They were hanging out by the barn when Hannah suggested that she and Carl to go to Sophia's grave. They hadn't gone since she was put in the ground. Going there, it was a reminder of what could happen to them. Hannah knew that they were just kids whenever she looked down at the wooden cross. No matter how much training she got, it wouldn't change that. Sophia was proof. Hannah had found some flowers near by and picked them. There were some pink, purple, and yellow ones. At least, they were the pretty ones.
"Why are you doing that?" Carl asked after she'd picked them.
"I dunno, when my mom would take me to my Granny's grave, we always brought flowers," she explained. "It just seems right."
Carl didn't say anything else as they made their way over to the mounds of dirt. Carol was standing there too, she was practically always there. Maybe that's why Hannah had waited so long before going. Carol didn't like her anymore, she'd never outright say it of course but Hannah understood. Instead of glaring, like she used to, Carol had evolved to just never acknowledging her existence. It annoyed her to no end since Carol was a grown up and she was a kid. Hannah didn't even look at the older woman as she placed the flowers in front of the wooden cross.
"You know, we'll see again in Heaven someday," Carol spoke up, talking to Carl. It was a nice thought. Hannah did like to think there was something else after they died. Hannah got back up and turned towards them.
"No we're not," Carl snapped. "Heaven's just another lie. And if you believe it, you're an idiot." He said this in the most condescending tone possible.
If Carl wasn't inadvertently calling her an idiot, she might've approved of talking back to Carol. Lord knows she'd wanted to for days now. He started stomping away, Carol had a shocked look on her face. Hannah ran after her friend.
"Wait up!" She called. Carl stopped and looked at her. "Do you really think that Heaven's a lie? Or were you just saying that to piss off Carol?"
"There's no such thing as Heaven," he shrugged. "It's just some lie that grown-ups tell us so we don't have to face the truth. Why? You don't believe in Heaven, do you?"
"So what if I did?" She asked.
"How can you believe in Heaven?" He asked. "Look at what's happened, d'you really think that God would let this happen?"
"Never said I believed in God," she mumbled looking down at her feet.
"But you believe in Heaven?"
"Yeah… I mean, I think so," she shrugged. "It's just… it's nice to think that there's something else."
"Whatever," he grumbled. She could hear footsteps coming up the path. Hannah looked behind her to see Rick coming along.
"Hannah, I need to talk to Carl alone," he said. He didn't look all that impressed with his son at the moment. And honestly, she wasn't either. She nodded, waved goodbye to Carl, and walked back towards camp. Carl was a lot of things, but perceptive wasn't one of them. He didn't understand that sometimes he said things that he probably shouldn't. He was still her friend, she'd just have to put up with it.
Ever since she'd started training constantly with Daryl, Hannah hadn't found very much time to draw. Last time had been the butterfly on Carl's hat, something that she'd never finished. Today, however, she picked up her sketch pad from her tent. She walked over to the RV where Glenn was standing guard, it was odd not seeing Dale up there. She climbed up the ladder and took her regular spot on the chair. Glenn, wisely, chose not say anything just yet.
Hannah found herself looking at the distant horizon trying to capture every single small detail. It was getting colder now. Hannah guessed it might be October now. In the real world, everything would just start smelling like pumpkins, falling leaves, and spice. She noticed how the leaves were now an orange and red. She'd always loved fall.
Out of the corner of her eye, Hannah noticed a small boy with a cowboy hat trudging down the road. She rolled her eyes and groaned. Sometimes she wondered why she put up with him.
"What did Carl do now?" Glenn asking, having noticed Hannah's demeanour.
"Hm?" The question caught her off guard.
"Well, I just saw Carl walk by and you 'ugh'd and rolled your eyes. So either he did something to piss you off or you're just generally angry, but knowing you, it's something Carl did. So the question remains, what did he do this time?" She pondered for a minute, trying to figure out exactly why she was so mad. It wasn't so much what he'd say but more of how he said it. She explained to Glenn what had happened at Sophia's grave.
"Glenn, do you believe in Heaven?" She finally asked at the end of her story. He stopped and scrunched his brows together in confusion.
"What?"
"Do you believe in Heaven?" She repeated. The older boy stayed silent for a very long time. Hannah couldn't read the expression on his face.
"I don't know," he shrugged.
"What do you mean you don't know?" She asked, frustrated. "It's either you do or you don't." It's not like it was that hard a question.
"I don't know what to tell you kid. I'd like to think there's something better after all this but I don't think I can believe," he explained.
"Why not?" She asked.
"I dunno, guess after all the sh-I mean stuff that's happened… I don't have enough hope left in me," he said. "Why do you believe?"
"Because there has to be something better. There just has to be. Or else… what's the point?"
"Well that's what you believe. Don't let anyone tell you that what gives you hope is stupid. Right now, I think we could all use a little bit of it," he reassured her. "As for Carl, he's a twelve year old kid, he's not supposed to be smart."
"I'm twelve," she reminded him.
"Statement stands," he joked. "Look, you're a kid, worry about kids stuff, not about Heaven, Hell, or anything in-between. Only thing you should care about is running around and being dumb."
"Is that what kids my age care about?" She asked, laughing slightly.
"Yep, they don't care about prisoners, or the afterlife. Only playing games and having fun." Hannah was beginning to realize just how much of a big brother Glenn actually was. And she was lucky, because he was hers.
They talked about things for longer. Just anything really, they never breached the subject of the impending execution which Hannah was grateful for. She knew that they had to kill the prisoner. This was the sort of world they lived in now, kill or be killed. That's just how things were. She'd killed before, mind you it wasn't human anymore but it had been once. She did it because she had too.
"You know, when I was just about your age, I had a massive crush on this girl named Raven," Glenn started. Hannah pushed away all thoughts of the prisoner and listened intently to Glenn's embarrassing story. She'd talked him into telling her his most embarrassing moment. Though, Hannah had the sneaking suspicion that he gave her a G-Rated story. She supposed he had many more embarrassing moments, only they were too crude to tell a little girl. "She was beautiful, with long black hair and these brown eyes. But of course, me being me was really scared to talk to her. My mom always told me that to catch a girls attention was to do a huge romantic gesture." Hannah could see where this story was going. She was already cringing from second-hand embarrassment for Glenn. "So, on the last day of school, I walked into school. My palms sweaty, my heart pounding, and waited anxiously for lunch. I made sure she was in the cafeteria when I stood up on top of her table with a megaphone all ready to do this big romantic declaration. I hit the speak button only no sound came out. I'd frozen completely in front of the whole school."
"Oh no, that's awful," Hannah struggled not to laugh.
"Well it gets worst," he continued. "So not only did I freeze in front of all my friends, Raven, and the rest of the student body, the anxiety became too much, and next thing I know I'm puking all over her."
Hannah couldn't help it, she was howling with laughter. She could just imagine little Glenn throwing up all over this girl, in her hair, on her clothes, and the thought just made her laugh harder until tears were flowing as well. She'd been wrong in how it went, it was twenty times better than anything she could've possibly come up with. Glenn was even grinning now seeing her laugh so hard. He'd never seen it before. Sure, occasionally she would let out soft laughter but nothing quite like this.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep on laughing," he teased her.
"I'm sorry it's just all I can imagine is the 'bbbeeerrrrkkk' echoing over the megaphone," she said in-between bouts of laughter.
"What's so funny?" She heard Dale ask as he climbed up the ladder.
"Glenn threw up on a girl!" She howled, still laughing.
"What?" Dale asked turning to Glenn.
"I told her a story from middle school and she finds it hilarious," he explained.
"B-Because 'beeerrrrkkkk' over the m-megaphone!" She gripped her sides that were starting to cramp. It took her a few moments to compose herself once more.
"I thought T was next for watch," Glenn said after Hannah had finally calmed down.
"He is. I'm here to talk to you about something else, or rather someone else," Dale began. "I want you to help me save Randall."
"You sure this is a good time Dale?" Glenn questioned looking over at Hannah. She sighed dramatically before slumping back into the chair. She'd never be considered old enough to hear these kind of things.
"Now's as good a time as any," Dale shrugged. "So, what do you say Glenn?"
"Spare the guy?" Glenn questioned. "Why?" Hannah listened intently now. Why would Dale want to save someone that could hurt them? Especially after what her dad found out this morning.
"Because it's right, you know it is," he answered. "Killing someone? That isn't who we are. It's not what civilized people do."
"You wouldn't be saying this if you'd been there at the bar. These aren't good guys," Glenn stated. "That kid shot at us. He tried to kill us."
"And we've kept him prisoner ever since," Dale reasoned. "He's been beaten since he got here. Treated like he was an animal. How are we better than them if we do this? We kill him and then we're just like the things we are so afraid of." Glenn stayed silent after that.
"He can hurt us," Hannah spoke up from behind. Both men stopped and turned towards her. "We can't trust him. I don't care what that makes us. If he can hurt us, we can't let him go." Dale's eyes widened in disbelief listening to her speak.
"Hannah, you don't mean that," he said. "You can't mean that. Killing someone isn't right."
"But if it keeps my family safe… how can it be wrong?" Hannah wondered. How was killing this man any different than killing a walker? Walkers are threats so they kill them, the prisoner was a threat so they had to kill him too.
"Look, Dale, maybe it's best we talk about this later," Glenn said giving Hannah a look of, well she couldn't quite figure out what it was disbelief or worry, either or was gave her those anxious stomach flops. She slumped back into the chair, staring down at her feet as if she was about to get scolded like she would in school. "I promise, I'll think about it."
"Okay," Dale said. "Glenn, would you mind giving Hannah and me a minute? T-Dog should be up here soon to take over watch."
"Yeah, sure, no problem," Glenn stammered before climbing off the top of the RV.
Dale didn't say anything for a moment. He just stared off to the side into the fields. He sighed before turning back to the small girl. Hannah felt her heart sink at the look of disappointment in his eyes.
"It's easy to forget how young you are," Dale started. "Young, and terrified. You've had to see things, do things that I never could've even imagined at your age. It's okay to be scared."
I'm not, she thought to herself. I'm not scared. This was a lie of course, she was always terrified. Every time she closed her eyes, all she saw were flashes of everything that's happened. She could still see the rotted hand grabbing her ankle back at the quarry, she could see Amy's throat being ripped out, the CDC blowing up, the herd on the highway, running through the woods, Carl lying still in bed, Sophia coming out of the barn. Of course she was scared, but she'd never admit it to anyone.
"But we can't let that fear take over. It would be too easy to do that. The minute we give in to fear, is the minute we lose who we are," he was looking directly at her now. "I know that this isn't you, Hannah. I sure hope this isn't who you become. I know that you're better than that. You and Carl, you can still have some innocence. You can still be a kid. Please remember that. Please don't try and grow up too fast."
Jokes on you Dale. Haven't been a kid in a very long time. Only she didn't say that. Instead she just nodded and followed him off the top of the RV.
Charlotte was almost giddy as they both walked back to camp. While they were together again, whatever that meant in this world, they'd agreed that it was best to keep it from Hannah until at least Randall was dealt with. Daryl, however, had agreed that moving back to camp was best. At least there, he could be a part of their lives and they could ease Hannah into them getting back together.
The sun had started to set. The air was getting cooler now. Charlotte felt a shiver run down her spine. Winter had to be just around the corner. She just hoped that they would find a better place to sleep. Tents wouldn't keep them warm when the snow would eventually come.
Charlotte looked up at Daryl and smiled. She'd never dreamt of being with him again. She never thought she'd ever see him again. Funny how the most unexpected things happen at the worst possible moments. Still, Charlotte couldn't help but think that this was another reason to keep moving forward. Another reason to have hope. They could be a family, albeit an abnormal one but when have she and Daryl ever done things normally?
They were passing the barn when they heard a loud clang, followed by bang as something smack the wall.
"What the hell is that?" Charlotte asked, heading towards the door. Only, before she could open it, Shane and Rick came tumbling out throwing punches at each other.
"They're MY family!" Rick screamed as his fist smashed into Shane's face.
"STOP!" Charlotte cried, but they didn't hear. Instead, Shane flipped them so that he was on top now, hitting Rick.
Charlotte charged forward and tried to grab Shane's arm. Only she never got the chance as Shane's hand, in an attempt to swat her hands away, accidentally smacked her in mouth sending Charlotte soaring to the ground. The air felt like it had been sucked right out of her lungs when she'd collided with the hard dirt ground. She could taste the copper of blood. Shakily, Charlotte stood up and wiped the blood away from her mouth. She saw that Shane was no longer on top of Rick, who was just picking himself up as well, but on the ground a few feet away pinned under Daryl. Charlotte, still somewhat dazed from hitting the ground, ran over once more. Daryl's fist was raised ready to beat Shane.
"STOP!" She begged for a second time. She wouldn't let him do this again. "Daryl, stop!" He hesitated for a split second before letting his fist relax and he got up from on top of him. Shane stood up a moment later, glaring at the three of them before walking away. Daryl came over to where Rick and Charlotte stood. He gave her a concerned look.
"I'm okay," she told him. And she was, well for the most part. Her lip was still dripping with blood. Though, in comparison to Rick's bloodied face, a bloody lip wasn't bad at all. "We should get you looked at."
"Nah, I'm okay, don't wanna bother Hershel," Rick countered.
"No big deal, I can look at it," she shrugged. Rick still looked a little uncertain. "I do still remember my basic First Aid." She said this jokingly of course.
"Okay, not at camp though. Lori sees me, she'll worry," he explain.
"Of course. Daryl, can you get my kit from my tent?" She asked. "It should be in the front pouch of my bag." He nodded before heading off.
They moved inside the barn. Charlotte looked over the numerous cuts on his face.
"What the hell happened?" She asked.
"Just got into a disagreement is all," Rick assured.
"Mm-hm, last I knew, disagreements didn't usually end with fist flying," she said. "What did you fight about?"
Rick hesitated for a second. "He didn't like that I told Dale he could try to convince the rest of the group not to kill Randall."
"But you wouldn't fight over something like that. At least not to the extent that I saw. What else happened?" She questioned.
"Doesn't matter," he said. "It's over now." She gave him a look that she used to give Hannah when she lied. It was a look that mother's everywhere had perfected. Apparently it worked because Rick sighed and started to talk again. "Fine. He called me weak for hesitatin'. Said I couldn't protect Lori 'n Carl. Said Lori was broken and Carl was just like me, weak. That's when I hit him."
Charlotte was surprised to hear all these things. Shane had changed a lot the past few days but she never expected this.
"You're not weak for hesitating," she reassured him. "It makes you human. Randall's a person. A livin', breathin' person."
"You're hesitatin' now too?" Rick asked.
"Yeah, I am. I don't think we should kill him," she voiced. Rick seemed caught off guard by this.
"I thought you wanted him gone," he said.
"Believe me, I do want him gone. Just not like this," she explained. "We gotta stay human. We need to remember who we are. Not just for us but for Hannah and Carl too."
"He shot at you," Rick pointed out. "He almost made Hannah lose her mom."
"Everyone keeps remindin' me about that," Charlotte joked. "I keep playin' that scene over and over in my head, us at the bar, Tony's knife pressed to my neck. I just remembered bein' scared, then I shot him. I remember being scared and wanting to leave Randall behind."
"You did what you had to to survive," he assured.
"Yeah, that's what I tell myself to make it seem not as bad," she told him in a somber tone. "But I remember what you said, there's been enough dead already. We don't need to keep him here, we just shouldn't kill him."
Rick didn't say anything else as Daryl came back with Charlotte's First Aid Kit. She disinfected all the abrasions before bandaging them up.
"There, you're all fixed up," she smiled.
"Thanks," Rick said. "For everything." She nodded and he walked out of the barn.
"You okay?" Daryl asked once they were alone.
"Yeah," she smiled going over and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'm doing just fine." She stood up on her tip-toes and kissed him softly. She ignored the pain in her lip because, damn, did she ever love kissing Daryl Dixon. "I love you."
The sun was beginning to set when they'd exited the barn. Time had run out. Charlotte and Daryl walked back to the white farmhouse, her stomach flip-flopping the whole way. She was nervous. She prayed that they'd make the right choice. She saw Hannah waiting alone on the porch.
"Hey sweetie, what're you doing there?" She asked. "It's time to go inside."
'I get to go to the meeting?' She asked, looking excited. Charlotte hated to take it away but she shook her head.
'No. Not this time. Beth and Jimmy are upstairs, why don't you go see them?' Hannah, looking defeated, nodded following her and Daryl inside.
Hannah went up the steps while the rest of the group, minus Hannah, Jimmy, Beth, and Carl, sat in the living room. She and Daryl leaned on the wall just on the outside of the group.
"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?" Patricia spoke up. Charlotte had to admit, she'd never heard the woman speak more than two words until this.
"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.
"How about just majority rules?" Lori suggested.
"Well, let's just see where everyone stands. Then we'll look at options," Rick explained.
"Way I see it, there's only one way to move forward," Shane said. She could see the bright black eye appearing around his right eye.
"Killing him, right?" Dale spoke up. "That's what you all think right? I mean, why bother taking a vote?" She felt her heart sink. Dale hadn't had as much luck as she did apparently.
"Well, if people wanna spare him, I should know," Rick argued.
"I can tell you this much, it's a small group. Maybe just me, Charlotte, and Glenn," he said.
"Uh…" Glenn hesitated. "Dale, I think you're pretty much right about everything, but this…" Dale cut him off.
"They've got you scared!" He declared sounding incredibly disappointed in him. Charlotte couldn't help but feel it too. The Glenn she knew would never agree to this.
"He's not one of us," he defended himself. "And we've already lost too many people."
"And you," he turned now to where Maggie was seated. "do you agree with this?"
"Couldn't we just keep him prisoner?" She asked the group.
"Just another mouth to feed," Shane pointed out. That's always what it came down too, food, resources. Forget about being human, forget about making the moral choice, food is necessity.
"We can ration better," Lori spoke up.
"Could be a lean winter," T-Dog reminded.
"Or he could be an asset," Dale countered. Charlotte, while she sided with Dale, didn't believe that they should keep Randall here. "Give him a chance to prove himself."
"We can't let him walk around," Shane argued.
"We could put an escort on him," Andrea suggested.
"Who wants to sign up for that?" Shane asked.
"I will," Dale spoke up.
"I don't think anyone should be alone with him," Rick spoke up. Charlotte couldn't stay quiet about this anymore.
"Why don't we do the obvious thing?" She asked. "We can let him go just like we'd originally planned to. We take him far out and leave him."
"Say we do that, Charlotte," Shane started. "Say we just drive down the road and leave him, then he walks and finds his group of thirty men. He knows where we are."
"So what? We're gonna kill him based on the possibility of him findin' his group?" She scoffed at Shane. "You weren't there. They left him behind. His leg got impaled on a fence and his buddy didn't even think to help him. He just drove off. Left Randall for the walkers. D'you really think he has that much power in that group?"
"There's too much risk in sending our own people out," Lori countered. "You could break down. Run out of gas. There are walkers. O-or lost. Or ambushed."
"Any number of those things can happen even on the easiest of runs," Charlotte countered. "All I'm saying is that we have options here."
"Puttin' our own at risk shouldn't be an option," T-Dog said.
She couldn't stand to listen as they talked about what the most 'humane' way to kill Randall would be. She'd lost. She and Dale had failed to save him. She felt Daryl's hand on her lower back.
"So that's it?" Dale asked. "You're all just gonna kill him? We're actually going to end a young man's life because we can't think of what else to do with him?" He turned to face Rick. "You saved him! And now look, he's been beaten, tortured, and he's gonna be executed. How are we any better than the people we are so afraid of?"
"We all know what needs to be done," Shane added. What needs to be done? Are you kidding me?
"Dale's right," Rick said. "We can't leave any stone unturned. We have a responsibility-"
"So, what's the solution?" Andrea interrupted.
"Let him finish," Lori said in an annoyed tone.
"We haven't come up with a single viable option!" She snapped back.
"So, let's work on it!" Dale exclaimed.
"We are!" Rick snapped.
"Stop it!" Carol cried from her corner. Honestly, Charlotte had forgotten that the woman was there. "All of you, just stop! I'm sick of all the arguing. I didn't ask for this! Kill him or don't just leave me out of it."
"Not speaking up or killing him yourself, there's no difference," Dale told her. For a moment Charlotte stood there stunned at the harshness in Dale's voice. His words were right. It was like the lectures they used to give in schools about bullying, 'If you see it, report it otherwise you're just as bad'. He should've probably said it in a nicer tone.
"Alright, alright, that's enough," Rick stepped in. "Anyone wants the floor before we make our final decision, now's the time." Dale looked over at Charlotte with a pleading stare.
She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe they were even considering this. She'd had so much faith in these people. People that she'd called family and they were completely letting her down. Maybe Willow was right after all. She took a deep breath before standing up in front of the group.
"Before she left, my sister tried to tell me that you were fallin' apart. I couldn't see it then but I can now. If we do this, then we prove Willow right. We prove to her that we're fallin' into this darkness. We prove that we're broken," she told them. "I know all of you in here don't wanna kill a kid. We can't become this. There has to be another way."
"Is there anyone else who's gonna stand with us?" Dale looked around hopefully. Everyone avoided his gaze, all but Andrea.
"They're right," she said. "We can't do this. We should find another way."
"Yeah," Daryl agreed from behind her. "What they said. We should spare him." She smiled, though it didn't last long as Rick asked if anyone else wanted to stand with them and no one spoke up. Her smile fell away from her face at the realization that they'd lost. She felt a few disappointed tears slide down her face. She couldn't believe that these people, her family, would do this.
"Are you gonna watch too?" Dale asked. "No, of course not, you're gonna hide your heads in your tents and forget that we're slaughtering a human being." He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. "No, I won't be a party to that." As he walked away, Dale stopped and looked over at Charlotte. "She was right. This group is broken." And with that, Dale stomped out of the living room and out the front door.
What Charlotte didn't know was that there was more than the people in the living room listening in. Hannah and Carl sat on the top steps listening intently. They'd told Beth and Jimmy they were going to hang out in another room to give them a few minutes alone. That part was her plan. Carl, when Jimmy had asked where they were going, completely froze.
"I can't hear them," Carl whispered in frustration.
"That's because no one's talking bozo," Hannah said back. "Ssh, I think they're talking again." She strained to hear, only the faintest of noises were making it to the implant. It was annoying because she wasn't entirely deaf but she wasn't entirely hearing. She was an awkward in between and that sucked.
They'd heard the whole thing. They heard Dale pleading for the prisoner's life. They heard Shane say how there was only one option. The thing that surprised her the most though was hearing her parents defending him. She didn't know Daryl all that well yet but she thought she knew her mom. This morning, she seemed okay with the fact that they were killing Randall, now she had a sudden change of heart? Things were taking a turn for the weird. When her mom first spoke Carl's surprised expression matched hers.
'What's she doing?' Carl mouthed. Hannah shrugged and listened again. No matter what her parents said, of course, it was futile. They'd already decided on killing Randall.
After Dale had left, the meeting didn't last any longer. When the group broke apart, Hannah and Carl ran up the stairs and into Beth's room. Jimmy and Beth were laying in the bed talking. They stopped of course when they saw the two children run in. No more then five seconds later, Lori came in and got them.
To say that the air around camp was tense was putting it mildly. Dale was off taking a few minutes to himself. At least that was what her mom told her. No one talked as the first stars started appearing. Hannah sat around the fire for a bit before her mom ushered her to the tent. Her mom said that she could read for a while but she had to stay in the tent. Hannah didn't bother to protest because she knew what it meant. It meant that it was time for the prisoner to die. It left a sort of sick feeling in her stomach. Everything felt very real at that moment. She sometimes forgot, for a split second at most, just how real this was. Killing the prisoner seemed to be like the best option, the right thing to do. Only, the closer it got, the more Hannah realized what killing Randall entailed. It meant ending a human life. It's gotta be done. She reminded herself. We're not safe with him around. And she knew that. She wasn't saying that it didn't have to be done, she just wished she could understand why her parents wanted to keep him alive. She wanted to know why.
She was too distracted to read or sketch so instead she just looked up at the roof of the tent. There was quite a bit of shuffling outside the tent. Curious, Hannah opened the door and poked her head out. While the tent wasn't soundproof, Hannah still struggled to hear some things, given that their tent happened to be the furthest away from the fire. But now, she heard and saw things clearly. Rick and Shane were walking back towards them, her dad wasn't with them, but she did notice a small body trailing after them. Carl, you idiot. What did you do? Hannah rolled her eyes and stepped out of the tent. She figured that if she stood towards the back, maybe her mom wouldn't see her. She walked over to the group and listened intently.
"We're keepin' him in custody, for now," Rick announced to the group. Hannah, for some reason, felt the sick feeling in her stomach lift. Maybe Dale had made a stronger impact on her than she'd believed.
"I'm gonna find Dale," Andrea said with a satisfied smile. Hannah remembered that she'd agreed with her parents and Dale.
Hannah looked over and faced Carl, who's eyes were on the floor watching his feet absentmindedly kicking the dirt. Dummy. Whatever he did, it was probably stupid.
"I thought I told you to stay in the tent?" She heard her mom questioning. Hannah cringed, so much for staying in the back.
'What can I say? I got bored.' She shrugged. Her mom shook her head fighting off a smile. That was when a terrible blood-freezing scream pierced the air. Her mom's smile suddenly turned into a mask of worry.
"What the hell was that?" Lori asked.
"I dunno," Rick's voice dripped with worry. "T-Dog get a shotgun!"
Her mom seemed to snap out of it and looked at her. "Run to the house, lock the door and stay inside until I get you. Go with Carl, now," her voice etched with fear. Hannah nodded but she waited for her mom, Lori, and the rest of camp to run into action. She looked over at Carl who stared back at her.
"We're not going to the house," he stated.
"Nope," she shook her head, double checking that her knife was still strapped to her hip and they started sprinting.
It was the crying that should've tipped her off that something very bad had happened. Or maybe the metallic scent of blood that had hit her nose. When she got there, she saw her mom bent over someone. Her stomach tightened when she got closer and saw the familiar white Hawaiian shirt. Dale… She froze, eyes widened and the sight of all that blood. She could see his insides spilling out of his gut while her mom was bent over trying to stop the bleeding. He was whimpering painfully on the ground. Hannah felt the nausea rise. She looked away, hugging Glenn who was standing next to her. The tears were pouring down her face. Her shoulders shaking. She gripped onto Glenn like a life raft.
"Dale, it's gonna be okay," Rick tried to reassure the old man. "Can we move him?"
"He won't make the trip," her mom tearfully responded, stepping back. No, what are you doing. HELP HIM! She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. Dale, not Dale. He was the closest thing she had to grandpa. She loved him. This wasn't fair.
"You'll have to do the operation here," Rick told Hershel. Hershel simply shook his head. The realization that there was nothing they could do. And that was it. NO! She yelled sobbing harder into Glenn's shirt. Her mom came over to them, her hands, shirt, elbows covered in blood. She looked back over at Dale, for a second his eyes, full of pain, locked with hers.
'I'm sorry,' she mouthed.
"He's suffering," Andrea said between sobs. "Do something!"
Rick pulled out his gun, the same one he'd used to shoot the Walker Sophia, and poised it at his head. His hands shook. He couldn't even look at Dale. That was when her father stepped up. He gently took the gun from Rick's hand and aimed the barrel for his forehead. Hannah's hand reached up to remove the implant from her ear. She didn't want to hear what was going to happen next. It wasn't like with Sophia. She couldn't hear this. She wasn't strong enough.
"Sorry brother," her father said just before the silence came.
I am so unbelievably sorry for that long break. I went through a very long and annoying writers block for this story that stopped me from writing for so long. I meant to get this chapter out months ago but couldn't make it past the first 500 words. I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I should be updating soon (actually soon, not in a few months). Thanks!