54 Part One: Too Far Gone

It felt like the world had stopped turning, everything and everyone began to move in slow motion. Tears welled up in my eyes as a deep, hoarse scream wailed from my lungs. Everything that the Governor had done to us, to me, bubbled over and the pain released from my lungs with everything I had. A hot, fiery breath of knives shooting up my throat and out of my mouth as the tears stained my cheeks, rolling down my skin and hitting the ground.

The Governor stood over Herschel's body, the sword dangling loosely in his right palm as he stared down at what he had just done. His face looked satisfied like he knew he had hurt all of us. I watched as the blood began to pool out of Herschel's neck while he gasped for air, he was still alive which only made what the Governor had done, that much worse.

"No!" Rick screamed out, the same resentment and exasperation dripping from his lips as he cried. The sound of his gun being fired finally caused my world to catch up to the present time. He sent off the first shot, the bullet lodging into the Governor's arm before a chorus of gunfire lit up the sky. The Governor jumped behind one of the vehicles and out of sight as Rick doubled back behind the fallen bus for cover.

I raised my pistol, aiming my weapon through glassy eyes. My first bullet hit the side of the tank, ricocheting off the metal, and the second shattering the glass of one of the car's windows before the third hit one of the Governor's men in the back, dropping him to the ground. This finally got the attention of some of his people, my cover was blown and they turned their gunfire towards me, lighting up the bushes I hid behind. Locking eyes with a bald man who looked put together enough to be someone's father, I dived to the ground as he sent rounds at my head. I belly crawled through the leaves on the forest floor before I was far enough away from where they had spotted me that I could get up and run.

"Lincoln! Mark!" I shouted as I sprinted back to where I left them. I wasn't far, only about a minute's run before I would be back to them.

I was stopped dead in my tracks when my eyes landed on the Governor through the trees. He once again stood over Herschel as he had tried to drag himself away and out of the line of fire. The two of them were wedged between two cars as the Governor kneeled down, the sword still in his hand. He grabbed onto the top of Herschel's head, his fingers digging into the loose hair of his ponytail. It was already too late to do anything before the Governor raised the sword and hacked down on the remainder of Herschel's neck. Even with all the noise from the gunshots, it was like I could still hear the blade slicing through the wound. He sliced through his neck about three or four times, the blood splatter coating the left side of his face before Herschel's head finally released into his hands.

The rage that filled within me, hatred coursing through my veins with each pulse. I was going to kill him.

"You're gonna die bitch!" a man called out to me from my left. I spun my head in his direction, once again locking eyes with the bald man. I can't describe the feeling that came over me, it was like my body had become numb. Without batting an eyelash I raised my pistol, barely needing to aim my weapon. I was locked in. My finger brushed over the trigger, squeezing it down before the man had the time to comprehend what was happening. It was like one swift motion and the bullet had hit the man directly in the forehead before he could even process that he was about to die.

"You son of a bitch!" I screamed, running out into the field, out of the protection of the trees. I could barely process what I was doing before I was already sprinting towards the Governor. Rage was fuelling my decisions and I let it. I didn't care anymore, I've never wanted another person dead before, but I wanted him to be.

I pointed my gun at him as he looked up at me, his eye meeting mine. He looked relatively calm which only made me angrier. I pulled the trigger, waiting for that relieving feeling of the bullet making contact with him, killing him. But the pistol only clicked when I hit the trigger, I was out of ammo. My teeth gritted together as I still continued to bolt towards him, tossing the unloaded gun into the grass. I screamed as I threw myself into him, my body making contact with his as I knocked him onto his side. My brain didn't think this far ahead, what would I do now? I couldn't overpower him on strength alone.

Nevertheless, I was still on top of him, I was able to get two or three good punches in before he had flipped me over and pinned me to the ground with his body weight. He laughed as I squirmed underneath him, his forearm pressed hard down on my neck. I looked up at him, my eyes finally meeting his as he gazed down at the scar he made across my face. I looked back at him with some satisfaction of my own, watching as the blood leaked from his lip from where I had hit him.

"You're all going to die today," he spoke softly, quietly like he only wanted me to hear it.

I was thinking about how to respond to him, I wanted to stall him as he had his focus on me while my arm desperately tried to reach for Michonne's sword that laid only inches away from my fingertips.

"You still don't get it?" I spat. I could feel the handle of the sword brush against my fingers. "You have no idea who you're messing with."

He stared down at me for a couple of seconds longer before chuckling, a smirk slowly creeping onto his face. Then he adjusted himself, picking up his foot from behind him and pressing it down on my arm that was reaching for the sword. "No, I do," he responded. He reached over to grab the sword first before we were met with a woman standing a couple of feet away from us.

To my surprise the Governor lifted his weight off of me, the woman distracting him as he got to his feet to go to her. She stood there in shock as she cradled a young girl in her arms. The woman was covered in blood as the girl dangled lifelessly in her hands. The sight of it caused the Governor to drop his guard, the girl obviously meaning something to him at a point in time. I took this as my opportunity, I rolled over onto my side and got to my feet, ready to lunge at him again.

"You're gonna get yourself killed. Where the hell did you come from?" someone said as they grabbed onto the back of my shirt and pulled me behind one of the trucks. I turned to see Michonne free of her ties and gripping hard onto my arm.

"There was a wreck, we just got back. We have to do something," I pushed her, upset that I was robbed of my chance.

"What we need to do is get back up to our people," she answered, peeking over the trunk of the truck every so often, "we knew there was always a possibility of the Governor returning and you already know what the plan is."

I gritted my teeth once again, even though I didn't like it I knew she was right. It was poor circumstances, but the day we all feared had come. The most optimal way to keep as many people as we could alive was to load them onto the bus and leave. There was no talking left to do, from here on out it was only actions.

"Go through the fences in your cars. Get your guns, we go in. Kill them all," the Governor shouted out orders to his army.

"Roger that! Move-in!" one of his men responded as he took off his hat, waving it up in a circle to signal a go-ahead for their plan.

Once the tank started to move the cars began to take off, leaving us behind in their tracks. We were running out of places to take cover. The tank pulled ahead, easily crushing the two fences under its treads and taking down the whole thing. They were in.

"Where do we go?" I asked, spinning my head around. "We need to get up there with them."

"Come with me," Michonne responded.

"Wait, my brother and Mark. I can't go without them."

"Scar, they are safer down here. They haven't been spotted and they should stay that way."

Reluctantly, I nodded my head and followed Michonne's lead. We stayed low in the tall grass while trying to move as quickly as possible. It was hard keeping up with her, she was swift and the sound of the tank shooting off shells that made the prison walls crumble caused me to instinctively jerk for cover. Michonne led me up the left side of the prison fences, all the way up until we reached the side of our courtyard. I could see our people hiding behind anything they could as they laid down cover fire to hold the Governor's army back.

"Give me your foot, you're climbing over," she ordered, pulling me out of my daze as I watched the scene unravel before me.

"What?"

"Give me your foot!" she yelled, causing me to finally obey her orders.

I placed my right foot in her hands and without warning, she hoisted me up as far as she could. I swiftly linked my fingers in the chains of the fence and climbed the remainder of the way up before swinging my leg over the top and onto the other side. Climbing down took no time at all and I was back on my feet again.

"What about you?" I asked, pressing my hand up against the chains that separated us.

"There is something I gotta do," she responded, her eyes narrowed with determination.

"That wasn't the plan," I argued with her, wanting her to get on the other side of this fence with me.

"You had no plan," she smirked, "find Daryl, find a gun, and get our people out of here."

With that last order, she scurried off and back down the fences to where we came from. I don't know what she was after, but there was nothing I could do that would get in the way of that now.