Chapter 6: On My Side

Daryl looked away from the binoculars and watched the cars drive away. He took loud, deep breaths trying to take in what just happened. Brooke was in that car with the Governor. He knew that if she was forced to go in the car that they would've blindfolded her or knocked her out. He didn't know what she was planning, she didn't know where they were going, and he didn't know if she would be safe. He rubbed both hands on his face.

"Daryl?" Carol asked and he didn't respond. "Daryl what's wrong?"

"They got her." He replied quietly.

"Who?"

"They got her!" he yelled.

"Who got her?" Rick asked.

"That Governor son of a bitch has Brooke!" he cursed.

"We have to go get her!" T-Dog said.

"She went there willingly." He said.

"How do you know?" Rick asked.

"She shook her head. She knows I would've gone after her. If she nodded her head that means she wants us to go back out." He said. "She was just sitting there. She didn't have any bruises on her face or neck."

"She has an idea." Lori said. "She always goes to extreme measures to save the group." Everyone looked at Lori. "This is all my fault." Lori mumbled and went into her cell. Rick sighed and looked down at the ground.

"Well she's planning something but what I don't understand is why did they take her offer?" Herschel asked. "If she asked to go to Woodbury why did they take her if they're so brutal." Everyone thought about this very good question.

"Maybe it's because she's a doctor." Carl said and everyone stared at him with wide eyes.

"That's exactly it." Herschel realized and there was a group sigh. "Well, do we go after her?"

"No, she doesn't want us too." Daryl shook his head. "She has something up her sleeve." He walked away to their cell and sat on their bed. He could hear the conversations outside. He shook his head as he held her white v-neck. He wanted to go after her but he knew that she had something planned. He felt tears pricking at the rim of his eyes. He thought he had lost her once in the beginning. He thought he had lost her again when she stayed behind at the school. Now he had lost her again. He blamed himself for letting her go into the woods, he blamed Lori for being sick, he blamed Rick or Shane for getting Lori pregnant which made her sick, he blamed everyone for some reason. He was confused and didn't know where to point the finger. He sighed and laid back in their bed.

Brooke

"Well Dr. Walsh," the Governor began. "Welcome to Woodbury." Brooke looked out her window and saw a living town. There were shops and people walking in the streets.

"Well, this is pretty impressive. Never thought I would see something like this again." She replied and he smirked. Her eyes went wide when she saw a familiar face but she shook it away.

"So Dr. Walsh?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Were you by yourself out there?" he replied.

"Just me and my dog." She replied. "Now it's just me."

"It's impressive that you made it as long as you did out there with just your mutt." He said.

"He isn't a mutt." She thought. "I was smart and luck was on my side." She replied out loud.

"Surprised no one snatched you up." Merle chuckled.

"If they tried they wouldn't have succeeded." She said and the Governor chuckled.

"You seem pretty confident in yourself." He said.

"Confidence makes you careless, I was safe and I knew what to do." She said. She had to put up an act if she wanted her plan to go through. She had to be more than a pit bull; she had to act as if she was invincible. As if nothing could harm her and as if she knew everything about the world. She had to act as if Shane was with her in this situation. The car rolled to a stop and they came up to a large building with an American flag on the top.

"This is town hall, the doctor's office is connected to this and your room is directly above it." The Governor explained. Someone opened the door for her and she saw her weapons in the back of the trunk. She sighed and walked on towards the front doors. They were both opened at the same time. The Governor offered his arm and she took it. They walked through the hall and she looked through every door.

"Andrea?" she thought. Andrea looked at her but she mouthed 'doctor' and Andrea closed back up. An African American woman with dread locks stared at Brooke and Andrea started to explain what was going on.

"Don't mind them." The Governor said. "We found those two out in the woods near a plane crash. Apparently Merle knew the blonde one but he didn't save her that much."

"Plane crash?" she asked.

"Army, we think they were doing a sweep of the area or maybe another bombing." He replied. They came to a room that was connected by a short hallway. "That was town hall and this is your work area." He introduced and opened the door for her. The room had light gray walls and a white tile floor. She could see all the tools she needed for surgery, vaccinations, etc. She saw some stairs that led to another floor. "Is this alright, Dr. Walsh?"

"It's just what I need." She replied with a little smile. "It'll do very nicely." The Governor nodded with a small smile as well.

"There's a small clothes shop in town." He said. "You start working tomorrow. We don't have that much time to waste with winter vastly approaching. Good afternoon, Dr. Walsh."

"Thank you and good afternoon Governor." She replied and he left. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Oh Shane, what have I gotten myself into?" she asked up towards the ceiling. She shook her head slowly and walked up the stairs. She saw that her room was fully furnished and was relieved that she didn't have to get any furniture. She walked out to go get some clothes. She walked out and searched for the familiar face from earlier. It took her a little bit but she soon found her. She crept up behind her and pinched her sides. The blonde woman squeaked and turned around.

"No."

"Yes." Brooke smiled.

"Brooke!" Becky cried and Brooke began to sob. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm the new doctor." She replied.

"I'm so glad you're safe! Come on to my house, we need to talk!" Becky said and pulled her into a little house up the street. They both sat down on a small sofa.

"So where did you come from?" Becky asked.

"Listen Becky, you need to keep your mouth shut about this. You can't tell anyone else because I lied to be able to come here." She said.

"What?"

"Just swear to God that you will keep your mouth shut." Brooke said with a pleading look.

"Alright I promise to God I will never tell." She said. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I found Shane, Carl, and Daryl in the rock quarry." She explained and continued to tell her story of survival. "I'm doing this so that the group will be safe. If I can figure out how to destroy the forces of this place they'll be safe." Becky sighed.

"Honey, that's going to be near impossible." She warned.

"But it's still possible." Brooke replied. "What about you, Mitch?"

"Mitch was bit two weeks into this thing." Becky sighed. "I had to put him down."

"Oh Becky…" Brooke said. "What about-"

"Momma, who are you talking too?" asked a little two year old girl.

"Oh my God!" Brooke said.

"Aunt Brooke?" Meghan asked and Brooke began to cry. Meghan ran into her arms.

"Oh my sweet baby!" she cried and petted her head. "Let me see your pretty face." She saw those dark blue eyes and laughed.

"I missed you Aunt Brooke." Meghan said.

"I missed you too, girly." She wept.

"Come on, do you need to get some clothes?" Becky asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Brooke wiped away her tears. "Amber and Eric?" Becky just shook her head.

"No idea."

"So have you talked to Merle at all?" Brooke asked.

"Well, yeah. We were the only people we knew so we just decided to start over basically."

"What about Meghan?"

"She's met Merle and surprisingly is drawn to him." Becky shrugged and Brooke laughed.

"Alright, let's go." She said and they walked towards the clothing store. She picked up a few v-necks, jeans, boots, underwear, and a jacket. The system was that they were only supposed to take a few of a category of items. They would make clothes, raid stores, and trade. They had a school in the town, a place to get food that was supplied by a farm and people would go and hunt for meat. She even saw some cows, sheep, horses, and other farm animals. Since they couldn't print money anymore they were given an amount they could grab each month and they could trade their items with others.

"Don't forget that dinner's in a few hours over at my house." Becky said.

"Thanks Becky." She replied and she walked back towards the town hall. She went into her office through the door in the front and saw the Governor with Andrea and the dread locks woman.

"Hello Dr. Walsh." He greeted.

"Hello Governor, what do I need to do?" she asked.

"These two have some pretty bad cuts, I was wondering if you could patch them up. Make them feel welcome in Woodbury." He explained and she nodded.

"I can do that." She said.

"I hope you can do more than patching up." He said.

"I can do far more." She said. "I've done a lot of medical work before. Don't worry, I'm trained." She said with a pointed look and he walked out. She turned to Andrea. "Was anyone guarding the door?" she whispered.

"No." Andrea replied and the women hugged. "What the hell are you doing here?" Brooke explained once again what she was planning on doing.

"I'll need your help." She said.

"Just tell me what I need to do." She said. "This is Michonne." The women shook hands. "She saved me back in the woods when we were escaping the farm."

"Thank you." Brooke said.

"My pleasure." She said. "Do you trust the governor?"

"I don't believe I do. He shot my dog right in front of me and he's threatening to kill my friends." Brooke replied.

"Good, I'll help with whatever you need." Michonne said.

"I'll need my weapons soon." Brooke said.

"They took ours away." Andrea said. "They take everyone's."

"I'll have to find out where they put them." She said. "I'll need that pretty soon."

"So what's step one?" Michonne asked.

"Getting to know the Governor."