Glenn sketched a layout on the floor with a piece of chalk, reminding Eve of his plan to grab the gun bag in Atlanta so long ago. Carl knelt opposite of him and the rest of the group, minus Rick and Randall, surrounding them.
"You say you found Tyreese's group here?" Glenn pointed to a section on the map close to the tunnels where Eve & T-Dog found each other before.
Carl nodded and went to say something, but Glenn cut him off. "We secured this."
"Well... he thought he came through here." Carl pointed out on the map and T leaned over him to get a better look.
"That's right next to where Eve and I went through. There's a hole in that back fence where we got out but Tiny and I sealed that up."
Eve tongued her molars as she thought back to it. She and T-Dog did indeed escape that way, but there were walkers piling up on that other side, they haven't taken a look before because they've had other things to deal with and it'll be mighty dangerous to go back there with how many walkers were inside that back fence. She's doubtful that any of them have wandered off.
Glenn expelled an exacerbated sigh, rubbing his forehead. "That means there's another breach."
"Ok. The whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walkers just strolled in, then it's gonna be cake for a group of armed men."
Provided they can get past the walkers.
"Why are we even so sure he's gonna attack? Maybe you scared him off." Beth asked.
If only that were the case, Beth.
Michonne drew everyone's attention to where she was leaning against the small cell/cage in the corner of the room. "He had fish tanks full of heads. Walkers and humans, trophies. He's comin'."
Classic serial killer behavior.
"We should hit him now." Glenn said suddenly and Eve looked down at him.
He looked up at her from his crouched position beside her.
"What?" Beth voiced the confusion of the room.
"He won't be expecting it. We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head."
"We're not assassins." Carol made a glum face like Glenn's lost his mind.
That's might not be such a bad idea. The others may not be up to something like this... but I could do it. If Michonne is willing to show me the way, I could get in, finish this quickly, cause some chaos and get out before they even know I'm there.
Eve stood quietly, arms crossed and a finger absently rubbing her lip as she thought about it.
"You're not really considering this are you?" T-Dog was the first to notice. "That's a suicide mission."
If she's gonna do this, she can't leave without a backup plan. If things go wrong, the prison needs to be ready to receive some heavily armed unwanted guests.
The more she thought about it the less merit the idea had though. Assassination is the most ideal plan but there's too many ways it could go wrong, and when has ideal ever gone smoothly for anyone?
Thinking down to the details of it, they don't even have the ability to pull it off right now. That being said…. Sneak attacks are entirely within the realm of possibility. They're lower risk, more effective on an organization where they can disrupt the structure and will create a fear factor that will ultimately help them; turn Woodbury's numbers against them.
They have no way of telling how long this conflict will last. It could be a skirmish, or it could go on for weeks, and worst-case scenario it could even become a siege. They need to be prepared for this to be a long haul.
In the end, Eve tabled the assassination plan as plan C and finally opened her mouth to put everyone at ease. "It's a good plan but we're not fighting a single person. You have to deal with the army before you can get to the general."
"Wouldn't taking out the general disorganize them and make them not want to fight and stuff?" Glenn asked and Eve nodded, not denying it.
"Normally it would be my first choice. But assassination is all about opportunity. We don't have the time or ability to find one right now. It'd be a different story if the terrain around Woodbury allowed for a sniper or if we had someone on the inside. Since we escaped, they've no doubt sealed the holes we exploited. Right now, our best option is to play to our strengths and focus on our defenses."
"And what are those exactly? If you haven't noticed, we don't have a whole lot to work with here." Carol was skeptical. She has faith in Eve but most of them have not been shy about where they stand in this debate of: Do we leave, or do we stay.
Eve has her own view on this argument. Yes, the best option would be to leave, but this Governor isn't just gonna let them go. If Michonne's story of the Governor sending Merle after her like a bloodhound after she was "allowed" to leave, has any truth to it, then even if they leave Woodbury will pursue them. And so long as Daryl is in this area but not with them, she's not going anywhere.
Even if they do leave, it's better to make it look like they plan to stay and then make it seem like the Governor beat them and they were all killed so they can make a clean getaway and not have to worry about watching their backs.
Eve resisted the urge to shake her head at these silly cute people. "Look around us. What do you see?"
Everybody looked around and ultimately it was Carl who said, "Walls and bars."
Eve nodded, as it's technically true even though it wasn't quite the answer she wanted. "What are those good for?"
"What's your point?" Maggie asked impatiently, not in the mood for a learning experience.
Eve held back a tidal wave of frustrated exhaustion. She'll let Maggie off this once since she's been through a lot the last few days.
"You wanna know what I see?"
Confusion passed over everyone's faces.
"A fortress."
Understanding overtook the eyes of the group as they hurried to look around again.
"What's designed to keep people in, is also designed to keep them out. These walls are thick enough to withstand almost anything they could throw at us. The windows are high up and made of bulletproof glass. It would take half a day and a power saw or industrial blowtorch to get through any one of these doors without a key and the tombs are a maze that we've taken the time to figure out how to navigate."
"The forest surrounding this place is thick and dense. There's only one way to even get vehicles to this place and they won't be able to take this prison without vehicles - they'd never get close enough before we know where they are."
"We don't have a lot of firepower or numbers, but we do have a cement block designed to withstand a siege. Traps are going to be our best option. They can beat against this place for as long as they want but if we do this right, then anything short of a tank or explosives, and they'll be out of luck."
"What are you thinking?" Glenn turned his whole body towards her, many people coming in closer as she took the chalk from him and crouched down to draw the outer area onto their schematic; the fences and yards, and even the road and the train tracks on the hill.
Thanks to her and Daryl hunting in the area most mornings, she knows the landscape pretty well. "This road is the only path to the prison. Woodbury is too far away to not bring cars even if they're not going to use them, which I doubt they'll be stupid enough not to."
"They have to come down this road, so our best option is to start laying traps here and at the most vulnerable places and work our way out from those."
Eve started marking places for traps with X's. "Here and here are our most vulnerable points, we'll start with those. Next is these fences. These fences are going to be both our greatest assets and our greatest obstacles. They keep walkers out and can't be climbed over but can still be shot through, so our next order is to fortify those well enough for a stand-off."
"Spike pits on this dirt road won't be hard to dig and can be fairly shallow. Fill them with anything sharp enough to pop tires, broken glass, loose nails, etc. That'll force them to either leave the vehicles or it'll jam the road and either way they'll be forced to come through on foot."
"They'll bottleneck here, and if they want to get inside the prison, they'll have to fight us in this area by the gates." Eve circled the space in front of the front gate.
"We'll put more traps in this space, doesn't have to be a lot, just enough to make it seem like there's a lot of them. This will force them to be more cautious and aware of their surroundings, at which point they'll have to switch their attention back & forth between the prison and their immediate space which will distract them. With this, we'll be able to use our stronghold advantage to the utmost and shoot from the towers and behind the fortified fences."
"Our goal here is to drive them to retreat, not to defeat them. If we can defeat them with this, great, but chasing them off is just as good. If they retreat it will buy us enough time to not only fortify our defenses further and lay more traps, but also we can make two more plans. A counterattack, and an escape route. No matter which way the wind blows then, we're covered. If we're lucky, we may even be able to pull an assassination at this time. Probably not on the Governor himself, as he'll slink back into his rat hole the moment they return, but we might be able to take out others in positions of power that their people rely on."
"Like his other lieutenants?" Carl asked.
Eve nodded, "Take out the captains, and their ranks will descend into chaos."
Eve looked at Michonne and she already knew what she wanted.
Michonne nodded. "I can point them out. Won't be difficult. Most of their people are ordinary, never even held a gun before so there's only a handful of men who are in charge."
That's good. That means while Woodbury has a lot of people, they'll only be fighting a third of them, half at most. They're still outnumbered but that shrinks the gap.
"Do you know if they have any sharp shooters or anyone with above average aim?"
Michonne nodded. "Most of the people in charge have better aim but from what I saw the rest of them are just so-so."
Eve nodded, filing away the information.
"They'll likely come at us again and again, trying to break our front line. Our goal is to beat them back, from then on, the real fight starts. We'll need to create chaos and a fear factor within their base. If their own people don't trust them to defend them, they won't support them in this and may even try to leave of their own accord, reducing their numbers and stability bit by bit. But for now, focus on this first fight."
"What do we do if they go around to the back?" Big Tiny asked, unable to shake an uneasy feeling.
"If they go around to the back, the fence may be down, but they'll have to get through all those walkers. No way we won't hear 'em coming." T-Dog said.
"Unless they use knives or silencers." Maggie pointed out, biting her lips as she leaned against the far wall with her arms crossed over her chest.
Eve nodded, having already considered it yesterday. "We need to know how bad the breach is and where, if possible. The four of you," She pointed at Glenn, Carl, T-Dog, and Big Tiny. "Head down to the tombs and scout it. If you can seal the breach, do it, but don't take any risks. If there's too many or you can't find it, I have other ideas."
"We could take a car and scout the other side." Glenn proposed and Eve nodded, thinking the same.
"For now, let's get started on our fortifications and finding this breach. We don't have a lot of time to lose."
A round of nods circled the room and Eve began assigning jobs to people before half the room had departed, like a colony of worker ants. It wasn't that far from a scramble but at least it wasn't a blind scramble.
"Smells to me like the Saw Hatchet creek." Merle walked in front of Daryl, stepping over logs and ducking under branches, crunching leaves, and snapping twigs under his feet.
"Nah we didn't go West enough. There's a river down there, it's got to be the Yellow Jacket." Daryl refuted.
"You have a stroke, boy? We ain't never even come close to Yellow Jacket." Merle retorted.
Daryl resisted the urge to roll his eyes. That shows how much attention Merle's been paying to him. Asshole hasn't even seen him looking at the compass Eve gave him every so often. "We didn't go West. Just a little bit South. That's what I think."
Merle scoffed. "Know what I think? I may have lost my hand, but you lost your sense of direction."
"Yeah, we'll see." Daryl groaned, finally getting used to not looking behind him to make sure Eve is still following. Normally he'd be able to hear just a little bit but with Merle stomping he can't hear anything, so he keeps forgetting she's not here.
"What do you want to bet?" Merle got excited.
"I don't want to bet nothin'. It's just a body of water. Why's everything got to be a competition with you?" Daryl asked rhetorically, not bothering to disguise his agitation.
"Whoa, whoa. Take it easy, little brother. Just trying to have a little fun here." Merle waved his hand. "No need to get your panties all in a bundle."
A sharp but far off cry caught Daryl's attention and he stopped. "You hear that?"
"Yeah. Wild animals gettin' wild." Merle answered.
"No, it's a baby." Daryl immediately recognized the sound. He should, he's been hearing it every day for a while now.
Merle gave him a withering look. "Oh, come on. Why don't you just piss in my ear and tell me it's rainin', too? That there is the sound of a couple coons makin' love sweet love, you know what I mean?" Merle laughed and Daryl ignored him, going towards the noise.
Running a short distance through the trees and they hit a shallow riverbank. Daryl's eyes locked on the bridge going over the almost empty creek, where all the noise was coming from, gunshots and baby cries and shouts in Spanish joining the mix.
Merle whistled beside him. "Hey! Jump!"
Merle laughed and Daryl shot a disgusted angry look at him and headed back up the bank.
"What? Hey, man, I ain't wastin' my bullets for a couple of strangers that ain't never cooked me a meal or felicitated my piece." Merle called, following him as they made their way towards the closer end of the bridge. "That's my policy. You'd be wise to adopt it, brother."
Daryl didn't hear a word he said, already near the top of the bridge and watching out for walkers but all of them seemed to be drawn towards the center of the bridge where two guys were standing on the back of an empty semi's bed.
Debris was littered all over the road and a few abandoned cars, but there was a red car in the center, surrounded by walkers trying to get in and a few trying to get the two men on the truck. Even at point blank, the man shooting an older revolver could barely hit the walkers vying for their ankles.
Daryl followed the walkers around the front of the semi just as the man tossed his empty gun and dropped the one onto the street that the other had just handed him, a walker getting a hold of his leg and the two struggling to pull it free.
The man fell back onto the truck the second a bolt sailed through its skull and the walker spun from the force as it dropped.
Daryl dropped his backpack and shot another walker, pulling the bolt out of its head, stabbing it through the head of another walker coming from his side, having followed him around the semi.
"Come on, man. I'm tryna help you out. Cover me!" Daryl yelled at the man. He made getting to the red car his priority, hearing the desperate cries from the baby inside.
Merle watched in disbelief, lazily following the walkers to watch his brother.
The man jumped off the back of the truck, grabbing the gun and started shooting the walkers behind them while Daryl reloaded his crossbow and shot a walker off the front windshield, reloading again before shooting the other one.
He ran to the side of the car and smashed the head of the one at the driver's side door just in time to see the lady inside turn around, screaming and crying.
A walker was climbing through the open hatch-trunk over piles of stuff and had nearly reached the woman and her new-born baby in the driver's seat.
Daryl ran to the back, quickly dropping his crossbow by his feet and grabbed the walker by the shirt with both hands, dragging it out.
It immediately turned its attention to him but in half a second, he'd slammed the trunk door on its head, effectively sealing the car to keep the lady inside safe.
He swiped his crossbow off the ground and moved around the other side, but it wasn't loaded, and a walker blocked his path. Before he had time to think what to do, Merle lazily called out, "Daryl, I got you."
Daryl moved back behind the car and a shot rang out, the walker dropping.
"Go!" Merle called, smiling like this is a game as he leisurely sat down and watched his brother run around being a hero.
Daryl backed up to them while he reloaded his crossbow, only having one arrow left for it and the Spanish man used his last bullet right as Daryl reloaded.
He had no choice but to switch to his fists as a walker came towards him while Daryl used his last arrow on another walker heading this way and didn't notice, not recognizing the cries for help in a language he didn't understand.
Daryl ran towards the hood of the red car and grabbed a bolt out of one of the walkers he'd already shot, rapidly reloading and dealt with the second to last walker on the bridge before he took a breath and finally realized the other guy was fighting for his life, hand to hand, with the last walker.
There was no time to reload, so Daryl dropped his bow and pulled his knife.
Merle sat, enjoying the show, not lifting a finger to help.
The man punched it and Daryl timed his attack before two long quick strides put his hunting knife through its skull like butter before he kicked it off the bridge.
Daryl finally put his hands against the cement rail, catching his breath as he watched the dead walker float downstream. The man beside him breathing wildly but it was finally quiet. No more baby cries, no more shouting, just panting.
Daryl straightened up, looking at the man who looked at him gratefully, before moving to retrieve his crossbow, glancing at Merle who'd walked past him to the back door of the car without giving it much thought.
As soon as Daryl had picked up his bow and started retrieving his arrows, he heard more Spanish and then a gun cock.
He looked over and saw Merle aiming at the man over the backseat door.
"Slow down, beaner. That ain't no way to say thank you."
Daryl took slow steps on the other side of the car, confused but cautious about what Merle's doing.
The man spoke more calmly at Merle but neither of them understood a word of it.
Daryl glanced at the man, still subtly moving so that he's on the same side of the bridge as Merle, in case this gets ugly.
"Let em go." Daryl told Merle from the other side of the car, but Merle scoffed, sneering but un-cocked the revolver and tucked it back into the front of his waistband.
"The least they can do is give us an, enchilada or somethin', huh?"
Daryl's used to his brother's racist remarks but this time, it made his teeth grind until his jaw began to ache.
Merle ducked into the backseat, digging around. "Easy does it, senorita. Everything's gonna be fine."
"Ey! Ey!" The younger of the two men, who's been staying out of the fight until now called but the other man waved him off, saying something to him.
Daryl came around the back of the car finally, looking at the two of them.
The Spanish man gave him a look like he was reluctant to let this happen but was too grateful to Daryl for helping them to stop Merle. But it was a look Daryl couldn't stomach. He looked at Merle's back and glanced between him and the Spanish man before taking a quick breath and took up his crossbow.
Daryl tapped Merle's back with it. "Get out of the car."
Merle's movements stopped.
"I know you're not talking to me, brother." Merle hesitated but started riffling around again.
Daryl looked at the Spanish man and nodded to the car, even knowing he probably won't be able to understand him, he still said it. "Get in your car and get the Hell outta here."
They stayed put, not knowing what to do.
"Go! Get in your car!" Daryl shouted and the two men flinched but got the message and went around the other side as Merle looked back at him from inside it.
Daryl locked eyes with his brother, anxious but not joking around. He steeled his eyes, so Merle knew it too.
Merle was angry, that much was obvious by the way he'd jutted his jaw forward, his whole face scrunched like he was barely holding back a snarl, but he got out and closed the door.
As soon as he did, the car backed up and within a few seconds the people were gone.
As they drove off, Merle glared Daryl down like he stole his girlfriend. As if Merle would ever have one of those to steal.
Daryl grabbed his stuff and walked off the bridge and as soon as he reached the forest again, Merle was on his heels.
"The shit you doing, pointing that thing at me?" Merle marched behind him, close enough to almost step on the back of his shoes.
"They were scared, man." Daryl sighed, tired of having to argue with Merle about everything.
"They were rude, is what they were. Rude and they owed us a token of gratitude."
"They didn't owe us nothin'." Daryl stated. He did all the work; Merle's got no right to look for compensation for that one bullet he used.
"You helping people out of the goodness of your heart, even though you might die doin' it, is that something your Sheriff Rick taught you?"
Daryl snapped and spun on his heel. "There was a baby!"
"Oh, otherwise you would have just left them to the biters, then?" Merle stared him down and Daryl decided in that moment to stop arguing around this, no more of Merle's thinly veiled pot-shots about what he's really angry about.
"Man, I went back for ya. You weren't there. I didn't cut off your hand, neither. You did that." Daryl pointed at his hand. "Way before they locked you up on that roof. Man, you asked for it."
Merle scoffed, in complete disbelief. He paced around indignantly.
"You know— you know what's funny to me? You and Sheriff Rick, are like this now." He held his fingers up, crossing the first and the middle.
"Right? I bet you a penny and a fiddle of gold that you never told him, or that woman of yours, that we were plannin' on robbing that camp blind."
"It didn't happen." Daryl grumbled. He's not proud of going along with Merle's plans back then but he hasn't been that person in a long time, and the winter changed him for good.
"Yeah, it didn't. Cause I wasn't there to help you." Merle shamelessly claimed credit.
"What, like when we were kids, huh? Who left who then?" Daryl retorted, face to face, not even noticing how quickly the argument was escalating.
"What? Huh? Is that why I lost my hand!?" Merle shouted at him.
"You lost your hand cause you're a simpleminded piece a shit!" Daryl yelled back before turning to walk away as fast as he could before this can turn into a screaming match, but he didn't anticipate his brother's reaction.
Merle's anger exploded and before he could blink Merle shoved him, grabbing hold of his shirt.
Merle yanked him so hard there was the sound of fabric ripping as Daryl's knees hit the dirt, his backpack falling off his shoulder and dropping his crossbow to catch himself on his hand.
Then inexplicably Merle froze and half a second later it dawned on Daryl what that sound was. The hot Georgia breeze hit bare back, but it felt colder than ice to him.
"I— I didn't know he was—" Merle stammered but couldn't finish his sentence. All his anger gone in a puff of smoke.
"Yeah, you did." Daryl tried to pull his torn shirt back up but gave up and just pulled his backpack back on to cover. "He did the same to you."
"That's why you left first." Daryl grabbed his crossbow and the fallen bolts on the ground before standing up.
"I had to, man. I would've killed him otherwise."
This was a mistake. Daryl stood up, desperately wanting to see the only person he feels at ease with.
"Where are you goin?" Merle called and Daryl turned.
"Back where I belong." Daryl answered without hesitation, struggling to keep the emotion out of his voice but mental and physical exhaustion dragged it back in.
"I can't go with you. I tried to kill that black bitch. Damn near killed the Chinese kid." Merle called helplessly.
"He's Korean." Daryl refuted.
"Whatever." Merle shouted. "Doesn't matter, man. I just can't go with you."
Every word hit Daryl's eardrums like the thousands upon thousands of excuses Merle's used in the past to excuse his actions and behavior. It didn't matter how legitimate it might have been, it was still an excuse, and Daryl's done with those.
An exhausted, emotional sigh left him. "You know, I may be the one walking away, but you're the one that's leavin. Again."
Daryl walked away.
Merle watched him disappear from sight and turned looking at the empty forest around him.
The only thing that's ever been able to make him feel guilt or want to be different than he is, the only family he ever had and the only living thing he gave two shits about, walking away after everything they've both gone through to find their way back to each other.
Merle knows better than anyone how much of a prick he is, but contrary to popular belief there is one thing that he does give a shit about.
"Damn." Merle turned back around and followed him. To hell if he's just gonna let his baby brother walk away and go back to that place the Governor is breathing down on, on his own.
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