41 - Woodbury (4)

Merle had a lot on his mind at the moment, but at least now he knew that his little brother was apparently alive and okay. So he calmed down a little, "Say it.'' He was now willing to listen to what Jonathan had to say.

Jonathan, in a sign of good faith, lowered his weapon, to the confusion of Merle. Jonathan noted that confusion and said, '' While you are on the enemy side, you're Daryl's brother, I don't want to kill you. Besides, I'm sure our conversation will be pleasant to both of us.''

Merle thought about grabbing his gun quickly and getting it over with but decided against it. He wasn't going to comment, but he just tolerate the Governor, ' He has a few screws loose in his head.'

Jonathan then started to speak, '' Believe it or not, I came here with the purpose of a lookout for my group. We accepted a new member some days ago, and she said a group nearby wanted to attack us but didn't know our location. She, however, said the location of said group.''

'' It was us?''

Jonathan nodded, '' Yes, Merle, it is. I planned to kill the leader of the group and leave without anyone noticing, but your presence changed things a bit.''

'' How so?'' Merle's interest was picked slightly.

'' You see, I don't know you well, as we met less than an hour ago. But, I know your brother. If you're half of what he is, I can trust you enough... I'll kill the Governor and give his position as a leader to you.''

Merle was stunned. It wasn't like he thought of that, but that Jonathan said so casually.

Jonathan noted the face Merle had, '' Can you be the leader?''

Merle recovered, '' ... What do you ask in return?'' While he knew it was going to be difficult to have the same power over people that the Governor had, Merle knew he had a chance. But he was afraid of what Jonathan wanted,' While he did say he just wanted to protect his group, what if he want our food or weapons?'

While they had both, it was only enough for them. If Jonathan asked for 50% or more, there would be trouble.

'' Nothing.''

''Come again?'' Merle asked just to be sure he didn't hear thing wrong.

'' I ask of you nothing. You can have all the resources here, as well as people. I just want my group to feel safe... In fact, if you want to, in the future we can even have some exchange between our groups.''

Jonathan knew the most valuable resource in the apocalypse was people, so he now was changing his way of thinking a little bit over time.

Merle wanted to doubt, but his instinct said the person in front of him was telling the truth. But even if they planned that, there was still the matter of killing the Governor and passing the power to Merle, which was something he had no idea how to do, '' Do you have a plan to make me the leader? I mean, on that is convincing enough to not let people revolt or something.''

It was easy to just kill the Governor here and now, Jonathan just need to kill the man, who was unconscious on the table. The position of Leader of Woodbury would be open. The problem is, things could get a little complicated over time, as it would be a strange occurrence. The Governor had a reunion with an outsider, but at the end of the conversation, Merle was the new leader of the town and the Governor was dead. Things could complicated, so they needed a story.

'' ...'''

Merle stared, '' You didn't think of one yet?''

Jonathan sighed, '' Yet. But I know one thing, the Governor has to die.'' He knew the atrocities the man committed or would commit, in the past and the future. He didn't want a type of person like that near his group, or alive.

'' I don't see a problem with that. We just need to find a way to dispose of him without raising too much suspicion.'' Merle began to think of ways to do that quietly, and without much suspicion.

Jonathan too, but he had other ideas, '' How about the opposite? We make things big enough so that no one will suspect it was me and you who killed the Governor.''

'' What do you have in mind?''

Jonathan took his backpack and took out all ammo inside, revealing a couple of grenades inside. He looked at Merle, '' We blow things up... By the way, I heard you guys have a tank. Where is it?''

-----

BANG

After making a plan together with Merle, Jonathan quickly shot the Governor's head. As he was using a silencer, it didn't make much noise. He looked at the body, ' Just to be safe.'

BANG BANG

Jonathan shot 2 more times, and the Governor was no longer in the realm of the living. One of the worse enemies Rick and his group had faced was dead just like that.

'' Are you ready?'' Merle saw the scene of the Governor dying, but said nothing, ' Good riddance.'

Jonathan nodded, '' Let's began.''

The plan was simple. Merle would leave the building and then throw a few grenades at it. Jonathan then would blow up the room he was in as a cover, so the Governor and the outsider would've died in the explosion.

Again, it was simple but the chances of it working were high.

Merle took a deep breath and went out of the room. He closed the door fast enough so that not a single person who was outside saw what was inside.

One of the men on that floor approached Merle, '' What happened?''

'' The Governor is ... having a one-on-one talk with the guy, if you know what I mean.'' Merle and every one of the Governor men knew the preference of the bastard.

'' Oh... I see.''

'' And I don't really like watching that scene, so I left... It will probably be over in a few hours, so I'll go grab something to eat.''

The man bid farewell to Merle, '' See you soon.''

Merle made his way out of the building while the man looked at the door to where the Governor and the outsider were. He shuddered thinking about what was happening to the poor man, ' I'll offer a quick prayer for him...'

A few minutes after Merle left, everyone in Woodbury and a few kilometers outside of it heard a huge BOOM.

It was the work of a couple of grenades hitting the building, but for some reason that no one knew, only one floor looked like hell.

The man who talked to Merle earlier was hit by the shockwave created by the explosion and was sent tumbling down a couple of stairs. He was stunned and only a few seconds later he recovered. He rushed to the apartment, to see if the Governor was alive but he only found a charred corpse.

' NO!'

Even though the man was a lunatic, he was a good leader. Just as the man was cursing his luck, Merle arrived in a hurry, '' What happened?!''

The man, Martinez, looked at Merle, '' The Governor... he is dead.''

Merle looked stunned, '' How...? Wait a minute!''

Martinez noted that Merle realized something, '' What is it?''

'' We looked at the backpack of the outsider and I think we saw a couple of grenades. He did give it to us when we asked, but maybe he had a couple more with him. And when the Governor was going to 'talk' with him, he used it....''

Martinez could only think that it was logical. A few things were missing here and there, but overall, it made sense. Regardeless, their situation now was not good, ' Our leader just died, and we don't have anyone on the same level as him to take the role... unless...' He looked at Merle, ' While he is a piece of shit, at least he is better than the Governor. And, the people of Woodbury like this type of person in charge.'

Martinez quickly realized Merle was a good option to replace the Governor, ' We don't have much of a choice... By the way, I don't see the body of the outsider.'

It was one more thing to think about, but Martinez focused more on the problem at hand, ' How do I convince Merle to accept the role of the leader? And how to explain all that to the people?'

Martinez didn't know, but Merle wanted to be the leader. And the body of the outsider... well. It didn't exist.

---

The outsider, Jonathan, was getting out of Woodbury easily without being noticed, thanks to all the commotion. Oh, and he also grabbed the tank. While he didn't know how to drive, he could learn. Besides, who doesn't want a tank? He just wasn't sure how he was going to explain to Merle how he took the tank without anyone noticing, but that was a problem for the future.

Jonathan had left one radio with Merle, to keep him updated about the situation and to make sure he maintained contact with Daryl. He didn't care that much about what happened to Woodbury, but he wanted Merle to live and met Daryl, ' One more thing that changed from the history... Oh well.'

He then started to make his way back home, ' Only a few days passed, but I already miss them.'

Jonathan did maintain contact via radio, but it wasn't the same as in person.

' I hope everything is in order...'