Disclaimer- I do not own the Walking Dead or it's Characters.
Alwaysand-You're right, Michonne isn't why Danny stopped, only Daryl and Merle can stop her doing something (stupid) to protect them. If Merle hadn't waved her off she'd have gone out there and been taken or worse.
She definitely doesn't.
Review, Enjoy.
Danny's POV
I stand on the edge of the carpark, watching the car disappear with Merle and Glenn inside. My heart is in my stomach and my eyes are stinging with unshed tears. They're gone and they are in so much danger, we need to go and get them. We have to bring them back; And if that man lays so much as a finger on either one of them he's going to regret the day he tried to mess with us.
"How far away is Woodbury?" I spin around to face Michonne only to find she's stood way closer than I expected her to be.
"About 40 miles".
I nod my head, "Okay. And how long will it take for us to walk that?"
She looks down at me a little sympathetically. "'Bout 10 hours, give or take".
I feel my body slump in defeat, "we won't make that before dark, if we don't get back before it does Daryl will come looking for us and that can't happen". He has to be there for Riley. I look around at the the scattered cars in the car park. "Can you hotwire a car?"
Her lip twitches and that is the closest I've ever seen her get to a smile. "I can, if we can find one that's still working, but we should probably go back and grab some of the others first".
"No! We don't have time for that, we don't even have time to be standing here talking. I don't want to waste anymore time, we have to go get them".
"And you have any ideas on how to do that?"
She catches me, I don't. "No but I'll think of something". She's gotten into that place undetected before so why can't she do it again.
Michonne stares at me for a second before seeming to give in and accepting the fact that we're doing this without any sort of plan. She starts walking towards the closest car.
Fourth times the charm, the engines take a while to turn over but when it does I let out a heavy sigh of relief and immediately get into the passenger seat. I'm feeling too impatient to not drive but I don't actually have any clue on where Woodbury actually is and I will a hundred percent get us lost if I tried; Which would waste more time.
I sit in my seat nervously tapping my fingers against the handle of my bat.
"This thing," Michonne starts, "between you and Rick. I've seen it and it worries me. Is it dangerous?"
I stop tapping my fingers, dangerous!
"I uh, I wouldn't say it's dangerous. I mean I worry he's gonna do something stupid but I do actually understand that he's just trying to do what's right for his people".
She quickly glances at me before putting her eyes back on the road. "His people?"
"Yeah, we used to be one group with a lot more people but about nine months back, Daryl, Merle, myself, Carol and Sophia, well we left them back at the farm we were staying at. We've only just met back up again and we're uh, having some difficulties learning to live together again but it is getting better". I never thought it would be so difficult to live together again but everyone's changed. None of us are the same people as before.
Michonne suddenly pulls the car over to the side of the road. "We walk from here. If we drive any closer they'll see us coming".
"How far away is it", I can't even see the place in the distance.
"About 20 minutes on foot".
I nod my head as I shut my door behind me, I hurt. I've managed to push through the pain all morning but it's starting to get the better of me now. Michonne walks around the front of the car and gives me a quick look up and down before starting to walk off into the trees.
"It's this way". She says.
We come out in a back garden and then we stop and Michonne points towards where we need to go. "Woodbury's wall is just at the end of the road. We need to get to those houses over there", She moves her arm and points at the houses across the road. "and then we can sneak around the side but it's gonna be much harder than it would be if it was dark. You sure we can't wait?"
I look up at the sky but I'm still terrible at telling the time by the sun. "What time do you think it is?"
Michonne looks up, using her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. "Early afternoon if I had to hazard a guess."
"Then we can't just sit around for six hours waiting for it to set, we have no idea what will happen to them in there".
Michonne looks away and lets out a very slow breath.
"Look, I can't make you", I start, trying to get her to look at me again. "Help me but Merle and Glenn are my family. If you don't want to do this then just tell me how you snuck in last time".
She mumbles `fuck` under her breath, it was so quiet I only just heard it. "Lets go".
She leads the way as we walk up the side of the house, she peers around the wall and then looks back at me.
"These cars provide the perfect cover to get over the road, but you need to stay low", She peers round once more. "You ready?"
"Yeah".
She then runs hunched over towards the first car before ducking behind it, she waits there for me to join her. When I get to her side she does it again, we keep going until we hit the fence that separates two of the houses front gardens.
"We keep to the back gardens and then we can come round on one of the back entrances to their buildings. They don't have guards everywhere. Instead they do rounds on the doors, we can time it perfectly and get in before the next shift comes round. When we get in that's when it's gonna get hard. Everyone knows everyone so it'll be real easy for them to realise you aren't one of them and they already know what I look like".
I know there's a real big chance we'll get caught once we go inside and that Daryl will hate me for even doing it but what other options do we have. We have to at least try.
"Let's go". I tell her.
With a nod of her head she leads the way.
She holds her hand out behind her when she wants me to stop.
"That's the way in".
I peer around her, there isn't a person in sight. "Do we wait for the person to come around?"
She nods just as the door starts to open. We take a couple of steps back to try and blend into the shrubbery we're stood in but I gasp loudly when the door opens all the way and out stumbles Merle and Glenn. Merle has his arm hooked around Glenn who is doing is best to carry his weight. How?
I go to step around Michonne but she puts her arm out to stop me but this time there's nothing anyone can do to stop me going to them.
I brush past her and head straight for the pair. They spot me and change their direction and head for me.
"What you doin' 'ere?" Merle rasps, he sounds like he's in a lot of pain.
"What are you doing out here", I ask back. I don't understand, how are they here? I get under his other arm and help Glenn lead him to the bushes Michonne is still stood in.
Being this close to them allows me to see Glenn's face has some blossoming bruises on it but nothing beats Merles. One of his eyes is swollen shut, there are cuts littering his face and the colour of his skin is more black and purple than pink.
"Andrea", Glenn says a little strained. "And some guy. They helped us escape".
"Martinez", Merle chimes in. "But it won't be long 'fore they realise we're gone. We gotta get the fuck outta 'ere now".
Michonne takes a longing look at the door Merle and Glenn came out of, and for a second she honestly looks like she's gonna go through it to find Andrea but after a beat she turns around and leads the way.
We get back through the gardens but as we come out the front ready to cross the road, Michonne freezes.
"Come out, all of you".
I look up at Merle, they know he's gone. I bet they knew he was escaping because there's no way they got here before us and knew where we were gonna come out from.
"Ain't no use in running, you won't make it very far."
"Shit", Merle mumbles, "go". Michonne looks like she wants to argue but she knows there's nothing we can do so she steps out into the open and the three of us follow right after her.
It's the governor, and a lot of his people. We're screwed.
When we're all out into the open Merle removes his arms from Glenn and I to stand up by himself, he won't want to appear weak. He stands half in front of me, blocking most of me from the men before us.
"Weapons down, especially you Michonne. I know what you can do with that sword".
Michonne lays it on the ground really slowly whereas I just out rightly drop my bat on the floor with a loud clang. I take out my knife and drop that down beside it but the left side of my body is hidden so without moving my body I pull out my gun. I keep it pointed down buts it's ready and waiting behind Merle's back.
When all of our weapons are down the governor relaxes his stance a little, "You really think I wouldn't notice you trying to escape." He shrugs, "I let you do it, I knew there was people with you at that hospital and I knew they'd come and rescue you. Letting you go led us straight to them", he looks at us each in turn. "Not gonna lie I was expecting a few more of you but this will do to start with. Killing you wipes out half your people, the rest will be easy".
Merles entire body has a vibration go through it, likes he's barely able to control his anger.
They can't take us because if we don't arrive back at the prison Daryl and the others will come and they'll be heading straight into a trap. We did exactly what the governor wanted.
He pulls his gun out of his holster. "They're ain't much use in taking you back inside, it'd be a waste of resources. Whether you're dead or alive the others will still come". He cocks his gun and raises it and he points it straight at Merle.
Merle suddenly chuckles causing the governor to frown in confusion; And then Merle side steps.
The shot rings out and for a second the only sound is the echo of the shot but when the governor stumbles back a step Glenn grabs my arm that is still raised and yanks me back. We run and duck behind the cars as his men start shouting when Merle slides behind the car the shooting starts.
Merle takes my gun from me and takes a few shots at the group but even if he hit all his marks, there isn't enough bullets in that gun to take on all of them. My bat is still on the floor, Merle and Glenn had all their weapons taken from them, Michonne has her sword but it's no use.
"We have to make a run for it". Glenn leans in close so I can hear him over the gun fire and bullets ricocheting off of the cars.
Merle ducks back, "We ain't got no other option, I lay down the cover you three run as a group".
"No" I shout, I'm not leaving him. "You come with us".
"Squirt, ain't all of us getting out of here. It's my fault we're here so the least I can do is help ya get away".
No, no, no. I shake my head, my eyes tearing up. "I'm not leaving you".
"You ain't got no option", He looks at Glenn over my shoulder, "Take her".
Glenn grabs my arm with a grip that hurts, and I know he will drag me kicking and screaming.
"Three", Merle starts counting, "Two, One. GO!" He then pops up and starts shooting as Glenn basically drags me up.
"Stop!" A voice shouts out. "Stop!" Most of the gunfire ceases but then one single shot silences it all. The shot comes from a guy running out of the front gates of Woodbury, the person he shot at falls flat on his front, unmoving. Beside the new guy is Andrea. They run past the group and stand between us and them.
Andrea looks at us over her shoulder and offers a very faint smile.
"He was the problem", Andrea points at the dead body of the governor. "A lot of you didn't agree with what he was doing but you were scared. He was feeding you these lies about this group but they haven't done anything wrong. We can live side by side, I know them".
One of the group members steps forward, "You're one of them, how do we know you aren't trying to get us to lower our guard. You've infiltrated this place to take it from us".
Andrea looks over her shoulder at the four of us. "Go! If you don't leave now this will get worse".