I'm so very sorry for how long it's taken to get this out, I'm having a hard time with this bit.

Emily found herself running through the forrest again with death following close behind. It was no use, there were too many of them. Merle and Daryl had managed to break the Governors group into three but that left at least five on their trail. The brothers hadn't spent near enough time out in the woods as these southern born and bred Governor's goons, not even all Merle's training was helping Emily at this point.

Connor was limping along with Murphy helping him, he had twisted his ankle on a root shooting back at their pursuers. It was slowing them down and the fact that he got at least one of them, even while shooting blindly in the dark was little consolation at this point.

"Fuck Murph, it's no fuckin' use. Me ankles in a bad way." Connor panted out.

"Ain't leavin' ya Con, so jus shut the fuck up." Murphy face was set in determination.

"You got to keep movin'. They got those night vision glasses, they can get the jump on us, an we'll never see 'um comin'." Connor gripped his brother's collar trying to get him to see reason. "I'm slowin' you down Murph." he pleaded. "If they get there dirty hands on yeh or her." he shook his head.

"I'm not leavin' ya anymore then you'd leave me Connor." Murphy's tone was final.

"Maybe we should hide." Emily suggested breathless. The moon was coming out from behind some clouds giving them a better view of their surroundings.

"If we can manage to hide until morning it would be easier to run in the light of day." They couldn't keep going like they were, the voices of their pursuers were getting closer by the minute. A ways away they heard shot gun blasts and yelling. Emily closed her eyes for a second, Merle, was he ok?

"Sounds like a risky plan." Murphy bit his lip as he looked at the area around them.

"Ay brother but what we're doing isn't working." Connor looked at Emily, "We'll try it."

"Let's hide you first Connor," Emily smiled at him tensely, "We can run if we are found you can't."

"Nu….."

"Yes," Murphy cut off Connors protests, "There's a good bush righ' here."

Emily help Murphy lay Connor on the ground and cover him with the branches of thick undergrowth and leaves.

"Come on," Murphy griped her hand as they found a hollowed out tree, just large enough for Emily to squeeze into and with a large leafy bush in front for Murphy to hide out in.

They managed to get covered a minute before there pursers arrived. Emily slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her breathing, she couldn't even imagine how Connor was coping with the pain he was in. For a second she thought their plan had worked, the Governor and his men were running by, her heart soared for a moment in hope, then, just like before, a freak accident gave them away.

Martinez was bringing up the rear of the group and tripped, Emily saw it, as if in slow motion, she watched his ankle twist underneath him, she couldn't tell what caused it, if it was a rock or uneven ground, whatever it was it sent the man tumbling straight into the bush where Connor was hiding.

Emily closed her eyes, "What the fuck?!"

"They're here! They're here!"

Before she could fully process what had happen, Connor and Martinez were wrestling on the ground and Murphy was out of their hiding place trying to figure out which wrestling figure was Connor and which was Martinez in the dark.

Stay hidden or try to help, her heart was beating wildly in her chest as she tried to make the right decision. One false move and she could get them all killed. The choice was quickly taken out of her hands when Philip found her hiding place.

"Well, well." He chuckled dragging her out by the hair. "I'd drop that gun if I were you Murphy."

Emily saw Murphy freeze, he stood next to Connor who was trying to balance on his bad ankle beside him. Both brothers looked like hell but the four guys around them looked worse.

"They killed Greg and Bob," on of the goons around them growled, she could just see his split lip in the moonlight. "Let's just fuckin' kill them."

"No!" the Governor bit back, dragging Emily along behind him. "Last thing we need it to fire blindly in the dark you idiot. Even these two know it's stupid, why do you think they haven't fired on you yet?"

"We ain't blind." the bleeding man answered, tapping his night vision goggles.

"In case you haven't noticed, not all of us have them genius." Martinez answered the guy.

That's when she noticed, two out of the four men were also relying on moonlight.

"Just shut your trap, Justin." the Governor spat out, "You're the tracker, not the thinker, give Martinez your goggles."

Justin pulled off the pair angrily and threw them at Martinez.

"Now, back to business. How bout you boys hand over your weapons nice and slow."

"Fuck you!" Connor and Murphy screamed out in unison.

"Now, or I'll put a hole in this little tarts head." he pushed the gun against her temple.

Murphy turned his gun on the Governor, "How bout I put a hole in your head? I'm a better shot than you."

Emily could feel the Governor shift behind her, "We wont miss." he growled at Murphy and that is when she saw one of his goons hold a gun to Connor's head, The fair-haired man what slow to react with his injury's and was quickly pinned down by another dark haired man. It was over, she knew it, they were out numbered, and Murphy would never risk the people he loved.

Murphy didn't move, until Connor's gun was taken from him, then he lowered his own.

"Let Emily go, she hasn't done anything."

"Now why would I do that? She's the key to controlling you two….and," he looked her up and down, "if your two little helpers out there are who I think they are, she's the key to controlling them too." he gave a soft chuckle. "Yeah, I noticed how that old redneck looked at you."

Emily closed her eyes, at least the Dixon brother's seemed to have gotten away, she hoped they wouldn't take the bait and come back for them. Merle was always so pragmatic, perhaps he would let it go, he helped as much as anyone could without putting himself in danger, it would be stupid to come here and put himself and Daryl in harms way.

"Give your gun to Martinez." The Governor repeated.

XXXXXX

Merle stood up, the last of The Governor's men was a few yards away begging his brother Daryl for mercy. Daryl didn't give him any, he raised his crossbow up and shot the bastard right between the eyes. Merle walked over to him, wiping the dripping blade of his buck knife on his pants, silent was better, they managed to take out the four guys following them without alerting the rest of the group to their location. He could hear yelling off in the distance.

"I gotta go find 'er." he told his brother. "Those boys are good but they ain't from around here. I got a bad feelin'."

"I'll come with." Daryl nodded. "We're better together."

"You don't gotta." Merle mumbled.

"I know." Daryl didn't wait for his reply as he made his way towards the shouting. Merle smiled and followed.

XXXXXXX

Conner knew they were fucked, something deep inside told him he wouldn't die, but they were fucked all the same. They'd been in tight spots more times than he could count, but never had they wound up both on their knees, bound and unarmed.

Emily was being held by a tall dark haired man as another ran his hands up her curves. Murphy let out an animalistic cry and tried to pull out of his restraints. The Governor let out a booming laugh.

"Don't like that do yah?" he sneered at the twins. "How about I give you a choice? Would you like that?"

Connor felt his heart drop, this was going to be bad. The Governor stepped around Murphy dodging his desperate kicks and put his gun up to Connors temple.

"We fuck your girl or kill your brother." the glee evidence in his voice.

"You sick fuck." Connor growled. Murphy stopped fighting, frozen in horror.

"What will it be? You can all just walk away, let us have a piece of ass and you are free to go." The Governor practically giggled, "or I could kill your brother and maybe we'll fuck her anyway."