A/N: Wow, I must really love you guys! Here, finally, is that long chapter I've been promising you. So, this is chapter 32 now so only three more chapter until the super special surprise that I promised (or at 75 reviews, whatever happens first). I can't believe how far this story has come, from just an idea to such a well received story, and it wouldn't be possible without all of you. So now that my Oscar acceptance speech is out of the way, please read and review. I hope you enjoy!
The day passed with tension while Dale made his rounds around camp, begging people to reconsider about killing Randall. I was sitting in a chair next to my tent, cleaning my gun when I saw him heading my way.
"Adeline," he called and sat in the chair next to me.
"Dale," I responded politely, not looking up from my work.
"I need to ask you something. Will you please stand by me about Randall? He's a human being Adeline, a human who has shown no aggression here yet is being sentenced to death," his voice was passionate but it didn't affect me enough for me to change my mind.
"Dale, I don't care what happens to Randall. And for someone who was so gun-ho about Rick being leader, you sure are going through a lot of trouble to go against his decision," I said and when I glanced up, I saw pain in the old man's eyes.
"Well, I don't believe this is his decision. I have reason to believe he was persuaded," he quipped and I prickled. Despite our current situation, no one could talk about Shane except me.
"Watch your tongue Dale. Rick is a big boy, if he was persuaded then it was because he saw it as the best option. Give him a little credit, he can think for himself," I responded stiffly, stripping the gun easily while I did.
"That may be, but it's not the right choice. This group is hanging on to its humanity by a thread, and this will be the yank that breaks it."
"Dale, things aren't the same as they used to be. This isn't a world where we have the luxury of looking for the good in everyone and thinking the best of people. We can't give him a trial and risk a not guilty verdict because if we are wrong, then we've made a fatal mistake," I was earnest in speech, feeling the rightness of the words as I spoke them. "We have to play it safe," I realized I was leaning towards killing Randall instead of staying neutral like I'd planned, but the rational side of me wouldn't let it go.
"I should have known," Dale muttered and stood up.
"What?" I asked him, standing as well since my gun was whole again.
"You are just like your brother. There's no reasoning with you," he said and walked away. My anger flared but I stopped myself from going after him. Instead I took a deep breath and reloaded my gun.
…
Finally, the sun was beginning to set and I made my way to the house where we were to convene one last time before deciding Randall's fate. I walked in the front door and everyone was already in the living room. Shane was standing in the middle next to Rick, Dale was straight across from them and everyone else had formed a circle around them. I saw Daryl leaning against the kitchen doorway and walked over and stood next to him, giving him a small smile.
"So how do we do this? Do we take a vote?" Glenn asked, breaking the silent tension in the room.
"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked with a glance at Dale.
"How about majority rules?" Lori added and looked at Rick.
"Well-let's just see where everybody stands then we can talk through the options," he said and I hated to admit that I agreed with him.
"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward," Shane said.
"Killing him," Dale interrupted. "Right? I mean why bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing," he said, venom dripping from his words.
"Well if people believe we should spare him, I want to know," Rick said firmly.
"Well I can tell you it's a small group-maybe just me and Glenn," Dale said with a look at the young Asian boy who was looking at the floor.
"Look, I-I think you're pretty much right about everything all the time, but this…"
"They've got you scared!" Dale exploded, probably the most emotion I had seen from the man.
"He has a right to be scared," I piped up for the first time and all eyes were on me. "He's not one of us, we don't know anything about him other than he's with a group of guys who shot at Rick, Hershel, and Glenn and tried to kill them," my voice was strong and passionate as well and I stared Dale down the whole time I was speaking.
"What about you? Do you agree with this?" He asked Maggie who was standing awkwardly across the room.
"Couldn't we continue to just keep him prisoner?" She asked after a moment.
"Just another mouth to feed," Daryl said and I looked back at him. He looked uncomfortable here and I wondered what he really thought about the situation.
"It may be a lean winter," Hershel added.
"We could ration better," Lori countered.
"Well, he could be an asset," Dale's voice was almost pleading and I could see this whole conversation was just going in circles now. "Give him a chance to prove himself."
"Put him to work?" Glenn asked.
"We're not letting him walk around," Rick dismissed the idea immediately.
"We could put an escort on him," Maggie offered.
"Yeah and who's going to volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked sarcastically.
"I will," Dale said immediately.
"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy," Rick said, bringing everyone back to reality.
"He's right. I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up," Lori said.
"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles. Sentence him to hard labor," Andrea quipped with a shrug.
"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 said from next to Andrea.
"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime he may never even attempt?" Dale asked, outraged. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."
"Oh my God," Shane muttered and rubbed his baldhead in exasperation.
"Could you drive him further out?" Hershel asked.
"You barely came back this time," Lori reminded everyone. "There are walkers. You could break down. You could get lost."
"Or ambushed," Daryl offered.
"They're right, we shouldn't put our own people at risk," Glenn said.
"Exactly," I added. "We have to do what's best for us."
"If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would he suffer?" Patricia asked. It was a very practical question that I hadn't really thought about.
"We could hang him, right? Just snap his neck," Shane suggested.
"I thought about that. Shooting him may be more humane," Rick said and I agreed. There was always the chance it wouldn't break his neck.
"What about the body?" T-Dog asked, the atmosphere in the room changing.
"You're talking about this like it's already decided!" Dale exclaimed, pulling the attention back to himself.
"You've been talking all day, going in circles. You just wanna go around in circles again?" Daryl asked and I smiled at him for saying exactly what I was thinking.
"This is a young man's life. And it's worth more than a five minute conversation," he sounded sad now instead of angry. "Is this what it has come to? We kill someone because we don't know what else to do with them? You saved him! Now look at us! How are we any better than those people we are so afraid of?" He spat and the room grew quiet.
"We all know what needs to be done," Shane said after a moment.
"No, Dale's right, we can't leave any stone unturned," Rick said and I groaned and rubbed my eyes.
"So what's the other solution?" I asked tiredly.
"Let Rick finish," Lori said and I turned, ready to snap at her.
"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet," Andrea interrupted and I turned towards her instead. "I wish we could," she started.
"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled, seizing his opportunity.
"Stop it! Just stop it!" Carol exclaimed. "I'm sick of everyone arguing and fighting! I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide, either of you, both of you. Just leave me out," she said with a shrug.
"Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there's no difference," Dale said emphatically, looking right at Carol. I jumped forward but Rick held out his hand.
"Alright! That is enough! Anybody that wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance," he said and the room calmed a bit. No one moved, everyone looking around and Dale was getting nervous.
"You once said we don't kill the living," he said to Rick who immediately responded.
"Yeah, that was before the living tried to kill us."
"But don't you see? If we do this, the people we were- the world we knew, is dead. And this new world? It's 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. Isn't there anyone else who will stand with me?" He begged and no one would meet his eyes. Everything was dead quiet until Andrea dispelled the silence.
"He's right," she said and the look of relief in his eyes was larger than life. "We should try and find another way."
"Anyone else?" Rick asked, trying to speed this up. Once again, silence.
"Are y'all gonna watch too?" Dale asked sarcastically once it became evident no one else would speak up. "No you'll go hid your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. I won't be a party to it," he said with tears brimming in his eyes and walked away. He stopped next to Daryl, put a hand on his shoulder and said, "This group is broken." Then he walked out.
We all stood for a moment longer until Rick dismissed us, saying he would do it once night fell. Everyone started dispersing slowly, not speaking much as they did. Rick wanted to talk with Daryl and Shane so I was left to my own devices for a while. I walked outside into the evening sun and breathed in the fresh air.
I saw Carl standing off to the side of the camp, near the trees that led into the deep woods. "Kiddo!" I called to him and stared walking over. He looked up, startled and I smiled at him. "What are you doing out here?" I asked him once I was right in front of him.
"Nothing," he answered a little too quickly and I arched my brows suspiciously. "Nothing. I just wanted to go for a walk but my mom wouldn't let me," he said and I still wasn't completely buying it but let it go.
"Well, it's dangerous out there buddy, wouldn't want you to get hurt," I told him with a smile which he returned weakly, making my suspicion grow even more. "All right, I was just making sure you were okay. You may want to head in, it's getting late and your mom is probably looking for you," I said and turned to walk away.
The sun was setting quickly and I saw everyone congregating on the porch, waiting for Rick to come out. And he did. Just a few minutes later, he walked out the door with Daryl and Shane in tow. I watched from the cover of the trees as they headed over to the shed and opened the door. The crickets were chirping now, an eerie soundtrack for tonight's task.
Daryl walked inside and came back out with Randall, shoving him along the path towards the barn where they had decided to carry out the task. I lost sight of them and heard everyone begin talking again on the porch. Then, they started walking over to the campsite and I saw Glenn light the fire which licked at the dark sky. Several tension filled minutes passed before we saw Rick and Carl heading through the trees. My brows furrowed. Why was Carl with him? They walked up to Lori and she and Rick had a miniature staring contest before she told Carl to go inside the tent, which he did quickly.
That's when I saw Shane walking up and the anger written so plainly on his face. I knew. I knew Rick hadn't been able to go through with it and he confirmed as much by telling Lori he couldn't do it.
"It's okay," she told him.
"I'm gonna go find Dale," Andrea smiled and got up. She started walking out towards the field in search of the elderly man and quickly disappeared in the dark.
A second later, a scream pierced the air and we all shot up. There was a lot of yelling and instructions as we all took up weapons and flashlights and started running. Since I was the fastest, I was out front and saw Daryl running from the barn. His path was shorter so we ended up running side-by-side towards the shadows in the dark. We came upon the site quickly and I nearly froze at the sight. A walker was leaning over Dale, ripping his stomach open, guts exposed and blood everywhere.
"Stay back!" Daryl yelled as he literally launched into the air and tackled the walker, killing him with his hunting knife easily. Then he ran over and crouched beside Dale and I did the same, trying to keep my stomach calm at the gore. We had been so far ahead of the group, none of them had reached us yet.
"Help! Over here!" Daryl yelled out to them and jumped up and down to get their attention.
Rick, Shane, and Andrea were the next people to get there and see the horrible sight. Rick mumbled encouragements and barked for someone to get Hershel. Andrea had tears rolling down her cheeks and took Dale's hand, telling him everything would be alright. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as everyone else started to arrive. Hershel came up then.
"Can we move him?" Rick asked as Hershel knelt to evaluate the situation. I realized I was standing really close to Daryl, electricity humming in the air between us even in this horrible situation.
"He won't make the trip," Hershel responded immediately.
"Okay, we have to do the operation here.." Rick trailed off, listing off things we needed.
"Rick," Hershel said, placing a hand on his shoulder and he fell quiet, looking at Dale groaning on the ground. We were all silent for a second, only sobs being heard.
"He's suffering," Andrea said with a sniffle and, of course, she was right. There was only one thing to do, have mercy on him. Rick drew his gun and aimed it at his head, but faltered, a tear escaping his eye. Daryl moved from my said, placing a warm hand on my shoulder before he did, and walked over to Rick. He held out his hand and took the gun, looking at Rick and then at Dale.
"Sorry brother," he whispered and a gunshot cracked through the air. I flinched and turned away from the bloody scene. Andrea was openly sobbing and everyone had tears in their eyes. Daryl handed Rick back his gun and walked back over to me. I looked up at him and saw emotion in those blue eyes and his jaw clenched. I quickly wrapped him in a small hug. He was stiff at first, but right before I pulled away, I felt his hands on my waist. No one seemed to have noticed our moment and I was glad.
"We'll bury him at first light, and-uh, clear the property to make sure they're aren't any more walkers," Rick said, his voice thick. Shane went and got the truck and brought it back and the guys loaded Dale's body on it. They drove it back up to camp so no walkers would get it. We all sat around the fire for a while, not wanting to go to sleep. We had forgotten how close death is. It's easy to get caught up in little drama, but we forget the bigger problem, survival.