MAKNAE [twd]

【31】

Taeyang peeks around the corner of his door before pulling it shut and locking it.

"What are you doing here?" we both ask at once.

I sigh, pacing a few steps as he rests his back against the door.

"That woman- Andrea.. She found us outside yesterday. And another guy- Milton brought us back here," he answers.

Yesterday.. Andrea must've ran into them on her way to the prison.

"And you?" he asks.

His hand trails down to my side where I was hiding my gun again, his brows creasing in worry.

"You're here to end it," he figures.

"The Governor nearly killed my brother. His girlfriend, too. And another friend of mine. He did kill one of them just the other day. He has to die. That's how everyone else stays safe."

Taeyang takes a step away from the door, crossing his hips, "So what? You come here alone to kill him?"

"Yes," I state.

"And if he catches you? If you get away with it and someone else catches you? Then what?"

I look to the floor, shaking my head, "I came here already feeling dead. If I do die, it won't make a difference."

"Are you insane?" he hisses quietly.

"No, I'm thinking straight for once!" I whisper back, "For the first time in over a year, I am trying to do something right!"

"Does your brother know you're here?"

"Do you honestly think I would be here if he knew?"

Taeyang frowns, his tongue poking at his cheek in frustration.

"That day we met.. You and him arguing.." he recalls, "Is that what this is about?"

"We'd just gotten back from here. Governor nearly executed my brother and his girlfriend just hours before you and I met."

Taeyang seemed to be in confliction, options and thoughts weighing in his head.

"Tyreese said he's a strange guy, but.. He hasn't given us reason to not trust."

"That's what Michonne thought at first. Then, she found his room full of walker heads. His daughter in a cage that had turned."

Taeyang freezes, shaking his head and leaning closer, "His room of what?" 

"Yeah. Exactly," I nod.

"We don't.. We've been so back and forth through all this. We knew it was you guys, but.. Tyreese is just desperate for Julie to have a safe place to live. Allen's angry for how Rick threw us out. And I.. I.." he sighs.

His eyes dart to a room further down the hall, concern etching on his face again, "I need to be here."

Him taking those inhalers, the guy and the grandmother, his checking of the room..

"Your grandmother is here," I understand.

"I thought she was gone. When everything happened there at the start, the elders and young children were relocated by the military from Jacksonville. There was supposed to be a big evacuation plan. That's when she and my grandfather were taken. A man named Martinez found her early on back in Atlanta. She's been here since the early days of this place," he explains.

"She's there?" I nod to the room.

"Yeah," he looks to the floor.

My pacing footsteps return, an ache in my chest setting in at the thought.