Shane talked to Rick and Lori about their son. I know he's not my kid or anything, but for his own safety, they need to get ahold of him before the walkers do. It's a terrible thing to think, but Carl's behavior is going to get himself or someone else killed.

I stood off to the side and waited. I didn't need to be apart of this conversation. Shane would be able to talk some sense into them without me in the way.

I leaned against the tree, trying to relax. I don't get a chance to do so too often, so when I see an opportunity, I take it.

"Hey, Ariel." Dale appeared from the side.

I can't get one second, can I? "What do you want, Dale?" Shane had recently explained his hatred for Dale. I had nothing against him, but he could get annoying.

He laid his gun against the tree. "I want to talk about Randall."

"There's nothing to discuss."

"But there is. You have to think this is wrong."

"And what if I don't? What if I think it's the complete opposite of that?"

"I know you don't. Shane's only making you think that it's the right thing. He's completely brainwashed you."

Excuse me? "You don't know a damn thing about our relationship, Dale."

"I do. I can just see it. He's pulling you away, Ariel."

"I was never close to begin with. You better tread lightly." I pushed myself off the tree and stared the old man in his eyes.

"You never see your brother anymore. When you started with Shane, you forgot about Daryl."

"What's going on between me and Daryl is none of your business. For your information, Daryl's being the asshole here."

"Shane's no good for you."

I was ready to explode. Who did this guy think he was? "Yeah, and how would you know?"

He tried to put his hand on my shoulder, but I pulled away. "Ariel, he is a dangerous man. He's going down and you are going to be pulled down with him."

"I don't need to listen to this." I pushed past him. I was trying to control myself. I was done exploding, but I was close to forgetting my own rule.

"Ariel." Dale ran to catch up. He didn't want to scream across the field. "Ariel, I think he killed Otis."

I stopped dead. My shoulders slumped as I looked over my right. My eyes were heavy.

"You knew, didn't you?"

I turned slowly to him, but I didn't answer.

"Ariel, answer me. Did you know? Did he make you help him?"

"No, it's nothing like that."

"Then how do you know?"

"I saw it, okay?" His pressure really got to me. "You want to know what happened? Fine. I'll tell you. They were getting swarmed. Both of them were out of bullets. I didn't get there in time. Shane grabbed the bag from Otis and shot him. The walkers went after Otis and Shane got away."

Dale stood in shock, speechless.

"You can think whatever you want about it. Just don't forget that Carl is around right now, alive because of Shane. If Shane didn't do what he did, all three of them would have died. Think about that."

"He took a man's life, Ariel. That's not right."

"Carl is alive! Do you not understand that? He had to kill him in order to save Carl."

"What about Randall?"

"Same situation. Kill him and save the rest of us."

"It's not right. He hasn't done anything."

"Hasn't done anything? Dale, he was shooting at us. How can you say that he hasn't done anything? We all could have died. We should have left him there for the walkers. It would have been so much easier."

"Who are you or me or any of us to decide what to do with his life? He's just a kid who is trying to survive in this world. He is just like you and me."

"Don't you dare compare us to that son of a bitch."

"Why not? He's a human, too."

"Hardly!"

"That's what a lot of the group members thought of you and your brothers when you three first arrived. That all changed when we gave you a chance."

"I don't need to listen to this." I went around him. "My vote is to execute that fucker and that's final."

Shane was standing a few feet back. I met up with him.

"You're all red. What happened?"

"Dale needs to know when it's time to back the fuck off."

Shane didn't hesitate. He slid his hand across my shoulder and called to Dale. "Hey, Dale. You need to stop harassing me and my girl here. We didn't do nothing and would just appreciate you leaving us alone."

Dale didn't say anything. He only gave the two of us the death stare.

Shane wrapped his arm around me and started to push me away from Dale's sight. "Come on. That old man is crazy."

Once Shane and I were far enough away, I told him about the conversation. "He knows you killed Otis. He's convinced you're going to get me killed and you're no good for me. According to him, you are the reason I don't talk to Daryl anymore."

"You don't believe him, do you?" He stopped and looked down at me. He seemed truly concerned that my talk with Dale changed what I thought about him.

"Of course not. Like you said, he's a crazy old man. He doesn't know what he's talking about." I pulled him in for a hug to assure him that my feelings remained the same and always will.

He accepted it happily.

I would never admit this to him, but I did think about it. Maybe he was trying to keep me to himself. Maybe he is the reason that Daryl and I aren't close anymore. Or maybe it's just the world is the one changing who I want to be close to. Daryl wasn't exactly great company.

Shane made me feel alive. That is an important feeling in this world. I would hate to be breathing but feeling like one of the roamers.

"I think I'm going to have myself a nice talk with Dale, too."

"I don't think you have to do that. He looked terrified already."

"No, he needs to stop. He keeps harassing me about stupid shit. I could handle it before, but now he's going after you. I need to know what his problem is so we can fix it."

"If that's what you really want to do." I didn't think that this was a good idea. He was just going to make it worse.

"Yeah, well, Rick actually asked me to fix up one of the cars anyway. It's pretty boring. I'll catch up with you later."

"Yeah, okay. I'll try and find something to do."

"That's my girl." He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

He went to go work on his car or whatever he was really doing and I was left by myself with nothing else to do, I made my way over to the shed where they were keeping the kid.

Andrea was still sitting there, bored out if her mind. I sat next to her, seeing absolutely nothing else to do.

"Hey," she said as I slid down.

"Hey."

I'm going to state this again. Andrea and I are not friends. She tried to steal my man and I will never forgive her for that. I just can't go this whole life pretending like she doesn't exist. One day, we could need each other and will need to get past this.

"Hey. Hey," a voice called from behind us. "You don't have to kill me. I can help out around here."

I leaned over to Andrea. "Has he been like this all day?"

Andrea sighed. "Yup. He's been talking nonstop for hours."

"Please. Please, I can be a big help."

I wasn't going to sit there and listen to his shit. "Listen, kid. You better shut the hell up before I go in there and put a bullet between your eyes myself. You got it?"

"Yeah. Yeah I got it." That was the end of that.

"You think they're really gonna do it?" Andrea asked.

It was quiet. I knew he would be able to hear. I felt a bit guilty about what my answer was going to be, but it was the truth. "If Rick doesn't do it, Shane will. He won't let this go out any longer."

"Yeah, you're right." She shifted uncomfortably.

"Do you think we should?"

"Should what? Kill him?"

"Yeah."

"Did Dale set you up to this? I already got his whole speech about how we should keep him around-"

Andrea cut me off. "No, he didn't. Don't worry. I got the speech, too. I was just thinking about it."

"Yeah. And what are your thoughts?" I was tired of everyone asking me about it. They should know by now that I want that kid dead.

"I don't know anymore. Does he really deserve it?"

"I think he does. You weren't the one shot at by him. You would most likely have different feelings towards him."

Andrea nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Now can we please stop talking about this? I've been hearing it all day."

"Yeah, sure. What do you want to talk about?"

"Just anything else." I leaned my head against the wall of the shed. The no sleep was really starting to catch up with me.

Just when Andrea was about to start a new conversation, Rick appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. "Andrea, Ariel, we're ready to start."

"Start what?" I questioned.

"The talk about..." He trailed off, realizing that the kid was right behind that door.

"Oh, okay." Andrea and I both stood and made our way to the house where the meeting was going to be held. So much for changing the subject.

I met Shane at the entrance of the Greene's home. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. Let's just get this over with."

He held the door open for me and the two of us took our places near the fireplace. Everyone was mostly gathered in the living room as Dale stood before us all.