8

5 Months Later

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"Show time," Martinez's voice seemed far away, but I knew he was standing on the outside of my cell. It was Saturday night. Where else would he be? I snapped my eyes open to meet his gaze and he flinched. I smirked up at him, from where I was crouching on my cot. It was fight night and it was show time.

Martinez and another man, another soldier, one I hadn't bothered learning the name of, stood outside my door with their guns trained on me. I unfolded myself slowly, every muscle movement tightly controlled. I was a fighter now. It was all I was anymore. Any memory of being anything else had been pushed back into the dusty recesses of my brain to make sure it didn't interfere with my ability to survive.

Martinez pulled my steak knives from his belt and tossed them towards me. They clanked as they tumbled together across the dirt floor of my cell. I stared down at them, unable to tear  my gaze away from them. In the last six months my entire life, my survival depended on those knives. The Governor has never allowed me another weapon except this one, the one I had attacked him with, sealing my fate. He thought it was another way to torment me, a constant reminder of what I had done. It wasn't. Every time my hands touched the handles it was a promise. A promise that one day I would have another chance to sink one of these two knives into his skull.

"Go on," Martinez ordered, gesturing towards the knives with his gun. "Big night for you," he said with a leering smile. He was putting his own mask on now for the ring. He couldn't go out there looking like he was afraid of me.

I moved towards the knives, keeping my movements slow and controlled. I didn't want to frighten either of them into getting trigger happy. I palmed both knives, twirling them through my fingers. I had gotten good with the knives. Better than I had ever thought possible. My entire survival had hinged upon my ability to learn to fight the biters. I had set myself to learning, just as I had before, to fighting. But I wasn't that woman anymore. I was beyond being able to make conscious decisions like that anymore. All I did was react.

Martinez motioned with his gun for me to step out of my cage. I walked out in front of him and the other man, not bothering to even look at them again. The adrenaline started running through my limbs, making my fingers tingle and added a bounce to my step. I didn't get nervous, not anymore. I had stepped into that ring too many times to get nervous. So it wasn't nerves, it was anticipation. 

Martinez and the other man walked me out towards the ring, but stepped back, staying outside the ring of light. It would ruin The Governor's game if his people saw me being held at gun point. He could send me out into the ring all he wanted, tell his people all the lies he could come up with to keep them happy. But I didn't pretend anymore, I didn't have to. Kate was gone, his leverage was gone.

Leverage. That's all she was reduced to now, all I could allow myself to think of her. Even in my mind. I wondered for a moment if I was well and truly insane yet. I sincerely hoped not. If I was, I wanted my money back, I had high hopes of insanity being more of an escape than this hell.

Stop, reset.

I couldn't let my mind wander, couldn't let thoughts about Katie in when I was in this place. When I was here there could be nothing but the ring.

I stepped out into the middle of the ring, the heat from the overhead floodlights beat down on me, making sweat bead on my skin. It was a warm summer night, at least I thought it was summer. I really had no way of knowing.

The crowds were amped up tonight, more than usual. They were stomping and screaming. Normally I ignored them, or rather, I wasn't able to turn my focus from what was happening in front of me to what was happening around me long enough to notice.

But there were more of them than there should be, almost twice as many as usual. There had never been such a large crowd. Squinting against the lights all I could think was that either all of Woodbury had turned up or something was going on. Neither was going to go well for me.

"Everyone!" The Governor called. His voice carried from his place high in the bleachers. Everyone around him quieted. They turned their eager faces towards him as though he were the sun. I tightened my grip on the handles of the steak knives. He was too far away and there were too many people. As badly as I wanted to throw the blades I knew it wouldn't make it. I was on the far side of the ring from him and the lights were blinding, making the very edges of my vision fuzzy.

"Tonight I have a very special treat for you. Tonight, the darling of Woodbury has decided to once again enter the ring. Knowing our guests are here from another settlement, she has decided to prove to them the mettle of every person living here in Woodbury. She has decided to not only test her previous record of facing eight biters in the ring, but she has decided to prove her strength and skills by setting a new record," he let the words hang in the air for a second and then the crowd started cheering their approval.

I was only half listening. It didn't matter anyway. I would fight whatever they put in front of me.

My interest however had been peaked when he mentioned another settlement. I hadn't considered the possibility of there being more settlements out there. Woodbury had become my whole world...my personal hell.

I squinted against the lights trying to determine who was new, who didn't belong. When The Governor's voice rang out once more, drawing my attention I spotted him. I knew in an instant that he didn't belong here any more than I did.

He was standing beside The Governor, watching the whole spectacle with a sort of bemused expression on his face. He was maybe an inch shorter than The Governed but he somehow seemed more imposing.

I quickly realized that despite the governor giving his speech no one was looking at Phillip. I startled for a second. It had been a long time since I had been able to think of Phillip as a man, just a man. But with the stranger standing beside him, our Governor seemed insignificant. He was just Phillip.

The stranger commanded the attention of everyone around them. He was around the same age as The Governor but there was a dangerous air about him. The Governor was a charismatic leader, but this man was a fighter.

He wore a leather motorcycle jacket and even from this distance I could see the blood red scarf tied around his neck. His arms were crossed over his chest in a fighter's stance. Every instinct I had. Every single one this goddamn ring had beat into me was screaming that this man was a predator, he was dangerous.

Somehow I managed to tear my eyes away from him to look at The Governor once more. Phillip had continued talking, a pleased smile on his face as he addressed his people. He had no idea. No clue. They had invited the fox right into the hen house and they had no idea. I felt a cruel smirk of satisfaction twist itself onto my face. And I started to laugh.

It was a horrible, wheezy, choking laugh. It had been almost a year since I had laughed or smiled for real.

Martinez flinched beside me. "Yo, shut up puta." He snarled swinging his gun towards me. I chuckled and blew him a kiss. He met my eyes and I saw that he was afraid. 

Good. He should be afraid. Because for once I wasn't the scariest thing in the room anymore.

The snarls of the biters came from behind me and my entire focus was torn from my control. Every ounce of everything that I was had shifted and there was an eerie quiet in my mind. I charged the small herd before they could get to me, and the crowd roared in excitement. I launched myself at the first three, striking them down with the first hot rush of adrenaline.

I whipped around, arcing up with my knives out. Two of the walkers fell, black, rotting blood spraying. The men holding the other walkers all seemed to nod and in another second they released the remaining five all at once.

I spun and arced and fought. My body was a weapon now. I had honed it, strengthened it, and now I was unstoppable. It was like a dance. I spun and another walker fell. I pivoted towards the neck and slammed my fists towards it's neck. With all my strength I jerked my hands back out and away from one another. The walkers head rolled to the ground as it's body dropped.

I kicked another back as I slammed my fist up through it's skull and the crowd screamed wildly. I couldn't make out the words they were screaming, but it didn't matter. I was beyond the ability to hear words. I changed my grip on the knives. There were only two left.

Sweat was running down my skin, matting my short hair to my head as my chest heaved with the effort. I shoved the closest one back so it tripped over the body of one of the fallen. I swung around using the momentum I created to slice across the neck of the last walker standing as it snapped it's teeth at me. It fell back, it's neck nearly severed, but not completely.

The crowd roared, the gore bringing them to a new frenzy. I didn't hesitate over the blood and gore. I launched myself at it and rode the corpse down to the ground slamming one of my knives through the eye socket. I turned to face the last one that had struggled to its feet and was now shambling towards the men who had restrained the biters earlier. I changed the grip on the knife in my right hand and threw it. The blade sunk to the hilt at the base of its brain. The biter dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

Instead of cheering the crowd fell silent. I had never thrown a knife before, never allowed them to see that I could. It made an impression. Through the silence I could hear a gun cock.

The Governor had never seen me throw one of my knives before and I took a moment of satisfaction to see the fear slide behind his eyes. I couldn't contain the nearly hysterical giggled that bubbled up my throat. I stared him down and curtsied to him as the rage burned through me. It felt like everyone was holding their breath, waiting to see what was going to happen.

I moved the knife from one hand to the other and showed him I could throw it. The guns cocked from the guards and I flashed him a gleeful smirk, daring them to shoot me. My eyes traveled over The Governor to his guest, the stranger. The man was matching me, like the rest of the crowd but instead of looking wary he was smirking down at me. And when I met his gaze he winked. 

I blinked, uncertain what to make of this man and turned my focus back to The Governor, tightening my grip on the knife. 

"That's enough." The governor commanded from his place in the bleachers.

The guns were soon trained on me and I debated weather or not I could throw the knife before they could shoot me. I couldn't. I knew I couldn't, but I still gripped the blade tightly for one second before I whipped it into the ground. The blade sunk into the soft sand to the hilt. Guess I wasn't as insane as I thought. If I was I would have taken the chance. What the hell did I have left anyhow? I didn't know how how long it had been since Kate left, how long I had kept fighting...months...years. It all blended together in flashes of blood and bone. But survival was an old friend now, one I couldn't seem to shake no matter how hard I tried. 

I spread my hands and laced them behind my head. My skin felt hot beneath the lights and my chest was still heaving as I fought to get control of my respiration. I conditioned all day every day in my cell for these fights, but ten walkers was still a lot for any one.

The crowd was given a few minutes to relax and come back to themselves before the next spectacle would be put on. The Governor had cornered the market on how to control the Mob mentality. 

"Tonight, my darling faced faced ten, next week...fifteen!" he called triumphantly, as though what I had done was somehow a victory of his. He was using it for himself, using me to impress his guests. The crowd roared and cheered and whistled. They loved me. Loved watching me fight and bleed for them.

I allowed my eyes to flicker to the strange man standing beside The Governor. but he wasn't watching me anymore. He was also staring at The Governor, waiting to see his reaction. I don't know how I knew, but I could tell he was measuring the mettle of the man. This man was no friend of Woodbury's. 

I looked away from The Governor, forcing a look of boredom on my face. I let my eyes range over the crowd and I could pick out the ones who didn't belong. Never before had the cheering masses looked so much like civilians to me. The men who didn't belong were fighters and soldiers, there was a similar hardness to them, a sameness that I could feel down to the marrow of my bones.

When The Governor motioned for the guards to bring me back to my cell I couldn't contain the smile the stretched across my face. It might not be me, but there were others out there, and just maybe, one of them would kill the bastard for me.

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I paced back and forth across my cell feeling like a caged animal. My blood was still up and my heart racing from the fight. I hadn't thrown the knife, but I had let him see that I could. It was a dangerous game to play with him, but for some reason the presence of the unknown stranger had given me confidence. I thought back to the smirk he had flashed me when I tore my eyes away from The Governor. He had winked at me, he had actually winked at me. I didn't know what to make of that. 

The rattle of keys outside the door caught my attention. I frowned as I looked up. No one ever came down here after the fights anymore. Not since Merle left. They put me back in my box and they left me alone. The door opened and the lights flickered back on. I raised a hand just in time to shield my eyes from the sudden onslaught.

"Come on," a familiar voice called. I blinked at the brightness of the lights for a few seconds before I was able to make out the man standing outside my cell. It was Martinez and he didn't look happy.

"What?" I asked stupidly, my voice hoarse from lack of use.

He stepped up to the cell door and unlocked it. "Boss has a guest he wants to introduce you to," Martinez said by way of explanation.

I looked down at my blood spattered skin. "Like this?" I asked in surprise. If he was trying to show me off I would have expected the Governor to make me dress up and look nice.

Martinez just chuckled and pointed his gun at me. "Now, puta," He growled.

Martinez kept me in front of him as he led me away from the cell block. It took me a few minutes to realize where he was taking me. I swallowed. I hadn't been back here, hadn't been out of that damn ring and cell since that night. It felt strange walking through the compound like I was normal. Just a normal person on a normal night. I must have slowed because I felt the cool press of Martinez's gun against the skin at the small of my back. That brought me back to the present in a rush. The door to The Governor's apartment was in front of us, but Martinez made no move to get closer to me to open it.

"Knock," he growled.

I glared at him over my shoulder, but did what I was told, rapping my knuckles against the wood four times. 

"Enter," The Governor's voice was strong and clear and it set me on edge. 

Opening the door and stepping across the threshold was the hardest thing I had ever done. My hands were shaking and my breath was coming in fast pants. My mind kept taking me back to that night, the night that had changed my life. I didn't want to be here, I couldn't be here. But then the cool press of the gun made me jump and I leapt forward to get away from it.

"Thank you Martinez," The Governor called by way of dismissal.

Martinez went still behind me in shock. Truth be told I was a little shocked to. Not only had he brought me out of my cage, now he was sending away the armed guard. Adrenaline spiked through me, burning away the last vestiges of those terror laced memories. 

It had been months and I had never been presented with as good of a chance as this one. I glanced around, looking for a weapon of some kind, anything could be a weapon, especially in my hands, but I wanted something sharp. Something I could cut him with. This was my chance.

"Come here darling," his simpering voice called from across the room.

Tearing my eyes away from my weapon search I looked up to see the backs of two men. The Governor and his guest, the stranger. They were sitting in his living room in chairs set at an angle towards one another. The Governor had a lowball glass of brown liquid in one hand. The guest had his sitting on the coffee table, a ring of condensation around it told me he hadn't been drinking his. I wondered how much he had The Governor at a disadvantage and how Phillip could possibly be so stupid. 

"Come pour us another drink," he ordered.

Martinez shoved me forward from behind and I snapped into movement. Only my months of training and fighting allowed me to maintain my balance and stay on my feet. I moved silently across the wood floor, having perfected it in the knee high boots I had worn since the beginning. I picked up the crystal decanter and carried it towards The Governor. It wouldn't have been my first choice, but the crystal was heavy, it was good quality and I could do a lot of damage with it. I wrapped my hand around the neck, getting a feel for the weight and grip.

When I came around the side of the chairs both men looked up at me. I had been focused on bringing the decanter to The Governor, to getting close enough to use it on him, but as soon as I came face to face with the stranger I hesitated, my foot hovering in the air.

Once again he commanded the room without seeming to try. I couldn't look away. And it had nothing to do with whether or not he was good looking. Over the last few months The Governor had broke me, I knew that. I wasn't stupid. Months in a cell and fighting for my life had genuinely broken how my brain worked. I was still self aware enough to know that much. He had turned me into a creature of instincts. And every instinct I had was screaming at me that this man was dangerous. I didn't want to get any closer without a real weapon. 

The stranger was watching me with that small smirk on his face. One of his hands rested on the handle of a barbed wire wrapped bat he had leaning against the side of his chair. I was surprised The Governor would allow him to be armed. When I managed to tear my eyes away from him to check on The Governor I saw the handgun The Governor had resting on the arm of his chair. I relaxed my grip on the decanter as disappoint swam through me. Tonight wouldn't be the night.

"Well, would you look at you," the stranger's voice was low and gravely and when he spoke my head snapped back towards him. He ran his tongue along his lower lip and cocked his head to the side as he studied me from the top of my head to the tips of my boots. "You were right," he said chuckling and glancing back towards The Governor. "She is beautiful."

The Governor puffed himself up in pride and smiled at the stranger. "I used to have her fight other people, but she became too vicious. Like a dog," he downed the last of his drink. He held out the glass and I stepped forward obediently to fill it, knowing this was not my moment. I stepped back, putting the decanter down and stood before them, feeling like a piece of meat. "I had to switch her over to the biters after only a few short months. She trains day and night, hardly sleeps."

Just the sound of his voice made my skin crawl. If I wasn't going to be able to kill him I wanted to go back to my cell. It was bad enough he paraded me around in the ring once a week. Private parties were new things and I would be damned if I would let it go any farther than this.

"She looks like it," the stranger agreed running his dark eyes up and down my body. "Beautiful," he said appreciatively. "Could use a shower," he commented taking note of the splattered walker blood still covering my arms and torso. 

I scowled at him and he laughed. 

The Governor chuckled and took a swig. "She had more kills than anyone I have ever heard of," he boasted as though it were something he had done.

The stranger arched a brow at the information, his intelligent eyes sparkling with interest, "Is that right?" he asked glancing at The Governor. When he looked back at me there was something of a challenging glint in his eyes. He stood up abruptly and I resisted the urge to take a step backwards. He was taller than me by only a little less than a foot and it made me uncomfortable. He was so much larger than me and it seemed as though he took up more space in the room than he should have.

"May I?" he asked The Governor.

The Governor looked confused for a second but then gestured towards me, clearly he didn't want to insult his guest.

The stranger nodded and turned his attention back to me. He swaggered a slow circle around me, close enough I could feel the heat coming off of him. I wanted to step back, away from him, but I wasn't willing to let him see the fear I felt. He knew how dangerous he was, and he knew how to use it.

"Look at you," he said again in a low, gruff voice. There was a smirk on his face when he stopped in front of me but when he met my eyes his were serious and thoughtful. "The most kills you have every heard of?" he asked glancing over his shoulder at The Governor.

The Governor nodded, he licked his lips and looked like he would like to respond but the stranger had already turned his attention back to me.

"How many kills is that?" the stranger asked, but I didn't get the impression he was speaking to The Governor. He took a step closer to me and I tensed, nearly flinching. He saw it and he went very still. He turned his head to the side and leaned towards me. "Tell me how many, beautiful," he commanded in a low voice.

This was a man who was used to getting what he wanted. He gave orders and others followed. He was worse than The Governor, stronger, more powerful, somehow even more charismatic. More dangerous. He was doing what I did in the ring, putting on a show. I got mad as I realized I had fallen for it. I had let him frighten and intimidate me. I was not about to let that happen. I wished I had a weapon. I tightened my hands into fists as things in my brain became very, very quiet.

No, I was the weapon.

"I don't keep track," I growled at him, glaring up at him out of the tops of my eyes I let him see everything that was in the deep, dark places of my mind.

He didn't look intimidated however, instead he just chuckled again. "DAMN," he growled appreciatively. "I'll bet you don't beautiful," And he turned back to The Governor smirking. "Damn," he repeated a smile still tugging at the corners of his lips as he shook his head in disbelief. "Where in the hell did you find her and how do I get one?" 

My hands tightened into fists, he was acting like this was a game. Like what had happened to me was a game. I took an aggressive step towards him. "Well, first you have to promise a starving, helpless woman and her little sister asylum," I snarled out the words, my entire focus on the stranger. I was mad, madder than I thought I was capable of anymore. The rage burning through my body made my skin flush and my fists start to shake. 

"Jo," The Governor snarled at me in a warning voice from his spot across the room. 

I ignored Phillip as I stared the stranger in the eyes. "Then you have to try and rape her and when she fights back, you have to hold her sister hostage-"

"JO!" The Governor's voice was louder now, but I wasn't paying attention to him. 

Instead I was staring up into the stranger's dark eyes. This close I couldn't hide anything from him. He would be able to see all that I was through my eyes, but I didn't care, it didn't matter anymore. "Then you would have to force her to fight for her life each and every we-"

It was the stranger's fault, he distracted me, distracted me in a way I hadn't thought possible anymore. The footsteps were rapid and I only managed to look up in time to see The Governor's hand fly at my face. His back hand caught me by surprise which is why I couldn't brace myself for it. He was mad, and there was strength behind his anger. 

My teeth clicked together painfully and I was knocked to my knees, my head swimming. I caught myself on my hands and held still as I worked my jaw, trying to decide if he had done any permanent damage. It didn't feel like it. 

"Martinez!" The Governor's voice called out, and it sounded further away. 

I shook my head, trying to clear the fog. I heard the apartment door but I wasn't ready to look yet. 

"Take her back," The Governor ordered. "If she is going to behave like an animal she will have to stay in her cage." 

Hands grabbed my shoulders and I jerked away, scrambling back away from them. I rolled myself around until I was on my feet and in a crouch, waiting for the next attack to come. My heart was pounding in my ears too loud for me to make out any other sounds in the room. That was dangerous, incredibly dangerous to lose control of one of my senses while I was being attacked. 

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" It was a voice I didn't recognize. The voice of the stranger. "I think everybody needs to slow the hell down, don't you think Governor?" 

The room stilled when he spoke. He swaggered into the middle of the room towards me. He commanded the room easily, and there was a casual smile on his face. But when his eyes met mine I could see he was angry. My head must have still been foggy, because I couldn't think what he had to be angry about. 

Martinez clamped his hand down on my shoulder, his fingers digging painfully into my collar bone. I grunted, but didn't make a sound as he forced me to my feet. Shoving me ahead of him towards the door. 

The Governor looked at the stranger, looking uncertain for the first time. "We should discuss our trade agreement," The Governor said cautiously. 

The stranger nodded, smirking. "Now you're talking." 

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Who's excited Negan's here?! Thanks for reading.