Chapter Thirty-One
Coast

The atmosphere within Woodbury was tense. As the early morning sun beamed down upon the small town, the inhabitants were quick to assume that all was okay, and that the day was just as normal as the one before. The Governor did a good job at keeping his devil side away from the oblivious people who walked the streets, unaware of the innocent individuals being held captive a few metres underground. They went about their day like normal, any vision of the dead just yards away disintegrating the longer they went without seeing them. Laughter echoed throughout the streets, bouncing through the air towards the people kept in the tombs.

Anna sat in the darkness, her eyes burning as her vision never wavered from the door hidden in the darkness. It had been a couple of hours since The Governor brought her back to the room, and she was yet to make conversation with Daryl. He had tried to speak with her but she couldn't escape the humiliation she felt, and so the conversation was cut short. She wasn't sure if Daryl was awake, or whether he had been hurt too. She turned her attention to Daryl, her eyes searching the darkness, and despite the beams of sunlight that slipped through the cracks offering her some opportunity to strain her eyes more, his figure was drowning in darkness.

"Daryl..." her voice was croaky, weak and tired.

"I'm here," he reassured.

"I'm going to get you out of here," she whispered. "And you're going to go back to the prison and pretend as if nothing happened. I'll make sure you get home safe."

"I ain't leaving ya," he replied. "Told ya that before, and it still stands."

The determination in Daryl's voice spoke volumes with her, and she felt tearful. She wasn't sure if it was because she was exhausted, mentally and physically, or whether because no one apart from Abraham had stood by her side in the past. It was a foreign feeling knowing that Daryl was willing to stand by her despite the severity of the situation. She had known people to jump ship as soon as they realised there was a huge, unavoidable iceberg in their way, and she was left to defeat it on her own. But Daryl was willing to fight with her, and it meant so much to her.

"Okay," Anna whispered, words failing her. "Thanks."

"Ya willing to sacrifice ya life for me," Daryl replied. "I ain't letting ya fight that fight alone."

"He's going to come back soon," Anna warned. "We have to be ready."

"What ya got planned?"

"We go alone with what he has planned," Anna explained. "Make him believe he's got it all figured out, and then we fight back."

The plan didn't sound much, but Daryl believed it was the best one. A strong man sometimes dropped his guard when he believed to be at the top, and that was when he was truly weak. And that was when they were going to strike.

"He's going to do something," Anna said. "And it's not going to be pretty."

Daryl wanted to argue that The Governor had already hurt her in ways unimaginable, but he understood that she didn't want to include that. The less she spoke or thought about what had happened when she had been alone with him, the better. She couldn't bring herself to think about it, and he respected that. It was something that they would talk about later, but right now wasn't the best time.

Footsteps could be heard outside the tombs, and Anna and Daryl fell silent. It was a familiar footing, one that Anna could identify. It was going to happen earlier than she had originally thought. The Governor strolled towards the door, unlocked it with ease and pushed the heavy door open.

"Well..." he said, turning on the light in the room. The blinding light caused both Daryl and Anna to wince and turn away. The Governor smirked. He moved towards Anna automatically, pulling out his gun and pointing it at Anna. He watched as her eyes became accustomed to the brightness, and realised that his gun was pointing at her. It took her a moment to tear her eyes away from the gun and stare him straight in the eye, and when she did, he moved to gun and shot at the chain that attached her to the wall. The metal broke free from the wall.

He moved towards her, grabbing the chain and pulling her to her feet. She stumbled into him, and he roughly brought her to her feet.

It was then that Daryl saw the devastation of her injuries. A deep wound to her face the shape of a bitemark adorned her cheek. Bruising around her neck. Scratches to her face and arms. A bust lip. Dried blood stained the crotch area of her army trousers which caused Daryl to do a double take as he understood the brutality of the abuse she had endured.

"I'm gonna kill ya," Daryl seethed, angrily. Anna moved her gaze away from Daryl, knowing that The Governor was only just doing it to humiliate her. It was working, and he knew it.

"You're very protective of her, aren't you?" The Governor asked Daryl, who growled in response. "Ooh, you are. Don't miss her too much."

The Governor pulled Anna out of the room, and up towards the outside. The bright sky beckoned her out, and as soon as the door was thrown open by The Governor, he released her. He tugged on the chain that was attached to the shackle around her wrist.

"You and me, we're going to have a little fun," he said bitterly. Before she could comprehend what was happening, she was being dragged through the streets of Woodbury by the chain that bound her to him. She was aware of people coming out of the buildings all around her as The Governor pulled her past buildings and houses. She felt the pull of her arm, the popping sound of her shoulder dislocating filling the hushed silence around her. The concrete beneath her body was beginning to cause friction burns to form on her skin, as her clothing began to rip and tear apart.

She grunted out in pain, her teeth piercing her lip. The last thing she wanted to do was to show weakness in front of him or the people around her followed them as he dragged her some place. The strain on her arm was harsh, and she wondered if her arm was going to be torn off her body completely.

A menacing laugh escaped The Governor and she tried to take a deep breath to calm herself. The pain within her body was excruciating, and she felt the thud of the chain drop to the ground. Within a split second, she pulled the chain with her good arm towards her frantically, aware that if she just left it in his way that he would use it against her. She was aware of the people who had followed them, who had now all seemed to close in around them, and had formed a circle around them.

She glanced down at the burns to her skin, the bleeding scrapes burning as the air gently brushed past them. The Governor was talking but she couldn't focus in on his words. Anna took that moment to pop her shoulder back in, the gaze of those around her watching as she pulled her dislocated arm up with a grunt, and with her free hand she tugged on it gently at first and then after a moment, she yanked on it. The instant relief she felt was overwhelming and she panted.

The sea of people, the blurring of faces around her, the one voice she had grown to hate filled her senses, and like an injured animal, she curled up into herself, keeping the chain away from those around her.

"This woman here..." The Governor said. "She wants to take this place from me, from you... from us. She was willing to kill you all to get to me. She was willing to bludgeon your children in their sleep to take this place from you. She didn't care about your lives, about your journey, your future. She's selfish, and she's a murderer."

The sound of gasps filled the air around her, and she looked at the individual faces who snarled and seethed at her, the voice and words of The Governor manipulating them into believing something that was far from the truth.

"You see," The Governor continued. "She is a face from my past. One that haunted me. One that took the very things I loved so dearly from me. She is the epitome of the devil. She has no conscience. She doesn't care about you or me."

Anna listened to The Governor, aware that the torture wasn't over just yet. The berating she was experiencing, the heckling from those who were threatened by her, all coming to a head. She stared at the faces of the people who were judging her solely on what he was telling them.

She was aware of movement to her left, and she dodged the punch coming from a bystander just before it connected with her head, and in retaliation, she connected a punch to the man's face. Another gasp sounded around her as the man collapsed to the ground, unconscious, and she cursed under her breath as she realised that she had proven their point.

"And there we have it, ladies and gentleman," The Governor chuckled. "The very monster. She can't help herself. She can't help hurting you all."

"What he's saying to you," Anna began, panting for breath. "Is not true. It's all lies. He's manipulating you, he's making these lies up to make you believe that I'm guilty of all the bad things he's done."

A fist collided with her jaw and she faltered. The Governor climbed on top of her and started pummelling her face with punches, his knuckles connecting with her nose and cheekbones. She felt the blood beginning to pool in her mouth as he knocked out a couple of her teeth. Cheering and hollering filled the air around her as the people witnessed her beating. The Governor basked in the cheers for a moment, his hands raising in the air for a small moment, however that was enough time for Anna to wrap the chain around her hand. As he began to continue his beating, he was oblivious to the chained fist colliding with his head. It wasn't the strongest punch but it helped with the chain being around her hand, and it was enough for him to slump off her body.

She pulled herself from the ground, her balance unsteady.

"The things he's told you, it's not true," she reaffirmed. "I don't want this place for my own. I don't want to hurt you. He sent men out to kill me."

Everything that she was saying fell on deaf ears.

"I'm going to make you pay," his voice came from behind her. She turned around slowly. A punch connected with her face and hands snaked their way around her neck, tightening and squeezing the life from her. No one came to help. No one stopped the attack. She felt helpless. Her body collapsed to the ground, and the tightening of his hand around her throat never ceased.

After a few moments, he released his hands from her. Her head fell to the side, and she struggled to breathe. The air burned her lungs. And that was when she saw him. It was like seeing a ghost. His shocked face, the worry in his eyes.

"Abraham..."