DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Walking Dead.
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Only 7 chapters to go and no there will be no sequel, chapter 27 is the last of this story. I have a Khal Drogo/OC from Game of Thrones I want to work on next and then maybe a Robb/OC story after that until season 5 of The Walking Dead comes on DVD then i'll write another Daryl/OC story that I have been thinking about as I watch the show but unill then enjoy the last few chapters.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Daryl hands ache as he walks away from the shed, he forces himself to take deep breaths to calm down. He sees everyone waiting by the camp fire and he sees the kids close by so he knows he can't say everything that the kid just told him.
"Boy there's got a gang, thirty men. They got heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here are boys are dead." He said looking from Rick and Shane before looking at all of the women and the teen girls and little Sophia.
"And our women, they're gonna... gonna wish them were." He said being vague but he knows they all know what he is hinting at. He looks over to see Eva glaring over at the shed before looking back to him and he has to look away from her heated gaze.
"What did you do?" Carol asks him while looking down at his bloody hand that is holding onto his crossbow strap. "Had a little chat." He said back while dropping his hand to his side, before looking back to Rick.
"No one goes near this guy." Rick said and Daryl walks closer to his tent wanting this to be over. "Rick what are you going to do?" He hears Lori ask so he turns back to look at Rick.
"We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat." Rick said and Daryl nods his head completely agreeing, the kid's words still ringing in his ears.
"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asks and looking confused and Rick looks away from Dale before looking down to Lori. "It's settled I'll do it today." Rick said before walking off, Dale following close behind him.
Daryl walks into his tent and takes off his crossbow, setting it on the ground by his bed. He lays back on his bed, trying not to imagine what would happen if Randall's group attacked here.
"Hey." He hears and he sits up, startled, he didn't even hear her walking up. "Sorry, but I want to clean your hands." Eva said jiggling the bag in her hand. He nods his head not knowing what to say and he sits up more and watches as she sits crossed legged beside him.
He tries to not wince when she starts cleaning his knuckles, the peroxide stinging a bit. "Well it's not as bad as I first thought, but I'll leave the peroxide and Neosporin here and you need to keep it clean. Last thing we need is it getting infected." She says and he nods his head and watches as she starts rubbing Neosporin on his knuckles with a cotton ball.
"What did he say, to make you so angry. I get the gist of it, but I need to hear that he is a threat like Rick says he is. I need to know." She says just staring at his hand and he shakes his head. "He's a threat that's all you need to know." He tells her and she looks up at him and he quickly looks away.
"Please I need to know were not killing some innocent kid." She says and he bites his lip before telling her everything the kid said about the two girls and thier dad and he looks at her confused when she just looks like he told her the weather.
"Thank you, it makes me feel better that we are killing someone who deserves It." She says while going through the med bag looking for something. "Deserves it?" He asks and she looks up at him confused.
"Well yeah, if and I mean 'if', he is telling you the truth about not raping those girls, he still just sat there and watched. That makes him just as guilty. He's guilty and he is a threat." She says and he nods his head agreeing with her. "He needs to die, I won't take the chance of him finding his group and bringing them back here, we have too much to lose."
"Yeah I know we are taking care of it tonight." He says and she nods before setting the med stuff on the small table in his tent before packing up and she goes to leave but he grabs her arm.
She stops and looks at him and he sighs before letting her arm go. "...Thanks." He said before clearing his throat. She nods and smiles and says no problem before leaving his tent. He lies back down and he clenches and unclenches his hands, it does feel a bit better.
He lays there thinking about how he needs to tell Rick everything the kid said. Everyone's faces in the group flashing before his closed eyes, yeah they have a lot to lose.
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After leaving Daryl's tent, her mind far calmer then she went in, at least now she knows they aren't killing someone innocent. She sets the med bag back in her tent and grabs the tin basin, that they wash clothes in and she starts padding it with all the extra towels, that were in the bus.
She grabs the bucket of warm water that she had been heating up and she carries it over to the table and pours it in the basin. She makes sure it's not too hot before going back to her tent and she grabs the baby bag that has his baby soap and other stuff.
She sets the bag by the basin and then helps Kailee take off Warren's onesie and diaper. She dips his feet in and laughs a little when he curls his legs up away from the water. Soon she has him fully in the water, him only crying a little bit, he loves his baths when he finally gets in.
She lays a dry towel over her chest before lifting him out and he starts to whimper as she wraps the towel around him before walking over to her tent, to get him dry and in some clean clothes.
After leaving him with Carol, Eva walks back over to the table and she starts cleaning up her mess. As she is washing the towels, she hears someone clear their throat behind her.
"Oh, hey Dale. Is there something you need?" She asks and Dale nods before readjusting the rifle strap that is across his chest. "Yes, I want to see where you stand with killing the boy, Randall." He said and a part of Eva feels bad knowing he is not going to like what she has to say.
"He watched as two girls were being raped as their father had to watch. That is the man we are killing." Eva says before looking over to where Kailee and Mel are playing with Sophia and Hayden.
"I will kill anyone that is a threat to them. I have done it before, I will do it again easily, because it needs to be done." Eva says and Dale just stares at her wide eyed. "I'm sorry Dale but you are trying to protect a guilty man." She says before turning and picking up the basin so she can dump the water out, in the field.
"Carl what the hell do you think you are doing!" Eva yells when she reaches the field and sees Carl coming out of the woods covered in mud. Carl stops by the tree line and looks at her, his eyes wide, looking guilty.
"Get your ass back to camp and tell you parents before I do, boy!" She yells and he takes off running back to camp, Eva watching him all the way.
She quickly dumps the dirty bath water and ring out the towels before quickly going back to camp. When she gets back to camp she sees Carl sitting down by Lori and she sets down the basin before marching over to them.
"Did you tell her?" She asks and when Carl looks up at her wide eyed and looking scared, she then looks over to Lori who is looking confused from her to Carl and back to her.
"This is the second time I have seen him wandering around, this time he was coming out to the woods." She said getting a bit angry and she can hear that she is now drawing in an audience.
"I don't understand how you hardly do anything around here and still somehow don't have the time to watch your fucking son." She growls out before turning around and she starts to walk away but stops when she hears Shane yelling her name. "You don't talk to her like that you..." Shane starts to yell but Eva cuts him off while holding her hand up to him.
"Shut the fuck up! Unlike you I don't want to burry a child because his fucking mother can't keep an eye on him." She yells back and that shuts him up real quick and she turns and walk over to where the girls and Hayden are playing.
She takes Warren away from Carol, completely ignoring the looks the rest of camp are giving her as she takes her kids into their tent. She quickly swallows down her anger and she quickly gets out a book and starts reading to distract Hayden from what just happened.
Soon after lunch Charlie comes into the tent and tells them that they will be starting a trial soon, in the house. Eva rolls her eyes before grabbing the diaper bag and then picking up Warren and then they leave the tent and follow after Carol and Sophia, seeing as how the kids will be upstairs while they talk over what they are going to do with Randall.
After Eva leaves the boys upstairs with Jimmy, Beth, Carl and Sophia, she walks down the steps behind Carol and they make their way into the leaving room where pretty much everyone has gathered.
She stands beside Kailee, while Mel leans against her shoulder. Rick looks at them before looking at her and then Charlie and when neither one of them makes the girls leave he shrugs his shoulders before starting the trial. Eva knows she can't coddle the girls they are almost seventeen years old and in this world now they are adults in Eva's mind.
She does feel bad, seeing Dale trying desperately to save Randall and she would have been on his side but knowing what she does, she can't, he needs to die. They can't take the chance of him finding his group or hell, forming his own out of anger at them.
"Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?" Dale asks and Eva has to look away from him not able to bear seeing the tears in his eyes. "He's right, we should find another way." Andrea speaks out and Rick asks 'anybody else' before looking around to each of them in turn but no one says anything, so he turns back to Dale who starts to get choked up again and it breaks her heart.
"Are ya'll going to watch, too? No you're going to 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." Dale said before leaving out the front door.
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After the meeting they all go back to camp and Rick kisses the side of Lori's head before nodding over to Daryl and Eva and then to Shane and they all walk with him over to the shed.
"We should shoot him in the barn, it will muffle some of the sound at least." He says and they nod their heads not really knowing what else to say. They quickly grab Randall and while Daryl and Shane are holding the kid's arms and dragging him towards the barn, he walks ahead of them with Eva by his side, he nods to himself, this needs to be done.
"Put him there." He said and Daryl drags him over to the spot he pointed at as he hands over the lantern to Eva. They all ignore the kid as he starts say no over and over again as Shane ties a blind fold over his eyes.
"Would you like to stand or kneel?" He asks him hating hearing the boy cry. Daryl then kicks his bad leg which drops Randall to his knees. He then looks over at Shane who nods his head, before looking over at Daryl and Eva and they both give him the same nod.
"Do you have any final words?" He asks him and the boy just pleds and begs and Rick lifts his gun and cocks it and points it at the kids head.
"Do it dad. Do it." Carl said from the opening of the barn door and he looks over at Shane in shock and Shane walks over to Carl and starts to drag him out of the barn. Rick tries, he does, but he can't pull the trigger knowing how ok Carl is with it.
"Take him away. Take him away." He said moving away from the kid as Daryl and Eva angrily pick Randall off of the floor and they follow after Shane who storms out of the barn.
He stares at his son, and he realizes how cold he is becoming to all this. He can't believe he wanted to watch him kill a man. He holsters his gun and he walks over to Carl and lightly starts pushing him back to camp. He wanted to watch.
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Eva shakes her head as she and Daryl drag Randall back to the shed, once again Lori can't fucking watch her son. She looks over to see Daryl looking just as angry and she lets go of Randall and opens the lock and opens the door and watches Daryl push Randall inside.
She watches him lock him up and she shakes her head knowing that most likely Rick will let him go. She needs to talk with Charlie and the girls again, she doesn't want to take the chance of him bringing his group back here.
All of a sudden a terrified scream echos out and Eva doesn't hesitate to turn and run back to camp. When she gets near she sees Mel running towards her with her bow and quiver. "Get all the kids into the bus!" She yells as she runs away towards where she can hear the screaming. She runs quickly and hops over the barbed wire fence, ignoring the stinging in her hands.
When she sees a walker on top of Dale she quickly stops running and draws and arrow before letting it fly. The moment after releasing the arrow she takes off running again. She watches as it hits the walker in the neck which rocks him to the side which helps Dale to push the walker off of him.
Daryl than jumps over Dale and stabs the walker in the head, he than starts jumping around waving the lantern and yelling 'over here'. Eva slides on her knees when she reaches Dale and starts looking him over. He doesn't look bit but he is grabbing his chest in pain.
"In think he's having a heart attack!" She yells out and hears the others running up to them. "Breath with me Dale, calm deep breaths... come on... just like me." She says as she places one of Dales hand on her chest and she starts taking deep breaths over and over.
Dale soon starts to breathe in deep and she smiles and keeps doing it to help him keep pace. "Glenn hurry go get the truck!" Rick yells and Eva looks over to she Andrea doing them same as her breathing in the same time she does.
Hershel then kneels down beside her and starts taking Dale's pulse and they wait for Glenn to pull the truck up near them. The men then hurry and lift Dale up into the bed of the blue truck.
Hershel, Andrea, T-dog and Rick hop in the back with him while Glenn and Shane hop in the cab and they drive back to the house. Charlie than quickly ushers Lori, Carl, Maggie, Patricia and Carol back to the farm and they quickly run back.
"Let's quickly look around for more before making sure Randall is locked up and then get back to the house." She says to Daryl who is looking down at the walker at his feet.
"Yeah one usually means there's more around." He says and they start to quickly jog around the property making their way back to the camp. Daryl makes sure Randall is locked up tight before they run over to the house and they see T-dog and Charlie sitting on the porch.
"He ok?" Eva pants as they get closer to the house. "Yeah it was a mild heart attack but Hershel is worried seeing as how we can't take him to a hospital." T-dog says and they both sigh and Eva smiles before walking up the steps and into the house.
When she gets inside she sees Carol, Lori, and the kids sitting around the living room. "Mama!" Hayden yells as he quickly jumps off of the couch and runs over to her, with tears in his eyes.
"Oh baby, its ok I'm here, I'm here." She whispers as she drops her bow to the floor and pulls him close to her, while rubbing his back. "Oh my god, Eva your hands!" Carol says standing up and walking over to her. She pulls her hand away from Hayden's back and sees blood running down out of the cuts on her hand.
She then lets Carol grab Hayden from her and she takes his shirt off, seeing as how Eva just smeared blood all over his back. Carol then hands Eva his shirt and she covers her hands not wanting to drop blood all over Hershel house.
Carol lightly grabs Eva's elbow and walks her over to the kitchen. Eva washes her hands off in the sink while Carol runs off to get some supplies to take care of her hands.
She hushes Hayden who is sobbing into her leg, his tiny hands holding her belt and shirt tightly. When she gets all the blood off she sees that the cuts aren't too deep, but they are still bleeding.
"Well I don't need stiches. That's good." She says when she hears someone walking into the kitchen, she turns around expecting to see Carol but sees Daryl standing there instead, holding her med bag in his hands.
"Carol said you got hurt, so I went and grabbed this from your tent." He said as he sets the bag down on the center island. He then starts unpacking the peroxide and bandages. She slowly walks over to the island and sets her hands down on the folded towel he just set down.
She winches and gasps when he pours the peroxide on her hands and she watches the cuts bubble up. She turns her hands over and lightly wipes the excess off of her hands before lifting them up so he can start wrapping her hands with the gauze, after he dabs her cuts with Neosporin.
Carol then walks in while he is finishing with her left hand and she stops suddenly looking at Daryl with some shock. She than walks over and picks up Hayden telling Eva she is getting the kids some food, before taking him out of the kitchen.
"Thank you, I didn't even notice I was bleeding until Carol said something." Eva says and he nods his head before simple leaving the room, not saying anything. She stares at his retreating back and she shakes her head, she has already figured he is not too good around people.
He has come around a lot since she has been here but Carol has told her some stories about the quarry and Merle and how Daryl was when the group first got together.
She smiles as she cleans up the kitchen, she thinks she might be getting a small crush on the redneck. She laughs a little to herself as she walks out of the kitchen and to the living room where she helps Carol spread out the sleeping bags on the floor.
The kids will be sleeping inside for tonight, none of them feeling safe with sleeping out in tents. Eva leans against the railing on the side of the house, as she watches the east side of the house, Rick is watching the south, Daryl the west, and T-dog the north, while Shane is walking around doing his own watch.
Dale will be ok, Hershel told them before they started watch, but he wants someone with him at all times, he can have another one very easily. Andrea, Lori, Carol and Glenn will be taking turns all night with him. Eva leans her head against the house as she stares out towards the barn trying to keep her eyes open.
It seems like forever before four o'clock finally arrives, and Kailee comes walking around the side off the house to take over for her. She gives the girl a hug before going into the house and she lies down on the floor beside Hayden and she quickly falls right to sleep, it has been a long, long day for everyone.
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Rick stands in the doorway of the living room and he stares at all of the kids and Lori, Carol and Eva. He watches Carl sleep and he still can't believe that he wanted to watch.
He decides right then that Dale was right, he will tell everyone that he will be taking Randall out like they were going to do in the first place. He can't let this change his boy, he needs to fix it somehow.