The Nine Circles Of Hell

Stay Together

The Governor has everyone gather in the Walker circle once the smoke clears. His hand and half his face were bandaged, and the ones where his dick used to be made him walk funny. Merle was standing next to Martinez, trying to act like he wasn't hurt in front of the crowd. Everyone stops talking.

"What can I say?" The Governor starts, "There hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed. And I thought we were past it--- past the days when we all sat, huddled and scared in front of the TV during the early days of the outbreak. The fear we all felt then, we felt it again tonight. I've failed you, as your Governor and your Prime."

The crowd starts to mumble amongst themselves. The Alpha speaks louder, "I failed to keep you safe. Hell, look at me. Had it not been for my sweet, caring Mate.... I would not be standing before you now."

Lizzy goes over and kisses his face, not covered in bandages, before taking a seat next to a crying woman. "I should tell you that we'll be okay.... that we're safe. That tomorrow we'll bury our dead and endure.... But I can't, because I'm afraid.... Afraid of terrorist that want what we have! THAT WANT TO DESTROY US! And worse...."

He grabs Merle and throws him into the center of the ring, the Beta falling to his knees, and then kicks him onto his side. "Because one of those terrorists....is one of our own...... MERLE...... the man I counted on, the man I trusted. I guess my father was right.... Never have a Beta do an Alpha's job."

The Governor spits on Merle's chest while Martinez holds him at gunpoint. "HE LEAD THEM HERE! And he let them in. It was you! You lied to us, deceived us! BETRAYED US ALL!"

Two Alphas come forward with a man with a bag over his head and hold him up for the Governor. The Alpha waits until Merle gets to his feet before pulling the bag off. "This is one of the terrorists! MERLE'S OWN BETA BROTHER!"

The Governor pushes Daryl forward and turns to the crowd, "WHAT DO WE DO WITH THEM, HUH?!"

The two brothers ignore everything around them, ignore the crowd that called for their blood, and just stare at each other. Merle was staring at his Bite and the flat stomach, remembering Glenn saying Daryl was overdue. Either Daryl had given birth recently, or he'd lost the baby. The Omega was swaying on his feet and had a cut on his forehead. They could still hear the crowd, and Daryl's breathing was getting more labored with every chant. It was sending him into a panic, everyone yelling out to kill him and his brother, the one that was only here because of him.

"You wanted your brother." The Governor smiles at Merle, circling the two men. "Now you got him. I asked you where your loyalties lie Merle, and you said here, with your Pack. The people that saved you. Now you prove it.......... Fight! To the death!"

Daryl sends his brother a look, and the Beta returns it. They knew where Merle's loyalties lay....... And it sure as fuck wasn't Woodbury. When they refuse to fight, Martinez and some other Alphas bring out Walkers and hook them up in the circle, extending the leads until Daryl and Merle are on top of each other to keep out of reach. These Walkers weren't like the others.... They had teeth. The Alphas would push the Walkers closer, and the two brothers would fight back, pushing and punching the dead in a dangerous game of keep away.

Lizzy was yelling for the Governor to stop, to let the two brothers go or shoot them and be done with it if he had to kill them. She didn't want to see them be torn apart and eaten. When she's ignored and pushed back by the crowd, she starts gathering all the pups and teens that were crying and hiding their eyes, covering their ears.

"Patrick! Grab Mika!" She points at a little girl kneeling close to the front, sobbing and hugging her legs. She would wail anytime a Walker or one of the Alphas holding them got too close, but when she tried to crawl through the crowd's legs to get out, she was blocked. A lanky-looking, barely presented Alpha with a curly short afro and glasses pushes his way towards her, being shoved and hit the whole time. When he had the little girl in his arms, he flashed red eyes at a Beta until they moved, grabbing another girl that was too close to a Walker and dragging both of them to Lizzy. She takes all the people and pups that didn't want to watch the Dixon boys die and tries to leave.