~Rebel's POV~

"Gon' wake up anytime soon, sweetheart?"

Hearing Daryl call me sweetheart made me shiver. I rolled over in the single bed to face Daryl who was pulling his poncho over his head, being careful to avoid his pre-loaded crossbow.

"Sweetheart?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Wha'? Isn't that what most guys call their girlfriends?" he muttered, furrowing his eyebrows and scrunching his nose.

I chuckled and got out of the bed, still wearing Daryl's angel wing vest. I shoved my boots on and picked up my bow and sheath of arrows, avoiding conversation.

You could say I wasn't exactly a morning person.

I shuffled my way down the stairs and towards Rick. We all knew the Governor was planning to attack soon, so we needed to be ready.

Daryl had been following behind me and as soon as I had stopped walking, he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side.

It still felt weird to have our 'relationship' in the public. The group still stared and made the occasional comment which just made everything awkward and uncalled for.

Daryl, however, seemed happy about showing affection in front of everyone. I'm guessing it gave him a sense of male pride, or something ridiculous like that.

"Rebel, glad you decided to wake up and join us." Rick commented, sending me a pointed look.

I blushed slightly and turned into Daryl's side, burrowing my face in his neck. His arm tightened around me and made me feel safe.

I heard the slight clicking of Hershel's crutches outside the cell block and he tapped one on the bars, telling Carl to open them.

"Rebel, it's time." he told me.

My chest tightened and I pushed Daryl's arm off me. Rick and Daryl looked at me, confusion crossed their features, not knowing what Hershel meant. They didn't know, but I did.

Saxon had woken up.

We had come to the agreement that when Saxon woke up, he would either leave or stay. It was his choice. I was so sure that he was going to leave that the possibility that he would stay had slipped my mind.

I followed Hershel out into the cell block and to the table where Saxon was sitting and eating a bowl of broth that Beth had brought him.

As soon as he saw us approaching, he put the bowl down and crossed his arms. It didn't exactly work because of the large bandage on his arm, but at least he tried.

"The hell is this whore doing here?" he sneered, directing his comment towards me.

"Don't talk to her like tha'!" Daryl growled, trying to hold me.

I avoided his arms and moved to stand in front of Saxon who was glaring at me heavily. I crossed my arms and bobbed my knee up and down, debating on how to ask the question.

I sighed, "Either leave or stay. Your choice, make it now."

Saxon looked surprised by my blunt words and you could see confliction scar his face. He surveyed the prison and each member of the group, taking his sweet time as he came to Beth.

I snapped my fingers in his face as his stare lingered on her and his eyes snapped back to mine.

"Leave or stay." I said.

"I'm leaving." he said at last.

Somewhere inside of me, relief flooded. But in the other part, heartbreak almost consumed my logical half.

I truly loved Daryl, but Saxon would always be my first love and he would always have a special place in my heart, no matter how shitty he treated me.

"Okay, then go. You don't get any supplies. Glenn and Maggie will escort you out. Good luck." I said to him, my voice monotonous.

Saxon nodded and stood from the table. He bid us a rather harsh goodbye and then followed Maggie and Glenn out the door and towards the gates.

"Now that that is taken care of, we need to discuss the Governor." Rick informed us, "We know he is going to attack, we just don't know when."

"We need to leave!" Carol cried, gripping Judith in her arms.

Silence consumed the cell block and everyone was staring at something. Thinking of a plan was hard, but doing it under pressure was even worse.

"What if we attack first." I suggested.

Daryl looked at me and you could see the trace of a smile playing on his lips. He was proud of me for something, if it was the idea I wasn't sure.

"That's a good idea," Rick said, not really sounding like we had a chance at that.

His voice was like he was speaking to a child who just handed him an absolutely hideous drawing. You had to say you liked it, but you didn't really mean it at all.

"Do you have a better idea, Rick?" I snapped.

"No," Glenn said, walking into the room, "Rebel has a point."

"See! If we attack then we have an advantage. They have flimsy walls and the place is a walker magnet, all we need to do is take the walls down and it's a death sentence for them." I explained.

"Whoa, whoa. We don't want a death sentence." Rick said.

"Ye' we do. They want to kill us. I'm not sayin' everyone has to die, just the ones that plan to fight back." Daryl agreed.

"No." Rick said, making his decision final.

Something inside me stirred. As much as Rick wanted to take down Woodbury, he wouldn't. He had changed and all he really wanted was his wife back.

He had become a lost man that didn't know what was best for the group. He needed to step down and we needed to fight.

"If you don't agree, I don't care. I'm leaving tonight, whether you like it or not." I said, raising up to his authority.

"If anyone is with me, they're more than welcome to come." I said, gesturing my arm up.

"I'm goin'." Daryl said, standing beside me.

"Count us in." Maggie said, taking Glenn's hand.

"I want to help." Carl said, pocketing the keys.

"I'm coming." Carol said.

"Booyah!" Merle yelled.

Michonne placed a hand on my shoulder and nodded, signaling that she was going as well.

"Anyone else that wants to come is more than welcome, we leave at nightfall." I announced.

I walked into the cell block and grabbed a small leather backpack, loading it with our utmost necessities. If we were attacking, we had to set up for the possibility that we could be trapped or they fight back.

From what happened last time, there defenses were okay on the outside, but even worse on the inside. All we had to do was take down a few choice people and the town would be ours.

I weighed each of my arrows for leverage and loaded them into the fringe covered sheath, taking time to rub a small stain out of the suede.

"Ye' sure ye' wanna do this?" Daryl asked, coming up behind me.

"What else are we going to do? We can't just sit around and wait to be attacked. We need the advantage of surprise." I said, sounding every bit of the leader I wasn't.

Daryl nodded and began loading another bag with weapons and ammunition. Rick wasn't happy at the amount of weapons we were taking, but it wasn't his call anymore.

"We need smoke bombs," Glenn informed me.

In his hands he held the last three bombs. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, reviewing my high school chemistry classes.

"We need sugar and potassium nitrate." I told him, "The potassium nitrate can probably be found in the river outside the fence, you just need to boil it down."

Glenn nodded and scurried out the door with a large pan and a rifle, Maggie and Carl in tow.

Hershel motioned for me to come sit with him and I respected his actions. I crouched near the metal benches and Hershel took my hand.

"Keep my girl safe." he demanded.

"Of course," I said, patting his hand.

Hershel smiled at me and I straightened myself out, standing up to my full height.

Glenn and Maggie had loaded the smoke bombs and we had checked everyone's ammunition, twice and had supplied everyone with a pocket knife to hide in their shoe.

As we were leaving, Rick stepped on to the metal table, clapping his hands to call attention to himself.

"If you leave, don't come back."

It took a minute for Rick's words to sink in, but they hit hard. Maggie started to cry and Carl looked utterly heartbroken.

His dad had basically said if you go, I never want you back here. Carl quickly covered his emotions with a stone cold mask and walked out the door, not looking back once.

Maggie ran to Hershel and Beth and started sobbing her apologies. Beth was crying and you could see how hard it was for Hershel not to cry as well.

Carol and Daryl were bidding their final goodbye's to Judith. Daryl removed the tip of an arrow and gave the other half to her, keeping the sharp point out of the small child's reach.

It was then that I realized I had no one here except Daryl. He was the only thing that had kept me here all this time and if not for him, I might be dead.

I stood there in the midst of all the sorrow and goodbyes, not having anyone to cry over.

I lifted my head and walked over to Rick, holding out a hand of apology.

"I'm sorry you had to make that decision." I said to him, meaning every word.

Rick grasped my hand firmly and shook it, accepting my apology without saying so.

"I'm trusting you with my son's life, don't let me down." Rick said tightly, with drawling his hand.

I nodded and slung the backpack over my shoulders and walking out the door. If I looked back, I would have stayed. Seeing the few heartbroken faces would've been enough to make me turn back.

Everyone else was already standing outside and waiting by the gates. We were taking a large, delivery van that had been abandoned at the prison so we had a safe getaway car.

"Alright. Let's head out."

We were hidden outside the gates, observing the people on watch. It had been this way for hours and out target still hadn't come up.

Martinez called out something behind him and Milton hoisted himself up on the wall, making me perk up and Martinez left the wall.

He wasn't our target, but he would know where our target was.

"Take out everyone, but Milton. We need him." I whispered to the group.

I loaded my bow and aimed it at a man's head, locking in right between his eyes.

Daryl was the first to pull his trigger and I followed, letting my arrow fly through the air. Everyone was out before anyone could yell for help.

Milton was shaking and he had ducked behind a tire tower in hopes of hiding. I climbed a wooden ladder next to the large fence and swung myself on to the wood platform.

Daryl grabbed Milton by the scruff and lifted him up so he was struggling in the air. Milton was flailing his legs and yelling for help, bringing out dozens of towns people.

"Where is the Governor?" I asked him.

"I-I do-n-n't k-know." he stuttered through gasps of air.

"I think ye' do." Daryl said, dropping his scruff and pressing hunting knife against his throat.

Milton's eyes were filled with fear and he was looking over the bodies of the guards that had been shot down in a matter of seconds, knowing the same thing could happen to him.

"He-he's in the b-b-bar." Milton screamed.

The towns people gasped as Daryl ran his knife against Milton's throat with more pressure, cutting deep into the layers of skin, blood flowing freely.

Daryl threw Milton's body aside and turned towards the crowd, his hands smothered with fresh blood.

"Anyone else?" he yelled.

A few muffled screams came from the towns people, but no rejections or acceptances of the offer.

I jumped off the fence and ran towards a building with a old, painted sign that read "BAR, OPEN 24 HOURS".

I pushed the door open and was greeted with the overwhelming stench of alcohol. At the very back sat the Governor, gulping down a glass of whiskey.

He slammed the glass on the bar, shattering it into little pieces and he turned to us, a sick smile on his face.

"I've been expecting you." he boomed, throwing his arms out for what seemed like he wanted a hug.

"Ah, dear Maggie. Remember the fun we had?" The Governor asked rhetorically, giving Maggie a sickening look.

"Cut to it, Phillip." Andrea said, walking from her place behind the bar to join our group, "If we're going to fight, do it now."

The Governor looked betrayed by her actions, but not in the least surprised.

Daryl came up behind me and leaned in to my ear, "I'm going to do a perimeter of the building."

I nodded and he strode out of the room while the Governor stared at me hungrily. He stood from his position at the bar and walked towards me.

He reached a hand to caress my face and I let him do so, knowing it would backfire.

"Such pretty eyes," the Governor cooed.

His hand continued to travel south and as soon as it went to far, Daryl's arrow smacked through the window, hitting the back of his hand and shattering a vein.

"You bitch!" the Governor roared, his other hand flying through the air towards my cheek.

I grabbed it before it made contact and twisted it around, hearing a satisfying snap echo through the building.

By now, both of his hands were incapable of use and he was curled up in a fetal position on the floor, begging for mercy and forgiveness.

I raised a revolver to his head and cocked the trigger, hearing the only bullet take its place in the chamber.

"Wait," Maggie said, "I want to do it."

I nodded and stepped back, letting the trigger fall slack. I leaned back agaisnt the door frame and watched as Maggie removed a wooden-handle butterfly knife.

Tears were falling from her face and hitting the dusty floor in a river. Glenn looked like he wanted to help her, but he knew better than to disturb this victory.

Maggie pressed the tip of the knife to the Governor's chest and dug it in slightly. The Governor let out a loud scream of pain and I resisted the urge to cover my ears and block out the horror movie sound.

"You can go all the way to hell." Maggie spat on the Governor's face and gripped the knife with both hands.

Slowly, she plunged the knife into his chest. She went for the slow kill and was stabbing him below the heart, so he had no hope other than to bleed out slowly and painfully.

His screams of pain seemed to sate Maggie in a way that was unexplainable. She looked like she had finally gotten what she wanted.

Maggie was killing the Governor.

Maggie couldn't control the stream of tears coming from her eyes, but she didn't seem to notice.

The knife was almost all the way into the Governor's thick chest and his shirt was soaked with blood. Quickly, Maggie twisted the kinfe, widening the wound expertly.

She took the knife out fully before sinking it back in all the way until you could only see the wooden hilt.

By now, the Governor was silent. His face was an ashen color and he only let out the occasional whimper.

Maggie was satisfied with the large wound below his heart, so she moved on.

She stabbed him first in the foot, then moved to above his kneecaps. She plunged the knife in to his organs and tore out is innards, sobbing the whole time.

At one point, she seemed so close to breaking down that Glenn took the knife away from her.

He was the final key to the Governor's death and no one was going to deny his position to do what he had to. He submerged the knife deep into the Governor's forehead and removed it hastily.

"You are really one ugly mother fucker." he whispered.

Glenn immersed the knife into the Governor's only good eyes before pulling it back and cleaning the blade on the Governor's shirt and closing the handle, handing it back to Maggie.

Daryl joined us again and we all watched as the Governor bled out onto the floor boards, making the wood a deep maroon color instead of a cherry brown.

"Move out," Daryl ordered the group, tugging on my hand.

I tore my gaze away from the Governor's lifeless body and followed out the door.

The towns people had gathered near the bar and when we came out with blood on our hands, they started to rebel.

Many were crying and some were even trying to come at us, but we silenced any who dared with an arrow or bullet to the head.

A large hand grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth.

The thin tip of a survival knife pressed right above my nose, cutting shallow enough not to kill me.

The knife ran across my face, cutting from the bridge of my nose to right below my right ear.

The hand was still covering my mouth and cheers were being let out.

Daryl turned back and shock covered his face. Seeing as they weren't going to help me, I grabbed the blade and turned it around in my hand, accidentally slashing my palm.

I moved and saw Martinez holding the survival knife and smiling widely. He dropped the knife and held his hands up in a show of mock surrender.

I bent over and snatched the knife from the ground. I used as much force as I had and sent it flying through the air towards his head, but he was quick enough the block it.

It impaled his hand and he cried out, removing the knife from his hand and throwing it back on the ground towards me.

I grabbed it and stuffed it into the sheath on my back, turning back towards the group.

"Go!" I shouted, running towards the fence.

I wasn't planning to stick around any longer. Blood was clouding my vision and I felt slightly dizzy. The cut on my face was sure to leave a mark, but for now, we had to get out.

Michonne and Carl were working on cutting down the gates so the walkers could get in and from what we could see, half of the wall was down.

I sprinted down the street and past the shocked towns people towards the delivery van that was waiting outside the fence.

"Get in the car!" I yelled at Carl and Michonne, noticing the herd of walkers heading towards the open fence.

We all scrambled into the van and Michonne stepped on the gas, willing the car to go faster than it was made for.

The town was being flooded with walkers and I smiled at the thought of the downfall.

The Governor was dead.

The fences were down.

The town was flooded.

We won.

The End