Born to Die

12

Alli
"Okay, I'm serious, I can do it this time" I laughed, picking out another peach from the can. I'd been trying to throw one and catch it in my mouth, which so far, consisted of me throwing it, getting juice all over my lap, then eating it anyway. Carl looked at me, amused as I threw another one in the air "shit!" I laughed as it hit me in the eye when it came down, Carl laughed at me.

"Fine, I can't do it, I give up" I surrender and he laughs again, pulling a peach from the can he had "watch this" he said, throwing it up and catching in his mouth in one try. "How did you even do that?! What the hell?" I asked, pretty impressed to be honest. He just grinned and kept eating his peaches.

I glanced out the kitchen window, the storm was still going strong, lightning struck every few minutes. I put my empty can on the kitchen counter, walking over to the fridge, I saw a whiteboard and I really wanted to draw on it. "What're you drawing?" Carl asked and I shrugged, picking up the black marker "here I'll draw you" I laughed.

I drew a stick figure with exaggerated long hair, making sure to add the sheriff hat, then I switched to the blue marker to draw his eyes. It looked like the work of a two year old, but it seemed pretty funny to me. "Wow, that should be in a museum" he said sarcastically and I nodded "it's quality art man" I joked, motioning to it.

He laughed and I went back onto the counter, starting to make out with him as I sat beside him. I started to move a bit closer to him, then heard a gunshot in the distance, so I pulled away. We both glanced at each other, then ran to grab our weapons. I followed close behind him as he sprinted out the door, towards the prison.

We climbed the house fence, sprinting to the prison. The rain sprayed in my face, drenching me as we went. Carl put his arm out in front of me, stopping me from going further when we got to the tree line outside of the prison gates. We ducked behind a line of bushes, staring at what was in front of us.

"What the f-" I started to whisper, but Carl covered my mouth, not wanting anyone to hear me. There were trucks, a tank, people, guns. These people were ready for war. The rain was starting to lighten up, Carl and I looked through the bushes, spying on the group. "Who are those people?" I asked him, my voice was lower than a whisper, just enough for him to hear me though.

"I can't get a clear view, but if I'm right, then it's-" he trailed off as a man with an eyepatch came into view "the governor" he spoke as quietly as I had. "Damn, he hates you guys" "tell me about it". He was yelling things that we couldn't hear over the rain, the group was all outside, behind the C block fences, except Rick.

The rain had almost fully disappeared now, allowing us to hear the man's words, he wanted the prison. "What should we do?" I ask him and he looked at the group, his eyes were focused and his breathing slowed, I could tell how hard he was trying to concentrate.

"What weapons do you have?" He asked in a whisper and I checked my pockets "knives and a silenced pistol" I answered and he furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "We can't pick them off, they've got more ammo, if they find the direction we're in, we're all dead". I listened as he thought in whispers, trying to figure out what to do.

I watched the group closely as Carl thought of a plan, he was shouting at Rick, demanding that he hand over the prison. "We have a council now, it's not up to me!" Rick shouted back at him and the man looked to his vehicles, motioning to someone, what the hell is he doing?

He said something that I couldn't make out completely, then Michonne and Hershel were dragged out of one of the cars, put on their knees in front of the group. "Carl" I nudged him and he looked at them, now it seemed that he didn't know what to do at all. I just kept scanning through the situation.

"That girl" I pointed to a woman with short dark hair, pulled into a low ponytail, she looked scared, she didn't want to be here, it's like she'd realized that she was on the wrong side. "She's in the back of them, I can get over to her, get her to help us" I suggested and he shook his head "no, I don't wanna put you in danger. I'll-" I started going over to the girl, Carl's one of the best assets to have in any group, but I'm stealthy and I can make a fast getaway, that's what we need right now.

I got behind the group, managing to stay silent, then going to the girl, she was separated a few feet from the others. I tapped her shoulder, staying half hidden behind a car. She turned suddenly, staring at me. "You don't wanna be here, do you?" I whispered, barely audible and she glanced at the governor "I didn't know he had captives until a few minutes before we left. He said he was only using them to reason" she spoke at the same volume that I did.

"We're good people, and we can't afford to lose this place, we have children here, so many people" I tried to reason and she nodded. "I don't know what I can do, they won't listen to me, I'm bad at making an argument" she said and I glanced at the man, we were running out of time. "How well does he know your group?" "He knows four people" she said and I nodded, stepping to the side of the car and walking to where I was level with the governor, Hershel, and Michonne.

"You never said that you were going to kill people!" I shouted at the governor, interrupting what he was saying, he glared at me. "These people, they're willing to share, they aren't the bad guys here" Michonne gave a smirk at me, catching onto what I was trying to do.

I glanced at Carl briefly, he had his gun ready to fire. "You guys don't want this! There's plenty of places safer than this, could you even live with yourselves knowing the cost that you paid to get here? Killing innocent people?" I was speaking to the rest of the group now, some of them lowered their heads, a few put their guns down, less than ten were holding guns now.

"If you kill them, it'll start something big. Roamers will come, fences will fall, then this place is worthless." I changed my word for "walker" in case he knew what Rick called them. A few more people put down guns, then Rick started talking, giving a speech about how we aren't too far gone, saying we could make things work with these people, the governor pulled the sword away from Hershel's neck now, slowly. I readied my gun, just in case. Then the man spoke "Liar".

I heard two gunshots, then the governor fell to the ground, dead. Shot in the head twice. I glanced at Carl, standing with his gun still pointed, he'd fired one of the shots, but the other was from the girl I'd spoken to. I looked around, the people didn't know what to do, then the girl spoke up.

"We didn't know that he'd do that!" She shouted to Rick, someone started to untie Hershel and Michonne's hands, they were both fine, too close of a call though. Rick nodded and she turned to the group, taking on a sense of leadership. "We can reason with these people, try to live here. If you don't want to, go back to the camp, it's your choice" small groups of people got into cars and started leaving, only she remained.

"I'm Alli" I introduced myself, extending my hand for her to shake it and she smiled, shaking it "Tara". Michonne exchanged a few glances with Rick through the fence "I vote she's in!" She shouted to Rick and he smiled "yeah, me too".