Be warned, this chapter was a little rushed for reasons I will explain at the end, and I MIGHT possibly come back later and rewrite it. If that happens, I will put a note at the beginning of chp 84 to let you know to go back and read 83 before proceeding.
Now enough talk. Enjoy!
I took a step forward, "There's already at least one man out there, who's gone back and knows there's a group around these parts."
"A group responsible for the deaths of a number of their men." I pointed in the direction of town.
Confused, alarmed eyes shot to me like I just declared I'm infected.
"He drove off, saving his own skin, and left that kid behind as a human kabob."
Looks of realization shot between each of the 3 men who were in that fight with me when it all went down. The bullet graze on my shoulder is still healing.
"Whoa whoa whoa— What?" Shane stepped forward and I barely took notice of my hand shifting to the hilt of my knife, but I did register moving my foot half a step back because I didn't realize Daryl is standing right behind me now, and my heel made contact with what I assume is his shoe.
"What are you talking about?" T looked at me for explanation but turned his eyes towards Glenn, as the young man groaned.
"Oh my god…" Glenn rubbed his forehead gravely. "How did we forget about that guy?"
"What guy?" Daryl pressed.
"There were 2 men other than the kid. We killed one of them, Randall jumped from the roof, but the other man… He drove off before we got outta there." Rick answered, running a hand down his mouth.
"And you're just tellin' us this now?" Shane is near seething.
"It doesn't matter. There's nothing we can do about him now, but the point is, Randall is not our biggest threat here."
"What if they come back for him?" Andrea cocked her hip, her hands swinging up before smacking down against her legs.
"They won't." Rick shook his head.
"And why's that huh?" Shane scoffed incredulously.
"Why would you waste precious resources on going back for someone you barely know, who you believe was either devoured, or is a walker?"
"She has a point. I mean," Glenn gestured at me. "If they were gonna go back for him, they'd have done it by now."
"Listen, I know you're scared. You're afraid of being in danger, of losing what little we have right now, of losing each other... afraid of dying. You —and I— have a right to every last one of those things." I pause, looking around the room; almost pleading with my eyes. "But none of that will change with or without Randall's pulse. From today, to tomorrow, to the next. To however long we're around for."
"Right now... there is a scared, 20 something kid sitting in a dark shack, alone, chained to a wall. Who's friends betrayed him, and he narrowly escaped death only by the hands of those who killed several of the only living he knows —who have been keeping him hostage for days while we quibbled amongst ourselves about whether or not his life is worth less than ours."
Expressions of guilt and contemplation around the room brought me a little spark of hope that I might be getting through to them.
"Maybe you think I'm defending his life, maybe you don't. Everyone has raised valid concerns, and made good points. But what we're deciding here is not whether or not to kill the boy." I looked at Dale specifically, when he went to open his mouth, so he'll let me finish my point.
"We're deciding whether or not we can take the risk of keeping him alive."
"He's a threat" Shane stated for what must the hundredth time.
"Nobody is debating that. But he is not our biggest nor the only threat out there."
"It's never a bad thing to have an extra set of hands nowadays. The boy's not going anywhere, not on that leg. We don't have to have all the answers right away."
"Can you name one reason, in light of understanding from his point of view, that would cause him to not want to cooperate with us?"
Silence fell over the room.
"Uh, maybe because we're not his people." Shane sassed.
"None of us were apart a this group at some point." Daryl backed me up, thank goodness.
Those who aren't looking down in contemplation, are looking at each other, and at me.
I caught Dale's eyes, and the sheer relief and gratitude on his face, kills me.
The fact he even feels the need to give me such a look for being with him on this, twists my gut. We— this group, have strayed so far off the path, Daryl might not even be able to help us find it again.
I looked over my shoulder, meeting blue eyes. He stared back before giving a brief nod.
My shoulder's detensed, bringing my attention to the fact they had been. I hadn't realized how stressful it's become when Daryl and I aren't on the same page.
His eyes flickered to Rick. Who I turned to see looking at me. The deputy held my gaze, but for considerably less time than Daryl.
His eyes moved from mine to Daryl, to Hershel, to Shane, to his wife, before finally turning to his own hands. Something I've noticed he does when he's consulting himself.
Come on, Rick. I know some part of you knows killing the kid isn't the answer we need.
"We know what has to be done. Why are we still debatin' this. The boy is a threat with or without that other man out there. It'd be safer not to have this kid to worry about if those guys come knockin' on our door." Shane argued, stepping forward.
"Man's got a point but, I'd rather not kill nobody if we don't gotta." T-Dog, you are a saint. "What if they find out we saved the kid just to kill 'im later. It ain't right."
"What are our options?" Lori raised her fingers,
"We keep him alive and have to use our resources on him." Andrea provided, folding her arms across her chest.
"We kill him, and be done with it." Shane aggressively listed.
"Once his leg is healed we could gain another able-body." Hershel input.
"It don't matter. What it comes down to is, we don't know this guy. It don't matter how useful the kid might be. We can't trust him." Shane stated. "And on top a that, he's dangerous."
And here I thought for a brief moment, this was going well.
Dale stretched his hand towards Rick, "You once said that we don't kill the living."
"Well, that was before the living tried to kills us." Rick stepped forward to the chair he's been leaning his palms against off-&-on for this entire conversation.
"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were— the world that we knew is dead."
Okay,... I'm not sure where you're going with this, Dale.
"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 believe any of you do." Dale spread his arms towards everyone. "I can't."
I think I can safely speak for pretty much everyone left out there, we'd all rather have hot running water, electricity, the option of a 5 star meal if we want it, and not have to sleep with one eye open.
"Please" I watched Dale's eyes gloss over, on the verge of desperate tears. "Let's just do what's right."
The room was silent.
I looked at Daryl whose arms are crossed over his chest, palms loosely resting against his ribs.
"Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with us?" Dale pleaded.
Long seconds went by like when needles are coming towards me. Until finally, "He's right."
My chest heaved with the breath I'd been holding, and for a moment, I saw Amy in Andrea. It was only for a second, but that's more than enough to make me stop and stare.
"We should try to find another way." she looked around at the others and it was hard for me not to look at Shane while he stared at the blonde woman, speechless. Like she'd lost her mind.
"Anybody else?" Rick looked around to the contemplative and downcast looks but no one else spoke.
Rick slowly turned to Dale with a look that isn't difficult to decipher.
Unbelievable.
That's it?
After all of that— are you serious!?
"Are y'all gonna watch too?" Dale's sarcasm was broken up by bitter tears being blinked away.
"No, you'll all go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Whoa" Dale shook his head with a big unstable breath.
I never thought I'd see the day when this man cried. I never wanted to but I can't blame him. My own throat is so tight I can barely breathe.
"I won't be a party to it." Dale headed for the door behind me and Daryl, but stopped next to the blue-eyed man behind me, setting a deliberate hand on his shoulder.
"This group is broken."
And he left.
I looked back at Rick, the rest of the room, Glenn, Daryl... before I followed Dale out.
DON'T PANIC
(^any of you that get this reference, I love you)
I will be out of town for a little under 2 weeks. Which means I'll be away from my computer, so I might not be able to update Monday. But hold up, I will still try to update; It just might be later in the week and if for some reason I can't, there will be a bonus chapter to make up for it.
In other news, after having a bit of trouble with this argument, I had a lengthy debate with a friend of mine about Randall's situation.
I asked her to argue the other side (aka Shane's stance) because switching my view point got too confusing and muddled no matter how I approached it (and I tried like 9 different ways). She made a lot of good points I didn't expect and I honestly can't say where I stand anymore, but I'm gonna call it a draw because neither can she.
Killing him is definitely the safer option we both agreed on that. But what we came down to was, you would have to decide what's more important to you.
For example: Dale - morality is probably more important than the risk it brings. For others like Rick, safety might be a higher priority. For some (like Eve) it might be situational; sometimes it could be worth a little calculated risk to take a chance on someone who could help you, or it might not. For someone like Glenn, it might be worth the risk to save someone who's "Up shit's creek, hoping somewhere down the line, they help you out of it too." even if that makes you a bigger dumbass than them. For someone like Andrea, it might be worth the risk not because you believe in Randall, but because you believe in your friends (Dale). And for someone like Lori, it might be what you can live with on your conscience. And so on.
So, if you were apart of this argument, where do you think you would stand?