A tap on my leg made me stir from my uncomfortable position on the ground. The first thing my eyes focused on was silver; the metallic pole continued going up until I saw Hershel in front of me. I rubbed my eyes and sat up a little as he nodded for me to follow him. I removed Rick's hand from my own and pushed myself up.

I stretched out as I stood, trying to twist the knots out of my back when I felt the weight of the riot gear stopping me. I followed Hershel out into the cell block, and he stopped towards the middle of the large hallway, next to the stairs that led to the upper cells.

"No one stopped Tyreese from leaving, I imagine," due to the fact that I couldn't see any of them, and that he did nothing to correct me, I imagined I was correct in my assumptions. I ran my hands over my face, already feeling the frustration building up. "Did anyone at least go on watch?"

"Carol did," Hershel nodded. "Glenn's taking over for a little while, but he did want to talk about what the next steps are."

I sat down on the steps in the middle of the cell block, resting my elbows on my knees. "Rick said what our next steps are."

Hershel gave a nod, but spent some time thinking about what he wanted to say next. I know what he wanted to say next, what he wanted to talk about next. After what had happened the night before, Rick losing it on the group, it was very clear.

"Rick, he—"

"—He's grieving," I cut him off, worried about what he would say next.

Hershel again gave a nod, but he seemed like he had another point for waking me up. "The others were scared."

"They had a gun pointed at them, seems like a reasonable response," I said. "He's exhausted, hasn't slept for the past two days and marched himself into war. On top of all that, his wife had just died."

"I understand. We've lost a lot these past few days, Lori, T-Dog, our feelings of security. Rick has had to shoulder not only the losses, but the responsibility of them," Hershel said, agreeing with me. "He's taken on this role for us, since leaving the farm, it's a heavy weight. I've been here for it, Ace, it's not something you need to defend or explain to me."

"He wouldn't hurt us," I stated firmly.

"No, he wouldn't. But can you tell me, in those moments, Rick was acting in his right mind?" Hershel asked. "I know what it's like. You know that I know, I've been there. You've seen me there."

After knowing Hershel for a week, I was probably more involved with his grief than I should have been. He had the barn when his wife and step son died, when he couldn't handle or believe that they were really dead.

"Yeah, and I also remember being a big advocate for you not being delusional after what happened, too," I said. "I know Rick wasn't himself, I know that's not how he acts. But I also know that if we act scared of him or avoid him he won't get better."

"Grief is overwhelming, and complex," He continued "It can take so much from us. Rick wasn't himself in there. I don't believe he would've hurt anyone on purpose, you're right, but that wasn't our Rick."

"So, what, then?" I asked. "I don't understand what you're saying, it's not like anyone else was jumping up to take his gun."

"He could've hurt you."

"Or himself. He was hallucinating Lori, and he certainly wasn't pointing the gun at Tyreese, so who do you think the next target was going to be?"

Hershel didn't answer, but seemingly he reached the same conclusion in his head that I came to the day before. I was worried that Rick was going to hurt himself more than anyone, despite the fact that the entire group was scared.

I shook my head as it fell into my hands and sighed. "Look, I'm struggling with my own shit right now and seem to be the only person that is doing anything to give Rick a break, because if he keeps this up he'll just get worse. So unless you want to join in and help me with that, I don't need the lecture."

There was a noise behind me, someone clearing their throat, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Rick. He rubbed his wrist, before he started heading towards the cafeteria, calling my name as he passed.

"Ace, we got some work to do."

I nodded. "On it."

Standing up, I gave a quick nod to Hershel as I passed him. Rick stopped in the cafeteria, where I saw no one. I imagined that whoever was not on watch now were still asleep, or staying in their cells out of the way.

"Same plan as yesterday," he said, moving across the room to grab some of the plank pallets.

"I did start some of it," I explained. "Made a few places to cover in case he decided to attack last night."

Rick nodded, "Good. We'll just keep working on that today."

"You don't . . ." I stopped myself. I didn't want to say anything that would make him worse, make him upset, because I didn't really know what triggered him to hallucinate. But I also didn't want to make him seem like he couldn't help. I just wanted him to be able to take the time he needed for himself. "I can do it."

"I'm alright," Rick said after a beat. "We'll get the other's to help. Who's on watch?"

"Glenn, I think," I answered.

"Okay," he said. "We're gonna want someone on it while we're setting up. Don't wanna be caught off guard."

"I'll let him know we need help, but with everyone back and forth outside, we might not need someone solely on watch right this moment," I said. "He'll need a replacement soon."

"I'll sort it," Rick said. "And I'll let some of the other's know what we're doing. We need all hands on deck with this."

"Okay," I said.

Me and Rick had made two trips to the bridge. He was up there before me, staring out across the prison down at the field through binoculars. I shot him a concerned glance that he couldn't see, but just watched him for a moment. I didn't want to scare him too much by talking, so I planted my feet down a little louder as I walked to place down the pallet.

Rick lowered the binoculars and glanced at me, and I noticed his face, tired and his eyes glazed over. "You okay?" I asked.

He didn't answer, but did try to get out a broken sentence. "I'm . . . I'm gonna head down to the graves."

I nodded. "Of course, I'll handle this."

Rick glanced back at me, but I nodded, letting him know it was okay. Maybe now seeing them, he decided that he did need some time. He left the other way, back down through the cell block and outside.

I still did kind of need help with this, so I finally decided to do what Rick wanted and get more people on the job. As I walked down through the prison more people were awake, and I stopped when I saw the former prisoner.

"Axel, you mind taking some of this shit outside?"

He nodded. "Sure thing, miss."

"Cheers," I nodded, and headed outside to find Glenn who was on watch.

He was around a corner, near one of the caged off doors around the side of the prison, looking out at the front of the prison with binoculars. It was still quiet outside, still no sign of the Governor coming to take revenge on the group.

Across the field, I could see Michonne down at the flipped over bus, just walking around it with her sword in her hand. I didn't know if she was also on watch, keeping an eye out, or if that was where she decided to be to get away from the group. She still wasn't healed, so she couldn't leave yet.

I stopped next to Glenn, tapping his arm. He put the binoculars down and glanced at me. "Can you help with the fortifications?"

Glenn was quiet for a moment. "We need someone keeping an eye out."

"I've got Axel working too, so you don't have to. But we'll be in and out of the prison in minutes, just take a look around when you get back outside," I was explaining my thought process. "We'll be fine until we get some more cover set up, then we can have someone safely on watch."

Again, he was silent, maybe thinking of a way to argue with what I said. It wasn't my best of plans, but we didn't have the people around at the moment who could really help us. Michonne was injured, Carol had been on watch overnight and Rick was out. And I didn't want to bother Maggie after Woodbury, she needed some time too.

He dropped the binoculars so they hung from his neck, and nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Glenn followed me back inside the prison, again helping me move pieces of scrap wood and pallets to the bridge. It was becoming more secure, I thought, at least. I know that some of the guns the Governor had were heavy calibre, but I didn't know the fire rate of each to calculate how much wood or metal would be needed to stop one.

We made a few trips in and out of the prison, and this work was finally weighing down on me, after what felt like our tenth trip back up to the top. Glenn placed down one of the pallets, and I did as well. I huffed, wishing I had taken the gear off before starting, having been wearing it for almost a full day at this point. It was becoming a lot, and I knew that underneath it I probably smelled terrible.

I looked down at the fence around the courtyard. They would also need some kind of fortifications, in case anyone was outside. Carl had put himself on some kind of job, ready, on watch and opening and closing the gates for anyone who needed to leave. If he got caught there in an attack, he would need somewhere to hide.

Glenn groaned next to me, his hands cupped over his eyes to block out the sun. "What the hell is he doing?"

I glanced up, looking around at the courtyard just below us for signs of anyone else. "Who?"

"Rick," Glenn confirmed, pointing across the field. "He's leaving the prison."

I frowned, following Glenn's gaze to the front gate at the prison, and saw that Rick was in fact opening the gate at the front of the prison and slipping outside, closing it behind him. "I don't know. Last I checked he went down to the graves."

Maybe he was hallucinating again, seeing Lori. I suppose her grave would be more of a specific trigger for him seeing her again. But none of that explained why he wanted to leave the fences. I thought maybe he saw something suspicious, and wanted to check it out, but there was no way of knowing for sure.

"This is a joke," Glenn muttered.

"He's grieving," I knew he was angry, but taking it out on Rick at this point was not going to help anyone. "He'll come around."

"No," he shook his head. "We're in the middle of a war, and he's out there doing God knows what."

I was quiet, trying to think of a way to diffuse Glenn's anger, without also getting myself overly frustrated with his attitude. Glenn had his reasons to be angry, but he couldn't act like this all the time, him being this mad for this long would probably kill him.

"He might just want some time alone," I suggested. "Everyone staring at him after his outburst yesterday probably isn't the best for him right now."

"You saw him," he accused pointedly. "He was yelling at nothing."

"He was hallucinating," I argued. "Bereavement hallucinations are a thing."

Glenn scoffed. "My bad, I forgot you were an expert on everything."

I clenched my teeth together, stopping myself from yelling back at him. Glenn didn't need me trying to piss him off even more, but I was getting close. I didn't have the time to explain what Rick was going through, why I knew about it. I just did.

"While he's out there wandering Crazy Town, we're stuck in here waiting to be attacked."

"He's not crazy. Please don't say things like that," I had gone through my fair share of counselling, seen what the loss of family members or significant others could do to people. Before and after. The only thing I knew was that typically, even some of the most extreme reactions were normal, and with the right help, people would get better. My worry was that we couldn't provide the right help. "He just needs time."

"Time that we don't have," Glenn snapped. "I'm getting the group together. We need to talk about the breach Tyreese used to get in, if they found it then the Governor could too."

Glenn got everyone together, aside from Rick. He didn't want to follow him outside and drag him back in, so everyone else in the prison he pulled out to the cafeteria. He even stopped Axel from working and brought Michonne inside.

I knew I really should have been on watch while this was going on, or told Glenn that it was completely irresponsible to bring everyone in to talk about this with the risk of being attacked at the wrong time, but I was worried about the kind of thing Glenn wanted to talk about with the group.

"Can you draw a map?" Glenn asked. "Some way of showing me where you found them? We need to find out where that breach is."

"Yeah," Carl nodded, taking the chalk from him.

"If you find the breach, what then?" Hershel asked. "We can't keep someone posted there 24/7. They could be taken out or overrun."

"I don't know what we're doing until we find out where it is," Glenn said. "Maybe we can use some of the bricks, at least rebuild the wall so the walkers stop getting inside," then his eyes landed on me. "Do you know how to make cement?"

I scoffed. "Oh, you want my expertise?"

Glenn's jaw set. "Ace—"

"It tells you on the bag, genius," I muttered. "But I would like to point out that we do not have cement."

Glenn stared at me for a moment, but ignored everything I said, watching as Carl drew out his map of the prison on the ground. He knelt down next to him, pointing at specific areas and asking if he knew what the rooms were.

Glenn pointed at the map when it was done. "You said you found Tyreese's group here?"

"Yeah," Carl nodded.

"We secured this," he stated.

"Well, he said he might have come through here," Carl pointed at one of the walls on the map.

"That means there's another breach," Glenn tapped the ground with the chalk in thought. "Okay"

I could see him deep in thought, trying to strategise. I had my own ideas about what to do, but Glenn seemed extra pissed off with me today, so I decided the best thing for me to do was keeping my mouth shut.

"The whole front of the prison is unsecured," he explained to the rest of the group. "If walkers just strolled in, then it'll be cake for a group of armed men."

"Why are you even so sure he's going to attack?" Beth questioned. "Maybe you scared him off."

"He had fish tanks full of heads—humans and walkers," Michonne spoke up. "He's coming."

Glenn glanced up from his chalk map on the ground, before saying. "We should hit him now."

"What?" I felt the same confusion that Beth had exhibited with her question.

"He won't be expecting it. We sneak back in tonight and put a bullet in his head."

"That's the stupidest fucking idea I've ever heard!"

"We're not assassins," Hershel said, probably trying to make the same point that I was clearly able to get across.

Glenn turned to look at Michonne. "You know where his apartment is, me and you could end this tonight."

Michonne didn't look convinced.

"I'll do it myself," he insisted.

Before Michonne could even give an answer, I stood up. "Absolutely not. What the hell do you think killing the Governor will do? One of his men will just step up and roll through this place even faster. You're just kicking a fucking hornets nest."

"She's right, son," Hershel chimed in. "He didn't know you were coming last time, and look what happened: you were beaten, Daryl was captured, and you and Maggie were almost executed."

Glenn faced him, "You won't stop me."

I clenched my teeth hard. His tone was irritating, but that wasn't the biggest problem. The fact that he thought he could do something like this was just idiotic. I had to push down the anger, which was a futile attempt, as I moved to stand in front of him, my arms at my side.

"I will," I answered in a low voice.

"Rick would never allow this," Hershel stated.

"You really think he's in any position to make that choice?" Glenn asked, his voice low.

I snapped at him. "He isn't crazy, Glenn. He's grieving."

Glenn glared over at me, but Hershel started talking first. "Think about this clearly. T-Dog lost his life here, Lori too. It isn't worth anymore killing. What are we waiting for? If he really is on the way then we should be out of here by now."

Glenn turned to Hershel. "And go where?"

"I want to change my answer on the stupid idea front," I said, turning to face Hershel.

"We lived on the road all Winter," Hershel said.

"That was when you had two legs, and we didn't have a baby crying for Walkers every four hours," Glenn said. "Not only that, but we used to be able to count on everyone in the group."

"Glenn, I swear to fucking God—"

"We can't stay here," Hershel insisted, partly to push his point, but also to get me to stop talking.

"We can't run," Glenn said.

I rubbed my hands over my face in frustration.

"Enough! We can't go anywhere, not right now. We don't have the supplies to keep us going on the road again," neither of them spoke as I rambled, but I tried keeping my voice as confident as I could. I continued, turning to face Glenn. "But we can't kill him either, it won't change anything. Right now, our only option is to stay here and make a stand, which was the whole plan anyway."

Everyone was silent, all staring at me, but I doubted heavily that meant they were taking me seriously. It didn't matter. When the others had gone on runs and left the group, I had been in charge, and as much as I hated being in charge, I knew I would have to step up until we were able to get a solid plan. Right now the group was scattered, and there was no way we could live on the road acting this way.

"I'll try and secure the prison in whatever ways that I can," I said. "But we'll also need an escape if things go sideways. We can probably use the way out that Tyreese and his people used to get in, but I'm worried about the walkers there."

It took Glenn a moment to say anything, but eventually he began talking again, but now his voice was soft and reasoning, like it had been when he called everyone together. He knelt down by Carl and the map and said, "All right, we'll stay put. We're making a stand. Carl, you and I will go down into the tombs and look for the breach."

"You got it," Carl said.

"You'll need help?" Michonne questioned.

"No, I'll need you out here in case anything happens," Glenn looked around the room, and frowned, "Who's on watch?"

No one answered.

I scoffed. "It's funny, it's almost like our new leader didn't put anyone on watch."

He stared at me, but ignored the whole comment and left the room. I assumed maybe he was getting more supplies to carry out his plan, head down into the tombs. We had more gear, stuff to keep everyone safe inside the prison, as much as I hated the idea.

Despite what he said, he did not get anyone back to work, which now seemed to be my job. "Carol, I know you were up last night but can you and Axel make the outside more secure?"

She nodded. "I'll help axel, and then we'll keep an eye on things outside."

I sighed and nodded. "Thanks. I'll be out to help."

They both left, grabbing some of the scrap on their way out.

Carl had not moved from where he was sitting on the ground, still looking down at his map, maybe studying it for when he and Glenn went into the tombs. I hated that he had asked Carl to go with him, but again, we didn't have a lot of manpower for the fight, and Carl had also gone down into the prison with Daryl and Oscar before.

I walked over, squatting next to him. "Are you okay?"

Carl just nodded. "I'm good."

"Well . . ." I trailed off. He also needed to talk, grieve through what happened to his mother like Rick, but he said nothing. I didn't think that he would, but maybe if there was something he needed, then I could help before I had to get back to work. "I can talk if you need."

Carl shook his head.

All I could do was nod in response. Nothing came to mind for me to get him to open up, but he remained silent, and there was nothing I could really do. It was clear he wanted nothing to do with me at the moment as well.

I stood up, and turned to some of the other's. Beth first of all, who had her arms crossed as she stared off into the distance, I walked over to her next, "Beth, you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm good."

I didn't know what my point of the conversation was, just making sure that everyone was good with what they were doing, if they wanted to talk or ask about anything that was going on.

"I can help secure the outside if you want?"

I frowned. "What about the baby?"

"Judith," Carl called from where he was on the ground, before Beth could open her mouth.

"What?"

"Her name is Judith," Beth said.

How could I have missed that? I had been gone for a day to get Glenn and Maggie back, and suddenly the baby had a new name. In all fairness, I had not seen or interacted with the baby in any way, but I thought that I would have at least been told about any changes.

"Oh, sorry."

"She's asleep," Beth said.

"People will be in and out," Hershel reminded me. "We'll know if she wakes back up."

"Okay, Beth can you just wait here and let Carl and Glenn back inside?" I asked. "There'll still be a lot of work when they get back."

She nodded, seemingly happier with that idea. "Yeah, okay."

Glenn and Carl returned on my trip back inside for more scrap pieces. Everyone else was also here, taking a break, and Maggie had resided in her cell, saying something about how she would take care of the baby.

Their chest pieces were also covered in blood, and it was clear they had a lot of problems going through the tombs. They were speeding back inside, as Beth opened the door for them, and by their faces, it didn't seem like good news.

"The tombs outside the boiler room are overrun again," Glenn said.

"That whole section has been cleared," Beth exclaimed, closing the door behind them.

"It's a steady stream of walkers," Carl followed behind Glenn.

"We're wasting time," Hershel called from one of the tables. He had been looking at our supplies, rifling through one of the bags. "The Governor's supposedly on his way and we're stuck in here with walkers."

"Tapped between a rock and a hard place," Carol added.

"For the last time, running is not an option," Glenn snapped.

I didn't want to get involved, because whatever they decided always turned into some kind of argument. I was just going to work on what Rick wanted me to do, so I knelt down and started digging through the scrap we had to take outside.

"Glenn, if the tombs are overrun then it's only a matter of time before some of them push in here," I heard Carol say behind me.

"Or before one of the fences comes down," Beth added.

"What if one of those herds are passing through," Axel said. "We're settled."

"Can't handle that with just the few of us," Carol said, turning to Glenn.

I dropped the planks I had been carrying, and sighed. "We can strengthen the fences, cut down some of the trees and push logs against them. Besides, we can scatter any walkers outside by driving them away. What we need to do is block off the breach from the outside somehow, then whatever walkers are in the prison are the only ones inside. More won't be able to get in."

"And how do you imagine we do that?" Glenn asked.

"Cut down trees, pile up logs, pile up bricks," I listed off any number of ideas. "Even without the cement, the walkers won't push down the brick walls unless we make some kind of noise inside, which may not even happen until we get pushed out. We can turn the number of walkers here into a finite amount. We can even just kill the walkers in here through the gates, so we aren't always in danger."

Glenn was deep in thought at my plans.

"Clearly none of those are perfect, but even if we have to escape through the back, we won't have the cars at that side of the prison which means that escape has to be a last resort. We don't have the supplies to make it on the road just yet, but we can work on it," I said.

Hershel didn't argue, and still Glenn was actually thinking about the ideas I presented. No one was sure, hell, I wasn't sure, but they needed some kind of way to keep each other from arguing about what was the best idea, and so I had to present our only options with some kind of authority.

Glen nodded. "Okay. All right, we need . . ." he paused, as if his idea to search the tombs for a breach had been changed. "We just need to scout the far side of the prison. Find out what's going on."

"You're going out there?" Hershel asked.

"I'll take a car and make it quick."

"I'll drive," Axel offered.

"No, you stay here," Glenn said. "Help with the fortifications. I'll take Maggie."

"You sure she's up to that?" Hershel said.

I bit the inside of my lip and went back to working. As I got more scrap outside, I saw Glenn and Hershel outside talking. Glenn seemed mad, not a surprise after today, but he wasn't yelling at Hershel which is what surprised me more.

I could see as Glenn got in one of the cars, driving away. Carl let him outside, opening the front gate for him, and I assumed that Michonne back down at the front gate would let him out of the prison to do what he wanted to this time.

Hershel glanced over at me, and nodded, gesturing that he wanted to talk. I walked over to him as he stared at the car, following it with his eyes as he disappeared behind the trees that blocked off the road.

"Glenn left. He's looking for breaches."

"Alone?" I had seen that he was alone, but I hoped that maybe someone had been waiting in the car for him.

"I offered to go with him," Hershel said. "He's intent on doing this alone."

I closed my eyes, letting a long breath out of my nose.

"He's angry," Hershel said. "What happened at Woodbury, it's taking a toll on him, and he won't admit it."

"I know," I said. "I'm trying, but he's making it hard."

Hershel nodded.

Maybe I had spent less time trying to help Glenn, but every time I spoke to him, he got pissed. I couldn't continue those conversations without getting angry myself, because I had a hard enough time trying to keep Rick safe, but now Glenn was leaving to go look at an infested part of the prison.

It was a task I would have done myself, but I had the knowledge on the best ways to block off the breaches, ways to keep the walkers out. I should have offered to go with him too, not taken no for an answer.

"I think it's taking a toll on you, too," Hershel suggested.

"I'll be fine," I muttered. "There's other things to focus on right now."

Hershel stared at me, but I kept my eyes out, trying to find Rick outside. It was a far distance, and making him out from the walkers was almost impossible. Eventually I did catch his movement, more alive than the rest of the bodies scattered outside.

"Glenn thinks he's in charge with Rick the way that he is," Hershel added.

"Is that what he said?"

"He had a more colourful description."

I bit my tongue. "I bet he did."

I wondered if anyone else agreed with Glenn, that he was in charge with Rick out of action. I couldn't ask, because the answer would annoy me to no end. Despite the work I was doing, trying to keep everyone on the plan I had been told to follow, they thought that it was now pointless because Rick couldn't justify why we had to do things this way.

"He's still out there," I said finally.

"I know," Hershel nodded.

I sighed. "We need to get him back in. I can't risk him out there longer if the Governor's on his way."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Shaking my head, I shifted the gear on my shoulders to a more comfortable position. "Not outside. Maybe you can talk to him from the field. He's not that far out yet I'm just going to get another gun, it can get pretty overrun out there."

As I went back inside for the gun, I saw that Hershel did take my suggestion, hobbling across the field to stand opposite where Rick had been outside the fence. When I was ready, I headed back out and walked to the front gate to get Rick back inside.

Michonne stepped out from the bus as I passed her. "Need backup?"

I rolled my eyes and passed her, waiting for her to open the front gate. She got the hint, pulling out a set of keys, despite my ignorance.

She stopped at the gate next to me, but didn't unlock the gate. "Are you really not talking to me?"

"I'm busy," I gestured to the lock with my head.

"That's why I'm asking if you need backup," she said, a small smile as she leaned against the bus. "Come on, you're the kindest person I've met in the apocalypse and you're mad at me?"

"I am mad at you," I snapped. "You left them. They needed your help, and you left them. Daryl got caught, and because of that, he's gone."

Michonne gave a nod, standing up straight and saying, "There was something I had to do."

"What?" I asked. "Because you've been pretty secretive about why you left."

Michonne was quiet, but did eventually answer the question, which shocked me, "While I was staying there, in Woodbury, I saw the Governor in his apartment through the window. He had a girl, young, and was brushing her hair. Thought he was . . . you know. Something happened and he stuck a bag over her head. I went to save her, but when I got there, to his apartment that night she was a walker, locked in some cage in his apartment."

"He killed her?" I asked.

"It was his daughter, she was bit, and he kept her like that. I thought she was alive, and I went back to save her," Michonne explained. "He kept asking me not to hurt her, like she wasn't dead. We got into a fight, and I took his eye."

I nodded. "You killed her? The walker?"

She nodded.

"You could have just told us," I said again.

"I didn't know you."

Made sense, I didn't tell her everything for the same reason, "I guess. Sorry it didn't work out."

"Same goes for you," she said, throwing the keys up and catching them again. "So, need that backup?"

"No, I'll be good," I said. "Rick doesn't really trust you."

"I get it," she grinned. "I don't like him, either."

BANG!

I ran back out into the field, staring outside the prison. There was a car there, both doors open to cover the two people there. One of the men had a gun aimed up at the courtyard, and it was clear that's where the shot came from. As he lowered the gun for a second, I saw him.

The Governor.

He killed someone.

His gun then shifted, and I saw that the barrel was now aimed in my direction. Michonne grabbed my arm and dragged me back behind the bus as the shots rang out, the metallic clangs telling me that he tried getting his bullets through the bus. We were both held down right at the very back of the bus, just outside of the Governor's view.

Michonne had a gun on her, one I hadn't noticed when I was talking to her but now realised she must have left somewhere around the bus to be able to reach it quickly.

"Where the hell did you get that?!" I snapped at her.

"I hid it here in case shit went sideways," she said, looking back over her shoulder. "Aren't you happy I did that now?"

"Happy you stole our weapon?!" I yelled sarcastically. "I'm thrilled!"

"Just kill that bastard!" She snapped back.

"With pleasure."

I poked my head around the side, aiming my gun at the car again and looking for the Governor on the other side of the car. I squeezed the trigger, my hands tightening on the grip as a stream of bullets flew out in his direction. They thudded against the car, landed on the bonnet and the roof, but none of them hit him. All he did was twist his head to the side.

I could see him smile down the sight, smirking at me.

He was too far away. It wasn't like shooting at the people in the arena, because we were closer, but now I was far less accurate. He placed his gun over the open car door, and started shooting again, and I pulled my head back.

As my eyes went across the field, I remembered that Hershel was down there, talking to Rick, but he wasn't there anymore. Still behind the bus, I held the gun out in their direction to find them down the sight.

Bullets flew into the field, the aim switching between there and somewhere outside the fence. I followed the direction with my gun and saw the figure of a man who was switching his aim between the two men.

"They got someone pinning Rick and Hershel down!" I yelled over the gunshots.

"There's a guy on that guard tower too! They probably cut through the fences so no one saw them!" Michonne called back.

"Can you get a shot on him?" I asked.

"I'm trying, he's too high, just blocked by the floor," Michonne explained.

"Go around the other side of the bus, aim at the Governor," I told her. "I'm gonna see if I can shoot the guy by Rick."

"On it!"

With my aim being bad shooting at the Governor, I knew there wasn't much I'd be able to do about whoever was firing at Rick. All I could really do for them was shoot off suppressing fire, keeping his bullets down and away from them so they could get somewhere safer.

The man dodged back, but none of the bullets landed in him as he just ducked down behind the treeline. Without thinking, I took a step forward, hoping for a better angle, firing off more shots into the woods when I was knocked back to the ground, now completely out of cover of the bus and in view of the Governor.

The pain shot across my chest, and I cried out. "FUCK!"

Bullets pounded into the ground around me, the sound making me flinch every time I tried to take in a breath. It was almost distracting me, but even without the bullets trying to track me in the tall grass, my chest wouldn't let me breathe. I gasped and opened my mouth, but I couldn't do anything, couldn't move.

Michonne was next to me, just still hidden by the bus as her hand touched my shoulder, pushing me to check if I was alive. I continued trying to breathe, but I couldn't suck in any air in. Another groan came out of me as she rolled me to the side.

"I gotta move you," she grabbed under my arms, pulling me back behind the bus. She unclipped the gear, and my chest could finally move, and I gasped in a hard breath that hurt my throat. "You're not hit. It just tagged the gear."

"It hurts," I choked out when I could finally breathe.

"I know, I know."

Another stream of gunshots rang out, but other than that, it had silenced for a few seconds. And then there was more shooting in the courtyard. It sounded like our people had more guns to fight the person in the guard tower, because the glass was smashing behind my head where the enemy was.

"I got you," Michonne's hands under my arms again, she yanked me into a sitting position, and I cried out, tears rolling down my face. She sat me back against the bus, towards the back where she would be shooting at the Governor. "Just take some time, catch your breath—"

As I was about to tell her I couldn't, that every breath felt like it was killing me, I heard something. She also seemed to hear it as well, because she stepped out onto the path, and looked down the road. It sounded like a car, and I hoped it was Glenn coming back in the pick up, but it sounded way too big.

"Get up! Get up!"

She grabbed my arm and lifted me off the ground, despite my yelling and dragged me to the back of the bus just in time for a truck to slam through the front gate, the metal scraping under its wheels as it shot past us.

Michonne let go of me, and I leaned back on the bus, still focusing on trying to breathe. I opened my eyes and watched the half white half orange truck stopped in the middle of the field, and while it was there, the shooting stopped.

It just sat there, engine humming, unmoving. I could see the back of the truck clearly, how it had been jerry rigged to have some chicken wire gate covering the back opening. And then it creaked, and the chicken wire door fell down, slamming against the ground.

Again there was silence, until the walkers flooded out of the back. They headed off in Hershel's direction, and I raised my gun to start taking them down, the weight of the gun pulling at the pain in my chest.

As I fired off a few shots, the door opened at the truck and a man ran out in his helmet and armour ran towards me and Michonne, firing off more bullets towards us. Michonne yanked me down, back behind the bus, but we couldn't stay there. The Governor had a clear line.

I raised my gun at him as he ran around the bus, firing handgun bullets at us. I shot back, and heard him cry as he fell over. I came out from the bus, grunting as I pushed myself up and ran over to the man who was trying to crawl out from the field. When he saw me he raised his handgun, but I kicked it out of his hand, away from him and aimed the gun down, firing two shots into his helmet.

The Governor's truck started driving away, I could see past the gate, and dove back when I heard a car entering the prison. Glenn drove past in the pick up, but he continued along towards Hershel when he saw him. He needed it more with all the walkers headed his way.

"Come on!" Michonne grabbed my arm.

I groaned as she yanked me, but we ran along through the field. She swung her sword at the walkers around her, and I hung the M4 over my shoulders and pulled out my axe. If we were attacked again, I would need the spare bullets.

I took down a walker and we sprinted towards the pick up. I lagged behind Michonne, as joined Glenn who left the car to help Hershel off the ground. They took him to the passenger side of the car and dropped him inside, as Michonne dove into the back seat, calling out to me, "Ace!"

As I reached the door she dragged me inside and closed the door behind me, yanking me across the seats. The walkers slammed their hands into the window, growling and snarling at me, but Michonne just kept me sitting against her chest, staring at them in case they got inside.

Glenn made it into the car and started driving, the car lurching forward and spinning rapidly making me cry out. "Fuck! Fuck!"

"What?" Glenn glanced over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"She got tagged by a bullet," Michonne said, "grazed the gear and winded her."

"We're all very lucky," Hershel said, glancing back. I squeezed my eyes closed and leaned my head back on Michonne's shoulder.

I don't feel lucky.

And there you go. FYI, this chapter is coming at you from me and Where'sMyPenn's holdiday in London. We're sitting in the hotel bar getting our chapters done in person, which is exciting.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one. Let me know what you thought and don't forget to leave comments. I love reading them :)