The woman, covered in blood, just stood there. It was the only reason I didn't immediately mistake her as a walker. That and the sword. The dreads covered the side of her face as she stared at me, her face steady despite what I assumed to be an open wound on her thigh.

"You're hurt," I bit the inside of my cheek, glancing at her wound. "Do you need help?"

"No."

She was very certain about that, like she had any idea of how inept I would be in that sort of situation. It was very unsettling, that she had so little awareness of the fact that there was even an injury in her leg; her face didn't seem to get the memo. She just continued staring at me, but didn't move to pull a weapon. She didn't even have a gun from what I could see, just the sword.

"How did it happen?"

I didn't know why I was making small talk when I had a really big emergency on my hands. I needed to get back, find Glenn and Maggie, but here I was chatting away to a woman that was most likely involved in what just happened somehow. She seemed less than willing to talk to me also, so me hanging around was really benefiting no one.

"That man," she said, and I frowned. "The one that took your friends."

"Merle?" Merle shot her? He had a gun, because otherwise he never would have had the upper hand in his fight with Glenn and Maggie. But that didn't make any sense that he was after so many people in one day. "Why?"

"They sent him to kill me."

"Who did?"

"The Governor. He runs the place. A town called Woodbury."

A town name, one I was unfamiliar with, but it was important. That's where Merle came from, where my people are. There was a group there too, with more people than just Merle, Glenn and Maggie. More dangerous people, my brain reminded me. They aren't going to help when they're sending people out to kill.

"Is that where he's taking them?" I asked.

It seemed like there was only one possible answer, but you could never be sure. If this was a town they could have an area outside that they would take their prisoners to. But I don't know how often that happened for them, how often they took in prisoners. In my head, Merle taking Glenn and Maggie was a one time thing because he wanted to know where his brother was, but they had tried killing a woman on the same day.

Maybe it was a regular occurrence.

"Yeah."

I believed her, she seemed to have no reason to lie. Except that I had no idea what this group was like, and maybe she was just trying to build my trust in case something similar happened and I would be on her side. How did she even know where prisoners were taken anyways? That also seemed like something on a need-to-know basis, and maybe that fact that she knew was what led to her being hunted.

"Why did they send him to kill you?" I asked for confirmation.

"Because I left."

Because she left? Helpful.

There could be a few reasons that they would want someone dead for leaving a group. The first would be so they don't come back and kill anyone again, but this woman said that it was a town, and there wasn't much damage one woman could do to a whole town. Then again, I never expected one person to be behind the trauma at the prison.

The second reason would be so they don't have to compete for supplies, which actually worried me. If they were willing to kill so they wouldn't compete for anything, that put the prison right in that throw zone. They had to be somewhat close to us, because Merle had been hunting this woman today, and neither of them had vehicles. So they were in a few hours walking distance, which would be a much faster area to cover in the car. We were feasibly close enough that this Governor would want us dead if he found out that we existed, and I didn't know how much Glenn would tell them.

"So you know where this Woodbury is?" The woman only nodded, so I continued. "Can you help me find them?"

It was a stupid way to word the question. Of course she could, she had been in the town before, she understood the place well enough for her to leave. But she didn't have to help me, maybe she just didn't want to.

The woman was silent for a moment, contemplating. "You should go back."

"Back?"

"To the prison. That's what the Asian guy said."

Now that she mentioned it, I recalled Glenn saying that right before Merle showed up. It was really lucky that Merle hadn't heard him say that, because whatever vengeance he had over what happened in Atlanta he would probably take to the prison, to Rick. But had the woman been there to hear Glenn for that long? Longer? Maybe she hid when she saw Merle; he was hunting her down after all.

I had to ask. "How long were you hiding there?"

"Long enough."

Descriptive.

Apparently talking to her was going to be more difficult than I had expected, seeing as this was the least chatty she had been up to this point.

I pushed down the urge for a better answer, telling her my plans seeing as she knew where we lived anyway. "Well, I was going to go back, I still am. But you know where Merle's taken Glenn and Maggie, you can come back and show us where this town is. You can help us."

"No," her voice was stern, almost scolding. "Bring them the message yourself."

I shook my head. I needed her help in more ways than one, fighting the walkers back into the prison, navigation to Woodbury. I did not understand the geography enough to just give them a message and take them there myself

"It's best if you come with me, they have families there and—"

"I don't know you."

"I don't know you!" I retaliated. "I can't just take whatever you have to say at face value. My friends just got kidnapped, and you—coincidently, might I say—come out of nowhere and say you know where they are. I'm supposed to just trust that you didn't come with him? That this wasn't an ambush? Then fine, but you have to do something for me to prove that. This is how you get me to trust your word.."

There was no reply, just a gaze into the distance as if she was contemplating just leaving me here. She wouldn't get far, so I wasn't so worried about that. What was scary is that I don't think anyone has ever looked at me with such contempt, like just having this conversation with me was inconveniencing her day. Well, I guess it kind of was. I was keeping her from tending her wound.

"He would've found you if it wasn't for them," them being Glenn and Maggie, because it was true. If she had been hiding there since the beginning, and we had left the shop minutes earlier, Merle would've walked directly into her path. She was weak, injured, but Merle was able to take someone hostage with two of them there.

"Follow the road down a few more miles and then cross into a forest, it'll keep you hidden from the guards," I realised that this was her way of helping, her directions, her way of cancelling out her debt to Glenn and Maggie. "It's visible on a map, one of the only ones around this area. You'll see it."

After that she began limping away.

"Please," I walked after her, easily keeping her pace as she limped away. "Please, I really need your help. You've been there, you know the place. You can help us."

She ignored me, gripping at the wound tighter as she hobbled away. This was my angle, how I could convince her into coming to the prison, the last thing I could do short of kidnapping her. An option I was greatly considering.

"We can fix your leg," I said, jogging forward to face her and walking backwards in the same direction she was heading. "We have a doctor. You said it yourself, you're being hunted down. If you come back we can help you. You don't have the supplies to fix your leg or you would have done it by now."

"I can handle it myself."

"If he finds you again, you're dead."

"I'll take my chances."

"Please!" I begged. "There has to be something you want!"

She stopped, almost making my feet stumble out from underneath me. She was quiet for a moment, thinking, just staring at me. Had I done it? There was something she wanted that meant she would help me?

Then she spoke. "I'll come with you, but if you're people try anything—"

"—They won't! Not unless you do something first."

She looked off again, contemplating. "Fine," she agreed.

Was she planning on trying something? This was the whole reason that we wanted the prisoners to have their own space, so they couldn't do anything to the group. I guess if she did anything that would be my responsibility.

"Let's go," she said.

"Hang on."

I ran back towards the shop, inside to where I left the basket of supplies we had scrounged. I couldn't go back without any of this, the baby needed it. She needed the nappies and food. On my way in I noticed the basket that Glenn had left behind too, batteries, some more baby stuff, jars. I would take them both back.

The woman had hobbled her way back to me, mostly, staring me down as I carried the baskets, stopping at the one outside. I knelt down and started moving the items from one into the other, knowing that it would make it heavier and heavier, but it would be so much easier to only carry one basket rather than two.

The woman watched my every move, eyes following my hands. "Is that necessary?"

"We have a baby," I told her. "It's kind of a big deal."

"A baby?"

"It's the only reason we were even out here," I told her.

More silence, nothing I didn't expect. I knew her silence was going to be an ongoing problem for us, because I really wanted to talk to her, but she was giving me nothing I could use to keep that going. It was hard.

Eventually she did speak, which surprised me. "I can take it."

"You should keep your energy on walking," I said. "I'm sure I can carry a basket."

The baskets really were nothing. It had been a while since I worked in the garage, and obviously I couldn't do the same things I used to, I was weaker now, less physically inclined, but I had enough strength to carry these heavy baskets.

I kind of missed how strong I used to be.

When I was ready to go I stood up, grabbing the now heavy basket in my left hand, leaving the other for fighting any walkers we came across. We started to walk down the road towards the prison, the way we came from, and where Glenn had said we needed to go back. We walked silently at each other's side. Well, for as long as I could hold that silence, which was about three minutes.

"What's your name?" I asked.

She was quiet, unresponding, to which I assumed that I would get no answer, but eventually after a few seconds she said: "Michonne."

"My name is Ace," I smiled.

"Don't care."

At the prison we waited in the treeline, watching the prison in case anyone was outside. We couldn't just rush the gate with the walkers that were still somehow drawn to the building, and there should have been someone on the gate waiting for the car to return, but there was no one there.

"I was hoping someone would be out waiting. They could open the gate," I explained, keeping my eyes on the prison. That would have been ideal, but unfortunately, there was no one there. I doubted at this point that even if they saw us at the fence they would get down quick enough. "I have a key. But I won't be able to squeeze my hands through the fence. And even if I can unlock the inside, the walkers are just going to try and keep killing me anyway."

"How'd you get in to begin with?" Michonne asked.

It was a valid question, because we clearly didn't have access through the gates or anything, so I immediately explained. "We cut a hole in the side fence, but we'd have the same problems as the walkers trying to get it open again."

Michonne took a second to think, not really saying anything until she came up with another idea. If we had to rush the walkers and try for the gate, then fine, I would. But there had to be some better way than hoping I can get my fingers in the right way to open the padlock.

"I know a way to get us there without drawing attention, might be able to get the gate open without a fight," Michonne was looking at me as she said that, watching as the confusion settled on my face.

Undetected?

"How?"

This really had piqued my interest, despite our current need for a way to sneak around. It's not like we could do the same thing I did back in the beginning, where I would draw walkers' attention away from me by smashing bottles away from me. We didn't have the kind of cover needed for that idea.

"I doubt you'd like it."

Now I was hesitant. "What?"

"Covering yourself in walker blood keeps you hidden. It's like they don't see you," Michonne didn't miss a beat.

She was right, I didn't like it. As a matter of fact, it was one of the worst ideas I had heard. But if it worked, it worked. The blood soaked into her top now making more sense when she had a bullet in her leg.

Still, it couldn't be foolproof. "And they'd just let me try to get the gate open like that?"

"Maybe, it's possible they may just think the chain rattling is just cause you're there shaking at the fence like them. If not, we just take 'em out."

"Okay . . ."

Michonne glanced around, eventually nodding for me to follow her. As a walker reached out to her, she unsheathed her sword, and swung it down through the head, almost cutting straight through to the shoulders. The body's knees hit the ground first, and then she kicked it backwards to make it hit the ground.

Even though I was expecting it, I hated that she jammed the sword down into the walker's torso and dragged the blade across to cut an opening a hole into its body. The smell was the worst of it. Walkers smelled terrible anyway, but cutting open the body where the gas that had been building up from the rotting, it was just sickening. I had to cover my nose and turn away.

"Here," Michonne finally said. "Use that. Just the top should be fine."

"Great. Only ruining a top."

"You wanna get in, or not?"

I grimaced, breathing slowly as Michonne waited patiently. I kneeled down, staring at the corpse for a second as I thought about how I wanted to do it. I looked down at my hands, inspecting myself for any wounds. The only thing I was sure I had to avoid was the cut in my neck, still there from the day before. In a perfect world, I would have gloves, something but like a coat so I could minimise the risk of covering any unknown wounds in Walker blood. Now I just had to take my chances.

I would just have to do this.

I stuck my hand into the wound, almost vomiting at the feeling, the smell. When my hand came back out it was dripping with flesh, blood, all turned black from not having enough oxygen in the blood. Rotting would eventually turn the insides black, it just happened faster when the bodies were exposed to air.

I wiped my hand down my shirt, knowing I would have to immediately change and wash my hands when I got inside. After doing this a few times, the front of my shirt looked like a massacre, and I smelt dead.

"I'm going to be sick."

"Later," Michonne said. I don't have much control over that. "Come on. Let's get to that gate."

She took the basket and walker out of the treeline.I stood up, taking the keys from my pocket and holding them tightly in my fist so they wouldn't make the stupid jingly noise. I held the one I needed out, and followed Michonne out of the woods.

Copying her walk, her pace, I was slow. The walkers further away didn't seem to mind us, like she said. We were completely hidden. I had heard Glenn say something about this before, he and Rick in Atlanta using it to get out of the store they were trapped in. I hated that something like this could work.

When we reached the fence there were a few walkers around us. Michonne looked at me, nodding her head slowly to the lock as she lowered the heavy basket to the ground until we could get inside.

I grimaced, slipping my fingers through the holes of the fences, stretching them out to grab at the chain. It was wrapped around the large, metal pipe that supported the chain link fence, and the lock was around a side I couldn't get my hand to. A walker next to me growled louder as the chain rattled under my fingers, and I glanced at it, praying that it wasn't looking at me, the bare areas of my skin. I was sure with how much of me was exposed would bring the walkers running, but it seemed blissfully unaware.

My fingers clawed at the chain again, hoping to spin it around. The noise was seemingly hidden by the walkers' own movement against the fence, each of their bodies rattling the metal wire against other supports.

The lock spun as I moved the chain, and I reached for it before holding the key up in my right hand. I tried to stabilise the metal padlock as precariously as possible, before slipping the key through until my hand was physically stopped by the metal. This task was made impossibly worse now I could feel the walker blood had started drying into my shirt, a shirt I would most definitely be burning when we got inside the prison.

Again, seeing this, the walker growled beside me, seemingly at the rattling. I hoped that it was ignoring the fact that I was doing things that were completely not walker-like, and just let me get to work so we could slip inside.

Michonne winced next to me, and I saw her hand come down and press on her wound. When she was stable, her hand came up to the fence. This seemed okay for a second, when out of the corner of my eye I saw the walker turn to her, and that's when I noticed the blood on her hands, now rubbing off onto the fence.

Fresh blood. Clearly a very different smell to the walker next to her, as it had turned and reached out to grab her. She stepped back but her body hit mine, making me lose balance and drop the key behind the fence before I could get the lock open.
"Fuck!" I cursed, alerting the walkers at my side now.

I yanked my knife from the holster and took down the walker at my side, and Michonne had gotten the ones nearest to her with the sword. When I looked back over my shoulder, there were more coming in from the treeline, more coming from farther down the fences where Oscar and Axel had drawn them so they didn't all pile up in one place.

"Get the keys!" Michonne barked. "I'll cover you."

I nodded and dropped to the ground, trying to get my hand in through the fence and reach the keys, but they had bounced further inside the gate. My fingers were just barely grazing at the rings, and I kept trying to squeeze my hand more and more through the chain link fence.

"Fuck! Come on!" I cried, looking back to make sure no walkers would take this opportunity to try and eat me.

There was one behind me, stumbling closer, but as I reached for my weapon, gunshots rang out over my head. I flinched, my legs jumping back to my chest to keep me as small as possible. I recognised the boots that stopped in front of me. Rick grabbed the keys before my fingers could drag them back, and Carl was standing at the other end of the gate, shooting the walkers behind me.

"Help her," Rick ordered.

Michonne was not doing so good now. As she kicked a walker back, she fell over, trying to shuffle back along the ground. Carl sent off two more shots into the two walkers closest to her.

I stood up, pulling out my axe and running at the walkers in the other direction. Three, three and I would have to back off, regroup. I swung it around, taking down the first one, and dislodging it immediately to kill the second ones. Where I ended left the third walker behind me, so I looked back over my shoulder, swinging the walker out of the second skull and immediately straight to the third.

Carl ran out the fence, I saw when I looked behind me, grabbing the basket from the shop and retreating inside the fence. He dropped it down, and started shooting at walkers again, dropping ones now farther away. Hershel was behind him, and Beth too, holding the baby as they stood in the opened gate, staring at Michonne. I hadn't even noticed them coming down before now.

"Ace!" Rick called, lifting the sheath of her sword over his head and holstering the weapon.

"Is she bit?" Hershel asked.

"No," I assured. "She was shot."

"Come on," Rick knelt down, nodding to her.

I knelt down, grabbing one of her arms to yank her off the ground, and Rick helped me lift her up. I pulled her arm over my shoulder and he did the same, and we carried her to the safety of the fences as Carl closed the gate. I heard him rattle the chain to lock the fence off.

Rick helped me put her down on the ground, obviously wanting to talk before bringing this stranger into the prison.

"Ace," he started, generating questions for a moment before asking. "What the hell happened? Where are the others? Who is this?"

I shook my head, my hands resting on my forehead. "Merle took Glenn and Maggie."

That was the best way I could explain it.

"Taken?" Beth asked, now very panicked.

Carl's eyes also widened beside her at the mention of the name but he didn't say anything, much like Hershel who was still processing the information. I didn't want to have to say this in front of them, so completely guilty that I let their family get taken from them, now in so much danger. I wanted to just tell Rick, but there was no way they would let me have that private conversation without asking the million questions they needed to.

Rick's head tilted in confusion, his reaction very different. "Merle?"

"I could hear them talking from inside the shop, he wanted to come back to see Daryl, but when Glenn said he would take Daryl there to see him, Merle flipped out—"

"—Ace—"

"—he shot at them and when Glenn was telling me to hide he grabbed Maggie."

"Slow down," Rick grabbed my shoulder, stopping me from talking anymore. "Are you sure it was Merle?"

I nodded.

"Merle is Daryl's brother, isn't he?" Hershel questioned.

"Yeah," Rick got out. He's a lot of other things too, I could tell Rick was thinking the same things as me. "Did he say where he was taking them?"

I shook my head. Rick was about to say something else, but I pointed down at Michonne's body. "She said she knows where he's taking them."

Rick was quiet, looking at the woman. I could tell he wanted more of an explanation on that front, but she was already out here cooking in the sun and needed to get inside before she bled out. I would explain inside.

He gave a nod and knelt down. "Help me get her inside."

We carried her up to the prison, followed by Hershel and Beth. Carl had run ahead to make sure all the doors were open for us so we didn't have to awkwardly drop her somewhere to try and open a door as well.

"Carl, get a blanket!" Rick yelled out as we struggled to carry her down the stairs. "Beth, water and a towel."

Rick basically led me across the room, stopping in front of the cage in the corner of the cafeteria. Carl ran back over with the blanket he was sent in to grab, and held it out to lay across the floor wherever Rick decided.

"Here?" He asked.

Rick gave a nod. "She's not coming in the cell blocks," He nodded, before kneeling down and getting me to help him lower her to the ground. "Steady now. Alright."

Beth came back into the room as we lowered her to the ground, holding the bottle of water and the towel Rick had asked for. He was now shaking her shoulders a little, whispering things to get her up as Beth handed him the water.

"Thank you," he said, opening the bottle and pouring the liquid across her chest and neck to cool her down. "Shh. It's alright."

Michonne stirred, wincing away from the water and shaking her head. She glared at Rick who then stopped, closing the bottle and placing it down at his side.

"Hey, hey, look at me," he said. "Look at me. Who are you? Hey, it's all right. Hey!"

Michonne reached out for her sword on the ground, but Rick planted his hand on her shoulder and kicked the sword back, holding it away with his foot. "No! We're not going to hurt you unless you try something stupid first, alright?"

"Rick," I heard Daryl's voice behind me. "Who the hell is this?"

I glanced back and said, "That's Michonne."

Rick stood up, grabbing the sword, and Michonne pushed herself up onto her elbows, glaring at Rick. Rick also looked like he was less than impressed at her attempt, which had even confused me. I told her nothing would happen unless she tried anything. She's just lucky Rick seems to be in a better state now or she could have taken a bullet.

"Y'all come on in here," Daryl called out.

Rick kept his eyes on Michonne and asked, "Everything all right?"

Daryl nodded. "You're gonna wanna see this."

Rick pursed his lips, glancing back at the prison and he nodded for the others to follow Daryl. "Go ahead. Carl, get the bag," he turned to Michonne again, holding her sword up. "We'll keep this safe and sound. The doors are all locked. You'll be safe here. And we can treat that," he gestured to her leg.

"I didn't ask for your help," she snapped.

"Doesn't matter," Rick muttered, and I followed him into the other room. "Can't let you leave."

I walked with Rick into the block, standing with him as he closed the gate on Michonne. He placed her sword against a wall inside the cell block, somewhere he didn't have to continue carrying it around but he was sure that she would not be able to get it back.

"We'll deal with her after," he was telling me. "When she tells us everything, we'll fix her leg up."

"She said she would take us," I assured him.

"Out of the goodness of her heart?"

"I hope so," I nodded.

We followed Daryl into one of the cells when we saw her. Carol, sitting there on the cot, alive. I couldn't help but smile. She had cuts on her head, and the blood had mixed in with the fact that all visible areas of skin were covered in dust and dirt.

"Oh my God," I said as she stood.

She hugged Rick first as he whispered a 'thank God' as they hugged. He was so happy to see her, almost on the verge of tears but he didn't let himself cry. Carol was also whispering, finally happy to be back.

After that, she turned to me but I stopped her. I was still covered in walker guts, and I didn't know if she had any other wounds that would mean getting infected from hugging me. Still, she grabbed the back of my head and pulled it down so she could plant a kiss on my forehead.

"How?" Herhsl asked as he hugged her, just as amazed as I was.

"Solitary," she chuckled weakly.

Daryl continued for her. "Poor thing fought her way into a cell. Must have passed out. Dehydrated."

"Oh!" She exclaimed with a smile when she saw Beth holding the baby in front of her.

And then she turned back to Rick who was just nodding, still trying to hold back any tears. Carol didn't know, well, until now. She started crying and stepped to Rick, grabbing the sides of his face as she whispered "I'm so sorry," which made him finally cry. I could hear Carl sniffling beside me, and all I could really do was put a hand on his shoulder until I finally got changed.

She turned back to the baby, taking her from Beth and holding her.

I had a chance to clean up and change shirts while Rick explained to Daryl everything I had told them. He also got the chance to explain it better to everyone else who hadn't been around to hear what I had said. When I came out, Rick, Hershel and Daryl were talking about what to do.

"We gotta get him back," Daryl was saying.

"Not that I don't hate Merle," I started. "I do. You're now ignoring the fact that we need to save our own people. People he kidnapped."

"That's my brother," Daryl argued.

"And mine," I reminded him.

Glenn had never been referred to as my brother, but we were close enough for me to be able to use that as the same comparison. Saying that was the only way for me to get the common ground with Daryl and remind him that we were not going to Woodbury for Merle.

"Glenn and Maggie are our family," I said. "Besides, you're talking about rescuing someone who kidnapped our people from a town that he doesn't need rescuing from. Even if he does, it seems like he's high enough in the food chain to make his own way out."

"Merle wanted to find Daryl," Hershel said. "You said so yourself. Maybe he had more problems in that town than we want to admit."

"Still ignoring the fact that he had a gun to your daughter and took them hostage," I said.

"Ace is right," Rick agreed. "Glenn and Maggie are our only priority. If we get a chance to get Merle, then we will, but I can't guarantee that we have that opportunity."

"If we don' I'm goin' back in myself," Daryl assured.

Rick pursed his lips, frustrated, but knowing he couldn't stop Daryl if that's what he was going to do. No one could. It was one of the stupidest ideas ever, and I opened my mouth to voice that opinion, but Rick held his hand up to stop me. "Don't," he whispered.

I pursed my lips, letting out an annoyed huff.

"What about the Last Samurai out there?" Daryl asked. "The hell are we doing with her?"

"She told Ace she could show us where Merle has taken them," Rick said.

"Surprised ya got that many words out of her," Daryl commented.

"I'm a delight," I said. "Besides, Glenn and Maggie being there stopped her from being killed by Merle so she kind of owed them."

"That's what she says," Rick was unsure. "How do we know that she isn't with them?"

"The gunshot wound is a pretty damning piece of evidence," I suggested. "According to her, they sent a group to hunt her down when she left. Maybe they don't want the competition for looting around here."

"Or if anyone leaves they could come back and attack them," Daryl said.

"After today? They could have a point," Hershel said.

"We wouldn't be attacking them if they didn't kidnap people," I said.

"No, but if she was so willing to take you there, she might want to reap hell on these people. They did try killing her if her story is to be believed," Hershel explained.

"I don't understand how you don't believe it," I was shaking my head. "She has a literal wound in her leg. If Merle didn't put it there, then she shot herself. If another group had done it, why lie?"

"Do we trust her taking you there?" Hershel asked.

"She's coming," Rick said. "If she sends us to the wrong place she's done."

"She's gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound," Daryl agreed.

When we had seemingly finished talking about this, Rick led me, Hershel and Daryl into the other room where we had been keeping Michonne. She had moved, now sitting at one of the metal tables nearest to where we left her on the ground. She was at the stairs.

She seemed less than impressed at the number of us who came to speak to her from the cell block, but there was really nothing I could do about that. After everything that happened to this group, she was seen as a threat.

It didn't matter.

"We can tend to that wound of yours," Rick started. "But you're going to have to tell us where our people are, what the hell happened, why you were there."

"I'm sure Sunshine there told you everything," Michonne said, looking at me, now being the second person to call me Sunshine.

"Hey!" Daryl snapped. "Our people are there, an' apparently my brother. So ya better start talkin'!"

"So I'm guessing you're the brother of the son-of-a-bitch that shot me?!" Michonne fired back, standing up to face him as Daryl raised his crossbow.

Rick raised a hand, placing it on top of his weapon as he hushed Daryl, forcing him to lower the crossbow. "You came here for a reason," Rick told her.

"You promised you'd help us," I agreed, not hiding the annoyance in my tone.

Michonne was quiet, thinking. There had to be something else she wanted from helping us, because with the way she was acting, she probably could have just given me the directions and fixed her leg herself, so she wasn't holding any information in so we would give her the medical care she needed.

"There's a town," she said finally. "Woodbury. About 75 survivors. I think they were taken there."

"A whole town?" Rick seemed less than convinced.

In all honesty, hearing it now, the sheer number of people still there. We hadn't seen 75 people in the whole apocalypse, and now there was just a whole group of them. The biggest group we had ever heard of was Randall's group of 30.

"It's run by this guy who calls himself the Governor," she said. "Pretty boy, charming, Jim Jones type."

"He got muscle?" Daryl asked.

"Paramilitary wannabes. They have armed sentries on every wall."

Rick gave a nod, thinking. "You know a way in?"

"The place is secure from walkers, but we could slip our way through."

There was a long pause as the information was mulled over. Rick seemed to believe her, her story, or he would have kept questioning her, pestering her for more answers. He gave a nod, which seemed that he was content.

"This is Hershel," Rick introduced, gesturing to Hershel behind him. "The father of the girl who was taken. He'll take care of that leg."

"I'm going," I said, getting it out before it could be disputed. "Michonne trusts me more than anyone else here, it's going to be better if I'm there."

Rick had just finished explaining to everyone what Michonne had told them, his plan to take a small group along with her to retrieve Glenn and Maggie, whether he sent that whole group into the town had yet to have been decided.

"How do you know we can trust her?" Oscar asked.

"This is Maggie and Glenn!" Beth snapped. "Why are we even debating? Let's decide on a group and go!"

"I'll go after 'em," Daryl said.

"I'll go," Beth had never been more serious, the look on her face was more than enough.

"Me, too," Axel stepped forward, before looking at Oscar for his support.

"I'm in," Oscar nodded.

Rick had to think. Sending all of them, me, Daryl and whether he decided to join or not would be taking people away from protecting this place. "We're not sending anyone in alone. I'll decide on a group," Rick said, walking away from the small circle with Daryl.

I followed them, knowing it would be best for me to get my point across sooner, rather than later. "I'm going."

"No, ya ain't," Daryl shook his head.

"I was there, I watched them get kidnapped and I brought back the only person that can help us. I have done more for them than anyone. You don't get a say on this," I stated each point simply enough to show that I was not backing down. "None of you do."

Rick was quiet for a second, but nodded. It was easier than I thought it would be, especially when I had more arguments in the barrel waiting.

Daryl shook his head. "No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"You can't leave me in charge of the prison and a whole group of people and go head to head against the prisoners but call this crossing the line," I snapped. "It doesn't work that way. I'm not sitting back on this one."

Daryl was staring at me, he wanted to argue but he couldn't. The things I had done in the last week were all too important or dangerous to say that I couldn't handle this. I could. In all fairness I had offered my services on most of those tasks, but that doesn't discredit the amount of trust that had been placed in me to keep these people safe.

He shook his head, but snapped out, "Fine. But you're wearing that gear. All of it."

I nodded.

It was a reasonable request, one that I was probably going to do on my own anyway. As confident as I was that I was joining them, I knew the second something bad were to happen that I would be the most useless person there without the extra protection.

"We'll bring Oscar too," Rick decided.

"That all?" Daryl asked.

"Five people should be enough," Rick said. "Let him know."

Daryl nodding, giving me one long stare before turning back to the small group, going over to tell them the news.

I was glad that I managed to convince him early, because my next plan was to take a spark plug from each of these cars and hold this group hostage until I was allowed to go. It was ridiculous that I even had to ask when I had been left to protect these people countless times now.

"Help me get some supplies," Rick gestured for me to follow him, and I did as told. Before we entered the cafeteria where we had kept our loot from the armoury and prison, he stopped at my cell. "Get your gear."

I reached around the doorway, grabbing the riot armour that had always been dumped at the bottom of my bed when I didn't use it. For some reason it was only ever me that had to wear the armour, so it was best to keep it with the rest of my things.

"You don't have to come," Rick told me, stopping me before I could continue walking to the cell block for the supplies. "I can't guarantee that you won't have to kill anyone here, and after what you said the other week—"

"Glenn and Maggie are bigger than that," I interrupted him. "I can do this."

Rick nodded. "Okay."

And here comes Ace's responsibility. We're underway planning the second book and starting on the writing so you should all get than in due time, and we have some plans for that. I just want to reitterate that the chapter limit is only an issue in wattpad, but seeing as I'm separating the books over there, I may as well do the same thing over here.

I hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought :)