ch.25

prey

i sat down at the cafeteria table with michonne, helping her and the rest load more guns.

the door opened behind me, causing a slight freight as i turned around to see rick and daryl. a smile spread across my face, but theirs stayed straight.

everyone else followed rick into the cell block, but when i didn't move, daryl came up beside me grabbing my arm to pull me up out of the chair.

    leading me into the room with the others. "dickhead" i hissed, loud enough so he could hear, all he did was roll his eyes.

"so, i met this governor. sat with him for quite awhile." rick stated, while i stood with my arms over my chest next to glenn and daryl.

   "just the two of you?" merle questioned, earning a nod from rick, "yeah"

merle turned to leave the conversation, passing me and glenn on his way out. "should have gone when we had the chance, bro."

i shook my head, giving glenn a look, assuring him he made the right call.

"he wants the prison. he wants us gone.dead. he wants us dead for what we did to woodbury." rick paused, silence running through the room, as we all stared in his direction, "we're going to war."

   after the words left his mouth, everyone started stayed silent, quietly leaving the room without a word.

daryl left my side, his eyes looking back at me as if we was gonna say something but he shook his head, turning to leave anyway.

my gut told me something was off, the tone in ricks voice, the way daryl looked at me. so i followed where rick was heading, planning to get to the bottom of it.

he stood in the middle of the cat walk in silence, watching the walkers try and pry their bony fingers through the fence.

i walked to where he was, letting out a cough to get his attention. his head turned to where i stood, acknowledging my existence.

"the group's taking it as well as can be expected." i stated turning my focus to where he was looking.

"merle and michonne are convinced we should hit first, hershel and carol think we should take our chances on the road."

he looked towards me as the words left my mouth, "but we're in this together. so if we stay and fight, so be it." i assured, turning my gaze to his.

"he gave me a choice, a way out." he claimed, looking into my eyes, curious thoughts filled my head, "what does he want?"

"michonne" he said blatantly, clicking his tongue. i shook my head in disgust, "he'll kill her."

he nodded his head, "and then kill us anyway."

i looked down at the ground, thinking about everything. "but what if he doesn't. what if this is the answer?" he asked, causing me to shrug.

"why didn't you tell them?" i questioned, my eyes still on the ground.

"they need to be scared." he insisted, turning his gaze back to me, "they are" i responded

"good, cause that's the only way they'll except it."

my eyes finally looked up to his, feeling hurt fill my body as i thought about giving the governor michonne.

"i like her, she reminds me of my sister." i started, tears kinda brimming my eyes, "she also saved me and glenns lives, you guys would've never known we were taken. she's earned her place."

"yeah, yes she has." he admitted, nodding his head. i finally looked up when he paused, catching him in a state of thought.

"are you willing to sacrifice glenns life for her?" he asked, earning a scoff as i quickly changed the question.

"why are you telling me?"

"because... i'm hoping you can talk me out of it" he replied, causing me to shrug, soon taking my leave. knowing that whatever choice he made, it'd be the right one.___________

i decided to take a walk down by the gate, just to make sure things were secure. not even a second of me being down there, glenn appeared.

he kissed my cheek before pulling away, a huge smile spread out across his face.

  "come on." he muttered, pulling me away from the gate and into a guard tower.

   "you just couldn't wait two seconds before pouncing on me, huh?" i giggled looking up at him.

   "actually, i wanted to talk to you about something." he stated, getting really serious. i frowned wondering what was wrong.

  "did something happen?" i asked, stopping in my tracks so he would turn and look at me.

   "what? no, nothings wrong. it's a good thing... i think." he assured,pulling me up through the trap door, a smile crept back onto my face.

   "okay rhee, what are you planning?" i asked, giving him a smirky grin causing him to let out a chuckle.

"stop acting horny, i'm serious."

i held back a laugh trying not to lose it from his choice of words.

    he led me outside, grabbing both of my hands, looking me in the eyes. my heart started to beat faster, scared of what he was about to do.

   i looked down feeling something being placed inside my hand, my eyes widened as i opened my hand, seeing a ring.

"i love you. after all this time, i still love you. it's always been you. it was you yesterday and today. it will be you tomorrow. for the rest of my life it will be you."

"melanie, will you marry me?"

i looked back up to him, tears brimming my eyes as the words left his mouth, i nodded my head, "of course, yes."

i took a deep breath, huffing out a smile as i placed my hands on the sides of his face. pulling him in for a kiss.

in that moment, everything was perfect. it felt like my world turned into slow motion and the pieces pulled together.

    we broke the kiss, pulling away from each other. i looked down, watching as he placed the ring on my finger.

"melanie aspyn rhee." i smiled, looking in his direction.

   "i love you." he uttered, sending me another big smile.

     "i love you too."____________

   "may you live your life together with a spirit of adventure. may you find, in each other, love that is fulfilling and secure. may god grant you long lives filled with health and happiness. may he abundantly bless and favor you, for you deserve nothing less." - unknown

____________glenns pov

    "hey, you seen merle around?" a voice caught my attention, causing me to turn around, seeing daryl.

   i didn't bother to say anything as i turned back around, continuing to fix a gate that led to the tombs.

   soon daryl joined by my side, giving me a hand. "he say he was sorry yet? cause he is."

     i ignored him, moving to the side to grab dales old tool bag, placing it down a distance away from the gate.

   "he's gonna make it right. i'm gonna make him. there's gotta be a way" he started, turning in my direction to look at me, "just needs to be a little forgiveness is all."

     i looked up from what i was doing, licking my lips as i took a step towards him.

   "he tied me to a chair, beat me, and threw a walker in the room. maybe i could call it even. but he- he beat melanie, took her to a man who terrorized her, humiliated her."

i paused, remembering the moments from when we were at woodbury, "i care more about her than i care about me."

     i knew melanie and daryl shared a sister and brother bond, honestly i was grateful for daryl. he had saved her so many times when i couldn't. but at the same time, it was eating me alive that daryl didn't stand up for her against merle, even after he beat the shit out of her.

   he hesitated before walking over to where i was, placing his hand on his crossbow ready to pick it up but he didn't, he just stood there.

   "i care about mel, not like you, it's different.  apart of me will always resent him for what he did to her, but he's my brother.  so we both just have to live with that."

    i looked up, unsure what to say now. just when i was about to say something, a scream caught our attention.

   "glenn!" melanie yelled, appearing in my view as she rounded the corner. glancing between us worriedly.

     "i can't find merle and michonne, theyre gone." she informed, causing me and daryl to jog to where she was.

     "come on." daryl replied, earning a nod from melanie has she followed where he was going.

    i watched until they disappeared, staying to finish my job. i thought to myself as i worked, praying melanie wouldn't do anything stupid.____________melanies pov

   i followed daryl into some kind of work room, looking for merle and michonne. "he was in here, said he was looking for drugs."

    i nodded, pulling out my gun as i moved around the shelf, "yeah, he took her here. they mixed it up."

    i groaned, watching him examine a rag on the ground. "damnit, i'm going after him."

    "you can't track for shit" daryl sneered, earning an eye roll as i turned around, "then go with me."

   "no, just me" he mumbled, causing me to shake my head, "daryl, no. i'm going with or without you."

    he hesitated before nodding, opening the door behind him, "we gonna tell anyone we're leaving?"

   i shook my head, "we don't have time, we'll loose them."

    "okay then" daryl replied as we ran down to the gate, soon making our way down the road to where their tracks led.

   "michonne!" i called out, watching her put down a walker, not seeing merle anywhere around her.

   "where's my brother?" daryl questioned as she looked up, "you kill him?"

    she shook her head, looking between us, "he let me go."

    "don't let anyone come after me" he warned, taking off in a different direction, "daryl. daryl!"

    he ignored my calls as he continued to run, putting me in a predicament situation. "go after him, i'll find my way back"

    i looked up, giving her a hesitant look before nodding. i moved around her, soon running in the direction he went, taking out my knife as i ran.

    when i had finally caught up to daryl, i decided to walk farther way from him, unsure what his reaction would be if he realized i followed.

     my eyes laid on walkers who feasted on someone or something, causing me to cringe in disgust, slowly following.

   daryl came to an abrupt stop, looking down at something i couldn't make out. i squinted, moving forward a bit to get a better look.

     i hand slowly moved to my mouth, realizing the walker had been merle dixon.

    i heard daryls small sobs as merle limped closer. "no!" daryl yelled, pushing merle back over and over again until he tackled him to the ground, shoving a knife through his head.

    i ran forward, unable to watch my best friends sobs. i fell to my knees beside him, pulling him into a hug as he cried.

     "shhhh, it's okay. i'm here now." i assured, making sure he knew i was here for him.

    after awhile he straightened up and we headed back to the prison, telling everyone what had happened when we got there.

    i now sat in me and glenns room, packing our belongings to trick the governor into thinking we had left the prison.

    "you ready?" glenn questioned, appearing in the doorway. i nodded, swinging the bag over my shoulders as i followed him out to the car.

      hershel sent me a look as he sat in the drivers seat, earning a smile from me as i shut the door, tapping on the window to show he was good to leave.

    me and glenn watched the car pull away before getting into position. the alarms rang through the place, giving us a signal that it was go time.

    i started firing rounds along with the others, watching the governors people flee out of prison, making their way to the trucks.

     i sighed in relief, watching as they fled the place. "we did it?" i questioned glenn, who was on the other catwalk across from me.

    "we did it, come on down." he stated, causing a grin to form on my face as i made my way down, joining along with the others.

   "we did it, we drove them out" rick announced, looking over the land. "we should go after them."

    i nodded, "we should finish it."

    "it is finished. didn't you see them hightail out of here?" maggie questioned, earning worriedly looks from me and michonne.

   "they could regroup." michonne replied, causing us to nod, "we can't take the chance, he's not gonna stop."

    "they're right, we can't keep living like this." carol agreed, glancing around the group, "so we take the fight to woodbury? you guys barley made it back last time."

    daryl shrugged, taking a step near the prison, "i don't care."

    rick nodded, "yeah, let's check on the others." ___________

"rick, we're staying. we don't know where the governor is. if he comes back, we'll hold him off." glenn informed, earning a nod in agreement from me.

"just the three of us?" daryl mumbled, referring to him, michonne, and rick going to check out woodbury. "alright"

"i appreciate you staying." rick stated, earning a nod from me, "sure"

me and glenn watched as they got situated in the car before helping with the gate, seeing them disappear down the road.

we stood on watch until they came back, this time with a whole school bus filled with people from woodbury. me and glenn glanced at each other when we didn't see andrea, already knowing what had happened.

________________________________    3/2/2021