I'm really sorry about the hiatuses guys. That's all I can say. I'm hoping my writing mood will kick back into gear. The goal is to finish this and "Atonement" before the new season starts. Thank you for still reading if you are.

Daryl looked down at the knife infront of him. Nothing was right about what Gareth was offering. "You serious about this? You think I can walk straight up to the Governor and kill him? What's in it for you?"

"West Georgia," said Gareth. "Simple enough. Once he's dead it will be relatively for my people to move in."

"I can't get anywhere near his men," said Daryl. "No one can."

"We can help you with that."

"The answer's no."

"The Governor sent you here to die. Do you really think he told your family that you're here? As far as anyone's concerned, you're dead to them."

Something in Daryl knew this to be true. To even think about the Governor and how he sent him away was too much to contain.

"Get your revenge on him."

Daryl happily would oblige. But Central could not be trusted. If the Governor dies, the people may not be able to fight back against Central. They could easily be taken over. Who knows what kind of law and order would be in place then?

"I tell you what," said Gareth. "You don't have to kill him now. We'll let you go home and think about it."

"What?"

"You heard me. We'll drop you off where we found you. You can always come to us if you reconsider."

Something was terribly wrong about Gareth's offer. Daryl could not voice his objections on the matter because he was taken from the room and was put on a truck.

On the drive, couldn't believe what was happening. After all these months, he was finally leaving this hellhole. He was going home. When they dropped him off infront of his shack and the truck turned around, Daryl just stood there in disbelief.

He was back. He was free. Now the only thing that mattered was to get to the Greene farm and to Beth.

He went into the shack to see if he could get a few things for the trip. But Daryl did not expect to be greeted with the barrel of a gun.

"Merle?!"

Merle lowered his gun and laughed. "Well holy shit! You're alive!"

"I got caught. Taken to Central."

"Well nice going, dumbass. Figured as much. Thought I'd claim my space again when you didn't come back."

"They want me to kill the Governor."

"I'd fuckin' kill the Governor too if he wasn't so damn guarded."

"I ain't gonna do it. They're crazy. I'm headin' back to the farm." Daryl headed towards the door knowing that there was nothing left for him here.

Merle growled. "That it then? You think they're gonna let you go back to your cozy farm life with the missus?"

Daryl stopped when he realized something... "Shit," he muttered. "They're watching us."

"Huh?"

"They're watching us right now," Daryl said. "I go back to Beth, I'd lead them straight to the farm."

"Told ya, they wouldn't make it easy."

Daryl's distraught was interrupted by the sound of distance gunfire. He looked out the window and sure enough there was some of Central's men in the middle of a shootout with an unknown figure.

Merle was the first to walk outside. "Whoa whoa there fellas! Can't a man get some sleep around here!"

The gunfire died down and the men turned their guns towards Merle. Daryl stepped outside and Gareth was there holding a man at gunpoint.

"Rick?"

"Daryl?"

Gareth smiled. "You two are on familiar terms? That's good."

"What the hell's goin' on?" demanded Rick.

"What's going on...is that your friend Daryl here is going to kill the Governor. Until then, Officer Rick is coming with us."

Daryl shook his head. "No...man...don't do this."

"We can make this simple and kill him now." Gareth got himself ready to pull the trigger.

"STOP!" Daryl cursed himself for what he was going to say next. "I'll do it."

Gareth picked Rick up. "You got still sundown tomorrow." He ordered some of his men to stay behind as he shoved Rick into a car and drove away. The remaining men would be helping Daryl in his mission.

"Come on, baby bro," said Merle. "Let's go kill us a Governor."

...

Woodbury was a very secured place. The town was walled up before the people within began seizing power but the walls were kept up anyway to display it's dominance over the region. Everyone was always checked in. But Daryl and the Central men had to stay hidden from sight because the census would have given them away.

Merle drove a moving van to the entry gate, claiming he had some supplies he wanted to give to the Governor to buy time for any future crimes he was likely to commit. The inside of it had to be inspected. The guards found nothing but deerskin and some ammo...at least that's what their eyes saw. The van was then ordered to park next to the Governor's building in an alleyway. After Merle got out, Daryl and the other men split up to separate areas in order to succeed with their plan.

It was Merle's job to keep the Governor distracted in the meantime.

Daryl managed to get on the roof of a nearby store. Merle and the Governor were meeting with each other outside the building. With his crossbow Daryl could get a clean shot of the Governor. And he knew the window of time was limited.

But there was so much hesitation and for good reason.

He kills the Governor and Central attacks. A new group of scum would be taking over and to him there was no real difference between them and the Governor.

But Rick was in danger. He wasn't going to let his friend die...but he couldn't put everyone in West Georgia in danger either.

When he realized that time was running out, he took a deep breath. He had to accept what he was about to do and what would come about of it.

The bow fired. It had been like he predicted, a clean shot into the Governor's chest.

The moment he went down, it was pandemonium. People were screaming and guns were going off. Daryl jumped off the building quickly. Merle and the Central men were already in a gun battle with the Woodbury men.

It didn't take long for more chaos to occur just at the gateway of Woodbury. Gareth's reinforcements made their move not just with guns...but with walkers they began unleashing on the citizens.

Daryl maneuvered his way through the chaos to get to Merle. "Merle! Merle, we gotta go!"

Merle was busy trying to fight off some Woodbury folk but the walkers that Central unleashed were heading towards them. Daryl found himself running through more shootouts. He had to get out of there even if Merle wasn't with him. As he was running, Daryl could feel a sudden pain in his side.

He looked at his hand now covered in blood.

Merle was trying to fight off the oncoming walkers while trying to escape at the same time. He spotted Daryl at a distance.

"Daryl!"

He struggled to make his way to where his brother was but once he arrived, there was no sight of him amidst the battlefield.

"Daryl!"

...

Beth needed air. She knew it was a bit chilly outside but she didn't care. Going to the stables to see the horses was the only thing that brought her the smallest comfort. Fortunately her father understood. It was common for him now to see his daughter go out to the stables even at night. He sat on the porch to wait for her. She preferred being alone.

Halfway to the barn, Beth and Hershel could hear distant bells from the distant church. They both knew they were alarm bells. Hershel could see the bell tower in the distance flashing a green light. A red light during an alarm meant a walker heard. A green light meant something worst...it meant an attack.

"Beth!" Hershel called out. "Beth, hurry and get inside!"

She saw the green light coming from the tower but didn't have the strength or the will to turn back to the house without meeting with the horses. "I'll be quick!"

Hershel called out to her in protest as she made a quick waddle to the barn. The horses were clearly getting restless. "Hey, calm down." She assumed it was because of the church bells. But Nervous Nellie was behaving more errattic than usual. Beth headed back to the back of the barn with her lantern. As she tried to reach Nellie, she nearly tripped over something that seemed soft yet big.

She turned around and lowered her lantern to the object on the floor.

Only upon closer inspection, it wasn't an object. It was a human, badly bleeding but still alive. Yet even all these months, she still recognized him. But the shock of it all was overwhelming her.

"Daryl?"