"What happened to the people forced into that place?" Calista asked.
Gargulio shook his head. "Some survived. They either became quieter, or they became even more fanatically loyal to the Governor. But most of them died.
The bodies… were usually dragged away and disposed of. Sometimes they were fed to the walkers they'd captured."
"No one in town objected?" Glenn asked, his fists clenched as he listened.
"There… there were people who did," Haley said, her voice dropping even lower. "But the ones who objected almost always left Woodbury soon after, and they never came back."
She raised her head and looked through tear-blurred eyes at Calista and the people from the prison. "We… we were terrified at first too.
But the Governor told us the world outside was even more terrifying than the colosseum, and that the prison was hell itself. We actually believed him… and even helped…"
Her shame was so overwhelming that she could not continue.
Calista did not press her any further.
"So," T-Dog said angrily, "that Governor who threw explosives at us and shot at us, this is how he keeps his little kingdom running back in his own lair?"
"Looks like it." Calista lightly tapped her finger on the map, between the detached building and the colosseum.
"To him, violence is both a tool and an end. He shows force to outsiders and creates fear on the inside. Classic tyrant behavior."
Carver spat, his eyes fierce. "Fuck. A place like that, a man like that, leaving them alone is just asking for trouble."
Calista looked at Haley and Gargulio. "The information you gave us is valuable. Now go help care for the wounded, or help repair the wall. Prove your choice through what you do."
The two looked as if they had been granted a reprieve. They nodded again and again, wiped away their tears, and quickly left.
A chill passed through everyone present.
"Battery level is approaching the safe return threshold," Bossie reported.
"Bring it back. We know enough," Calista ordered.
The drone returned silently, and no one in Woodbury noticed.
Bossie began organizing and encrypting all the image data, preparing to generate a detailed reconnaissance report and map.
Calista turned and looked at the people from the prison. "We've seen it clearly. Woodbury has walls, weapons, and a fairly high level of organization.
Their core is the Governor. That means yesterday's attack on you wasn't an accident. It was an extension of the Governor's will.
As long as he thinks it's necessary, or believes we're still easy to bully, another attack could happen, and it may be even more brutal."
"What do we do, then?" Hershel asked.
"First, we already know the situation inside Woodbury. If Gargulio and Haley weren't lying, they didn't have time to go back and report.
And if there are no other Woodbury spies in the prison, then the Governor doesn't know what's happening inside the prison right now, and he doesn't know we've arrived."
Calista pointed to the map being generated on Bossie's tablet. "We know their entrances and exits. We know their weak points. We know where their forces are concentrated.
And the drone will keep watch for any unusual movement nearby at all times. If anything happens, we'll know in advance. Leave the defense to us.
Your most urgent task right now is repairing the wall and clearing out the walkers drawn here by last night's grenade and gunfire. You have enough people, and you have the tools. Move fast.
Lily will also do everything she can to treat Rick and get him conscious as soon as possible."
...
Meanwhile, in Woodbury, after Bossie's reconnaissance drone had flown back, more and more people were gathering in the central square.
The Governor was giving a pre-battle speech.
Beside him lay Eisenberg's body.
"Family of Woodbury!" the Governor began, his voice hoarse. "Last night, we lost two brave brothers. Tim and Eisenberg. And we couldn't even bring Tim's body back!"
The crowd stirred. Women covered their mouths, and the men's faces turned grim.
The Governor's voice suddenly rose, his anger seeming to flare out of control. "They didn't die to walkers. They didn't die in an accident!
They were caught in a cowardly ambush. They were attacked by a group of vicious raiders holed up in the prison to the west!"
Then he began telling his "story." Woodbury's convoy had been ambushed by prison raiders. Tim and Eisenberg had sacrificed themselves heroically to cover their companions.
The Governor told it vividly, with a power that easily stirred people up.
Martinez stood in a corner with the others, their heads lowered and their expressions numb.
Eisenberg clearly could have been saved, but to stir up the people's emotions, the Governor had let him bleed to death in the infirmary, then turned him into another man who had "tragically failed to hold on."
But this time, it had been one of their own.
The Governor had really gone insane.
"They stole our life-saving medicine!" the Governor went on, waving his arms with great emotion. "They murdered our people!
And all of it was only because we had something they wanted. Only because we refused to surrender to them, refused to live under the fear of their violence!"
His words successfully ignited the crowd's anger and gave them a common enemy.
Some residents began shouting for revenge.
"What's even more terrifying," the Governor said, suddenly shifting his tone to one of deep gravity, "is that these thugs won't be satisfied with just one attack.
They want to find this place. They want to bring the same brutality down on all of you! Can we tolerate that?"
The Governor shouted the question.
"No!" someone in the crowd responded.
"Can we back down?"
"No!" More people joined in.
"Can we let Tim and Eisenberg's blood be shed for nothing? Can we wait for those raiders to one day charge up to our walls and threaten our families?"
"No! No! No!"
The crowd's shouts gathered into a roar that echoed across the square.
The Governor looked at the roused crowd with satisfaction and raised both hands, signaling for silence.
His expression turned firm and resolute again. "So Woodbury will not sit and wait for death. We love peace, but we are not afraid of war.
To protect our home, to protect every single one of us, we must act."
The Governor announced that he would mobilize Woodbury's main defensive force and form a team under his direct command.
"We are not going for revenge," he said solemnly, as if announcing a sacred mission. "We are going to carry out justice.
We will take back the supplies that were stolen from us. We will seek justice for Tim and Eisenberg. We will completely eliminate the cancer threatening our safety.
We will let everyone know that anyone who hurts Woodbury must pay the price."
Frenzied cheers rang out once more.
After the speech, the Governor, Martinez, and the others returned to the command post.
The passion and grief faded from the Governor's face, and he said to Martinez, "Begin preparations immediately.
Pull in everyone we can use and bring out the best equipment. Especially those two modified pickups. Check the M2 heavy machine guns mounted on them and make sure they have enough ammunition.
This time, we're going to destroy them in one strike and take the prison. We'll avenge Tim and Eisenberg."
Martinez felt his stomach twist.
He had seen the Governor kill before, but the way he had squeezed every last bit of use out of Eisenberg's death still chilled him. It even seemed as if the Governor had started to believe his own lies.
"Yes… Governor," Martinez said, nodding with difficulty.
...
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