"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?" Glenn was the first to speak. He was sitting on the piano stool. His hands were cuffed as he talked through them.

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

"How about majority rules?" Lori was leaning against the door frame, holding the heart on her necklace.

Rick stepped forward. "Let's just see where everybody stands then we can talk through the options."

Shane leaned against the wall next me. His hands were place firmly in his belt. "The way I see it, there's only one way to move forward."

I nodded, agreeing with him.

Dale didn't like where this was headed already. "Killing him, right? I mean, why even bother to take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."

Rick raised his hand to stop from further objection. "Well, if people believe we should spare him, I want to know."

Dale crumpled his hat in his hands. "Well, I can tell you it's a small group - maybe just me and Glenn."

"Look, I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this-" Dale just lost his only supporter. I scratched my neck. This was awkward. Glenn even knew his idea was ludicrous.

"They've got you scared."

Glenn was clearly not scared. He was just smart. "He's not one of us. And we've - we've lost too many people already."

Dale was trying to drag this out. His next point of attack was the Greenes. "How about you? Do you agree with this?"

Maggie gave in. "Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?"

"Just another mouth to feed." That was the first time I heard my brother's voice in days. It was sort of a relief.

"That's not something we need right now," I added.

"It may be a lean winter." Hershel was a religious man, but even he could see the danger in keeping Randall around.

"We could ration better," Lori suggested.

"Well, he could be an asset. Give him a chance to prove himself."

Glenn came up with a solution he thought would please Dale. "Put him to work?"

"We're not letting him walk around." Rick was not happy with that suggestion.

Maggie tried to help Glenn out a little. "We could put an escort on him."

Shane huffed. "Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" I sure as hell didn't.

"I will," Dale volunteered.

Rick rejected. "I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy."

Lori supported her husband's decision. "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 was on the other side of me. She shifted her weight in my direction.

"She's right." I nodded toward Andrea.

"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 thirty men." Shane wrapped his arm around my shoulder when he mentioned the men. That was something that truly terrified him.

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime he may never even attempt?" Dale's eyes quivered at the three of us. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."

"Could you drive him further out? Leave him like you planned?" Hershel's elbows were on his knees and his hands were clasped together. I wouldn't be surprised if he was secretly praying.

"You barely came back this time. There are walkers. You could break down. You could get lost." I agreed with Lori here. There was no chance that I was going to let Shane leave to do something that stupid again.

"Or get ambushed," Daryl added.

Glenn agreed. "They're right. We should not put our own people at risk."

Patricia finally spoke up. "If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would he suffer?"

Shane dropped his arm from my shoulder. "We could hang him, right? Just snap his neck."

"I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane." Rick made it sound like it was humane to kill a human being in general.

"What about the body? Do we bury him?" T-Dog asked from the corner of the room.

"Hold on, hold on. You're talking about this like it's already decided." I'm sorry to break this to you Dale, but it basically has already been decided. We're just kidding ourselves at this point.

Daryl stepped forward from behind Rick. "You've been talking all day, going around in circles. You just wanna go around in circles again?"

"This is a young man's life and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation! 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. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?" Dale was breathing heavily. This conversation was wearing the old man down.

"We all know what needs to be done." Shane was getting tired of this discussion.

Rick jumped in. "No, Dale is right. We cant leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility-"

Andrea stopped him. "So what's the other solution?"

"Let Rick finish," Lori told her. I don't know what's been wrong with the two of them lately, nor do I care. They just need to put their women shit aside so we can finish this.

"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could."

"So let's work on it!" Dale's blood pressure must have been at an all time high.

"We are," Rick snapped.

"Stop it," Carol shouted from the other side of the room. I didn't even notice she was here. "Just stop it. I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask is to decide something like this. Please, decide - either of you, both of you - but leave me out."

Dale pointed to her, disappointed. "Not speaking out or killing him yourself - there's no difference."

Rick had had it. "All right, that's enough. Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

I crossed my arms and looked out to the crowd. Everyone lowered their heads. This was over.

Dale turned to Rick. "You once said that we don't kill the living."

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

"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were - the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's... harsh. It's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't want to live in. And I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right." Dale paused. Tears were beginning to fill his eyes. "Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

After a few more seconds of silence, Andrea finally spoke. "He's right. We should try to find another way."

But what other way is there? There is no outcome where this kid lives and everyone is happy. It just can't happen.

"Anybody else?" Rick asked again.

Everyone felt guilty, but that didn't change anything. No one else spoke up to save Randall's life.

Dale had been defeated. "Are y'all gonna watch, too? No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Whoa. I won't be a party to it." While storming out, he looked to Daryl. "This group is broken."

Everyone was quiet. 'This group is broken.' Dale couldn't have been more right.

Rick told everyone that it was going to happen tonight. He instructed that everyone just go back to their tents and carry on with their business. I don't know how people can do that exactly when they know someone was being killed only a few yards away.

Everyone left the room except Rick, Daryl, Shane, and me. Rick had his hands on his hips. "I know this is a lot to ask, but I could use all of your help tonight. You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"You got it," Daryl agreed.

Shane and I gave Rick a silent 'yes.'

"Thank you. Let's meet up in about an hour when it's dark. No one needs to see us carrying him away."

"You got it." This wasn't going to be easy thing so I was glad to help Rick out. It was going to suck, but what choice did I have? I couldn't just leave him hanging.

Shane and I walked back to our tent. Once we were inside, I spoke. "Do you think he's actually going to go through with it or are we just fooling ourselves?"

"I honestly don't know anymore. I hope he realizes that this needs to be done. He's just going to make it harder for himself."

"Yeah, I know." I started biting my nails again. They had grown back enough from when we were at the CDC.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothin'."

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not." I bit another nail down to the stub.

"You're biting your nails."

"So?"

"There's obviously something wrong, Ariel. Just tell me."

"Nothing is wrong, Shane."

"Ariel."

"Shane."

He sighed. "Thought we were past this."

"Past what?" I stared blankly at the fabric wall of our tent.

"Keeping shit in."

"I ain't keeping shit in."

"Ariel."

"Damn it, Shane. There's nothing wrong." I continued to mindlessly bite my nails.

"I beg to differ. Stop chewing your nails at least. That's not healthy."

"Neither is killing someone, but we're doing it anyway."

"I knew it."

I stopped chewing. "Fuck."

"I thought you were fine with this."

"I am. Trust me. It still bothers me. I can't shake the feeling that there's something else we can do."

"Like what? We've been through everything-" He was getting angry. He wanted this kid dead.

"I know. I know that he needs to go. That doesn't mean I can't still think it's wrong."

Shane sighed. He wrapped his arms around me. "It has to be done. It's the right thing. I promise you."

I hugged him back. "Then why do I feel like it's so wrong?"

"Because taking a man's life isn't easy. You just do what you have to."

"Yeah."

He pushed me away but still had his hands on m shoulders. "You sure you still want to be there when it happens? I can talk to Rick and we can-"

"Yes. I still want to be there. I have to."

"Okay."

It had gotten dark before we even knew it. Together, Shane and I walked to the shed where the boy was being held captive. It was time.