C H A P T E R  12

❛ woodbury ❜

QUINN

     THE FIRST THING QUINN BECAME AWARE OF was the soft mattress beneath her aching body. It was a strange sensation after sleeping on the floor for months. A few weeks ago she would have given everything to sleep on a soft mattress again, now it felt as if she was sinking through the floor.

Slowly she opened her eyes, afraid the light would hurt too much, as it did almost every morning. Now, however, the expected ache didn't come. She felt numb and bruised but she wasn't in pain.

Frowning, she looked around at the small room with its yellow walls and medicine cabinets. It looked like a hospital. Swallowing her questions she tried to sit up only to feel something sting in her arm. Her breath caught in her throat upon seeing the infusion she was attached to. Panic flared up in her stomach like a wild fire as she looked at the bag with the word morphine written on it. Immediately she started clawing at it, pulling the needle out of her arm with a small yelp before tossing it aside.

'No, no, no, no,' Quinn kept on mumbling, sitting up straight on the bed. She could only hope there wasn't too much of it in her system. A small part of her knew she was reacting ridiculously but the fear of wanting more and more was like a living beast inside of her stomach, clawing around, trying to escape.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to focus on her breathing. Slowly she inhaled, held her breath and exhaled again. She repeated the process until she felt calm again. She opened her eyes again and leaned back against the pillow, a sigh escaping her lips.

For a moment she'd been thrown back into the past so violently that every bit of rationality left her mind. Now, looking back on it, she knew she was going to be just fine. She could handle a little bit of morphine. She was going to be okay.

Only when she was calm again did she notice the silent whispers of voices just outside the door. Carefully she tried to move. Her entire body felt sore, but it was a dull pain instead of the scorching flames she had felt the past few weeks. The morphine certainly did its job. Curiously she pulled the blankets away and looked at her leg. The ugly gash that had caused her so much pain was covered in bandages, making it impossible to see how it looked now. But judging by the way she felt, it probably looked a lot better.

Once again the voices came floating through the door and this time, she heard Andrea speaking. 'Why are we being held here?' She questioned. 'We want to leave.'

'She is not well enough,' an unfamiliar female voice replied. 'And it's dark, you should stay the night.'

'Where are we?' Andrea asked.

It was silent for a couple of seconds before the unknown voice replied. 'That's not for me to say. He'll talk to you.'

'Who?' Michonne's voice joined in.

Heavy footsteps interrupted the conversation and the door was opened. The man who found them at the crash site came walking in and as soon as he caught sight of her staring at him, a grin spread across his features. 'Well, well, well,' he said, 'she's up!'

Almost immediately Andrea and Michonne came running into the room, noticing Quinn sitting on the bed, wide awake. Andrea rushed to her side, while Michonne followed more calmly.

'You scared the hell out of us,' Andrea said accusingly, though she was smiling.

'I'm fine,' Quinn replied, trying to smile reassuringly, though it felt more like a grimace.

Then a woman dressed in a nursing uniform entered the room. Quinn assumed she was the unfamiliar voice outside the door. 'Are you a doctor?' She asked.

The woman eyed her. 'You shouldn't have pulled the infusion out of your arm. You need it.' She reached for it, gesturing for Quinn to hand her her arm.

Shaking her head she moved away, shoving further back on the bed. 'I-I don't, please don't,' words failed her as she tried to beg the woman not to put that thing back into her arm.

'What? Yer afraid of needles, girl?' The man with one hand questioned, she believed his name was Merle, if she could recall it correctly, everything was a blur. 'There's a lot worse to be afraid of these days.'

Quinn glared at him but didn't respond. No one had to know what was the real reason she didn't want that morphine. Fear was holding her tightly as she imagined the feeling of the drug poisoning her veins once again. And though it was merely a medicine, to her it was so much worse.

Shrugging, Merle reached for a chair that stood against the wall. 'Leave her doc, I got it.'

'Wait,' Quinn said, stopping the nurse in her tracks. 'Am I going to be okay?' She hated how pathetic that sounded but she had to know. After living in uncertainty for weeks, she had to know.

The woman smiled at her. 'You have to take it easy the next few days and take these pills.' She handed her a small bottle. 'They will maintain your blood pressure. Also, keep that wound clean. If you do that, you should be back to yourself in a week or two.'

A relieved sigh left her lips and she leaned back against the cushions.

'I'll leave you to it,' the doctor said with a glare at Merle before leaving the room.

Once the door was closed behind her, Merle reached for a chair, but instead of sitting down he turned to look at Andrea. 'Bet you were wondering if I was real,' he said.

So, she'd been right, they did know each other.

'Guess, this world becomes smaller towards the end,' he continued, still not sitting down on the chair he just took. 'Ain't so many of us left to share the air, right?'

Finally he sat down, sighing deeply. 'You know, when they found me,' he nodded at two men who stood guard at the door. Quinn hadn't even noticed them until now. 'I was nearly bled out, starving, thinkin' to myself a bullet might make a good last meal. Take myself a nice long nap after. Wait for Daryl on the other side. You seen my brother?'

Her eyes trailed to Andrea, her foggy mind wondering what had happened between them.

Andrea gave a short shake of her head. 'Not for a long time.'

Merle let out a chuckle that held no humor. 'Makes two of us.'

'He went back for you,' Andrea said, 'him and Rick. You were already gone.'

He chuckled again, sincere this time. 'Yeah, well, not all of me.' His left hand moved towards the wooden brace on his right, removing it so a stump of crumbled flesh became visible. It looked awful. His skin was red and deformed. She could only imagine the pain...

Andrea winced and looked away.

'Yeah,' Merle mumbled, 'Rick. 'He's that prick that cuffed me to the rooftop.' He moved the brace back in place, making Andrea turn to look at him again.

'He tried,' she said, 'Daryl saw that.'

Merle stared at her. Quinn had a hard time figuring out what he was truly thinking. 'He's always been the sweet one, my baby brother.'

'He wanted to keep looking,' Andrea continued but Quinn wasn't sure if Merle actually cared or only pretended that he did. 'But things happened, people died, a lot of them. Jim, Dale, Jacqui, Sofia.' The names left her lips in whispers and she swallowed deeply before adding, 'Amy.'

'Yer sister,' Merle stated.

'Yes,' Andrea replied softly.

Quinn raised her eyebrows as she looked at the blond woman, finding herself almost asking for more information. Andrea never told them she had a sister but then again Quinn never told them she had a brother. In fact, they never talked much about their lives before the world ended.

'She was a good kid,' Merle said, nodding, 'I'm sorry to hear.'

'There were more,' Andrea continued, clearly not wanting to talk about her sister. 'A lot more. We had to leave Atlanta, we wound up on a farm. Daryl stepped up, he became a valued member of the group.'

Something that could've been described as a smile appeared on Merle's face but it was gone just as soon as it came, instead a poisonous look appeared in his eyes. 'And now he's dead.'

Andrea shook her head. 'I don't know that for sure. We got separated by a herd.'

Merle frowned. 'How long ago?'

She turned to them for confirmation. 'Seven, eight months?'

Quinn nodded, her eyes never left Merle his face, finding herself thinking back to the men Marcus surrounded himself with. He reminded her of them, holding that same guarded and dangerous glare in his eyes. Whatever had happened for him to be cuffed to a rooftop, she was convinced he deserved it.

Andrea gestured at his nonexistent hand. 'I know what it feels like.'

Quinn knew the fact that her group left her behind hurt Andrea, it had plagued her all winter. Who wouldn't be wounded when they got left behind by people they thought cared about them?

Merle raised his right arm, his hand playing with the belts that held the brace in place. 'I doubt that,' he mumbled.

'What do you want from us?' Andrea questioned.

Merle looked back at her, his face unreadable. He didn't reply immediately. Instead he stood up and moved closer towards the bed. She tried her hardest to swallow the urge to move backwards. Andrea took a small step closer to her, probably noticing her discomfort.

'There she stands,' Merle said, 'four walls around her, roof over her head,' he gestured at Quinn, 'medicine in her friend's veins and she wants to know what I want from her.'

He took a step closer to Michonne who narrowed at him with a glare that could have cut glass.

'I plucked you and your mute here out of the dirt, blondie,' he continued, 'saved yer asses. How 'bout a thank you?'

'You had a gun on us,' Michonne spoke slowly.

A small smirk appeared on Merle's lips. 'So, she speaks.' He chuckled although there was truly nothing funny. 'Well, who ain't had a gun on them in the past year. Show hands y'all.' He turned to the men by the door. 'You had a gun on y'all?' Spinning back to the three women he sighed. 'Hell, I think I'd piss my pants if some stranger came walking up with his mitts in his pockets. That'd be a son of a bitch-'

'Thank you,' Andrea cut him off. The words sounded not the smallest bit sincere but she pretended like they had, nodding at him.

Michonne furrowed her brows at Andrea while Quinn frowned, but neither of them got the chance to say anything because the door was opened once again.

A man stepped inside and Quinn recognized him as the man at the helicopter wreckage. He had short brown hair that was turning grey at the edges, a round face with small eyes that looked strangely empty at the world around him. His stance was confident, a little too much for Quinn's liking.

Merle walked up to him and he started muttering something in his ears making Merle nod. 'Sure thing.'

Then the man turned to the three women and gestured to Quinn, who was sitting cross legged on the bed. 'How're you feeling?' He asked.

She frowned at him but before she could even begin to reply Michonne stepped forwards. 'We want our weapons,' she demanded.

The man nodded. 'Sure, on your way out of the front gates.'

'Show us the way,' Quinn said, her voice sounded awfully weak but she truly meant what she said. This whole place set her on edge and the fact that the men reminded her of Marcus' goons was all the more reason to leave.

'You can't keep us locked in here,' Andrea said.

The man looked around and shrugged. 'See any bars on the windows?' He smiled but it didn't make Quinn feel much more comfortable, if anything it only made her more uncomfortable. 'You're being cared for.'

'Under guard,' Andrea shot back.

'To protect our people, we don't know you,' the man replied sharply.

'We watched you drive a knife into the skull of two dead people. What the hell was that all about?' Andrea said, not backing down.

This made the man frown, and his confusion looked sincere. 'They turned,' he said.

'They weren't bitten,' Michonne snapped back, her voice as sharp as the katana she carried.

The man looked around the room, his gaze landing on Merle before looking back at the women, his face like that of a father about to tell his kid that a nice trip to the zoo wasn't going to happen. 'It doesn't matter,' he said. 'However we die, we all turn.'

Silence followed and Quinn wasn't sure what to feel. She could have attacked Andrea and Michonne if she died from her infection and they'd been close by. The thought made her sick to her stomach.

'I put them out of their misery,' he said. 'It's not easy news to swallow at first, but there it is. Now, you're not prisoners here, you're guests. And if you wanna leave, you leave, but we don't open the gates past dusk, draws too much attention.'

Her eyes followed him, unease stirring within her. Something about him made all the alarm bells in her head cry out. She couldn't tell why, not until he looked straight at her. 'Especially you, you need a solid night's sleep, you wouldn't last a day out there in your condition.' And although his words were kind, his eyes were exactly like the ones that had stared at her all her life before beating the living daylight out of her. And if he reminded her of her father, out of all people, it was most definitely time to go.

'Come by my place in the morning and you'll get your weapons, food for the road, some medicine, you can even have a vehicle if you want,' he walked to the door, leaning against it.

Andrea turned to Michonne, she looked shocked but Michonne's face was an unreadable mask of sharp edges as she stared at the man.

'We'll send you on your way,' he continued, 'no hard feelings.' Then he turned and left the room, followed by his men.

Merle nodded at them, almost like an indication to follow him.

A pained groan left Quinn's lips as she stood up from the bed. She couldn't put too much weight on her wounded leg and she felt too dizzy to stand on her own. Andrea offered her her arm as help, which she gladly took. Stumbling through the hallways they made their way after the man and Quinn couldn't help but feel like they were walking to their doom.

They stopped at a huge white and the leader turned to look at them. 'Welcome to Woodbury,' he said, before pushing the doors open and walking out into the night.

Quinn stepped outside, holding on to Andrea's arm as they looked around. They were standing in the middle of a street of a small village. There wasn't a single walker in sight. It looked completely calm and peaceful, something she hadn't seen for almost a year. Fires burned in barrels, lighting the street up in the darkness of the night.

'Follow me,' the leader said and turned to walk down the street.

Her eyes widened at the sight that followed once they rounded the corner. A huge wall made out of trucks, tires and wood was placed right in the middle of the street. Men and women were standing guard with guns at the ready. It brought a small gasp from her lips by looking at it. This was a safezone, like the one she had been so desperately looking for before running into Michonne.

'Are you military?' Andrea asked.

The man smiled. 'Hardly, most of these guys are self trained.'

'That's heavy artillery you carry,' Andrea noted.

'Most of the guys come carrying guns, others we find while scavenging.'

'And the other buildings? The rest of the streets? They're all guarded like this?'

The man gave a curt nod.

'Can't be,' Andrea whispered.

It was indeed a sight like no other. Thinking the whole world was gone, with not a single place left to be safe, only to find people held up in a self created safezone. One that looked strong and organised.

'It can,' the man replied, having heard her whispering, 'and it is.'

Merle let out a sudden sharp whistle making Quinn look at him. She hadn't even noticed him making his way up the wall.

'We got ourselves a creeper, Governor,' he said.

Governor? She turned to look at the leader, wondering which sane man would let himself be called a Governor.

The Governor nodded at Merle, who turned to the man standing beside him and gestured at his gun. 'May I?' The man handed Merle his gun, which he took with his one good hand.

'Governor?' Quinn questioned, wanting answers to put herself at ease. Because so far, her suspicions were only fueled.

The man didn't even turn to look at her as he replied. 'Some nicknames stick, whether you want them to or not.'

Quinn turned back to the wall, mumbling to herself. 'It's not a nickname, Governor is a title.' She watched as Merle shot the corpse and heard him laugh when he spotted another few coming, shooting them as well.

'We'll get them in the morning,' the Governor said, 'can't leave 'em out there to rot, the smell makes people uneasy.'

Andrea frowned and gestured around the empty street. 'What people? There's no one here.'

The Governor simply gestured for them to follow him. A small sigh of pure exhaustion left Quinn's lips as she walked after him, trying her hardest to ignore the ever nagging pain in her leg.

He led them into one of the houses, opening the door to reveal a room with three beds, a shower with a curtain around it to provide privacy and a wooden closet filled with books. But what surprised Quinn the most was the food that was waiting for them on a table in the corner. No canned meals, no old and dried bread, but fresh fruits and clean water.

'Hope this will make you feel comfortable,' the Governor said. 'We got hot water, so you can take a shower, just keep it short. There's food, fresh clothes.'

They walked inside the room and Quinn made her way to one of the beds, sitting down slowly, her bones feeling like those of an eighty year old woman.

'Now I know you feel much more comfortable with your sword, but we can't have people we just met run around with weapons,' the Governor said, looking at Michonne.

She didn't reply, but her scowl didn't seem to bother the Governor. 'Now, my men will be right outside in case you need anything. I'll see you tomorrow.' And with those words he walked away.

Michonne walked up to the door and threw it shut, the bang echoing through the room. Her expression was enough to let Quinn know that she felt just as uneasy about the whole situation as she did.

But she couldn't worry about it right now. With her body screaming begging for sleep, she couldn't do much else than lay down on the bed and close her eyes, hoping tomorrow she would feel better. Even if it was just a little bit.

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

Sooo they met the Governor. I absolutely love writing Quinn hating this man, it's fun. Also while writing this I realised this is basically the first time Daryl is mentioned to Quinn. It's fun to write her listening so passively to his name when he's going to become such an important person in her life...But we're saving all that good stuff for later! ;)

I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment, some feedback or a vote if you did! Everything is much appreciated.

xx nelly

edited: ✔