____

On the other side of battle, Glenn fell against the given table as he tried so desperately to regain his balance but he soon coughed out the given blood caught in his throat. "Ain't no way out back here," Daryl called out, trying to scout ahead as he turned back.

"Rick, how did you find us?" Maggie asked, trying to look over Glenn, however, with the lack of light, it was truly pointless.

"Daryl...This was Merle. It was...He did this." Glenn breathed, his jaw completely in parol as he was rapped in a jacket Maggie had found on the given shelf. Praying it would fit just a little bit did she zip it up for him as well.

Not daring to look to Daryl.
"You saw him?" Rick questioned, and Glenn's attention went to Rick. "Face to face. Threw a walker at me. He was gonna execute us." Glenn spit, glaring over to the Dixon brother.

"That woman too. She's Addie's mother." Maggie breathed, and Rick's knees felt weak as he bent down to lean against the table as he cursed.
"No wonder..." He breathed, wiping his hand down his face did he nod.
Angered at it all.

"S-So my brother's this governor? O-Or Addie's ma?" Daryl asked, cautious in how to question this how situation considering how terrible Glenn looked.

"No, it's somebody else. Both of them are his lieutenant or something."
"Does he know I'm still with ya?" His voice soon became hoarse as the string of questions wouldn't let up. And they didn't have time to get through every single detail right now.

They needed to leave

*

"Blake, get everybody to the arena...terrorists are gone." The all-clear was given, after the long-awaited silence did the given soldiers soon knocked on everyone's door to get a headcount.
It allowed Blake to have her assault rifle in her arms as she guarded the arena door, looking through the darkness as she felt...Her gut beating, throbbing over and over again.

Daryl had been captured, but neither of them were given the not. Instead, Merle and Blake stood side by side. Doing a headcount to the people.

Yet Blake's jaw dropped to see the eyepatch covering the Governor's eye. "What can I say...?" He offered, his arms carelessly turning around and in need of acting scared for his people to continue to stand behind him.

"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, 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 failed you." Blake gritted her teeth, these people haven't done anything.

They barely survived had it not been for the soldier's training.

The only thing she liked about Andrea is that she knows what it's like to be outside and take care of herself.

This side of the Governor made her blood boil. She wants her daughter, and the second his eyes went to the other side. She connected her's towards Merle. Blinking twice in coordination wise.

They were leaving tonight to get to the prison.

The map of the prison was shoved in her back pocket. This was as valuable as a gun at this point in time. Especially during this war.

"I promised to keep you safe...Hell, look at me. You know, I—I should tell you that we'll be okay, that we're safe. That tomorrow we'll bury our dead. But I won't because I can't. Because I'm afraid...That's right." Blake huffed, but made it look like she shifted the gun from one waist to her other. She had a pistol in her back pocket if anything as well. As well as behind her jacket.

If anything she was prepared.

"...I'm afraid of terrorists who want what we have! Want to destroy us! And worse...Because one of those terrorists...Is one of our own." The finger was quick to point to Merle.
And Blake knew what to do.

Her gun soon pointed to the back of Merle's back. Making him jolt forward.

But the given glare she soon gave to Javier who held a crossbow. But more importantly, Daryl's. The one she learned on from the decade ago.

"...The man I trusted...He led 'em here. And he let 'em in...It was you! You lied...Betrayed us all." Blake bit her lip, and shook her head.
"How could you..." She cried, the tears screeching down her cheek as she gritted her teeth and pushed the gun forward.

And it pushed him into the middle, only for the two men beside her to follow through into getting him propped up.

"This...is one of the terrorists!" The governor motioned, and Blake's aim never faltered as the aim went directly towards Daryl. She knew it was him. The gut instinct was screaming to get out.

"Merle's own brother!...What should we do with them?!" He questioned, and the hesitated response from Blake wasn't caught by Philip as he was more focused in creating a plot for his people to follow through.

"Kill them!"

"Shoot them!"
But it was then, that Blake's anger from when she was younger shown a light. Fuck him. Fuck him to oblivion.
"Kill them!" She shouted, her voice hidden behind a rifle as she was crying. Merle was so proud of her acting, proud of what she can manage to manipulate and stay out of trouble.

"You say one word, your stomach's gonna explode. Ya hearin' me blonde?" Blake warned, standing strictly behind Andrea. And all she could do was nod.

Even if she was sleeping with Philip, that wouldn't save her at all.

The shouting continued, drawing out as Blake could see Daryl starting to feel the pressure. His weight shifted back and forth between both feet. Not daring to look at his brother, but Blake promised that if he dared to look at her. She'd blow his Brians out.

"I asked you where your loyalties lie...You said here. Well prove it. Prove it to us all...Brother again brother. Winner goes free. Fight! To the death!" And that allowed Blake to lean the gun to her high shoulder.
They were planning.

Just like Blake and Merle communicate, reading eyes. Jaw movements. Anything. So with the fist into the air, the smirk rose of the mother. "Y'all know me!... I'm gonna do whatever I got to do to prove...That my loyalty is to this town!"

The anger she's had since she was eighteen years old. All simply began into a bitter felt blast to see Daryl groaning in pain as Merle punched him dead set in the stomach. The walkers were an added bonus as either one of them could be bit.

But just seeing Merle and Daryl trying to fold their own became so familiar that even the mother instinct wanted to break the chain.

"Ya really think this asshole's gonna let ya go?!" "Just follow my lead lil brother. We're gettin' outta this. Right now!" Blake gun had falter up as she began to protect the given herd of innocent people.

Because that's the problem

The people here are innocent, it's the corrupt personality the Governor turned into is what screaming for no order.

The thing Blake still craves.

Either one of them held their own. And Blake's entire demeanor stopped as she saw the angel wings still on Daryl's back. "That fuckin' asshole." She growled, still her gun pointed to the back of the youngest Dixon's head. Following it and waiting for an order.

As the fight reigned through, the walkers fell into the crowd. Making the back of Blake's gun pull through and smash it's brain to the ground. And instead of allowing anymore help to the wrong side. She turned to Javier and did the same tactic to see him fall to the ground.

Pure betrayal right before the governor's eyes.

And she smirked, picking up the bow as she continued forward towards Merle and Daryl.

"We gotta go." She hissed, and Merle grabbed either side of the clothing to get both of them wrangled. Not wanting to lose a single one in the crowd. "Dixon!" Blake shouted, and it allowed her to arm Daryl with his bow as they continued through the smoke.

The single of light allowed them to follow through and the voice of Rick that shouted to Daryl made Blake smirk. And yet she continued through. Her feet jogging as fast as she could. Adrenaline pumping roughly against her chest as she tried so desperately to keep up.

"Keep up! Stay together!" Rick easily confused Blake with Maggie, Greene was upfront while Blake kept a bit back trying to make sure they weren't being followed.

The gunfire was getting to be at quite a distance. "They're all at the arena! This way!" Merle dictated, but Rick was quick to take the dictatorship role in the instant.

"You're not going anywhere with us." He growled, but that made Blake snort.

"You really wanna do this now?!" She spit, having her back set against the rest of the people and watching to see for any oncoming people.

Blake kicked the door multiple times before stabbing the walker to the ground, only to be aided by Daryl's arrow to the one above her. She looked back, nodding off towards him as she went forward to grab it. Hurrying along with the rest of the group as she handed it on back.

The first bit of contact she's had from him in thirteen years. 

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Date Posted: 08-28-2020

Time: 1:22

Word-Count: 1558