This chapter has more of a narrative feeling than previous chapters because it would have been way too long if I did it any other way (believe me I tried). So, sorry in advance.
Getting back to the prison, Rick stepped aside with those who had accompanied him to the meeting and told them verbatim what the other man had said and pointedly, what he wanted.
"He wants Michonne?" Hershel's eyebrows rose almost to his hairline.
Rick nodded. "He wants us to bring her to him in three days."
Eve scoffed. "Only an idiot would fall for that knowing what we do about him."
"You think he lied?" Daryl asked.
Rick shifted. "If he did, it was pretty… convincing."
Eve gave a firm nod without hesitation. The thought that he may not have been lying never crossed her mind, even when they received the invitation to the negotiation. "I have no doubt that's what he really wants. But his M.O. is extending a ceasefire and getting the other side to drop their guard, then striking."
"You think he has something else in mind?" Hershel asked.
Eve nodded again. "Undoubtedly. He wants Michonne, but he won't let us off even if he gets her."
You would have to have some IQ to trust that person's words after hearing about all the things he's done.
"You have a plan?" Daryl was the only one who picked up on what she was thinking.
The corner of Eve's lips quirked up in a smile, picturesque of 'sly as a fox'.
"We know where he's gonna be, and when. Woodbury will be undefended."
Daryl's eyebrows furrowed, not expecting Eve to advocate a move like this much less propose it herself.
"You want to hit Woodbury?"
Hershel breathed in sternly and reminded her with some warning. "There are a lot of innocent people who have nothing to do with this in that town."
Eve wasn't foolish enough to not pick up on his tone, but she also isn't a crazed axe-murderer.
She shook her head. "Killing is unnecessary. We're going to punish them for leaving their base vulnerable."
Rick shifted. "I trust you have an idea of how exactly to do that but how are we gonna get close? They got sentries on every wall."
Eve smiled, a mischievous glint igniting in the depths of her fiery eyes, like a flame growing in the darkness.
"They won't be a problem."
Inside, Eve gathered the team around and began explaining the last phase of their preparations.
"Go to the prison kitchen and find either black garbage bags or search around for more metal sheets, anything big enough to block view, cover these areas."
Eve pointed out areas on their little hand drawn maps and wrote down a specific list of things that needed to be covered, no matter if they need to use old newspaper, cardboard, and street litter. These places needed to be obstructed from sight. Then she pointed to some specific spots. It would be better if they could cover all the fences all the way around but that's just not feasible. However, that's no reason not to cover the most important parts.
"Except for these. Leave these alone."
Glenn furrowed his eyebrows.
"That's the front of the prison, what's the use of covering the rest if we'll be completely visible from the front?"
"That's the idea." Eve straightened as Daryl, Michonne, and Merle came in with the stuff she asked for.
"You think this'll be enough?" Daryl asked as he set things on the table and on the ground beside them.
A satisfied smile pulled across Eve's lips and she replied with a single firm nod as she looked at the things.
She turned her gaze to T-Dog across the silver metal table from her.
"Are the tombs done?"
He nodded. "Yeah, only one left. Tiny and Rick are taking care of it right now."
Eve moved to Maggie. "On watch?"
"Carl and Carol. Next shift is Beth and I."
Eve nodded again in satisfaction. The smooth progression is more than she hoped for, and finally turned her eyes to Merle.
"Can I trust you to handle the final stage?"
Merle straightened up at its mention. His posture said he was sizing her up, but his eyes held a respect that didn't match it and he firmly nodded.
"I can get 'em in place."
Eve awarded an appreciative and trusting nod to him for her unveiled test of trust. If Merle can do this, she — and the rest — will be more inclined to trust him, and his position in the group will be more secure.
Moving on, Eve pointed at Daryl, Glenn, and Michonne.
"Tonight, you three are coming with me."
"Where?"
Eve smiled. "Run some errands."
"More like sneaking out like teenagers." Michonne joked in a muted voice, laced with amusement.
Glenn sighed, shaking his head with a hint of amusement himself. "You're being really cryptic today, you know that?"
Eve chuckled and patted his shoulder and answered, "We're going to scout." before heading off with Daryl to finish a few things. They only have a few hours before it gets dark, that meeting took longer than expected.
After the small group snuck out the back of the prison using the night vision goggles and playing 'follow the leader' to the woman who had them on, they bypassed the hidden scouts around the prison and fled off to find a car and went on their way.
In the car, Daryl turned his head to look at Eve in the driver's seat. The night vision goggles strapped over her head making her look abnormally serious and funny but allowed her to drive without the headlights. With duct tape covering the rear lights and the moon being a mere sliver, the car was completely invisible under the cloak of night.
"Thanks for giving Merle a chance."
Eve didn't reply and smiled, glancing at him with her goofy green goggles before quickly returning her eyes to the road and haphazardly found his hand in the dark.
Just after they had laced their fingers together, the static from the walkie interrupted them and Michonne sat up immediately as she heard the voice come through the line.
"Eve, are you there? It's me, Andrea."
Eve picked up the walkie and pressed the talk button, confirming it was her, "I'm here."
Andrea sighed in relief, sitting next to the plastic box with the clever messages and confirmed that she got away from Woodbury, but she had something important to tell them. She almost couldn't speak fast enough as she told them about the room that she saw the Governor preparing before she left. A torture room, in the same building that he had probably held the three of them when Merle captured them.
Eve and Daryl exchanged a knowing glance. Eve knew that man was untrustworthy. Thank god they didn't take today's bait.
Eve quickly radioed back and told Andrea to make her way to a secondary location using the car they left her and told her to contact them again when she got there, before declaring radio silence; i.e. only contact in the event of an emergency. Just in case.
This scouting mission would be quick, Eve just needed to check up on a few things and make sure it would work. She brought the other three with her because she needed a few more hands but once they finished what they had set out to do, Eve forewent the other things that she'd planned on checking in favor of going to meet Andrea.
Within half an hour, Andrea radioed them, and Eve parked a distance away; leaving Michonne and Glenn to look after the car and brought Daryl to go make sure this isn't a trap.
When they were finally close enough to see Andrea, they hid a good distance away, tucked into the darkness like shadows and waited to make sure the blonde was really alone and not being held against her will or double crossing them; intentionally or otherwise.
With eyes on Andrea's car, they kept her waiting for about 20 minutes, at which point Eve's ankles were going to sleep, Daryl was getting impatient, and Andrea actually got out of the car, glancing around with an antsy look but she was in fact alone.
Eve finally took her walkie out again and radioed her. "Andrea, we got held up. Where are you?"
Andrea told them where she was, no lies, and before she forgot she looked down at the thing in her hand and added, "I got what you asked for."
Daryl and Eve narrowed their eyes at the woman standing in the dark, watching as she palmed another radio in her hand.
"Is it off?"
"Yes."
"Good work. It's too dangerous for us to come get you tonight, the prison is being watched, it's too risky to let them see us bring you back right away. Can you handle yourself for a few days?"
Andrea looked dejected but nodded to herself and spoke with resolve. "Yeah. Don't worry, I can take care of myself."
Eve smiled, furthering her belief that Andrea is trustworthy even if she's been in Woodbury for so long.
As much as she'd like to bring her back straight away, Eve can't take the risk just yet because of what's going down right now. The timing is just a little too suspicious, but she's more confident now than she was before and quickly radioed back, telling Andrea to go to yet another location where she'll be safe, and there's unlooted supplies that should last around a week.
Eve didn't say it but the reason she chose that place beforehand was because it's close to the safe point where they planned to send the others to retreat during the next fight.
"It's relatively safe but be cautious. If you get in trouble, radio back."
"Understood. Take care of yourselves." Andrea answered concisely and waited for Eve's sincere reply of, "You too." before getting back in the car.
Eve and Daryl hung around for a few more minutes, making sure Andrea left safely and alone; making sure no one was following her before they were both satisfied and Daryl finally called it, tapping Eve's shoulder to signal them to sneak back to the car.
When they got back, Glenn and Michonne were waiting on either side of the car with their guns and upon seeing them, the four got back into the car, with Eve driving once again.
As soon as they were in, Glenn leaned forward and asked, "What happened?"
Daryl filled them in on the way back and they put the car in a hidden spot nearby, making it look like it hasn't moved in months before sneaking back in the same way they got out.
The whole ordeal took the better part of three hours, but it simultaneously felt like it had taken all night and no time at all.
As they made their way back to the cellblock through the dark grey tombs, they encountered Merle headed back to the cellblock.
When he saw them, without even asking, he gave Eve a status update, "We're ready to roll."
"Good work." Eve nodded, not hiding that she was pleased with the news. She honestly expected it to take much longer than just a few hours.
Merle is surprisingly the type that works well under clear direction and positive reinforcement. Any kind of punishment or sternness is only met with a combative attitude but the lack of resistance from the method she's found is staggering.
To be fair though, there aren't many people who don't work better from receiving clear instruction and positive feedback.
The most arduous part of this whole frickin' day has been waiting. It's like catching a flight, all this 'hurry up and wait'.
Waiting is exhausting. So, it's no surprise that Eve was yawning before they even reached the cellblock.
Glenn practically made a beeline for the door when they were close enough to smell the delicious aroma of Carol's cooking, and before the rest of them even got through the door, Glenn was sitting down with Maggie at one of the tables to eat.
Carol smiled, scooping up a few more plates of spaghetti. "I assume things went well?"
Daryl nodded, "Better than you'd expect."
Carol raised a pleasantly surprised eyebrow. "Oh?"
"You wanna tell her?" Daryl turned back to Eve as she received her paper bowl of deliciousness with shiny hungry eyes.
"Andrea is safe and out of Woodbury."
Carol almost dropped the bowl and thankfully Eve already had it in her hands. The same couldn't be said for the plastic fork though and she looked horrified as it dropped to the ground before snatching it off the floor like it would melt, muttering, "Five second rule".
"For real? How? I didn't even know that was possible." T-Dog asked, pretty much everyone in the room pausing their meal to listen carefully, meanwhile Eve shoved an impressive mouthful of pasta into her pie-hole right as he asked.
Thankfully, Glenn had her back and chuckled, an amused but proud smile on his red-tinged lips.
"Yeah, she snuck it past us. We didn't even know until just now when Andrea radioed her."
Tears of relief sprang to Carol's eyes. "Where is she? Is she ok? I she—"
Eve put her hand up and swallowed her mouthful.
"She's safe. It's too dangerous to bring her back right now, so I'm putting Carol in charge of keeping in contact with her until we can."
Eve paused eating and handed over her walkie to Carol.
"Check up on her every few hours, make sure she's ok, but avoid talking about anything except her status, keep our moves under wraps."
"And Woodbury's, or she'll want to join the fight." Rick interjected, carefully feeding Judith her bottle.
Carol nodded, understanding. Despite trying to calm them, she was still moved to tears with the sudden surprise of Andrea being safe. When she left after coming to see them, Carol had been positive that that would be the last time she ever saw her. Now being told that Eve had somehow found the time through this whole mess to save her, she didn't have words for how relieved she was and how grateful.
Eve was surprised attacked with a hug and barely managed to get her spaghetti out of the way before Carol wrapped her arms around her but true to her nature, Eve continued to eat over Carol's shoulder even as she hugged her and polished off the bowl in a few minutes flat and gave Carol's back a few pats, rubbing the back of her head in comfort.
The next morning, the sun rose bright and cold, despite it no longer being winter and all was relatively normal at the prison; quiet even.
Until gunshots broke out and Michonne bolted out of the cellblock into the courtyard like it was on fire.
Right behind her, a man with one hand and a man with a heavy python revolver chased after her.
"Stop!" Rick called after her, but she didn't, running for the gate and in the next a gunshot rang out and a shout pierced the air, right before Merle tackled Michonne to the ground and pinned her.
Rick ran up as Merle harshly pulled her arms behind her and Michonne struggled incessantly, her sword a taunting few inches in front of her as her freedom was torn from her grasp.
Merle held her down with all his weight while Rick got a pair of prison cuffs on her wrists and the both of them dragged her to her feet and dragged her back inside, despite her violent struggles and unceasing shouts of, "Let go of me! He's gonna kill you too even if you turn me over!"
A hidden scout on the outside of the prison fence lowered his binoculars and took his radio up to his lips.
Back in Woodbury, The Governor's radio chimed and a gravelly brooding voice that screamed 'disturb at your own risk' muttered into the device, "What is it?"
"Governor, you were right. It looks like they're taking the deal."
The scout relayed what he'd witnessed, and a dark smile overtook the Governor's previously grim look.
After losing Andrea yesterday he was certain she'd head to the prison, but he drove up and down every path to it and didn't find so much as a trace of her. Neither did his scouts report seeing anybody enter or exit the prison, she never even got close. It looks like she split altogether and left both Woodbury and her so-called friends.
The Governor raised the radio back to his mouth and said, "Good work."
Andrea smiled at the Woodbury radio in her hand that she got from Milton right before she left and picked up the other radio in her lap.
"They bought it."
Eve smiled and held down the talk button for Andrea to hear as she turned to the three performers and spoke while Michonne was rubbing her uncuffed wrists and shooting a glare at Merle.
"Good work everybody."
The rest of the day was spent resting up, fine tuning, finishing their preparations, and making sure everyone knew their jobs.
The following day, two groups set off at the same time. Rick, Merle, and T-Dog in one vehicle going one direction, and Eve, Daryl, Glenn, and Michonne in the other heading in another.
Rick's group was packing heavy artillery and the other was light and fast with silent weapons, backpacks, and a few cans of gasoline.
Rick's group's destination was the handoff with the Governor where they were set to go in guns blazing, with one golden rule for all three of them: Do not risk their lives. If it's too hairy, pull back and retreat.
Getting to the three sniper positions that Eve gave them directions to wasn't as difficult as imagined.
The Governor brought a lot of people with him but more people meant more walkers and even more appeared because of Merle's brilliant idea of using another car with the cd player turned up to the max, rolling straight into the fray by the mere fact nothing was holding down the brake pedal.
Even as Merle tuck & rolled out of the driver's seat and dashed across the narrow space to get to his position, the three of them went unnoticed because of it.
Once they were all in position, they all followed the plan and waited for the first shot from the Governor's side before they started sniping people three at a time.
From the first shot fired and their own people started dropping, chaos erupted. Machine guns fired into the increasing stream of walkers while their own people were dropping from gunshots in their dashes to get to cover.
Unfortunately, the Governor was farther back and had good cover behind his truck, there were too many things in the way to get a clear shot at him, not that they didn't try.
The Governor wasn't their main objective, but you could say he was a bonus prize of sorts that everyone wanted. However, they couldn't ignore the reason they're even here to accomplish it, so pinning down the other side's forces took priority.
Meanwhile, as Eve's team got close to the places, they scouted the previous night, their group split in half and she & Daryl went to one box truck and the other two to the other.
Eve and Michonne kept watch for the boys while Glenn & Daryl hotwired the two box trucks.
A couple minutes ticked by and as soon as the trucks started up, Eve & Michonne both grabbed a brick each from a destroyed wall nearby and hopped into the respective passenger seats of each truck before the trucks pulled out in opposite directions.
On top of the walls of Woodbury, the gunmen perked up on alert as a vehicle started approaching.
At first, they thought the Governor was coming back from the fight, only to panic a moment later when they realized the truck wasn't slowing down.
Gunfire cracked like pop-rocks as bullets rained against the vans at each gate, and the tire on one burst and sent the van crashing into the street lamp and they watched as it swung out and flipped onto its side, sliding into the middle of the road smoking. The other crashed into a car right before the wall that hadn't been removed because there was no gate on the East side of Woodbury, and it was out of the way.
The air was tense in both locations, cold sweat dripping down foreheads and hair rising on the backs of people's necks as they waited with baited breath, their guns aimed at the trucks in anticipation of someone trying to climb out or something else happening.
After a few minutes, someone took a few experimental shots at the van that had fallen on its side. The shots whizzed through the flimsy white side and through the windshield where the driver should have been, but nothing happened.
Unbeknownst to them, on the inside of said van, the bullets punctured the gas cans inside; effectively releasing gasoline planted in the back prior to sending the trucks off and made the trickle that was being let out of the can's loose lids into a river rolling towards the — now fallen — metal barrels that held burning logs, and a moment later, both trucks at either wall went up into flames one after the other.
While panic broke out at one corner of Woodbury and all the alarms were sounded, drawing people from every corner, at the other side, the four met up at a previously agreed spot chosen by Michonne and they created a concealed hole in Woodbury's defenses.
Not obvious enough for walkers to get through but enough to make a secret passage for people to use at their leisure if they know where to find it.
The three of them followed Michonne inside to one of Woodbury's storehouses where a large chunk of the town's supplies are kept, and Daryl kept watch at the door while the others filled their backpacks to the breaking point like robbers in a jewelry store with valuable supplies; some of which they didn't need, but Woodbury definitely did, and the mere fact of depriving them of such things would weaken their position greatly.
Michonne and Daryl took the bags back, grabbing a couple more things on the way out, while Eve & Glenn put their duo skills to the test just like they used to in the dangerous streets of Atlanta to go fulfill one final objective.
Not two minutes after they snuck out, Daryl heard one of Woodbury's radios that he took from the storehouse crackle to life and an unfamiliar voice holding a strange mixture of both panic and relief exclaimed that the Governor's party was on their way back, and Daryl and Michonne shared a look.
"If they ain't back in 5 minutes, I'm goin' after 'em."
Michonne nodded in agreement, having no intention to argue with Daryl.
Inside, Eve and Glenn snuck through the side streets, following the instructions Michonne gave them to memorize until they found what they were looking for.
Thankfully, Woodbury left their generators unguarded and only guarded things of more immediate importance like the walls, food storage, and the armory.
Thus, the generator for their makeshift hospital and Milton's lab are unprotected.
It took them less than a minute to get in and with a bottle of corn syrup taken from the storehouse, squeezing the whole thing into the generator's fuel tank took less time than listening to a song on the radio.
Even as Glenn was squeezing while Eve kept watch the generator made some concerning noises. As soon as he was finished the ruckus in the town seemed to kick up even more and the two of them made a run for it.
They almost made it back to the building with the passage when a distinct shout called, "Over there!"
Eve shot at the person, making them duck in cover but it was already too late, there were several people who came running at the shout and the two barely made it to the building before the shooting started.
They slammed the door behind them and grabbed a shelf, tipping it over in front of the door.
While Glenn ran to the passage and heard Daryl shout, "Come on, let's go!" Eve ran to the opposite side and broke the window out before running to the passage and jumping out.
The moment she was clear and stumbled onto the ground from having jumped out, Daryl and Michonne sealed the metal behind her, making it appear as if it was still undamaged.
Inside, Woodbury's people crashed into the room, forcing the door open and came in with machine guns, but they found an empty room and the broken window across from the door immediately caught their attention; completely overlooking the possibility of another exit.
"They got out through the window! Go! GO! GO!"
Daryl & Michonne passed Eve & Glenn their backpacks as they listened to the shouts inside and none of them could resist smiling as they made their getaway on foot, scot-free.
Finding a car one or two miles away and getting it running turned out to be the only hitch in the plan but eventually they found one and were able to drive back to the place they stashed the other car.
It's convenient that there are cars with tanks of gasoline just sitting on the sides of the roads everywhere you go nowadays. It's like a 1 in 3 chance around here to find a car that still works with enough gas in the tank to get you from A to B; provided you know how to hotwire a car.
They listened to Woodbury's stolen radios the whole way, getting the play by play of disaster, even as it was radioed that the Governor was back, which meant they're free and clear to head back along the faster roads.
Once they reached the place where they left the car they left the prison area in, they divided into two groups and took both cars back into range of the prison where they got back in contact with their people and found out that everything went as well as expected on Rick's end.
In conclusion, everything went scarily according to plan, and Glenn couldn't resist saying something.
"Your mind...is terrifying."
Eve smiled and pressed the talk button on her walkie.
"Good work everyone. On to phase three."
Thanks for reading and I'll see you next chp!
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