Tiptoe Through the Tulips

“If you’re going I’m coming with you” Andrea declared, her face stern.

“This surrounding area is under my control, if there are people they need to be aware of the rules, they could upset the balance and put us all in more danger”

“We were at the farm for a couple of weeks and you had no idea, we did no harm and neither will the rest of the group if they are there. It won’t be standoff, they want to survive as much as anyone but they’re peaceful” she argued, “They would come here if you gave them the chance” he shook his head,

“The capacity is full, they can’t stay close to here, we need the resources at Woodbury, they need to move on or I’m afraid it will get violent. There may be things at the prison that would aid us”

“So it’s all for Woodbury and fuck everyone else?” I called out from the back of the room. Tyreese was sat next to me, purposely on the edge of his seat to put the uppermost space between us.

“Well I’m not going” he said simply, shrugging at us, “Be stupid to give us somewhere as good as here and I sure as hell don’t trust that Rick guy” I groaned, rolling my eyes and glaring at him.

“If you go to look I’m going” Andrea seconded my claim, Michonne voicing her opinion slightly after, trying to sound a lot more willing and offering her help with her weapons.

Face it, Michonne was smart, she had survived alone so far and went by her instincts, she was as uncomfortable here as I was. “If you decide to come with us we will not protect you. You will have no connection to Woodbury and you will be expected to move on with the group whilst my men take charge of the prison, there may be valuable weapons”
Michonne put her hand on Andrea’s arm, stopping the woman from retorting, her face flushed with anger, even as the conversation itself had been so forcedly calm and polite.

“You are allowed to stay here overnight, but tomorrow morning we will no longer see you as friends” he said, almost mockingly as he left the room, his guards staying and again leading us to the small room we had spent time in earlier before Tyreese’s outburst.
I leant my head on the door, hearing the Guards murmur as they stayed put in front of the door,
“Not prisoners” I spat, landing a hard kick at the wood, ignoring the sting of pain that shot up my leg, “The guards are staying outside” I told them, purposely ignoring Tyreese once again.

“Maybe they’re just trying to keep us safe” he reasoned, although he did not seem convinced himself.

“Maybe they’re trying to keep us in. They don’t want us talking to anyone about outside, I mean we haven’t left the building since we arrived, perhaps he wants to keep the citizens ignorant of what happens outside”

“He definitely wants them ignorant all right” I added, keeping my gaze firmly on the door, “He wants them under his control, as he keeps saying, Woodbury is HIS. I think he’s a bit of a dictator, the people are scared, even the guards its obvious. He’s managed to pull the wool over their eyes. You remember what Randall said, about how they raped those girls, they’re not helping outsiders. They’re killing them to benefit themselves, and probably because he enjoys it.”

Michonne spoke her agreement, “Something does not feel right here. Earlier, you saw the say that Walker was tied to that tree by it’s neck, like it was going to get taken for a walk. I don’t think they use them the same way I did”

“You two think he’s going to kill us” Andrea realised, her eyes flicking between us both standing tall and worked up as ideas flowed through us. “I don’t think it’s quite like that, don’t you think you two are looking at the worst possible theory?” I shrugged, turning so the window was now the centre of my attention.

“It’s unlocked” Michonne said simply, following my eye-line. “If you go to look I’m coming with you” I nodded, ignoring Andrea’s sigh and exclamation,

“I guess this would be a dumb time to tell you not to do anything stupid”

_________

The sun had set and the sky was a dark grey, stars beginning to surface and add to the weak light of the moon, the cobbles were cold, slightly slippers with condensation as we walked down a side street, examining the town.
There must have been a couple of hundred people, the town was not large, in fact it was hardly a village and I imagined families were cramped in the houses, we kept our heads down, un-eager to catch anyone’s attention but nothing missed our own.

There were guards patrolling, we had been out for an hour and seen the four men three times, they just walked around the settlement, but why?
After all, the walkers are supposedly outside.

The lack of women and children also struck me as odd, we saw some but nowhere near the amount of men roaming the streets, perhaps they stayed inside.
More violent and dark theories sprang into my head, perhaps Andrea was right, maybe I do always assume the worst.

A line of men outside a building were who we decided to follow, all edging slowly towards what used to be a church, all looked shifty, uneasy so we joined, heads covered by the large hoods Michonne had stolen from one house, hiding out identities. The line was long, and the guards reappeared quickly only making me more suspicious as we waited. At the front of the line we were each handed a scrap of plastic with a number scrawled untidily on it, I had 93 and glancing at the man in front of me I noticed they were completely random.

“Like we’re some kind of raffle” Michonne whispered, her tall figure much more convincing than my short stature, we continued into the building, the stench of blood becoming too much and causing saliva to pool in my mouth, bile fighting its way up my throat so I had to disguise it with a cough. Once all the men were in the doors were closed by the guards and I looked around, blood and other stains decorated the once decorative glass windows, a voice rang out, stopping the uneasy murmuring within seconds.

It was him, the ‘Governor’, he said little, only declaring it was a necessity, a way to prove who deserved to live and have power. A small bowl was brought to him by one of the guards, and he reached in pulling out a number,
“Fourty-Seven” he called, eyes searching for the man, a whimper pierced the air as one was dragged forward by people who no-doubt had been his friends. The group moved back, the platform in the middle becoming all I could see as the man stood, clearly holding back tears as he was given a small knife by the leader of this madhouse.
“Bring it in” he shouted and the group split suddenly, a couple of the guards pulling something forward, ideas flashed behind my eyes but none were as bad as the truth.

It was the walker from the outside, that had been attached to the tree, the group all moved outwards again, many men praying quietly and thanking God as I found myself lose Michonne, becoming close to the front and watching as the other guards placed old metal chunks of fence in front of us, dragging the hissing retching Walker to the platform and backing away.
“Let it begin” The Governor called, slicing quickly through the tie around the walker, as a guard fired a bullet into the mans knee, his scream rebounding off the walls as the Governor then kicked the back of the Walker towards the poorly armed man and jumped back, quickly making his way behind the low barrier and watching as the rest of the men had to.

He chuckled, the only sound that was constant, ever so often some brave man would shout advice to number forty seven, some way to try and avoid the monster. The man begged to be let out, limped to the barriers, the Walker gaining on him with every step, blood already splashed over his face.

They must have given it a taste to get it really hungry.

The man died minutes later, the Walker suddenly leaping uncharacteristically, ripping the man’s chest open and devouring his lungs, the screams eventually fading out. A guard walked in eventually and put a bullet through the creatures head, ending its miserable half life and the doors were opened, the men shuffling slowly, no-one fought against it, no-one even showed much emotion.

The men that had shouted were in the corner being beaten by a few of the larger guards, their shouts and screams echoing off of the stone walls. It was then I found Michonne, her strong arms clasping around me and pulling me out, snatching my token and handing it to the guard swiftly, we began to run as soon as we were far enough away and I saw the movement mimicked by many others, all probably desperate to return to their family if they were still lucky enough to have one.

We stopped close to the town hall, both retching slightly as the images remained burned into our retinas, “Why do they just accept it?” I choked out, “Why not fight him?” She shrugged, wiping away tears hidden by her hood,
“He has so much control, you don’t know what he’s told them about outside”
“But to make them watch someone die, daily or however often is insane. Why does no-one fight? What does anyone gain from it?” again she seemed more knowledgeable than myself,

“The guards are the ones who survive it” she said softly and I thought back, remembering the multitude of scars on each I had seen, “If they survive they must get privileges, maybe they don’t have to go in again, they get power like he said. Maybe he threatens their families”

“Whatever the fuck it is we need to get out of here” she nodded and we began to make our way up the side of the building, Andrea’s face visible at the window, “I just want to know where he goes on that helicopter” I thought out loud as Andrea’s hands clasped around my own, wrenching me into the room, her shock at my pale face evident as Michonne made her own way in.

“Where Tyreese?” she questioned instantly, making me realise the emptiness of the room, Andrea frowned, “Since he said he’s staying he’s gone off with one of the guards that was ta the door”

“We need to get him, we cannot leave him here” I stressed, pulling the large coat off of me and throwing it to the ground, searching desperately for any weapons in the tables and cabinets that resided.

“What the hell did you two see?” Andrea questioned, her face growing as pale as one of the Walkers as we filled her in, the terror evident.
“He’s insane, he’s no better than the people in that other town” I nodded, the metallic tang of blood filling my mouth from the cuts my teeth had made on my lower lip. “Maybe in some way this is related to that, I don’t know. But we need to leave and we cannot leave Tyreese here”

“But he doesn’t want to come” Andrea said softly, as if that solved the issue, she was right, in his ignorance he had declared it several times, but he didn’t know, and however I felt about him now, whatever stupid stuff he said.

“He saved my life” I finished, the only words I would speak about his revelation yesterday, “He was right, if he hadn’t come it would have been a lot worse and they would have killed me” Andrea took a deep breath, closing her eyes.
“Okay,did you see any way out except the main gate?” Michonne shook her head, “I guess once we find Tyreese that’s where we’re heading then”

“And then to the prison” I finished, “Wouldn’t it all have been so much easier if we had just gone there in the first place” I said, a hint of a smile on my face, allowing the fantasy of a easy reunion with Daryl to consume me.

“Wouldn’t have made much difference” Michonne retorted, drawing me back to reality, “This nutter would have found us anyway, and I can’t imagine his claims of ‘talking’ would be quite so peaceful”