❛ Delicate in every way but one (the swordplay). God knows we like archaic kind of fun (the old ways). Chance is the only game I play with, bay, we let our battle choose us. ❜

SEASON 3, EPISODE 3
walk with me

━━━━━━ day 303.

THREE HUNDRED AND three days. That was how long it had been since the outbreak. Nearly a year of simply living, moving day by day, questioning why he even kept it up. The question would quickly be answered by Cal within seconds. He'd gone to her house, looked through every room, and found no evidence of her. She had to have been there. He saw their bodies, his best friend, their parents. Only rotting corpses inside a small house, but not one of them hers.

⠀⠀⠀Cal had been miserable when he left the house, he was no further in finding her. However, as the days passed, something began to stir inside him. A whisper, a glimmer of hope telling him that it was a sign. Bianca Downs wasn't dead, and Cal could only hope that each day he kept living brought him closer to her.

⠀⠀⠀For now, Cal was driving a truck down the deserted roads through the trees and fallen leaves toward a helicopter crash site. It hadn't been far from Woodbury, and one thing they loved were survivors. Especially ones that were near-dead already. Those were Philip's favorite kind.

⠀⠀⠀Philip, or rather, the Governor. He claimed that the people donned the title onto him, humbled by it, but Cal saw it for what it was. Power in his invisible hand, puppeteering everyone in the town, even Cal.

⠀⠀⠀Cal had long despised the Governor. They had known each other for almost a year now. The Governor had said him from the highway, and the two made a home within the town of Woodbury. There were others with them initially, a few left before it got bad, and the rest died when building the walls. Now, only himself, the Governor, and Milton were considered founding members.

⠀⠀⠀Cal parked the truck beside the others. Merle Dixon sitting in the passenger's seat next to him about god knows what. He hadn't been listening since they passed the gates, and when Cal slammed the door shut behind him, Merle gave an annoyed shout that he had been ignored.

⠀⠀⠀Merle didn't stick around, moving into the woods to see if any survivors had crawled away. Cal unsheathed his knife and found his place beside the Governor.

⠀⠀⠀"Fan out," the Governor shouted to the men piling out of their trucks.

⠀⠀⠀Cal walked straight ahead, knife in hand and gun holster, but if need be, ready to fire.

⠀⠀⠀"Got a breather!" the Governor yelled from the helicopter, raising his hand. "Foster! Help me out here."

⠀⠀⠀Cal took one more look through the treeline then relaxed. He turned his attention to the matter at hand and not the odd feeling prickling at his neck. When he arrived at the helicopter, the Governor pointed inside toward one of the knocked-out men. Cal opened the side door, unbuckling the man, then the two worked together to remove him from the hazardous site.

⠀⠀⠀When finished, the Governor pointed his chin toward the soldier lying on the ground. His eyes began to open, milky white death appearing with each fervored blink.

⠀⠀⠀"You get him. I'll check the other body inside," the Governor muttered.

⠀⠀⠀Cal gave a firm nod and knelt down beside the soldier. Only half of him remained, split in half at the pelvis during the crash landing. Organs spilled from the lower half, yet that hardly terrified Cal as much as the soft growling beginning to emit from the corpse. Death wasn't the fear anymore. It was what you became after. If anyone ever believed in an afterlife before this, he could scarcely believe anyone could still now.

⠀⠀⠀Cal had let his mind wander a second too long as the soldier began to rise to the best of its ability. Cal frowned, then grasped his fist around the hilt of his knife and stabbed it through the soldier's skull without a second thought. He then pulled it back out as it fell back.

⠀⠀⠀The Governor returned from the inside of the helicopter and gave the dead corpse a glance. He nodded, satisfied Cal had taken care of him before patting him on the shoulder.

⠀⠀⠀They headed toward the other men to discuss what to do next when growls emitted from the woods. Cal turned along with the rest of them toward the sound, waiting in anticipation for the walker to stumble out of the brush. But then, the growls faded, and all they could assume was it walked past, dismissing them.

⠀⠀⠀"Let's rollout," the Governor called.

⠀⠀⠀He and Cal carried the breather to be brought back to Woodbury and rested him in the backseat of Cal's truck. Merle came sauntering over not long after with two women at his sides. A dark-skinned woman with a scowl across her face and a pasty woman thrown over his shoulder, for now faceless.

⠀⠀⠀"I found these two birdies spying behind the bushes," Merle explained with a smug grin curling his lips.

⠀⠀⠀The Governor continued to frown, eyes narrowing as he stared at the two women.

⠀⠀⠀"Blindfold 'em, then tie 'em up. You come with me," the Governor directed, pointing toward his truck. "And Shumpert! You're with Foster on the way back. Watch over our new friend in case he wakes up.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes, sir," Shumpert replied, jogging toward Cal's truck and taking the passenger's seat.

⠀⠀⠀Everyone dispersed, and the trucks sputtered back to life, rolling over terrain as quickly as they could to get back to Woodbury.

THE GOVERNOR SENT Merle in to talk to their new friends first. While he trusted Cal the most among his troops, Merle had a military background and was good at getting under people's skin. On the other hand, Cal was made for the town. He managed shift schedule for the walls, doling out supply run crews, was a good shot and better than most around them, and had an impressive streak of killing walkers.

⠀⠀⠀However, Cal choked when it came to people who were alive and breathing. They all had weaknesses. The Governor knew that better than most. To him, Cal was young and naive still to the way of the world and felt that one day he'd come to understand. But, for now, he did the most by keeping the town in order for him while the Governor did the hard work outside of the walls.

⠀⠀⠀"Now, don't worry, I'm not gonna kill them," the Governor assured the young man after asking Cal to follow after him. "We've patched up the blonde woman and want them to stay the night at least. I need to speak with them, c'mon."

⠀⠀⠀Cal followed after him respectfully but rolled his eyes when he was sure the Governor was facing forward. Cal had considered Philip a good man a long time ago, yet not even a year before that moment. He helped people and built the town to its size, but the power got to his head. The town was built to its height of glory, and once it was perfect, the horrors began.

⠀⠀⠀The Governor saved those he saw as valuable to him alone. The two women in the woods were protected because they were young and women. They could get married, reproduce, have children to preserve the town's future. Men and the elderly were harder to predict if they were to be brought in or left for dead. If they served a purpose, like the soldier who would have more information on his other compatriots. If not, they were obliterated.

⠀⠀⠀"How you feelin'?" the Governor greeted with a kind smile pinned on his face, dissolving the thoughts from Cal's head.

⠀⠀⠀"We want our weapons back," the black woman hissed coldly. She stepped in front of her white friend, who looked pale and sickly. The black woman's muscles grew taut, and her glare was devastating.

⠀⠀⠀"Sure, on your way out of the front gates," the Governor was kind enough to assure her. His cheery voice drew a chill down Cal's spine that to him made it known they wouldn't get far from the gate.

⠀⠀⠀"Show us the way," the white woman demanded as best as she could through the fragility of herself. "You've kept us locked up in this room."

⠀⠀⠀"You see any bars on the windows?" the Governor asked, looking around the room with a condescending chuckle. "You're being cared for."

⠀⠀⠀"Under guard," the white woman snapped back at him.

⠀⠀⠀"To protect our people, we don't know you," the Governor pointed out firmly.

⠀⠀⠀"We know enough about you to want out of this place," the white woman sneered, turning her piercing blue gaze onto Cal. "We watched y'all drive a knife into the skulls of two dead men. What the hell was that all about?"

⠀⠀⠀"They turned," the Governor explained simply, the woman's blue eyes snapping back to him.

⠀⠀⠀"They weren't bitten," the white woman argued.

⠀⠀⠀The Governor glanced at Cal warily. Even he seemed put off by her response. However, both women seemed to believe what they were saying was right. The men suddenly realized they were far less knowledgeable about the outside world. It was funny since it appeared they had been running around for the past ten months while they were stuck behind walls.

⠀⠀⠀"It doesn't matter. However we die, we all turn," the Governor explained ominously, his tone deepening. "We put them out of their misery. It's not easy news to swallow at first, but it is.

⠀⠀⠀"Now, you're not prisoners here. You're guests. But, if you wanna leave, as I said, you're free to do so, but we don't open the gates past dusk. Draws too much attention," the Governor explained before looking pointedly at the white woman. "And you especially. You need a solid night of sleep. You wouldn't last another day out there in your condition. Have you brought over to my place in the morning. Hand over your weapons, extra ammo, food for the road, some meds, keys to a vehicle if you want one. Send you on your way, no hard feelings."

⠀⠀⠀The white woman turned to her friend as the Governor left the room. Merle and the other guards followed after him. Cal waited until the women got the hint and followed after them. The Governor led them down the long halls of the house before turning to the women and giving them a comforting smile.

⠀⠀⠀"Welcome to Woodbury," the Governor introduced, opening the doors.

⠀⠀⠀The white woman walked ahead of them, staring in awe at their sleepy little town. The black woman walked up slowly behind her, much more cautious than her friend was acting.

⠀⠀⠀"Come with me," the Governor said to them, walking ahead, leading them through the town and towards the gates.

⠀⠀⠀It felt like the Governor was taunting them. As if they'd ever survive passing through those gates no matter what lies slipped over his silver tongue. Cal had believed him once when he realized what the Governor truly was. He had once tried to run through those gates and out from under the invisible hand puppeteering them. Then, however, the universe seemed to send a warning to a young woman. Priya, he would never forget her name or her face, emblazoned to his memory forever. They'd rescued her from a group of walkers terrorizing her family on the side of the road. She had been the only one to survive.

⠀⠀⠀They brought her in, fed her, clothed her, housed her. She didn't want to stay. She said her little sister had run into the woods and tried to find her. The Governor assured her that Priya needed to do right by her family and look for them. They would welcome her back with open arms if she ever needed a place. She was given ammo, food, a car, everything the Governor promised these two women, he promised to Priya once before.

⠀⠀⠀Then, the sun set and Cal had thought he misheard the man he had started to consider like a brother or a father. He had never seen the man so cold, no emotion on his still face as he told Shumpert to kill her. No one in the room was surprised other than Cal. Shumpert left then returned the following day before the town awoke with bloody hands and the supplies they had parted with.

⠀⠀⠀He could remember the look the Governor gave him, the unhindered emotion of rage forming within the man that Cal hardly recognized. Then, he rested his firm hand on Cal's shoulder and looked intently at him as he whispered, "Listen to me, son. We do what we have to to survive. You hear me? You gotta understand I don't wanna kill anyone, but we can't have anyone threaten what is ours."

⠀⠀⠀Cal realized at that moment there was no escape.

⠀⠀⠀"Go relieve Pete at the back gate. I'll take the spotlight," Merle said to Johnson as he hopped onto the overturned truck acting as a gate.

⠀⠀⠀Johnson turned, looking down to find Cal with the group, and asked, "Sir?"

⠀⠀⠀"Do as he says," Cal called up to him despite the scowl rising to his face. Of course, Merle always did that to show his dominance over the kid. Cal was just thankful that at least the townspeople respected him enough to keep him in line.

⠀⠀⠀The white woman turned to him, eyes growing wide at the interaction.

⠀⠀⠀"Are you military?" she asked them while Johnson got off the overturned truck and walked past them.

⠀⠀⠀"Hardly," the Governor chuckled. "A couple of vets but, by and large, we're self-trained."

⠀⠀⠀"That's heavy artillery they're packing," the white woman commented, unconvinced by the Governor's simple explanation.

⠀⠀⠀"Some men arrive with guns, but most of the weapons are scavenged over time," the Governor explained.

⠀⠀⠀"And the other side of the town, the rest of the streets, they're all guarded like this? It can't be," the woman stated simply, shaking her head.

⠀⠀⠀"It can, and it is," the Governor told her.

⠀⠀⠀"Got us a creeper, Governor," Merle shouted down. "May I? Thank you," he sing-songed to the other men on watch. He rose his rifle and aimed.

⠀⠀⠀"Governor? They call you that?" the white woman asked curiously.

⠀⠀⠀"Some nicknames stick whether you want them to or not," the Governor told her with a slight, aloof shrug.

⠀⠀⠀"Buzz is a nickname. Governor's a title," the woman returned quickly, her eyes narrowing. ⠀⠀⠀"There's a difference."

⠀⠀⠀The spotlight above turned, shining down on one of the approaching biters. Merle shot it down as the white woman approached the fence, curiously looking through.

⠀⠀⠀"Got him. He brought his buddies!" Merle shouted, shooting twice more. "Clear!"

⠀⠀⠀"We'll get them in the mornin'," the Governor called Merle, then turned to the white woman. "Can't leave 'em to rot, creates an odor, makes people uneasy."

⠀⠀⠀"What people?" she asked, her brows furrowing in confusion as she looked around. "There's nobody here. It's a ghost town."

⠀⠀⠀The Governor smiled in amusement at her but didn't respond. She'd see soon enough anyway. He didn't need to defend himself to her.

⠀⠀⠀"Foster, get some rest and meet us for breakfast tomorrow morning," the Governor said, turning to him with a thin smile.

⠀⠀⠀Cal nodded and departed from the group. He headed back to his apartment, lying flat on his bed, and wondered when this endless cycle he'd gotten himself into might end.

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

Here is Cal for the first time in the current day! I love him so much and yes he did go looking for Bianca but they just missed each other.

Sorry for kind of info dumping a lot of Cal's backstory during the outbreak but I've already written so many flashbacks already I couldn't do anymore.

Also, send me all the good vibes for trying to get my best friend who I have a crush on to like me back. Its hard to tell because he just recently got out of a serious relationship and is looking to date already... Send help maybe too because my heart can't handle much of this lol.

SONG: Glory and Gore by Lorde

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you'd like. However, this is an all kind of reader safe space. So even if you ghost read or comment every chapter, I hope you know it means the world to me that you've come into this fic ♡ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and until the next one.