VPOV

Last night before I fell asleep, Bob had come in to give me the medication, and fixed up my shoulder. It had been a clean shot, so it would heal quickly. When I woke up this morning, I felt good enough to walk around. It didn't take long for Houdini to find me, which had made me smile as he jumped up, licking my face. Then Aly came running along, throwing her arms around me. The kids were allowed out now, with the meds and everything the danger was gone.

Now I was sitting in the courtyard, the sun on my skin, smiling at Aly as I watched her run around, playing with Houdini. Daryl was off, somewhere, doing whatever it is he had to do. He had waited for me to wake up before he left, which was nice. He didn't want me worry about where he was.

"Vickie, look at me! Watch me!" Aly smiled as she tried to do a cartwheel. She, of course, thought it was perfectly executed, but I wasn't going to tell her otherwise.

Clapping my hands I cheered. "Woo! Go Aly!" her smile simply grew as she kept playing. It was a sight to behold.

DPOV

I paced along the walkway, shaking my head. After what Rick had just told me, I had every right to be pissed. Sending Carol away? What right did he have? I don't care if she killed two of our own. She still should have been able to explain herself. What if Tyreese understood? What if things turned out to be okay? Now she was out there, alone. A good friend, out there by herself.

"You couldn't have waited till we got back?" I grunted, turning to him.

"Until Tyreese got back?"

"I could have handled that." I turned away from him, pacing again.

"Hey, hey!" he whispered until I looked over at him again. "She killed two of our own. She couldn't be here." he nodded to himself as he went on. "She's gonna be all right. She has a car, supplies, weapons. She's- She's a survivor."

"Stop saying that like you don't believe it!" I leaned forward, pointing my finger in his face accusingly. Turning away I shook my head, anger still boiling.

Carol was a friend, a good friend; for both me and Vickie. Leaving her out there was cruel. She wasn't an evil person, she wasn't bad. She was trying to do the right thing, that's all. She didn't deserve to be out there.

"She did it. She said it was for us. That's how it was in her head. She wasn't sorry."

I moved to stand in front of him, trying so hard to keep myself from hitting him. "That's her, but that ain't her." I turned away once more. "What are we supposed to do with those two girls?"

He sighed. "I told her we'd look after them. I'm sure Vickie won't mind. She's already close with Aly. And the girls are all friends."

I scoffed, unamused and getting more pissed by the second. "Just dump them on your daughter?" I asked, shaking my head.

"It's not like that."

I leaned against railing, looking down at the ground. I didn't care what it was like, I was right. He sent Carol away, knowing perfectly well that she had two kids here that she was responsible for, and now he was passing them on to his daughter. I knew Vic had been getting close to Lizzie while they were sick, but that didn't mean she wanted to take her and Mica on.

Aly was different. Vic had seen Aly at Woodbury and there had been something special about her. Since then the two of them were as close as it could get. Some people even thought Vic was her sister or Aunt. She wasn't old enough to be her mum, otherwise people would think that too.

Rick broke the silence, changing the subject back to Ty. "I haven't told Tyreese yet. I don't know how he's gonna take it."

Standing up straight, I pushed off the railing, nodding. "Let's go find out."

...

Rick and I moved through the tombs, looking for Tyreese. We had to tell him about Carol now, before anything else happened, before he started things up again. I had no idea how he'd react, I just knew that no matter what, he had to know.

"Tyreese. You down here?"

"Rick, that you?" Tyreese called from down the tombs, not too far away.

Looking to each other I gave a short nod before me headed down, flashlights lighting our way as we moved around.

Ty came out of the shadows, something obviously up. I could tell just by looking at him. "You guys got to see this."

Rick wanted to tell him first, before he distracted us. "Can we take a beat? There's something we need to talk about."

"It can wait. Come on." he turned, not even waiting for us to answer or not. So we followed anyway. As we rounded another corner, he shined his light forward, nodding in that direction. "Look."

There, leaning against the wall, was a board with a dead rabbit nailed to it. Someone had cut opened and gutted, like some sort of sick, science experiment or something. I had never seen anything like it before...

"The hell?" I stepped forward, kneeling down to look at it.

"I was just looking for answers. And I found this. Same person that killed Karen and David did this." Tyreese started, both Rick and I standing as he went on. "Remember the rats at the fence? They showed up the same day she was killed. We got a psychopath living with us."

"Tyreese-" Rick started.

But he wouldn't listen. "We gotta find them, Rick. And I'm not gonna sleep until we do."

Rick and I shared a look. We both knew the truth. Carol killed Karen and David to keep the illness from spreading. There's no reason for her to be feeding walkers and killing rabbits only to gut them and leave them lying around. Forget about the reasons, Carol wouldn't even think about doing something like that. It was sick and twisted and wrong.

Looking back at Ty, Rick sighed, getting ready to tell him. "Tyreese, whoever did this, I don't think that's who killed Karen."

"Why?"

Rick opened his mouth to answer, but was stopped. There was a loud explosion that shook the whole place. Dust fell from the ceiling above.

I didn't know what just happened, but I knew one thing for sure, something was wrong. Really wrong. And we had to find out what, or who, that was.

"Come on." I tapped Rick on the arm before rushing forward, running for the closest exit.

VPOV

"Vickie, who are they?" Aly pointed out to the field.

I got to my feet, looking out to where she pointed. My blood ran cold, seeing cars parked on the other side of the fence... with a tank!

"Aly, get down!" I grabbed her, pushing us both to the ground. A loud explosion went off as I cover Aly's body, the tank shooting at one of the guard towers.

Aly screamed under me as Houdini barked, going off at the people. I felt someone pull me up. It was Bob, with Sasha, the two of them helping Aly and I moved to we were covered by the guard tower by the courtyard gate.

"Vickie!" Carl called as he ran towards us.

Maggie and Beth were behind them, though it didn't surprise me. The whole prison would have heard the tank. Heck they probably even felt it.

"Get back!" dad's voice yelled.

I turned around seeing dad, Daryl and Tyreese, all of them weapons at the ready. As they joined us, looking down at the tank, Daryl moved to Aly and me. I placed a hand on Aly's back to try and calm her as he looked at me, searching my eyes.

"Rick! Come down here! We need to talk!" I knew that voice. I'd know it anywhere. It was one of the many that haunted me. The Governor...

I stepped closer to Aly, moving her so she stood behind me. I would throw myself in danger's way before I'd let that creep get his hands on her. If that meant I got hurt- or even worse- then so be it. As long as she was safe.

"It's not up to me!" dad yelled back to him. "There's a council now! They run the place!"

"Is Hershel on the council?" the Governor made a gesture to one of his people.

There was movement, we watched, waiting. There was nothing else we could do. We didn't have the numbers to fight them off. Not to mention their tank! A woman pulled Hershel out of one of the cars, leading him to kneel in front of the Governor where he stood on the tank.

Maggie gasped as she and Beth tensed. I couldn't even imagine what they were thinking at that moment. If that was my dad, I'd don't even know what I'd do. Kill them all? Freeze? Cry?

"What about Michonne?" the Governor asked as another pulled Michonne out of the same car. "She on the council, too?" they put Michonne next to Hershel.

I could tell how much dad was struggling with this. I knew there was no way for him to get out of this. The Governor wanted to talk to him and him alone, no one else would do. If we wanted our people back, our friends, our family back, then he had to play by the rules.

"I don't make decisions any more!"

"You're making the decisions today, Rick. Come down here. Let's- Let's have that talk."

Aly held on to my leg tightly as she hid behind me. I could feel her trembling with fear. My hand rested on her head, trying to give her as much comfort as I could, but there was no use. She was from Woodbury, she knew the Governor, and she knew just how bad he could be.

Dad looked to Daryl, asking if he should or shouldn't go. With a few quick, short nods from Daryl, dad then turned to Carl and me.

Cupping Carl's cheek he nodded. "We can do this." he spoke softly before looking over to me. Kissing my cheek quickly, I could feel just how tense he was.

I held his hand tightly, not wanting to let go. Chances of him coming back were slim, I could feel it. Things were about to get messy and bad really fast.

He stepped back, my grip falling from his hand. We all watched as he moved to the gate, Daryl helping him open it before he started down the hill.

A hand grabbed on to mine, the one I had been holding dad with. Looking down, I followed the arm, seeing it was Carl. He nodded to me, telling me it would be okay, to trust dad. But it wasn't that easy.

Daryl moved past us, looking me in the eyes with a look I knew very well. He was asking if I was okay. He was worried about me, just like he always was. I looked back at him, my eyes telling him I would be fine. But we both knew that only depended on how everything ended.

He moved to Sasha and Ty, ready to do what had to be done. "We can't take them all on. We'll go through the admin building, through the woods like we planned. We ain't got the numbers no more."

He was right, we all knew it. After this illness hit us our numbers had decreased drastically. We had less than half the people we had before. Taking a step towards them, Aly still holding onto me tightly, it was time to get ready for action. I wasn't going to just stand there and watch while my dad puts his life in danger. There were jobs that needed to be done.

"When's the last time the stash on the bus was checked?"

"Day before we hit the Big Spot." Sasha answered me. "We were running low on rations then. We're lower now."

"We'll manage." Daryl nodded, there was nothing we could do about it now. "Things go south, everybody heads for that bus. Let everybody know." he told Ty.

"What if everybody isn't on it when things go bad?" Ty asked, a really good point. "How long do we wait?"

"As long as we can." Daryl told him, being bluntly honest. If people weren't on that bus, there'd come a time we'd have to leave without them. It's just how it goes.

Turning around, I crouched down in front of Aly, placing my hands on her arms as I rubbed them to help calm her. "Sweety I need you to go inside and get your to-go bag. You remember that one?"

There was a bag in Aly's room she couldn't open, couldn't take anything out of, until I said. It was for circumstances like this. If we had to get out of here in a hurry. I needed to know that she would have clothes, and things if we were forced to be back out on the road.

She nodded, now holding on to Houdini's collar as he stood next to her protectively. "The purple one with clothes in it."

I smiled, though it was more forced than anything. "That's right. The purple one. I need you to go get it, and go to the bus okay? You sit at the front with Houdini. You sit where you can see the bus door okay?"

She nodded once more before rushing off towards the cell block. Houdini was right beside her, not bothered by her hand that was firmly grasping his collar.

I watched her go with a heavy heart.

You can wish and pray all you want. You can hope and beg till time runs out. But the only thing you can really depend on, is yourself. I had no idea what was about to happen. I had no idea what the Governor wanted. I had no idea if any of us would survive. And it pained me. To think that if things go bad, that I won't be on that bus with Aly. Or Carl. Or Judith. Or dad. Or Daryl. The thought of being left behind, to leave everyone, it made me sick. But there was no way for me to see how this was going to end. All I could do was follow the plan and fight to stay alive.

"Vic."

I looked up, seeing Daryl stand by me, looking out at the field to my dad as he held a gun out to me. I stood, taking it from him, ready to do whatever it took.

He turned to me then, looking me right in the eyes. "You shoot to kill, or you run for the bus. Don't stop. Don't wait. Don't look back. You just keep movin'. You understand?"

"Daryl-"

He grabbed my good shoulder, looking at me with a hard stare. "Understand?"

"Yes."

He nodded, his eyes softening. With that he turned to the fence, getting into position for when the time came to fight. I did the same, standing next to Maggie, gun aimed at the Governor and his people. My finger on the trigger, ready to shoot.

RPOV

I came to a stop by the fence, looking right at the Governor. "Let them go right now. I'll stay down here. Talk as long as you want. But you let them go. You got a tank. You don't need hostages."

"I do." he gave a short nod. " This is just to show you I'm serious. Not to blast a hole in our new home. You and your people, you have till sundown to get out of here, or they die." he said as he gestured to Hershel and Michonne.

Shaking my head, I tried to convince them all not to do this. "Doesn't have to go down this way."

"I got more people, more firepower." he paused, trying to get his point across. "We need this prison." shrugging he went on. "There it is. It's not about the past. It's about right now."

I wouldn't give in, not that easily. This place was home, for my people, myself, and more importantly my kids. Living here gave us a future. A place where Judith could grow up. Carl could learn how to take over, become the next leader. Vickie and Daryl could have their own family. This was home. I wasn't giving it up.

"There are children here. Some of them are sick. They won't- They won't survive."

"I have a tank, and I'm letting you walk away from here." he shrugged again as if their lives meant nothing compared to his people. "What else is there to talk about?"

I looked to the ground, shifting on the spot as I tried to think of a way, anyway, to save us all. He may have more fire power, but that didn't mean we'd just go down without taking some of his people with us. We'd all lose in the end.

"I could shoot you all. You'd all shoot back. I know that." he noted as if he had the same train of thought as me. "But we'll win and you'll be dead. All of you. It doesn't have to be like that. Like I said, it's your choice."

We all turned at the sound of snarls. Two walkers shuffled along, moving towards the Governor's vehicles. He pulled out his gun, shooting them right then and there without worrying about the sound of the shoots as they echoed around us.

"Noise will only draw more of them over." he put his gun away, shrugging like he couldn't care less. "The longer you wait, the harder it will be for you to get out of here. You got, maybe, about an hour of sunlight left. I suggest you start packing. "

I looked to Hershel. I had no idea how I was supposed to fix this, to make everything right. Hershel was always the one who helped me make the right decision, he always knew what the right step was. So as I looked to him with questioning eyes I waited, seeing him nod.

I knew then what I had to do. I had no other choice. It was the only way to keep us all alive.

"The longer you wait, the harder it's gonna be for you to get out of here." he repeated.

It was now or never, I had to fix this before his patience ran out. "We can all..." I sighed, struggling with the idea. "We can all live together. There's enough room for all of us." I knew it was hard, heck the idea sounded crazy to me, but if I wanted to keep my family alive and safe, this was the only we could do.

"More than enough. But I don't think my family would sleep well knowing you were under the same room."

My family would feel the same, but at least they'd be alive. "We'd live in different cell blocks. We'd never have to see each other till we're all ready."

"It could work." Hershel looked over his shoulder to talk to the Governor. "You know it could."

"It could of. But it can't. Not after Woodbury. Not after Andrea."

"Look, I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. Fact is, it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder than standing here shooting at each other." I gestured to everyone surrounding the Governor. "But I don't think we have a choice."

"We don't. You do."

"We're not leaving." I stood my ground, not playing games, not giving up. "You try and force us, we'll fight back. Like you said, the gunshots will just bring more of them out. They'll take down the fences. Without the fences, this place is worthless. Now, we can all live in the prison or none of us can."

He jumped off tank, his patience gone, replaced by anger and frustration. Grabbing michonne's sword from one of his people, he moved to stand by Herhsel. Pressing the sward to Hershel's neck, grabbing his hair, he looked to me, testing me to see if I'd keep this up.

Panic set in. I was running out of time now. There was nothing that would stop him from killing Hershel right here and now.

"You in the ponytails." I pointed to one of his people, a girl around Vickie's age who looked scared and troubled- like she was unsure of all of this. "Is this what you want? Is this what any of you want?"

"What we want is what you got. Period." the guy in the tank shrugged. "Time for you to leave, asshole."

Ignoring him I pointed to the Governor, trying to convince his people to think twice about this. "Look, I fought him before. And after, we took in his old friends, they've become leaders in what we have here. Now, you put down your weapons, walk through those gated, you're one of us.

"We let go of all of it. And nobody dies. Everyone who is alive right now, everyone who's made it this far, we've all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We're not too far gone. We get to come back. I know we all can change."

Hershel nodded to me, a proud gleam in his eyes.

I watched as the Governor moved the sword away from Hershel's neck. They all looked as if my words had gotten through to them, that maybe, just maybe, they'd put their weapons down and join us.

The Governor opened his mouth, speaking one word that echoed through my mind, over and over, tormenting me.

"Liar."

It was like slow motion, the sword swiped through air. The blade sliced through Hershel's neck, his head hanging by what was left. He fell to the ground, blood soaking through his shirt as he laid there.

When time sped up I felt everything in me flare up with pain and anger. He killed Hershel. He made his move, and it was wrong. They were all going to die.

"No!"

BaMbY