A/N Final chapter, Thanks to all for reading, reviewing and favouriting. Hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer - Sadly I own nothing except my original characters.
Chapter 12
They stayed on the road, hoping to get ahead of the Governor. They knew if he got Rick back inside the town it would be almost impossible to get him out again.
They saw the walls of the town in the distance and left the road, hiding themselves in the trees. As they slipped deeper into the woods they heard the sounds of several people crashing through the undergrowth. Daryl couldn't resist exchanging a small grin with Michonne.
"Didn't know he knew words like that" he commented as Ricks curses could be heard echoing around them.
"Guess you're a bad influence" Michonne nudged his arm as they crept towards the voices. All levity disappeared as they saw the group making its way to the town. The Governor was in front, Martinez and Shumpert flanking him as he strode ahead of his men and they struggled to keep hold of a frantically fighting Rick. Five others were spread out behind them, watching out for any stray walkers. As they watched Rick dug his heels into the soft ground causing the men holding him to stumble. He managed to wrench one arm free and twisted round, kicking out at the second man holding him. Before he could run the Governor strode up to him and struck him in the side of the head with his rifle. Rick fell to the ground, stunned as the Governor glared at his men.
"Now perhaps you could control him and maybe we could get back inside the town" He said scathingly to the sheepish men, as they pulled the dazed deputy to his feet.
Feeling helpless Cassie watched as Daryl and Michonne made their way soundlessly through the woods. Like ghosts, using knife and katana, they silently dealt with two of the Governors men before melting back into the undergrowth.
"Where's Jack?" one of the others looked around, seeing they were a man down.
"Stu's missing too" another shot a panicked glance around. A second later they were both taken down. The remaining man backed away until he bumped in those restraining Rick, all of them searching the darkness among the trees with wild eyes.
With a curse the Governor raised his rifle and open fire, swinging the weapon round in a large arch and spraying the area with bullets, Martinez and Shumpert joining in.
Cassie watched in horror as the forest was torn apart by the onslaught of bullets. Using the rifle Daryl had given her she took several shots at the three men. She was used to just a simple hand gun and the large weapon felt strange and cumbersome in her hands. Her aim was off and she only managed to injure Martinez in the shoulder, causing him to give a cry of pain and drop his weapon. The other two swung round and fired in her direction. She threw herself face down and covered her head with her arms as the bullets hit the ground and trees around her. Suddenly there was silence. She lifted her head cautiously to see the Governor on the ground, a gunshot wound to the head. Rick was standing in front of him, a gun in his hands. Shumpert and Martinez dropped their guns and raised their hands. The remaining three men were kneeling, hands on their heads as Michonne stood over them with a gun taken from one of their dead colleagues. She could see no sign of Daryl and pulled herself to her feet quickly heading towards her friends. As she took a few steps forward a hand grabbed her arm.
She gave a small, panicked cry and tried to pull free.
"Easy Girl, s'just me" a familiar voice drawled close to her ear. "You okay, not hit?"
Cassie stared in relief as Daryl looked her over, checking for wounds.
"I thought they'd got you and Michonne. How did they miss?" she asked as they headed towards the others.
"We were up in the trees, not on the ground" He explained "You getting yer ass shot at gave us a distraction. We got them that was holding Rick and he got a gun and took out the asshole"
She glanced at the evil man's body as they passed it and resisted the childish urge to give it a good kick. Rick gave her a brief smile as she approached.
"You alright?" he asked "that was a well-timed distraction."
She returned the smile but before she could reply Daryl spoke up.
"It was dumb. I didn't know you was such a crap shot when I gave you that damn rifle"
"Seemed a good enough shot to me" Martinez muttered, glancing at his injured shoulder.
"Don't mean to interrupt the chatter but what we going to do with this lot?" Michonne indicated the surviving Woodbury men.
"And we need to get Maggie back to Herschel." She added.
Martinez exchanged a look with Shumpert, who seemed to understand what he was implying and nodded in agreement.
"We got a good Doc in town. She'll take care of your friend" He glanced at the Governor's body.
"Now he's gone things are gonna change at Woodbury. I never did get his problem with you lot" He glanced at Michonne.
"'Cept maybe you, you took his eye and killed his daughter, I can see why he wanted you."
Michonne gave him a cool look.
"You got a problem with me?" she asked, just a hint of menace in her voice.
Martinez laughed "Hell no. He was becoming an asshole and got what he deserved"
Rick and the others had a quick discussion and reached an agreement.
"We'll let you go if you get your Doctor to treat our friend. We'll leave you alone after that, but if we see any sign of you or your men near the prison we will come down on you hard. There will be no survivors." Rick lowered the gun he was pointing at the two men and Michonne stepped away from the three kneeling in front of her. They climbed to their feet with sighs of relief, edging away from her and her katana.
Martinez took charge, issuing instructions.
"We'll head back to Town and get a working vehicle then collect your friend, take her to Doc Stevens. If we can we'll get your car fixed up. We should have enough parts to repair it"
He glanced at Rick, not used to being the one in charge.
"What else do you need?" he asked hesitantly.
Daryl had kept quiet until now, not sure if he liked trusting the men that had until recently been trying to kill him and the others.
"I want my bow back" he demanded, adding as an afterthought "and my knife"
Cassie bit back a smile at his petulant tone.
"I guess we can do that. We can probably spare some other weapons and ammo if you need it"
The Hispanic man was trying hard to make up for the past; he clearly didn't want any more trouble for the town.
Rick nodded in appreciation at the offer. He knew they didn't really need any more weapons but if they had them it meant Woodbury didn't.
They walked the short distance to the town, staying ahead of the walkers that had started to appear. The men on the fence were on high alert, having heard the gun battle.
Martinez and Shumpert approached first.
"Its okay" he called "The governor's dead. He was a crazy son of a bitch and things are gonna change now. Let us in, we're all on the same side"
Reluctantly the gates were opened and the small group passed through. Several townsfolk were milling around in the street and looked scared to see the prison group and no sign of the Governor.
"What's going on, why are they here?" One of the women, Karen, demanded.
Martinez held up a hand, telling her to wait. He organised a vehicle and driver and Michonne headed off to collect Maggie.
Rick, Daryl and Cassie stood to one side, watching carefully, alert for any problem as Martinez explained what had happened. There were murmurs of concern and several hostile glances aimed at the newcomers.
The car with Maggie and Michonne returned and the injured woman was carefully unloaded and taken to the medical room. Several people paled when they saw the wood impaled in the semi -conscious woman's leg.
"He caused that" Martinez indicated Maggie "and he killed Milton, just so he would turn and kill these two" he nodded towards Cassie and Daryl.
"And he murdered Merle" he finished, listing everything wrong the Governor had done.
"How do we know we can trust them?" Karen asked, glaring at Rick and the others.
"We don't, any more than they know if they can trust us. We decided that once their friend is fixed up both groups will go their separate ways and have nothing to do with each other." Martinez tried to reassure them.
Rick stepped forward.
"We never wanted to hurt you or attack your town. We only came to rescue our friends that were taken by the Governor. He was torturing them and going to execute them."
The town's people were nervous about trusting the group that had attacked them but they trusted Martinez so they backed down. Shumpert handed Daryl his knife and crossbow, causing the hunter to smile briefly. Cassie noticed several of the younger women eying both Rick and Daryl. Good looking, available men were in short supply and none of them wanted to miss the chance to get to know one when the opportunity arose.
Glancing up Daryl noticed the looks and swallowed nervously. He backed up until he was behind Cassie, using her as a shield from the appreciative glances. Taking pity on him Cassie linked her arm in his and leant onto his side, resting her head on his shoulder. She found herself on the receiving end of several hostile glares.
"The hell you doin'?" Daryl demanded, looking at her in confusion.
"Saving you from the rampant women of Woodbury" she laughed "unless you don't want me to"
As realisation dawned he gave her a relived look. Slipping an arm loosely around her waist he leant in closer.
"It was a hell of a first date and the second sucked" he muttered quietly so no one else could hear.
"You wanna see if the third's any better?"
He took her beaming smile as a yes.
A/N That's it. Sorry it's a sucky ending, I kinda lost my way a bit with this one. Hopefully the next efforts will be better. Sequels to Hotwire and Escape are planned, and maybe one for The Fence. Also if you could find a few minutes to read Meant to Stay in the House (only 1400 words) and let me know what you think I would really appreciate it.
Thanks for reading.
xxxxxx