CHAPTER FIVE
To Michonne, it was as if she were looking at Hell: the buildings of Woodbury had become columns of flame, and their frames looked like blackened matches that were about to crumble, and as if to demonstrate, one frame disintegrated and the column of flame collapsed into the building's foundation, and spilt out across Main Street like a fiery ocean while from its center, a fireball shot into the sky amongst the black clouds. But to Michonne, the most unnerving sight was the herd of walkers staggering before the fires; blackened, growling shadows that looked like devils who were shoveling fuel onto the fires instead of half-dead corpses that staggered mindlessly into the inferno and be consumed by the hungry flames.
Michonne suddenly double over and coughed loudly and harshly; she had been so mesmerized by the inferno and the herd that she had unknowingly been breathing in the black smoke. Michonne grabbed the edge of her hooded cape with her left hand, covered her nose and mouth with it, and took short, quick breaths until she regained her composure; she stood up and placed her back against the warehouse.
A growl burst from Michonne's right, and she turned her head to see a young female walker with auburn hair close enough to bite her. Michonne quickly raised her right hand and fired her Glock 19 pistol.
BLAM!
The 9mm bullet shattered the female walker's upper teeth and continued on through its mouth and exited the back of its head, taking blood and pieces of bone and brain stem with it. The female walker—now dead again— froze in place for a moment before it fell backwards and onto the ground. Michonne lowered her gun and trembled, realizing how close she came to being bit or having her jugular bitten out, and then she doubled over and she started coughing again. Michonne grabbed the edge of her hooded cape, put it back over her nose and mouth, and took short quick breaths until she could stand straight again.
That was stupid! Michonne scolded herself. You knew there would be walkers in this town before you even left the prison! You better stop getting distracted—and stop seeing ghosts—or you're going to get yourself killed!
Michonne looked straight ahead again at the inferno and the herd. I could walk right past them—they won't notice me if I'm careful, and the smoke will cover my scent as good as walker guts—but I can barely breathe as it is; one coughing fit and they'll swarm me. If I want to reach that jeep, I'll have to find another way.
Michonne looked to her left: there was a street with blue collar businesses like automotive repair or welding on its right, and plumbing or glaziers on its left. Several walkers were staggering across the street; they were moving towards the inferno and were oblivious of Michonne's presence.
If I go that way, slip past those walkers, and run towards the wall, I could spot a side street on the right that can lead me to the jeep.
Michonne slipped the Glock 19 pistol against the small of her back; then she reached over her shoulder, drew her katana, and began walking down the street with the edge of her hooded cape still pressed against her nose and mouth by her left hand.
The walkers crossing the street were transfixed on the inferno like it was a moving image on a movie screen. Michonne stopped and stood still; she tightened her grip on her katana and held her breath as a female walker approached from her left. The female walker didn't glance at Michonne and kept gazing at the inferno, but Michonne kept watching until the female staggered past her. Michonne sighed in relief and continued moving forward slowly.
Two more walkers began to cross the street; Michonne stopped and stood still again as they staggered past her, and she resumed her slow but steady progress along the street, but curiosity got the better of Michonne and she turned her head slightly to the left: the Governor had put up walls in-between the business along the street, and while that saved metal and labor, it also left weak points like windows, doors, and cracks between metal and brick. It was how Michonne snuck Rick and his group into Woodbury, and it was how the herd was breaking in. Walkers began staggering outside the business after breaking through the boarded windows and the back doors, or they staggering out of the alleys after bending the panels of wall back and squeezing through.
A growl rose in front of Michonne, and she looked straight ahead to see a male walker turning slowly towards her.
Shit! Michonne thought to herself. I thought I only looked at the wall for a second—
The male walker growled louder and reached its hands out to grasp Michonne; she dropped the edge of her hooded cape, grasped her katana with both hands, and slashed at the male walker's hands.
SHUKK!
The male walker's hands flew up in the air and fell onto the street. The male walker stumbled back in surprise, and Michonne slashed at it again.
SHLOKK!
The katana sliced through the male walker's neck, and its head flipped up the air and fell onto the street like the male walker's hands did earlier, while the walker's body fell onto its left side.
Michonne took a defensive stance with her katana and looked around: the walkers on the street were turning slowly towards her, and their combined growling rose like a Mack truck's engine grumbling to life.
"Shit!" Michonne muttered angrily.
The walkers began staggering towards Michonne, who began running forward as quickly as she could.
The first walker to stagger in front of Michonne's path was a young male, and it wore an Atlanta Braves baseball jersey with the Tomahawk portion of the logo obscured by dried blood and gore. Michonne swung her katana at the young walker in a downward, curving motion.
SHLUKK!
The sword cut into the center of the baseball walker's scalp and continued on its curving downward path until it exited the bottom of the baseball walker's jaw. The baseball walker—now dead—froze in place as the left side of its head broke off the skin from the right side and fell to the street, and a piece of brain matter spilled out of it. The dead walker itself fell backwards and landed onto the street with its arms spread out.
Michonne took a quick look to her left and her right. The other walkers were staggering towards her, with their arms out to grasp her and pull her in for a fatal bite. Michonne resumed running and tried to ignore the pain in her lungs as she breathed in the smoke from the inferno.
Michonne hadn't run far when the next walker staggered into her path: it was another male, but when Michonne saw the bloodstained badge pinned on the walker, she skidded to a stop, looked at the walker's face, and her eyes widened in shock. It was Rick Grimes—dead and turned into a walker— its eyes were yellow, its skin was molting, and it had a bite mark on its right hand.
"No. No! You're not real!" Michonne shouted fearfully.
The walker Rick growled angrily at Michonne while strands of bloody saliva hung from his teeth.
"You're not Rick!"
Michonne narrowed her eyes and thrust her katana at the walker Rick's face.
SHUKK!
The katana went into the walker Rick's wide-open mouth and exited out the back of its head, blood, teeth, and pieces of bone and brain stem slid off the blade and fell onto the street while walker Rick's arms fell to its sides as it died for the final time. Michonne stepped forward, held onto walker Rick's shoulder with her left hand, and looked at its face closely: that's when she realized it wasn't Rick; it was a Georgia State Patrolman, and it was clean shaven and it had a buzz cut. Michonne lowered her head and sighed with relief.
The growls behind Michonne grew louder, and she stood up straight and looked over her shoulder to see the other walkers were only yards away. Michonne pulled her katana out of the dead police officer walker's mouth, and its legs suddenly buckled; she slipped her left arm around the dead patrolman walker's shoulders and stood alongside it to keep it standing.
Michonne looked at the walkers again: their jaws were snapping in anticipation of the meal they anticipated. Michonne shoved the dead patrolman walker towards its comrades; it collided with the closest walker and they both fell onto the street.
Michonne spun around and ran down the street again. She fought the urge to cough as she breathed in the black smoke of the inferno. As she ran she looked down the side streets on her right for the Jeep Wrangler YJ she had driven to Woodbury, but all she saw were walkers or the burning remains of walkers that had succumbed to the inferno. Michonne stopped running at the end of the street and stood underneath the wall that surrounded Woodbury, and looked down the side street: the Jeep was at the end of the street—where she parked it—near the shattered gate. Around the jeep were a handful of walkers that had just staggered inside Woodbury.
Shit, Michonne thought angrily as she stood with her left hand covering her mouth as she coughed the black smoke out of her lungs.
After Michonne had composed herself, she switched her katana to her left hand, reached into her pants pocket, and dug out the jeep's keychain. Michone looked at the fob and saw it was a painting of Jesus Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. I'll take all the help I can get, Michonne thought as she clenched the fob between her teeth. Michonne then switched her katana back to her right hand and she began walking down the side street.
The new walkers stood and gazed in wonder at the inferno before them. Once the awe had worn off, they would stagger into the flames like their comrades were doing, but Michonne would reach them first.
•••
Michonne approached a female walker that had lost its right eye when it turned its head towards her. Michonne stopped walking and swung her katana at the one eyed walker.
SVASSH!
The sword decapitated the one eyed walker, and its severed head went flying towards the wall while its body fell to its knees and a moment later, fell chest first onto the ground.
A second female walker turned its whole body towards Michonne and groaned in confusion as to what just happened. Michonne raised her katana up in the air, and brought it down on the top of female walker's skull.
THROK!
The katana chopped through the female walker's skull and it shook as its brain was split in two. When Michonne pulled the gore covered blade out of the female walker's skull, it fell onto its back, dead.
Michonne ran towards the jeep, as the remaining new walkers began to realize live game was in their midst. A shirtless male walker stood in front of the jeep's passenger door, and it had begun to turn around when Michonne swung her katana at its neck.
SVASSH!
The katana sliced through the shirtless male walker's neck and its decapitated head flew over the jeep's hood as its body collapsed to the ground. Michonne saw another male walker standing on the driver's side of the jeep, and it climbed on the driver's side step and held the jeep's roll bar as it growled angrily at her. Michonne stepped onto the passenger's side step, held onto the roll bar with her left hand, and thrust her katana at the male walker's face.
SHLUKK!
The katana pierced the male walker's right eye socket, and went through its brain and exited the back of its skull. Michonne pulled her katana out of the dead walker's skull, and it let go of the jeep's roll bar and fell onto the ground.
Michonne ducked underneath the roll bar, climbed into the jeep, and stepped across to the driver's seat; she dropped her bloodstained katana onto the passenger seat, and a moment later she unslung her scabbard and dropped it beside her katana. Michonne reached behind the small of her back, pulled out her Glock 19 pistol, and sat down in the driver's seat.
A male walker staggered over to the jeep, pounded its fist onto the hood and growled angrily at Michonne, who calmly switched the Glock 19 pistol to her left hand, aimed the pistol at the walker, and fired.
BLAM!
The 9mm bullet struck the male walker in the forehead and it fell dead alongside the jeep.
Michonne put the pistol on the dashboard, and clenched the steering wheel, then with her right hand she took the keychain fob which was still clenched between her teeth, put the keys in the jeep's ignition, turned it, and the jeep's engine rumbled itself awake.
The new walkers were staggering towards the jeep and growling in unison. Michonne put the jeep in reverse, looked over her shoulder, and stepped on the gas pedal.
VROOM!
Michonne backed the jeep into the new walkers and knocked them down like bowling pins, and as the jeep rolled over their rotting corpses, it bounced wildly and Michonne heard a loud crunch as a tire crushed a walker's head. Michonne stepped on the break and she looked forward to see a clear path to the shattered gate; a second later she put the Jeep in drive, stepped on the gas pedal, and sped out of the inferno that was once Woodbury.
•••
Michonne was driving along the road back to the prison when she saw a road sign up ahead. She slowed the jeep down so she could read the sign: Russo Rd. When she stopped at the sign she looked down the dirt road that stretched out into the woods.
There has to be a house or two up that road, Michonne thought, The Governor could be up there. Houses up that road are closer to the prison and out of sight; they're the perfect hiding spot.
Michonne turned the Jeep to the right and drove up Russo Rd. After driving half a mile across the rocky road, she saw a cabin to the left, with a Ford F-250 Super Duty Truck parked in the driveway. Michone parked behind the truck, and quickly noticed two dead walkers: one lying in front of the truck, and another lying in the overgrown front yard. Michonne took the keys out of the ignition and put them in her pants pocket; then she stood up, picked up her katana and scabbard from the passenger seat, and sheathed her blade. Michonne then picked up her Glock 19 pistol from the dashboard and jumped out of the jeep.
Michonne slung her katana across her back, and with her pistol in hand, cautiously approached the dead walker lying on the driveway. Its head rested in a pool of dried, dark blood, and it had a deep stab wound in its forehead. Michonne then cautiously approached the dead walker lying in the yard, and it too, had a deep stab wound in its forehead. The wounds on both walkers, plus the house's proximity to Woodbury, made Michone speculate that Merle Dixon had led a scavenging party to this house early in the Governor's reign, and he killed the two walkers with the bayonet attachment on the metal covering around the stump of his right hand.
Michonne raised her pistol and approached the house cautiously; she stepped onto the porch and noticed the door was partially closed, so she placed the fingertips of her left hand on the door, and pushed it open gently. The door creaked on its hinges as it revealed the house's interior.
The house was a shambles: furniture overturned, picture frames smashed, cabinets opened and their contents scattered across the floor. Michonne stepped inside with her pistol drawn and swept the house from the first floor, to the cellar, and to the attic, but she didn't find any walkers, survivors, or the Governor.
•••
Michonne brushed her forearm across her dirty, sweaty forehead as she returned to the living room. She shut the front door and locked it; then she placed her Glock 19 pistol against the small of her back. Michonne sighed wearily as she put the coffee table and the couch back on their feet, and put the couch's seats back in place; she then unslung her katana and placed it on the coffee table, and then she unknotted her hooded cape and draped it across the couch as she walked down the hallway and into the bathroom.
When Michonne looked at her reflection in the medicine cabinet's mirror, she gasped: soot and sweat covered her face, and her eyes were bloodshot and tired. Michonne suddenly felt hunger, thirst, and exhaustion roll over her. She put her hands on the sink and lowered her head as she exhaled wearily.
Michonne turned both handles of the faucet, and warm water spilled into the sink. Michonne cupped her hands underneath it and let the water fill her hands and she splashed it onto her face; she repeated the process three more times, took the hand towel off the rack and wiped her face clean. The water was invigorating, but she knew it was temporary, what she needed was food and sleep.
Michonne walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator: it was empty except for condiments and an open pack of Coca Cola. Michonne reached inside the pack, took one of the ice cold cans, and looked at it. Merle was probably pissed there wasn't any beer in the fridge, so he left the Coke behind, she thought. Michonne chuckled as she popped the tab and guzzled down the cold tonic.
Her thirst quenched, Michonne searched the ransacked kitchen for any food that may have also been left behind. She quickly found a box of spaghetti and a cooking pot lying on the floor. Merle probably had his fill of spaghetti too, Michonne thought.
Michonne picked up the box of spaghetti and set it on the counter; a moment later the cooking pot and its lid were placed beside it. Michonne turned the handles on the kitchen sink's faucet and warm water spilled into the sink. As Michonne began to wash the cooking pot clean, she thought about Merle again: how he kidnapped her to fulfill Rick's decision to hand her over to the Governor as a peace offering, but chose not to and set her free. Merle drove on and fought the Governor's army alone. Merle sacrificed himself for the group, and a large reason why they were still alive was because of him. Michonne had warned Merle that no one, not even Daryl, would mourn him, but now she wished he had gone back with her to the prison.
•••
Michonne took the cooking pot off the stove and carefully poured the hot water into the kitchen sink. The spaghetti smelled delicious, and her stomach growled in anticipation of the meal. Michonne poured the spaghetti into a steel colander and returned to the oven to stir the marinara sauce.
Woodbury's burnt to the ground, and the Governor wasn't hiding in here, so what do I do now? Michonne thought. I can stay here for the night and keep looking for him tomorrow. But I can't stay out here too long. Eventually I'll have to return to the prison.
A crow cawed outside and flew away. Michonne's right hand went from the wooden spoon in the pot and went to the grip of her Glock 19 pistol tucked against the small of her back. She walked out of the kitchen and approached the living room window cautiously. Michonne reached the wall, waited a moment, and peeked out the window.
The Governor was walking down the street.
Michonne's eyes widened in shock, but she sprang immediately towards the couch and grabbed her katana. She then ran towards the door, unlocked it, flung it open, and ran outside.
The sound of the front door bursting open made the Governor stop in his tracks, but when he saw Michonne running out of the house he smiled in greeting. Michonne drew her katana and dropped her scabbard as she stood on the walkway.
"Hello," the Governor said as he placed his hands on his hips, "I see you got out of Woodbury with your dreadlocks singed."
Michonne glared at the Governor for a moment and said, "You killed your people and you burned down your town. Maybe you should drop your title."
"I don't think so. After all, soon as I find another desperate group, they'll appoint me their leader and I'll lead them straight to the prison."
Michonne raised her katana and took a step forward. "I'll kill you first," she promised.
"Tell me, have you always been this violent, or did the end of the world make you this way?"
Michonne glared at the Governor, who laughed heartily.
"I left Andrea handcuffed in that room I built for you," the Governor said as he stepped onto the walkway. "I also left Milton to keep her company. Only he wasn't the same man anymore."
Michonne almost sprang at the Governor, but she kept her rage in check for now.
"Did you find Andrea?" the Governor asked as started walking towards Michonne.
"Yes," Michonne answered coldly.
"You were too late to save her, weren't you?"
"Yes."
The Governor stopped in his tracks and turned his head so he could see Michonne better with his one eye. "Did you kill her?"
"She asked me to put her down."
The Governor smiled and waved a finger like a parent correcting a disobedient child. "No, don't sugarcoat it. Whether Andrea asked you to put her down, or you saw it as an act of mercy, it was still murder."
Michonne's eyes burned with anger as she hissed in a breath. "Fuck you!" she spat angrily.
"First you killed my men, then you killed my little girl, and now you've killed Andrea," the Governor tallied. "You may think that killing me will avenge Andrea, but the truth is Michonne, you've become a monster."
Michonne shouted in rage as she ran towards the Governor, and swung her katana at his neck.
WHUKK!
The katana's blade sliced across the Governor's throat and his severed head flipped up into the air like a manhole cover. The Governor's body collapsed onto the walkway and a moment later his severed head landed in front of it. Michonne twirled the katana in her hand and brought the sharp blade down onto the Governor's left temple.
SHUKK!
Michonne closed her eyes and allowed the moment of victory to sink in. She stepped on the Governor's severed head, pulled her blade free, and opened her eyes and saw the severed head wasn't the Governor's: it was a male walker with a grey crew cut and grey stubble on its face. She looked at the body for confirmation, and saw it was wearing an army fatigue jacket.
Michonne covered her face with her left hand and lowered her head. It wasn't him. It wasn't him again, she thought. What the hell happened to me? If I'm not seeing ghosts I'm seeing hallucinations.
Michonne shook the blood and brain matter off her katana; she bent down, picked up her scabbard, and sheathed her sword. She walked towards the house when she stopped and turned around to look at the severed walker's dead head lying on the walkway. "I may be a loner, and I may be crazy, but I'll never be a monster," she said firmly.
The dead walker's head stared with its lifeless eyes at Michonne, who turned back towards the house, stepped inside, closed the door behind her, and locked it.
THE END