The day was finally upon us and we were all reminded of our tasks: to pack up everything and prepare to scare the Governor and his men away. Shane and I did what we were asked, but we were prepared for our own mission: to kill the Governor. We were not going to let him get away from us after everything he had done.
The death of my brother weighed heavily on my mind as I put my things into bags. Merle was one of the last people I expected to die before I did. After everything he had gone through in life from the abuse of our father, to time in prison, to the drugs, and then being left on a roof with no other choice but to saw off his hand, nothing killed him. Hell, it barely even hurt him. All I wanted to know was why. He finally had a home here. Sure, the group was still getting used to him, but he finally got what he wanted. He found Daryl and me. He just gave all that up for us. That was why I had to kill the Governor. He took away any chance Merle had at finally being happy.
My final moments with my brother were something to be desired. As much as I tried to push it out of my mind, it lingered. Guilt was the only emotion I felt when I thought about it. He knew this trip was one way and I blew him off. All I wanted was information from him, nothing more. He gave me my wish, but it cost him precious time with me, or the other way around. I spent years hating my brother, but now that he was gone, I couldn't stop thinking about how things could have been different if I did this or that. Maybe If I had just paid a bit more attention to him before he left, I would have been able to pick up on the fact that something was wrong. His last words to me, See you 'round, kid, will replay in my mind for the rest of my life.
It didn't take long for us to pack everything up and shove it into a vehicle. This group was small and was constantly on the move before finding the prison. They didn't have much because they couldn't carry much. They were much like Michonne and I for all those months. We only carried around the essentials. I smiled at the memories of that time. Andrea always found the stupidest little gadgets and always pointed them out to us. She never took them, but she always looked out for them. With this battle growing to a close, I hoped she would make it out of this.
Hershel, Beth, and Carl took the baby to a remote location, far away from the action. Of course Carl was upset about it, believing he had the right like the rest of us to stay here and fight, but Rick overruled him. He even went up to Shane in hopes of maybe persuading someone to be on his side, but that didn't work either. Shane agreed with Rick. This wasn't a fight for children.
After Carl stormed away, Shane pulled me aside. "I know you're going to tell me she's not mine, but she is. I want Carl to go with her because she needs her big brother."
"I think you made the right call." I adjusted my hair pushing it away from my eyes look at him, only to see a broken man.
His voice, like his eyes, were weak. "When this is over, we need to have a serious talk about her. I can't let it go anymore."
As much as I wanted him to just let Judith be, I was a fool to think he could. She was his. We all knew it. He had a right to be in her life. "I know."
His body tensed as we watched Hershel drive them away. He worried about his daughter. I reached for his hand to comfort him, and to my surprise, he didn't pull away. Insead, the two of us stood idle, staring at dust lifting behind the tires as the car left the prison.
After they were out of sight, Shane released my hand and his mind clicked back into place. We helped set up everything from the gun placement to our placement. Hell, we even left a bible verse sitting openly on a table just for him. Every small detail was perfect.
Shane and I were to be in a separate room deep in the tombs to stop them from entering further into the prison. This was the perfect place for us. It would make it easy to split the Governor off from the rest of his goons and finally get revenge for Merle. But it was also dangerous. We had to come in this area several times to clear out walkers that somehow managed to make their way in here. We cleared it out again this morning, but Rick wanted us back here in case we needed to again. Shane and I could take out walkers quickly and quietly while still being able to execute the plan.
The tombs may not seem like it when you're casually strolling through, but they're an elaborate maze. If you aren't paying attention, you will easily get lost. This was the most dangerous part of our plan.
We met as a group one last time to go over the plan, but I tuned out. I had heard it so many times, I didn't need to hear again. I just thought that Rick liked to hear himself talk. I knew he just wanted to make sure we would all be safe, but I just couldn't bring myself to listen.
After he was done, Daryl approached me to see how I was doing.
"I should be asking you that question."
"Are you sure your head is clear enough to do this?" The concern in his eyes frightened me. A piece of me feared he somehow caught onto our plans, but that was impossible. Shane and I kept them quiet and we were secluded from the rest of the group. I was just being paranoid. "You seem pretty tired and after yesterday-"
I had to stop him. If anyone was going to have an issue of a clear head, it was him. "My head's clear. What about your's?"
He immediately shut down and nodded. "Yeah. Let's end this."
"Gladly." I placed my hand on his shoulder as I walked past. I didn't mean to shut him down the way I did, but I didn't have the patience for another emotional talk. We had work to do.
Everyone split up and went to their designated positions. I looked at the group one last time. I could tell they were all uneasy about this plan, but it was their best chance in moving on.
We were supposed to be quiet while we waited for the signal, but something began to plague my mind. If I didn't say it, it would continue to eat at me. "Shane, no matter what happens, I just wanted to say-"
Shane cut me off. "I love you, too."
My shoulders dropped. "You didn't let me finish."
"You don't have to."
"Well, I'm going to. I just wanted to say, thank you for being the best thing in my life. Even when you were the worst thing, all I could think about was how we could get back to being the best. Those months without you were the worst. All I wanted to do was get back to you. Then I found you and I fell for you all over again. I love you and I didn't even know I was capable of doing that, especially love this strong."
His eyes stared down at me, confused at my sudden confession. "What's bringing this on?"
"I don't say it enough and with what happened to Merle, I figured I should say it."
His hand softly glided down my neck. "You're the best thing in my life, too. I went through hell to find you and it was fucking worth it. I love you. I would die for you. Nothing will ever change that."
"I would die for you, too."
Suddenly, there was a huge explosive sound outside the prison. They had arrived.
"Are you ready?" he asked, readying his weapon.
"Let's kill this mother fucker."
As we waited, I counted the seconds. It took ten seconds for them to fire a second shot. It took 30 seconds total for the bullets to stop outside. At this rate, they were about to breach the prison in no time. It took 233 seconds to hear the first smoke grenade to go off from Rick and Daryl. My heart raced with every number. It took 371 seconds for them to finally hit our position. It was time.
Shane threw the first grenade and I fired at their feet. It was hard to see through the smoke, but I could tell he was in the middle, shouting at his people to listen to him. Shane began to fire, distracting them just long enough so I could sneak into the commotion. I found him begging his people from leaving him behind and started firing at his feet, cutting him off from them. Shane threw one more smoke grenade to confuse his people and I pushed the Governor out. Before we knew it, we had him where we wanted him, in a boiler room all alone.
He snarled as I stepped out of the smoke into the open. The Governor raised his gun at me, but I fired mine first getting him in the top of the ear. "Don't fucking move or the next one goes in your head. Now drop it. Hands up." He obeyed. So many emotions flooded all at once. "You tried to kill my friends, tried to kill me, and you killed my brother. Why?"
The Governor stiffened and shook his head. "I didn't try to kill your friends. They're all dead."
"Last I checked, your people were the ones running like cockroaches."
"At least they were smart. They left when it got dangerous. Your people aren't smart. Merle stayed and made a fool out of himself. He betrayed me. Then Andrea, well, she did the same. I don't allow traitors the chance to betray me again. Maybe you should take my advice. Trust no one."
"They trusted you. You were the one that betrayed them and me."
An evil smile slowly spread across his face. "I didn't do anything. Andrea didn't want you and Merle, he found you annoying. Your group even ran away from you. The way I see it, you're the problem, Ariel. Merle is dead because of you."
Shane walked slowly with his gun pointed directly at the Governor's head. "Don't listen to him, Ariel. Just end this or I will."
"No! He's mine!"
"She doesn't have it in her." He lowered his hands.
I gripped my gun. "Shut the fuck up!" I fired. And missed. Instead, the bullet grazed the side of his head and lodged itself into the wall behind him.
The Governor then drew a hidden gun, firing it at me, hitting his target. The bullet struck me in the arm. Shane fired back at the Governor, but missing as he ran away.
Shane lowered his gun and turned to me as I held my arm and released a long list of cuss words. "Ariel, are you alright?"
Blood poured out of my arm, but I felt no pain. The adrenaline pushed me on. "I can't let him get away." I took off in his direction. All I could see was red.
"Ariel, no!" But I was gone. Shane couldn't stop me. This was my mission and I wasn't going to fail.
I sprinted like a lion on the hunt. I just wished I had the lion's sense of smell. I took turn after turn, but I had no idea where I was or where that son of a bitch ran off to. I kept my gun up, praying that he was still in front of me and I could shoot him in the back. Before I knew it, I was alone. Shane was no longer behind me, but I couldn't stop. Nothing would stop me from getting what I came here for.
I didn't realize how much blood I was losing. The faster I ran, the more it flowed. My head started to become a bit light so I leaned against the wall for just a second. I needed to catch my breath and I was no good to anyone on the ground. I closed my eyes, took one deep breath and remembered what I was out there for.
Suddenly, one hallway away, a shot fired, and then another. My heart stopped. "SHANE!"