salvation → g. rhee

too far gone

Glenn stared up at her with half closed eyes and uttered a small sigh.
"I could use a vacation."

Aubrey laughed, her face brightening with her smile.

"Get away. Just for a weekend."

"Yeah."

"You know, our anniversary is coming up."

"It is?"

"One of these days," Glenn replied, squeezing the hand he held gently.

"You ever been to Amicalola Falls?" Aubrey asked. "Tallest waterfall in Georgia."

Glenn shook his head against his pillows.

"My dad took me there when I was little. When we were up there, all the way at the top looking down, I felt like I was flying."

"I'll go load up the station wagon," Glenn teased in a soft voice.

Aubrey leaned down to hug him, pressing a light kiss against his sweater-clad shoulder. "I'm gonna go get you some water."

"I can get it."

"I know. But I'm doing it," Aubrey replied simply, getting to her feet.
"I'll be right back."

As soon as she started to leave his cell, an explosion shook the building.

"Don't get up," Aubrey snapped, panic in her voice and her wide eyes, before she darted from the cell and flew down the stairs.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded, following Carl out to the courtyard. Beth ran behind them, as Daryl, Rick, and Tyreese sprinted from C block.

"Get back!" Rick ordered them.

Aubrey's stomach turned to lead as soon as they came to a stop at the gate and saw what waited for them outside the fences.

The Governor.

"Rick! Come down here!" the wretched man called, standing upon his tank with his hands at his hips.
"We need to talk."

"It's not up to me!" Rick shouted back.
"There's a council now. They run this place."

"Is Hershel on the council?"

He motioned to a woman standing by his tank, and she lowered her weapon, disappeared behind an open car door, and reappeared with a bound Hershel. Aubrey heard Beth choke up behind her.

"What about Michonne? She on the council, too?" the Governor asked pointedly.

They watched another one of the Governor's men walk Michonne to where Hershel stood on his knees in front of the tank.

"I don't make decisions anymore!"

"You're making the decisions today, Rick," the Governor replied. "Come down here. Let's have that talk."

Rick looked to Daryl, who gave him a small nod, and placed his hand against the nape of Carl's neck.

"We can do this, alright?" he said to them faintly, exchanging nods with them.

He gave Carl's shoulder a pat, and gently brushed his palm to Aubrey's cheek. She was too focused on glaring at the Governor to bristle at his touch, before he was pulling back the gate that was still broken from the last attack and striding down the gravel path.

"We can't take 'em all on," Daryl whispered, gathering the adults into a circle, all their eyes on Rick's back. "We'll go through the admin building, through the woods like we planned. We ain't got the numbers no more."

"When's the last time someone checked the stash on the bus?" Aubrey asked.

"Day before we hit the Big Spot," Sasha replied. "We were running low on rations then. We're lower now."