Carolina in my mind
Chapter 42
Michonne sat behind the wheel of the car Rick left her. And for a while, she just stared blankly into space as the walker outside thumped and clawed along the glass. Normally Michonne took an almost obscene pleasure in cutting the rotted creatures down. But even that had lost its appeal for the moment. Rick's cruel words were still bouncing around in her mind. I don't want you around my family. I don't trust you around my kids. If you try to come back, I'll kill you myself.
It was the part about his kids that shook Michonne to her core. And she began to think that maybe Rick was right not to trust her around them. She wasn't able to keep her own son safe. Andre was dead now. Because of choices she made. And Michone sat staring as she pondered the possibility that maybe everyone at the prison was better off without her.
"Leave me alone," Michonne hollered at the walker that was smearing its rotted flesh across the driver's side window. She grabbed the key that was dangling from the ignition, twisting it roughly and bringing the car engine to life.
Michonne didn't know where she was going. But she allowed her instincts to lead her into the nearby subdivision. The one they'd been planning to clear but hadn't gotten around to yet. Any house was as good as the next. Especially since it was the type of pre-planned neighborhood where they all looked alike. She had a funny friend from before the turn that used to call them copy/paste neighborhoods. Michonne chose the house with the cement goose on the front porch. The statue was still wearing the little yellow rain jacket the homeowners dressed it in last. On her way up the steps, Michonne kicked it over. The goose turned sideways as it fell. And its head hit the steps and broke off. Michonne stared down at the decapitated lawn ornament for a moment before she continued on her way. The door wasn't dead bolted. So it was easy to force open. Michonne bolted it behind her and stomped her feet against the hardwood floor, encouraging any undead residents to show themselves. She was almost disappointed when she didn't find any walkers in the house. Cutting them down was always a good stress reliever.
Michonne checked the kitchen first, pulling out anything that looked salvageable and setting it on the countertops. She wasn't sure if she was planning to take it all with her. After all, she was only scavenging for herself now. But old habits die hard. She kept going until she'd searched every cabinet. In the pantry is where she found her prize, an unopened jar of chunky peanut butter. Michonne took a spoon from the drying rack by the sink and dug in, scooping out the salty butter and licking it off the spoon as she casually explored the rest of the house.
Anytime they searched through a residential home, Carolina had a hilarious habit of going straight for the master bedroom. She always searched the underwear drawers and bedside tables first. And to her credit, she found the funniest shit hidden away in there. Candy, nude photos of the home's former residents, playboys, drugs, cigarettes, and of course, sex toys. If a dildo was located, Carolina would run around the place showing it to everyone and laughing like a damn hyena. For a while she was keeping the ones she found on a shelf in her room, displaying them like they were children's sports trophies. Until Daryl decided he had enough of her nonsense and disappeared them.
Thoughts of her friend made Michonne smile. And she finally began to break through the weird depression that settled over her after Rick shoved a packed bag at her and told her to leave the prison and never come back. Who does he think he is, Michonne asked herself. She admitted to killing the pigs because it was obvious that Rick thought Carolina did it. Or at least he was looking to blame the woman whether he thought she did it or not. He didn't ask Michonne if she saw anyone around the pigpen. He asked her if she saw Carolina around the pig pen. And Michonne wasn't willing to let her friend go down for something she was equally responsible for. So she took the blame herself. And as she thought about it, Michonne realized that Carolina would do the same for her. Michonne was certain her friends didn't want her gone. And they'd stand up to Rick for her no matter what she did.
Michonne stayed the night in the goose house, eating snack food from the kitchen and reading a trashy detective novel she found lying facedown on one of the bedside tables. In the morning, she packed the car up with everything she'd salvaged from inside the house and climbed behind the wheel. When she fired the engine up, that's when she heard the blast. It came from the direction of the prison. And Michonne gassed the car, heading in that direction as fast as she could.
Michonne pulled the car off the road, cutting through the woods on the east side of the prison. The anxiety was rising inside her as the sound of the gunfire got louder and louder. Pressing herself up against the trunk of a tall tree, she shaded her eyes and tried to figure out what was happening. The entire place had dissolved into chaos. People were running and shooting. As she watched, a bus pulled away and drove right through the fence on the far side of the prison yard. Their crops and small chicken coops were destroyed. Smoke was rising from what was left of the guard tower. And part of the prison wall had been blasted in.
Down in the middle of the courtyard, she finally spotted the cause of this destruction. The governor. He came back. Just like Carolina said he would. The eye she stabbed out was covered with a black patch, making him look more like the comic book villain he really was. Michonne darted from the safety of the treeline and ran full force in his direction. She slipped through a damaged section of the fence. And since he was expecting any further attacks to come from inside the prison and not the woods behind him, she got almost on top of the man before he spotted her.
Michonne slashed at his arm, forcing him to drop the large gun in his hands. The governor ducked the next blow, throwing his larger body into hers. Her sword was knocked from her grip as they both landed on the ground. She was decidedly more fit. But he had a significant height and reach advantage over her. They grappled, swinging and kicking at each other. But he eventually got her on the ground. Her head collided with something solid as she thrashed, trying to free herself from his grasp. All his weight was on top of her, making it impossible for her to escape.
The Governor laughed as he pulled his knife from his belt, no doubt preparing to make her death as painful as possible. Michonne guessed he'd start with her eyes. And if she was lucky, he'd kill her after instead of letting the dead tear her apart. Her head knocked against the hard metal object again. And when she dared take her eyes off the governor to see what she was banging into, she suddenly realized where she was. He'd tackled her down on top of the grassy spot where Daryl buried his brother. And the weird looking object that she hit her head on was Merle's arm piece. Sometime after the man passed, Carolina stuck the metal sleeve knife down into the ground to serve as a grave marker. Michonne twisted her body. And as the governor was bringing his knife down towards her face, she jerked the metal sleeve out of the ground and buried the rusty metal blade into his gut.
The unexpected blow startled the governor enough that Michonne was able to throw him off balance. And once he was on the ground with her hovering above him, he was done. She jerked Merle's arm piece out of his gut, sending blood spraying out everywhere. And then she stabbed the man several more times in the chest. When she heard the growls of the dead, Michonne backed off and let them have him. He was still alive and screaming when they started to eat him.
Michonne retrieved her sword from where it fell when the governor railed into her. But after a few more steps, she realized that he may have injured her worse than she thought. Her ribs were burning, the pain cutting through her like white lightning. She fell to her knees. And though it hurt, she rolled in the dirt to try and cover the stink of fresh blood. The dead seemed to suddenly be everywhere at once. So Michonne wriggled under a nearby car and lay still while she waited for them to pass. There was enough noise and activity that they didn't seem to smell her or hear her gasping for breath. And she closed her eyes as she felt over her injured side, trying to assess how badly she was hurt. She knew there was a chance that her ribs were cracked. But she hoped they were just bruised. Either way, she would still be able to move around once she caught her breath. Or that's what she hoped at least.
"Michonne! Are you under there?"
Michonne was so happy to hear a friendly voice she almost burst into tears. She moved towards the edge of the truck, wincing when Tyreese pulled her the rest of the way out as gently as he could.
"I'm okay," she said, leaning into him when he wrapped his arms around her. "It's my ribs." Normally she would object to being treated like an invalid. But at the moment she was in so much pain that she allowed Tyreese to lift her into his arms without complaint. He carried her like she weighed next to nothing, heading out through the busted gates and into the woods.
"I'm scared! I want my mommy!"
Lori put her finger to her lips as she tried to quiet the girl. She wasn't sure what else to do. When the shooting started Lori took all the kids and fled the prison, heading out through the tombs. Her thinking was that she just needed to hide there with them until the fight was over. After that, someone from the group was sure to come and find them. But after the sound of the shooting stopped, no one came. And now she was alone in the woods with a bunch of kids. They had no supplies. No water. No food. And she was only armed with her small handgun and however many bullets were left inside it.
"Ssssh," she soothed, adjusting her hold on her infant daughter as she let Megan cuddle into her other side. "Everything's gonna be okay," Lori promised, knowing full well that her words were a complete lie. Nothing was going to be okay. And Megan seemed to sense that, because the volume of her sobbing increased.
"You have to be quiet or the monsters will hear us," Mika warned the slightly younger girl.
Lori nodded, confirming that Mika was telling the truth. She felt bad, but relieved that the warning seemed to work. Megan quieted down, sniffling instead of outright wailing. But it was already too late. A rotted walker was shuffling in their direction. And when Megan looked up and saw it, she screamed. The creature growled, reaching out towards her as it shuffled towards them. Lori didn't know what else to do. So she pulled out her gun and shot it in the head. The loud boom woke Judith. And she began to cry. Her loud wails combined with the gunshot soon had every walker in the area heading in their direction. The kids were screaming as they clustered closer to her. Lori was urging them to scatter and run. But they were too scared to listen. And for a moment, she was sure this was the end. She shot one more walker before her gun started making an empty clicking noise. She was out of bullets. And she couldn't fight with a baby in one arm.
Lori turned when she heard the sound of hard thunk. She sincerely thanked god as she watched Tyreese head for the next walker and bash its head in with a hammer. Michonne was moving on their other side. The woman was favoring her right side like she'd been hurt. But that didn't stop her from stabbing the walkers through the head with the sharp point of her sword. Before long, the dead were actually dead. And Lori was the one crying, except this time her tears were not of sadness but of relief.
Michonne braced her hand against a tree as she caught her breath. And once she stopped gasping, she looked around and realized everyone was looking at her. Even Tyreese. She wasn't sure how she became the de facto leader of this group. But the irony of being in charge of all the kids' safety after what Rick said to her about them was not lost on her. Michonne shook her head and bit back a laugh.
"I've got a car full of food and supplies on the other side of the prison," Michonne said. "Let's go there first. And then we'll start looking for the rest of our people."