Me: *sitting in bed, finally writing this, and eating a brownie. all together in a good mood*
Me again: *then sees what episode we're onto*
Also Me: "Oh shit."
Nye sat on top of the RV and intently watched the barn, as if she expected it to suddenly change.
Mason and Toby were currently eating lunch with Carl inside the house. All three had no idea of what was going on inside the barn.
She grimaced, wondering what Daryl could be doing to Randall. She couldn't help but feel bad for not speaking up to Rick when he told them the plan.
What plan? The one where Daryl goes in the barn and beats the shit out of Randall.
That plan.
The look on Dale's face when they were told what Rick was gonna have Daryl do, was burned into Nye's memory. Dale was like the wise old grandpa of the group, and the look of disappointment he gave them, was down right painful.
…
Randall whimpered. "I told you-"
"You told me shit!" Daryl cut him off.
"I barely knew those guys. I met 'em on the road." Randall told him again.
"How many in your group?" Daryl growled.
Randall shrugged weakly, so Daryl pulled out his knife.
"Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Come on, man." Randall begged.
Daryl slammed the knife down near Randall's hurt leg. "How many?!"
"Uh, 30! 30, 30 guys." Randall stuttered.
"Where?"
"Uh-" Randall hesitated.
Daryl reached down and ripped off his bandage, mentally apologizing to Nye, knowing she was the one who checked and redressed his wound that morning.
Randall screamed in pain. "I don't know. I swear. We were never anyplace more than a night."
Daryl placed the tip of his knife on the wound, just hard enough to make it clear to Randall, not to pull any shit. "Scoutin'? Plannin' on stayin' local?"
"I-I don't know. They- they left me behind."
"Did you ever pick off a scab?" Daryl threatened.
"Come on, man! I'm-I'm trying to cooperate."
"Start real slow at first." Daryl continued, pressing down on the wound harder.
"No." Randall whimpered.
"Sooner or later, you've just gotta rip it off."
"Okay!" Randall caved. "Okay. The-the-they have weapons" Randall stammered. "Heavy stuff, automatics. B-b-but I didn't do anything."
Daryl scowled at him. "Your boys shot at my people, tried to take this farm. You just went along for the ride?" Daryl asked in disbelief. "You're tryin' to tell me you're innocent?"
"Yes!" Randall snapped. "These-these people took me in. Not just guys. Uh-a whole group of 'em."
As Randall spoke, Daryl stood.
"Men and women, kids too. Just like you p-people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know? But…" Randall hesitated. "We go out, scavenge, just the men. One night, we found this little campsite… A man and his two daughters. Teenagers, you know? Real young… Real cute."
Daryl froze, staring down at Randall, already having a hunch on where this story was going to lead.
"…Their daddy had to watch while these guys, they…And they didn't even kill him afterwards! They just-They just made him watch as his daughters- They just-just-just left him there."
There was no telling why Randall thought sharing this with Daryl would help his case.
Daryl stared down at him. He didn't know why, but his mind supplied him with images similar to what Randall was describing. Only in them, it was an immature mom, and her two sons.
Randall saw the cold fury enter Daryl's eyes, and tried to backtrack.
"No, but-but-but I didn't touch those girls! No, I swear I didn't to-"
Randall didn't get to finish, as Daryl delivered a swift kick to the boy's side.
"Please. Please." Randall whimpered. "You gotta believe me, man. I'm not like that. I ain't like that. Please. Please, you gotta believe me."
Daryl kicked him again.
…
"So, what you gonna do? We'd all feel better if we knew the plan." Lori asked from her position crouched at the campfire.
"Is there a plan?" Andrea added.
"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn asked.
"He might be totally innocent, guys." Nye said softly, leaning against Pumpkin, Mason and Toby standing next to her on either side.
"We'll know soon enough." Rick plainly told them.
They all looked over upon hearing Daryl's approach, and Nye immediately noticed his bloody knuckles.
"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna… They're gonna wish they were." Daryl told them.
Nye scowled, and pulled Mason and Toby closer. Not believing the men would stop at the women.
"What did you do?" Carol softly asked him.
"Had a little chat." Daryl evaded.
"No one goes near this guy." Rick ordered.
"Rick, what are you gonna do?" Lori softly asked.
"We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat." Rick told them.
Nye stiffened, and felt both Mason and Toby do the same.
Here we go.
"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked in shock.
"It's settled. I'll do it today." Rick barked before walking off.
Dale followed after him.
Shuddering on her right brought her attention to Mason. Her heart dropped when she saw the poorly concealed horror on his face.
"Mason…" Nye softly murmured. She quickly pulled him and Toby inside the house.
After sitting them both down on the couch, she went into the kitchen, looking for something.
"Need help?" Glenn awkwardly asked as he followed her into the kitchen.
Nye jumped, not having noticed his presence. "Uh, you think they have any instant hot chocolate?"
Glenn stared at her in confusion.
Nye sighed. "It's his favorite…"
Glenn nodded, and walked towards the other cabinets. "Well, than lets find some."
Nye smiled at him, his presence alone calming some of her nerves.
After finding some, they brought Mason and Toby into the kitchen as the water heated up on the stove.
Mason didn't look up from the counter, and Toby was watching him in grim silence.
"Do, you want to talk-"
"No." Mason cut her off. "We're gonna kill Randall. I don't wanna talk."
Nye and Glenn shared a tense look.
She swallowed thickly, hating what she was about to say to him. "Hun… Rick thinks there's no other way."
"Yes there is, we're just not seeing it." Mason plainly told her.
…
As the day went on, the guilt of their decision weighed heavier and heavier on Nye's shoulders. After what happened the night before, and feeling apathetic to the whole thing, she was surprised and relieved when she realized the knot forming in her stomach was guilt induced.
After finally finishing the dumpster fire that was Twilight, she sat back on the couch sitting in the middle of the Greene's living room. Much to her grief, Mason had refused to talk to her since the hot chocolate, and was now reading comics silently upstairs with Toby and Carl.
She contemplated what to do, trying to come up with something that might take her mind off the shitstorm that was their lives. It was when she started fidgeting with her bandages that she remembered something.
"That'll have to do." She muttered and stood up.
After finding a rag from the kitchen, she went out, jogging up to Pumpkin. Once she found what she was looking for, it was only a matter of finding him.
…
"So… How old is he?"
Mason paused his reading, hesitantly looking up at Carl.
"I… I dunno." Mason murmured, trying to recall how old he had been the last time they saw each other. He had been with that family only for a couple months, before Nye showed up and they dumped him on her.
He and Randall really weren't that close. In fact, Randall didn't really like Mason, he thought he was weird, so he kept his distance. But he didn't like this at all. He hated it. Randall was someone from when the world wasn't messed up, he was a tie to the way things used to be. Not to mention, the thought of what the group was planning to do made the kid sick to his stomach.
Carl looked down, feeling bad for bringing it up. But, then he got an idea.
"Let's go see him." Carl eagerly suggested.
Toby stiffed, while Mason straightened up.
"Guy, guys no-" Toby tried warning them.
"What if we talk to him, and work something out." Mason said, standing and putting down his comic.
Carl followed his lead, and that was when Toby panicked.
"No! What if he does something bad! You heard Daryl." Toby tried stopping them.
Mason rounded on Toby. "We're going. Are you coming with us, or are you gonna tell?"
Toby looked between the two, unsure of what was the right thing to do.
After a few more seconds of silence, he deflated.
"D-don't let him out, just talk."
Mason grinned, and he and Carl booked it out of the room.
As soon as he heard the front door slam, he started to panic.
"Oh my god why'd I let them go!?" He dashed downstairs, running out the front door after them. As he turned to run to the barn, a voice stopped him.
"Toby? What's wrong?" Dale worriedly asked the panicked kid.
"I-I…" He stuttered and came to a halt. "I was looking for… Nye?"
Dale nodded, and Toby felt horrible for lying to him, especially since he believed it so quickly.
"I'm actually looking for her two, so if I find her, I'll send her your way."
Toby nodded shakily. "Yeah, me two."
As Dale walked away, Toby sagged, glancing back at the barn, before looking back to Dale. He swallowed his nerves, and turned away from the barn.
"Dale, can we look together instead?" Toby called after him.
Mason's tough, tougher than me. So there's no reason for me to go after them.
He kept telling himself that, hoping it would sink in.
…
"Hey, Hotshot! Sit your ass down." Nye called, having found him walking along the edge of the woods.
Daryl sighed harshly, glaring over at her, despite following her orders. The saying "pick your battles" definitely came to mind for him in that moment.
Without a word of explanation, she crouched down and pulled out the rag and bottle rubbing alcohol.
He scoffed and went to stand, but she stopped him with a vice like grip on his wrist.
"This ain't for you. Not really." She plainly told him, not taking her eyes off his knuckles. "I need something to take my mind off of… Shit, everything." She sighed, letting go of his wrist and wetting the rag.
Thankfully, he stayed seated, silently watching her as she swiped the rag over his hand. She was surprisingly gentle with it, and any time he'd tense she'd murmur a quiet "Sorry." Thinking it was from the rubbing alcohol.
Daryl looked off in the direction of the barn. "How's the kid doin'?"
Nye knew which kid he was asking about, and it was nice knowing he was concerned. She may not know what exactly happened between her kids and Daryl, but she knew the redneck had grown a soft spot for them.
Her hands stuttered, and she sighed. "Why'd it have to be him? Why couldn't we be stuck with one of the other bastards shooting at us?" She asked instead of answering.
"We have shit luck." He suggested.
She snorted, finishing up with his knuckles.
It was… Nice. Just a quiet moment between the two, where neither of them felt the need to fill the silence. That was when Nye realized that most of their conversations were, for the most part, silent. And Daryl seemed to be the only one in the group (minus her kids) that she could pull that off with.
…
At first, Mason was speechless.
He looked different. And not just because he was black and blue. He was older, obviously, but he looked tougher too. Randall had been one of those scrawny kids who got shoved in lockers. But now, he looked like he'd be doing the shoving.
Carl quietly seated himself beside Mason on one of the wooden beams. So far, Randall hadn't noticed them.
But Mason wanted him to. "Psssssh, Randy!" He whisper-shouted.
Randall jumped, and looked up at the boys.
The teen froze, shocked to see Mason, before a grin spread across his face. "Mason?"
Said boy grinned, happy that he remembered.
But Randall suddenly became nervous. "Hey, I didn't know it was Miss Conner. I-if I'd known, I'd never had shot at 'er."
Mason nodded reassuringly. "It's okay, it was dark, you couldn't see her face."
Randall relaxed, before turning to Carl. "A-and who're you?"
Carl glanced at Mason, staying silent.
Mason nudged Carl. "This is my friend, Carl."
Randall gave a smile to Carl, and if they were older, they might have been able to see it was forced.
"That's a sweet hat. The sheriff guy- That your dad?" Randall asked, but Carl stayed silent. "I like him. Yeah, he's a good guy. I can tell. Your mom out here too? You're-you're lucky you still got your family. I lost mine."
Mason looked down at his hands.
"Hey, I-I don't know what the grown ups been saying about me, but I didn't do nothing. I swear. Just ask Mason, I wouldn't do anything." Randall told them.
Carl stood, and started walking along the beams, while Mason sat and tried to think of what to say.
"Your dad was gonna let me go till his friend started fighting with him. It got pretty bad. I-I was kinda worried. My camp, we got lots of supplies."
Carl walked towards a latter leading down, and he shared a look with Mason. He quickly got up and headed to the latter, and they both climbed down.
"You help me, I'll take you and your folks back to my people. We'll take good care of you. Keep you safe. Just gotta-Just gotta help me get out of here, okay? Mason? Just help me pick these locks or find the key, okay? Come on, please?" Randall begged as Carl and Mason walked over.
Mason nodded. "I can get Nye. She knows how to pick locks. Besides, she hates the plan too. So I'm sure she'll help."
Carl glanced at him again. While he had been on board at first, the more they talked to Randall, the more he felt nervous.
Randall grinned. But, then the doors swung open.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Shane demanded, and the two boys shrunk back.
Shane turned to Randall. "What did you say to him? What did you say to him, huh?"
"I didn't say nothing. I didn't say nothing!" Randall yelled as Shane shoved his back against the wall, and put his gun to his head.
Andrea walked in and stood between Shane and the kids. "Hey, hey. Shane not now!"
"Let me tell you something. I will shoot you where you sit. Open your mouth. Open your mouth." Shane tried shoving the barrel of the pistol in the teens mouth.
"Shane!"
"You like talking, man? You like talking?!"
"Shane back off!"
Mason was shaking as Shane stepped away from Randall. He and Carl leaned against each other as Shane turned to them.
"Get your ass out this door. Let's go." He grabbed their arms and dragged them outside.
"The hell you doing?" Shane demanded.
"Please don't tell my parents." Carl begged.
Mason silently stared at the ground.
"Carl, that ain't cool, man. You could've gotten hurt in there." Shane put his focus on Carl.
"I can handle myself." Carl told him angrily.
"Let me tell you something- you do not go near him again. Do you hear me?" Shane told him, before sighing. "Damn it."
"You won't tell my parents, will you?" Carl asked.
Shane sighed, then stiffened. "Carl, who's idea was this?"
Mason gulped.
…
She didn't know what it was for, but Nye was currently sorting through a pile of sticks in Daryl's camp.
She looked up when she heard a scoff, and saw Dale approaching.
"The whole point of me coming up here is to get away from you people." Daryl threw at him, not looking up from the sticks.
Nye grinned. "Not really working, is it?"
She got a middle finger in response.
"She's right, it's gonna take more than that." Dale told him.
"Carol send you?" Daryl asked.
"Carol's not the only one that's concerned about you, your new role in the group." Dale told him.
"Oh, man, I don't need my head shrunk. This group's broken. I'm better off fending for myself." Daryl barked at the older man.
Nye sighed and rolled her eyes.
Maybe we'd buy that if you genuinely didn't give two shits about us.
"You act like you don't care." Dale said.
"Yeah, it's 'cause I don't."
Suuuuuuuure.
"So live or die, you don't care what happens to Randall?" Dale asked.
"Nope." Was Daryl's short reply.
"Then why not stand with me, try to save the kid's life, if it really doesn't matter one way or the other?" Dale asked.
"Didn't peg you for a desperate son of a bitch." Daryl told him as he put on his long sleeved shirt and vest.
That reminded Nye to start making the boys wear warmer clothes, as the temperature had been dropping the last few days.
"Your opinion makes a difference." Dale tried telling him.
"Man, ain't nobody looking at me for nothing." Daryl told him, and Nye scowled.
Dale, having saw her face, gestured to her. "Nye is,"
She flushed, and sent Dale a scowl of his own.
"and I am. Right now. And you obviously- You have Rick's ear." Dale finished.
"Rick just looks to Shane. Let him." Daryl told him, before turning and walking away, crossbow slung over his shoulder.
What Dale said next stopped the hunter in his tracks. "You cared about what happened to Sophia."
Daryl turned and glared at the man. Nye stood, looking between the two.
"Cared what it meant to the group. Torturing people? That isn't you. You're a decent man. So is Rick. Shane-He's different." Dale told him, and Nye couldn't help but agree with everything he'd just said.
"Why's that? 'Cause he killed Otis?" Daryl asked, and Nye stood beside him.
Dale paused. "He tell you that?"
"He told some story. How Otis covered him, saved his ass." Daryl told him calmly, before glancing at Nye.
She sighed, stuffing her right hand in her pocket. "He has Otis' gun. I saw it in his car."
Daryl nodded. "Rick ain't stupid. If he didn't figure that out, it's 'cause he didn't wanna. It's like I said. Group's broken."
With that, he turned and walked away.
Dale sighed, turning to Nye.
She held up her hands in surrender. "Hey man, you've had my vote from the start."
Dale smiled. "Thank you." He told her throatily.
He took a breath, before remembering something. "Oh yeah, Toby and I were looking for you. He got tired though, about ten minutes ago. He's in the RV."
Nye nodded. "Thanks, I owe you one."
Dale shook his head. "You being on my side is more than enough."
As she and Dale walked back to their set-up, and spotted RV, Nye slowed.
"Dale,"
"Hmm?"
"What the hell did Mason do?"
Dale sighed, watching the eleven year old as he sat dejectedly beside the RV.
"He went to talk to Randall."
When he didn't get a response, Dale looked over at her. And wasn't surprised in the least when he saw her shaking in anger.
She left Dale's side and marched up to Mason, briefly spotting Toby, as he watched in worry through a window.
She crouched down, taking Mason's chin in her hands, and forcing him to look at her. "What were you thinking?"
Mason scowled. "We can't kill him."
Nye sighed. "That doesn't answer my question."
Mason deflated. "…Just thought we could help."
Nye's features softened, until she registered what he said. "Wait, "We"?"
Mason froze, and Toby came barreling out of the RV.
"I can't take it anymore! Lying is horrible! Carl went with him!"
Mason glared at his brother, while the relief from telling someone caused Toby to sigh loudly, and collapse on the ground like a limp noodle.
Nye turned back to Mason. "Where's Carl?"
Mason shrugged, and she narrowed her eyes.
"Isn't he in trouble two?"
"Shane let him off with a warning, and told me to sit here until you decided to show up. His words, not mine." Mason grumbled.
Nye growled. "That piece of shit. Thinks he can talk to my kid like…"
As Nye continued to mutter death threats, Dale put a hand on her shoulder.
"Nye. Randall?"
She blinked. "Oh, right."
"We didn't let him out or anything, we just talked." Mason told her.
Nye rubbed her temple. "But Ace, you still talked to him." She sighed, and stood. "Okay, uhhh… How about, a week without… Comics?"
Mason groaned, and Dale patted her on the back.
"That sounds reasonable." The man told her, proudly.
Nye's shoulders sagged as she let herself relax.
"Smalls, get off the ground."
…
Sadly, Nye's day looked like it wouldn't get any calmer. After forcing Mason to tell her everything Randall said, Dale asked if she'd be willing to go find Daryl, and try and convince him of his cause.
"He listens to you."
Nye scoffed. "Since when?"
Dale raised a brow. "Around since the time you started calling him 'Daryl'."
She hesitated at that, swallowing whatever excuse she planned to use. "I… Fine. Watch the boys." She sighed.
Dale thanked her, stepping inside the RV. He turned his head back to her, as she started walking away.
"Make sure to take something with you."
She lazily lifted her large monkey wrench in the air, wordlessly telling him she had all she needed.
The only problem in talking to Daryl at the moment, was finding him. So without much thought, she marched into a random part in the woods surrounding the farm.
It was around twenty minutes of searching before she found something.
But that something definitely wasn't Daryl
"Whoa!" Nye huffed as a small form darted right into her.
She looked down and was met with a familiar sheriffs hat.
Carl panted, glancing behind himself one more time, before turning and looking up at Nye.
"Hey, hey, hey. What's wrong?" She softly asked, putting her hands on his shoulders to steady him.
"N-nothing. Just g-got… lost."
Nye narrowed her eyes. "Why were you out here in the first place?"
Before he could answer, she seemed to come to her own conclusion.
"Wait, are you hiding from your parents? Because of what you and Mason did?"
Carl seemed to debate it in his head, before nodded shakily.
She sighed. "Chief, you can't just-"
That's when she noticed the way he seemed to be hiding something behind his back.
"What's that."
Carl paled. "I-it's uh-"
Before he could react, she reached down and over his shoulder, gripping the item, and pulling it away from him.
Her jaw dropped when her eyes were met with the cold black metal of a gun.
"I was afraid to be out here without one!" Carl immediately told her, once again glancing over his shoulder.
Nye looked from the gun to him sharply. "You shouldn't be out here period!"
He flinched, and looked to the ground. And she realized this was the first time she'd ever gotten mad at him.
She looked back and forth between him and the gun for a while, before letting out a defeated groan.
"Where'd you get it?"
"…Daryl's stuff."
"Son of a-" She gave a harsh sigh. "Okay." She looked up at the canopy, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she questioned her mental stability (not for the first time) for what she was about to do.
"Okay. Okay… I'll take care of the gun, and I won't tell your parents about this." Lord knows they don't need the extra stress.
Carl lit up, but Nye made sure to destroy most of the hope on his face.
"But."
He gulped.
"Promise me, promise you won't do something this idiotic again." She begged.
Carl hastily nodded, taking one more glance behind his shoulder, before looking back up to her. "C-can we go?" He asked timidly.
Nye softened. And another exhausted sighed escaped her. "Yeah, dumbass, let's go."
Their feet crunched on sticks and the leafs that had already started falling as they left.
Maybe, just maybe, If she'd scolded Carl a little longer, the walker he'd been taunting could have caught up to them, and be put down.
…
As the sun began to set, and after dropping Carl at the house, Nye finally managed to track their redneck down.
And was annoyed out of her mind to find him, calmly sitting in his camp.
"You. Are. The worst." She groaned and sat down next to him.
He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, she handed him his gun.
At the dumbfounded look on his face, she explained. "Don't tell Rick, and especially don't tell Lori… But Carl wanted to play grown-up and explore the woods."
Daryl sighed. "Lucky he didn't run into somethin'."
She nodded, staring at the wall of trees to her right, and the bright sunset at her front. "Dale wants me to talk to you."
He scoffed.
"Says you'll listen to me."
He stayed silent that time.
She sighed, dejectedly. "…It just feels wrong. Everything about this. I mean, all my Mom-instincts are telling me we can't trust him. But… he's also a kid, one who, in a different life, could have been placed with me." She shrugged dejectedly. "I dunno… I just feel torn. Between guilt, and... not feeling anything."
He nodded, seeming to be taking in all she said, before getting to his feet. "C'mon, bet they've started."
The walk to the house was silent, save for the crunching of their footsteps.
...
The atmosphere in the room was tense and thick. Nobody seemed able to look another in the eye for long. And when Rick walked in, the tension doubled.
After browbeating Carl upstairs where the other kids were, Glenn was the one to break the silence.
"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?"
"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.
Nye gave a bitter laugh. "I doubt that'll happen."
"How about majority rules?" Lori proposed, and Nye and a few others nodded faintly.
"Well, let's- let's just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options." Rick told them.
"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward." Shane said.
"Killing him, right? I mean, why even bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing." Dale butted in.
"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know." Rick told the room at large.
"Well, I can tell you it's a small group- Maybe just me, Nye and Glenn."
Nye slumped in her seat, disappointed in the numbers, but not surprised.
"Look, I-I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this-" Glenn started, telling everyone he was no longer on Dale's side.
"They've got you scared." Dale exclaimed in disbelief.
"He's not one of us." Glenn argued. "And we've-we've lost too many people already."
"How about you?" Dale gestured to Maggie. "Do you agree with this?"
Maggie glanced around before sighing and looking to Rick. "Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?"
"Just another mouth to feed." Daryl threw in.
"It may be a lean winter." Hershel added.
"We could ration better." Lori suggested.
"Well, he could be an asset. Give him a chance to prove himself." Dale practically begged.
"Put him to work?" Glenn proposed.
Nye sat up straighter. "That could work."
Rick shook his head. "We're not letting him walk around."
"We could put an escort on him." Maggie added.
"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked in disbelief.
"I will." Dale told him.
Nye raised her hand. "Me two. Me and Dale could take shifts."
Again, Rick shook his head, and much to Nye's confusion and annoyance, so did Daryl.
"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy." Rick told them.
Lori nodded along. "He's right. I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up."
"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor." Andrea spoke up.
Nye grimaced, as it was quickly becoming apparent that she and Dale were fighting a losing battle.
Shane sighed. "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, brings back his 30 men." He tried to reason.
"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt?!" Dale asked them, almost yelling at this point. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization." He finished thickly.
"Oh, my God." Shane groaned.
"Could you drive him further out? Leave him like you planned?" Hershel asked their unofficial leader.
Lori shook her head before Rick could answer. "You barely came back this time. There are walkers. You could break down. Y-you could get lost."
"Or get ambushed." Daryl added.
Nye sighed sharply through her nose. Just wishing she could hit some sort of magic pause button. Or hell, a rewind button would be even better.
"They're right. We should not put our own people at risk." Glenn murmured.
Nye scoffed and stood, having had enough. "So you're referring to us collectively now?" She asked, gaining everyone's attention. "Because I seem to recall Hershel hating our fucking guts, and wanting us off his land." Nye put her hands on her hips and stared them all down. "We barely know anything about each other, and yet we choose to blindly trust one another. I know more about Randall than I know about half of you." She nodded to the Greene's. "Hell, most of you don't even know my God-damn name." She dropped back down on the chair and sighed. "The fact we're even having this meeting puts my stomach in knots." She finished lamely.
The room was silent as everyone waited for her to blow up again, and when she didn't, Patricia turned to Rick.
"If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would he suffer?"
Good. Fucking. Lord
"We could hang him, right?" Shane shrugged. "Just snap his neck."
"I thought about that." Rick nodded. "Shooting may be more humane."
"And what about the body?" T-Dog asked. "Do we bury him-"
"Oh my fucking god." Nye groaned in her hands.
"Hold on, hold on!" Dale cut him off. "You're talking about this like it's already decided!"
"You've been talking all day, going around in circles. You just wanna go around in circles again?" Daryl asked, getting a venomous glare from Nye.
"This is a young man's life, and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation!" Dale snapped. "Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed..." Dale shook his head. "How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?" He finished quietly.
"We all know what needs to be done." Shane growled.
"No, Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here." Rick argued, giving Nye a bit of hope. "We have a responsibility-"
"So what's the other solution?" Andrea cut him off.
"Let Rick finish." Lori told the blonde.
"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could-"
"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled.
"We are." Rick barked.
"Stop it. Just stop it." Carol cut them all off. "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, both of you- But leave me out." Carol begged them.
"Not speaking out or killing him yourself. There's no difference." Dale told her, thickly.
"Dale!" Nye yelled in warning. He was allowed to be angry, so long as it was targeted at Rick or Shane. Preferably the latter.
"All right, that's enough. Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance." Rick told them.
Nobody moved other than to sit down. Dale glanced around, wringing his hat in his hands, before gesturing to Rick.
"You once said that we don't kill the living."
"Well, that was before the living tried to kill us." Rick countered.
"But don't you see? If we do this, the p-people that we were- The world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly... It's Harsh. It's-it's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in, and I don't- And I don't believe that any of you do. I can't."
Nye had to look away, as tears welled up in Dale's eyes.
"Please. Let's just do what's right. Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"
Wordlessly, Nye stood. Getting a look from the older man that made her chest feel warm.
So that's what it feels like when someone's proud of you, huh? She thought softly.
"He's right." Andrea spoke softly. "We should try to find another way."
Rick nodded. "Anybody else?"
"You already know my vote, Sheriff." Nye murmured.
The silence after that, was agonizing. With each second that ticked by, you could see the despair in Dale's eyes thicken.
No one could meet his gaze, and he scoffed.
"Are y'all gonna watch, too?" He asked bitterly, before shaking his head. "No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being." He gave a shuddering sigh. "I won't be a party to it."
Nye blinked when he gently patted her on the shoulder. And as he walked out of the living room, he patted Daryl on the shoulder as well, nodding his head.
"This group is broken."
...
She silently watched them, as her boys sat on Beth's bed, too focused on whispering back and forth to notice her. But when she took a step in, the floorboard creaked, and both boys snapped their heads up and stared at her.
She tried giving a smile. Until she saw the looks on their faces.
She slowly caught on, when she couldn't find a certain sheriff hat in the room.
Looking at them with a tight lipped scowl, she asked,
"Where is he?"
...
That's it, she won. She was officially number one mom of the group. especially with the fact that Lori didn't know where Carl was, either.
Blindly wandering the Greene's land was quickly becoming something she hated. And the fact it went from moderately light out, to pretty much pitch black, wasn't helping matters.
At least it was a distraction.
Thankfully, she hadn't needed to tell the boys the bad news, as they both had been listening the whole time (and in the process let Carl sneak away)
After making it all the way to the barn, and finding it empty (much to her confusion) she continued further out, until...
A bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air, taking all the warmth from her body with it.
Without realizing she didn't have a weapon on her, not even her wrench, she booked it in the direction of the scream. And was finally able to piece together who the voice belonged to.
"Dale!?"
Spotting what looked like two people in the grass, she pushed her legs faster. When she was only a few yards away, she could tell the one on top of the other, was a walker.
No no no no nononono!
In the future, this would be one of the moments she'd look back on, and lament her own stupidity.
Without a weapon, and without a thought for her own well being, she tackled the walker.
She and it tumbled off of Dale, but before she could look over to check if he was okay, she found herself fighting with all her strength to keep the walker from sinking it's teeth in her neck.
She whimpered as her fingers dug into it's shoulders as if they were made of clay. Unsurprisingly, her left arm slowly started to give out, as aches started burning along her forearm. Do to this, the walker gained a few inches, and by that point it was snapping it's jaws only a hair away from her face. She didn't even have the time to gag at it's breath, she could only whimper and try to hold out for Dale to help.
But he didn't, and she realized, with a shuddering breath, and thoughts filled with Mason and Toby, that she was about to die.
That's what she thought, until the tip of a knife burst through the walker's forehead without warning.
All of it's weight sagged on her, before being jerked off. She looked up, walker blood dripping down her face, at Daryl.
He kneeled down next to her, grabbing at her face in alarm, mistaking the walker blood to be hers.
She opened her mouth, but couldn't find anything to say, other than. "I'm okay."
And she was, until she looked to her left.
Oh god no.
Dale took a shuddering breath.
"Help! Over here!" Daryl called for help.
I'm dreaming. I'm having a nightmare.
"Hang in there, buddy." She faintly heard Daryl say.
"Oh, my God. Oh, God." Rick muttered as he dropped to his knees beside Dale, the rest of the group, minus the kids, following behind him.
The man they were all surrounding, was missing the majority of his stomach.
"All right, just listen to my voice. Listen to me, all right? Just listen to me." Rick ordered.
Dale moaned in pain, causing several of the groups members to cry harder.
And Nye, she was crying. She just didn't know it. It was as if she was in her own little bubble, one with silent tears falling rapidly down her face. When suddenly, without warning. It popped.
A choked whimper fell from her mouth, and she latched onto the closest thing to her.
Which happened to be Daryl.
In a way, this was worse than Sophia. Because not only were they all having to witness Dale's death, but because, to Nye, he was the closest thing she'd ever had to a...
She couldn't stop the small wail from escaping her throat.
"Okay, hold on now. Get Hershel!" Rick ordered. "He needs blood. We gotta operate now."
Nye tore her face away from Daryl's shoulder, finally looking at Dale's wound fully.
If she had been in her right mind, she would have said it was a lost cause. But when something like this happens to someone you care about, all logic gets thrown out the window.
She nodded numbly. Yeah, blood. I can give blood. I'll give him blood, and he'll be fine.
"Hang on, Dale. Hang on." Andrea begged the man, and he nodded faintly in return.
"Listen to me. Come on- Okay, just listen to my voice. All right, please. Hershel! We need Hershel! Look at me. Dale, we're gonna help. We're here. Just hold on- hold on."
No one could bring themselves to tell Rick that Hershel wouldn't be able to do anything.
"What happened?" Hershel rushed up to them, stopping beside Rick.
"What can we do?" Rick asked him.
"Dale, it's gonna be okay." Glenn tried reassuring him.
"Can we move him?" Rick asked.
Hershel shook his head sadly. "He won't make the trip."
"You have to do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house and get-"
"Rick." Hershel cut him off, putting a hand on his shoulder, and shaking his head.
Rick clenched his jaw, turning his head away. "No!"
She made the mistake of looking up in that moment, and locked eyes with a pair of wide, terrified, brown eyes.
Mason was holding him back, as Toby stared down at Dale with those wide eyes.
"He's suffering. Do something!" Andrea begged as they all cried.
Rick slowly raised his gun, aiming it at Dale's forehead.
"Oh God." Andrea whimpered.
His gun shook, and Daryl calmly took it from him, knowing the former sheriff wouldn't be able to do it.
As Daryl pointed the barrel down at Dale, the man shakily raised his head to it, silently begging for him to pull the trigger.
"'m sorry brother."
Dale tried giving him a smile, trying to tell Daryl not to carry the guilt of this with him. Before a loud bang sounded, and he fell limp.
Nye only had one thought.
Why him?