Thank you guys for the countless views! I am happy y'all are still reading this. So here comes the next chapter. My upcoming week will be intense, this country has like a million holidays and I literally have to work every day this week. My life is literally work - eat - sleep - repeat right now. But I do enjoy my job.

Demi's POV:

I wasn't sure how to feel about all of this.

One minute we finally stumble upon Woodbury, a place declared a safe haven, and the next we're under attack, and Ben appears out of nowhere to save me while the others get left behind. I didn't understand any of it.

What I did know is how happy I was to have Ben back. Losing him had been awful, and no matter how angry I had been with him, a part of me still loved him and wanted nothing more than to have him back.

And here he was, in the flesh.

I did wonder though, what had happened between him, Andrea and Michonne. Would he have made a move on any of them? After all, he was a guy, and he used to be somewhat of a womanizer… And I had met Andrea earlier, she wasn't an unattractive woman.

Merle's words clearly had not missed their effect on me.

Not that I was one to talk. I cuddled up with his best friend, yesterday.

How would they be doing? I was worried about their well-being, but I knew Ben was right. The Governor was probably on edge about all of this, and I was pretty sure there'd be a price on my head once he'd find out I was missing. Going back for them now, as much as I would want to, wasn't the best idea ever.

I glanced at Ben from the corner of my eye. The man just sat on the back seat of the car we were in, staring out of the window. He looked a lot better than before. Healthier. There was just something about him that I couldn't place. He must have had a haircut at Woodbury, since his sandy-blonde hair was shorter and less messy than before. His scruff was exactly the right amount. Even his deep-blue eyes looker clearer than ever.

Maybe this time he was finally clean, for real.

But what about Victor? I had finally given in to him. Timing had never been my best case, but this was ridiculous.

Right now I didn't even know if he was still alive. Who knew what the Governor had done to him… That thought made my heart stop. What if anyone had hurt him, or Hannah, or Daniel? The thought of that was one I couldn't bear.

I was with Ben now, and we were driving to a place I had never heard of before, together with a bunch of people I had never seen before and I wasn't sure if they were to be trusted. But what choice did I have?

We found ourselves locked in a cell. Ben, the woman with the dreadlocks, and me. The man, probably the leader of this group that was hiding in a prison, had decided on locking us up until we were healthy enough to hit the road again.

Ben had tried to reason with him, but the man just seemed disturbed, in a way. It was impossible to talk to him, and instead he had just locked us up in here. He clearly didn't trust us, and I understood that to a certain degree, but his erratic behavior scared me.

"Well, at least we're safe, for now," Ben tried to lighten up my sour mood. He tilted his head a little. "Right?"

I glanced at the dark-skinned woman, who was sitting opposite of us. She was sitting against the stone wall, hugging her knees and not paying any attention to us. She hadn't said a word ever since we were locked up, and it didn't look like she was about to break that silence, either.

Slowly I nodded. "I guess…" It was most certainly better than being anywhere else, yet somehow I felt extremely uncomfortable. I started wondering what was to be feared more; the dead, or the living.

An older man on crutches awoke me from my thoughts. He sent me a polite smile as he entered our cell, locking the door behind him.

"I mean you no harm, I have just come here to check up on you," he mumbled to no one particular. He kneeled down at Michonne's side. "Mind if I check your wound? I think the bandage needs to be replaced."

The woman grumbled a couple of undistinguishable words, but let him touch it anyway. She grunted in pain as he replaced her bandage, but didn't lash out at the man. After a few minutes he was done, and rose to the ground again.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" He addressed me, looking a little worried. "You weren't here before, if I recall correctly."

"She's with me," Ben quickly spoke up. "We had lost each other earlier, but I found her back in Woodbury. Luckily," he added, with a compassionate look in his eyes. A little uneasy I stared back at the man, before my eyes fell on his missing foot.

"What happened to your foot? If you don't mind me asking…"

The old man smiled half-heartedly. "Got bit in the ankle. Had to get my foot chopped off. It was an unpleasant experience, but at least I'm still here." My eyes went big.

"That worked?"

He leaned on one crutch, and smiled thriumphantically. "As you can see."

I smiled back at him. "Woah, I had no idea that could actually work. That's amazing. Well, not for your leg, of course. But you got to live."

The man nodded. "For now, at least. But I don't like to imagine what'd happen as soon as we'd lose the prison…" His voice trailed off, and my smile faded. Here he was safe, certainly, but outside the prison, in the open, he wouldn't stand a single chance. The walkers would get to him before he'd even tried to leap away.

I watched the man as he stumbled away, lost in endless new thoughts. Thoughts that started to consume me.

"You want to stay here? For real? With these people?" I gawked at the blond man, who was studying the ceiling. "Their leader, he is out of his mind. I know crazy when I see it." I had been observing the bearded man, Rick, for a time now, and had heard him scream a couple of times. It scared the shit out of me. If he treated his group members like this, what would be waiting for us, then?

"I know, I know," Ben argued, furrowing his brow. "But inside these walls we are safer than on the road." I snorted as I ran a hand through my hair.

"You sure about that?"

He let out a heavy sigh. "It's not an optimal situation, I'm aware of that. But it buys us time to come up with a plan to save the others."

"If they're even still alive…" I retorted, and Ben gave me a pained look.

"Don't say that."

I started fidgeting. "I don't wanna sound like a pessimist, but what are their chances? By now the Governor must have found out I am missing. He might think I betrayed him. Maybe the others got caught in a gun fight. Or they decided to go searching for me, and got attacked. Or maybe –"

"That's enough, Demi." He cut me off, a stern look on his face. "We can't change anything about that now."

A little defeated I stared to the ground, following the dark stains on the ground with my eyes. It must have been blood. Maybe a murder had happened here. That thought made me a little nauseous, and I swallowed upcoming gastric acid away.

"I don't get it though," I started off after a time of complete silence. "How did you end up in Woodbury to begin with?"

"Merle found us, and brought us there," the man responded.

I raised my eyebrow. "But… Merle said… He said you were dead." He blinked a few times. "Well, I feel pretty alive to be honest. Merle lied to you. You can't trust that piece of shit. He shot Michonne."

The dark-skinned woman finally looked our way. "He's a traitor. The Governor's right man. Or was."

"Where were you anyway?" Ben questioned Michonne. "All of a sudden you were gone, during the attack. What did you do?"

She closed her eyes, and it almost looked like she started smiling. Almost.

"He got what he deserved."

Ben frowned while I just stared at the woman, wondering what she had done to him. How could I ever be sure she was to be trusted? She didn't seem to have any weaponry on her, but for all I knew she could strangle me, right now, right here, with her bare hands. If she wanted to.

There wasn't much time to think about that, though, because right around that time the leader of the group stormed to our cell, looking visibly distraught.

The man almost looked possessed or something. I swallowed, and reached for Ben's hand, but he was too busy gazing at the man to even notice my hand on his.

"I need you out," the man hissed in a dangerously low voice. My eyes widened.

Wait, what?

The older man with the crutches came up behind him. "Rick, wait. Don't do anything stupid."

"You said these two were healthy, right? Open the cell."

The older man sighed, sending me a sympathetic glance. I didn't even dare to breathe.

"Rick, don't do this," the Asian urged him, looking frantic. "You just kicked those others out. These are good people. And we need the man-power. Honestly, Rick."

The man covered his ears with his hands. "I need them gone. I can't help them – any of them. They have to go!" His voice started to get louder with every word. All of a sudden he reached for his gun, causing a little consternation among the group members. Even Michonne seemed distraught now.

"Get them out!" He yelled, while waving his gun in the air.

The Asian quickly unlocked the cell door, motioning us to come with him. Ben rose to his feet and grabbed my hand to pull me up. The older man sent me an empathic look as our eyes met. None of us spoke as we followed the boy, while listening to the man still screaming.

"I'm sorry, guys. I really am. Rick's been going through a tough time," the boy hung his shoulders as he shot us an apologetic glance. "For what it's worth, take my gun. And get yourself to safety. Stay away from the Governor."

He handed Ben the gun as the opened the gate. My heart started pounding as I saw the approaching walkers. I couldn't believe he was really going to send us out there again.

"Come on, Demi," Ben said, as he put the gun away. "Let's get out of here."

I swallowed, as I saw the Asian boy disappear after he had closed the gate again.

We were back at square one.

So, it seems like Demi and Ben are out there again. But at least they have each other, right? Right?