Endure and Survive (Sequel to How We Live Now)

Chapter 15

We got to the prison and unloaded all that we had gathered. Glenn and Maggie came over to help.

"Seems like you all hit the jackpot. Everything go smoothly?" Glenn asked.

"Nah," Daryl said as he passed them.

"What happened?" Maggie asked.

"Nothing too extreme," I said.

"But something did happen?" she asked.

"Yeah. But I'll tell you about it later. Let's just get this stuff inside," I said.

We got the last of the things and proceeded to lock ourselves in.

"Everything go okay in here?" Rick asked once we were all settled.

He looked between Merle and Michonne.

"We were on our best behavior, Officer Friendly," Merle said.

"Michonne, what happened?" I asked not trusting Merle's word.

"Nothing...that I couldn't handle," she said.

I sighed.

"Nothing happened, Kari. They had a couple of heated arguments but they didn't escalate," Andrea said.

"Arguments? The hell about?" Daryl asked, crossing his arms.

"What should be done about the governor," Hershel said walking in.

I went up and kissed his cheek. I hadn't greeted him since we came back.

"You okay, honey?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," I said, not wanting to blow up like I did back in King's County.

"We have the weapons. Now what are we gonna do?" Merle asked.

"Kari?" Michonne and Andrea asked looking to me.

"Isn't it obvious? We kill the son of a bitch," I said.

"It's not that simple," Merle said.

"Of course it is. We go over to Woodbury and slit his throat. How is that not simple?" I asked.

"You do know that that place will be heavily guarded now more than ever, right? He suspects you'll come to try and finish him off. He'd be a damn idiot if he didn't. Do you really think he'd take something like that lightly?" Merle asked.

"We can get in and get out in a flash," Michonne said sternly.

"His minions ain't ever gonna let you get passed them," he retorted.

"I think we can handle them. He already suspects our retaliation but I bet he doesn't think we'd ever attack in the early hours of the morning. His men do have to sleep after all," I said.

"So you all are still wanting to go by yourselves?" Hershel asked.

"We started this, Hershel. I did. It's my fault that we're in this situation. And if I can't finish it, then I might as well die," I said.

This had been on my mind ever since the shoot-out. It's something that hung over my shoulders and wouldn't be lifted until I did what needed to be done.

"You're still on that?" Maggie asked a little hurt.

"Look, I know we talked about this before but it's the truth. I can't help it. I would die for every single person in this place...aside from Merle," I said.

"After we bonded on the ride back to Woodbury," Merle said.

"We didn't bond, Merle. Anyway, look if we do this thing like how we plan, we can end it," I said.