A/N: Another chapter here for you guys! It covers the first couple of episodes of season 3, and as you guys know if you've watched the show that there's like a 9 month gap between the end of season 2 to season 3 so that's what I've done as well. you guys know that Pol has been with Andrea and Michonne so likely chance is that we won't be seeing Rick and the others for a bit, I might work round that and change up what my plan was so you guys will just have to see what happens. I think we're definitely getting to Woodbury in this chapter, I hope you like my take on the governor!
Thanks to everyone who reads and supports my story! Particularly to TeiaShore who's just favourites and to my lovely reviewers:
FnafAnimeGirl109: Thank you for reading and commenting! Yeah I'm going according to the show so Lori was back at Hershel's house with Beth, Patricia, Carol and Hershel defending it when they eventually got away. She will indeed turn up I just need to figure out where haha.
Ryane: Your comment made my day thank you :)!
ash (guest): Hey! Thanks for taking the time and patience for reading my story, I'm glad you're loving it! Haha I love having torturous sweet, intense moments with those two without giving you actual results. I love building that an you'll continue to see that.
JasminJW: Aww I'm glad the transition is working! I tried to make it as smooth as possible and hopefully it's making sense.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters and storylines, only my OC and my plotline.
-Angels and Douchebags
8 months later
"You wanna try this one?" I asked Michonne standing outside the shop.
"Maybe." She shrugged holding a hand over the handle of her katana.
She pushed the door open as we heard scuffling of feet coming from inside the shop. She took the sword out and held it in front of her as I took my machete out. I followed her lead walking around the shop quietly. We hid behind one of the shelves as a Walker began growling walking to where we were hiding. It scuffled past us as I shoved it into a shelf knocking it over. Michonne gracefully sliced the head off attracting the other Walkers. We both turned around looking at two more Walkers stumbling for us.
"One each?" She asked and I smirked. I took the machete and sliced the head off one of them whilst Michonne dealt with the other one.
"How is it when you do it, it looks badass, but when I do it the machete always get's stuck." I groaned yanking the knife out of the head.
"Maybe because this is a samurai sword and I'm trained in it." She said mischievously making me roll my eyes.
"You really think we should've left Andrea?" Michonne asked looking around on the ground for what we needed.
"Come on Michonne, this is Andrea, she's the reason we survived all winter." I said chuckling. I searched behind the empty tins and boxes on the shelf but it was nowhere to be found. Michonne leaned down on the floor and picked up a few packets.
"Found it?"
"Yeah," She held up the aspirin. We left the shop and went off to go where we left Andrea to stand guard. Although she was barely keeping it together.
It had been 7/8 months since Hershel's farm was overrun by Walkers. Me, Andrea and Michonne had been surviving by ourselves and doing just fine. Scavenging for food, weapons and medicines we carried each other throughout the winter.
In the first month I held hope that we would find Rick and the others again. But I was wrong, I spent the second month crying over them, they could be dead, or I would never see them again. They thought we were dead, when I promised I would make it back to Rick and Carl in those woods. Even if I never got to see them again I prayed that they were alive and safe and unharmed. I had found my family then lost them again and now I had a new one. I gave up on hoping anymore. Those 9 months we stayed out and surviving, made me realise something: hope was hopeless, you had to deal with the reality of the situation in front of you, you had to fend for yourself.
Having Michonne and Andrea for company was uneasy, especially at the beginning when they used to argue with each other a lot, but we learned to tolerate each other and grew close. They are the closest people to family I have right now, they have saved me countless times and I know I would die for them. I didn't need anything else.
"Hey, where'd you go?" Michonne snapped her fingers in front of my face as we were waiting by a truck, scouting the area.
"Sorry, deep thinking." I said shaking my head.
We watched from behind as there were sparsely populated Walkers in the town. We looked over at the building that said Deer Cooler which is where we were holed up.
We walked quickly over making sure we weren't followed by Walkers and walked inside. It was a dark and dusty place but for us, it was temporarily home. Michonne's Walkers were chained up as usual and we opened the door which used to be for storing meat. The hooks were still swinging from the ceiling and a temporary bed with sheets was laid out on the floor. But no one there. I walked forwards quickly to see where our third companion had gone and through the door seeing Andrea sprawled on the floor.
I saw her and shook my head. I leaned down next to her and stroked her forehead.
"Whatcha doing out here?" Michonne asked relaxing the hand about to take out her katana.
"I needed sleep." Andrea said muffled.
"That's why we made the bed for you." I said pushing her hair back.
"You still have a fever." I put the back of my hand on Andrea's throat and felt it was also hot. Michonne came over and we sat her up against the wall leaning down beside her. Andrea closed her eyes as I settled against the wall letting her lean on me, she groaned.
Michonne pulled out the aspirin from the packet and put it to Andrea's mouth.
"Take this." She said as Andrea swallowed the pills. I pulled a water bottle from my pack and gave her a few sips. Michonne took out a rag and I used it to try and wipe the sweat that was collecting on her face. She took the water bottle from me and began pressing it against her head to cool her down. Andrea turned to face us.
"How is it out there?" She asked opening her eyes.
"Oh you know like a nice spring day in Georgia." I smiled making her smirk.
"The same. It's quiet." Michonne answered as I gave her a sideways glance.
"You're lying." Andrea stated.
"We should go in a few days." Michonne said.
"Once you're fully recovered." I said to Andrea shooting Michonne a warning glance.
"They're coming," Andrea said.
"You should go, I'll just hold you guys back." She continued as Michonne shook her head.
"Remember what you said to me all those months ago?" I looked at Andrea who shook her head.
"We're stuck with each other, there's no way we're going to leave you here by yourself." I scoffed.
"I can take care of myself." Andrea said dismissively.
"Saved your asses all winter didn't I?" She looked at both of us with a wry smirk then began coughing deeply. I took the water bottle from Michonne and gave Andrea a few more sips.
"Look, you have Pol, she can have your back. Most of the time." Andrea smirked at me making me smile.
"I don't think I can make do with an unreliable partner." Michonne joked talking to Andrea.
"I'm right here guys." I glared at both of them.
"I won't have you dying for me." Andrea said more firmly.
"Good solider won't leave your post." She said to Michonne who looked down. It was moments like these which reminded me of all the arguments we had when we first started this. Every now and then someone would say something spiteful and bring the feelings rushing back. But no matter what, we had each other's back.
"Andrea-" I started.
"And you," She turned to me.
"You should go find Rick and the others."
"What?" I said shocked.
"I think you and I both know they're still alive somewhere. You should make an effort to find them, be with them again." Andrea said wrapping the blanket around her shoulders.
"Andrea, they're dead." I stated as a matter-of-fact.
"I can't have hope they'll be there." I said.
"Screw you both." Andrea said. I got up and walked to the other room as Michonne followed me.
"What now?" I asked her in a low voice.
"Leaving her is not an option." Michonne said glancing back.
"Agreed."
"Let's hope the aspirin works somewhat and we can leave this place in a few days." Michonne shrugged.
"And then where are we gonna go? We've been going round and round with this for months, we need to find a more permanent solution." I said frustrated.
"There is no permanent solution!" She whispered harshly.
"Well at least a place that won't be overrun in minutes." I said crossing my arms. Michonne closed her eyes calming down.
"You're right." She said nodding.
"Andrea's stubborn as hell, you think she's going to willingly come with us?" I asked.
"Well there's two of us and one of her."
Three days later and the aspirin made a huge difference, she was ready to travel and at least defend herself so she reluctantly agreed.
I lifted up the metal gate for the backdoor as Michonne led the way with her two Walkers chained behind her and Andrea and me behind them. I unholstered by gun and checked the number of rounds left. One. One bullet. I turned over the handle looking at the engraved P.
"Rick gave you that right? About a year ago?" I looked at Andrea who was looking at me holding the colt.
"Uh yeah," I said putting it back in my belt.
"He also uh taught me to shoot, and I introduced him to Led Zeppelin." I smiled to myself remembering that day on the top of the RV. Andrea chuckled and looked ahead as we walked in between the piles of timber.
"Shane taught me to shoot." I looked up at her quickly in surprise. I hadn't heard his name in months, all of the drama that occurred last year was nothing now. It was so unimportant and Shane was so irrelevant to me that hearing his name, I felt nothing.
"Oh right." I said nodding to her.
"We also uh," Andrea trailed off gesturing with her arm.
"Ew God!" I groaned scrunching my face up making Andrea laughed.
"This is before I knew what a shithead he was." Andrea defended.
"Shane though? Of all people?" I asked her and she nodded smirking.
"I always thought something happened between you and Rick." She said.
"Why would you say that?" I chuckled nervously. Andrea pointed to my cheeks which must've gone red as I felt them heat up.
"Nothing really happened." I shrugged.
"Sure, I like him. Liked him. Liked him a lot actually." I said as Andrea listened to me.
"He was actually the first decent guy I had met. And it happened in a post-apocalyptic world." I laughed.
"With how close y'all were I thought.." Andrea trailed off.
"No, I could never have done that to Lori." I shook my head.
"There may have been a kiss. Or two." I said sheepishly making Andrea raise her eyebrows.
"Go on," She waved her arms at her.
"Come on is this school where we gossip about our crushes?" I said dismissively.
"Well we got nothing but time." Andrea grinned.
"The first time, he just initiated it. We were talking, it was like after Sophia and we got closer and closer and he just kissed me. The second time was when he walked me to the highway, when I left. I didn't think I would see him again, so I kissed him before he could even respond." I explained.
"Wow so he kissed you? I bet he liked you." Andrea said.
"Maybe," I said unsure.
"Or maybe he was just confused. The thing is, it doesn't even matter anymore, because I probably won't see him again." I shrugged sadly.
"You really believe that?" Andrea asked.
"I have to."
We walked into the forest which was dense with trees and eerily quiet.
"We gotta be careful." Michonne said with a hand on her katana, hearing branches snapping.
I kept an arm in front of Andrea who had a hand on her knife on the belt and my other hand was holding the machete ready to strike. We continued walking through in silence now. Every now and then I looked over at Andrea who was looking pale still but she was on her feet and that's what mattered. She was going to make it. We would make it. We would find a place.
It was getting dark so we set up camp as I took the first watch. Michonne started a fire and went out to hunt whilst I guarded over Andrea who was resting. As I stared into the flickering flames I began wondering if Rick, Lori, Carl, Daryl and the others were alive, what would they be up to? Would Hershel, Maggie, Beth and Patricia still be with them? I hope they were safe. Has Lori had her baby yet?
The cans on perimeter began rattling, I eyed Andrea who began getting up.
"Stay here." I said firmly as she laid back down resigned. I pulled out the machete and quietly creeped over to the edge. A Walker was snarling back at me as I drove the knife into it's skull as it fell to the ground.
"Ugly shit." I spat walking back to camp.
"All good?" Andrea asked weakly as I nodded.
"Where's Michonne?"
"Getting dinner."
"Please don't tell me it's rat again." Andrea moaned.
"That was just the one time." I chuckled.
"I know, but it was disgusting." She made a face.
I pulled out the leather journal from my pack and flicked through the pages which were filled with writing for the past 9 months. I was more than halfway through, so I decided to only chronicle the important events, I didn't want to run out of paper and stop writing. I had a feeling a lot more was about to happen.
We had a relatively calm few days trekking through the forest. Feeding Andrea aspirin pills every day had helped her regain some of her strength that a little colour was returning back to her face. We came out of the woods and took the highway, Michonne thought we could probably risk it a little bit as we passed corn fields.
"Water," I handed it to Michonne who nodded appreciatively.
"Water?" I offered Andrea but she had stopped walking and was looking out into the field.
"Andrea?" She took the bottle and turned our attention. There was thick black smoke coming from beyond the forest which was at the end of the field.
Andrea took a sip from the water and began trudging through the fields. Michonne and I gave each other a look and followed her as she yanked the chained Walkers behind her.
"Don't get too happy," I said to Andrea who was walking with some excitement.
"It could mean food, supplies, or even people." She said as the wheat brushed our legs.
"Or Walkers." Michonne added from behind.
"Cynic," I scoffed at her making Michonne smirk.
We walked into the woods, feeling the heat on our backs as we followed the black smoke. Or more accurately followed Andrea, a delusional, fever patient following the black smoke. Yup. No flaws in this plan.
"We should keep moving." I said to Michonne seeing it was already mid-afternoon and we hadn't made as much progress walking as we should've.
"I know, but do you wanna be the one to tell her that?" She said gesturing to Andrea who was walking with purpose.
"Good point." I said lowly and caught up to Andrea, in case she collapsed from delusion. We reached some sort of clearing where there was a crashed helicopter releasing the thick black smoke into the atmosphere.
"I'll be damned." Andrea said smiling and out of breath. She suddenly leaned forward and vomited all over the ground. I rubbed a hand on her back helping her back to standing position.
"Don't push yourself." Michonne said warningly. We helped her settle down on the ground behind a bush and she continued coughing. Michonne chained the Walkers at a tree nearby to Andrea and handed her a gun.
"We'll check it out." She said to her. I patted her back as she gestured for us to go.
I walked forward tentatively, hand on the machete handle at my belt. Michonne followed quietly behind me. I stopped suddenly, my foot snapping the branches underneath. I felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness seeing a man in air force uniform lying on the ground with blood coming out of his mouth and his lower body completely separated from his upper body. His organs were splattered on the ground and he was unmoving.
Michonne looked at the body for a minute before pulling her katana out ever so slightly, she walked over to the cockpit. She glanced through the windows of the helicopter and bent down slightly stopping in shock.
"What is it?" I said and she beckoned me to come over. I stood next to her and looked where she was looking.
Sure enough in the distance, were men wearing kevlar vests and getting into cars. Holy shit. There were people here. People who could maybe help us. We backed away and jogged back to Andrea who was sitting on the ground.
"Someone's coming," I whispered as we leaned down on the ground behind the bush.
"Any survivors?" Andrea asked.
"Two dead, but I can't find the second body." Michonne stated.
I scanned my eyes into the field as two white jeeps pulled up where the helicopter was. Whoever they were had resources. At least four or five men came out of the jeep with guns and weapons looking around.
"Fan out," I could hear one of them say as they began looking in the area. A couple of Walkers stumbled into the clearing as a man was holding up his gun.
"Save your rounds until you need them." I heard the same man say.
Andrea was struggling and kept coughing trying to keep it quiet. Michonne rubbed her back anxiously as I looked on trying to suss if they were dangerous or not. More Walkers came out from hearing the car engines, but the men easily took care of them using bow and arrows and baseball bats. They were definitely skilled and experience for sure. We had to ready, just in case they attacked, they weren't going to be easy to take out.
I heard the chains rattling gently and turned around seeing our chained Walkers getting anxious. They were stumbling around and making moaning sounds from behind us.
"Michonne," I said gesturing behind. She turned around and nodded. We were going to be found out if we weren't careful.
The men looked inside the cockpit of the helicopter trying to look for signs of survival. I whipped my head around hearing a Walker stumble right where we were hiding. I reached for my machete but was stopped by a hand on my arm.
"No," Andrea whispered.
"Look." The Walker passed us and came out into the clearing where one of the men near us was holding a machine gun. Another man took it down with a bow and arrow. I turned around seeing the Walkers making more noise in the chains.
"We should show ourselves," Andrea said.
"Not yet." Michonne looked on through the bushes. We could hear groaning coming from the floor where a man was standing over. It must've been the pilot from before, it had turned into a walker. The man took his knife out and in one cold movement drove it into the head twisting it so we could hear the crunch in the skull.
I winced slightly. I know it was a walker, but it was the way he did it. So precise. Cold and calculating. The chained walkers were making audible noise, their feet scraping across the ground which caught the attention of the man wearing sunglasses and holding a gun. He looked around and whipped it out, aiming at the Walkers. The other men saw him and began moving closer to where we were hiding and Andrea was struggling to hold in her coughs. Michonne looked at me then at the chained Walkers and scrunched up her face. She stood up and sliced their heads off in one clean stroke.
I looked at her in initial shock then nodded, these men were going to find us and if they saw us with those Walkers. We would've been screwed. The men were looking in our direction as we held our breath trying to stay calm. After a minute they turned away and walked back towards their jeeps.
"Let's roll out." the man in the kevlar vest said.
I let out a sigh of relief as we relaxed before I heard light rustling from behind me. I pulled out my machete before the man started talking.
"Uh uh uh, easy girl." The man said in a southern accent. Wait. I recognise that voice.
"Mine's a whole lot bigger than yours." He drawled.
"Now put down your weapons." He said as Michonne had her katana raised. I reluctantly lowered my machete on the ground as she dropped her katana.
"Now let me see your hands. And spin around, nice little twirl around." The man said taunting us. I turned around from my bending position as Andrea and Michonne did the same. My jaw dropped open seeing the man standing in front of me.
"H-holy shit!" He smirked looking at me and Andrea.
"Merle?!" I said incredulously.
"Damn," He said looking me up and down.
"You both look good." He smiled looking at me and Andrea.
A walker came at speed but he stabbed a sharp object into it. I took a good look at Merle who was pointing a gun at us in one hand and his other arm seemed to be a weapon with a knife attached to it. I bet that was handy. Michonne looked at him in apprehension as he stood up.
"Well, how's about a kiss for your old pal Merle?" He grinned from ear to ear looking at me. I continued to glare at him and spat at his shoes. Andrea fell to the ground in a thud next to me as me and Michonne rushed over to her.
We were put in the back of the jeep as night fell and we travelled along the highway. Andrea was passed out and it was a good hour before we reached a community which was barricaded. Men were lined up along the top of this as we got out of the cars. The men escorted us through the gate and we walked in. It was an entire community of people living here. It looked like it used to be an old town as we were taken to a building where a doctor and an IV were waiting for Andrea. The door was locked behind us and the room was small containing a bed, some chairs, a desk with a lamp, medical equipment and a woman in scrubs.
"Why are we being held here?" Andrea asked with the thermometer in her mouth. Michonne was sitting with her hands on her forehead and I was trying to figure a way out of this room. But we couldn't leave Andrea. She needed to be healed.
"You know why," The doctor/nurse said.
"We wanna leave." Andrea said firmly. The doctor put her hand on her forearm.
"You should stay the night." She said sympathetically.
"Where are we?" Andrea asked.
"That's not for me to say." She replied looking away.
"He'll talk to you." She said.
"Who?" I asked aggressively.
She didn't have time to answer as the door swung open and in strolled Merle along with some of his men.
"Bet you were wonderin' if I was real or not?" He asked walking in the room.
"We were hoping for not." I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Still so cold baby." He smirked.
"Do you wanna lose your other hand?" I asked him standing up. The other men also stood up pushing me back.
"Woah, woah," Merle said.
"There's no need for all that. We have an understanding, don't we Polaris." Merle showed his teeth.
"You want your gorgeous friend Andrea to get better don't ya? So you need me to put in a good word with you for the boss man." He said as I sat back down.
"Thatta girl."
Merle pulled up a chair and sat in front of us.
"Well here I am." He opened his arms out.
"I guess this world get's a little smaller to the end." He chuckled.
"You know when they found me, I was bleeding out, thinking how a bullet might make a good last meal. I'd wait on the other side for Daryl. You seen my brother?" He asked us.
"Not for a long time." Andrea replied and I nodded.
"Makes two of us." Merle's face changed into seriousness.
"He went back for you, him an' Rick. But you were already gone." Andrea said trying to diffuse the tension.
"Yeah, not all of me." Merle laughed pulling out the metal contraption which was covering his arm. A grotesque looking stump with blood was left as Andrea looked away in disgust.
"Yeah Rick, he's that prick that cuffed me to the rooftop." Merle said fixing it back on his arm.
"Watch your fucking mouth." I said dangerously standing up to Merle making him laugh.
"You think it's funny?" I asked him crossing my arms.
"Yeah I do," he chuckled.
"I think it's damn funny that you're holding a torch for officer friendly." He laughed as I resisted the urge to punch him in the face. Again. But I said nothing.
"Daryl wanted to keep looking, but a lot of people died. Jim, Dale, Sophia, Jacqui, Amy." Andrea gulped as I looked down. We had never fully talked about that, we chalked it up to being in the past and moved on.
"Your sister," Merle checked as Andrea nodded her eyes tearing.
"She was a good kid." Merle said decisively.
"I'm sorry to hear it." He said sincerely. Wow. I don't think I had ever heard him being sincere.
"There's more," I said taking over for Andrea as Merle looked to me.
"We had to leave Atlanta, Daryl stepped up and became a valued member of the group." I stated.
"I bet he did." Merle smiled. He cared for his younger brother that's for sure. They were similar yet different in so many ways.
"We had to leave, got run out by a herd. 7/8 months ago." Andrea said. Michonne gave a look saying we shouldn't trust him. Andrea was getting too comfortable talking about everything, Merle was a jackass before but we didn't know this Merle. Therefore we couldn't trust him at all.
"We were separated from the rest of them." I said.
"Got left behind. So I know what it feels like." Andrea added making me look at her.
"They didn't leave us on purpose." I defended as Andrea looked at me.
"Not that it even matters, but the point was they left us behind." She said slightly bitter.
"I doubt that." Merle said holding up his missing arm making Andrea grimace.
"What do you want from us?" I asked hoping he would get to the point.
"Here you sit, four walls around you, roof over your head and medicine in blondie." Merle walked over to us.
"I plucked you, blondie and your mute friend here out of the dirt. Saved your asses. How about a thank you." he said threateningly to us.
"You had a gun on us." Michonne spoke narrowing her eyes.
"Oohh she speaks. Who ain't had a gun on 'em in the past year huh?" Merle asked facing her. Another taller man walked in the room and whispered to Merle.
"How you feeling?" He asked looking at Andrea.
"We want our weapons." Michonne stepped forwards and I tugged on her arm slightly but she shrugged me off.
"Sure, on your way out the front gates." He said stepping towards her. He was the same man who killed the Walker. I looked at him but I saw no signs of warmth, only cold looks. He was not to be trusted.
"Show us the way. You've kept us locked up in this room." Andrea said standing up.
"There's not bars on the windows." He said.
"We're under guard." I stated as he looked at me.
"We don't know you and we need to protect are people. You're not prisoners here, you're guests. If you want to leave you're free to do so." He emphasised walking around towards the door.
"Y'all can leave in the morning, we don't open the gate past dusk." He said firmly.
"We'll give you clothes, ammunition, food, even keys to a vehicle if you want." He said walking out of the room.
Andrea, Michonne and I looked at each other in surprise.
"I don't trust him."
A/N: What did you guys think? I'm sorry for the lack of Rick and Lori and the others in this chapter but remember she won't be seeing them for a bit. I promise it's worth the wait though. So introduction to the governor, I decided to end the chapter here because otherwise it was getting really long.