Chapter 41 Woodbury

When Andrea and Michonne woke up in the morning, they immediately started to get ready to leave. They were interrupted when a lady knocked on the door, she had them follow her outside, she was going to give them a tour of Woodbury.

Following the lady outside, she walked them down the street. It was early in the morning and Andrea and Michone were able to get a better look around. The buildings cast shadows over the street as the sun was still rising.

Andrea and Michonne saw and heard people talking to one another as they moved around. Some people were taking care of crops. Most people were just talking to one another and walking around to complete their daily tasks.

Andrea seeing all of this felt surreal, she said, "It's real."

Their guide said, "You two were out there for a long time. While you were, the Governor was building this place."

Andrea asks, "How many people do you have here?"

The guide said, "73. Well, Eileen's about to pop, so her kid will make it 74. It's still a work in progress, but Rome wasn't built in a day."

Andrea said, "That's a bold comparison."

The guide says, "I think we have earned it. Walls haven't been breached in well over a month. We haven't suffered a casualty on the inside since early winter."

Andrea said, "How is that possible?"

The guide said, "Our Governor set a strict curfew. Nobody out after dark. Noise and light are kept at the bare minimum. Armed guards on the fence and patrolling the perimeter to keep the biters away."

Andrea says, "I saw what your patrols do on the way in last night. They had a dead one strung up like an ornament."

The guide says, "I won't make excuses, but those men put their lives at risk every day to protect this town. They've lost more than a few friends out there. Everybody copes in their own way. But I'll raise it with the Governor. "

The guide then walks away, Andrea follows her. Michonne follows after a second, but she doesn't seem impressed at all by the things she has seen here, a scowl still present on her face.

A while later, Andrea and Michone were at the Governor's house. They were sitting down at a table, a man named Milton was also sitting with them. The Governor came over to the table holding a pan full of scrambled eggs. He served each of them while saying to Andrea and Michonne, Hard to believe you ladies last so long out there."

Andrea asks, "Because we're women?"

The Governor answers, "Because you were alone."

Andrea says, "We had each other."

The Governor says, "Two against the world. It's long odds."

Andrea says, "We managed."

The Governor says, "Oh, we're impressed."

Milton agreeing says, "Very."

The Governor says, "Survival in the wild is tough sledding. Wake up every morning on the ground wondering if today, is the day. Will it be quick and final or slow and, well, without end? Will someone have the good sense to kill my brain, or will I come back as one of them?"

Milton asks, "Do you think they remember anything? The person they once were?"

Andrea says, "I don't think about it."

The Governor says, "Milton believes there might be a trace of the person they once were, still trapped inside of them."

Milton says, "Like an echo. Surely it must have crossed your mind."

Andrea says, "At one time, yeah. Right before it tried to bite me."

Milton says, "And then you killed it. I say it only because no one here likes to refer to them as him... or her. Ahem."

Milton then asks Michone, "The two you had in chains, who were they? The way you controlled them, used them to your benefit. You did know them, didn't you?"

Michonne looks at Milton with wide eyes. The Governor seeing everyone get tense says, "Let them eat."

Milton says, "My apologies."

Andrea then asks after a minute, "So what you have here, you expect to hold it? What if a herd comes through?"

The Governor is quiet for a second then says, "It'll hold."

Andrea then asks, "What's your secret?"

The Governor says, "Really big walls."

Andrea laughs rather awkwardly and says, "That soldier had walls, too, and we all know how that turned out. So?"

The Governor says, "I guess we do. The real secret is what goes on within these walls. It's about getting back to who we were. Who we really are. They're just waiting to be saved. People here have homes, medical care, kids go to school, adults have jobs to do. There's a sense of purpose. We're a community."

Milton says, "With a lot of guns and ammunition."

The Governor turns to Milton and says, "Never hurts."

Andrea says, "And really big walls."

The Governor says, "And men willing to put their lives on the line to defend everything. Compromise our safety, destroy our community, I'll die before I let that happen." The room then goes silent as everyone observes each other once again.

Andrea says, "Looks like you're sitting pretty at the end of the world."

The Governor says, "Do I look like the type of man that likes to sit pretty? You reap what you sow. We're the seed. Now winter has passed and it's time to harvest."

Andrea asks, "Time to hope?"

The Governor says, "We're going out there and taking back what's ours. Civilization. We will rise again. Only this time we won't be eating each other.

After a pause, Andrea says, "To civilization, then." Then they toast each other, but they are interrupted by a knock on the door. The Governor excuses himself as he goes to answer the door.

Milton asks, "How's the tea?"

Andrea just nods, looking towards the door, she could see a black man talking to the Governor. After the man says something to the Governor, the Governor turns towards them and says, "Sorry to cut this short, but this can't wait."

Michonne stands up, then says, "We want our weapons!"

The Governor says, "Well, we can make this meal to go, and your weapons will be waiting outside, but you should take time to relax. Get your strength back. Have a look around. Who knows? You might want to stick around."

Andrea looks toward Michonne, she was staring at the Governor intensely, staying silent. There was quite the ominous feeling radiating from Michonne, you could tell that Michonne did not like this man.

Michonne and Andrea then leave the room and walk out the front door. Michonne says, "I don't trust him. This place gives me a bad feeling."

Andrea asks "Why?"

Michonne notices that they are being watched by the black man that had been guarding their door last night. Making her even more suspicious about this place and she began to look deeper at the happenings of this place. It was too suspicious, the way this place works.

As she was thinking this, Andrea asked, "Have you ever trusted anybody?"

Michonne says, "Yeah."

Andrea then says, "Give this place a day or two that's all I'm asking. Some time to get our shit together."

Michonne says gruffly, "My shit never stopped being together."

Andrea remarks, "Didn't look that way when Milton asked about your walkers. I'm surprised he didn't get a fork in his eye, among other things."

Michonne says, "It was none of his damn business!"

Andrea says with a breath, "I guess it's none of my business either. Seven months together, all we have been through, I still feel like I hardly know you."

Michonne gives Andrea a look, Andrea responds, "I'm sorry, it's the truth. You know everything about me. And I-", but she was interrupted by Michonne.

Michonne says firmly, "You know enough."

Andrea says, "Those walkers were with us all winter long, protecting us, and you took them out without any hesitation. That had to be-"

Michonne interrupts, "It was easier than you think."

Andrea then looks at her speechless, as Michonne walks away. The black man was still observing them, Michonne noticed this, and scowled as she continued walking. While Michonne went off to do her own thing, Andrea continued to look around. She observed the things happening around her and she was starting to think about staying.

While she was looking around, she saw the Governor and a group of men leave Woodbury, they were all geared up. They looked ready to get dirty if they had to.

The Governor rode drove in his car alone as his team, follows behind him at a distance. He goes to the road where the soldier had told him his group was.

When the Governor arrived in front of the group of soldiers, he got out of his car with his hands up. The soldiers seeing him, raised their assault rifles, ready to fire at him.

The Governor said, "Hey, wait, don't shoot."

The leader of the soldiers says, "Identify yourself."

The Governor ignores that as he says, "We found your guy. Wells. Lieutenant Wells. His chopper went down."

The leader says, "Well, where is he?"

The Governor answers, "We got a little settlement up the road a ways. Now he's badly injured. But he's alive. The other guys didn't make it, I'm sorry to say. But Wells, he told me I could find you guys here. Wants me to bring you to him."

A soldier says excitedly as he turns to the other soldiers, "They found Wells. They got him. They found him." A soldier nearby smiles.

The governor pulls his pistol out as he says, "We sure did. We found you, too." He then proceeds to shoot the leader, as the rest of the Governer's group starts to shoot as well, ambushing them, while hidden among the trees that are behind the Governor. The soldiers, completely unsuspecting, were gunned down viciously. They were unable to even shoot back as they were all shot and killed mercilessly.

The Governors group then proceeds to loot all of the weapons the soldier had. A soldier who was only lightly wounded, starts to run away, but he was quickly shot in the back by the Governor, using his new M16. The Governor then says to a younger man as he hands him a knife, "Go put him out of his misery."

After the Governors group had looted everything from the soldiers they drove away, back to Woodbury. Now with two extra military vehicles within their caravan. Everyone had happy smiles, completely disregarding how they killed all those men minutes ago.

When they arrived at Woodbury, the guards at the front gate saw them. The guards quickly opened the gate, letting them enter. Parking their vehicles near the entrance, a crowd of people then begins to discuss as they see no soldier coming out of the military vehicles. Michonne saw this as well and was hella suspicious. The Governor then gets on top of one of the vehicles, and begins to explain what happened outside, and what they found.

The Governor says, "We brought in three new people yesterday. One was a helicopter pilot with a national guard outfit. Even though he's clinging to life, he told us about his convoy on the highway, his men. I promised I would bring them back alive. But they didn't have our walls, or our fences. The biters got there before we did. Now, the men had trucks, the trucks had weapons, food, medicine, things we need. Now, we didn't know them, but we will honor their sacrifice by not taking for granted, what we have here. It won't be long before dark, so go on home. Be thankful for what we have here. Watch out for each other.

Andrea looks totally convinced about the Governor, while Michonne listens to this speech and becomes even more suspicious. How could armed soldier get taken out by a group of biters. They could easily take care of them and if they got surprised by a herd they could have run away, driving their vehicles.

The crowd then begins to disperse as they go their separate ways, to their own residence. Andrea walks over to the Governor and begins to talk to him as he is walking off to do something.

Andrea says after seeing the Governor long face, "Been a long day?"

The Governor responds, "Aren't they always? Goodnight."

The Governor then walks away as Andrea looks at his back, slightly enamored by him. She then stops him asking, "What is your real name?"

The Governor steps closer to her as he says, "I never tell."

Andrea says, "Never say never."

The Governor responds, "Never." Then he walks away as Andrea look at his back with a smile.

In the middle of the night, we can see the Governor standing in the window. Observing the street below, he takes a sip of a glass of liquor. He then walks away from the window and walks down the hall. Passing his bedroom we can see a naked brunette, sleeping peacefully on the bed, only partially covered by a sheet. He walks to a door going inside, we can see his lounge. He walks over to a shelf and looks at a picture.

In the picture is him, a beautiful blonde woman and a young girl with brown hair, matching his own. All of them were smiling brightly, revealing their pearly white teeth. In the background, we can see that they are surrounded by trees and the sun is illuminating the area, bringing life into the photo.

As the Governor looks at the picture, he takes off a necklace with a key on it. He then opens a door, going inside he turns the light on. He walks over to a nice leather chair, then he sits down. He looks in front of him, seeing the fish tanks filled with water. There were about 10 tanks and they each had at least one walker head inside of them. The walker heads that Michonne had cut off were also in their own tank. Observing another tank, you can see the head of the soldier they saved is also there, floating in the water. This is a very ominous scene, and you can only imagine how demented someone would have to be to do something like this.