I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
Brendan: A new character character related to TD will appear in this episode, but will it be Brick? You'll see :)
SomeGuy2020: I'm glad you liked it! :)
An army helicopter was flying above the fields during a sunny day in the direction of the forest. The people who were inside of it were just a group of soldiers who managed to survive to this point.
The pilot of the aircraft grabbed a small microphone on his helmet and called out, "Whiskey-1-2. Whiskey-1-2,d o you copy?"
"Gonna 180, close the distance." The other pilot declared, "Get back in contact."
He did exactly what he said he was going to do. He started turning the helicopter in the direction, unaware of what was going to happen in the next few seconds. The aircraft started to shake widly as every soldier inside grabbed into something, waiting for the turbulence to end, hearing the sound of beeping which stopped only a few seconds later.
"Have faith,guys." One of the pilots assured his fellow soldiers, "I've got us through a lot worse than some light turbulence."
He had no idea how wrong he was and he found out about that just a second later. The wings broke and dark smoke started coming out of it. Both of the pilots were doing his best to steady the helicopter and make sure they and their fellow soldiers were going to make it to the ground in one piece, but their tries turned out to be completely pointless.
"We're going in hard!" The pilot declared.
It was the last thing that his fellow soldiers heard from him before the aircraft crashed into the forest, ripping through the tress as if they were nothing until it stopped, the members of the crew being either unconsciouss or dead.
Andrea and Courtney stared at the forest from and the smoke which was coming out of it, having a chance to witness how the helicopter crashed there. Michonne was with them and witnessed it as well. She pulled the chain holding her walkers forward a bit, and stopped right next her traveling companions, staring at the forest in front of them.
The blond haired woman shifted her glances between the CIT and the dark skinned woman, "What should we do?"
"We should go and see if someone survived." Courtney suggested, from the tone of her voice it was obvious to say that she was tired.
The CIT looked and Andrea and then at Michonne, exchanging a look with each of them, just seconds before she and Andrea started walking towards the place where the aircraft crashed. Michonne watched them for a moment before following them into the forest, her two walkers which were carrying all of their stuff on their backs walking closely behind her.
It took them several minutes to make it to the crash site. They all stopped a few meters in front of the helicopter, or rather what remained of it and eyed it for. Courtney let out one tired breath after another, as Andrea hung her head low, almost falling off her feet as she threw up all of over the ground. The CIT came over to her and placed her hand on her shoulder.
"Don't push yourself, both of you." Michonne told them, knowing how exhausted they were. She and Courtney brought Andrea back on her feet and placed her on the ground behind a bush. She then looked at Courtney who sat down next to Andrea, "You'd better sit. I'll check it out."
She came over to the nearest tree and tied her chain around it, making sure her walkers weren't going to get away with their stuff. She took out Andrea's and Courtney's pistols from the bag and handed it to them. She slowly started making her way to the remains of the helicopter, making sure to be careful about everything around her.
She made her way to the remains and stared in disgust at the view of a young soldier that the impact of the explosion cut in the half, leaving his insides visible to everyone. She placed her hand on the handle of her katana as she started to investigate the crash site more, only to see two trucks heading their way. It could have been more soldiers or another group who just like them happened to be nearby during the crash.
She quickly turned back to the place where she left Andrea and Courtney and eve quicker made her way back to them. She crouched down next to them, "Someone's coming."
"Any survivors?" Andrea wanted to know.
"Two dead, not sure about the other." Michonne answered.
"Who are these people?" Courtney asked as these unknown people parked their vehicles in front of the crash site.
Michonne shook her head, "I don't know."
Everyone had gotten out of their vehicles and one of the men, apparently the leader, ordered, "Fan out."
Courtney, Andrea and Michonne simply observed how these people split around the crash site. One of these people, an asian man, aimed his silenced pistol at the approaching walker and was about to get rid of it, but was stopped by a spanish young man, who was wearing a blue shirt, "Don't do it, amigo. It will just a waste of ammo."
He took out his knife and walked over to the walker approaching him and the people he was with. He kicked the undead right in the knee, bringing it down to the ground, before finishing it off with a simple stab to it's head. He turned back to the people from his group and went back to checking the area around them, as another man, a black skinned man with a beard fired an arrow from his bow at another walker, killing it.
They spotted two more walkers heading towards this unknown group, but they weren't much a threat to them as another spanish man easily took them out with his baseball bat, blood splattering all over the ground.
"Got a breather. Tim!" The leader of this group declared, "Help me out here."
The asian man Michonne, Courtney and Andrea spotted a few moment earler walked over to this man and helped him to take the wounded man out from the front of the helicopter. The dark skinned woman turned away from the helicopter when she heard some snarling behind her and the other two to see a walker approaching them.
She reached for her sword but Courtney stopped her from killing it, "No. Let them take care of it."
Michonne let go off her sword as they simply watched how the undead walked right past them, as another one of these unknown people spotted it and called out to the black man with a bow, "Over here, Shumpert."
The response to that was immediate and Shumpert released an arrow from his bow which hit the walker right in it's head, killing it for good as it's lifeless body collapsed on the ground while Tim and the leader whose name still remained unknown managed to take the wounded soldier out from the remains of the aircraft and started dragging him towards one of their trucks.
"He's saving them." Courtney observed
"We should show ourselves." Andrea stated, to which Courtney nodded in agreement.
"Not, yet." Michonne stated as the leader stopped dragging the soldier and let go off him when he spotted something in front of him and Tim. The soldier that Michonne saw just a few seconds ago, the one that was cut in the half had changed into a walker. He pulled out his his knife and brought it down on the undead soldiers' head.
They turned away from these unknown people when they heard how Michonne's walkers were wanting to take a step forward, but the chain was preventing them from doing so. A a man wielding a machine rifle aimed it right in their direction as everyone else from his group seemed to spot it as well. Michonne knew what she had to do if she didn't want to be spotted. She took out her katana and sliced the head of her walkers off their bodies.
The walkers fell on their knees as Michonne went back to Andrea and Courtney while the unknown group proceeded to stare in their direction for a few more seconds before the leader declared, "Let's roll out."
Everyone were starting to leave, as Michonne lowered her guard a bit, but it quickly rose up again when she realized that someone was behind her, Andrea and Courtney when she heard a branch snap. She raised her sword in the air but stopped in the mid-air when a voice spoke up to her.
"Uh-uh-uh. Easy does it, girl. Mine's a whole lot bigger than yours." The voice said to her as Michonne started to lower her blade. Courtney didn't know why, but she couldn't get rid of the feeling that she heard this voice before instantly after this unknown man spoke up. Michonne placed her blade on the ground as the man ordered, "Now spin around."
Michonne clenched her teeth as she turned around to face this unknown man. Courtney and Andrea turned to look at him too, a bit slower, only to be met with a face that belonged to no other than Merle Dixon. Someone that they left behind handcuffed to a pipe on the roof back in Atlanta. Someone that they thought they will never see again.
"Holy shit." Merle immediately grinned at the view of two familiar faces in front of him as Andrea and Courtney only stared at him in completely shock, not believing their eyes. The older Dixon was unaware that there was a walker coming right towards him, "Blondie and CIT. Damn, you're looking good."
The walker made it's way to Merle, who easily took it's with his other hand which was replaced by a huge knife. He stood up, offering the familiar faces in front of him a huge grin, "Now, how's about a big hug for your old pal Merle?"
Courtney and Andrea stared at him for a few more seconds, before both of them collapsed on the ground almost in unison, unconscious.
Andrea and Courtney had no idea how much time has passed since they lost their consciousness, but when they woke up they found themselves in a room which looked like a infimary where they were introduced to a woman who was simply called Doctor Stevens by the others. She was starting to check on them, well, mostly on Andrea and Courtney who were in a much worse state than Michonne was.
"Why are we being held here?" Andrea asked Doctor Stevens, "We want to leave."
"You're not well enough. And it's dark." Stevens answered, "You should stay the night."
"Where are we?" Courtney asked as she sat next between Andrea and Michoone, "I've been asking this question since we woke up."
"That's not for me to say." Stevens replied, "He'll talk to you."
"Who?" Michonne wanted to know as she stared up at Doctor Stevens.
The door opened and Merle Dixon entered the room, the blond haired woman and the CIT instantly looked at him, "Go check on your patient, doc. Bet you was wondering if I was real. Probably hoping I wasn't. Well, here I am."
Stevens walked out of the room as Merle took a nearby chair and sat down on it, his eyes on the women he found in the forest, "I guess this old world gets a little smaller toward the end, huh? Ain't so many of us left to share the air, right? You know, when they found me, I was near bled out. Starving. Thinking to myself a bullet might make a good last meal. Take myself a nice long nap after. Wait for Daryl on the other side. You seen my brother?"
Andrea shook her head, "Not for a long time."
"We got separated from the rest." Courtney added as Andrea gave a small nod of confirmation.
Merle chuckled, "Makes three of us."
"He went back for you. Him and Rick and a few other people from our camp." Andrea explained, "You were already gone."
"Well." Merle chuckled as he took off his weapon, revealing his decapitated hand, as Andrea and Courtney cringed at the view, "Not all of me."
Andrea shook her head in disgust, "Oh, god."
"You didn't had to show it to us, you know?" Courtney told him, as she turned away, not wanting to look at Merle's hand.
The older Dixon let out another chuckled at their reactions, "Yeah, Rick. He's that prick that cuffed me to the rooftop."
"Yeah. He tried. Daryl saw that." Andrea told him.
"He's always been the sweet one, my baby brother." Merle stated, putting his weapon back on his hand as Courtney turned her gaze back to him.
"He wanted to keep looking, but things happen, a lot of them." Courtney said, the memories of everything that happened after Merle got separated from the group popping into her mind.
"People died. A lot of them. Jim, Lindsay, Dale, Jacqui, Owen, Sophia." Andrea paused for a moment when this person came into her mind, "...Amy."
"Your sister?" Merle asked her.
Andrea gave him a tearfull nod of confirmation, "Yes."
"She was a good kid." Merle stated, "I'm sorry to hear it."
"There were more. A lot more." Courtney continued, seeing that Andrea was staying silent, "We had to leave Atlanta. We wound up on a farm. Daryl stepped up. Became a valued member of the group. He and Duncan both risked their lives attempting to find Sophia."
"Duncan?" Merle asked, "This juvie who was going hunting with him along with that crazy girl? The guy you spend a lot of time with?"
"Yes." Courtney nodded her head in confirmation, "I don't know what happened to either of them. We got run off by a herd."
"How long ago?" Merle asked her.
"It was about seven, or eight months ago. We were separated from the rest of them." Courtney explained, "Got left behind."
"What do you want from us?" Andrea wanted to know from Merle.
Merle shook his head and got up from his chair, "There she sits,four walls around her, roof over her head, medicine in her veins, and she wants to know what I want from her. I plucked you and your mute here out of the dirt, blondie. Saved your asses. How about a thank you?"
"You had a gun on us." Michonne pointed out, finally speaking up.
"Ooh, she speaks." Merle laughed as Michonne glared at him, "Who ain't had a gun on 'em in the past year,huh? Show of hands, y'all. Anybody? Hmm?" He turned away from them to look at the two men standing on guard, "Shumpert, Crowley. Y'all had a gun on y'all?" He scoffed as he turned back to Andrea, Michonne and Courtney, "Hell...I think I'd piss my pants if some stranger come walking up with his mitts in his pockets. That'd be the son of a bitch you'd really want to be scared of..."
Andrea cut him off, "Thank you."
"For taking us out of this forest." Courtney added her part as well as Michonne gave them a look.
Merle nodded his head as he stepped away from them towards the exit as the leader entered the infimary. He whispered something to Merle who answered with a quiet, "Sure thing."
The leader looked at Courtney, Andrea and Michonne, "How are you feeling?"
"We want our weapons." Michonne told him.
"Sure." The leader nodded his head, "On your way out the front gates."
"Show us the way." Andrea told him, as the leader looked at her and the CIT.
"You've kept us locked up in this room." Courtney added.
"You see any bars on the windows?" The leader pointed out, gesturing towards the windows, "You're being cared for."
Courtney pointed at Crowley and Shumpert, "Under guard."
"To protect our people." The leader explained, "We don't know you."
"We know enough about you to want out of this place." Andrea pointed out in return, "We watched you drive a knife into the skulls of two dead men. What the hell was that all about?"
She didn't had to wait long for the answer, "They turned."
"How?" Courtney asked, "I assume that they died from the crash, not from the infection."
The leader shifted his glance between all of the people from his group in this room before answering, knowiing that these three didn't know the truth, ""Doesn't matter. However we die, we all turn. I put them out of their misery."
"What?" Courtney asked as she, Andrea and Michonne stared at him in shock after hearing this revelation, "You're telling us that no matter how we die, we all turn into those things?"
Merle nodded in confirmation, "It is exactly what he is saying, CIT."
The leader stepped forward towards Shumpert and Crowley, "It's not easy news to swallow at first, but there it is. You're not prisoners here, you're guests. If you want to leave, as I said, you're free to do so. But we don't open the gates past dusk. Draws too much attention." He pointed at Andrea and Courtney, "And you two especially, you two need a solid night's sleep. You wouldn't last another day out there in your condition." He turned away from them and stopped in the doorway of the exit from ths room, "Have you brought over to my place in the morning. Return your weapons. Extra ammo, food for the road,some meds,keys to a vehicle if you want one. Send you on your way. No hard feelings."
He walked out of the room and everyone followed him. He lead them to the exit from this building and opened it, revealing an entire town to them, "Welcome to Woodbury."
Courtney and Andrea were the first ones to exit the building after him and they couldn't believe their eyes the moment they set them on the building. This entire place looked like it wasn't touched by everything that happened in the recent months like any other place they have been in after the fall of the farm. Michonne joined their side and observed her surroundings as well.
"Amigos." They turned in the direction of the voice to see a handsome spanish young man they saw earlier in the crash site approaching them, "I see that the ones we found in the forest are doing much better, now. Doctor Stevens did her magic once again."
"As you can see, Jose." Merle nodded his head in confirmation at the man who was apparently named Jose as he came over to this man's side. He turned to look at Courtney and Andrea, intending to introduce this man to them, "Blondie, CIT. This one here is Jose Burromuerto."
Andrea titled her head, recalling she heard that last name before, "Burromuerto?"
"Jose?" Courtney asked, "Ain't that?..."
"It is." Merle nodded in confirmation before the CIT could even finish, already knowing what she was going to say, "It is the older brother of our good old Al."
Jose smirked, giving them a small bow, "I see that my hermano mentioned me to you."
"He didn't say much about you." Courtney told him. The only time when Alejandro mentioned him was when he explained to everyone why he didn't want to be called Al.
"It's still better than nothing." Jose shrugged his shoulders, as he turned to look at the leader, "Philip, I see that you you're giving them a small tour around our town. Mind if I tag along?"
Philip nodded his head, offering him a smile, "You're free to join us, Jose."
They all started to walk towards the gate, and made their way to it a few moment later. Michonne stopped walking a few meters in front of the gate as Andrea, Courtney and Philip stopped right in front of it while Merle and Jose made their way up to the wall where three men were currently on the watch.
"Go relieve Pete at the back gate." Merle said to one of the men who nodded his head in understanding before hopping off the wall.
Jose turned to the man with a bow, "Amigo, take the spotlight."
Andrea looked at Philip, "Are you military?"
"Hardly." Philip smiled, "Couple of vets, but by and large we're self-trained."
"That's heavy artillery they're packing." Andrea stated.
"Some men arrive with guns, but most of the weapons are scavenged over time." Philip stated in return.
"What about the other side of town?" Courtney asked him. She hasn't seen anything like this in a long time, "The rest of the streets? They're all guarded like this? It can't be."
Philip nodded in confirmation, "It can and it is."
Merle whistled, making Philip look at him, "Got us a creeper, Governor."
"Governor?" Andrea asked him as Merle took the rifle from one of the men on the watch, "They call you that?"
"Some nicknames stick whether you want them to or not." Philip explained.
"Were you a Governor before all of this?" Courtney asked him.
Philip shook his head, "No. I was Middle-Management Employee."
"People simply started calling him like that and he went along with it." Jose explained, standing on the wall next to Merle as Shumpert started to shine some light at the walker heading towards their town, giving them a pretty good look at it.
Philip let out a small chuckle at Jose's explanation, "Jose is one of the people that helped me built this place. He's been a good friend of mine for a while."
Merle pulled the trigger and his the machine rifle fired. The bullet hit the undead right in it's head, sending it's body on the ground, "Got him."
Two more walkers started to come out from the shadows and Jose made sure to declared it quickly, "He brought more of them. You know what to do, Merle."
Merle started firing the rifle, taking out the undead one by one. Only a moment had to pass until two more bodies were added to the area on the other side of the gate. He turned to look at the Governor, "Clear."
"We'll get them in the morning." He declared as Andrea and Courtney looked at him, "Can't leave them to rot. Creates an odor. Makes people uneasy."
"There's more people here?" Courtney asked him, to which Philip offered her a nod of his head.
"There's nobody here." Andrea stated. "It's a ghost town."
"They must be sleeping." Courtney stated.
"This way." Philip said as he pushed himself into walk, once again as Andrea, Michonne and Courtney followed him as Merle and Jose remained on the wall. He took them to a room where the newcomers were going to sleep tonight, as the three women made sure to eye everything in there, "You'll be more comfortable here. Not the Four Seasons,but there's a hot shower. Water's limited, so keep it short. We got food,water, fresh clothes. Hope this works."
Michonne walked past him and started searching through the room, looking for only one thing, "I know you'd feel better with your sword,more secure, but you're safe here."
"We appreciate it." Courtney said, as she sat down on the bed. She paused. This bed felt so comortable. She could have sworn she was seconds away from tearing up at the feeling of something she didn't felt for months. She was certain she'd be sleeping on the floor or the ground for the rest of her days. She felt like tonight she was going to have the best sleep she had in a long time.
"What about the pilot?" Andrea asked as she sat down next to Courtney, now understanding her reaction, "Will he make it?"
"Well, is doing all she can." Philip explained, "Now, I know you got a lot more questions, but I got work to do. My man will be outside the door if you need anything else. I'll see you tomorrow."
The next day, Andrea, Courtney and Michonne were walking through the streets of Woodbury that were filled with other people. Andrea and Courtney couldn't help but be more in awe of this place. Everything here felt so normal, as if the walkers never happened.
"It's real." Andrea stated, staring in awe at the people around her.
"It feels so strange to see how many people walking through the streets." Courtney added, watching how children were happily playing with each other.
Andrea nodded in agreement, "Yeah."
"You three were out there for a long time." The woman who was giving them a tour around the town spoke up. She introduced herself to them as Rowan, "While you were, The Governor was doing this."
"How many people do you have here?" Courtney wanted to know.
"73." Rowan answered, "Eileen's about to pop,so her kid will make it 74. It's still a work in progress, but Rome wasn't built in a day."
"That's a bold comparison." Andrea stated.
"I think we've earned it." Rowan stated, "Walls haven't been breached in well over a month. We haven't suffered a casualty on the inside since early winter."
Courtney's eyes widened a bit, "How's that possible?"
"Our Governor set a strict curfew." Rowan began, "Nobody out after dark. Noise and light are kept to the bare minimum. Armed guards on the fence and patrolling the perimeter to keep the biters away."
"Not a single casualty since winter?" Andrea asked to which Rowan nodded in confirmation, "Tyler would like this place."
Rowan looked at the blond haired woman over her shoulder, "Tyler?"
"A friend of ours." Andrea replied, unaware that Tyler met his demise on the same day when she and Courtney got separated from their group, "He lost his girlfriend, and wanted to prevent the other people from sharing her fate. Many people questioned his methods of doing it, though, but I wasn't one of them."
Courtney wanted to add something from herself about Tyler, but decided to remain silent as Rowan continued to give them a tour around Woodbury.
The Governor stood over the bed on which the pilot who introduced himself as Lieutenant Welles that was saved by him and his people last day was placed. Doctor Stevens stood right next to him just in case if she is going to be needed.
Welles stared up at them as he began, "Things were orderly. The fences held. People were protected. Food and supplies were lasting. Then one of the men inside got bit. Not sure how. He went haywire. Panic swept through the camp. Someone opened the gate to escape,others were bitten and infected. Those people went crazy. The whole place went to hell in a few hours. My team grabbed whatever supplies and vehicles we could and abandoned our post."
He let out a few coughs as Philip asked him, "How many of you escaped?"
"There was 10 in my group." Welles explained, "We got maybe 60 miles from the post before getting jammed up on the highway. I took the bird up in the air to scout ahead. She took a beating in the riot, but we had no choice."
"Let me go find the rest. Bring them here where they'll be safe." Philip offered, "They're out there waiting for you exposed. Tell me where they are, and I promise,if they're still alive, I'll bring 'em in."
Welles nodded his head and gave the Governor the location of where the rest of his fellow soldiers should be, or at least where he thought they were going to be. Philip assured him that he'll bring them to Woodbury if he'll find them and exited the building. He made his way through the streets of Woodbury to another building where Merle and Jose were helping other member of his community, a man by the name of Milton Mamet with something.
"Did you finish your homework?" He asked Milton.
"Unfortunately, the dog's eating it already." Milton answered, pointing at Merle.
Jose sighed and rolled his eyes, knowing where this was going, "Here we go again."
Merle stopped what he was doing and glared at Milton, "What the hell you call me?"
"Hey, where are we, back in the school yard?" Philip shushed the Dixon, "What, you want to take his lunch money while you're at it?"
Merle was silent for a moment before saying, "Sorry, Governor."
"Maybe I've wasted my time with you." Philip stated, "Maybe you haven't learned anything at all."
He turned to look at Milton who quickly explained himself, "He was trying to smoke in here."
"Keep poking the bear and you're bound to get mauled. Remember that." Philip said as he turned his attention back to Merle. He approached him, "Tell me about the girls."
"Their names are Andrea and Courtney." Merle began.
Milton looked at him, "You know them?"
The Governor stopped in front of the Dixon, "They're from that group in Atlanta?"
"Yeah." Merle nodded, "Same one left me on the roof, forced me to mutilate myself."
"Does she know your brother Daryl?" Philip asked him another question.
Merle nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, she did."
The Governor turned to Jose, "And your brother Alejandro?"
Jose nodded in confirmation, "Yes."
"Then talk to her again. See what else you can find out." Philip said as he turned to look at Merle again. He nodded his head and walked out of the building right after.
"Should I go with him?" Jose offered.
"No. I have some other job for you." Philip explained, "The pilot we brought here woke up and told me where the rest of his group may be."
"Where is it?" Jose asked as Philip told him the locatiot that Welles gave him, "I see, I'll go tell Martinez and Shumpert that they should move out and check if they're still there."
Jose nodded before walking out of the building as well, leaving the Governor alone with Milton. The leader of Woodbury approached him, "Show me something."
Milton nodded and came up to one of the tables. He removed the blanket, revealing the headless corpse of one of Michonne's walkers, "Oh, pretty impressive,r eally. Major kudos for ingenuity. Take away their arms so they can't grab you. Take away their jaws so they can't bite you. Take away their ability to eat ,they lose interest in doing so. They're no longer in attack mode. We can be in their presence without threat. They become docile in a sense."
"Lurkers." Philip stated.
"Mm, docile." Milton titled his head, making Philip look at him, "Or lurkers. Or even muertos how Jose likes to call them."
"Why keep 'em?" Philip wanted to know.
"Repellent." Milton explained.
"Camouflage." Philip immediately understood what he meant by that. He touched the place of the walkers head where it's jaw used to be until Michonne cut it off, "Walk with the biters, they think you're a biter. Low profile. That's smart. They're still pretty thin. If they're not eating,why don't they starve?"
"They are starving." Milton pointed out, "They just do it slower than we do."
"Feels like we're trying to impose logic on chaos." Philip stated.
Milton nodded his head, "That is not a bad thing."
"No, but what does it buy us?" Philip asked him, "More questions, more theories, no answers."
"Not yet. If I could talk to those women..." Milton was interrupted.
The Governor cut him off, "Merle's handling it."
Milton sighed, "I don't want to question your judgement, Governor."
"Sure, you do." Philip said, offering him a small grin, "That's why I need you. That and your tea."
Milton gave him a short chuckle in response, "Ah. Well, then. With all due respect, letting Merle talk to those women unsupervised is a mistake. Now, you've always said every tool kit needs a hammer, but do you really feel the hammer is the right tool for that job?"
The Governor and Milton invited Andrea, Michonne and Courtney to the former's home for some breakfast. Jose was invited as well. He already told the people that were usually going out with them to check the location that Welles gave the Governor, just to be sure if his group was really there. The spanish young man found himself seated next to Milton, sipping some of the tea Milton prepared for everyone.
He patted Milton on his shoulder, "Milton, your tea is seriosly something you can die for."
Milton offered him a smile as Philip started approaching them, with some eggs that he cooked for everyone, "Eight months? Hard to believe you ladies lasted so long out there.."
"Because we're women?" Andrea asked as the Governor started putting some eggs on her plate.
"Because you were alone." Philip explained, moving to Courtney who sat next to Andrea.
"We had each other." Courtney told Philip as he started putting some eggs on her plate as well.
"Three against the world." Philip began as he placed some eggs on Michonne's plate right after he was done with Courtney, "It's long odds."
"We managed." Andrea told him.
Philip moved to Jose and placed some eggs on his plate as the spanish young man said, "We're impressed."
"Very." Milton added as Philip put some eggs in front of him.
"Survival in the wild is tough sledding." Philip said as he placed some eggs on his plate. He placed now empty pan aside before sitting down on his chair, "Wake up every morning on the ground wandering if today is the day. Will it be quick and final or slow and, well,without end? Will someone have the good sense to kill my brain,or will I come back as one of them?"
"Do you think they remember anything?" Milton asked them, "The person they once were?"
"I don't think about it." Andrea answered, beginning to eat her meal.
"Me too." Courtney nodded in agreement, digging in as well as Michonne remained silent. At least she started eating her food after a moment of staring at it.
Philip pointed at Milton, "Milton believes there might be a trace of the person they were still trapped inside."
"Like an echo." Milton explained what Philip meant by that, "Surely it must have crossed your mind."
"At one time, yeah." Andrea stated, "Right before it tried to bite me."
"We came across a man who thought that they were just sick people who needed help." Courtney added, the entire fiasco with Hershel's barn and everything that followed appearing in her mind, "But he stopped thinking like that about a certain incident."
"What happened?" Jose asked her, curiously as Milton looked at the CIT.
"It's a long story." Courtney answered, not really wanting to talk about the moment when Sophia and DJ's Momma stepped out of the barn.
Milton nodded in understanding as he turned to Andrea, " And then you killed it? I say "it" only because no one here likes to refer to them as him...or her." She turned to Michonne and cleared his throat, causing her to look at him, "The two you had in chains, who were they? The way you controlled them, used them to your benefit. You did know them, didn't you?"
Michonne stopped eating and just stared at Milton, not wanting to answer this question. Jose saw this and quickly spoke up, "Excuse my friend here, he may be the brain one of our three, but sometimes he really needs to think before he says something."
"My apologies." Milton apologized to Michonne before going back to his food.
"So what you have here, you expect it to hold?" Courtney asked, not being the fan of the idea of fighting her way through the herd again, "What if a herd comes through?"
"It'll hold." Philip gave her an assuring nod.
"What's your secret?" Andrea asked him.
Philip shrugged, "Really big walls."
Andrea and Courtney laughed at his response, before the former pointed out, "That soldier had walls, too,and we all know how that turned out."
"I guess we do." Philip nodded, "The real secret is what goes on within these walls. It's about getting back to who we were. Who we really are. They're just waiting to be saved. People here have homes,medical care, kids go to school, adults have jobs to do. There's a sense of purpose. We're a community."
"With a lot of guns and ammunition." Milton added.
"And people who were trained how to use them and are willing to do a lot to protect this place, and I'm one of them." Jose added his part as well.
Philip continued, "Compromise our safety, destroy our community, I'll die before I'll let that happen."
"Looks like you're sitting pretty at the end of the world." Andrea stated.
"Do I strike you as the kind of man who sits pretty?" Philip asked her, "You reap what you sow. We're the seed. Now winter has passed,i t's time to harvest."
Courtney looked up from her meal at him, "Time to hope, I assume?"
"We're going out there and we're taking back what's ours." Philip told her, "Civilization. We will rise again. Only this time we won't be eating each other."
Andrea and Courtney stared at him for a few seconds. They turned towards each other and exchanged a look before clinking their glasses, "To civilization, then."
It was when the sound of someone knocking on the doors rang through their ears. Philip excused himself and walked towards the doors before opening it, revealing Shumpert. He whispered something into his ear as the Governor nodded and closed the doors, offering everyone an apologetic smile, "Sorry to cut breakfast short, but this can't wait."
"Is that what I think it is?" Jose asked him.
Philip nodded in confirmation, "Yes.:
"Then, let's head out." Jose said, as he rose up from his seat, before walking over to Philip's side.
Michonne rose up from her seat right after him, "We want our weapons."
"Well, we can make this meal to go and your weapons will be waiting outside, but you should take time to relax. Get your strength back." Philip told her, "Have a look around. Who knows? You might like what you see."
A group of soldiers was minding their own things on a field not too far from the road when they saw a car heading their way. They quickly stopped what they were doing and took out their guns, readying themselves just in case of this person was going to be dangerous. They noticed the person holding out something white out of the window, which meant only one thing, but they kept their guard.
The vehicle stopped in front of them and Philip got out of it, "Hey, hey, hey, hey! Don't shoot!"
"Identify yourself." One of the soldiers demanded.
Philip held his hands in the air as he started approaching them, "We found your guy. Wells. Lieutenant Wells. His chopper went down."
"Where is he?" The soldier asked, now sounding worried for brother in arms.
"We got a little settlement. Now,he's badly hurt. But he's alive." Philip explained, coming towards him and the rest, "The other guys didn't make it, I'm sorry. But Wells,he told me I would find you here. Wants me to bring you to him."
The other soldier turned around to look at his fellow soldiers, "They found Wells. They got him. They found him."
"We sure did." Philip nodded his head as the soldiers in front of him seemed to be relieved and happy after hearing that he found Welles. He reached out for his pistol and aimed it at the soldier in front of him, "We found you, too."
He pulled the trigger and his pistol fired, the bullet hitting the soldier in front of him in the shoulder, bringing him to the ground. The soldiers didn't had a chance to react to this as Jose, Merle, Martinez, Shumpert, Crowley, and Tim who were hiding in the bushes for this whole time opened fire and started taking out the soldiers, one by one, as they didn't even had a chance to fire back.
It was just a matter of seconds until all of the soldiers laid on the ground, either dead or mortally wounded. Philip walked towards the soldiers, his expression set in stone and aimed his pistol at the soldier which he shot in the shoulder. The soldier weakly reached out to him as the Governor knelt down in front of him. He took the soldiers machine rifle away from him as his people started to make their way towards him.
He rose up from his knee and started to bring the back of the machine rifle down on the soldiers head, until he stopped moving. He exhaled and stared at the lifeless corpse of a soldier under him. He turned to look at Tim, who stood behind him, "Never waste a bullet, son, just like Jose told you yesterday." He gestured towards the bodies in front of him, "Pick up the rest of these weapons."
Tim nodded his head, "Yes, sir."
It was when one soldier who survived started running into the woods, and the Governor and his group quickly spotted him. Jose aimed his M4A1 rifle right at him, "I got it." He pulled the trigger and his M4A1 fired. The bullet hit the soldier right in the back, causing him to fall down on the ground. Jose pulled out his knife and held it out to Tim, "You know what to do, amigo."
Tim took the knife from the spanish young man and broke himself into run towards the soldier that Jose just shot as the Governor looked around his men and declared, "Let's see what Uncle Sam brought us, shall we?"
Later that day, everyone in Woodbury started to gather around the gate when they saw how the Governor, Jose, Merle, Martinez, Shumpert, Crowley and Tim had drove some army vehicles through the opened gate into their community, returning from their mission. Andrea and Courtney were one of them. They saw how Merle got himself out of the vehicle and came over to the Governor, Milton and Jose, trading a word with the leader of this community and the spanish young man before all of them parted ways.
Michonne watched suspociously from the background how the Governor hopped on top of the Humvee and declared loudly to the people of his community, "We brought in four new people yesterday. One was a helicopter pilot with a National Guard outfit. Even though he's clinging to life,he told us about his convoy on the highway, his men. I promised I'd bring them back here alive. But they didn't have our walls or our fences. Biters got there before we did. Now, the men had trucks, the trucks had weapons, food, medicine, things we need. Now, we didn't know them, but we'll honor their sacrifice by not taking what we have here for granted. Won't be long before dark, so go on home. Be thankful for what you have. Watch out for each other!"
He jumped off the Humvee and walked over to Courtney and Andrea. Some of his people began to leave to do their own thing, or some of his people began to gather around the army vehicles, "You're still here."
"Anything we can do?" Andrea asked, enjoying her stay in Woodbury so far.
"We'd like to start helping around here." Courtney added, liking this place so far. She hadn't felt this good and safe in a long time.
"No." The Governor shook his head, "Nothing tonight from me. You can ask Jose or Merle, maybe they'll find you something."
"Long day?" Andrea asked Philip.
"Haven't had many short ones lately." Philip answered as he started to head towards his house, "Good night."
Some hours has passed and it was already night. The Governor took a sip of his drink as he watched the empty streets of Woodbury before stepping away from the window. He placed his glass on the cupboard and stared at the picture that showed him, a woman that was his wife and his little girl, in more happier times, when people didn't had to worry about the undead.
He turned his gaze away from it and took off his necklace and used the key on the chain to open the doors placed next to cupboard. He grabbed his glass again and entered the room. He made sure to close the doors behind him, and pressed the button, turning the light on which ignited the entire room in shiny light. He sat down on the leather chair and took another sip of his drink.
His expression was blank as he turned his gaze towards his collection of water tanks filled with walkers head. His eyes went over to his newest additions to his collection which were two water tanks. One of them was filled with walkers that used to be tied to Michonne's chain and the other was filled with head that belonged to Welles, the soldier that he brought to Woodbury yesterday...
I was very excited to write this chapter because it introduces us to some of the main players for the next several episodes, and a new character related to TD has appeared. I decided to put Jose in the story, because he isn't used that much in TD fics.
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.