Daryl grabbed the boy and shoved him along the path. Shane was next to the kid, making sure he wouldn't try to escape. Rick led the way with a dimly lit lantern. I stayed in the back of the line and walked a second slower than the men.

"Hold on. Hold on. Hold on," the boy begged as we drew nearer to the barn.

Shane held open the door for everyone. He waited until I was about to step inside. She placed his hand on my chest to stop me. "Are you sure?"

Daryl pushed the boy on. "Wait, wait," he cried.

I looked up to Shane and nodded. "Yeah."

He nodded back at me. "Okay," he said and lowered his hand. Shane followed me inside.

"Put him there," Rick instructed. He pointed to the very middle of the old, wooden barn.

Shane walked to the other side of Randall. Together, Daryl and Shane forced the boy over and tied a blindfold around his eyes.

I was tempted to ask the purpose of the blindfold, but decided against it. Now wasn't the time to be asking questions. Instead, I leaned my back against one of the wooden studs.

The boy continued to beg. I tried my damnedest to drown him out. His pleas couldn't be silenced no matter how hard I tried.

Shane and Daryl stepped away from Randall and Rick began to speak. "Would you like to stand or kneel?"

He didn't answer. "Oh, no. Please."

Daryl didn't want to wait any longer. He shoved the kid down, grabbed his hair, and forced him to kneel straight up.

I thought that was a bit much. I shot Daryl a disapproving look, but I doubt he caught it. He never really looks at me anymore.

The boy sobbed uncontrollably. He knew what was coming. Us standing and waiting here was just making it worse for him. This was far worse torture than being punched in the face.

Rick looked down at the kid. "Do you have any final words?"

Through his sobs Randall managed to say, "No. Please. Please, don't. Don't."

I had to turn my gaze away as Rick raised his revolver to the middle of Randall's forehead.

Rick was seconds away from pulling the trigger when a small voice emerged from the entrance of the barn. "Do it, Dad. Do it."

The world around us stopped as Carl stared at his father.

i glanced over at Shane and then over to Rick. Rick had begun to panic under the pressure. Shane saw it as well.

Shane stomped to the entrance and grabbed Carl. "Are you kidding me? What did I say to you? What did I say to you?"

Rick couldn't handle the pressure and dropped his arm. "Take him away."

The three of us stared at Rick with confusion and surprise. I was so sure he was going to go through with it.

"Take him away," Rick repeated.

Daryl and I both reached down for an arm and hoisted the kid to his feet. "Get up," Daryl demanded.

I released Randall and let Daryl take him back. He was obviously pissed about Rick's sudden change of heart. I just didn't want to be around to watch him explode.

Shane was even more upset about it. He nearly punched the barn door before walking out.

I looked at Rick. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that he made the right choice. This wasn't us and I didn't want it to start being us. I nodded at Rick slightly and started off towards Shane.

"Hey, Shane. Wait." I called.

He stopped and turned abruptly to me. "Didn't I tell you he was gonna choke? I can't fucking believe this!"

"Hey. Calm down. He had-"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Ariel. I've fucking had it. He is not fit to be leader."

"Hey!" I shouted again. "What did you expect him to do? Carl was standing right there. That seems like a valid reason to stop the execution."

"I was getting him out of there. All he had to do was pull the damn trigger." Even in the darkness of the night I could see how red Shane was turning.

"That's enough, Shane, before you give yourself a heart attack. It's done."

"Can't you see it, Ariel? He's running us into the ground. We're all gonna be dead before we know it. He's going to single handedly wipe each and every one of us off this planet. I sure as hell am not going to let that happen!"

I couldn't hold myself back. I was so damn tired of his constant complaining. My hand flew and slapped him across his stupid face. I was panting, not believing that I just did that.

Shane froze. He held his cheek and stared at me in shock.

I didn't have time. I could finally get a word in. "Listen to me, Shane Walsh. You need to let it go. Everyone needs to sit and figure this out calmly. It's gonna a be a bit hard with you flying off the handle every goddamn time. So shut the hell up and pull yourself together. This behaving-like-an-asshole thing you're doing is going to get you killed. Rick seems to know what he's doing right now. Let's get this Randall situation figured out before you go challenging Rick again, okay?"

Before he could respond, screams erupted from the other end of the farm.

"What the hell?" Shane whispered.

When the screams sounded again, the both of us took off running. We weren't the only ones who heard it either. Rick and company were sprinting as well. Shane and I passed them all, except for Rick. The three of us ran together in hopes of helping the person in peril.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Daryl running from the shed to the person as well. He was significantly closer than the rest of us were. My eyes followed him. He reached the screams first. From what I could see, someone was pinned down by a walker.

Daryl attacked the walker and put his knife through its head. "Help! Over here! Help! Run!"

Rick, Shane, and I all reached Daryl at the same time. My heart sank when I saw Dale laying on the ground with his insides ripped out. He was still alive, but just barely.

Rick fell to his knees beside Dale. "Okay, hold on now. Get Hershel! He needs got to operate."

Shane and I didn't know what to do. We weren't exactly close to the old man. But he was dying in front of us and I couldn't help but feel awful. No one deserved to be in this much pain.

Andrea, his strongest supporter, fell to his side. "Hang on, Dale. Hang on."

Glenn and others soon joined around the old man. Everyone stared, cried, screamed his name. This wasn't a scene for the faint of heart. It wasn't like a movie, either where everyone excepts it or whatever. This was really happening. This is what everyone was really feeling.

"Hershel! We need Hershel!" Rick yelled again.

Hershel came running from his home. "What happened?"

Rick's eyes pleaded for Hershel's help. "What can we do?"

Glenn stood with Maggie near Dale's feet. He cried for his mentor. "Dale, it's gonna be okay."

I tried so hard to hold myself together. I turned away from everyone and wiped a stray tear from my eye. Seeing everyone in such pain brought heartache to me as well.

Shane was standing next to me. This situation hurt him as well. He wasn't crying nor was he yelling. For the first time in a long time, Shane had nothing to say.

Through his gasps for air, Rick talked to Hershel. "Can we move him?"

Hershel observed Dale. "He won't make the trip."

Rick didn't want to give up. "You have to do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house."

Hershel stopped him from making further instructions. He shook his head, silently telling him there was nothing that he could do. This was the end of the road for our moral compass.

Everyone found it hard to accept. Dale was perfectly fine a few hours ago. This was unexpected. I always thought that Dale would die from natural causes, not some stupid, unfair shit like this.

Andrea had always had Dale's best interests in mind. "He's suffering. Do something."

Shane and I walked up to Rick. He was rocking on his feet as he pulled out his revolver. His hand shook when he raised it to Dale's forehead.

"Come on," Shane whispered to him.

Rick stayed there for at least thirty seconds. He couldn't do it. One of our own was lying here in pain and he couldn't do it.

My brother saw Rick's distress and came to his aid. He slowly grabbed Rick's gun from his grip, offering to do it himself.

I couldn't let him do it. I just couldn't. I may not have had the best relationship with Daryl at the moment, but I knew him better than he knew himself. He was going to let this eat him alive. He's going to blame himself for Dale's demise. I'd rather have that on my mind than let it linger on his.

"Daryl, stop." I choked a little on my words. He's going to hate me, but I have to do this.

Shane tried to grab me, but I escaped his grasp and dropped down beside Daryl. "You don't have to do this."

"Not now, Ariel."

I held out my hand for the gun. "Give it to me. Please just do it."

Daryl sighed and shook his head. "Fine." He dropped the gun in my hand and slid over to give me more room.

I held my breath as I lifted the barrel of the gun to his forehead.

Daryl softly spoke next to me. "Sorry, brother."

I gulped and slowly squeezed the trigger.

A/N: Sorry this one is so short. I just want to let you know that this story will be wrapping up soon. There will be a third one of you all want it :)