towards us. I swallowed back a gulp and glanced around the room.

"Please tell me you have a weapon hidden on you somewhere" I asked as we backed right up against the far wall of the room.

"Nope, you?" Maggie replied.

"Got nothing I'm afraid"

We separated as the walkers reached us, their grimy hands extended towards us and their teeth snapping. The room was pretty much empty, nothing lying around that we could use as a weapon. Then my eyes landed on the chair at the table.

"Maggie, the chair! Snap the chair!" I shouted.

While the walkers focused on me, I danced out of their reach and Maggie smashed the chair off of the wall, the wood splintering. She picked up two of the now sharp broken chair legs, throwing one across the room to me, and advanced on one of the walkers. The wooden chair legs were fine for taking down one walker, but as soon as I tried to pull the leg loose from the walkers skull it stuck and splintered till it was useless. The same happened to Maggie. There was still one more walker and it was right in front of us. I pushed at it as it snapped at us but it reared back to us once more.

The door to the room was suddenly flung open, and Merle Dixon strode in, his bayonet arm raised and primed. There was a sickly crunch as the blade was forced into the walkers skull. The walker dropped to the floor. Maggie and I let out a sigh of relief.

"You saved us, Merle" I gasped out, catching my breath.

"Couldn't let the bastard kill you, kid" he grunted "now come on 'fore they come back"

I glanced at Maggie and she grabbed my hand. Merle pulled a handgun and a knife from his waistband, handing them over to us. I took the gun, holding it tight in my hand. Maggie and I followed Merle out of the room and along the corridor. When we came across a couple of the Governor's men, Merle dispatched of them with ease and precision. A part of me wanted to feel mad or guilty about that, then I remembered what these people were willing to do here, how they were willing to hurt us, and my guilt evaporated.

Merle led us out of the warehouse and into Woodbury. It was dark but I could make out the town. It was quite an achievement really, it was split into two streets with what looked like a town hall and a few other buildings, a grassy park like area in the middle. It looked nice. Pity they had a torture warehouse out back and a militia fore under the ruling of a psychopath. It was all a little crazy out there, people were running and hiding in the houses as shots were fired from all directions. The Governor's men were fighting something but we couldn't tell what yet, it was all too chaotic. Some of the men spotted us, realising we'd escaped. I raised the gun and pulled the trigger. I wasn't giving them a chance to hurt or capture us again.

Suddenly more shots were ringing out and knives were flashing but not by us. No, it was our friends and family. They had come here to rescue us. When that group of the Governor's men was disposed of, my dad charged towards me, holding me so tight to him that I could barely breath. I didn't realise I was crying until I my vision blurred.

"I thought you were gone too…lost you" dad mumbled.

"Don't worry dad, I'm ok" I told him, sobbing a little.

"We got to get outta here"

I glanced around to see who was here. Glenn, Shane, Daryl, dad, and Oscar. We were definitely outnumbered here. My eyes locked with Shane, relief spreading across my face at the sight of him. We didn't have time for a reunion, but he gripped my hand tight in his as we headed towards the wall of the town. Daryl and Merle were at each other's side, weapons at the ready, brothers reunited once more. Dad and Shane were carrying smoke grenades, they unclipped the pins and threw them. Funnels of smoke whirled in the air, spreading through the town, hiding us. We ran through the town, finally reaching the wall. Dad and the soldiers started to yell to each other as the smoke began to fade. They started shooting at us again. How on Earth were we meant to climb over that wall with snipers there ready to shoot us?

Oscar was shot with a stray bullet, he dropped to the floor, dead in an instant. I gulped and jumped back. Shakily, Maggie shot Oscar in the head. I didn't know Oscar very well, he'd been one of the prisoners but I'd never really spoken to him. But he'd been willing to come here to help save Maggie and I. I should have tried to get to know him better.

"Get going, we'll cover" Daryl yelled raising his gun and firing rapidly into the crowd of soldiers. Merle was at his side doing the same, roaring like a mad man.

Glenn was helping Maggie over the wall, she dropped to the other side and he followed. I turned to Daryl and Merle.

"Come on, we can't just leave you" I insisted.

"Just get your ass over there, kid" Merle grunted "we'll follow"

With a grunt and a reluctant nod, I hauled myself over the wall along with dad and Shane. When I dropped down to the other side I noticed there was another woman there. She had these amazing dreadlocks, and a huge deadly looking sword.

"Where the hell did you go?" dad growled.

"I had to deal with something" the woman replied darkly.

They bickered back and forth for a minute or so, but at the urging of Glenn and Shane they finally stopped, and dad agreed to let the woman come back to the prison with us. Daryl and Merle didn't follow us over the wall. I wanted to wait for them, I wanted to fight for them. But we couldn't. We could hear the Governor's soldiers preparing to come after us, we had to get away back to the prison. I felt sick to my stomach as we left Daryl and Merle behind. Daryl was family, a good friend to me. And Merle, well Merle had saved us back there. We were running away now, but I was damn well sure we'd be coming back for them. Just as they'd come for me.