Hello again dear readers, here is yet another chapter of Eye for an Eye, (Though if you're reading this you should know that.) Nothing really to say but enjoy. Reviews are encouraged and appreciated, but by no means necessary.
Carl P.O.V. (Woodbury)
I don't know when I fell asleep but I woke up to the sound of shouting. The two voices were muffled, I knew one of them had to be the Governor, but I couldn't make out the other voice. I could however tell that it was female. Andrea maybe? I had no idea, but if I could get closer to the door, or draw them over to me. That's what I decided to do. I started trying to tilt the chair I was strapped to, shifting my weight from side to side, after thirty seconds of trying I hit the ground with a thud. I winced and groaned out loud, my arms still had cuts on them and landing on one of them hurt like hell. The shouting had stopped and I could hear footsteps coming towards me. But when the door opened it was just the Governor. He chuckled and put the chair back into an upright position.
"What were you trying to do? Did you think maybe you could cut your hands free using the glass on the floor?" He laughed again. "So why don't we get down to business. I want to be done with this before Milton comes over." He went into the kitchen and got a steak knife out of a drawer. He walked back over and held it in my face. "I hope you didn't think I was making idle threats yesterday. If you don't answer my questions I will cut each and every one of your fingers off." I just nodded, my breathing was shaky and I was terrified. He grinned evilly and held the knife above my left thumb.
"Good, so first question. How many people are in your group?" I sighed, this had been his favorite question, I don't know why. He'd told me that it didn't matter because he was sure that he had more than twice as many men.
"We have ten people including me." I answered. It was a lie but there was no way he could know about Judith. He lifted the knife away from hand, but then he bent over and lifted up the leg of my jeans and slashed me across the shin. I shouted in pain. I could feel warm blood running down my leg.
"You lied; Andrea told me how many of you there were, including your baby sister." Damn it! This bastard, how dare he bring Judith into this.
"Next question, how many weapons does your group have?" He repositioned the knife above my right hand, hovering over my thumb.
"I don't know, over a dozen. Maybe two dozen guns, I really don't know." The Governor sighed, I was telling the truth. I didn't count them.
"Okay, final question and then we'll have breakfast. Are than any secret entrances to your prison?"
"No." There was no way he would be able to know about the entrance Tyreese's people used. He seemed to contemplate my answer for a short while before deciding that he believed me. He released me from my chair and poured me a bowl of cereal.
We ate in silence, when we finished Milton came over and the Governor left. Milton didn't tape me to the chair even though he was supposed to. He bandaged my shin, and got me some water.
"Why are you on his side?" I asked after five minutes of silence. It didn't make any sense to me. Milton was a decent human being. The Governor was a monster.
"Because I knew him before all this, he was my friend; I knew his wife and daughter. My friend is still in there somewhere." Was the reply, I wasn't sure what to say. Part of me thought he was an idiot; the Governor was the worst person I'd ever met. But part me understood; when I had found out about Shane I didn't really want to believe that he'd tried to kill my dad.
"Can you tell Andrea I'm here?" I needed to get out of here, and Andrea was my only hope of doing that. Milton didn't seem too sure about. "Please! You have to! He threatened to cut off my fingers!" I was getting close to begging and I hated it. I'd never been as scared of another human being as I was this morning when he held that knife above my hands. I wanted to get out of here. I wanted to go home to my dad and the others. Milton seemed shocked when he heard me say that his "friend" was going to cut off my fingers but he still wasn't sure.
"I have to think about it." Was all he could say, I scoffed in response. The one person I'd met in Woodbury who I thought I could trust and he wouldn't help me escape. Milton seemed a bit hurt that I scoffed at him but I didn't care. I'd asked him for help and he all but said no.
General P.O.V. (Prison)
It was noon; Rick was on watch in the watch tower. Merle was looking around the different sections of the prison for alcohol or drugs. Daryl was keeping watch on Noah and Carol was inside with Judith. Michonne was in the yard exercising. Meanwhile Beth, Maggie, Glenn and Hershel were outside sitting at metal picnic table. Every one of them was nervous. It was noon and the Governor still hadn't contacted them. They had didn't have anything to do, since they'd finished fortifying the prison. All they could do was sit and wait for the Governor to contact them. Maggie was especially worried; she was the only one who knew about Carl's nightmares. What if Carl fell asleep and that monster found him crying because of one? She didn't want to think about that.
"I can't stand this." Glenn finally broke the silence. "Carl is in that monsters hands and we're just sitting here doing nothing!"
"There's nothing we can do Glenn." Maggie replied sharply, "If we're seen near Woodbury he'll kill Carl."
"Well I can't just sit here!" Glenn paused in thought, "Maybe tonight we could go to Woodbury, sneak in and get Carl out of there."
"Rick would never allow it." Hershel responded, "If there was any chance that Carl could be killed Rick won't risk it. All we can do is hope that he's safe" The old man spoke sadly.
"When we talked to Carl yesterday he'd said that he wasn't hurt. He could be all right." Beth offered in an attempt to cheer everyone up. Glenn rolled his eyes.
"He's not all right. The Governor was in the room with him while he talked. He was probably too scared to admit that he was being tortured." Glenn sighed after he spoke, he was trying to be realistic but he'd come off like an ass. "Beth I'm sorry, that was mean."
"No you're right. It's just, all of us, we're like a big family and Carl's like our little brother. I don't want to think of him being tortured."
Hershel chuckled, "I wouldn't tell him that little brother comment." He said and proceeded to chuckle a tiny bit more. Everyone chuckled with him. But just as fast as the laughter had come, it left.
"I'm going to go see if Daryl wants a break from watching over Noah." Glenn said as he got up and walked towards the cellblock. A few moments later Hershel gathered his crutches and stood as well. "I'm going to talk to Rick." He said as he started towards the watch tower.
Once Hershel got to the top of the tower he found Rick scanning the perimeter of the prison with his rifle. Rick knew that Hershel was coming up, he could hear him coming up the steps, he was tempted to tell him to go away but he decided against it. Hershel had a hard enough time getting up and down stairs with his crutches; he didn't need to climb up to the top of the watch tower just for Rick to blow him off.
"Rick." Hershel greeted. Rick turned towards his friend, his exhaustion evident. It had been two days since Carl had been taken and he hadn't slept at all. He had bags under his eyes and his eyes themselves were red.
"Hello Hershel." Rick replied, he knew why Hershel was here. The older man wanted Rick to take a break, go inside and get some sleep. To hell with that! He would sleep when his son was safe. "Before you even say anything I'm not going to rest."
"Rick, you're exhausted. You won't be any help to Carl in your state. You need to go inside and get some sleep." Hershel advised gently.
"I will sleep when my son is safe, and away from that madman!" Rick was barely holding himself back from shouting. He knew what Hershel was trying to do but he didn't want to hear it.
"Rick when Carl comes back he's going to need you. You can't just check out again once he's safe." Hershel was doing his best to keep calm, but Rick hadn't been himself lately. He understood why, and he was doing his best to help his friend but that didn't mean he was going to let him stay up for four days straight just to pass out once his son was back.
"What do you mean again?"
"I mean after Lori died Carl needed you. And you weren't there. We could only do so much to try and help him through that, but he needed his father." Rick's eyes went wide, partially with anger, but also because he knew that Hershel was right. He'd been so upset about Lori's death that he'd barely had considered what his son might be going through.
"Whatever." Rick scoffed and shoved by Hershel. He needed to clear his head, not get shouted at.
"Rick." Hershel tried to stop his friend, but it was too late. Hershel just sighed and decided to take the next watch. He grabbed the fold out chair that had been brought up precisely for this reason and sat down.
Rick entered the cellblock and walked into the cell Judith's crib was in. Carol was in there keeping an eye on the newborn. She saw Rick walk in and instantly had the same thought as Hershel, Rick looked exhausted.
"Hi Carol." Rick said walking over and looking down into the crib, greeted by the sight of a sleeping Judith. "How is she?"
Carol smiled looking down at the baby, "She's been good, she was crying earlier but she just needed to be burped." The grey hair woman said with a small chuckle. Her face became serious as she turned back to Rick. "Have you heard from Carl yet?" Rick shook his head.
"No, not a word, I'm really worried about him. What if he's been killed or badly hurt? You saw what the Governor did to Glenn, what if he did the same to Carl?"
"Rick you can't think like that, you have to keep hoping he's alright. He said he was okay when you talked to him yesterday. You have to hope that he's okay. You can't give up on him." Carol said putting a reassuring hand on Rick's shoulder. Rick nodded; he knew that the woman was right. He sighed and walked over to his cell, he figured that an hour or two of sleep wouldn't hurt. He took the radio out of his pocket and placed it next to his pillow, laid down on his bed and drifted to sleep.
The first thing Rick heard when he woke up was the radio, he wasn't awake enough to recognize the voice, or understand what words were said, but he was sure that it had gone off. He shot up in his bed and grabbed the radio.
"Hello?" He asked tentatively. A split second passed before Rick got a response.
"Dad….um hi." Came the response, Rick immediately let out a sigh of relief upon hearing his son's voice.
"Carl, are you alright?" Rick inquired, his voice lined with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine Dad." Carl replied after a shaky breath. Rick could tell his son was lying, just a kind of fatherly intuition, but he supposed that if the Governor was in the room that lying might be the safest option.
"Carl, is the Governor in the room with you?" Rick asked after a moment of silence. There was a minute of silence before a new voice spoke through the radio.
"I'm here Rick, what do you want?" Came the aforementioned man's voice.
"I have one of the people you sent to kidnap Carl, he's just a kid. I'm sure his mother is wondering where he is. Why don't I give you him instead of Michonne when we meet?" Rick offered. What Rick got in response was not what he was hoping for.
"Rick if you don't bring Michonne to the meeting then I will kill your son right in front of you. Do we have an understanding?" The Governor asked, his voice dripping with venom.
Rick took a deep breath, "Yes, I understand. Just don't hurt him, please." Rick waited for a minute, then two. Soon after he realized that he wouldn't be getting a response.
(Carl P.O.V.)
It had been around five p.m. when I was allowed to talk to my dad. Two hours had passed since then, or at least that's what Milton had told me when I asked him. We were sitting at the Governor's table, eating dinner. The Governor had made grilled cheese sandwiches, he'd intentionally burned mine. At least that's what I thought since his and Milton's looked perfectly fine. If he would feed me lunch then I wouldn't have even touched this sandwich. But I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so without an audible complaint I ate my burnt sandwich.
Afterwards the Governor taped me to my wooden chair again, and continued to ask me questions, except this time the questions weren't about my group, or the prison. They were something else.
"When was the last time you interacted with another person your age?" Was his first question, I'm not sure why he was asking this but I knew better than to resist at this point.
"About nine months." I answered, immediately seeing the image of Sophia as a walker hobbling out of Hershel's barn. I tried hard to erase that memory from my mind, but it was still there.
"What was their name?" He asked as a follow up question. I debated not telling him, why should he know Sophia's name? What use was it to him? I was going to respond this way but he raised his steak knife again and I sighed in defeat.
"Sophia." I replied, trying hard not to show how much I disliked this conversation, trying even harder to ignore the memories of Sophia that were creeping into my thoughts.
"What happened to her?" He asked with a smirk on his face. I think he could tell that these questions were bothering me. He was doing this as some sick form of mental torture. I didn't answer him; I didn't think I could do it without choking up. I was barely keeping myself from breaking down as it was. More and more memories of Sophia kept appearing, each one leading to the image of her walking out of the barn, and my dad putting her down.
"Did she become a biter?" The Governor inquired, breaking my attention away from my thoughts. I didn't say anything, but he knew the answer. My silence was all he needed. "Well since you don't seem to be very talkative I guess we're done for tonight." He said before dragging my chair back into his side room.
As he walked out of the room he turned to me and smiled evilly, "I'm going to let you in on a little secret. In two days, when we meet with your dad. I'm going to kill him, and whoever he shows up with, and I'll make you watch. Then, I'm going to kill you." He finished with a low chuckle. He left the room, shutting the door, leaving me entrenched in darkness once again.
And that is all for today. Sorry for the long wait, I had a some more writers block and decided to work on a new story. You can find it on my profile if you're interested, it's called Intervention. The wait between this and the next chapter shouldn't be nearly as long as I know what I want to do with it. Until then I hope you enjoyed this chapter.