Fiction

Chapter 1: Another Loss

Daryl sat on the log, staring into the fire that Rick and Shane had just lit. He lit one of his last remaining cigarettes, and looked up at the two former officers. "What are we going to do?"

"Same thing we did with Jim," Rick replied, looking up from the fire, and then turned to Shane. "We ask what he wants."

Shane nodded, and then turned to Daryl. "I never thought it'd be him, out of all of us, never him."

Rick glanced to his left over to Dale's RV. The old man sat in a chair on top of the camper. He nodded when he saw Rick looking his way.

They all knew what the decision would come to, yet they always had to discuss it. Rick swallowed hard, and turned back to Daryl and Shane, "I don't think we have much time before he changes."

"Rick," Shane said. He stood half way up, and poked the fire with a large stick, "man, I agree with you. But if he wants the same as Jim," he sat back down, and looked directly at Rick, "where we gonna leave him. There's not much gas left in any of the cars." Rick just nodded, and then stared back to the fire.

The next morning, while the others were eating the squirrel Daryl had killed the night before, he, Shane and Rick had the same discussion. "I don't like him that much," Daryl told the others, "but I don't think I have it in me to tell him how it is."

Rick glanced over to Shane, who extended his hand over to the camper. Rick turned and walked to it. He spotted T-Dawg and Andrea sitting on top of the camper. Usually they would have been laughing, but not today.

Rick entered the RV, and smiled at Dale who looked up from a map. Dale couldn't smile, he tried to, but he just couldn't. Rick looked down to the very same bed that Jim had laid on when he had been sick. He almost turned away, but he knew Glenn deserved more than that.

Lori gave her husband a 'it's not good' kind of look as she dampened Glenn's head with a cold cloth. Rick exchanged her look with a 'it's time' glance. She stood up and squeezed her husband's hand as she left the camper.

He sat down next to Glenn, who opened his eyes, and smiled. "Ah," Glenn tried to laugh but coughed instead. "Another familiar face."

"Hey, Glenn," Rick said, and patted his shoulder. He felt like crying. After all, if it hadn't been for Glenn, he never would have made it back to Lori and Carl. "Listen," Rick began, but was cut off.

"Rick," Glenn held his side, as he sat himself up. "I know what you're going to say. I don't want to do what Jim did. I want to be at peace." Rick nodded. "And," Glenn continued, "I want you to take the shot."

The statement sent chills up his spine. He tried to say something, but nothing came out. Rick stuttered for a few seconds, then he said, "Why? Why me?"

The young man coughed into a bucket that Lori had placed next to him. He wiped his mouth, and looked back to Rick, "Because I saved you one time. Now I want you to save me."

Rick left the RV, and spotted Carl and Sophia playing a game. Carol stood close by them, almost watching over him. Shane and Daryl approached him, "So, what's the verdict?" Shane asked.

"He wants me to. . ." and he just raised his hand and made a gun with it.

"When?" Shane asked.

"He didn't say," Rick replied, "but I don't think I can do it unless he's already gone."

It hadn't long taken for it to happen. Glenn managed to walk outside of the camper, and he murmured one word before he collapsed to the ground, "water." Shane and Rick jogged towards him while the others just watched. Shane rolled him over, and put his two fingers on his neck. He waited for a moment, and then looked up to Rick and shook his head.

After that, Rick and Shane dragged him over to a couple of logs they set behind the RV. The others followed them, and just stood there. Rick turned to them after they finished putting him in place, "Does anybody want to say something."

They remained quiet, then Daryl Dixon stepped forward, "Yeah, I do." Rick gave him an odd look while he walked around to the other side of the logs. He looked down at Glenn's body, and then to the others. "I was never good at this, but Glenn deserves better." Then he paused, and wiped the sweat from his forehead, even though he still carried his axe over his shoulder. "I don't even know why I stepped up. I don't feel obligated to do it. But Glenn risked his life everyday for us. I don't need to tell ya'll he was a better man than I am. Hell, you already know that." He took a deep breath, and looked at everyone there, but especially at Rick, and Shane, and Dale. "But he was a better man than anyone here." Then he walked back around the logs, and to the others.

Rick waited a moment, until Daryl stood in one spot, and then surveyed the others, "Anybody else?" Nobody stepped forward. They all wanted to, but they all felt that Daryl did a good job. Under the circumstances, nobody else could do better. "Alright," Rick said. "I'll go." He did the same thing as Daryl did and walked around the logs.

Shane thought he could see a twitch coming from Glenn's body, and placed his hand on his pistol.

"What Daryl said," Rick began, "was right. Glenn had nobody with him. If I didn't have my wife and son by my side, I don't know what I'd do. I probably would have already given up, not just hope, but everything. He's the reason I made it to the camp in the first place. I never did return that favour."

Shane still watched Glenn's body, and thought he saw another little movement. "Rick," Shane said, but Rick ignored him.

"But," there was another movement, and Shane called him again, but once again, Rick ignored him. "I guess today, I get to repay him that favour."

"Rick," Shane said loudly. Their eyes met, and Shane glanced down to Glenn's body.

Rick saw the movement this time. The right hand lifted up, and then dropped back down over the log. Rick pulled out his pistol, and placed it against Glenn's temple. He hesitated, and then Glenn's right hand grasped Rick's wrist. He didn't hesitate.

Most of them jumped when the pistol fired. Lori and Carol turned away, but they were just glad that Carl and Sophia were in the camper. Dale, Daryl, T-Dawg and the rest knew that it had been for the best.

Shane woke up the next morning, and could hear two people talking. He rolled out of his sleeping bag, and unzipped the tent a little ways. He saw Rick and Dale in the midst of a heated discussion.

"I know that," Rick said pointing his finger at Dale. "Trust me. I know that, and I told you in privacy because I needed to tell someone. This needs to stay between the two of us."

"Rick," Dale said, "all I'm saying is that the weeks don't add up. I didn't mean to upset you, but she and Shane were getting pretty close before you came back. Nobody said anything, because it wasn't our business." Dale paused for a moment when he saw that Rick had clenched his fists. "Then again," Dale changed his opinion, "if Jenner told you that she's pregnant, I wouldn't take his word. He might have just been playing another game with you."

"Why would he do that?" Rick asked. "Sure, the man was crazy, but he went through just as much as we have. Maybe more. We didn't know the man he used to be." Rick then walked off.

When Dale turned, Shane ducked below the flap of his tent. He stayed there for a moment, and when he looked back outside, Dale had started to climb to the top of the camper. Shane then zipped his door back up, and moved back to his covers. Lori was pregnant. If that was true, he'd make sure he was the father. Not Rick

He waited in his tent until most of the others were up. He walked outside, stretched and his face had been painted with a bright smile.

"Somebody's happy," Andrea said. She sat in a chair, eating a can of corn from the same gas station Glenn had met his fait at.

"Just slept good is all," Shane replied.

"Lucky you," Andrea remarked and then took another spoonful of corn.

Shane saw Rick sitting on the edge of a rock, his arm around Carl, and this made Shane smile even more.