Thank you guys so much for the reviews and alerts! So sorry again for lagging on updating this. I spent most of my free time catching up on my sleep. I will try to update sooner next time. xx
I backed away from him and looked down at the ground. Daryl walked over to pick up the picture. I felt like crumbling at any moment. "This is that asshole, isn't it?" He started waving in front of my face. "Is this the same guy you thought you killed?"
I stared at the guy lying in front of me. He looked so helpless. I looked down at his leg and wondered if the group he with did this to him. He twitched in his sleep and it made me flinch.
"Hey! Are you hearing anything I'm saying?"
"That's him on the right." The picture had three men in it. The one in the middle was clearly the guy sitting in front of me, the one on the right was the same man from the woods and the third guy was the only one I didn't know. The three of them were most likely brothers or at least relatives judging from the same dark hair and eyes
"Son of a bitch," Daryl muttered. "You're telling me that fucker wasn't lying? There are more of them?"
I took the picture back from Daryl and shoved it back where I found it. I wish I didn't find it. I don't know what I was even looking for when I started looking.
"You need to say something," Daryl said. "Or at least ask if he was alone. You can't keep this shit to yourself anymore."
"Didn't you hear what they said? They said his group left him for dead. That means they ran into more of them. We need to leave. What if they just left to get more people?"
I started walking out of the barn. Glenn was the only one standing nearby. Everyone else was nowhere to be seen.
"Everyone went inside," Glenn said softly. "They're deciding what to do with Randall."
"Deciding?" I asked. "Deciding what exactly? Why did you guys even bring him back?"
"It wasn't my idea," Glenn said raising his voice. "That was the last time I'm going to volunteer to go on anymore adventures. I don't know what to be afraid of more, the walkers or people."
"What's that supposed to mean? What happened out there?" I reached over to put my hand on his shoulder but Glenn recoiled. "What is your problem?"
"I don't have a problem. I'm just telling you everyone's inside and you're up my ass about bringing back Randall."
"I don't give a shit about this Randall guy. All I care about is if you're okay and clearly you're not since you're being a jackass."
Daryl was starting to walk up towards us and that instantly made Glenn turn to walk away.
"What's his problem?"
"I don't know," I replied watching Glenn walk away back towards the house. I rolled my eyes and continued to stare at his back. "He said they're all inside putting it up to a vote about what to do about this asshole."
"Since when did we put anything up to a vote? Asshole needs to be shot down."
"He's just a…"
"He ain't just an anything," Daryl interrupted. "He's from a group that lures woman away to probably rape and kill 'em. Assholes like that don't need to be anywhere near us." He started walking towards the house and turned when he realized I wasn't following him. "You comin'?"
I looked back at the barn and back to Daryl. We both walked towards the house and entered it in the middle of another argument between Shane and my dad.
"I still don't get why you needed to bring him back here," Shane was saying. "Who cares if he was going to bleed out? You shoulda left him. We don't owe the son of a bitch anything."
"He's a young kid. It was the right thing to do helping him out. His group left him for dead."
"From the sound of it, it sounds like his group was trying to kill you," Shane said. "What's stopping me from going down there and putting a bullet in his head? We should leave his corpse in the middle of a highway, away from here. That way nobody goes looking for him and find us."
"He was blindfolded and out cold the entire ride back here. We are not going to kill him. He's not a threat."
"Not a threat? You killed how many from his group? Three, right? You wouldn't have killed them if they weren't a threat, Rick."
I looked over at Glenn who was staring down at the table. That explains his weird behavior. "You killed people? I thought we weren't supposed to do that."
"We didn't have a choice," Hershel said.
"And you're saying these people aren't a threat to us?" Shane questioned. "Don't you care about any of us? Your kids? You take one of their men hostage and you don't think they're going to come looking for him?"
"Should we have someone watch him all the time?" T-Dog asked.
"He's going to be out cold for a while," Hershel commented. "And he's going nowhere on that leg so I recommend you stay away from him for the time being." He was looking at Shane and started walking closer towards him. "This is still my farm and we haven't even begun dealing with what you did with all those people in the barn. I ought to throw you out but you're part of Rick's group and he talked me out of it. I may not like it but for now you need to keep your mouth shut."
Shane glared at Hershel and walked out of the house. Everyone looked around at each other and eventually everyone else started leaving the house.
"Let's go find Carl," my dad said and led me out of the house. It wasn't hard finding Carl. He and Sophia were playing nearby the house as they were told to do. I was waiting for my dad to tell Carl to come with us but he never said anything. He kept walking and eventually we reached his tent.
He walked in, sat down on his cot and sighed loudly. He took his gun out from its holster and laid it down next to him.
"Are you okay?" I asked him. I moved his gun and sat in its place. When he didn't answer I looked over at him as he stared straight ahead. "Don't beat yourself up over what you did. If you had to shoot those guys… well, then you had to shoot them."
"It's not just that," he said, "I just feel like every decision I try to make for the good of the group turns out to be a bad one."
"Shane's the only one that thinks all your decisions are bad," I told him. "And who really cares what Shane thinks? Nobody likes him anyways."
"I don't even feel bad about what I did though. I killed those men because all I could think about were you and Carl. But what if bringing back Randall was a bad idea? They left him for dead, I'm almost positive they aren't going to come looking for him… but what if?"
"You did the right thing." I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "People aren't always going to be trustworthy anymore. You gotta do what you gotta do. The only thing you can do is move on."
He finally turned his head. "What was up with you shooting down that walker? Why were you so interested in him?" I shrugged my shoulders and I knew he hated that but I didn't want to get into the past right now.
"Are you just going to leave that guy in there until he can walk?" I asked. "What if he has people looking for him? Can we just leave?"
"Not this again."
"You said so yourself that you're not sure if someone will come looking for him."
"They're not going to look for him," he stated firmly. "I don't need you saying these things especially in front of anyone else. The only person leaving that farm is going to be Randall." He stood up and started rummaging around in his duffel bag. "Are you going to tell me why you were checking that walker?"
"Because I felt like it Dad."
He turned around with a clean shirt in his hand and folded his arms across his chest. "Who's the guy?"
"I don't know."
"Stop lying. Stop hiding things from me."
"I'm not lying to you."
"That's all you're good at," he said. It felt like a verbal slap to the face.
"Being an asshole isn't going to make me tell you anything."
"Glenn knows, doesn't he? Will I get it out of him?"
"Will you stop it? Glenn doesn't know anything because there's nothing to know."
"Did you run into that walker or something? Is that what it is?"
I shut my eyes and put my head in my hands. Daryl was right. I couldn't keep this to myself any longer. If I wanted to protect the group from any more harm I had to speak up.
"I shot him." I finally lifted my head up and looked at him.
"Yeah, I know you did," he said. "I saw you put him down. Why?"
"No, I shot him. In the woods."
"That's what's been bothering you? You shot at a walker and missed?"
"He was alive when I shot him," I told him. He leaned back and cut his eyes at him. "He was going to kill us." He mouth fell open and he just stared at me. "So I shot him." He closed his mouth and remained expressionless. "Say something!"
"I don't know what to say."
"Then why did you drag it out of me?"
"I wasn't expecting you to say that," he admitted. He sighed and mumbled something incoherent to himself. "Seems like you're spending too much time with Shane. First Merle and now this guy?"
"Did you hear what I just said? I said he was going to kill us. You shot three guys because they were going to do the same to you so don't give me your bullshit."
"I wasn't going to say anything." He sat back down next to me. "You said you think Shane killed Otis. I'm starting to believe that more now. I just don't want you to kill the living and shrug it off as if it's nothing."
"I'm not shrugging anything off. It's been bothering me ever since I shot Merle but what am I supposed to do? I can't keep anything buried down because you keep asking if I'm okay every ten goddamn minutes. I'm not okay, dad. I won't ever be okay. I couldn't even kill those walkers from the barn. They were Hershel's friends and family and I just couldn't do it…"
"That just means you have a conscious. I'm sorry for comparing you to Shane. You're clearly nothing like him. Is that why you wanted us to leave? Do you think the guy you shot was a part of the group we just met?"
"What if he was? What does that mean for Randall?"
"You don't need to worry about that."
"He might have a family," I told him. "What if they weren't with him that night but come looking for him?"
"Those people outside and in that home aren't family," he told me. ""But I wouldn't ever leave any of them behind for any reason."
"You left Merle behind," I reminded him. "Daryl went back for him. What if someone comes back for this kid?"
"Is there something else you need to say? Why are you so sure someone's going to come looking for him?"
"No. There's nothing else."
"After he heals up we're driving him far away from us. We're not going to have to worry about him anymore."
I stood up and without looking back I walked out of his tent. I didn't feel any better telling him. I was surprised that he didn't ask more about what led me to shoot that guy and why hadn't I said anything sooner. I wasn't going to ever get into that with him unless I was on my deathbed. He didn't need to know details.
Most of the group wasn't around but at that moment I didn't care so much. I went straight towards Daryl's tent and when I walked in I zipped it shut. He was lying on his cot flipping through a book.
I lay down next to him tossing the book over my shoulder. "I told him about the guy." I pressed myself closer to Daryl and put my face close to his chest. "He still doesn't want to leave."
"You didn't tell him about the picture," he stated instead of asking. "So he only knows that you shot a guy."
"He doesn't look at me the same way after I shot Merle. I think he thinks I'm a basket case or something."
Daryl leaned back and grabbed my face with his free hand. "I knew I shouldn't have asked you to do that. You're not a basket case."
"You haven't killed a person yet," I told him.
"He has no right to think low of you," Daryl growled. "He shot those guys earlier. I don't care if he's your daddy; he's going to get an earful from me if he brings up one more time about you shooting people."
I sat up and looked down at Daryl. "I just have this really bad feeling that something bad is going to happen."
"Well maybe now that you said that nothing is going to happen."
"If only," I whispered to myself. I looked down at Daryl and leaned down to kiss him. "You can help me forget."
He squinted his eyes and shook his head. "No. It's the middle of the day." I swung my leg around and sat on top of Daryl, straddling him at the waist. "Good Lord, have you ever been told 'no' before?" I leaned down to kiss his neck and I moved up towards his jaw. He cleared his throat and I eventually reached his lips. I kept kissing him until finally he gave in.
He ran his hands up from my waist up towards my face. His hands went back down to my waist and he starting pulling my shirt up. I felt his calloused fingers rubbing against my skin and that feeling alone drove me crazy.
I finally felt him stop kissing me back and I sat up. "Not now," he said again.
"Tease." I ran my finger down his arm and stood up.
"Maybe later," he said.
I rolled my eyes and fixed my shirt. "Maybe I don't want to do it later."
I was about to leave Daryl's tent when I heard running footsteps outside. Soon after I started hearing Carl's voice calling out my name.
I unzipped Daryl's tent quickly and soon saw Carl was running around the campsite.
"Carl, what's wrong?" I rushed over towards him as quickly as I could.
"Come with me," he said out of breath. He started pulling me away and every time I asked him where we were going he would pull harder.
"Carl! Where are we going?"
"Over here," he said. He continued pulling and soon we were entering a clearing and walking through some woods. I saw Sophia up ahead and she was staring at the two of us with her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
"What the hell are you two doing out here?" I asked them. Carl continued pulling me and kept getting upset that I couldn't be as quick as he was. He pulled me for another minute and before I could ask him what he dragged me out here for I saw it.
It was a walker and it was stuck in the mud growling up at us.
"What the fuck Carl?" I yelled at him. That caused the walker to snarl some more and try to break free from whatever it was holding it down. "Why are you two out here and what the fuck!"
"You said that already," Carl said. "Look at him. He's stuck."
He thought it was a joke and finally stopped smiling when he realized I wasn't laughing. "Do you even have a weapon?"
"No," Sophia and Carl admitted at the same time.
"Let's get out of here," I told them. "No more adventures. Go pretend the RV is a spaceship, I don't give a shit but you two are not leaving the campsite ever."
"Dad said it was okay."
"I was just with Dad," I told him. "Don't lie."
"I'm not lying! I asked him can we go by the trees and he said 'uh hum.'" Carl looked over at Sophia who just nodded.
"He's distracted," I told him. "It's like asking your junkie parent for money and the car keys when they're clearly stoned."
"Are you going to tell Dad?"
"Fuck yeah."
"But he's going to tell my mom," Sophia said.
"Sophia, you should know better after the shit we went through. These woods aren't safe. Now start walking. I'll get Dad to take care of this fuc-" Before I could finish my sentence I heard footsteps right behind me.
I turned to see the walker had now gotten loose and was walking towards us. Both Carl and Sophia whimpered and started running, leaving slow me behind.
I tried picking up the pace but every time my bad leg touched the ground I felt a shooting pain. I was cursing myself for not having a weapon. I didn't bother turning around to see how close the walker was. By the sounds of his growls I knew he was mere inches behind me and right now I was actually scared shitless.
I continued running as fast as I could in the same general direction and saw the clearing up ahead. I prayed that the kids were smart enough to at least tell someone to come help me out but by the time that could happen it could be too late.
I pushed myself and right when I got to the edge of the clearing I stepped on a rock and fell to the ground. I tried to get up to my feet but by now the walker was on his knees reaching for me. He hadn't pinned me down yet and I got one good kick in his face.
He moved back a little which gave me the chance to get up. The second I got up my silent prayers were finally answered. A loud shot rang out and I heard the thud of the walker. I fell to my knees quickly and let out a shaky breath.
The footsteps of the shooter came running and they crotched down right in front of me. I felt their hands tightly gripping me by my shoulders. I looked into Shane's eyes and quickly forgot about everything that we had said to each other in the past few weeks. Right now he was my savior and I was forever grateful.
"Are you okay? I saw y'all running in here and figured I should check up on you." I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly. He hesitated like he did before but pulled me tightly into his chest and helped me up to my feet. "You're okay now."
I stopped hugging him and leaned back. I did something unexpected of me and I knew I had caught him off guard and probably everyone else who were now running up towards us. I pulled his face close to mine and kissed him full on the lips.
