𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 | Daryl Dixon

30 | THE GOVERNOR

Tori stared at the wall across from her. The room was huge, lit by lightbulbs swinging from their cables, the glare just a little too bright above her head, making her skin glisten with sweat. Her eyes ached as her gaze kept flicking toward the door in the corner of the room, hidden by shadows.

Her wrists stung, burned as she tried to struggle against the ropes keeping her restrained to the wooden chair. Her side burned with a bruise where she'd caught a punch whilst being dragged to the dungeon she was now confined to. A large room completely empty beside herself.

One of the legs on her chair was a millimetre shorter than the others, leaving her uneasily balanced. A round table sat before her, the surface looking dusty, stained, and scratched. She wondered how many people had been in this room before her. How long they'd been forced to stay.

The corrugated metal that made up the walls did little to muffle the sounds coming from the rooms beside her. She could here Merle talking to Glenn, trying to get information out of him, mocking him when he refused to backdown.

Then, Merle was yelling. Tori could hear every punch and kick he tortured Glenn with the younger man holding in his groans of agony. She knew Maggie must have been nearby too, hearing the man she loved be put through torture, unable to help him.

The three of them left the prison that morning to bring supplies to their people, to the new baby back home. A simple task, which had turned into wondering whether or not they'd make it out alive. If they'd ever get to see their home again.

The yelling and the punches eventually stopped, and shortly after, Tori heard footsteps getting closer and closer to the door of her chamber. Her breathing was shallow, her face as blank as she could make it. Devoid of any fear or emotion, though she was sure her eyes were letting her down.

She blinked rapidly as the lock on the door clicked, ridding herself of the dryness as the room was entered by Merle Dixon himself, that smug, arrogant grin on his face, just like usual, like he knew something she didn't. Which, in this case, he did.

"Long time no see, huh, sugartits?" he drawled, slowly stalking toward the bound woman. "Ain't got a big hug for your old pal, Merle?"

She didn't respond. Staring straight ahead still, ignoring his presence as much as she could. A shiver went through her, fists clenching behind the chair. She bit her tongue to hide the sudden sharp sting from the tight ropes.

Merle etched closer. He dragged the tip of the blade on his arm along the table's surface, adding a new scratch to the light oak. "You know, things didn't have to be like this. I didn't want 'em to be. I lowered my gun... you raised yours. You're an asshole, sweet-cheeks. Just like you were before, leaving me on that rooftop back in Atlanta. I looked in your eyes – I pleaded with you, and what did you do? You ran."

Tori's eyes averted to meet the man's. "We went back for you."

"Whoa-ho! She talks!" Merle chuckled. "Yeah... that's what the Asian boy said. You two, Officer Friendly, T-Dog - may he rest in pieces -" he smirked. "-and my baby brother." He perched himself on the edge of the table, arms crossing over his lap. "Where's he at?"

Keeping her eyes locked with Merle's, Tori refused to talk.

"C'mon, Tori," he uttered. "You can't tell me he's alive and then refuse to tell me where he's at. You don't tell me, the Governor's gonna come in here, and make you talk."

"You work for a guy called the Governor?" Tori all by scoffed at the name. "Seriously?"

"It'd be in your best interest to quit it with the attitude, missy," Merle warned her. "Boos-man don't take to well to bitchiness."