Today was the day.

Everyone was ready, getting their things for the fight. The gear squeezed my chest awkwardly, making every breath hurt, but it didn't matter. Soon this would be over, and the pain I felt right now wouldn't matter.

We had a plan, had things set up inside the prison to scare the Governor and his men. And the walkers were still in the tombs. Maybe they could do most of the work for us, leaving only a few people behind.

I grabbed the unfinished nail bomb and put it in the bag, before leaving my cell. Carl was also just coming out of his own room. "Ready to head out?"

Carl rolled his eyes as he walked past me. "No, I should be staying here."

From what I heard the night before, when the plan had been decided, Rick and Carl got into a little fight about what he wanted to do. Carl wanted to stay and help fight, which Rick obviously disagreed with. It seemed like Carl was still not over that idea.

"Hey," I placed my hand on his shoulder, stopping him. "You don't want to be here, trust me."

"You're staying," I couldn't see his eyes under the hat, but I could tell that he was barely looking at me, not even meeting ym gaze.

"I'm trying to protect the group," I said. "And it doesn't matter what I'm doing."

"You shouldn't be here either," he argued, staring off to the side. "You're here because my dad let you fight."

I stared at him for a little, trying to work out what he meant by that. "Rick doesn't let me do all this stuff because he trusts me more or something," I said. "He doesn't want you getting hurt doing anything this dangerous."

Carl didn't seem to get it, or maybe he did, not that I could tell because the same scowl he'd been sporting for the past two days didn't leave his face. His expression remained unchanged, and he shook his head as he listened to me.

"Compared to you, I'm expendable," I continued. "I do all this stuff so you don't have to."

"I should be here," Carl repeated. "I should fight."

"You don't want to fight," I said. "You don't. It's not fun or expected of you. You don't want that kind of responsibility."

I don't want that kind of responsibility.

Carl just scoffed and turned to head outside again. I followed him, not to talk anymore, but to put the supplies in the car to be taken away.

Rick tried to stop Carl, maybe to hug him or something, but Carl just pulled away from his grasp and marched to the back of the car, putting his bag inside. Rick glanced at me, but I shook my head.

Don't ask.

When I dumped my yellow bag in the car, I turned towards the prison, heading inside again to grab more things. I would help the others while they were busy. On my way back inside I passed Michonne, who stopped me.

"Need any help?"

"Yeah, just a little," I agreed. "I can carry all this stuff, it just hurts."

We grabbed the rest of the bags for everyone who was busy outside, and I held one on each shoulder before waiting for Michonne to help me bring them outside. We walked together, neither of us saying a word.

Unable to bear the silence as we walked, I turned to Michonne. "I'm sorry. I should have done more to stop him."

"He changed his mind," Michonne said. "He needed to think about the deal, to protect everyone here. I would've done the same thing."

I swallowed, and looked at her. "I thought you'd hate me."

"I can't hate a little ball of sunshine," she chuckled, which made me smile that she was still using that nickname. "And I never thanked you."

"Thank me?"

"For bringing me here, not leaving me out there on the road," she explained.

To be honest, I thought that was another reason she hated me. She didn't want to join the group in the first place, and only did so after being relentlessly pestered by me, and then we almost gave her away.

"I mean, you didn't want to come here," I reminded her. "And I only did it so you could take us to Glenn and Maggie."

"You could've just taken the instructions," she shook her head. "You didn't have to offer to help me, bring me back. And I'm glad that you did those things, or I wouldn't be here right now."

I nodded, and smiled. "It's okay."

When we put the things in the car, I waited outside for everyone. Daryl was talking to Carol by his bike, and the others were getting in the cars, ready to hide them away from the Governor. While we hid the cars behind the large gates that led to a garage area, Hershel took the Hyundai with Beth, Carl and Judith away from the prison. They didn't need to be here for this.

Rick stood at my side, holding out a riot helmet to me, "You ready?"

I nodded, putting the helmet on. "Let's do this."

The first thing I heard was the cars, and it didn't take long for things to blow up from there. BANG! I peeked up over the pallet to see the smoke rising from the now dismantled guard tower at the bottom of the field.

My heart was racing as I held the radio up, blurting out, "What the fuck?!"

"I heard it," Rick's voice came back. "What the hell was that?"

Glenn was the one who seemed to see it better than me, because he answered, "Grenade launcher, I think."

"Oh, great," I muttered down the radio.

"Just stay hidden," Rick said, "stick to the plan."

Just stick to the plan, you're not the one staring down the barrel of a grenade launcher.

The shooting came next, one thud after another as it left the gun, the pounding hitting the guard tower near me. The cars drove into the field, and I glanced over just in time to see them run over the spikes.

The car halted to a stop, but the attack didn't stop. The turret started shooting into the main building, all the way along the entire length of the prison, and I flinched when dust fell down from the bullet holes that landed into the wall above my head.

Scare tactic, I reminded myself. They're just wasting bullets.

More shooting continued, for what I assumed to be taking out the walkers that had overrun the field, because the shots were a lot faster and didn't sound as heavy as the bullets from the sentry.

Then another bang.

They'd taken out the far guard tower with the grenade launcher, and I could see the organogenesis flash and the puff of smoke as rubble flew in all directions. I'm glad now that no one decided to hide in any of them.

When the shooting stopped, I saw the soldiers begin marching up the fields behind one of their cars, bringing the whole army towards the prison. They smashed through the gate, which swung backward and hit the fence on its hinges. That would definitely need fixing.

Glenn and Maggie remained in their places, hidden further down the prison, one on the bridge and one behind the pallets blocking a caged doorway. I listened for the soldiers' footsteps, the metal creaking as the car came to a stop. I dropped my head when they turned and looked my way, but from what I could hear, no one had seen me. The soldiers finally began heading inside.

"There is a huge machine gun on the back of that truck," Glenn's voice crackled through the radio. I peeped my head over the wooden planks to look at the different vehicles abandoned in the field.

"We knew they'd have sentries," I heard Michonne say.

Maggie was next to speak. "Yeah, but it's tearing straight through these pallets."

I could see the gun they were talking about, the same one they used to start their assault on the prison. A huge machine gun sitting on the back of a military truck. I knew Maggie was right too, we would need so much more than pallets to deflect those bullets.

There was no time to sort out the cover, so I would have to deal with the gun itself. And I was the one that'd be able to get down there the quickest, without being seen by the army of people who were still piling through the doors.

After waiting for most of the soldiers to enter the prison, I held the radio up and said, "Say no more."

"Ace! No, wait—!"

Before I could hear the arguments, I shut the radio off and watched the last person head inside. This was my chance. I jumped out of cover and I sprinted across the courtyard, straight down into the field. The axe slammed against the side of my leg as I ran, but I kept up my pace, ignoring my chest that cried out for me to stop.

When I made it to the bottom of the field, I climbed in the back of the truck. I could see Glenn standing up in his position back at the prison, both his hands on the back of his head as he watched me.

I stood up next to the gun, turning it around, seeing if there was a way I could somehow unlatch it from the truck, but without tools it was here to stay. There were parts I could unscrew with the point of my axe, but I wasn't sure if removing those pieces would stop the gun from working or not. Chewing the inside of my cheek, my plan quickly changed.

I have to jam it somehow.

Glancing around, I noticed a fuel can on the back of the truck. "That'll do it."

I grabbed the canister and started pouring petrol into all the mechanisms of the gun, and even disassembled as many parts as I could to make sure that the gun wouldn't fire.

When I finished, I turned the radio back on and squeezed the button on the side. "I'm done."

Before Glenn or Maggie could answer, I heard the alarms blaring from the prison, just as they had done barely a week before. My head snapped up, and I looked at the doorway to C Block.

Fuck.

I saw Glenn duck down, and then his voice came over the radio: "Ace! Get out of there!"

The plan was in action. I would never be able to make it back to my spot before the soldiers left the prison, and if they saw me, I would be gunned down. I grabbed my assault rifle, and booked it for the flipped over bus, climbing in through the open back door. I kept my head down, hugging the gun to my chest and hoped that no one saw me run in here.

I listened for the sounds.

When the soldiers came back I could shoot at them. My position, while being a dead end for me, would scare them more. They'd think they're more surrounded than they actually are, getting fired on from every direction.

Shooting started from the courtyard, and I glanced out the doorway to see the figure of Glenn now standing on the bridge, firing down at the people who were now scattered. He ducked down after getting fired on, before standing up again when the stream of bullets stopped.

The first group ran down my way, and I ducked back into the prison. I couldn't fire yet. If the first group were aware that I was here, they'd just march straight in here and kill me. The group would need to be ready to leave before I started my attack.

I heard the metal of the slamming of footsteps as the soldiers jumped into their cars.

"Hit it!" I heard one of them call.

I glanced out of the door, seeing one of the men standing on the back of a truck, aiming the sentry gun towards the prison. He looked down seeing the dismantled parts and the gun covered in petrol and turned to the soldier.

"It's broken."

The soldier, the one who saved my life in Woodbury, spun around and I couldn't pull my head back fast enough.

"In there!"

I cocked my handgun and aimed it out the door, keeping my body as tucked away as I could, while shooting in the direction I'd seen the soldiers. They had to duck back a little, but the bullets coming down from Glenn and Maggie kept them somewhat in my sights, until I had to reload.

I pulled back and readied my gun, glancing out to pinpoint their locations, but there were more of them now. Even the Governor had reached their truck, and had seen me in the back of the bus, and was now firing relentlessly.

The bullets raced past me and made holes in the wall at the other end. I could hear my heart thumping in my ears, and every short quick breath was pulling at my chest. The stream of bullets didn't last forever, though, and when they stopped I looked out to see him ducking away from gunshots sent down by Glenn on the bridge.

The soldier grabbed his arm and nodded for the car, yelling something I couldn't make out, but knew it had something to do with leaving. I shot at them again, and they started sprinting for the front of the truck.

I only now noticed that the first group of people had left, and drove away by the time the Governor's truck had even started up. I shot at them as the car left, and stepped out the door to continue my attack.

But they were gone.

And the walkers were here.

"Oh, shit."

I turned and ran to the prison. The gate was still busted open, and I could see Glenn and Maggie waiting for me at the top of the hill. Maggie raised her gun and shot the walker over my shoulder as I made my way over to them.

Glenn hugged me tightly, pulling my helmet off and dropping it on the ground so I could get my head on his shoulder.

"Don't do anything like that again," he scolded into the hug, and I laughed. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and saw Maggie smiling at me.

As I was assaulted with the hug, Rick and Daryl emerged from the prison followed by Carol and Michonne. They smiled when they saw us, but that was short lived when they realised that they had to talk about what to do with the fleeing army.

"We did it," Rick said as he walked past, ruffling my hair while Glenn finally let go of me. "We drove 'em out."

"We should go after 'em," Michonne said.

"We should finish it," Daryl gave a single nod.

"It is finished," Maggie argued, her head shaking at the idea of another fight. "Didn't you see 'em hightail it outta here?"

"They could regroup," Michonne explained.

"We can't take the chance," Glenn said. "He's not gonna stop."

"They're right," Carol agreed breathlessly. "We can't keep living like this."

"So we take the fight back to Woodbury? We barely made it back last time," Maggie said.

Daryl shook his head, "He don' care."

"Yeah," Rick breathed out, and started walking back towards the prison. "Let's check on the others."

We waited in the prison for a little while for the others to come back, and the first sign that they were okay was the little coos from Judith as Beth carried her back inside. Rick went over to her, placing a hand on Beth's shoulder as he leaned down to kiss the baby's head. Then he turned to Carl, dropping to his knees to hug his son.

"Dad," Carl said immediately. "I'm coming to Woodbury."

Rick sighed, his head falling in his hands. As he pushed himself to his feet, he said, "Carl—"

"—I did my job out there, just like all of you," Carl's eyes met mine across the room when he saw me sitting on a nearby table, listening. "I took out one of the Governor's soldiers."

"One of his soldiers?" Hershel seemed horrified, which confused me. If Carl had to take out one of the soldiers for them, shouldn't he be more relieved that he and his daughter were still alive. They fired on me without a second thought. "The kid running away, he stumbled across us."

"No," Carl stammered. "He drew on us."

"I'm sorry you had to do that," Rick placed a hand on his shoulder.

"That's what I was there for," he said, and started walking away. "I'm going with you."

He gave me a small glare as he walked past me, and I raised my eyebrows. If Hershel meant it, that whoever Carl shot had stumbled across them, then he was a little too proud to have done that.

I looked back at Rick and Hershel with the same look I had given Carl, waiting for some kind of answers for a conversation I probably should have had no part in. When Carl was gone, Hershel stepped closer to Rick.

"The kid was scared, he was handing his gun over," Hershel explained.

That made Hershel's reaction a little more reasonable. I wasn't surprised at all by the way Carl had been acting this morning, the things he said. It was almost like he was jealous that I got to be here to fight, despite the fact that I did almost die.

I just wished I'd gotten through to him, because now he had this under his belt too.

"He said he drew," Rick glanced my way, and then leaned closer to Hershel who was shaking his head. Rick repeated, "Carl said it was in defence."

"I was there. He didn't have to shoot," Hershel argued. "He had every reason not to."

"Maybe it looked like that to you, Hershel—"

"—Rick!" Hershel yelled.

Rick shook his head as he looked down. I completely understood his point, that he didn't want to believe that Carl would have done something like that, but Hershel was saying it clear as day.

"I'm telling you . . . he gunned that kid down," Hershel said finally.

When it was clear that Rick was not going to argue anymore, Hershel turned away and walked off to the cell block, giving me a small glance and a nod as he passed. I just somewhat smiled in return, happy that they were okay otherwise.

Rick stood there for a little while, and when he turned he saw me sitting there. He was quiet, but stared at me expectantly, like I would've had something to say. Normally I wouldn't have, but I did have to recall what Carl had been saying to me earlier.

"I don't think this will help but we talked about this earlier," I said. "Carl . . . he really wanted to be here to fight. I tried telling him that it's not something he wanted, but—"

"—I got it," Rick stopped me.

I had to ignore Rick's tone, telling myself that he was just working through some things, and I nodded.

"Are you okay coming to Woodbury?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Get your things ready," Rick said finally. "We're leaving soon."

I nodded, and hopped off the table.

All I really needed was more ammo, and I had seen everyone carrying the guns and bullets back into the cell block, leaving them back in the cell we'd been using for storage since Merle had been at the prison.

As I entered the cell, and started searching through the boxes, I heard footsteps near the cell behind me.

"Hey," Glenn called me. "You're going to Woodbury?"

"Yeah. Just need to get some more ammo," I explained, searching through the box where we had stored all the weapons and bullets. When I looked at him I saw that he was not still wearing the gear, now just in his brown shirt he had on earlier. "Are you not coming?"

"No, I-uh," he smiled and glanced back to somewhere in the prison. "I gotta be here for my wife."

"Wife?" I questioned, and I had to think about it for a second. He asked Maggie to marry him. I smiled when I realised what he meant. "That's great."

He nodded, a huge smile on his face as he stepped closer to my cell.

I grabbed the ammo, filling the spare magazine up with nine millimetres and then moved on to filling the one in my gun. Hershel said in the morning I still wasn't allowed to use anything bigger than my handgun, which I expected seeing as it had only been a few days since he told me not to.

"You—" Glenn cut himself off, and glanced down. "You should stay too."

I stared at him for a second, before shaking my head. "No, I should go."

"You don't have to," Glenn said. "You don't have to keep doing this."

I stood up, and gave a small shrug. "I . . . I need to do this."

For Maggie. For Michonne. For you.

"Think about it," Glenn begged, holding my wrist to stop me in the doorway of the cell. "For a second."

"I have," I nodded. "It's just one more day."

I started heading out, and heard Glenn following me. Maggie was outside too, talking to Daryl and Michonne. They had closed off the busted gate, I realised, as it was now chained closed in a way that would stop the walkers pushing it inwards.

Outside, I waited by the car with Michonne and Daryl, ready to head after the Governor. We had to finish this, or we would just be fighting forever. There was no point living here if we were constantly under attack.

Across the courtyard I watched as Rick was knelt by Carl, and I assumed that he was talking to him about what Hershel said. That was my best guess. I don't fully understand, but I knew that they needed their time before Rick was marched off into war again, so I tried giving them their privacy.

When he was done, Rick came and joined us at the car.

"Rick, we're staying," Glenn said, glancing back at Maggie. "We don't know where the Governor is. If he comes back, we'll hold him off."

"Just the four of us?" Daryl asked, and I nodded. "Alright."

"I appreciate you staying," Rick said.

Glenn gave me a final small pleading look, which I had to try to ignore. I couldn't stay here, I needed to end this once and for all.

Rick turned to me and Michonne. "Come on, we should get after them."

I followed Michonne, and we got in the car.

"Is that—?"

I didn't have to finish my question, because it was very obvious that it was. The Governor's vehicles stopped in the middle of the road, and all the soldiers were dead on the ground, or now turned into walkers.

Daryl stopped his bike in front of us, taking his crossbow out and shooting down the first walker. Michonne walked over to the next one, swinging the sword and taking it out in one go.

Rick walked past the big truck, to where the final walker was chewing into a body next to one of the cars. He holstered his knife again, and pulled out his knife, swinging it down into the walker.

I flinched at the sound of a bang behind Daryl, and I swung my gun around, aiming it above his head. There was a woman inside the truck, alive, staring down at us. Rick came up beside me, also holding his gun at the woman.

Daryl opened the door for her, holding his knife, and the woman climbed down and out of the truck. He checked behind her to see if anyone else was there, but when he saw no one, he closed the door.

"What happened?" Rick asked, lowering his gun, and nodding for me to do the same thing.

"He turned," the woman said, fear still very apparent in her voice. "He wanted to go back and fight you, and the people got scared. He gunned them all down."

"And how did you live?" Daryl asked.

"I fell under one of the bodies, and he drove away with two other soldiers," she explained. "He might be going back to Woodbury. We left people there, some older people, and kids."

"Was Andrea here?" Rick asked.

"She hopped the wall," the woman said. "She was meant to go to you guys."

"She never made it to us," Michonne said.

Rick was nodding, coming up with some kind of idea.

"Don't move," he told the woman, and she just nodded.

He led us away from where she was standing, hands resting on his hips as he mulled over what she said. It was strange. Not the Governor snapping, we all knew he wasn't right from all of his actions. But now we had to decide what we were doing about the people left at Woodbury.

"Well, it's over, right?" I questioned. "He doesn't have an army anymore."

"But they still have people at Woodbury," Daryl said. "People that ain't had no part in this."

Rick seemed to agree. "We should help them. They left there aren't gonna know to defend themselves against the Governor if he goes back. And the kids or elderly won't be able to survive on their own."

"They might have a few soldiers left there," I suggested. "I don't know if they'd leave those people undefended."

"We'll just have to convince them, too," Rick said. "Should be easier with the woman. She was here, she can tell them what happened, so it doesn't look like we're making it up."

"We're doin' this?" Daryl asked cautiously.

Rick nodded. "We're doing this."

"Just wished I could've killed that bastard," Michonne muttered, holstering her sword.

"Maybe we'll get the chance," Rick said.

Michonne looked back at the woman. "Her name is Karen. I saw her around Woodbury a few times. She's okay, not dangerous."

"Anymore," I reminded her.

If she's her then she was a part of the army. Just because she's unarmed and alone now doesn't negate the fact that she was shooting at us not long ago. But she seemed fine now, now that she knew the Governor was actually a bad guy.

"Come on," Rick said as he passed her. "We're going to Woodbury."

We parked the car just down the road of Woodbury, running the rest of the way there. As we approached a dismantled car outside the gate, a gunshot rang out and smashed one of the windows in front of us. I dropped down, holding my gun and watching as Rick fired back at them.

"Is he here?!" I asked, unable to see whoever was on the wall past the blinding light.

Karen yelled out to the person on the wall. "Tyreese! It's me!"

Tyreese?

She stood up, holding her hands up as she stood in the light. "Don't—"

Rick grabbed her arm, and yanked her back behind the car. "Get down!"

"Karen!" Tyreese called back. "Karen, are you okay?"

Karen pulled free of Rick's grip, standing up and raising her hands in defence, "I'm fine!"

"Where's the Governor?" Tyreese called.

"He fired on everyone," Karen said. "He killed them all."

"Why are you with them?"

"They saved me."

Rick looked at me for a second, but I just shrugged. "The Governor isn't here," I whispered.

"We're coming out!" Rick shouted. "We're coming out."

Rick lowered his gun and raised his hands, walking into the spotlight that was shining down. When I saw Michonne doing the same thing, I holstered my gun and held my hands up, following them out. Daryl still had his weapon pointed at them, but when Rick shot him a look, he raised the weapon and his other hand.

The door opened, and Tyreese walked outside followed by Sasha.

"What are you doing here?" Tyreese asked.

"We were coming to finish this until we saw what the Governor did," Rick explained.

"He . . . he killed them?" Tyreese asked.

Rick nodded, and whispered. "Yeah."

Tyreese just stared at us, horrified. Sasha had the same look, but glanced at her brother a few times to see what he was thinking. I just kept my mouth shut, and waited for Rick to explain his plan.

"Karen told us Andrea hopped the wall going for the prison," Rick said. "She never made it. She might be here."

Andrea had been my main concern since Karen said she was supposed to be coming to the prison, because that was days ago. Andrea never made it to us, not as far as anyone on watch had seen.

I bit my cheek, hoping that maybe Tyreese or Sasha knew where she was, that maybe the Governor gave her some kind of mercy and just acclimated her back into the group, only disallowing her to come to the fight today.

Unfortunately, Tyreese gave a clueless look. "Do you know where?"

"Yeah," I muttered, holstering my gun. "We do."

They gave me a strange look, but seemed to ignore it and gave a nod saying that we could go and look for her. Rick placed a hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze, before Sasha spoke up.

"You go with them," she said. "I'm going to stay here, in case that bastard comes back."

"Me too," Karen said.

"Okay," Tyreese agreed.

Daryl walked off in the direction of the cells immediately, followed by Michonne. Rick nodded for Tyreese to follow, and we headed off after them. We walked in silence for a little while, and it was unsettling seeing this place so at ease. There was barely anyone here, and I had only known this place for the sounds of shooting and yelling.

I hated it.

"Where do you think they are?" Tyreese asked. "This ain't that big a place."

"The night you showed up at the prison, we were here trying to get Glenn and Maggie back, We found 'em in these cells right at the back of town, beaten half to death," Rick explained, as we walked down the now empty streets. "We think that he caught up to Andrea, that he's keeping her in the same place."

"Jesus," Tyreese muttered. "I'm sorry, man. I had no idea."

"We didn't expect you'd wind up here," Rick said. "We should have done more to warn you."

"You were working through your own shit," Tyreese said. "I don't blame you for turning us away after what happened."

"We're gonna make it right," Rick promised. "We can take your people back to the prison, take the supplies he left here. There's enough room for all of us. We can make this work."

"I know it," Tyreese agreed.

We came to the back of the town, the wall peeking up just over the hill. I walked off ahead, back in the direction we had ran down before, back to where we left the cells before. It was easy to navigate having seen this place in the dark before.

"It's down this way," I called.

Daryl walked ahead of me when we saw the building, crossbow up in his arms. I held my gun up and entered the building, keeping an eye out for any soldiers. I doubted there would be any people here, but there was the small chance that he'd left someone to guard her room.

"This is where he had Glenn and Maggie," Rick said.

"The Governor held people here?" Tyreese was mortified.

Daryl let out a small scoff. "He did more than hold them."

At the end of the hallway I saw this door, light shining out from underneath. Light wasn't the only thing though, because what caught my eyes was the unmistakable red liquid that continued to pour out. It was a different room than the one we had seen before, with Glenn and Maggie.

"Blood," I said, lowering my gun.

Rick glanced down, seeing it just as I had pointed out. Unfortunately, that had to be the room. There were no other indications that anyone was here, and we knew what the Governor was capable of.

Michonne unsheathed her sword, and looked at Rick who was ahead of me now. "Will you open it?"

Rick raised his gun, and Daryl held his M4 over my shoulder. Rick placed his hand on the doorway and whispered under his breath, "One, two . . ."

Then he yanked the door back.

The first thing I saw was Milton, dead on the ground next to some chair in the middle fo the room. It was worse than the cells we had seen Glenn and Maggie were in, with a tipped over metal tray in the back of the room with random cutting tools.

"Oh my God," I whispered.

We took a step into the room before seeing the next body leaning against the wall right next to us. I recognised her immediately, sitting next to the pool of blood that hadn't come from her, barely even breathing.

"Andrea!" Michonne dropped to the ground next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Rick moved around me and squatted down in front of her, as Michonne lifted Andrea into a sitting positon.

"I tried to stop them," she said weakly.

Michonne's concerned look didn't escape me as she stared directly at Andrea, "You're burning up."

Andrea's head fell forward and she leaned her head to the side. As she tried to pull back her coat, Michonne grabbed her hand and helped her move it out the way. On her neck was a bite, blood coming down and soaking her shirt in blood. The Governor must've killed Milton, and left him to kill Andrea.

It worked.

A lump built up in the back of my throat, and my eyes welled up. I had to swallow hard to stop myself from breaking down in front of her, and kept myself as quiet as I could not to draw attention to myself.

Andrea looked at Rick, whose head had just left his hand, disappointed that we were so late. "Judith, Carl, the rest of them . . ."

"Us," Rick corrected her, placing a hand on her knee. "The rest of us."

She gave a small smile and nodded and Michonne brushed her hair out of her face. "Are they alive?"

Rick glanced back at us, before answering her, "Yeah, they're alive."

Andrea was smiling now, looking from Rick to Michonne.

"It's good you found them," she told her. Michonne was nodding, crying, which set me off. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I watched them. Andrea turned her head, looking now at me and Daryl. "No one can make it alone now."

"I never could," Daryl said.

Andrea looked back at Rick. "I just didn't want anyone to die."

They just stared at her silently, taking in these last moments before she was gone. I wiped the tears away from my cheeks. Andrea understood the looks, and shook her head, realising that they were planning on waiting for her to go and ending it for her.

"I can do it myself," she sat herself up.

"No," Michonne shook her head.

"I have to. While I still can. Please?" Michonne wasn't agreeing with her, but she knew as the rest of us did, that it had to be done. Andrea turned her head, her eyes meeting Rick as she said. "I know how the safety works."

Rick was chewing on the inside of his cheek, his head falling down when he realised that she needed to do this. His head twitched, and he reached back for his revolver, before placing it in her hands.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere," Michonne promised.

When we said our goodbyes, Rick led me, Daryl and Tyreese out of the room, closing the door to give them their privacy. I cried, sitting down and leaning back against the wall as I waited for it to happen. Rick knelt down in front of me, staring off into his own world down the hallway.

No one flinched when they heard the shot.

Okay. The NEXT chapter will be the last one FOR THIS BOOK. I think I will make a second book on both fanfic and wattpad, because it just makes everything easier for me. We have some of the next book written already so as soon as I get more chapters written that will be out ASAP. I don't want to make you wait because we have a good thing going over there. I just wanted to let you all know that this one is coming to an end but this is not the end of Ace's story.

You all know this because I brought up the second book before and the wattpad chapter limits.

Anwyway, let me know what you think and I hope you enjoyed :)