Newly Revised

Andrea sat in the Governor's office while he listened to what had happened with Mr. Coleman and Milton and how Milton was still in his lab writing down his results. Philip seemed mildly surprised that the entire experiment was a complete failure and that Milton had barely been able to try to start it before she'd had to end it. The walker had lunged at Milton as soon as he had tried to take the restraints off and because of it the man was having a hard time coming to his conclusions. Andrea felt sorry for Milton as she drank brandy with the Governor and lamented about how the man was rather clueless for being so smart that he could come up with experiments like he did. She had talked to Milton at length over the course of the time she'd spent in Woodbury and the guy seemed to be afraid of everything while not understanding anything regarding the walkers. Philip countered with how it had been pretty ingenious of Michonne to use the walkers she'd had as repellent, as Milton had called it, and that people didn't have to be fully a scientist to come up with good ideas. Andrea had agreed with him, once again mentioning Tea's own ingenuity and how she had kept their camp afloat from the get go even though no one really cared for her. When he pressed her for more information, though, Andrea simply stated that she wasn't sure about what had happened to her after the farm nor what she had done since. It didn't help her case, though, when the man walked up to her and kissed her, making her lose her breath and look up at him with stars in her eyes.

"I promised Milton I'd help him cremate Mr. Coleman's body," she told him after a few minutes of playful banter between them, smiling softly up at him.

"That's sweet of you, but if you're rattled, he can handle it himself," Philip told her, gently placing a hand on her back and leaned down to kiss her again as she looked up at him with dreamy eyes, fully believing that he was a good man.

"He shouldn't have to," Andrea told him with a gentle smile, thinking about how wonderful the town really was. "All these people you've brought together, they're here for more than just protection, they're helping each other through this mess."

"Woodbury's startin' to grow on you, huh?" he asked with a smile, Andrea smiling back in response. "Good," he said quietly as he leaned down and captured her lips one more time, his smirk still on his face before it turned serious. "Send Merle in, if you could. His apartment is the fourth down on the third floor. He should be there."

"No problem."

Walking to the stairs, she groaned inwardly at having become Philip's errand girl, especially when Chrystal had started to get more and more standoffish the more the man paid attention to her. On top of that, it was harder than she thought to keep her face trained into a friendly, casual demeanor rather than look at the woman in disgust every time she saw her. Now that she knew who this woman was and that Merle knew she knew and had warned her off, it was easier to see why Tea had never really talked about her family. It was also surprising that Merle, who hated Tea with a passion, was trying to protect her under the name of Titania without realizing they were one and the same. Although, with how good Chrystal at telling sob stories and making it seem like she was a concerned sister that even Andrea had almost fallen for. If it hadn't been for Merle's warnings and concern for Chrystal's sister, she might have still been under the woman's spell and believed that she was simply a good sibling looking for her family. They exchanged some strained pleasantries before the woman continued down the stairs and out the door while Andrea continued to go up the stairs until she reached Merle's door.

"What?!" came irritated and muffled response.

"Governor wants you," she called to him.

"Fuck's he want now?" the man said as he opened the door and stormed out, pulling his vest on and looking completely pissed off.

"Wouldn't know," she told him before walking off.

Andrea didn't wait to even see the man leave his apartment while she left to go on night patrol and started ushering people to their homes as the sun went down and enforcing the curfew. It was a good way to pass the time and get more information of how the townsfolk saw the Governor and Chrystal alike. While she didn't find out anything regarding Chrystal other than she was really close to the scavengers, she did hear about how wonderful the Governor had been and how much he had done to for the townsfolk. Several of them admired the man and what he had accomplished in such a short amount of time while also making sure that no one inside the walls died, even when breached. The last breach truly had been over a month ago and no one had been attacked due to the fast response from Philip and his men. It just reaffirmed what she had already figured out for herself, that Philip really was a good man and now decided that the only person she should be wary of was Chrystal. Besides, if things worked out between her and the Governor, she would be able to have her happy ending in this town and never have to worry about safety again, something she desperately wanted. Andrea really started looking at the town with new eyes until she heard gunfire and screaming coming from the distance and she ran towards a corner of a building while taking her weapon out.

"Shots came from up there. I'm gonna go check it out," she told Philip as he came out of his apartment building.

"No, I'll handle it," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "Sometimes biters get in through the side fence. There's no need for anyone to panic."

"Someone help!" Chrystal called out from somewhere closer to the supply building.

"What happened?" Philip hollered, the two of them running over.

"Some guys came through with guns," a man sitting on the steps of a house said.

"How many?" Philip asked.

"I, I don't know," came the reply.

"Well, think!"

"Six or seven guys. I've never seen them before."

"Are we under attack? What should we do?" a girl in the gathering crowd asked.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," Philip said, drawing everyone's attention. "Everyone, please just go home, lock your doors, huh? We need to keep everyone safe. So just get inside, keep your lights off. Come on." The scavengers gathered around him and Andrea as everyone else meandered off before Philip quietly told them, "We're under attack. You fan out and you find these people. Don't take any chances or try and take prisoners. You shoot to kill, huh? Come on," he told Andrea.

~x~

Merle was in a foul mood between what happened with the China-man and his girl, finding out about Andrea knowing Titania, and being grilled about the psycho bitch that had his brother boning her. It didn't help that Chrystal had come up and trying to get more information out of him about Daryl's whereabouts which pushed him beyond the limits of being pissed. Yet he was still ecpected to go down to the Governor's office and meet with the man as if he was in the same mood he was always in, a feat he wasn't sure he could accomplish anymore. The more time he spent in the presence of Chrystal and the more the slut whispered into the Governor's ear, the less time he wanted to stay within the walls of Woodbury. He had been considering leaving for a while now, ever since Chrystal had started her shit, but he hadn't really had a reason to; now he knew where his brother was and needed to Glenn and his girl out before they were killed. If they were killed, there was no way someone like the nutcase would let it stand and the woman would easily be able to rain hellfire down on the town if she wanted to.

"You rang," he called after knocking on the door and entering.

"Yeah, come here," the Governor said, bringing Merle over to look at a map. "The prison's the perfect place to hole up. What once kept prisoners in now keeps biters out. And that's smart."

"You thinkin' of takin' it over? Movin' Woodbury over there?" Merle asked.

"People love it here because it feels like what was. Move them to damp cells surrounded by barbed wire? No. We gotta take out the group that's livin' there. Let the biters move back in. No one'll be the wiser."

"The problem is my brother's with them," Merle said, not liking where this was going. "And his girl, according to Andrea."

"Well, you'll talk to him," the Governor told him, that glint back in his eye that made Merle want to break eye contact. "Make him our inside man. He'll get us in there. We'll wave the white flag like we did with the National Guard."

"Nothin' happens to Daryl," Merle said seriously. "Or his girl. He won't cooperate if she gets it."

"Of course not," the Governor said, but Merle could see the slight smile that graced the man's face, a clear indication of when he lied.

"What about Glenn? And the girl?"

"Well, the longer they're here, the more chance Andrea will find out," the Governor told him. "Take 'em to the screamer pits."

Fuck, time to go, Merle thought to himself since nothing was going to be as easy as he was hoping when it came to getting out and getting the others out. Now that the order was given, it would be passed along to at least one other person to ensure it got done, most likely Martinez or Shumpert since they had been here almost as long as he had. Merle looked after the man as he walked away and swore to himself he was going to get the three of them out of Woodbury tonight, one way or another. As he walked with a few other scavengers to the torture rooms, he formulated a plan that he hoped would work and would be as impressive as it sounded in his head. It didn't help that when two of the scavengers opened the door, Glenn and and his girl rushed out, Glenn's shirt now covering her torso. Glenn had his blade in hand while Maggie was carrying what looked to be a bone from the walker the Beaner had thrown in the room. They both managed to land killing blows almost as soon as they left the room which was admittedly impressive to Merle since the boy had barely had balls big enough to stand up for himself back at the quarry.

They'd definitely been given some training on where to aim for the killing blow, but the didn't account for the fact that when the man the girl sliced into fell, his finger clamped down on the trigger of his gun. It was a fully automatic rifle and it went off, causing Merle and the other scavenger with him to drop to the ground in cover. After a scuffle in which more scavengers with more guns came in, the two survivors were forced onto their knees while Merle watched as Martinez walked in with sacks over his arm and the lovers held hands. Glenn told her to keep looking at him while she said she loved him right before a sack was placed over her head, the boy looked heart broken before another bag was placed over his. They were being gathered up to be taken to the walker pits when Merle got ready to make his move, not expecting to be pelted with a smoke bomb and pulled along with the scavengers in the ensuing commotion. He got swept up in the movement, not even sure of what he was looking for until he found himself at Milton's lab. He barged in and saw a bunch of the workers from the wall and the rest of the scavengers gathering around Milton's table with the Governor standing next to Andrea with his hand around her waist. If looks could kill, Andrea and the Governor both would be dead with how Chrystal was glaring at them but Merle took quite a bit of pleasure that the woman finally had something taken from her rather than taking from others.

"Any sign of them?" the Governor asked him as he walked up.

"Signs of what?" Milton asked, having been holed up in his lab the entire time. "What exactly is happening out there?"

"Some asshole wants what we have," Merle responded looking at Andrea.

"Then what are we doing waiting around here?" Andrea asked, picking up on his premise after their conversation.

"Damn straight," Merle agreed, both knowing full well he was meaning that survivors of their original camp were around. "Let's take these sons a bitches out."

"How do we know that the perimeter was breached?" Milton asked. "Did anyone actually see them?"

"They killed Warren, and Junior," Merle answered.

"Killed?"

"Holy shit," Halley lamented, the fear in her eyes evident as she looked around at everyone else.

"Got up close, one stuck a stake through Warren's neck, the other stabbed Junior in the heart with his own knife," Merle told them. "Don't know where the hell he got it from."

"We need patrols now!" Philip said worriedly. "Can't take chances with these terrorist! You check on our people," he told Andrea. "Make sure they're safe."

"You want me to do house calls? Make sure everyone's tucked in?"

"These guys could be holed up in one of our residences. They could be holding someone captive. Or worse."

"Can't anyone else handle that? I've got a hell of a lot of experience and-"

"Thank you," he said, cutting her off. "The rest of you split up! Merle will lead the search."

He walked away, only for Andrea to chase after him, grabbing his arm to make him look at her, "Don't you think Halley should handle the door-to-doors? She's the youngest here!"

"I need someone with some authority to provide reassurance. You've been talking to the townsfolk and they get on well with you. I mean, she's just a kid. How can she make them feel safe compared to you? You're the best for the job."

"These people have already killed two men, beaten another. I'm good with a gun-"

"Just do as I ask," Philip told her. "I don't want you getting hurt."

She looked at him before just saying, "Sure."

She left Milton's lab just as all hell broke loose and smoke filled the street, Andrea seeing a form within the smoke as she went after them with her own gun. While she couldn't tell who they were, she could tell that there were at least five or six people running from the gunfire of Woodbury's protectors. She only hoped that whatever Merle had planned, it wouldn't be as bad as it was starting to seem and that no one from Woodbury would get hurt. She was barely able to make out the form of a tall black guy running in the smoke while firing behind him as the Governor ran up to her and made sure she was doing well.

"I saw them," she told him. "One of them, at least. Black guy, young. Looked like he was wearing a prison jumpsuit."

"Escaped convicts!" Philip exclaimed as more shots sounded on the streets. "We gotta get off the streets. We're not soldiers, we're survivors. We'll wait 'em out. You get off the street!" he shouted back at her as he ran off.

"Where are you going?" Andrea called after him only to realize she had been left alone.

~x~

Tea was crouched down between Daryl and Rick watching the wall like they were as she noticed just how well the town guarded, she had to admit that. Michonne ran off after a few minutes of watching the wall prompting Rick to try to go after her only for Tea to tell him to stop. They had to downsize if they were going to make it over the wall, so she suggested they leave their packs hidden under the vehicle they were in front of now take just their guns, Daryl's bow, as much ammo as they could carry and as many of the grenades as they could fit in a single backpack. It wasn't as much as they had been hoping to go in with, but there wasn't any way they would be able to make it over the wall with all three bags they had brought. Tea was thinking about how the buildings were situated and how if there were nice buildings for the people to live in, the people who chased Michonne would have to have somewhere else where the dirty work was taken care of, but where?

"Ain't no way we're gonna check in all them buildings," Daryl said. "Not with all them guards there."

"Prolly won' have ta. She said this is a town. Most a this area's prolly residential. We need ta find the non-residential area, the area where they don' want the townsfolk ta see what they've got goin' on," Tea presumed.

"How sure are you on that?" Rick asked her.

"'Bout as sure as I'm goin' ta get out 'ere and not in there. Once we get in there, might change a few things, but that's my best guess for now."

"Alright, then. Let's get in, find an area like what Tea said, search that and get out," Rick told the group.

When a twig snapped behind them, all four members of the prison group turned with guns raised, ready to go down in a hail of gunfire only for Michonne to reappear and motion for them to follow her. They took one final look at the wall, Daryl looking to Tea quickly, the two of them sharing a nod, before Rick had them moving. They followed Michonne who had found a small opening in the wall's security that allowed them to carefully peel back one of the metal sections and crawl through the gate. The woman then led them through the town to the back door of a house, climbing through the unlocked lower half and into a room devoid of people but had a lot of supplies they could use at the prison. The room was full of food items, clothing, cleaning supplies, dog food, bedding, writing supplies, and medical supplies. Not a single shelf in the room was devoid of things and the front of the store even looked like what the old-world shops had looked like complete with a turning shelf full of glasses and sunglasses. Tea couldn't help but internally scream at how stupid this town had to be to be trying to hang onto the past so much so that they would literally have fucking sunglasses on a display case; they were living in dystopia.

"This is where you were held?" Rick asked the woman.

"I was questioned," Michonne corrected.

"Any idea where else they could be?"

Tea and Daryl walked over to the windows ahead of the others, Tea kneeling down and carefully peeling back the corner of the curtain as Daryl crouched behind her. They could see people still in the streets, walking around and some seemingly having some fun while others seemed to be putting the finishing touches on whatever work they were doing. It was probably the worst situation they could find themselves in since if any of the people outside could notice them inside the building or, gods forbid, someone actually entered the building. She couldn't imagine what would happen if the guards ended up being alerted to their presence before they managed to find where they were holding Glenn and Maggie. As Michonne walked up with Rick as they looked out of the window, the two of them looking out the window, Tea turned to the woman with a slight glare.

"I thought ya said there was a curfew!"

"The street's are packed during the day. Those are stragglers," Michonne chided.

"If anyone comes in here, we're sitting ducks," Rick noted. "We gotta move."

"They could be at his apartment," Michonne suggested.

"Yeah? What if they ain't?" Daryl asked her heatedly.

"Then we'll look somewhere else," Michonne told him evenly.

"You said you could help us," Rick started.

"She's doin' what she can, Rick," Tea said before asking Michonne. "Is there any place they keep secret from the citizens. Someplace they don' want the every day people seein'?"

Rick called Daryl over to him when she didn't answer, Tea moving with them, much to his chagrin since he had been trying to cover themselves without her interfering. Oscar came too, leaving Michonne alone at the window as Rick pulled them to an area far enough away for the woman to be unable to hear, looking at all of them seriously before making sure she was still at the window. The only person that would even have a problem with what he was about to say would be Tea, although, she was also side eyeing the woman herself. Tea herself was critically looking at the woman as Rick watched her face carefully to see if she saw anything he hadn't beforehand. She must have felt his eyes on her since she looked over at him and nodded in apparent agreement of what he was thinking which thoroughly surprised him considering how adamant she had been about adding people. However, Tea knew of the woman that had been Ms. Hawthorne, not the woman who was in front of her now; the person who used to be full of smiles and friendliness had turned into a seemingly emotionless woman. She wasn't going to risk the life of her men on the thought that Michonne still held onto something of the person who she was before.

"If this goes south, we're cutting her loose," Rick told them.

"You think she's leading us into a trap?" Oscar asked.

"Right now, it's the blind leading the blind," Daryl commented. "Let's split up."

A knock on the door had them all facing it on high alert and killed the comment on the tip of Tea's tongue as they all quickly hid at the sound of keys jangling. Daryl pulled Tea to crouch beneath him as he huddled over her while Rick was on the other side of the door frame to the room they were in. Neither had seen where Oscar and Michonne had managed to hide, but they heard when the person entered the room, Tea's worst fear coming to light. They would be stuck in this room with an unknown entity that would possibly alert guards to their presence if he wasn't a guard himself. The best case scenario would be that he was a citizen, preferably one with information on where they needed to go, but either way, they could deal with the average person. It was the guards they needed to keep in the dark of their presence and the guards that worried her the most since the regular citizen most likely wouldn't pose an immediate threat.

"I know you're in here," a male voice rang out after a moment. "I saw you movin' from outside. Alright now. You're not supposed to be in here and you know it. Who's in here?"

As the voice got closer to them, Daryl pressed even further down on Tea until Rick jumped up and grabbed the man, followed by Daryl and Tea moving as a single unit, Tea going to help Rick hold the man back while Daryl at him. Between the gun in Rick's hand, Daryl's crossbow being held in his face, and Tea's knife to his throat, the man kept his trap shut after the initial shocked yell. He definitely was not a threat considering his age and lack of weaponry and Tea kind of felt a little bad for him since he seemed only a few years younger than Hershel. The man definitely couldn't fight with how skinny he was and how easily he had been subdued, frightened almost to the point that he looked about ready to piss himself.

"Shut up. Get on your knees," Rick told him roughly. "Hands behind your back. Zip tie him," he told Tea as she started backing off and Daryl kept the man trained in his sights. "Where are our people?"

"I don't know! I don't know!" the man insisted.

"You are holding some of our people! Where the hell are they?"

"Rick! This man ain' goin' ta know nothin'! Look at 'im! I already told ya! The every day citizens prolly don' even know this Governor has 'em! If ya don' let up we could lose our chance to find 'em!" Tea reprimanded him.

Considering her words, he told the man to open his mouth before stuffing a clean rag in it only for the man to start grunting like he was trying to say something. It didn't matter, though, since as soon as Tea stepped back from getting his hands and feet zip-tied, Daryl brought the butt of his crossbow down on the man's head. Tea sighed and shook her head, knowing they couldn't leave the man conscious, but wishing they could have been maybe a bit gentler about it. They were just about to leave the building and go look for this Governor's apartment Michonne had mentioned when gunfire rang out, allowing them to use the distraction to leave out the front of the building as those outside ran for the wall or cover. Tea and Daryl did their best to figure out where the sound was coming from, leading the group to an industrial looking area that was made more like what the wall was than the town. A large commotion was happening inside and they could hear shouting as they crouched below a window near where most of the noise was coming from. Tea was practically pushed between Daryl and Rick, probably to ensure the smallest woman in the group was protected even though it pissed her off as the quintet listened to the talking going on in the other room. Daryl carefully peaked above Tea's head through the window for shadows to fall over his face and the group was forced into action.

Rick nodded to Michonne, who went off in the other direction while he, Daryl, Oscar, and Tea grabbed smoke bombs, tear gas, and a flash bang so that no matter what, they would have their asses covered. Daryl and Tea both threw smoke bombs while Oscar and Rick threw one of each of the others; the flash bang went off first, followed by the smoke and tear gas. There was so much shouting and commotion Tea was astounded someone hadn't started firing yet as she took the chance to round the corner, Rick hot on her heels. She held her breath as she looked through the smoke and reached in to grab a hold of Maggie while Rick grabbed Glenn. Tea ripped the bag off Maggie's head and handed her one of the two rifles she had with her before whipping around and firing off a couple shots into the gas as those who realized what was going on began firing at them. Rick helped support Glenn who was having a hard time breathing thanks to a kick one of the men had given him during their fight for freedom before they managed to use the commotion outside to run through the town in relative peace. Tea noticed men with guns starting to come their way and ushered the group into an unlocked house, entering with Daryl first, guns raised to make sure the coast was clear. Glenn stumbled in with Maggie checking on him, Rick and Oscar entering behind them but Michonne simply closed the door without entering the house.

"Shite," Tea huffed.

"Ain't no way out back here," Daryl said.

"How did you guys find us?" Maggie asked.

"How bad are you hurt?" Rick asked Glenn.

"Less than it looks. Just got a bad kick to my ribs right before all this. I'll be alright," he answered.

"Where's that woman?" Maggie asked.

"Shut the door behind us and took off," Tea answered.

"Maybe she was spotted," Oscar offered.

"Want me to go look for her?" Daryl asked.

"No, we got ta get out a here," Tea answered him. "She'll eitha catch up, be back, or go."

"Daryl, Merle. Merle was trying to help," Glenn told him as Maggie helped him into a sweater. Both Tea and Daryl stopped what they were doing to look at him. "He was."

"You saw him?" Rick asked.

"Face to face. He did this to my face, but he gave me a knife. He, he tried to help Maggie. He was going to help us get out of there when you guys showed up."

"S-so my brother's this governor?" Daryl asked, shocked at learning his brother was alive.

"No, he's somebody else. Your brother's like his lieutenant or something, but he really was trying to help us get outta here. Shoulda taken his advice and just run when he told me to back at the store. His posse, though, they're not right in the head," Maggie said, painting a confusing image of Merle in both the hunters' minds.

"Does 'e know we're still with ya?" Tea asked.

Maggie nodded her head while Glenn said, "He does now. Rick, Tea, I'm sorry. We told them where the prison was. We couldn't hold out. We tried."

"Don'. Nah apologizin' for doin' what ya need ta ta survive," Tea said as Rick leaned down and squeezed the man's hand comfortingly.

"They're gonna be lookin' for us," Maggie said, her nerves clearly shot.

"We have to get back," Rick told her before asking Glenn, "Can you walk? We got a car a few miles out."

"I'm good," Glenn asked, accepting Maggie and Rick's help to get up.

"Hey, if Merle's around, I need to see him!" Daryl said.

"Not now. We're in hostile territory," Rick said, looking him in the eye.

"He's my brother. I ain't gonna-"

"We don't have time for this. Look at Glenn. That has to be our priority," Rick cut him off.

"Maybe I can talk to him. Maybe I can work something out!" Daryl insisted, Tea behind him and completely agreeing.

"No, no, no, you're not thinking straight," Rick said. "Look, no matter what they say, they're hurt. Glenn can barely walk. How are we going to make it out if we get over run by walkers and this governor catches up to us? I need you. Both of you," he said, making sure to look at Tea over Daryl's shoulder. "Are you with me?"

They both looked at him and said yes, but also shared a look that said they would just wait for the chance to find the man when they had no intentions whatsoever of leaving Merle behind again. Especially not after what Glenn had just said about the man and his apparent shift in behavior; he had never helped anyone before unless he was getting something in return. As Rick instructed the others the plans on getting out, she and Daryl knelt down next to the bag of bombs, pulling out as many of the smokers as they could and prepping them to be thrown. Rick counted down from three before opening the door, Tea and Daryl letting their bombs fly and the six of them waited for the smoke to build up and obscure their escape before they decided to move.

"Let's go," Rick said.

They were almost immediately spotted, and Tea wasted no time in taking aim at the nearest guard, gunning him down before he could raise his weapon and turning to the next, who was already shooting, and repeating the action; nine. As gunfire broke out around them, she took aim at a man aiming towards Maggie and shot him down before he could even squeeze his trigger; ten. She couldn't tell what the others were doing, she could only keep going, injuring another man in the shoulder before taking fire herself and having to duck and cover. The smoke was making it difficult to make out where the people firing at them from the front and she sent a silent prayer to the gods that they didn't encounter friendly fire and that the others made it over the wall. As long as they got out, that's all she could truly concentrate on besides the obvious fire fight she was in, hoping Daryl would get out as well.

"Behind you!" she heard Daryl yell as more fire reigned down on them.

She turned and caught another man in the leg before putting a bullet in his head right before turning and getting another in quick succession, still counting every body she dropped. Rick was yelling for them to get cover, and by the gods they were trying to with the gunfire going off around them, barely able to find a spot behind an overlay of walls between buildings. If it weren't for the smoke making it as difficult for the citizens of Woodbury to land a shot, or else this entire situation would have been a suicide run in the making. There was barely enough cover for them to quickly reload their weapons and assess what all they had to use to get the hell out of dodge before one of them died. It didn't help matters any that Glenn had been beat pretty badly and would need help getting over the wall let alone getting back to the prison, which meant at least three of the six would have to make it out.

"How many?" Rick growled.

"Don't know. Couldn't count," Oscar told him.

"Don't matter. There's gonna be more of 'em," Daryl said. "We need to move!"

"Any grenades left?" Rick said, earning a positive from Tea and Daryl as the three huddled over the bag. "Get 'em ready. We gotta gun it to the wall."

"You guys go ahead. I'm gonna lay down some cover fire," Daryl said.

"I'll stay too," Tea told them as she nudged Daryl with her elbow.

"Like hell you will," Daryl told her with a scowl, looking at her too calm face.

"Where ya go, I go, already told ya that," she said with a knowing look.

She knew, again, of course she fucking knew, that while he was going to lay cover fire, he was also going to look for Merle. They both knew it was something he had to do, even if Rick didn't understand and didn't want him too, and Tea wasn't about to let him look by himself. Rick didn't have understand them or their reasoning because he wasn't the one who had to make things right at the end of it all. He'd had his chance and blew it with Lori; Tea understood that Daryl wasn't going to pass up on his chance to make it up to Merle. She had to make sure it happened for the part she'd played in what had happened to the man and how she had knocked him out and still let Daryl follow her into the woods.

"No! We gotta stay together!" Maggie insisted.

"Too hairy, Mags," Tea told the frightened woman. "We'll be right behind ya."

"Ready?" Daryl yelled.

He took two more smoke bombs and threw them out towards the people that were firing on them before Tea and Rick fanned out along with Daryl in front of the rest as they went to the bus in an attempt to escape. Tea couldn't help but notice from the corner of her eye as Rick froze; a man similar enough in characteristics coming through the smoke was the cause. Tea took no time in once again taking aim and firing before she made her way over to the man and used her back to push him towards the bus before walking a few steps forward, all while never letting up on her firing. She managed to get another head shot as Rick yelled for her and Daryl from closer to the bus while Tea managed another head shot. Daryl didn't answer, though, prompting her to holler for him herself as she kept firing only for her gun to jam just as a stinging sensation passed by her left bicep. She tried to clear the jam before she started moving, but just as she managed it she was tackled from the side, hitting her head hard against the ground and causing her vision to go blurry momentarily.

"Holy shit, it's a girl!" the man said as he pushed her onto her back while straddling her.

The position he was in reminded her too much like how Shane had tried to hold her down and brought her fight or flight instincts straight to the top, and flight had never been something she had done if she could fight. All the man managed to get was that she was a girl before she reared her head right up into his nose, hopefully breaking it considering how much blood started pouring from it. Using his momentary lack of vision, she bucked her hips up high, throwing the man off balance and allowing her a chance to roll out from under him, forcing him to fall, rendering him incapable of vertical movement. Her freedom was short kept as a tall black man held the muzzle of a gun to her face only for them to pick her up, strip of her weapons, bound, gagged, and had a bag placed over her head. She was thrown into a room where they cuffed her with zip-ties as she heard a commotion in the other room, recognizing the sounds of someone being hit before she realized it was Daryl.

"I'm goin' ta kill ya," she told the man who walked into her room after the sounds stopped, his fists bloodied and making her see red.

"I'd like to see you try," he said with a sneer.

"So glad ya said that," Tea replied with her own signature smile.

The man didn't expect her to break the zip-ties so easily as she let her rage consume her, standing up and throwing a punch right at his chest before her other fist hit his temple. The uppercut she delivered afterwards had the man falling back and knocking over the small table in the room. He wasn't dead yet, though, but the commotion the man's fall made brought in another, her evil smile growing by the second. She let loose everything that she had been feeling; all the pent up anger at what had happened with Lori and T-Dog, the frustration she felt at how hard she was making things for Daryl, the pure hatred for whoever had had anything to do with hurting her man. When the next man came in, she wasted no time running up to him, dodging the swing he'd made before reaching up with her hands, grabbing the man's jaw and forehead, snapping his neck in a second flat. Four more men crowded into the narrow space and while she tried her hardest and managed to break several ribs on the men and at least one wrist, she ended up subdued before she could do any more real damage.

She wasn't able to fight back after that as they used several zip-ties to make it harder for her to break before putting duct tape over them to make sure she didn't. Whatever they thought they would get out of her about anything became little more than surprise as one of the men walked up and punched her in the face only for her to start laughing. She started goading them, asking the men if that was all they had through her insane laughter. Tea was used to pain; she'd grown up being beaten worse than these men were trying to do to her and even as she felt the blood pouring from her lip and cheek, she still could only laugh. Whatever they thought they were going to get out of her, they had another thing coming since she could handle just about anything. If she could tolerate being carved into and branded like an animal, she could tolerate the beating of men half as strong as her. After they'd each taken their turns getting some punches in, the bag that had been put over her head originally was replaced and two hands grabbed each of her biceps, leaving her to start letting off a string of curse words that would have the hair of the devil himself curling.

~x~

Carl and the others were sitting in the cell block reloading magazines after Sophia had returned from a walk with her mom, leaving Carl with Beth, Hershel, and his sister. Even though he was sad about his own mom, he was happy Sophia had hers since she'd already lost her dad and it wouldn't be very fair if she lost both. Though, he supposed Tea would gladly take up the role since she was already like a cool older sister to the three youngest members of the group and had done her best to include them every step of the way. She had made it a point to teach them anything she thought was useful, from foraging to fighting to knife throwing all in the name of making sure they were properly able to defend themselves. Even though she had butted heads constantly with his mom, Tea had even made sure she had enough to eat and was surrounded by the others whenever they had to move so that she was the most protected. She had even shown Beth and Sophia how to change and wash the reusable diapers for Judith, which was something Carl was happy he didn't have to participate in since he had smelled just how bad they got.

"Finally got Judith to sleep," Hershel said as he walked into the room.

"How are we with formula?" Carl asked.

"We have enough to last us another month," the man replied.

"I'll take Carol for some more at the end of the week," he said.

"Your dad and the others will be back by then," Beth told him.

Carl just gave her a look, unable to help the helplessness that was swimming inside him over the loss of his mother, "We don't know that. Right now, Judith is the only family I got. Tea would want us to plan ahead, like she always did. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best."

Any response was killed as what sounded like screams sounded from deep within the prison, Beth fearfully asking, "What was that?"

"That came from inside the prison," Sophia said as she was the closest to the door to the tombs.

"Maybe Carol?"

"She's out keeping watch in the guard tower with Axel," Hershel said.

"What if they came back in for something?" Beth asked. "What if they're in trouble?"

"Just check the tower and see if they're there," Hershel reassured her.

"I was just out there and took them water and extra magazines," Sophia told them.

"How could anyone get in?" Beth worried.

"The tombs are filled with walkers that wandered in from outside," Hershel said. "Someone else could have done the same thing."

"I'm going," Carl said.

"Me too," Sophia quickly agreed.

"I can't let you go down there," Hershel told them, holding his crutch out to stop them.

"My father would go, Tea too," Carl simply told the man, earning him a look of understanding.

They held their flashlights at the ready, faced forward in a hand under their gun arm as they slowly followed the sound of screams. Stopping to read a sign and trying to get a sense of direction, a walker managed to sneak up on them, its snarling the only reason they even registered it. Sophia ducked down as Carl took it out, both of them standing and staring at it for a moment before huffing and continuing on. They burst into the gym only to find a man holding onto a woman with a clear bite mark on her arm laying with her on the floor and looking more scared than Sophia's mom had in the beginning. A large black man and a smaller black woman were trying desperately to fight off a group of ten walkers with a hammer and a shovel, barely able to hold their own. Sophia killed the walker the woman was struggling while Carl took out a walker by the man on the floor, both of them aiming and taking out another two walkers that were too close to the ones on the floor.

"Come on," Sophia told them.

"Let's go," Carl ushered, quickly leading them back through the tombs.

The man with the bit woman in his arms struggled to keep up even with the walkers bearing down on them until the big man went up and grabbed her, all while the kids were telling them they needed to hurry. The woman killed a walker with her shovel and then shouted for the kids to look out as more walkers were coming up on them from the front. Carl and Sophia wasted no time in taking out at least three of them while the others were struggling to keep up with them. Sophia had been wondering how these people had survived and where they came from, but Tea wouldn't want them left in the tombs. Carl was thinking much along the same lines, though the two kids shared a look and nodded their heads to each other in a silent agreement of what they had to do.

"You have to leave her!" Carl called back at them.

"No way," the black man said, punching a walker before Carl shot it.

He hefted the woman onto his shoulder and the group of six quickly made their way back to the commons even though the woman who had been bitten was already dead. Carl and Sophia looked at each other before Carl went up and offered to take care of it, aiming at the woman's head. None of the people in the commons wanted him to take care of it even though they were obviously in distress. The youngest member of the group was as pale as a sheet and the shorter man was beside himself as they argued against Carl. Sophia was irritated that they had been nice enough to bring the people here and yet they seemed to be determined to put them all in danger by not doing what needed to be done. None of their group would hesitate; Carl had shot his mom before she had a chance to turn, only waiting long enough for his sister to be born and Maggie to leave the immediate area. They didn't have time to procrastinate when it came to the dead and the longer these people waited, the more likely that someone else would die.

"She doesn't have that long," Carl argued.

"Who the hell are you?" the woman asked. "How did you get in here? Who are you with?"

"Look," Sophia said, taking aim herself. "We can help you. But first things first."

"No, we take care of our own," the big black man said.

"No! Tyreese-" cried the grieving man, looking up at Tyreese in distress.

"I gotta do it," Tyreese said. "Look, just take Ben and lean against the wall. It'll be quick."

The grieving man walked over to whom they assumed was his son and held onto him as Carl and Sophia walked to the cell block. Unlocking it, they entered the place and swung the door back closed before locking it behind them, effectively leaving the newcomers into the commons alone. Their movements had gone largely unnoticed until the door closed and the woman got very irate before they could finish taking care of the dead one.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the woman asked.

"Kids," Tyreese said, going over and seeing another young girl in the cells with the kids. "Did you just lock us in here?"

"Open the door!" the woman next to him yelled.

"That room is secure. You'll be safe," Carl told them. "You have food and water."

The woman walked up to the door looking extremely pissed off. "Open this door," she said as if it was a mother talking to her child right before she blew up.

"I can't," Carl said.

Desperation took over as she pleaded, "Come on, man. We're not animals. Don't do this." Noticing Hershel who made no motion to come to help, she banged on the door and rattled it angrily. "You can't just leave us in here! Open this door! Open it! Now!"

Tyreese came up and grabbed the woman away, "Sasha! Back away from their door and let the man go." When she took a few breaths, calming from the near hysteria she was in, he continued. "Look around you. This is the best we've had it in weeks. His house, his rules. We've got other things to do," he said, looking behind him before looking back at the kids. "We don't want any trouble."

"Shouldn't we help them?" Beth asked.

"We did," Sophia said, thinking about what Tea would do. Probably wouldn't leave them to deal with the woman themselves, but she would definitely not let them in the cell blocks until she was certain of them. "I wish I was more like Tea. She'd be able to tell if they were good or not."

"Yeah, but we're not her, so we'll just keep an eye on them," Carl agreed.

~x~

Michonne left the group of survivors after they had their people back since she had fulfilled her promise to the group and had her own business to attend to. While knowing of Tea from before had been a nice surprise, but that was all it was, nothing more, nothing less. While Michonne was appreciative of what the group had done for her, she had repaid their kindness in full and wanted to make sure the Governor got his due rewards. The man had tried to kill her and she planned on returning the favor as she broke into his apartment, she sitting behind his desk as she waited for his return. It was the thudding that came from the locked room she'd discovered before that made her move; she'd never managed to unlock it before, and this time she just didn't care as she kicked the thing open. There were several fish tanks full of walkers including the pilot's from the helicopter and the two heads from her own walkers. The saddest and sickest part to Michonne, however, was the fact that there was a cage with a little girl locked up inside. She wasted no time in opening the cage to let the girl out while her sorrow built at seeing the girl with a bag over her head and bound in a straight jacket. How sick did the Governor have to be to lock up a child in a cage, let alone with a chain and collar holding her there? She tried to assure the little girl that she was there to help as she unhooked the chain and collar, setting the girl free before she carefully took the bag off her head. All the concern and color drained from her face as her expression turned to shock when the girl started snarling as soon as she saw Michonne and began struggling against her confines. The little walker girl broke her heart and gave her an entire new outlook on just how deprave the Governor really was as she forced the girl to turn around while picking up her sword, not wanting to look at the face of a child as she put it down.

"No!" the Governor shouted just as she was about to strike. She looked up and saw he had a gun on her, strategically placing the walker girl in front of her and visibly making the man waver, "Don't hurt her. Look, hey," he quickly stated, making a show of putting his gun away and taking the entire holster off, tossing it away. "It's me you want. There's no need for her to suffer."

Michonne looked at the man who was out of his mind, "She doesn't have needs."

"Please," he pleaded desperately, "Don't hurt my little girl. Please don't."

Michonne found it hard not to feel for the man as she knew how he was feeling, but she had hardened her heart nearly a year ago after what she'd had to do then and now. The man was refusing to let go of his dead daughter, so she helped him as she pushed her sword through the walker's mouth. The Governor charged her and managed to throw her around the room before he punched her several times so quickly that she hadn't had a chance to defend herself. He managed to knock her onto the ground and straddle her, roaring in anger as he tried to choke her until she got a hold of her sheath. Using it to knock the man back, she quickly got to her feet and jumped on the man's back as she used the sheath to try to choke him out herself. The Governor managed to get on his feet, forcing Michonne to hers as well as he ran backwards into the wall before she landed a few punches to his gut. He tried to ram her into the wall to get her off of him, trying to grab at her to get her off of him, but when his thumb got too close to her mouth, she chomped down on it. He yelled again before sending her head first into one of the fish tanks and held her there until she fought back so hard she brought down two more tanks, sending water and glass everywhere.

The man tried to choke her out get her to one of the walker heads still snapping away on the ground, but she elbowed him to escape right at the last minute. Michonne struggled to reach her sword, but the Governor put her in a choke hold again while using his body weight to keep her from moving around too much. Michonne was running out of time and options until she found a particularly large piece of glass still attached to a fish tank laying within reach. She fought until she had it grasped it in her hand even though it was cutting through her palm but she still managed to break it off from the tank's frame. Flailing wildly, she only knew she found purchase somewhere on his face and breaking the glass off in it as he released her as he screamed in pain. She managed to roll away and pick up her katana and sheath, readying herself for the killing strike when the sound of a gun clicking and someone shouting no forced her to turn around.

Andrea stood there looking at Michonne with her gun aimed right at the woman's head while Michonne held her sword up in defense. Whatever had gone on after she left, the woman was a completely lost cause as they rounded each other slowly before Michonne backed out of the room as Andrea went to the Governor. She looked around the room at all the walker heads, water, and broken glass in disgust considering only a few hours ago she had been in the other room making moves on the man. She really did like the man and had been considering taking him up on the offer of some late night company but now she had a completely different outlook on the man. Philip was sitting on the ground cradling a child walker in obvious grief and distress and it took Andrea a long time to get him to let go and then even longer to drag him to the building they were using as a hospital. The doctor took out the glass and assessed the damage, bandaging his head to keep the gauze in place until she'd done everything she could and Andrea asked the doctor for a moment of privacy.

"What the hell was that? Why was she here? Why were you fighting her?"

"She came back to kill me," he said.

"Why?"

"You tell me," he said before spitting blood into a basin. "You knew her."

Andrea realized he was trying to blame her for Michonne's actions when they were more his fault than hers to begin with and so changed the subject by asking, "The fish tanks? The heads?"

"I made myself look at them. Prepared me for the horrors outside," Philip explained quietly, still facing away from her.

"And Penny?" Andrea asked softly.

The weight of her loss had the man stumbling for support as Milton barged in. "Oh my god," the bespectacled man said. "I just heard. Are you alright? Your eye, is it-"

The door opened again as Merle and Halley ran in, "What happened to you?"

When the Governor turned around and landed his eyes on Merle, it sent a shiver up his back as the man said, "I was attacked."

"They made it over the wall," Merle told him. "I'll go after them in the morning."

The Governor just stared at him, making Merle really uncomfortable and cementing the thought that in the morning, he was getting out of here and heading to that prison. He knew where it was now; hell, he'd served time there once or twice and had known some of the inmates afterwards, too. All he needed to do was to get outside the walls and he'd do whatever it took to make sure that happened, even if he had to take on all the scavengers on his own. A little while later, the Governor had called for an emergency gathering at the fighting rink for the entire town so that he could address the situation they'd found themselves in. Merle was waiting around with the inner circle as everyone started getting antsy before the Governor finally sauntered in, quieting the murmuring crowd with his mere presence.

"What can I say?" he told the people. "Hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed. And I thought we were past this. Past the days when we all sat huddled, scared in front of the TV during the early days of the outbreak. The fear we all felt then, we felt it again tonight. I failed you," he said quietly. "I promised to keep you safe. Hell, look at me. You know I—I should tell you that we'll be okay, that we're safe. That tomorrow we'll bury our dead and endure. But I—I won't. Because I can't. Because I'm afraid. That's right. I'm afraid of terrorists who want what we have! Want to destroy us! Worse, because one of those terrorists is one of our own!" The crowd started murmuring again as the Governor pointed his finger behind him, "Merle!" Oh shit, said man thought as he felt a gun placed on his spine by Martinez and watched Shumpert pointed a crossbow at him, two of the other scavengers coming over and removing his weapons. "Merle," the Governor repeated, "the man I counted on, the man I trusted. He led them here!" The crowd gasped at the accusation. "And he let 'em in. It was you. You lied and betrayed us all!"

As Merle was pushed into the ring, two people were being dragged into the room itself until they were in the center of it, Merle recognizing them immediately and going stone faced. It might have been eight months since he'd seen his baby brother, but there was no way he wouldn't recognize the man even if his face was covered. And Tea, that little spitfire was cussing up a storm as two scavengers literally had to haul her off her feet to get her to move. Every time they did, she'd kick at them, making it a difficult task to get her restrained, managing to kick one of the men's knees out and making them go down before another man replaced him. Even without all the fuss she was kicking up, he knew damn well who it was because who the hell else so damn short would be able to drop a man from a single kick? The girl had knocked him on his ass more than once so he knew just how dangerous she could be and couldn't help but wonder whether or not she'd gotten her licks in before they managed to catch her.

"These are two of the terrorists," the Governor said as he pointed to the pair. The scavengers let go of Daryl, who tried to get where Tea was, but was grabbed around the bicep by the Governor, who ripped the bag off his head as Tea's was ripped off by Martinez. "Merle's own brother and the woman they plotted with!"

Tea and Daryl looked at him as if they'd seen a ghost, the fight leaving Tea for all of two seconds before it returned with a vengeance. It took Martinez putting his gun to her head for her to freeze as Daryl was released from the Governor's grip. She was breathing hard, noticing how his shirt had been ripped open at the top and he'd obviously been roughed up. Her lip was split and her ribs ached, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle after everything she'd grown up with. The way she had laughed maniacally at the beating she took had freaked out the man currently holding a gun to her to the point that he'd left the room and let the others take over. It hadn't mattered how hard he'd punched her, though, Tea only laughed like a psychopath the entire time until she turned to shouting profanities and threats when she heard someone go back into the room Daryl was in and heard them beating on him some more.

"So what should we do with them, huh?" the Governor asked, egging the crowd on as it called for their deaths.

Tea looked around and over to Daryl who looked at her still in the clutches of two men with a third holding a gun to her head. They both looked at Merle who gave Daryl a once over, not bothering with the woman behind him or even caring to look at the little bitch. Merle gave Daryl a hard look, one Daryl knew all too well from their childhood before their mother had died and Merle took off. It was the look he'd given him when they were younger and their father barged through the door, drunkenly ranting and berating their mother before it turned into the sounds of fists hitting flesh. He was trying to come up with a plan to get them out of there, but Daryl had to wonder if he was including Tea in that plan. Even if he didn't, Daryl wouldn't leave without her since he was the only reason she had even stayed behind to begin with. It didn't help that she had obviously been worked over with her face bruised and bloodied from whatever the men in the other room had done. If it weren't for the situation they'd found themselves in, he would have been happy that she was still fully dressed and her clothes didn't look any more messed up than his own did.

"You wanted your brother," the Governor said quietly as he walked up to Merle. "Now you got 'im."