The Battle
Daryl woke Michonne early the next morning and they moved out of the barn before daylight. They were to rendezvous with Joaquin and Rick today about five miles from here. Daryl and Michonne knew that that last night's wet weather might delay the attack another day and they checked out the prison before they left. The armed soldiers seemed casual but were still heavily armed. No new trucks had arrived and it looked like this might be the entire force. Daryl wondered how much food they had brought with them; he knew that Rick had ensured that no food was left behind. The Governor came out briefly, took a brief look see at the prison yard, and went back inside.
Daryl and Michonne inched back from their spy hole. They hoofed it over to the rendezvous point, not speaking until they were well away from the prison. Michonne said, "The Governor looked confident and his soldiers were competent, but maybe a little bored." Daryl was worried, "Those soldiers will be tough in a fight, some of them have spent time running patrols in Savannah and they won't scare easy." They were both a quiet after that until they found the rendezvous point, an old sawmill set on a gravel road a mile off from the main road.
They settled down in the woods above the sawmill waiting for their friends. It was a couple of hours before Joaquin showed up with Carol, Andrea, and Tyreese. Michonne wanted to run and hug the big guy, but settled for walking and then hugging him tight. Daryl didn't bother to play it cool; he bolted to Carol and kissed her. Joaquin looked at the happy reunion and knew that soon he would be facing a very angry Daryl.
They hid the car behind an old storage building and moved back into the woods to discuss what the plan. Joaquin asked about conditions at the prison; Daryl said that the soldiers were along the front of the prison and it looked as if they were checking out the side walls just every once in a while.
Joaquin showed them the plan. Michonne agreed that it could work and Daryl was insisting that it would be too dangerous. One group had come in this morning and was traveling through the woods toward the prison with Rick and Carl. They would meet them in the woods behind the barn and give final instructions. The other group was bringing in the heavy equipment and Tyreese, Michonne and Andrea would meet them behind the local high school. It had been brought in the middle of the night by his men from the Army Corps of Engineers. It was time to go. Carol hugged and kissed Andrea, Michonne, and Tyreese saying, "This for luck, not goodbye. Tonight we drink to our new life with some of Sam and Dave's very best scotch whiskey, and they promised to have supper ready by dusk and they get really testy if people come late for meals. So let's get this over quick and go home".
Daryl wiped his eyes and hugged Andrea "See you later, Blondie" and won a wry smile as they both remembered Merle. He said, "Come here, Woman" to Michonne and they did a short waltz as she sang "At Last". Daryl hugged Tyreese last and said, "Take care of yourself, Brother".
Joaquin shook hands with all of them saving Andrea for last. She put out her hand for him to take and he pulled her to him and gave her a passionate kiss. Andrea was taken completely by surprise but she said to herself "Go with it, girl" and kissed him back. She emerged from the kiss blushing like a bride. "Vaya con Dios" Joaquin said to them all. Michonne, Andrea, and Tyreese took off in Joaquin car using a seldom used gravel road .Everyone else hiked through the woods to prison.
Carol was glad when they met the rest of their fighters behind the barn. They took a few minutes to rest, eat, and drink there. They were splitting into two fighting groups. Rick would lead one and Joaquin the other. Carl would be guiding Joaquin's group. Daryl looked the group over, they looked like guys who knew how to be quiet when they hunted and that was important. Carol spoke to them and reminded them that they must stay with the plan, timing was everything, but she knew that they could do this. Daryl wondered why Carol was giving a speech but he noted that all the men nodded their head when she spoke. Rick hugged Carl to him for a minute and then the two groups split in two with Carol and Daryl traveling with Joaquin's group.
Carol followed Daryl through the woods taking care to keep quiet, there were walkers about but she allowed the other fighters to do most of the killing. She was concentrating on controlling her breathing and visualizing what was going to happen. It had been set in motion and couldn't be stopped. She said a few prayers as well. Daryl motioned the group down, and went to investigate the prison. No soldiers were close to their part of the fence. He came back and told the man carrying the explosives to set them in place but wait for the signal. Rick's group would take longer because they were moving behind the prison and over to the other side. They waited in the damp gloom of the forest and fought bugs and walkers.
Carol checked her weapons; it was a waiting game now. Rick's group should be in place and the main event was ready to begin. She listened closely and thought she could hear the heavy equipment coming in. Still they must wait, until the time was right.
Daryl was close to the fence and could see the plan coming to life. First was the large bulldozer that plowed through the gate and pushed the way clear for the large army truck that followed. Daryl could see the soldiers looking down the hill and preparing to defend the prison. Michonne and Andrea were at the front of the truck clearly visible from the top of the hill. There were several other women on the truck. Suddenly the sound of bagpipes began to blare from the truck and the sound seemed to confuse into not reacting for a few seconds. The Governor came running out and used binoculars to check out the truck. Daryl knew the instant that he recognized Michonne and Andrea; the Governor threw the binoculars down and ordered his men to leave the hill and attack the truck. Carol's plan had hinged on the Governor's need for revenge to supersede his protecting the high ground around the prison. The mountain fighters hidden on the truck jumped out to meet the soldiers running down the hill and all the women dropped from sight and came out the back and around to the front to fight. The large bulldozer provided some protection to the fighters jumping off the truck. Daryl ran back to the group. Everyone hugged the ground as the explosives tore open the fences, seconds later Joaquin and his fighters were racing toward the Governor's men. The explosion from Rick's side was a second later and he led his group out just as quickly. Carol and Daryl split off from the main group and headed toward the prison. The Governor was watching the battle from the top of the hill and when he saw that his men were being bottled up and killed he ran toward the prison with Martinez and Shubert. Daryl and Carol caught them at the inner courtyard and Daryl killed Shubert with an arrow through his back. Martinez turned raising his pistol and Carol threw her knife hitting him in the shoulder. She moved quickly toward him and used Zak to cut his throat. In the meantime Daryl had followed the Governor into the prison and met another soldier on his way out. Daryl used his knife to kill him. Daryl could hear Carol's pistol behind him and knew that she was shooting the dead before they could turn. The Governor had disappeared from view and Daryl stabbed the dead soldier in the eye to keep him from attacking Carol. She came through the door and Daryl motioned for her to go to the other side of the closed door as he opened the door by pushing it open but not walking through the open door. The Governor fired a shotgun through the open door way and Daryl threw a grenade into the room. The explosion created the diversion Daryl needed to get in the room. The Governor had moved away from the door and he shot Daryl as he ran into the room. The Governor started to run toward the tombs when Carol shot him in the face, the heart, and the head. She ran to Daryl who was bleeding from a shoulder wound, but not seriously injured. Carol checked the area but didn't see any more of the Governor's men.
Rick and Ashton came through the door looking for them. Joaquin had used the grader to block up the gates and the soldiers had all been killed. A group of mountain fighters were going through the cafeteria and storerooms but the place seemed empty.
Michonne and Andrea met them at the inner courtyard, safe and sound. Tyreese had driven the truck up the hill to get them. The two women went inside to have a last look at the Governor. Michonne could give up her quest for revenge and Andrea could forgive herself. It was all over, the Governor was dead, his army destroyed, and they could go home.
There were several serious wounds to mountain militia fighters, fortunately they had brought their own portable hospital and immediately moved their injured toward medical care. Daryl was treated by his favorite doctor Hershel and joined the group traveling back to the mountains tonight by the truck. The hospital bus was on its way to the town hospital. Jonathan drove the electric car back home and Beth rode with him. They were going to have a real car date just like other teenagers before the ZA hit. Joaquin groaned as the car passed the truck. "There goes my ride in the clutches of a horny teenager". Andrea laughed at him and he sat down beside her and put his arm around her. She liked him; Michonne had assured her that he was a good man. Michonne was having a good time driving the truck while Tyreese complained about her driving. Maggie and Glenn watched the miles roll away and held hands. Maggie had been in a prominent place on the truck and Glenn wearing a wig had stood beside her. He had gone to battle in drag to try to protect her. Now that is love.
Daryl and Carol sat together in the back of the army truck. Daryl had been given some painkillers and the medication was working. He was absolutely feeling no pain and Carol kept laughing at his stupid jokes and funny stories. Daryl had probably never talked that much in his life. Carol was having that libido thing again that always followed being in danger. She was wondering what the effect of pain killers would be on Daryl's libido. The pain killers would probably wear off by the time they got back home. How much pain would he be in if he didn't take anymore? She felt a little guilty wishing pain on Daryl just to satisfy her libido, but she would definitely make it up to him. She had a long ride to think of ways to make it up to him. It was a happy group that rode out of the flatlands of Georgia to the mountains of North Carolina toward a slowly setting sun dropping to mountains that the Cherokee had called The Blue Hills of God.
