Here's chapter eleven! It's been a really long time, I'm sorry. I went through some personal problems for the past few months and I was just trying to handle them. My family needed me and even though I really wanted to write, I didn't have the will too. It's back now and the two month hiatus actually helped. I got more ideas running through my head for all my stories. Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 11:
When we got back to the farm, Rick insisted I go see Hershel. I ignored him. The man didn't need me to go see him every time I got hurt. He didn't like our group very much and I'm sure he didn't want to have to take care of any of us more then he already was. I walked up to the porch of the farm house. Maggie was sitting there and as soon as she saw me she gasped.
"Oh my gosh, Lennox. What happened? Are you alright?!" I stared at her for a few seconds.
"Is it that bad?" I asked.
"You need to go see my dad." I shook my head.
"Honestly, I think it just looks worse than it is. Can I just use the bathroom to clean myself up?" She looked hesitant so I added, "If I think it's worse then I'll go see your dad." I wouldn't really, but it would get her off my back. She nodded before gesturing for me to go inside. I walked to the bathroom and peaked at myself in the mirror. I closed my eyes. It really did look bad. I had blood caked underneath my nose. The trail of blood went around my lips, chin and down my throat. I looked at my nose seeing that it wasn't crooked, meaning it wasn't broken…thankfully. I could see a bruise forming on my cheek from where Randall punched me.
I pulled off my shirt. My lower back, leading down even further, was already bruised from when I fell back after Shane elbowed me. The bruising I had from the day before looked even worse. I sighed. I searched the bathroom from a wash cloth before wetting it and using it to clean the blood off of me. I held up my shirt looking at all the blood—old and new—staining it. I sighed again before pulling it back on and walking out of the house. I was tired but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. Having the shirt on now was putting too much pressure on my bruises so I knew lying down wouldn't even be possible.
Maggie was still outside, sitting on the porch. I walked over to her, taking residency in the chair next to her. She looked at me before offering me a small smile. "You were right…it did look a lot worse than it was. It looked like your nose was broken before but now it don't." I smiled back.
"Nope, nothin' broken, just bruised. I'm fine." She nodded as her smiled faded.
"What happened out there?" My smiled was wiped off my face.
"Problems...just—problems."
"The kid's back…" I nodded. I didn't know if I should tell her what happened, at least not the entire truth.
"Rick and Shane got into an argument and things got out of hand real quick. Long story short, walkers showed up and we had to leave with the kid." It wasn't exactly a lie.
"That don't explain why you look like you got beat up. I haven't been further then a few miles away from the farm but I'm pretty sure walkers don't beat the living up."
"When Rick and Shane were arguin' I went to go stop it. I had to leave the kid alone. When I stopped them from arguin' it was too late. The walkers came and I went to go get Randall. I think maybe he thought I was a walker because the next thing I knew I was on the ground with him above me. He landed a few good ones on me before he realized it was me and I pushed him off." I felt kinda bad that I was putting all the blame on the kid but it was the only way to explain without saying the entire truth. Maggie nodded slowly.
"Wow…" I laughed a little while nodding my head. "You should get some sleep, Len. You've had a rough two days." She advised.
"I don't think I'd be able too." Maggie gave me a knowing look. I looked at her, finally seeing the bags under her eyes. "You should get some sleep." I said.
"I don't think I'd be able too." She repeated me with a smile. We both laughed. We ended up staying up all night. We talked about the past, our childhoods. We talked about sore subjects, like her mother and step mother. We just listened to each other for hours. It was nice to just get a break from reality, being able to do something so simple. It was a nice break to be able to do something that is so rare now but was so common a few months ago.
Early in the morning, once mine and Maggie's conversation died down, we saw Rick speaking to Daryl. A few minutes later, Daryl was walking towards the shed where Randall was put for the night. With Rick's hard expression and Daryl's determined one, I knew what was going to happen.
"What's Daryl goin' to do?" Maggie spoke, her voice cracking just a little from not using her voice in a few hours. I looked to her before following Daryl's form with my eyes again.
"He's going to go interrogate Randall." Maggie muttered a simple, 'oh' before letting it drop. "Why don't we go make breakfast or somethin'?" I asked. I knew that if we sat here any longer we'd most likely hear what Daryl would do. Maggie was too sheltered to have to hear that and to be honest; I don't think she needed to hear it. Maggie nodded, giving me a thankful look and we both headed inside to make breakfast.
….
Daryl was in the shed for hours, well into the middle of the morning. After making breakfast with Maggie I walked outside for a while before seeing everyone was up. They were all just standing around, speaking to Rick. I walked over to them, just catching the end of the conversation.
"So, what're ya goin' to do?" I heard Lori asking. "We'd all feel better if we knew the plan."
"Is there a plan?" Andrea asked Rick. Her tone was slightly rude. It made me want to punch her even more then I already did.
"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn spoke before nodding in my direction as a greeting. Rick turned to me, doing the same as Glenn before turning back and taking a deep breath. I could see Daryl walking towards us all, his crossbow over his shoulder.
"We'll know soon enough," Rick raised his chin towards Daryl, making everyone turn towards his approaching form. I could see blood on his knuckles that was holding the strap of the bow.
"Boy there's got a gang," Daryl started still walking towards us before stopping. "Thirty men, heavy artillery, and they ain't lookin' to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead and our women," he paused a few seconds looking towards me, then the rest of the women in the group; Lori, Andrea, Maggie and Carol. "Are gonna wish they were."
"What'd you do?" I asked him. He looked down to his hand before letting it drop.
"We had a little chat." He said simply. Carol looked disgusted before walking away. I sighed.
"No one goes near this guy," Rick said.
"Rick, what are you gonna do?" Lori asked. Rick looked torn.
"We don't have another choice. He's a threat…we have to eliminate the threat." Just by looking at my brother-in-law I knew how hard it was for him to think like that. He's taken Shane's advice.
"You're just gonna kill him," Dale asked. It was meant to be a question, no doubt but the way he voiced it made it a statement.
"It's settled," Rick's voice screamed authority. "We'll do it today." Rick walked away. Dale stood, watching after him for a few seconds before he took off after Rick. I closed my eyes before heading to my tent. I needed to change my clothing.
The day went by in a blur. I helped around the farm for a while, not thinking of much other then the task I was doing. I watched as Dale went from person to person throughout the day talking to them all trying to convince them to let Randall live. He didn't come to me at all. I didn't know what to think. I knew the decision would be made at sundown and that was quickly approaching.
Daryl told a sugar coated story of what he found out from Randall, I could tell. I went to go speak to him about it, wanting to know what he really said to him but he wasn't anywhere to be found. I checked everywhere I thought he would be before heading to his camp. His crossbow was gone so I assumed he was out hunting. It was getting darker earlier and quicker recently and I hoped he would make it back fine. I snorted out loud once I realized who I was thinking about. It was Daryl, of course he's make it back fine. I went to head back to the farm house since it was almost night time when I heard a twig snap in the trees behind Daryl's camp. I spun around, pulling out my gun. It was darker out here then it was near the farm house so it made it more difficult to see. I seen a shadow that looked like a person—a walker or human I didn't know. I turned the safety off before aiming it in the direction of the shadow.
"Put it down, girl." A familiar gruff voice spoke. I sighed before putting the safety back on, watching as Daryl walked out of the darkness of the trees. "What're ya doin' out here?" He asked. He walked over to the fire pit before putting some twigs and logs into it and lighting it.
"I came to speak to you about Randall." He looked at me before pulling the string holding a few squirrels off of him and laying them on the ground next to him.
"Dale already pleaded with me fer the kids life, so ya ain't gotta do it too." I shook my head, surprised that Dale would try to get Daryl to jump aboard with letting the kid live.
"I wanted to know what he really told you. I know you just made what he said sound…nicer." Daryl grumbled.
"Ya don't wanna know." He said simply.
"I want to know." I said, leaving no room for him to deny telling me. He grunted before speaking.
"He and his boys found a camp before, just a man and his two teenage daughters. He said they were real young and," Daryl paused, his hands balling into fists before continuing. "The men, they raped the girls and made the man watch. They didn't kill 'em afterwards just left 'em there. I won't—I can't agree with Dale. Rick and Shane are right. He's a threat…a big one. We let him live, who knows what would happen to ya? To Carol? Maggie? We can't take tha' chance." I nodded. I still wasn't sure if the kid deserved to die.
"But do you honestly believe he deserves to be executed?" I studied his reaction. He didn't speak and it looked like he was really thinking about how to answer my question.
"He's a threat." He finally said. I narrowed my eyes. He didn't say whether he agreed or disagreed.
"You didn't—"
"I don't care what's done with the boy. It's kill or be killed. I'd rather kill." I looked to him in surprise. "Besides, the group's broken. Your brother-in-law looks to Shane and we all know where Shane stands," I took a deep breath before nodding and standing up. I could see the group walking into Hershel's home in the distance.
"They're having the meeting now." I said before making my way down to the house. Me and Daryl walked in and everyone was silent. No one was speaking and I could feel the tension of whatever decision was about to be made.
"So, how do we do this…just take a vote?" Glenn spoke up.
"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.
"How about majority rules?" Lori asked. I almost laughed at the juvenile was things were being held. Obviously, no one knew what the hell to do.
"Let's just see where everybody stands," Rick said. "Then we can talk through the options,"
"The way I see it," Shane started. I sighed. Here we go, I thought. "Only one way to move forward…"
"Killin' him," Dale spoke in disgust. My lips pressed in a thin line. "Right? Why even bother to take a vote, it's clear which way the winds blowin'," His voice got lower in volume as he spoke.
"If people believe we should spare him I wanna know," Rick said.
"Well I could tell you it's a small group...maybe just me, Glenn and Lennox," Dale said. I watched as Glenn didn't say anything. He just looked up at Dale from his sitting position before looking back down again. When Dale looked down at him, he chose to speak up.
"Look I—I think your pretty much right about everything all the time but this—"
"They've got you scared!" Dale accused him.
"He's not one of us." Glenn spoke. My eyebrows went up in surprise before I spoke up.
"I wasn't one of you," I stated. Everyone turned to me. "I popped up just as randomly as the kid."
"You didn't shoot at any of us." Daryl said. "You didn't have a gang of men," I shook my head.
"You're a part of our family," Lori said.
"So if I had a gang and wasn't related to you, you would've had the same conversation about me." It wasn't meant as a question.
"Probably," Shane said at the same time as Rick, Lori and Daryl said no. I shook my head at Shane. Dale looked at Shane before changing the subject. He looked to Maggie.
"How about you? How do you feel about this?" He asked.
"Couldn't we continue to keep him prisoner?" She asked.
"It's just another mouth to feed," Daryl said quietly.
"It may be a lean winter," Hershel offered.
"We could ration better." Lori said. A few more ideas were thrown around. Dale asking for us to let him prove himself. Glenn offering to let him work. Rick didn't want him walking around alone. Maggie offered the idea of an escort.
"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked. It was a rhetorical question but Dale answered anyway.
"I will."
"I don't think any of us should be walking around with him." Rick said. I could tell he was getting inpatient. I think all of us were.
"He's right I wouldn't feel safe," My sister said. "Unless he was tied up."
"We can't exactly put chains around him and sentence him to hard labor." Andrea had a point.
"Look, say we let him join us, right. Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice, we let our guard down and maybe he runs off and brings back his thirty men," Shane said.
"So we kill him, to prevent a crime he may never even attempt?!" Dale was getting flustered. I grimaced. "If we do this we're sayin' there's no hope, rule of law is dead, there is no civilization," Shane grumbled under his breath. I couldn't agree with Dale on this one. There is no hope. Laws aren't even thought about any more. Any form of civilization can be torn apart at any given second. Hershel asked Rick if he could drive him out further. Lori voiced that he barely came back the first time. Lori and Daryl offered up what could happen, what could go wrong if he attempts to drive him out again.
"Let's not put our own people at risk." I said. I didn't think if Rick and Shane went out again that both of them would be coming back. Patricia, who I didn't even know was there stood up.
"If you go through with it, how would you do it?" She asked. "Would he suffer?" Rick looked to Shane. Daryl was right, Rick looked to Shane. Shane gave him ideas and expected him to just go along with them.
"We could hang him," he offered. "Just snap his neck." I narrowed my eyes.
"I thought about that. Shooting him would be more humane." Rick told him. T-Dog looked to Shane.
"What about the body? Do we—"
"Whoa, hold on! You're talking about this like it's already decided." Dale's voice was close to being a yell.
"We've been talkin' 'bout this all day, goin' in circles. You just wanna keep goin' in circles, again?" Daryl asked him.
"This is a young man's life," Dale was now shouting. "And it is worth more than a five minute conversation." Dale looked around at everyone before continuing. "Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him! Now look at us, he's been tortured, he's going to be executed. How are we any better than those people we're so afraid of?" Everyone looked away taking in what Dale just said.
"We all know what needs to be done," Shane said quietly.
"No, Dale is right. He can't leave any stone unturned here. We have responsibilities—" Rick was interrupted by Andrea.
"Let's look for other solutions!" Andrea said.
"Let Rick finish." Lori told her.
"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet," Andrea continued like she didn't interrupt Rick. "I wish we could—"
"So then let's work on it!" Dale shouted. Things were starting to get even more out of control.
"Stop it, just stop it!" Carol spoke. She was watching the entire thing quietly until now. "I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide, either of you," She looked from Dale to Rick to Shane. "Or both of you but leave me out." Carol shrugged her shoulders.
"Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there's no difference." Dale spoke, his voice cracking. Carol's face showed her shock that all of us were feeling.
"Alright, that's enough," Rick said. "If anyone wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance." No one said anything. Dale looked around the room like Rick was. No matter the decision, someone wouldn't be happy.
"You once said that we don't kill the living." Dale jumped up. I could hear the desperate tone. I closed my eyes tightly before opening them again.
"That was before the living tried to kill us." Those words hit home for me. I knew people had changed since the dead came back alive. I see it in Rick. Shane was always like he was but it became more dominate since then. I realized that no one (besides Shane) really wanted to kill him but it was what they thought needed to be done. What Daryl said to me finally stuck. Despite him being young, he wasn't innocent. He wasn't good like he claimed to be. Maybe he was before all this but he wasn't anymore.
I missed Dale's rant. I missed his jab at everyone. I only paid attention again when Dale walked towards me and Daryl. He stopped in front of Daryl putting a hand on his shoulder.
"This group is broken." He walked away and out of the house. Everyone left the Greene's home soon after. They all went into their tents, me included. A few hours later, once the sun was completely down and everything was covered in darkness I heard the shuffling of feet. I looked out the "window" of my tent, seeing four silhouettes in the distance. I knew it was Rick, Shane, Daryl and the kid. They led him into the barn before they all disappeared. They were in there for a while before I watch as Shane pushed the door of the barn open harshly. Daryl was leading Randall out and Rick and a smaller form walked out of the barn. I shook my head. I knew they weren't killing him tonight. Carl was watching. I sighed before settling back into the cot in my room. I closed my eyes, drifting to sleep.
I didn't know how long I was sleeping for until a gunshot woke me up. I was confused. Maybe they did decide to kill him. I quickly dismissed the idea once I heard screams. It wasn't that of a young man. I jumped out of bed putting my boots on before grabbing my pistol and running out of my tent. I followed Rick and T-Dog into the fields. We took off into a spirit once we saw a form struggling. I didn't see Dale anywhere and my stomach dropped. We were almost there before Dale screamed out in agony. I screamed out his name, trying to run even faster then I was. Daryl was the first to get there, tackling the walker off of Dale and killing it.
"Help! Over here!" Daryl shouted. We reached them. I stopped short. Dale was laying there, his stomach pulled open. I felt bile rising up but I swallowed it down. I stood there as tears fell down my face. Rick was calling Hershel's name over and over again. Hershel came a few minutes later, kneeling beside Dale. I wasn't listening anymore. I could hear the blood rushing in my ears and I fell to the ground on my knees. Another gunshot woke me out of the state I was in. I looked up, no longer hearing anything but the sobbing of everyone. I stared off into the distance not really seeing anything. I felt someone next to be but I ignored them. I continued staring until I seen what looked like bodies walking out of the woods. I blinked a few times, thinking I was seeing things before I realized I wasn't. I stood up; finally seeing it was Daryl who was next to me.
"Daryl," I whispered. He looked down at me. "Tell me—tell me I'm not seeing things." He looked confused before following my line of sight. He froze before swearing. Coming out of the woods was hundreds of walkers. I wasn't seeing them, they were really there. No one but me and Daryl had even seen them, yet. A few seconds was all it took before everything became chaotic.