world's end ━ the walking dead

( 𝟎𝟒𝟕 ) talking with merle

— FINDING OUT THAT THEY WERE at war with the Governor and Woodbury, was something that Zoe didn't think she would take all that well, but when her father had gathered the group together to tell them the bad news, Zoe wasn't as afraid as she thought she would be, due to the fact that she believed in her family, and knew that they were all going to fight for their home, as well as herself. They fought for the prison, they cleared it out, they killed for it, and they claimed it as their own; they weren't leaving, no matter what the Governor told them, or threatened them with. Rick didn't even think the Governor's offer through, he knew going in there that they were going to be going to war with the man, especially after what he did to his daughter, there wasn't any way he was getting away with it - he didn't tell the group the Governor's offer about Michonne, he knew they would all think the same, that they weren't going to give her up, but either way, it was easier for them all if they believed the Governor hadn't made a deal, and that he straight up wanted to start a war with them. It gave them motivation.
But the reason as to why Rick didn't tell the group about Michonne, was because he was considering it - he had a baby to look after and two kids, how could he not think about the offer the Governor gave him? He couldn't let his daughter know, it would break her that he was even considering this option, so he kept it from everyone besides Daryl, who didn't think that giving Michonne up was a good idea, the woman had been a great help since she had joined the prison, and Rick knew that. That, and he knew what the Governor had done to Zoe, and he just didn't want to see the same thing happen to another innocent woman.

Daryl wanted to tell Nate what Rick was thinking about doing, but he felt like he couldn't; his brother wanted to scoop out the Governor's other eye for what he did to Zoe, just like he did himself, but the difference between him and Nate, was that he had self control. When it came to Zoe, Nate was blinded by love, and everyone knew it - it wasn't exactly a bad thing, but it was something that stopped the boy from making logical decisions sometimes. Even Merle had seen how his little brother had been acting with the girl, and it was like he was a changed man; if he didn't like Zoe, he would have said something by now, but the truth was, Zoe has made Nate a better man, and for that, he will always regret taking her to the Governor.

Zoe was getting fed up of sleeping on a thin mattress on the floor, it was growing extremely uncomfortable for her now that she was getting used to it, even with Nate, it just wasn't good enough, and she was loosing sleep because of it. She knew that another cell block had been cleared out for the prisoners that used to live here before they all died, so she did any logical thing someone would do in her position; she was going to take a couple of spare mattresses  from there. However, when she walked into the empty cell block, she didn't expect to see Merle, ripping open a bunch of the mattresses with his hook, looking for something. "You okay?" Zoe asked, curiosity getting the best of her as she watched the older man rip another one open.

"I'm looking for some dope." Merle told her, not even sugar-coating what he was doing. It didn't even surprise Zoe, the man used to live on drugs back in Atlanta before T-Dog handcuffed him to the roof, she wondered how he had gone so long without it.. "The best dope I ever had was in a mattress." He said, sighing as he leaned back against the wall, knowing that he probably wasn't going to find any.