The Razor's Edge Chapter Four

“You think this is going to be the end of it?”

The Governor glared at Rick while he fastened the last cuff to his left wrist. Now he was chained in Michonne’s place.

Rick ignored him and turned to Michonne. He looked her over. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” she said.

In truth, she was far from okay. She’d taken quite a beating before Rick came in. The Governor had satisfied his lust for cruelty on her before he could satisfy his lust for rape. She was grateful to Rick for sparing her that, but the pain in her body was intense, and she wanted nothing more than to fall to the floor and give in to the blackness that had long since turned her vision gray around the edges. She refused, of course, and remained tall and strong. She’d die before she let the Governor see just how badly he’d hurt her.

Rick led her outside the room and shut the light off, leaving the Governor to scream his rage in pitch blackness. As soon as the door was shut she sagged and he caught her. His arms were strong around her, and he held her against him, taking the slack off her weakened legs.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you,” he said. “I knew he was cruel but I didn’t think he’d torture and rape a woman. Now I know not to put anything in front of him.”

“Andrea. He has Andrea somewhere. We need to find out where.”

“I’ve got a man on it,” he said.

To her surprise he scooped her up, into his arms, and started for the exit of the old garage where the Governor, apparently, had decided to hold interrogations, and God only knew what else, behind Rick’s back.

“You don’t have to carry me.”

“You’re in no condition to walk.”

“You’re my knight in shining armor?”

Rick grinned. “My armor is far from shiny but yeah, I’ll be your knight, and maybe someday you’ll be my lady.”

He hesitated when she looked up at him.

“That didn’t sound so creepy in my head,” he said shyly. “I meant, maybe someday you’ll save me and…um…well…”

She was laughing now. “Quit while you’re ahead.”

“Right. Good advice.”

He put her back on her feet at the entrance to the courthouse. Beth opened the door to allow them in. Inside, Andrea hurried over to give Rick a tight hug. “Rick, it’s so good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you, too.”

“I saw you as I was being brought in, but Martinez had a knife to my throat. I couldn’t call out for help.”

“You’re safe now. I’m going to get you and Michonne out of town.”

Rick’s eyes were drawn to Daryl. He was pale as milk and didn’t look steady on his feet. A light sheen of sweat coated his brow and neck.

“You’ve got to sit down,” Beth said, going over to him.

Daryl shook his head no. “What’s the plan now, Rick?”

“Shane’s not going to give me long to get you out of here,” said Rick. “He said he wouldn’t stand in my way but we’ve only got a few hours before dawn. Andrea, you, Beth and I will gather as many guns and as much ammo as possible. Daryl, I want you to see Michonne to the gate at Lee street. Don’t let the lookouts see you until I get there. Both of you need to sit down once you get there. Rest as much as you can.”

“Take this,” Daryl said, offering his knife to Beth. She refused. “I’ve got a gun. You keep that for protection.”

She kissed him lightly on the lips and then followed Andrea and Rick outside.

Michonne looked Daryl over. “You’re in worse shape than I am.”

“I got here on my own two feet. Rick didn’t have to carry me.”

He was smirking and Michonne felt her face warm with embarrassment. “He was just being nice.”

“I’ve never seen him be that nice with any other woman,” Daryl informed her.

With a dry expression, Michonne said, “Let’s just go.”

*****

After loading a bag with as many guns as Rick could scrounge up, and supplying each with ammo, almost an hour had passed. He saw Andrea and Beth half way to the Lee Street gate, told them to keep going, and then hurried over to Shane’s apartment, where the light was burning.

Shane answered on the first knock, as though he’d been waiting by the door for Rick to come. “You got Andrea safe?”

“Yeah, she’s heading toward the Lee Street exit. I’m going to go make sure they get out.”

“You’d better get with them, Rick.”

“I’ve given that some thought. May I come in?”

Shane considered it, looked to make sure no one was watching, and then let him in. Rick remained by the door. This was his first, and he thought probably last, time in Shane’s apartment since they’d arrived at Woodbury.

“The Governor is tied up in Collins’ garage.”

Shane nodded. “That’s where he conducts interrogations.”

Rick halted and eyed Shane. “He’s done this sort of thing before?”

Annoyingly, Shane gave a derisive snort. “Rick, you’re so damned oblivious. You’ve been on your way out for a long time. The Governor hasn’t had you in the loop since we fuckin’ got here.”

“How many people has he tortured? How many has he killed?”

Shane shrugged. “Gotta feed the walkers somehow, don’t we?”

Rick’s guts turned cold. He stared at Shane, unable to recognize the man he’d once called a friend.

“Why’d you come here, Rick?”

“The Governor once described you as his hammer. He said I was like a scalpel and I was to cut out the rot in our camp. I wanted to be that here, with you. I wanted to be the razor's edge that cut out the rot in Woodbury. I wanted us to run this place together. I thought maybe we could put aside our differences and do right by these people. I see I was wrong.”

“Damn right you’re wrong. We’ll never put aside our ‘differences’, Rick.  You think because we talked it out at the docs office that we were all lovey-dovey or something? It ain’t the same between us now as it once was. I ain’t your friend.”

“And I ain’t yours.”

“Glad we got that settled.”

“How many people have you let him murder?”

“It doesn’t matter. One or a hundred, it’s just as bad…in your eyes at least.”

Kill him, Rick thought. You’ve always been quicker on the draw than Shane. Kill him, kill his man Martinez, kill the Governor, take over Woodbury. Be the razor's edge and cut out the rot right now. Make this town a decent place to live.

Shane seemed to know what was on Rick’s mind. His hand had slipped around behind his back. Rick’s hand was on his gun as well.

“When did the man I knew, and loved like a brother, die?”

Shane’s answer was quick, as though he’d long ago figured it out before Rick thought up the question. “When you let Lori and Carl down, he died. This is what’s left. This is what you created.”

Rick nodded. He accepted that what stood before him was a monster, but he didn’t accept that monster was any creation of his. “I didn’t create you, Shane. You chose to become this. I could have gone down the same path because losing them hurt me more than it hurt you. Still, I’m a decent man. I’m a man of integrity. You can blame me till the day you die but the truth is, you are what you’ve chosen to be.”

“You’ve got five hours. After that, I send out a search party. If you’re within ten miles of Woodbury they’re ordered to shoot on sight,” Shane said.

“Andrea, too?”

“Oh no. Andrea will be brought back here. I suggest you get while the gettin’ is good.”

Rick decided he’d do just that. He walked away, wondering if Shane would try to put a bullet in his back. To his surprise that didn’t happen. Not a shot was fired. The streets of Woodbury, in the hours before dawn, remained quiet and peaceful.

Once he reached the Lee Street gate he ordered the guards to open it up.

“Sir?” one of the men, Rick didn’t remember his name, asked.

“Daryl, Beth and I are escorting these survivors back to their camp, the Governor’s orders. Open up.”

Without question, they opened the gate. Rick decided not to spare a look back at Woodbury as he went through with his new group.

“We’ve got five hours then Shane’s going to search a ten mile radius,” said Rick. “If he finds us, we’re all dead, so let’s book it.”

“Even Andrea?” Beth asked. She knew what her friend meant to Shane.

“No, not Andrea. Her fate would be a lot worse.”

“Having to stay with him?” Andrea said. “Yeah…that would be a lot worse than death.”

*****

“Are you with me, man?”

Martinez frowned at the odd question as he rubbed his eyes, trying to come fully awake. “It’s five in the morning, Shane.”

“I asked you a question. Are you with me?”

“Hell yeah, I’m with you. What’s going on? Is it Rick?”

“No. It’s the Governor. Put on a shirt and grab your gun. Meet me at Collins’ garage in ten.”

Martinez nodded and Shane headed down the steps. Dawn was quickly approaching. He had maybe twenty minutes before the town started to wake up in earnest.

The heat was already climbing when he reached the garage where he’d seen the Governor drag God only knew how many women he’d bedded in, never to be seen again. That didn’t include survivors the Governor didn’t deem to be worthy of Woodbury. It was really just luck of the draw how those who’d been added to the population of the town had just come along on a day when the Governor wasn’t in a killing mood. The only thing that kept the people from suspecting the Governor was a monster was that he didn’t hunt among his people. He let unlucky survivors come in, only to spin a tale that they’d decided to move on, or had proven to be a threat to Woodbury.

Now the man himself was chained in a room that he’d once chained people. He sighed with relief when he saw Shane enter the stuffy, windowless room. His hands and feet had been chained and pulled out enough that he couldn’t lower his arms all the way or close his legs. Rick, Shane noted, had left the Governor a chair to sit on, a luxury that had never been afforded the Governor’s victims.

“I trust you killed that son of a bitch? Or do you have him waiting for me?”

“I let him go, actually,” Shane said.

The Governor’s face went slack with disbelief before he lunged at Shane. “You fool! Why did you do that?”

“I have my reasons. I know Rick, Brian. I know that he won’t step foot back here in Woodbury.”

“Get me out of these chains so I can send a team out after him and do what you should have had the balls to do, Walsh.”

“That leaves only one obstacle in my way. That’s you.”

The Governor went still. In that moment he knew. It was over. He wasn’t leaving the room as Woodbury’s lord and savior. He wasn’t even leaving it as a man stripped of his powers to be exiled by the man who was about to take over. His only hope lay in the loyalties of the man who’d stepped into the room behind Shane.

“I see,” he said slowly.

“See, you’re gonna have to die because I know you wouldn’t just leave and start over somewhere else, like Rick will. You’ll leave, and then one day I’ll wake up to an army at my door, led by you. I don’t intend to make that mistake.”

“I’m here, Boss,” Martinez said.

“Make a choice,” the Governor said to Martinez. “Me, the man who saved your life, or Shane.”

Shane smirked, right until he heard the click of the gun and felt the cold hard barrel at his temple. He froze, and stared into the eyes of the Governor.

“I thought you was with me, Martinez,” said Shane.

“He saved my life. I knew him before I knew you. Put your gun on the--”

Shane moved with lightning fast reflexes. He knocked the gun from Martinez’ hand and brought his left fist around hard in an uppercut that was nearly enough to put Martinez out. Nearly, but not quite. Martinez tried to fire but missed by inches. He kept firing, forcing Shane to make a run for the door, leaving the Governor chained up, but alive. He stopped just outside and heard the footsteps of gate guards hurrying toward their current location, thinking, perhaps, walkers had gotten inside the town.

“Kill Shane! Kill him on sight!” the Governor shouted.

“Fuck,” Shane cursed, and took off just as Martinez stumbled toward the door, searching for him. He disappeared into the darkness but could hear voices. He could hear Martinez, the fucking turncoat, give orders to shoot him on sight. Soon those many footsteps were coming in his direction. With no other choice, Shane headed for the wall, past the confused guards who didn't know what was going on yet, and took off running into the wild of a world where the dead ruled and the living cowered in fear of their hungry wrath.

*****

“Here it is,” Andrea said, pointing to a fairly well concealed car that she’d smothered in kudzu.

Four hours of walking, stopping only for a single break, had left the group exhausted, especially Daryl and Michonne. The sun had brought soaring temperatures and the recent rains had brought moisture that made the world feel like a pot of water which they were all slowly boiling.

A vehicle couldn’t have come too soon as far as Rick was concerned. Daryl literally dropped and rolled to his back as Rick and Andrea worked to uncover the car.

“I’ll turn on the AC,” Andrea said. “The cool will help.”

“Here,” Beth said, putting his head in her lap and offering him some water. “Rick, his shoulder is bleeding again.”

“It’s gotta be hurting like a mother,” Michonne said, even as she favored her own ribs. “I’ve got some naproxen sodium at home. It won’t be as good as something like Lortab but it’ll help. I'm gonna take a few and have a lie down myself.”

“Appreciate it,” Daryl said with a dry throat.

Andrea started the car once it was uncovered. It was a crimson Ford Taurus that had been new at the Turn, and they piled in. Thankfully the AC kicked in pretty quickly and soon they were riding in cool comfort away from Woodbury. Rick imagined Shane had killed the Governor by that point, and had scouts out looking for them a little sooner than the allotted five hours. He wanted Andrea, after all, and he’d find some way to get her.

“Carol’s good with treating injuries,” said Michonne. “She can take a look at his arm.”

“Oh, no,” Andrea said.

“What?” asked Rick.

“Shit,” Michonne swore. “That’s home.”

Their home was surrounded by about fifteen walkers, all trying to beat in the door, and they looked like they were about to succeed.

“We need to do this as quietly as possible,” said Michonne. “There’s more, a lot more, in this neighborhood. They hear gunshots and we could find ourselves with a hundred of these things coming down on us.”

Daryl was the first out of the car. “Stay in the car,” he told Beth. “If you have to, drive off.”

He nodded at Michonne and then grimaced as he lifted his heavy crossbow and began firing. Michonne went into the thick of it while Andrea and Rick pulled knives and went in with them. They made fairly quick work of cutting down the threat, all without firing a shot. When the last walker was dead, they heard crying inside.

“Carol,” said Andrea. She began banging at the door, which was locked. “Carol! It’s us! Let us in!”

The door opened a moment later revealing a tearful middle-aged woman with short iron gray hair. “It’s Sophia!”

“What happened?”

“They swarmed us as we were coming home from getting water. We almost made it inside when one of them bit her!”

They entered the room and saw a girl of about thirteen years lying on a couch. She had a chunk of flesh missing from her shoulder. There was nothing that could be done for her.

“Oh God, Carol. I’m so sorry,” Andrea said, holding the weeping woman.

Rick helped Daryl into a recliner and watched as Sophia took her last halting breaths. He felt the mother’s pain as though it was his own. He knew exactly what she was going through. He also knew there was nothing he could say that would help, so he remained silent as Andrea held the woman and rocked her.

Then he heard a voice that made his blood run hot. It was a voice he recognized at once, but thought he'd never hear again.

“Carol? I’ve got a first aid kit here and--”

A boy entered the living room from the basement. It was a boy Rick knew all too well. A boy he’d thought was dead, lost to him forever. But he wasn’t dead. He was here, alive, and staring at Rick with a look of shock that equaled his own.

“Carl,” Rick whispered. “My God, you’re alive…”



Story continued in A United Front