A sharp crack of the door flying open jerked me from my trance, and I felt the arms pinning me down release, as the guard took a shot to the head and slumped to the floor. The Governor looked up, distracted, and I grabbed the knife he'd used on me without thinking. I swung it up toward him with all my strength and embedded it in his neck, ripping as hard as I could so it tore open his throat and blood poured out onto my bare chest.

His hands came up to grab at his neck and his shocked gaze fell to me before he collapsed on the floor. I stood up, blood rushing in my ears, and crumpled to the ground next to his body as my legs gave out. I couldn't hear anything, or see anything except the figure lying in a pool of blood on the ground, though I dimly registered that there was another person in the room. I leaned over him and raised my hand with the knife, unable to think about anything except destroying him. I brought the knife down over and over into his head until someone grabbed my arm on the upswing, prying the knife from my hands. "He's dead, baby. He's dead," Daryl's familiar voice rasped, breaking my trance.

I wrapped my arms around my breasts and finally looked away from his body, meeting Daryl's piercing blue eyes. He'd taken off his outer shirt and wrapped it around my shoulders, and I pulled my arms through the sleeves, standing on shaking legs with his help. "Jesus, Ana" he breathed, buttoning it with clumsy fingers. "Fuck. I couldn't get here any faster. Did he . . . " he trailed off, looking down at the Governor's body, and at mine, blood running down the inside of my legs, and a broken half-sob ripped out of his chest as he crushed me to him.

I was just numb, unable to believe that he was really there; that I wasn't still imagining things in order to stay sane. He loosened his hold and grabbed his bow, pulling me toward the door. "We gotta go," he growled, and I realized that there were shouts and gunshots coming from outside. "Maggie!" I gasped, coming out of my stupor. "She was next door!" "Glenn went for 'er," Daryl reassured me, "Merle told us where they were keeping you. He let Glenn go, gave him a truck, let us in."

We emerged into a smoky corridor, and Daryl pulled me with him toward the sound of shouting. "Using the flashbangs for cover - we've gotta get through the woods on foot to the truck," he explained, as we exited the building and made our way through a courtyard. There were people running in every direction screaming, and in the chaos, I saw Rick and Oscar by an open gate, and Glenn and Maggie just ahead of us.

Walkers were staggering in, drawn by the noise, and I wondered absently why it had been left open. A door flew open across the courtyard and two men in combat gear ran out toward the gate, aiming at Rick with automatic rifles. I didn't have time to scream before gunshots rang out, but it was the men who fell, and I saw Merle, standing on top of the wall next to the open gate, firing at the men he must have called friends until that moment.

Daryl slowed, staring at his brother, who met his eye and hopped down from the wall, moving toward us at a jog. He scanned his eyes over me as he got closer, and I saw him flinch slightly at the sight of me barefoot, wrapped only in Daryl's shirt and covered in blood. "Damn, Princess. I tried . . ." He didn't finish his thought but turned to Daryl. "Is he dead?" Daryl nodded, and Merle's face relaxed slightly.

"Good. There's a truck just outside the gate with the keys in it. I'll hold them off here while you get as far away as you can. They don't know where you're at, and everyone here's gonna scatter when they find out he's gone."

Daryl shook his head. "No! Come with us. Ya stay here, it's suicide." Merle's eyes flicked to me and back to Daryl and he sighed. "It's my fault, baby brother. I brought 'er here. I didn' know she really mattered until I saw she had yer knife, but by then it was too late. Let me do the right thing for ya, this one time." He wrapped an arm around Daryl's neck in a rough squeeze and then took off across the square to where more armed men had emerged from another building.

Daryl hesitated slightly, then picked up his pace and met Rick at the gate. "Get in the truck! Keys are inside!" he yelled, and Rick hopped in the driver's seat just as Oscar took a bullet to the head and went down. Glenn was helping Maggie into the back, and Daryl boosted me up before following.

Rick pulled out quickly, tires spinning, and gunfire erupted again from behind the walls. I looked at Daryl, whose face was set in hard lines, jaw clenched. There was no chance Merle would survive against that, and Daryl knew it. He closed his eyes tightly for a second, and then opened them and looked down at me.

I was sitting against the wall of the truck bed as it bumped along the rough road, with my legs curled up underneath me, arms wrapped around my torso, and Daryl's shirt. Blood was still trickling from between my bare legs and pooling onto the floor of the truck bed. Daryl slid closer to me, and carefully wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side and away from the hard metal that was jostling me at every bump.

I was having a hard time focusing on what was happening, but I could hear Daryl and Maggie talking urgently. "There's so much blood," Maggie was saying frantically. "Why is there so much blood?" I could hardly speak through the pain but managed to mumble, "He used a knife," and heard Daryl swear his voice breaking.

Daryl sat behind me, propping me up, and Maggie pressed something between my legs, which sent pain searing through me. I screamed and tried to move away but Daryl held me in place. I could hear Maggie sobbing, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I have to slow the bleeding" while she pushed fabric inside me, pressing my thighs together to increase the pressure, and I lost consciousness from the pain.

I woke when Daryl carried me into the prison at a jog, yelling for Herschel. I heard the exclamations of Carol, Beth, and Carl, as we entered, Maggie completely breaking down, and Herschel's request for hot water and towels. Daryl set me on a hard surface and I felt Carol's gentle hands smooth over my forehead before I faded out again.