Down by the water • TWD

Guard Down.

Rick, Daryl, and Hershel left to go meet with the governor. Andrea set this up because she wanted them to 'work things out', to stop this. Avery had a feeling there wouldn't be much to work out.

A couple days earlier Rick had taken Michonne, Carl, and Jackson on a run. They came back with guns and a lot of them. Avery was confused as to why Rick didn't want her to go on the run with them, she felt offended by it. Did he think she wasn't ready for that?  She hadn't had the chance to talk to him about it, he was always busy thinking about what's ahead. They all were. The group was prepared for a fight, even if they needed to or not.

The rest of the group who remained at the prison were going through the guns Rick brought back. Avery stood next to Maggie as she reloaded the rifles and made sure they weren't jammed. Carl stood across from her loading the handguns after Jackson cleaned them.

"Carl, come here," Glenn said picking up a box of ammo. Carl dropped the handgun he was loading and walked over to Glenn. "You stash these at the loading dock. All right?" Carl nodded taking the box. "Beth put more up on the catwalk." Glenn grabbed another box placing it in Beth's hand. "If anyone gets pinned down, we need to make sure that they have plenty of ammo." He sighed grabbing his rifle and a blowtorch. "I'll go work on the cage outside."

"What we should be doing is loading some of this firepower in a truck and paying a visit to the Governor," Merle spoke pointing to all the weapons lying on the table. "We know where he is right now."

"Are you suggesting that we just go in and kill him?" Glenn asked taking a step closer to Merle.

"Yeah, I am," Merle said back trying not to get angry. Avery could hear it in his voice, see it in his face.

"We told Rick and Daryl that we'd stay put." Michonne reminded Merle of what everyone agreed to.

"I've changed my mind, sweetheart," Merle said back to her purposely calling her a pet name. "Being on the sideline with my brother out there ain't sitting right with me."

"The three of them are right in the middle of it. No idea we're coming. They could get taken hostage or killed." Glenn explained to Merle thinking about all the possibilities. "A thousand things could go wrong."

"And they will." Merle snapped back taking an aggressive step towards Glenn.

"My dad can take care of himself," Carl spoke up defending his father. The boy glanced at Avery for support.

"We're not risking their lives." Avery spat glaring at Merle. All the man did was smirk at her running his tongue over his bottom lip.

"Sorry, son, but your dad's head could be on a pike real soon," Merle said to Carl ignoring Avery's comment. She watched Carl leave the cell with the ammo box in his hand.

"Why would you say that?" Avery asked looking at Dary's brother in disgust. He had no idea what the boy had recently gone through. He had no right. Merle looked at the girl and stretched his one hand out in surrender.

"It's not the right move." Glenn paused. "Not now." He looked around the room thinking about what he would say. "Can't take the risk of putting them in the crossfire." Merle looked at him with dead eyes. "That's my decision. It's final."

Merle scoffed and spit on the cement before walking away.

Avery wanted to punch him in the mouth.

---

The girl sat on the cellblock steps reading her book. She wanted to take her mind off of everything. She didn't know if Rick and the others were dead, or if the governor was dead. She didn't know and it was eating her alive. So she was doing the one thing that always kept her distracted.