For You // R.G.

Chapter 51

I was clenching my fist, trying to hold myself together as we were drawing nearer to the meeting place. It was pitch black out, probably around 11 now, Sena was silent in the back.

"I really hope you aren't just doing this to fuck us over." I say to Merle while looking out the window. He didn't answer for a moment,

"I hate that man more than I hate anythin', darlin'. Including your asshat, officer friendly."

I looked over at him, seeing how sincere he looked. His eyes were on the road, he seemed as legit as they came.

...

"There they are-" I say nervously as we stopped in front of an SUV that was parked a few hundred yards away from us. Merle kept the car running, two guys got out of the SUV with machine guns, I felt my breath catch.

"You better not let us die, Sena-" I started to say. Merle even seemed nervous,

"Get out of the car, put all of your weapons down on the ground!" One of the guys ordered. Merle and I looked at each other, we both got out of the car slowly. I placed my foot on the forest ground, my heart racing.

"You think we should kill Merle..?" I heard one of the guys ask the other after they had collected our weapons and took them as their own. When I heard that, I felt my heart sink. I then yelled back at Sena in the car,

"SENA- SHOOT!"

As I shouted that, I ran over to the car to duck from the immediate gunfire that would follow, I had leapt in midair to land on the ground, I heard guns fire. Once I crashed to the ground, I heaved from the air being knocked out of me, once I was okay, I went to the back of the car, seeing if Merle was okay. I didn't see him, I saw one of the guys dead. I then hear Sena yelling, almost as if she was giving orders to someone. I looked up to the back window of the car to see what was going on. She was outside, standing above a guy on the ground, I stand up to see where Merle was,

"Sena, where's Merle?" I asked, shaking. I then see her above a guy, about our age, maybe a little older. He had dirty blonde hair and light green eyes, he looked terrified by Sena who was yelling at him, gun to his face. He had his hands up, trying to look as innocent as he could. I then heard someone shuffling around behind their vehicle, I felt myself tense up once I knew that I didn't have a gun but I saw that it was Merle. I felt relieved that he was okay,

"That's the last bitch." He sneers, talking about the guy Sena was standing over.

"P-please- just let me go, I- I wasn't shooting at you guys-"

"Sena, don't shoot him." I say. This guy seemed innocent. He was young, I guessed around 22. He couldn't be that bad

"Max- then what do you want us to do with him?! Why should we believe what he's saying?!" Sena asked

"Because I believe that he's innocent!"

Sena laughed at me, she cocked her gun, about to shoot the guy,

"Sena, he'll be our hostage." I say, going up to her and guiding her away from the guy. I looked into her eyes, trying to persuade her, she kept her eyes on the man

"I saved you both." She says, smiling, proud of herself that she pulled it off. I smiled and hugged her, "thank you." I say

"The town's about 10 miles ahead, we should take their car and hit 'em at the gates." Merle says from behind us, he was now picking up the guy. His hands were tied up with rope behind his back, Merle guided him to the SUV.

"You ready?" Sena asked me, I looked at her, her eyes wild and excited. Her hands shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush of almost getting killed, I nodded. We both got into the SUV.

"I swear to god if you try and do anything to kill us, I will cut off your balls." Merle threatened the guy who he was forcing to drive. He had to drive because there were guards at the gate. The dude gulped and his hands shook when starting the ignition, he looked harmless enough to me. He wasn't one of the guys who came up to the car to shoot Merle and I, he was inside the car.

"What's your name?" Sena asks him, he was driving now, it was silent. He glanced quickly in the rear view mirror, looking at Sena,

"It's- it's Derek." He says nervously. I looked at his hands, the skin was dried and cracking from the winter weather, he had a heavy brown coat on and blue jeans. He was attractive with a boyish look to his face. I had caught Sena staring at him a couple of times while we drove to Woodbury, I smiled, she nudged me hard in the arm, making sure the thought of her liking him was long gone.

We reached the gates, the small amount of humor in the air vanished, we were beyond scared.

"We're in." Derek says as he looked at the guards on the walls who were letting us pass, the gates opened, Merle tensed up and loaded his gun, once we were inside, we started to shoot.

I rolled down my window, I started to shoot three guards down, Merle had left the car to go to the governor, Sena was inside still, she was shooting the guards with me but also kept an eye on Derek who was frozen in his seat.

"Derek- is the governor here?" I asked loudly over the gunfire. He looked at me, his eyes wide and full of terror,

"He's- he's here. He may have left because of the gunfire-"

"Where would he go?"

"He'd leave- I- I don't know where."

I turned to Sena who was shooting still.

"Sena! I'm going to try and find the governor!" I yelled over the noise. She turned back at me to look at me but returned to her gun to keep shooting.

"What do I do with the asshole?!" She asked. I looked at him, I told him to give me his hands, I tied his hands.

"He's fine, if I'm not back in ten minutes you have to leave-"

"No! I can't just leave-"

"You might have to, Sena." I stated

She stayed silent for a moment, I took the opportunity to leave. Once out of the car, I looked around for any Woodbury people, no one was outside. I ran across the street to the houses.

I was walking down the sidewalk, my machine gun pointing down but I could use it if I wanted to. My breathing was hard, I felt my muscles contract with every step I took.

I kicked the door open to the governor's house, I had my gun up and ready, I scoped the downstairs, nothing. I went upstairs, I checked his office and room, nothing.

I came back downstairs, wondering where he would be. I then ran over to where I was held captive. I was up against the wall, I watched the light flicker above me, I heard men's voices coming from down the hall. I came from the corner and started to shoot the three men walking down the hall. Once they were killed, I searched through all of the rooms and saw no one. I was about to walk out when I had passed by one door that I didn't check. I was trying to keep my mind off of it, trying to persuade myself that it was nothing just like the others, but my curiosity got the best of me and I opened it. And I still don't know if I'm happy that I opened it or not.