CHAPTER TEN: DALE

Shane was enraged when he returned to the barn. Rick had refused to leave the boy to die and ended up bringing him back to the barn.

I shared a look with Daryl before approaching Rick. "Why is he back here?"

The sheriff ran his hand through his hair. "I couldn't leave him there, Sydney. He was tied up, there were walkers, and..." I could see how stressed he was, so I laid the topic to rest for now.

"I don't like him staying here," I said to Daryl as we lazily lounged against a tree. "I feel like having him around is going to cause trouble. Our team already seems to be falling apart because of him."

"Sydney? Daryl?" Dale was walking towards us with determination on his face. "Please try to convince Rick not to kill him."

My bit my lips.

"It's not ma decision," Daryl replied, saving me from saying anything that I might regret.

"Daryl, he's just a kid."

"He might've been involved in what happened to Sophia," I finally said. "How can you even ask me to believe that it'd be alright for him to be here?"

"You don't know if he actually did it. We can't condemn someone - kill someone - without proof."

Seeing our unchanging faces, Dale walked off, shaking his head.

"How do we know if we're doing the right thing?"

"We don't," he grunted. "Only know what's good for us. 'Sides, ya know what they've done."

"Yeah..."

"Stop thinkin' 'bout it."

I took his advice and distracted myself with wandering around the woods, searching for walkers. There wasn't much else I could do on this farm to pass the time. If I went into the house, I knew that Lori, Maggie, and Beth would all take turns asking about Daryl and I. I really didn't want to replay the conversation that I had with Beth. It wasn't the type of conversation that I liked to engage in.

Before all of this happened, the only social life I had was getting into study groups and comparing notes with colleagues. The only other relationship I had gotten into only lasted a month before my boyfriend thought I wasn't spending enough time with him. I wish that he had understood, but it was difficult to blame him in any way. It wasn't the best time and I wasn't ready for a relationship. I hadn't seen him since the day of our breakup and I wondered what the chances are that he was still alive.

I slammed the dagger into the walker's face before swiftly pulling it back out. What would he think of me, now? I had developed muscles in place that I never thought would be possible for a trainee doctor like me.

If I had known that the world was going to be overtaken by flesh-eating corpse, I wouldn't have spent so many years of my life stressing over books and getting the best grades. What good were those numbers, now?

I rotated my shoulder slowly. It was still sore and got stiff often. If I wasn't careful, I could easily severely injure myself.

Looking up at the darkening sky, I decided to return to the camp. It would be more than foolish to stay in the woods when night arrives.

"'Ey, Rick wants ta talk ta us in da house," Daryl told me when he saw me return. He didn't look very happy. I had been adamant that I wanted to go think in the woods alone, but after a promise to stay close to the edge, he conceded.

We walked into the living room where the others were gathered. Everyone was there except Carl, Sophia, Patricia, and Beth.

"So... How do we do this?" Glenn started. "Take a vote?"

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.

Lori suggested, "How about majority rules?"

Rick looked at everyone. "Well, let's... Let's just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options."

As expected, Shane was the first to voice his opinion. "Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward."

"Killing him, right?" Dale spat out, glaring at the buzz-cut brunet. "I mean, why even bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."

"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know," Rick quickly tried to pacify the situation.

Dale didn't share the sheriff's sentiments. "Well, I can tell you it's a small group - maybe just me and Glenn."

Glenn immediately looked at the older man in surprise. "Look, I - " He bit his lips as Dale's eyes fell on him. "I think you're pretty much right about everything all the time, but this - "

"They've got you scared!" Dale quickly cut him off.

"He's not one of us," the Asian man argued. "And we've... we've lost too many people alright."

Realising that he wouldn't be able to change Glenn's mind, Dale turned to the two Greene members present. "How about you? Do you agree with this?"

Hershel remained silent, but Maggie looked like she was on the fence about this. "Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" she asked, turning to Rick.

From beside me, Daryl shifted and replied, "Just another mouth to feed."

"It may be a lean winter," Hershel stated.

"We could ration better," Lori added.

Dale wasn't satisfied, yet. "Well, he could be an asset."

"Are we forgetting that his group kidnapped my daughter?" Carol finally let everyone know what she thought and I completely agreed with her.

"You didn't see what I did when I was in their camp." I would never stop arguing for the boy's departure, if not demise. "You didn't see how that fucking bastard violated her. You also didn't see how he was speaking to me when he thought none of you were around. He's not the innocent teenage boy that you think he is. He's been changed by the group of his and - "

"We should give him a chance to prove himself," Dale cut me off. "He may have an attitude problem, but he might not have anything to do with what happened, at all!"

I felt like I was talking to a break wall that wouldn't see reason. There were so many things that I respected him for and one of them was his compassion, but in this case, I couldn't bring myself to agree with him.

Carol turned around and stomped out of the house. I knew that all she could think about was her daughter and what happened to the poor girl. It must've been difficult being in this discussion and having the people that she trusted actually contemplating the possibility of letting one of the alleged perpetrators into our group.

Glenn looked as if he was actually leaning towards Dale's side of the argument. "Put him to work?"

"We're not letting him walk around," Rick quickly intercepted before the idea became too big.

"We can put an escort on him," Maggie suggested.

Shane quickly shot the idea down. "Look, say we let him join us, right?" he started. "Maybe he's helpful; maybe he's nice." Before I could say anything, he turned to me and added, "Even though he hasn't showed that, yet." I closed my mouth and nodded to him, knowing that he was on the side of reason. "We let our guard down and maybe he runs off - brings back his thirty men."

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt?" Dale asked, incredulous. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilisation."

"Maybe the laws have to change in relation to our situation," I told him. "If this is still the civilisation that we all know and live in, then there would be a "fair trial" for people like him and he'd immediately be condemned just by association."

"We can't just kill another human being!"

"And we don't live by those rules anymore," I growled, frustrated by how we seemed to be talking in circles and getting nothing done. "We have no laws in this world that would keep us alive and that should be our main priority - staying alive."

"Yeah," Daryl agreed, pushing off the wall. "We 'ave da sheriff here and his deputy. Wanta trial? They're da most qualified."

"And we're the jury," I added. "I say the vote should be valid."

"You saved him!" Dale shouted to Rick. "And now, look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

Looking at everyone, I saw that they were starting to agree with the enraged man, but Shane was as adamant as I was. "We all know what needs to be done."

"We haven't raped women and girls. The situation is completely different." I couldn't believe that I still needed to defend my position.

"No, Dale's right," Rick told us. "We have responsibilities."

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea asked. I couldn't tell which side she was on. "We haven't come up with a single viable option, yet. I wish we could."

"So let's. Work. On it!" Dale wouldn't accept that killing the boy could be a viable option.

"Alright." Rick sighed and looked as if he wanted to end the discussion. "Anybody who wants to floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

No one said a word for a long time. I looked at Daryl who shot me a contemplative look. I wondered if he was actually changing his mind. When I looked down, he squeezed my hand and his eyes told me that he was still on my side. He understood where I was going with it. I tried to smile back at him, but I was so tired of debating about this.

"You once said that we don't kill the living." Dale tried one last time to convince Rick.

"Well, that was before the living tried to kill us."

"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were - the world that we knew - is dead," Dale ground out. "And this new world is ugly! It's... Harsh. It's... It's survival of the fittest! And that's the world I don't wanna live in and I don't... I don't believe that any of you do. I can't! Please... Let's just do what's right." When he saw that no one was willing to speak up, he gave one last push. "Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

After a moment of thinking, Andrea said, "He's right. We should try to find another way."

Rick looked around. "Anybody else?"

Nothing. There were no more agreements.

We all look at Dale, wondering how he was going to react, now.

"Are y'all gonna watch, too?" he spat out. We averted out gaze. "No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. I won't be a part of it."

As he walked by Daryl and I, he stopped. "This group is broken."

Neither of us could meet his disappointed eyes. No matter what we agreed on, Dale was a crucial part of our group. He was like our good conscious and by going against him, I felt as if we were going to end up descending into a never-ending spiral of doubt and bad choices. I knew he was doing all this for the good of all humanity, but perhaps that truly wasn't the way to live anymore.

In a situation like this, survival of the fittest was the only way to live. Civilisation isn't going to magically form a solution for us. We had to build those foundations, again. We had to segregate ourselves from the people who were not good for our own.

"Sydney, you're the only one who was there."

"And you know what I think, Rick." With that, I turned and left.

I heard the quiet footfalls of Daryl right behind me. "That guy," he started as he walked beside me to our tent. "That guy ya kissed."

"I don't want to talk about that, Daryl. You know what happened already - why I did it." I didn't even look at him as I sped walked.

"No." He spun me towards him just as I was about to enter the tent. "Not talkin' 'bout that. He ain't bad. Kid could be - "

I shook my head. "Don't want to talk about that, either. My mind is made. He's a fuckin' bastard. Dave would never speak to me that way."

"No, but he didn't need ta speak. He kissed ya."

"Daryl! I already told yo -" I was quickly cut off by his lips on mine and I tumbled backwards in shock. My heel hit a rock and I fell. "Bloody hell... Mmph!" His lips came crashing back down. "Daryl, wha -" His hands caressed the skin under my shirt. I moaned and wrapped my legs around his waist. "Fuck, tent..."

He managed to scoot us the rest of the way out of prying eyes. I tightened my legs around his waist and flipped us over, so that I was on top. He grunted and propped himself up with his elbows.

I nuzzled his neck before nibbling on the skin over his pulse.

"Syd... Fuck..." He ground his groin against mine.

I moaned and pressed myself closer to him. "Daryl..."

Suddenly, there was a scream that caused us both to jump. Our eyes were wide with shock and confusion before we scrambled out with weapons in our hands.

"Rick! Rick, what's going on?" Before the sheriff could reply, I spotted the broken body of Dale. His intestines were spilling out of his body, but what was making me feel nausea was the fact that he was still alive. His wide eyes were staring at us and when he opened his mouth, I could only hear the gurgles of blood spurting out.

I shuddered and shook my head, taking a step back. Was this really the man I had been angry with? Had I just argued with him for the entire evening?

Muffling a sob with my hand, I turned around and ran.

...

Daryl turned his head from the gruesome scene when he heard Sydney let out a whimper before running off. He swallowed hard.

"Motherfucker!" Shane swore as he shot the walker that had done this. "Fuck!"

Daryl looked at everyone who was still present. His eyes landed on Carol who was trying to shield Sophia from the sight - the same for Lori with Carl. As he turned his head to the men, they all looked frozen on the spot.

Gathering up his resolves, he walked over and knelt beside Dale. "I'm sorry." He had his gun in his hand, holding it near Dale's temple. The older man looked up at him. There was no fear in those wise eyes - only understanding and gratitude. Perhaps he feared that no one would have the heart to end his suffering. "Ya were a good man, Dale." With one last look, the dying man pressed his head against the gun.

Bang!

Daryl shut his eyes and quickly walked away in the direction that he had seen Sydney disappeared to. He found her curled up beside the tree in front of their tent. "'Ey..." He sat down and gathered her into his arms. Immediately, she wound her around and legs around him. Her face was buried against his neck and he could feel the tears being soaked into his shirt.

He had never been good at comforting women. His mother died when he was only three and his only other female contact were with several whores that his brother thought might make him loosen up a bit.

This was different. He couldn't comfort Sydney with a wad of cash, so all he could do was hold her.

He wondered what she must be feeling. There had been so much emotional tension between her and Dale. This must have hit her hard - much harder than the others would know. No one wanted the last memories of their friends to be a disagreement.

They stayed against that tree for the rest of the night - neither of them were able to fall asleep. Every once in a while, he could feel her twitch and try to suppress another sob. Her tears had dried up many hours ago and so had his shirt, but the feeling of dread, remorse, and loss hung over them like a nightmare that they couldn't wake up from.

Just a little distance away, Daryl could hear T-Dog and Shane digging up the grave. He also knew of the tension between the officer and Dale. He hadn't put it past Shane to actually shoot the man one of these days, but seeing the reaction yesterday almost confused Daryl. Shane should've been glad that Dale died; instead, the officer was frustrated and angry.

As dawn arrived, he felt Sydney untangle herself from him. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she was still so beautiful to him. He ran his fingers down the side of her face. "They're gonna have da funeral, soon."

She nodded, wordlessly, before standing up.

The two of them walked over to the newly dug out earth and watched as Dale was slowly being buried. Few words were spoken. Rick had given a brief speech of all the goodwill that Dale had contributed in the group. As a final statement, he had decided that Randall was to be spared because that was what Dale would have wanted.

Daryl looked down at Sydney's reaction, but there was none. She was all cried out and probably numb to it all. The argument must've seemed trivial, now. He slid his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Somehow, they were all going to have to live through this because he was sure that this wouldn't be the last time that they'd have to bury a friend or family.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I was quite sad that Dale died. He was a good man, but this is only the beginning. They're going to lose the farm, soon… I'll be putting my own twists and turns there. I hope you guys won't hate me.

Thank you galwidanatitud and celia azul for reviewing!

galwidanatitud: Randall really was a bit of a sleaze, wasn't he?

celia azul: I saw quite a lot of Carol and Daryl stories and rumours going on. I really don't see them together either and I'm happy that it still hasn't happened. I typically see Daryl as a lone wolf… But that's a bit hypocritical of me because I enjoy reading him with different OCs together.

Thank you as well to everyone who has favourited and followed this story!

I promise that I'll update sooner if I get more reviews to motivate me on!