— FINDING OUT THAT THEY WERE at war with the Governor and Woodbury, was something that Zoe didn't think she would take all that well, but when her father had gathered the group together to tell them the bad news, Zoe wasn't as afraid as she thought she would be, due to the fact that she believed in her family, and knew that they were all going to fight for their home, as well as herself. They fought for the prison, they cleared it out, they killed for it, and they claimed it as their own; they weren't leaving, no matter what the Governor told them, or threatened them with. Rick didn't even think the Governor's offer through, he knew going in there that they were going to be going to war with the man, especially after what he did to his daughter, there wasn't any way he was getting away with it - he didn't tell the group the Governor's offer about Michonne, he knew they would all think the same, that they weren't going to give her up, but either way, it was easier for them all if they believed the Governor hadn't made a deal, and that he straight up wanted to start a war with them. It gave them motivation.
But the reason as to why Rick didn't tell the group about Michonne, was because he was considering it - he had a baby to look after and two kids, how could he not think about the offer the Governor gave him? He couldn't let his daughter know, it would break her that he was even considering this option, so he kept it from everyone besides Daryl, who didn't think that giving Michonne up was a good idea, the woman had been a great help since she had joined the prison, and Rick knew that. That, and he knew what the Governor had done to Zoe, and he just didn't want to see the same thing happen to another innocent woman.

Daryl wanted to tell Nate what Rick was thinking about doing, but he felt like he couldn't; his brother wanted to scoop out the Governor's other eye for what he did to Zoe, just like he did himself, but the difference between him and Nate, was that he had self control. When it came to Zoe, Nate was blinded by love, and everyone knew it - it wasn't exactly a bad thing, but it was something that stopped the boy from making logical decisions sometimes. Even Merle had seen how his little brother had been acting with the girl, and it was like he was a changed man; if he didn't like Zoe, he would have said something by now, but the truth was, Zoe has made Nate a better man, and for that, he will always regret taking her to the Governor.

Zoe was getting fed up of sleeping on a thin mattress on the floor, it was growing extremely uncomfortable for her now that she was getting used to it, even with Nate, it just wasn't good enough, and she was loosing sleep because of it. She knew that another cell block had been cleared out for the prisoners that used to live here before they all died, so she did any logical thing someone would do in her position; she was going to take a couple of spare mattresses  from there. However, when she walked into the empty cell block, she didn't expect to see Merle, ripping open a bunch of the mattresses with his hook, looking for something. "You okay?" Zoe asked, curiosity getting the best of her as she watched the older man rip another one open.

"I'm looking for some dope." Merle told her, not even sugar-coating what he was doing. It didn't even surprise Zoe, the man used to live on drugs back in Atlanta before T-Dog handcuffed him to the roof, she wondered how he had gone so long without it.. "The best dope I ever had was in a mattress." He said, sighing as he leaned back against the wall, knowing that he probably wasn't going to find any.

"Well, I was coming to get a few new mattresses, but it looks like you've ripped them all apart." Zoe said, unable to hide the amusement in her tone as she looked around the cell block and to all of the ruined mattresses lying around, all torn open by Merle as he desperately looked for some drugs.

Merle scoffed, "Did me no good. Found nothin'." He complained, throwing the mattress to the side in annoyance, leaning up against the wall as he wondered what he was going to do now that he was stuck with this group with no drugs. All he got from everyone in this prison was looks of judgement and disgust, but what was even stranger, was that Zoe didn't give him that look, after everything he did to her, she didn't look at him with complete hatred.

Zoe nodded awkwardly, not knowing what else to say to Merle, "Well, I should be going.." She began to say, turning around to leave the cell block, only to pause when she heard Merle speak up once again.

"I'm sorry for what the Governor did to you." Merle apologised, Zoe not being sure if she even heard him correctly. Merle.. Apologising.. "I know I already said it, but I'm saying it again, kid. if I could take it back, I would." He continued, knowing that last time he apologised, she lied and said she forgave him so Nate would forgive him, too, that's how he knew she was the right one for his baby brother; she cared for him more than herself.

Zoe looked back at him with a softened face, knowing that she had actually already forgiven Merle a long time ago, knowing that he was just following orders to stay alive since he never knew his brothers were alive. "We would have brought Nate and Daryl to you, you know. None of this would have happened if you would have just trusted me and Glenn." She spoke up, not knowing why he ever took them in the first place to find their home. They would have welcomed him if he didn't screw them over so much.

"That Chinese kid? He hates me." Merle scoffed, not believing for a second that Glenn would have told Nate and Daryl that he was still alive and wanted to see them.

"He's Korean." Zoe corrected, "But you don't know us at all if you think we would have just left you there, we're not the bad guys here." She told Merle, knowing that he still saw this group as the bad guys just because of what happened back in Atlanta. "They went back for you in Atlanta. They found your hand, Daryl and Nate kept it for so long, hoping they would find you, but then we found the farm and Sophia went missing, everything went to shit.." She explained, sighing as she remembered the farm and that poor little girl who deserved so much more than she got. "What I'm saying is, they went back. Despite their differences with you, my dad went back, Glenn and even T-Dog. We did search for you." She finished, wanting Merle to know just how much this group all cared for each other, even him.

Merle didn't even know what to say to her words, he didn't understand how someone could have so much kindness in their heart, and he instantly understood why Nate had fallen for her. He smiled, he actually cracked a smile at her words, no one being so kind to him before, not even Daryl or Nate. "You do a lot of strange things to survive, kid. It's what I've been doing for a while now." Merle said, Zoe nodding at his words, knowing that it was partly true.

"But what's the point of survival if you haven't got anyone by your side?" Zoe asked softly, knowing that he believed surviving was just that, surviving; but it was a lot more than that, and it's what kept their group so close throughout the apocalypse. Being alone just wasn't something you should be doing in the world now, you needed people to watch your back, or there wasn't a chance for you.

Merle seemed to take these words in, knowing that maybe he was trying to survive the completely wrong way, and that maybe he needed to change his ways. The girl gave him a soft smile, envoys leaving him alone to his thoughts once again.

Later on in the day, Glenn and Zoe were pushing up planks of wood against areas in outside of the prison, allowing the group to take cover in case the Governor struck early, and they needed to hide. Although they had a plan of action, it didn't hurt to prepare even further so they ensured that they would win - Zoe hoped that the plan would work, but she also remembered that it was her dads plan, meaning that it was obviously going to work. The girl didn't know how she felt about the Governor coming to the prison and having to see his face again for the first time since it all happened, but she knew she had to put a wall up so he didn't win, she didn't know what she would do if he ended up taking over the prison, this was their home, not his, and they weren't about to give up easily. "Do you think this will work?" Zoe asked Glenn as they lent another plank of wood up against the gate.

Glenn nodded, not wanting to even think about the outcome if it wasn't going to work, he had to keep the hope going, not just for him, but for everyone else in this prison. "It has to." Glenn told her, the girl sighing as she pushed up another plank against the gate. She just couldn't push the thought to the back of her mind that maybe things will go south, and maybe they wouldn't make it out, she just didn't want to go back to that man, ever again.

Zoe didn't get to say anything else, as Daryl walked up to the two of them, "You guys seen Merle?" He asked, having looked everywhere for his brother but not being able to find him anywhere.

Glenn gave one look at Daryl, before scoffing and turning away from the man, still not wanting anything to do with him or Merle, since the man had tied him to a chair and thrown a walker at him, as well as setting the Governor on Zoe, he just couldn't even look at Daryl the same way since he was backing his older brother up. Zoe sighed at the sight, backing up slightly as she gave Daryl an apologetic look, "Last I saw him, he was tearing up mattresses in Cell Block D trying to find some dope." She informed Daryl, who nodded gratefully at the girl who then walked away to find Nate.

Daryl looked towards Glenn who was silently pushing up the gate and chaining it shut, before he rushed over to help. "He say he was sorry yet?" He asked Glenn, having heard from Nate that Merle apologised to Zoe, he needed to find out if he had apologised to Glenn, too. Glenn still didn't say anything, the two men working in silence to chain the gate shut, "'Cause he is." He added, wanting to hear Glenn say something. However, he didn't say anything. "He's going to make it right. I'm going to make him. There's got to be a way, just needs to be a little forgiveness is all." He said, when Glenn finally turned to face him.

"He tied me to a chair, beat me, and threw a walker in the room." Glenn finally spoke up, walking up to Daryl with a look on his face, "Maybe I could call it even. But he - he took Zoe to a man who terrorised her, humiliated her. A girl that deserved none of that, and you know it; I care more about her and Maggie than I do about me. She's my best friend." Glenn explained, as Daryl sighed, knowing that his words were true and Merle caused that poor girl a lot of harm. He walked off, knowing what he had to do.
 
 
 
 
——
 
 
 
 

Nate was growing fond of Michonne, he didn't have the patience for her when she first arrived at the prison, but now that she was helping out and putting her work in to keep this place up and running, he believed that the woman had a place here with them. The fact alone, that she had brought back the baby supplies that Glenn and Zoe had gone out of their way for before they were taken by Merle, was another reason as to why she had a place here at this prison - even if she only came because she needed help, she still came, and that's what mattered. They wouldn't have even been able to get to Woodbury and save Glenn and Zoe if she hadn't have showed them where to go.
He watched her enter the prison, when he felt a presence besides him, turning out to be his girlfriend, who smiled at the sight of him. "Hey." He greeted, instantly wrapping his arms around the girl in front of him, holding her close.

"Hey." Zoe spoke quietly, holding onto Nate as she just kept realising how lucky she really was to have him in her life and the fact that he was hers. Not many people could say that they had a significant other like Nate in this day and age, but she could, and she was incredibly grateful for him. "I spoke with Merle again." She said, as Nate groaned in annoyance, having to pinch the bridge of his nose before he looked down at his girl in guilt.

"Was he bugging you?" Nate asked instantly, the girl pulling away as she looked up at him in confusion, "Because if he was, I'll deal with it, and he won't talk to you ever again.." He continued, as Zoe quickly shook her head at him.

"No, no, no." Zoe quickly assured him, shaking her head, "He actually apologised again, looked like he meant it for real this time." She said, watching as Nate sighed and rolled his eyes at the girls words, not wanting to hear anything about his oldest brother anymore after everything he had done to Zoe. He may have not directly affected her, but sending the Governor into that room with her was a good enough reason to hate him for the rest of his life. Because the truth was, he didn't know who the man was anymore, this world had changed him into someone else and he didn't like it..

"Merle's a liar, Zo." Nate told her as the girl furrowed her brows in confusion at his words, "You can't trust him, not anymore." He said.

"You can't think like that. That's your brother, he's trying to change, trying to make up for what he did." Zoe told him, unsure as to why he was so easily unforgiving of his brother. She understood where he was coming from, Merle had hurt him in so many ways possible, but he was family, and she couldn't understand how he could be so dead set on not forgiving him when he was trying to change for the better.

"What he did was unforgivable." Nate told her, the girl stepping back as she looked at him like she didn't even know who he was, "Don't look at me like that, Zo. You knew what pain he caused you.." He carried on, as Zoe shook her head again.

"Exactly, the pain he caused me. Surely that should give me some reason to forgive him? For you to forgive him?" Zoe asked, believing strongly that Merle could change for the better and actually live amongst them all in the prison. Even Daryl could see that, and she just couldn't understand how Nate couldn't..

Nate sighed, "I love Merle. He's my brother, but the man only cares for himself. If he had to choose between me and Daryl living, or him, he would choose himself; it's always been that way." He explained, as Zoe's face softened at his words, "He left me and Daryl with our abusive father, he just packed his shit and left us like we didn't mean anything, and that's when he first showed his true colours, Zo." He continued, finally opening up about how his life was before the world officially ended. He never likes to talk about his life before all of this went down, he hated his life, and so did Daryl, the walkers coming to light had been the best thing to happen to them, yet Zoe didn't know this.

"Nate.." Zoe sighed, not knowing exactly what to say to him at the moment.

Nate shook his head, pushing his hair back as he looked around at the outside of the prison, the place that he considered a home, a place where he couldn't imagine living without, "When everything first went down, Merle came back home, but not for us. No. For the dope our dad had stashed away in his motorbike. That's the kind of person he is." He explained further, not meaning to snap at Zoe but unable to keep his anger back at all of the times Merle had done him and Daryl wrong.

Zoe reached out and took his hand in her own, the girl stroking her thumb around soothingly on the back of his hand, "I'm sorry." She told him, now feeling bad that she had judged him so quickly. This was her boyfriend, her soulmate, she shouldn't have jumped the gun so quickly just because Merle sounded sincere with his apology.

"Don't be." Nate told her, kissing the top of the girls forehead as she wrapped her arms around his wait again, the two of them embracing. "Remember that you are the best thing that's happened to me, Zo. No matter what happens, we'll always have each other, and that's all that matters." He said, as Zoe nodded into his chest.

"I love you so much." Zoe said, wanting him to know just how much he meant to her.

"And I love you." He replied, looking out at the distance, the prison, his home, the place he was going to fight for till his last breath, and no one, not even The Governor, was going to take this from them. They were going to fight.