SuperSonicHeros - Hershel was also one of my favorite characters throughout both the comics and the show, but in the comics he definitely had the worse run, watching almost all of his kids die before his very eyes. As for Patricia, yeah I figured it would be a fun surprise as she never really did much in my story, but at the same time, I figured I could give her death some meaning by making it the first to fall in the war, and setting the tone. Anyway, hope you like this chapter!
Blaszczu2500 - They're no telling who will live and die in this war, but I will say, I have a decent sized list of who is going to bite the bucket.
Sokol848 - Ah yes, will Doug go or not go, surprisingly it seems like he's a big contender on being someone on the way out, along with a few others who are actively being hopefully saved. Hmm...only time will tell.
Thedarkpokemaster - Thanks man, I hope you like this one too!
Don 77 - Judith's survival is up in the air just like everyone else, so read on to see!
Guest2.0 - I have read that crossover before and it was pretty fun to read. If I ever did do something on the show I'd do one fresh and my own, not interested in taking over other's works. But I do want to do more with the show universe so I could eventually start one with telltale characters in the future!
Chapter 35: The Gates Of Hell
Two Month Ago…
Oberson stood with Bruce and Gabe on either side staring down in shock at what he was sure was the corpse of The Governor. The man's left eye dangled ripped out of its socket, his right arm was missing with the stump burned shut and blood poured from his lower half. "What do we do about the girl?" Gabe, the Governor's portly lackey asked Oberson,
"She's out of the safe zone now, but I could still track her down with a few guys," Bruce swiftly added,
Oberson blinked a few times before shaking his head and letting out a growl, "To hell with the bitch, we have more important things to deal with right now!" Crawford boomed while stepping around the crippled man below him,
"Is he dead?" Gabe gulped as Oberson pulled out his sidearm,
"If he's not, it probably won't take long in his state," Oberson muttered under his breath as he stepped towards the undead niece of The Governor who had just gotten back to her feet and was coming towards them. Oberson cocked the hammer on his revolver and leveled it with the girl's head.
However, before Oberson could pull the trigger he heard a rattling wheezing growl leaving the body below him, "No...D-Don't you f-fucking touch her…"
Gabe stumbled back, "Holy fuck, he's alive! The Doc and Alice are gone though, what the fuck do we do?!" The heavyset man exclaimed as he looked to Oberson who frowned and silently thought things over,
"Crawford, we can't just fucking let him die, think!" Bruce added on in desperation,
"I am thinking for fuck sake!" Oberson snapped back before letting out a sigh and holstering his gun. He stormed over, grabbed the back of Penny's dress, dragging the undead child over to a closet and tossing her inside, "You two, grab sheets, curtains, whatever the fuck you can to slow his bleeding. I'm getting Logan, that lazy motherfucker is going to earn his fucking keep today,"
"Yes sir!" The duo chanted back, jumping into action while Oberson jogged out of the apartment, making his way directly to the infirmary.
Even with Doctor Stevens and Alice missing from the town, he still had Logan, even if the old man was hardly worth the air he breathed, he was still a doctor. As he entered the building the only thought in Oberson's mind was, god help Logan if he was found drunk or sticking it in another "patient" of his. The retired vet opened the infirmary doors and shouted, "Logan, get your ass over to The Governor's apartment, he's hurt!"
However, instead of hearing a usual complaint or sigh in response, Oberson didn't hear a sound. With narrowed eyes Oberson stepped further into the room, scanning it over until he spotted a toppled-over table. A few feet over from that was a large pool of blood. Oberson tilted his head and pressed his lips together in agitation, "Motherfuckers," He hissed out and turned around. Yet the moment Oberson turned, a now reanimated Logan was only a mere foot behind him. Oberson's brown eyes locked on Logan's now milky ones and with a low growl, Logan grabbed Oberson's jacket, attempting to sink his teeth into his neck.
With the ease of swatting a housefly, Oberson grabbed his hunting knife from his belt and drove it straight up Logan's chin, a wet crunch filling his ears as he stopped Logan just short of biting him. Oberson let out a grunt and shoved Logan's collapsing corpse off his knife and let it crumble below him. Reaching down Oberson gave his bloody knife two quick wipes on Logan's shirt before he turned and left the infirmary, not giving his former doctor a second look.
Oberson stormed up the stairs, returning to the streets, and glared around them, "Bob…" Oberson growled under his breath until he finally located the town drunk; slumped over in his usual spot next to The Governor's apartment complex. With haste, Oberson moved to the man and the second he reached him grabbed him by the collar yanking him to his feet and also awake, "Wake up!"
"Huh?! What?! What's happening?" The older man asked, his disoriented eyes attempting to focus on Oberson while five-hour old alcohol leaked off his every breath,
"You served as a medic during your time in the army, right?" Oberson asked with a glare,
"For like five minutes, forty goddamn years ago! What does that matter?" Bob stammered back,
"The Governor is hurt, he's going to fucking die if someone doesn't do something and do it fast. Logan is dead, Stevens and Alice are gone. You are all that's left, you are going to do something," Oberson sharply explained, his eyes cutting through Bob like a knife,
"I can't...What do you mean they are...I can't do shit, Crawford!" Bob argued in utter confusion as Oberson started to yank him along,
Oberson stopped dead, looking back to Bob, "Hey, hey, hey, you fucking listen here you waste of fucking space. The only reason you even get to waste our oxygen and swallow the hard-earned food we have is because of that man. He for some fucking reason cares about your drunk worthless ass, so you're going to try to save him. You're going to do the best you can to prove that you're worth a damn because if you don't save him...you're going with him," Bob shook in his boots and gulped hard, "Understood?"
"Understood," Bob whispered back with a nod, following as Oberson led him up to The Governor's apartment.
Entering the apartment, Oberson returned to Gabe and Bruce who were still in the midst of taking care of The Governor. Glancing over Bruce jumped out of the way, "We got him untied but he passed back out. It's not looking good, where's Logan?"
"Dead as a fucking doornail," Oberson retorted with a shake of his head, "Bob, do what you need to do now!" The man furiously yelled, shoving the old vet forward,
Bob stumbled, took one look at The Governor, and hurled what little he had in his stomach all over the floor, "I...I can barely look at him," Bob sputtered,
"With everyone else dead or gone, you're all he has! Do you want him to die?!" Bruce screamed as he grabbed Bob by the collar,
"No...I don't," Bob whispered back, knowing there was truth in that statement. Ever since arriving, no matter the trouble or disgusting actions he saw done, The Governor always treated Bob with respect...as if he saw him like a father, "I don't," Bob said against and gave his head a quick shake, "Okay, I need tape, peroxide and more bandages. Then we need to take him to the infirmary," Bruce sprinted off, digging through drawers wildly for tape and peroxide while Gabe went back to ripping up more sheets into fresh bandages,
Before long Bob had wrapped up what he could on The Governor's battered body and gave the okay to move him. Bruce and Oberson lifted the crippled man up from his apartment and carried him out of the building and into the infirmary. Laying him down on the bed, Bob jumped right into some rough but effective battlefield surgery. He stitched up the cut on the man's leg, internally shocked to see that it didn't hit an artery. He removed his destroyed dangling eye, cleaning his socket before covering that as well before moving onto the most damaged area's particularly the sensitive areas that had been...brutalized.
Miraculously the damage wasn't as bad as it had first appeared, Bob quickly realized whoever had attacked The Governor took great care to keep him alive. While this was surely only to inflict more torture on him, his burnt stump only needed to be cleaned and bandaged while his lower half only required stitching and cleaning as well. With enough antibiotics and constant care Bob was relatively certain The Governor would recover and quite quickly as well. Of course, this reprieve of duty for Bob didn't last long.
Just as the veteran was wrapping up The Governor's stump in a fresh bandage the group turned as someone came crashing through the infirmary door. "Lilly?" Bob asked in shock as he found the woman grunting and huffing, tears in her eyes, and her shot father Larry around her shoulder. "My God, what happened?!"
Larry let out a hissing gurgle, forcing himself to keep standing as Lilly brought him over to a free cot and laid him down. His shirt was soaked in his own blood a single gunshot wound in his belly continued to ooze out thick drops with each breath, "M-Martinez...F-Fucking traitor!" Larry spat before gritting his teeth,
"What the fuck happened?" Oberson snapped out as Bob ran from The Governor to Larry's side, pressing a rag against his wound, "Martinez did this?"
"No!" Larry shouted back as Lilly took over holding the rag as Bob grabbed a pair of scissors, cutting the shirt from his body to get a look at his wound, "Lee Everett! The murderer! He...escaped! He did this! Martinez helped him!" Larry then broke down into a shout of agony.
Oberson frowned, Jeff and Martinez were supposed to spring the captives and get led back to their prison. They were only going to get their location and return, now Larry was shot, The Governor was nearly killed, and their doctors were missing...something clearly didn't go right with their planning. "Why would Martinez help a murderer escape and have him shoot my father?! What the fuck is going on?!" Lilly exclaimed in fury before noticing The Governor in the next bed over, "Oh my god, what did they do to him?!"
"Lilly, step aside," Bob sternly ordered as he turned back around with a needle, sticking it into Larry's arm. Lilly backed away and watched as her father fell limp, "He's not dead," Bob muttered before anyone could ask, "Just pumped full of morphine. If I was you, I'd step out, this next part isn't going to be pretty," Bob added as he pulled over a table with a set of surgical tools,
Oberson stepped back and turned, heading out of the infirmary along with Bruce and Gabe, Lilly hesitated for a moment before rushing out after them. "Bruce, take a team and scout along the perimeter of the wall, I want to make sure there are no openings or weak points that the dead could exploit," The bald muscular man nodded and headed off, "Gabe, go tell everyone it's double watch duty for the evening. These people took off but there's not telling if they might come back, we interrupted that woman, she may still want to settle the score,"
"I'll get it done then go back to Phillip, I'll guard him with my life," Gabe sincerely stated before too rushing off,
Oberson took a few steps before Lilly called out, "Wait, you need to tell me what the fuck is going on!" Lilly exclaimed causing Oberson to glance back, glaring at the woman, "I'm not some fucking housewife, I was in the military, I am on watch just like my father! He mentioned a man named Lee, who is he? What the fuck happened to The Governor?!"
Oberson let out a slow exhale and glanced either way before stepping closer to Lilly, "We found some people outside our walls a few days ago. One of them, Lee Everett, was a convicted murderer placed in prison which is where we are assuming they are living. Now, Lilly, these fucking people are animals. They killed Logan, mutilated The Governor, kidnapped Stevens and Alice…"
Lilly's eyes grew in fury, "Are you telling me that Martinez betrayed my father for these fucking monsters?!"
"No, that wasn't how it was supposed to go at all. We tried to talk to these people, tried to work with them. Your father warned us about Lee, and we thought maybe the others were good. Martinez offered to go with them back to their camp, to work out a trade deal so we'd all benefit. That was supposed to happen in the morning, not while sneaking away in the night with our doctors. Either Martinez helped them or he got kidnapped all the same, possibly with Jeff as well,," Oberson replied, internally smiling at his bluff, "The point is, we were attacked and right now, we need to batten down the hatches and watch our backs. If they come back, they'll answer for this in blood, for what they did to this town, The Governor, and your father,"
"And I'll be right there with you," Lilly growled, "These...people, if you can even call them that, they'll pay…"
"Get a gun, and find a spot on the wall, we'll need you," Oberson ordered, causing Lilly to storm away with purpose all the while Oberson slyly smiled, heading back towards his home.
Six long days came and went until finally the Governor weakly opened his one remaining eye. His body was tightly wrapped in clean bandages, and to his surprise, he didn't feel completely awful. Letting out a weak grunt The Governor turned and saw Gabe, his blindly loyal guard sitting directly at his bedside, "How long?"
"Almost a week, you were in and out a few times, but nothing you'd remember," Gabe calmly replied, unable to hide a small smile that his leader was awake, "Hang on…" Gabe reached for his pocket, pulling out a walkie talkie, "Oberson he's awake,"
It only took two minutes before the retired veteran was bursting into the infirmary, "Gabe, Bob, get the fuck out of here," Oberson ordered causing the two men to swiftly exit the room, leaving the duo alone besides Larry, who slept two beds over.
The Governor watched as Oberson pulled out the chair that Gabe had been using, setting it a bit further down the bed, by the foot, before taking a seat, "What was Bob doing down here? Where's the fucking doc?"
"Gone, him and Alice took off the same night that woman you tortured turned the tables, killed Logan on their way out," Oberson muttered as he crossed his arms,
The Governor's upper lip twitched in frustration, "So how the fuck am I not dead?"
"You already answered that, Bob," Oberson simply replied,
"Bob?! That drunk couldn't draw a straight line! He refused to be the doc's assistant before, made that damn girl do it," The Governor exclaimed in baffled surprise as he looked down at his bandaged body,
"Given the proper incentive, that old drunk actually showed some use for once in his life," Oberson muttered back, "Though, from what he told me, he didn't have to do as much as we thought he would. That woman did a hell of a job to keep you around herself. You arm was sealed up when she burned it, so Bob only had to do a cleaning and wrapped it up. When she sliced off your dick," Oberson blatantly stated causing a flash of anger to wash over The Governor's face, "She damn near nicked an artery on your thigh, that'd have killed you but you lucked out. Your eye socket almost got infected but Bob stopped it, all and all, she knew what she was doing. She wasn't finished with you when we came in, I can't imagine what else she had planned for you that night,"
"Plans?! Oh I'll fucking show you plans once I catch that black cunt," The Governor hissed, his entire body shaking with anger, "Once Martinez and Jeff get back, she'll know what true fucking suffering is!"
Oberson let out a half scoff and shook his head, "Haven't heard back from either of them yet, starting to get worried that they jumped ship or turned on us. Why you trust that shit head Martinez with anything is beyond me, you do remember when he was a part of a coup against you, right?"
"And I remember I showed him what I was capable of afterwards," The Governor firmly replied, "He'll listen, he's gotta be at the prison by now, waiting for a chance to slip out with your man,"
"S-So that was your plan?" Larry suddenly grunted out causing the pair to suddenly whirl over, shocked that the elderly man was awake, "Martinez released those fucking people on your orders?"
Oberson tightened his lips in anger while The Governor easily sat himself up, "He did, we wanted to know where these people were from. We needed to know how far, and how big of a threat they could be,"
"Smart," Larry calmly nodded back to the pairs surprise, "Hey, I'm not some fucking child, I was United States Military," The veteran proudly stated, "I know that every damn plan isn't sunshine and rainbows, sometimes you have to make the hard calls to get things done! Most of these pansy's in this town don't understand that, but I do,"
The Governor glanced at Oberson and the pair shared a small understanding nod, "Then you understand that when we find these monsters what we have to do, right?" Oberson asked,
"Kill 'em," Larry replied, not holding much emotion over the thought, "These fucking people want to terrorize the world, then they don't deserve to be sucking air. We find them, do the whole fucking world a favor and kill them, and then take what they have so we all keep on living. It's the only fucking choice we have!"
The Governor fully smiled, always eager to find more willing and like minded men to do his bidding, "Exactly Larry. Now I'm going to be honest with you, we're going to have to convince the rest of these people that's the way to go. It's better to convince them with a few small lies to save them from the greater evil out there,"
"We do what we need to do until the mission is done, I'm not arguing that for a minute. If these people need a web of bullshit to get on board, then you need to spin them one," Larry fervently finished,
"We're lucky to have a someone with a fucking spine here, Larry," Oberson nodded, "You rest up, we'll need you once we find them,"
"Trust me, I have a score to settle with these pricks who shot me," Larry grumbled back as he shut his eyes and headed back to sleep.
Another week ticked by as Oberson and The Governor waited for Jeff and Martinez's return to town. By this time, however, both were equally wary of where the pair were, and began to send out scouting teams, hoping to locate the pair. It was on day fourteen that Oberson entered The Governor's house, finding the man lounging in his recliner, staring at the man floating heads in his fish tanks, "What Crawford, I told you I didn't want to be bothered unless it was important,"
"Yeah Phillip, because clearly this is very important," Oberson grunted back as he ran his eyes along the tanks, duly noting Glenn's head, "Besides, I found Jeff. He's dead, and Martinez is nowhere to be seen, so he's either a traitor or he's dead too,"
The Governor shut his eye and sigh, not angrily or one of concern, rather one more akin to boredom, "I suppose it's time that we both address the people,"
Within the hour Oberson and The Governor gathered the town in the stands of the former racetrack, now turned arena. Most citizens were horrified to see the state of their leader, and others wondered why a box sat between the pair, "Everyone! Listen up!" Oberson ordered, quieting the crowd in a second,
The Governor took a step forward and looked out into the crowd, "I apologize for not being available to you these last few weeks! I know Oberson has done an excellent job in securing our town in my absence but I know you all have questions with no answers! First off, I want to assure you this, the games will resume shortly, there will be no lack of entertainment!" The Governor exclaimed in a lighthearted joking fashion earning him a few laughs and cheers while Oberson rolled his eyes, "But as you've probably noticed by looking at me, we have more pressing issues to deal with!"
The Governor looked to Oberson who nodded and cleared his throat, "Now, you may have been hearing some rumors of a group of people being brought into our camp not long ago. This was true! As you know we've been desperate for finding more capable survivors, and what we saw in them was a capable, resilient scavenging team! They were looking for things that we had plenty of, so we talked of a trade, learned who they were! These people live in a prison nearby, they talked of it's safety and even offered to take Martinez and Jeff back with them to show them around. There was even talk of combing the camps, so we could all go where it would be safest to be! I admit to you now, that we were fools to trust them!"
"These people took advantage of our hospitality, of our trust, and used it for their own sick acts! Late in the night, after we had shown them to their rooms so they could rest and start out fresh the next morning, they snuck out. One of these people snuck into my room and mutilated me! They kidnapped our own Doctor Stevens and Alice while killing Doctor Logan! Worse yet, Jeff and Martinez were taken as well! We feared for their safety these last few weeks, praying that they were unharmed…" The Governor continued while Oberson lifted up the box from the ground, letting The Governor reach inside, "Last night we found this at our front gate, a sick message from these people. They left us...this!"
All at one The Governor ripped the severed head of Jeff from the box. The biker's bruised and bloodied face snapped wildly while milky eyes snapped from person to person in the crowd. Gasps of horror echoed around the track along with furious shouted of anger and disgust at the sight of their former lead scavenger's mutilation, "I knew none of you would want to see this and I apologize for having to show you but we needed to make sure you understand what we're dealing with here. Monsters!"
"These people know where we live, they know what our strengths are. They know what our weaknesses are. The only way we can hope to live another day and defeat them is to strike first! After all we've fought for, after all we've been through, I'll be goddamned to let anyone take that away from us without a fight!" Oberson continued, his booming voice echoing around the stadium, "We are survivors! We live by a code to not be one of these animals! Now we must fight to defend it!"
A roar of cheers grew from the stands as the people of Woodbury stood up, throwing fists up in support, "I'm glad you all feel that way. Now, the first place we start is with finding their prison, thankfully our own Larry Caul has some thoughts on where we should start looking," The Governor devilishly smiled before motioning for the wounded man to come out to the field, "Larry, what do you know?"
"The place is called Meriwether County Correctional Facility is the name of the place, the murderer who runs with them, Lee Everett was sentenced there. Now I don't know exactly where it is in Meriwether County but I know Meriwether country starts only five miles from here and ends in another twenty at most. If we search there, we'll find them in no time," Larry sternly stated with a proud smile of his own, "Then we teach these fuckers a lesson,"
Another few weeks passed by as Woodbury began to motorize for the war ahead of them. Oberson delegated searching duty to both Gabe and Bruce, while The Governor got himself into fighting shape and he pooled what weapons, ammo, and fuel they had together. More specifically Oberson focused on training the survivors that they had for their army, and unfortunately their talent was severely lacking. Improvement could be made but knowing what was to come, neither of the leaders felt it was smart to waste the ammo, they needed something that could give them a real edge, something more than a surprise attack.
As Oberson formed an idea in his head, he met up with The Governor, who was dutifully practicing his shooting with his unfamiliar left hand. Entering a chained off alley with a few walkers chained up, Oberson watched as The Governor was able to hit a headshot, The Governor glanced over to the man and grunted, "What the hell is taking them so long, Crawford? We should have found that prison by now,"
"Larry labeling a region wasn't as helpful as he and you might think. I only have so many men to send out at a time, and thanks to your little theatrics we have to send a few men off in different directions instead of where we actually found Jeff's body," Oberson shot back before giving his head a short shake and calming himself, "In better news, we are gaining some headway in training this ragtag group of simple fucks into something that might actually be dangerous. Lilly is showing herself to be a hell of a marksman, and Larry is whipping the others into shape when we're out on the range. Bastard may be old as dirt and could drop any second, but he at least has a good head on him,"
"So what's the bad news then," The Governor asked expectantly,
"Bad news, we don't have enough supplies for this shit, barely enough fuel for our cars, let alone the fleet it'll take to bring this fight to their door steps," Oberson crossed his arms and watched as The Governor took two more shots at another walker, this time only hitting it's shoulder and upper chest, "Tilt your hand towards the right, you're aiming too far right, you're using your left now,"
"Thank you, I fucking know that!" The Governor snapped back, "Fucking bitch had to take my right arm...I'm next to useless with my left,"
"I'm gonna start running some trains back to the National Guard Station again, bring back some drums of fuel to camp, see what else we left behind that we could use," Oberson dryly continued, "I'm also going to go check in with Larry, I think I might know of a way he can help turn the tides into our favor once and for all,"
"Then what are you still doing here talking to me," The Governor grunted back as he lined up his gun again and shot at the walker, this time killing it dead.
Oberson left the man and headed to the center of town, "Bruce, where's Larry?" The vet called out to the bald headed muscular man as he located him on the street,
Bruce jogged over to Oberson, "I think he's down in the infirmary,"
Oberson motioned for Bruce to follow as he headed towards Steven's former office, "Listen, I want you to go through the ranks and pick out the best and most trusted you can find. We're going to be heading back to the national guard station to pull in every last scrap of supplies we overlooked, as well as moving the fuel here where it's secure. After that, you're going to head back to where we found Jeff and find that prison, I don't care how long it takes,"
"You got it," Bruce nodded back, "I'll talk to Sam and get a team together, we'll find these people,"
"Good, because I've had enough of sitting in the dark over here," Oberson spat as he pushed into the infirmary and pressed right into the main treatment room where Larry sat on a bed getting a final bandage change on his now almost fully healed stomach wound by Bob while Lilly stood beside him, "How we doing?"
Larry looked up to Oberson and let out a small smirk, "It was a scratch in the first place, I'm fine. Did you find them?"
"Not yet," Oberson replied as he glanced to Lilly before looking back to Larry, "You never told me what you did during your service, but I sure as shit can tell you weren't airforce and damn sure weren't navy,"
"You bet your ass I wasn't, United States Army, armory battalion," Larry proudly stated, "Operated a M48 Patton during my service,"
Oberson silently nodded and took a step forward, staring Larry directly in the eye, "Think you could operate one still?"
"Just get my ass in the seat," Larry replied with zero hesitation,
"Dad…" Lilly winced,
"It's fine Lilly," Larry rebuffed as Bob stepped away and Larry lowered his shirt, "You just tell me what you need me to do and I'll get it done,"
"Good to hear, because I already -" Oberson started to say only for a distant boom to fill their ears, the ground shaking beneath their feet, "What the fuck?!"
Oberson ran out of the infirmary and lifted his eyes seeing a giant fire cloud only a mile out of town, no doubt in his mind that it was coming from the national guard station. The man's eyes flared up and he began to grind his teeth, "Motherfuckers!" His gruff hoarse voice boomed out, "Bruce! Bruce, get out here!" The muscular bald man ran out of the building after a moment, "You take a few men and go check that out!"
"I don't know boss, I don't think there's much we can do about a fire," Bruce mumbled back while rubbing the back of his head,
"Not the fire you dumb shit, who set it off!" Oberson snapped back, "Check the outskirts of town! Whoever they are, they can't have gotten far, find them, and take care of them. No survivors!" Bruce let out a firm nod and took off towards the wall, looking for a few of his most trusted and well armed friends.
As Bruce took off Oberson wasted no time and rushed to Phillips house, storming up the stairs two steps at a time until he reached the door, letting himself in without a second thought. Oberson recoiled in disgust, however, as he stepped in on a sight like nothing he'd ever seen. The Governor was knelt down, small teeth all around his body, and his was in a full, revolting kiss with his turned daughter Penny. Oberson stood slack jawed for a moment, unable to speak a word as he watched The Governor push the girl away and vomit, quickly apologizing, saying he needed to get used to the taste.
"Phillip?" Oberson finally uttered causing The Governor to spring to his feet, turning to face the man,
"Crawford! What the hell, don't you knock?! What the fuck do you want?!" The Governor yelled back to the man,
"I'm not even going to fucking ask, Phillip," Oberson grunted, unable to look the man in the eye, "They attacked us, the fuel at the national guard station just went up based on that explosion, I sent Bruce and some men to go check the outskirts. Time for you to get your ass back in the saddle,"
"They're out here? Fuck, what are we waiting for, come on, this is our chance," The Governor grinned as he tushed from his apartment leaving while Oberson stood, glaring at the man as he walked off, for once being completely shaken in his confidence in The Governor.
The two leaders loaded up into a large truck along with some men, including Lilly and Larry, heading out to join Bruce's group in the hunt, only for them to hear distant gunshots. Even at top speed, it still took the group ten minutes to reach the shop mart where the only thing that remained outside was the grizzly scene of Bruce's group massacre. "Holy fuck!" Lilly exclaimed as the truck screeched to a halt,
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" The Governor shouted while jumping from the cab and storming over to his strongest lieutenant, "Bruce!?"
The bald man laid unmoving on the ground, blood dripping from the entry and exit wound on his neck, leaving him pooled in his own blood, "Sick fucking bastards...they smashed his head completely in, and Sam, clean shot directly to the head," Larry spat as he wandered around the sight,
"Martinez…" Bruce suddenly uttered out, "W-With them...came back...f-fuckers…" Bruce sputtered in a final breath,
"Bruce?! Bruce, where did they - fuck!" The Governor growled as he realized Bruce was dead. Oberson merely reached for his holster, pulled out his sidearm and put a bullet in Bruce's head, "They we're just here, take Bruce's fucking car, and find them, now!"
Oberson nodded and looked to Larry, "Load up, you're coming with me,"
"Wait, let me come instead, my dad is -" Lilly began to argue,
"Shut up, Lilly, this isn't playtime in the sandbox, this is fucking war, and there's no more playing around," Larry roughly interrupted as he got right into Bruce's truck, "Come on, we're not losing those evil fuckers," Lilly watched in anguish as her father and Oberson sped of, leaving her behind with The Governor and a few other men who were now gathering up the bodies of their fallen.
It didn't take long for Oberson and Larry to follow the fresh tracks back up the highway and off a few side roads until they found the prison. For weeks in rotation Oberson and The Governor sent out men, watching the Prison group from the tree lines, learning their numbers and how many dwelled inside. Even with their losses, The Woodburian's outnumbered them three to one, but the only question was, would numbers be enough to make up for lack of skill.
Oberson and Larry made it a point to prepare the tank for this exact reason, the inferno at the guardstation had fried a lot of things, but the tank near the entrance had survived the blast with only some scorching on the metal. While the tank was in full running order, the lack of tank shells left Oberson on edge, it only looked dangerous, and that left him worried. Even so, day after day, he trained the group with The Governor, made sure they would hold their own, all the while giving the prison group a false sense of safety.
Finally, nearly two months after Rick's group escaped Woodbury, the army loaded up in their cars and trucks, along with Larry in his tank. They drove eight miles through the woods until the prison was just off in the distance. The Governor ordered for everyone to halt and got from his car, climbing onto the tank, now dawned in a full riot suit, matching Oberson's who sat in the gunner seat of a military humvee, armed with a mounted machine gun.
"Here we are, so close we can smell their evil, we keep pace with Larry in the tank! We will show them that we are coming as a united, unrelenting force! When the fight starts, do not fear them and most importantly do not feel for them! You will see women and children, but I assure you these people are nothing but beasts, twisted by the world, only set on destruction for the rest of us. They don't deserve to live!" The Governor exclaimed earning a short agreeing cheer back,
"Every one, we aim for that ridge, we'll get a clear sight on them, they are gathered in this yard most days," Oberson called out, "Once we get there, we stop, we wait, and we'll start this fight right,"
"Any particular reason why we need to stop once we're at the ridge?" Lilly asked Oberson in minor confusion,
"You ever heard of the term shock and awe?" Oberson asked back causing Lilly to nod, "Then you'll understand pretty quick why,"
With a rallying finger wave, The Governor ordered the fleet to begin to move and they drove forward, closing closer to the prison until they reached the top of the ridge on the clearing, now only a football field's length away from the prison gates. Oberson reached down into the humvee and pulled out a heavy duty sniper rifle. Everyone waited with baited breath as the man leveled the rifle, looking through the scope as he scanned past the fences until he caught the first clear shot on one of the prisoners, a redheaded woman. With a smooth pull of the trigger, Oberson sent a round directly through the woman's head and immediately the army could hear the screams of terror from inside the prison.
Oberson slammed his fist on the humvee a few times while the Governor yelled out, ordering the fleet to remove driving. As they closed closer and closer to the prison, Oberson loaded a fresh round into the machine gun on the humvee while the Governor jutted a finger out towards the prison, "Kill them all!"
Okay, that's it, that's the last chapter before the war starts, but I would be completely lying if I told you I wasn't looking forward to this chapter for a while. I was so eager to show more of Oberson and the extra surprise that Larry is alive, or well, at least for now. Who knows how things will turn out for them in the prison assault. The next two chapters will conclude the prison arch, and both will be quite long in length, while also being considered the same overall chapter. The next chapter will also have a vote involved, so I hope to see some people getting involved for that. Other than that, please tell me what you thought of this chapter, and any other final thoughts you have before seeing the prison war go down!