37 37 - Hello

WOODBURY

Woodbury was a small city, located in Georgia. Before the apocalypse started, it was home to a couple of families, amounting to at max 1000 people.

But after the apocalypse started, this was home to 100 people at max. And, just like every group, this town had a leader. And the one who governed this city was Philip Blake, called the governor. However, this person had a problem. Philips was a totally insane psychopath.

First of all, his real name wasn't Philip Blake. It was Brian Blake, brother of Philip.

Philip was a more dominant person, a born protector, while Brian was more reserved and cowardly. But, everything changed when Penny died. Philip started to act weird and, even though they had found a place to reside in Woodbury, snapped soon after. He killed people to feed his zombified daughter.

One day, Brian finally decided to save his brother from himself. For that, he killed Philip with a stab to the heart. Brian recalled that his brother was smiling in relief when he died.

Initially, after that, Brian was in a strange state. The good thing for him was that when the siblings arrived at Woodbury, few survivors had made their home here, so everyone barely knew each other.

Then, when a bad group attacked Woodbury, Philip Blake saved them. Well, it was Brian, but he had to adopt his brother's name and persona to live in this world, as Brian considered himself weak.

After saving the people in Woodbury, he was appointed as their leader, a role Philip Blake was born to be.

Initially, he was normal, but little by little, with the authority that he had, the Governor started to lose control and act on his psychotic desires.

It started with a joke, a zombie vs a human in the group. However, Governor saw potential in this, since most of the group loved the 'fights'.

But Governor didn't want to risk a member of his group. Although he considered them disposable, he knew that in this Apocalypse, conflicts were won with numbers.

So, to satiate the people in his group, Governor began to look for outsiders. First, he found people and convinced them to come to Woodbury. There, he would surround the people, usually cutting out some limb from one of the members, to demonstrate authority, gather information about the location of their groups, and then release them into his coliseum.

Some women weren't so lucky and Philip raped them.

In the coliseum, he would force outsiders to fight a zombie. If they won, he would increase the number to two the next night. He would do this until the survivor fought dozens and died. And everyone in Woodbury's group cheered when something happened.

Since the Apocalypse literally had an unlimited number of zombies, it was easy to find fighters.

When the 'fight' was over, the governor would instruct them to save the zombies that survived and would also ask for the head and some body parts of the survivor that died.

Nobody knew for what purpose and nobody wanted to ask.

And today, just after another fight, someone knocked on the door of the Governor's apartment carrying a bucket.

" Come in."

The person clearly recognized the voice and took a big breath to prepare himself for what was inside.

Opening the door, the first thing the man noticed was several aquariums with heads of former survivors who died in the coliseum.

'I'll never get used to that.' Some of those heads had turned into zombies and the governor didn't even bother to kill them.

Ignoring this, the man kept going into the apartment until he saw the governor sitting in a chair near the aquariums. He was clearly admiring the heads," Fascinating, don't you think?"

The man smiled nervously, " Yes... but I just came here to deliver what you asked for."

Placing the bucket on the ground, you could see what was inside. It was the head of someone who died today and some body parts.

Faced with this scene, instead of being disgusted, the Governor smiled, "Very good, very good."

Taking his head by the hair, the governor placed it in front of his eyes. The head was clearly alive but he didn't care. "Hi. Welcome to your new home."

GROWLLLLL

Ignoring the noise, the Governor calmly got up from his chair and went in and went toward an empty aquarium. Putting the head inside, the Governor stood back and admired his collection.

It was only a few seconds after that, he turned to the person, "What else do you have to say?"

Usually, the people who knew about this hobby of the governor and delivered the head, always left soon after. Seeing that the man didn't leave, the governor deduced that he had something to talk about.

And, yes, the man had something to report, " One of our scouts said that he found people in the area. He followed them for a while but lost sight of them." The man passed a map to the governor, " Here is the location, roughly, of where the group might be."

Looking at the map, the governor could see that there was not much in the area, but it was close to his location.

"Send our men to be alert and to look for this group. We are running out of fighters and people are getting upset." The governor, although crazy, was not stupid. He knew he had to control the people and not let them rebel.

"Leave it to me.'' Happy to finally be able to leave the apartment, the man quickly left to go over the orders.

Closing the door with a key, the governor took the bucket and went towards a closet. Opening it, there was a zombie inside and it was chained up. It was a girl, 12 years old at most.

"Hello, Penny. I'm sorry I'm late, but it's getting harder and harder to find food."

The answer was a Grawl.

The governor smiled, " Yes, I love you too." Taking a finger from the bucket, he tossed it to Penny, who picked it up off the floor and ate.

The governor was clearly enjoying watching this. His mind then went to this new group, ' You guys showed up on time, now all that's left is to find you....'

---

And said group was dealing with their own problem.

Nathanael was pointing a gun at a person, " Who are you?"

This person had 2 zombies on his side, chained to his body. On their backs were 2 swords.

Nathanael was the first one to notice an anomaly on the fence, so he called Jonathan on the radio and went to check. He noticed it was a human only when he was close.

Before the human could respond, a couple of zombies noted the sound Nathanael made and went close to the person with the swords.

Nathanael noted that and was about to shoot the zombies, but the person with the sword acted faster. She drew her swords from her back and quickly decapitated 2 zombies that were closest to her.

Under Nathanael's gaze, the person quickly killed 1 more, then 1 more, and 1 more... until the area around her was completely filled with zombie bodies.

When she had finished with the surrounding zombies, she killed the zombies who were chained to her. The person then turned toward Nathanael, "My name is Michonne, and, as you can see, I'm human. I know it may be asking a lot, but could you open the gate for me? I literally agree to be in a cell than out here.''

Before Nathanael could answer, a voice came from behind him, ''It's a pleasure to meet you, Michonne. My name is Jonathan and the guy who pointed the gun at you is named Nathanael.''

Sure enough, Jonathan had already arrived on the scene and spotted Michonne. She needed no introduction, since both in the comics and the TV series, she was badass.

Nathanael looked at Jonathan, who said when he noticed him, '' Don't worry, I have a good feeling about this person.

Already accustomed with Jonathan's temperament and personality, Nathanal just nodded and went to open the gate.

Michonne faced Jonathan, '' Thank you.''

Jonathan nodded, '' I have some questions for you ...''

After asking the famous 3 questions to Michonne, Jonathan added, '' If you don't mind, until we trust you, we will keep the swords. Are you okay with that?''

With no hesitation, Michonne passed her sword to Jonathan.

'' Thank you. Now, follow me.'' Jonathan, alongside Nathanael and Micchone, went toward the prison blocks. Along the way, Jonathan explained the layout to Michonne.

'' Here it's block 1. Currently, 4 people live there, but in the future we might join all people here.''

'' Here we have a farm...''

'' The traininng range...''

'' Block 2 ....''

Finally, they arrived at Block 3. '' And this is where you'll be in the future. You'll have your own room, and plenty of food.''

Michonne waited for more, but Jonathan just stared at her. Hesitantly, she asked, '' That's it?''

Jonathan smiled, clearly accustomed with that question, '' That's it. You see, it didn't take long for me to realize people are the most valuable resource we have in the apocalypse, so I - We are making sure people are well treated here, as we might need each other in the future.''

Michonne just stared at Jonathan, trying to see if he was telling the truth or lying. To her surprise, he seemed genuine.

'' Ok, so should I just enter and choose a room?'' Michonne too adapted fast. She learned this 'skill' by living outdoors for most of the apocalypse.

'' We just need to give Gabriel a head up and we should be good.'' Knocking as a courtesy on the door that lead to Block 3, Jonathan waited until someone answered.

Soon enough, a person did. A small girl peeked from the other side, '' ... Hello?''

Jonathan clearly recognized the girl, ' Patrick's daughter...'

'' Good morning. We need to talk to Gabriel, can you please go tell him Jonathan came to see him?''

The girl smiled seeing it was Jonathan, '' Leave it to me.'' She then runs off.

Soon after, a painting Gabriel arrived at the scene, '' What can I do for you, Jonathan?''

'' Easy, breath.'' After seeing Gabriel calm down, Jonathan continued saying, '' We met this survivor and decided to give her a room in Block 3.''

Gabriel scanned Michonne but could see nothing that indicated she was dangerous.

Regardless, Jonathan seems to know what he was thinking, '' I can vouch for her.''

Michonne looked at Jonathan with a mix of surprise and shock, ' We just met a few minutes ago, I barely said anything and he trusted me?'

If Michonne didn't trust her instincts, she would have thought it was some kind of a trap. But, somehow, she felt she could trust Jonathan. So, she was truly touched by what he said.

Gabriel honestly would've accepted Michonne anyway, but knowing Jonathan trusted the woman gave him peace.

Beconing to Michonne to enter block 3, Gabriel bid goodbye to Jonathan and Nathanael, '' Boys, until we meet again.''

Waving goodbye to the duo, Jonathan and Nathanael returned to block 1.

Nathanael asked as soon as they arrived, '' Do you really trust her?''

Jonathan didn't hesitate, '' I do. I know it is weird, but you can trust me. I have a feeling she is a good person.''

Nathanael could only accet that, '' If you say so.'' He then left do to his things.

Jonathan, on the other hand, was preparing himself to leave the prison, to deal with Governor. As soon as Michonne appeared, he knew he was running out of time until that maniac make his appearance.

' To be honest, I would no doubt be able to handle Woodbury's army easily. The problem is the tank, that is something I doubt I could destroy.'

For some reason, the SHOP didn't sell cars or explosives, so the only thing related to that that Jonathan own was a few grenades. ' Well, if I put the grenade inside the tank it should do the job, but for that, I need to be close enough.'

Sighing, Jonathan finally prepared himself mentally, ' Today I'll rest and tomorrow, I'll go to Woodbury and deal with them.''