I Love You So

Part 22

The next morning, Amanda and Rick slept in. They were in the watch tower, asleep on top of a mattress. Rick was wearing just his boxers and Amanda wore her laced black bra and matching panties. Amanda woke up, exhaling happily as she stretched, "good morning." she said happily, noticing Rick was awake and watching her

"Good morning." Rick smiled as he kissed the top of her head

Amanda leaned in to kiss Rick but pulled away when she heard rapid gun fire. Amanda jolted up, looking out the window, "rick! there's walkers inside the prison!" Amanda shouted, "Judith!" She yelled as she slid on her dress quickly and ran down the steps, not bothering to put on shoes. She grabbed a rifle off the wall and rushed down to Beth's room.

Beth had the cell door locked and was sitting on the bed, trying to soothe judith, "Manda!" she exclaimed in relief as she opened the cell door, letting her in, "What's going on?" She cried

Amanda hugged Beth, "I don't know, honey." Amanda said, looking outside the door of the cell, watching as people shot walkers, "Stay here." Amanda said as she crept out of the room, "What is this?" Amanda shouted in disgust as she saw a walked with bulging discolored eyes

Daryl took down the last walker and looked at Amanda, "What is it?" He asked

"No scratches, no bites... no wounds." Amanda said, looking at Patrick, "Look at his eyes." She said in disgust, "the blood around his eyes, he was sick."

"We had a sick pig the other day... Violet." Rick said

"It wouldn't be the first time disease was spread by pigs or birds." Hershel said

"We need to separate everyone. Keeping the ones most at risk isolated. Young ones and older ones." Amanda said, looking at Hershel

"Which one am I?" Hershel asked playfully

"Hershel, I'm sorry." Amanda said, "I need you to quarantine. I'm gonna round up some of the kids." Amanda said

"Don't get too close to them." Hershel said, watching as Amanda ran down the corridor, "We need medicine."

"All the pharmacies have been picked clean." Daryl said

"There's a vet college somewhere around here, I could tell you where everything is. Or.. I could show you." Hershel offered

Daryl inhaled sharply as he looked at Hershel's prosthetic leg, "It all ends the same, no matter what we're running." he noted

Amanda jogged over to Rick, helping him herd some of the kids to the office part of the prison, to stay in, "We'll drop off supplies later." Amanda promised them.

~*~

Days passed at the prison and weird things were starting to happen. Gates were being left open for walkers to let themselves in, the water sources were cut off, food rations got tighter. Nobody could place their finger on what was going on.

Amanda was standing outside, sealing up the gate for what felt like the thousandth time. She looked up as Merle walked over to her, "you know, i gotta tell you, weird things have been happening lately." Merle noted

Amanda nodded at him, looking up at him, "Why does my gut tell me you have something to do with this?"

"Your gut would be correct. I'd like to think of myself as yin and yang. Two sides, one at the prison, one at woodbury." Merle said, "The Governor hasn't stopped talking about you." He noted as he circled around Amanda, "You could end all this... all this suffering." Merle whispered, "Go turn yourself in to Woodbury. Do you think your life is more valuable than everyone else's?" He asked as he stopped, looking down at her, "Judith? Poor Judith? With the way this door swings open all the time, I wouldn't be surprised if a walker came over and took her." Merle said

Amanda knew he was right. She knew The Governor wouldn't stop unless she turned herself in. She exhaled softly as she shook her head, walking over to the guard tower. She watched as some of the men began digging graves, they had 4 new deaths from rogue walkers getting inside the prison. Amanda sighed quietly as she took a page from her notebook, "Dear Rick, I love you. I love you so much that I'm willing to change for you. I'm willing to change where I am, who i am and what I do. I don't believe my life is more valuable than yours, Judith's or Carls. I think you all deserve a chance at life. I can give you this chance. I love you too much to let anything happen to you. Please, do not come after me, because I will not come back. I'm sorry.
Your wife,
Amanda Grimes."

Amanda left the note on the chair of the watch tower before she walked down the steps. She crept out the side of the fence and began walking towards Woodbury.

A few hours later, she arrived. She had stopped a few times on the way to ponder her decision but she knew overall what was best for the people at the prison. Amanda stood in front of the gate, putting her hands up in surrender, "Where's Phillip?" She questioned the man on watch

Martinez opened the gate, holding a gun up to her head. He pushed her down on the ground, flagging down The Governor.

The Governor walked over, grinning as he saw Amanda, "changed your mind so soon?" He asked as he picked her up carefully

Amanda nodded, "I'm unarmed, I don't have anything." Amanda promised, "I came to make a deal. You can have me.. if you leave the prison alone." Amanda said

"Let's go someplace and talk about it." The Governor said, taking her arm and dragging her over to one of the trucks. He led her out of Woodbury and a couple miles down the road to an abandoned d factory. He climbed out of the car, opening the door for Amanda, "you're very brave, i always admired that about you." he admitted as he led her inside

"Brave, dumb... depends on what your perspective is." Amanda said softly as she looked around the factory.

"Have a seat, please." The Governor said, pulling out a chair for her. He kneeled down besides her and zip tied her ankles to the legs of the chair and then tied her hands behind her back, "Do you love Rick?" He questioned

Amanda nodded without hesitation, "more than life." She admitted

"Love makes you do crazy things, I see." The Governor sighed. He walked over to a drawer and opened it, pulling out a sheath full of tools, "My plan with you is simple. You cannot love me if you love Rick. So, we make an easy fix. I make you stop loving Rick." He said as he walked over to Amanda with a knife in his hands, "Have you ever heard of Pavlov's Law?" He asked

Amanda nodded, "Yes. He rang the bell, fed the dogs - dogs started to correlate the bell ringing with feeding."

"So good." The Governor smiled as he ran the full side of the blade against her skin, "My goal is to do the same with you and Rick. You correlate pain with Rick. Eventually, you stop loving him and think of pain." he said, taking the sharp part of the knife and making a cut into her arm, "Do you love rick?" He asked again

Amanda let out a gasp, nodding, "I love Rick." She said, letting tears trickle down her face as the blade slid against her skin again

"We've got a lot of work to do, I see." The Governor sighed
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Have y'all seen the hunger games movies? i think i'm gonna do what the capital did to peeta 🫡