Fire With Fire // D. Dixon

chapter three

The sun had gone down much faster than Chloe had expected.

She thought she still had a few more hours, but without a working clock it was a bit of a guessing game. 

Chloe had decided to leave the stream and find her way to a building. Any building would do, just as long as it was clear of any walkers. She wasn't going to be picky.

"You need to find somewhere that's secure. Clear the place, room by room. Then try to scavenge for supplies." Rick spoke to her.

Chloe knew that she was quickly running out of time and options. She picked up her pace as she looked at the orange sun setting in the once-blue sky. Shit, she thought, I need to hurry.

"The longer you wait, the harder it's gonna be for you to get out of here." The Governor spoke, his hands still placed carefully on his hips.

"We can all...we can all live together. There's enough room for all of us." Rick so desperately spoke to the man, hoping he'd back down.

"More than enough. But I don't think my family would sleep well knowing that you were under the same roof." Still, the man refused him. Why, he thought, why was this man so hell-bent on taking their home?

"We'd live in different cell blocks. We'd never have to see each other till we're all ready." Rick spoke, trying his best to think of peaceful ways for this to end.

"It could work. You know it could." Hershel pleaded, turning to look at the man that stood just behind him.

"It could've. But it can't...not after Woodbury. Not after Andrea." The Governor's voice darkened, as did the look on his face. Everyone around had tensed, just the mere mention of her name had sent the group to the defensive. She was their friend, had been since the very beginning, and he was the one that had set up her death like a game. 

"Look, I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. Fact is, it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder than standing here shooting at each other. But I don't think we have a choice." Rick looked at each of the members individually. Some of them had to look away, maybe they were ashamed of what they knew was coming, maybe they just didn't feel anything at all. Either way, Rick was worried.

"We don't, but you do."

"We're not leaving," Rick nearly growled, "You try and force us, we'll fight back. Like you said, the gunshots will just bring more of them out. They'll take down the fences, without the fences this place is worthless."

The Governor scowled at Rick, clearly not hearing the words he wanted to hear. It was clear to Rick that this man wanted the prison for himself, he didn't care about anyone or anything. Whoever stood in this man's way was to die, this man wanted bloodshed.

"Now, we can all live in the prison or none of us can." Rick laid it out, clear as day. 

The Governor jumped off the tank in anger, rushing to grab Michonne's sword. He then walked to Hershel, the blade right against his neck. I tightened the grip on my gun and narrowed my sights into the man. One wrong move and Chloe would fire the fatal shot, that is if Carl doesn't shoot him first.

"Is this what any of you want?" Rick roared, scared that the man would kill Hershel. Rick needed to diffuse this situation, he needed Hershel and Michonne away from these people.

"What we want is what you got. Period. Time for you to leave, asshole." The man in the tank said, no indication of a conscience present. Rick was stunned at how heartless these people were. There were children in here, for Christ's sake.

"Look, I fought him before. And after, we took in his old friends. They've become leaders in what we have here," Rick pleaded with them once again, "Now you put down your weapons, walk through those gates...you're one of us. We let go of all of it and nobody dies. Everyone who's alive right now, everyone who's made it this far, we've all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive."

The Governor was slowly retreating the sword away from Hershel's neck. Chloe did not release the breath she had been holding in, and she wouldn't until this guy was dead. She just couldn't.

"But we can still come back, we're not too far gone," Rick spoke, tears threatening to slip from his eyes, "We get to come back. I know we all can change."

There were several moments of silence. Nothing but the sound of the wind rustling through the trees, the occasional swinging of metal against the chain link fences. For a brief moment, things were peaceful. That's what it was. Brief.

"Liar."

The sword had been hastily slashed into Hershel's neck, making everyone gasp in horror. 

With the sound of Rick's gun firing, all hell broke loose.

Looking ahead, the young Grimes girl saw a quaint little neighborhood just up ahead. She smiled, hoping this place wasn't crawling with walkers. She was full-on sprinting now, the neighborhood now coming into view.

"Don't pick one that's an easy target, people have ways of finding out where you are." Rick spoke to her once again.

Chloe nodded to nobody, walking a bit further into the neighborhood. She looked at one house on the left, sporting white siding, black shutters and better yet; no walkers in sight. Though she wasn't completely out of the woods, she held her gun up as she entered the long-abandoned home.

Room by room, she cleared each one. Luckily, there were no walkers or people inside. She was quick to move the furniture in front of both the front and back doors.

Though the kitchen had been wiped clean, she had noticed there was a basement. There was a small padlock on the door, to which she was quick to break open with the butt of her gun.

She followed the stairs down to the basement, using a flashlight she had found while searching in the bathroom. She glanced around, seeing a wall full of supplies. Cans of green beans, corn, tomato soup, black beans, and clam chowder were scattered everywhere.

"Well holy shit..." Chloe spoke, a smile finding its way to her face.

She grabbed all of the cans and carried them upstairs. She sat the cans in a pile in the living room, as she searched for something to put her supplies in. Chloe had to be ready, just in case this place wasn't safe for much longer. She'd have to be ready to run, if the opportunity arises.

With a bag packed, she laid down on the couch that resided just in the living room. She rested her body and tried her best to rest her mind, but the brutality of the events from the day seemed to plague her thoughts. 

Eventually, her body gave out and allowed the Grimes girl to slip into a seemingly peaceful slumber.