Chapter 19: Judge, Jury, Executioner and Better Angels

After what happened yesterday, Rick, Shane and Michael had Daryl interrogate Randall so they know if he is a threat or not and how to deal with the situation.

"Alright everyone, gather round now." Rick asked politely, his hands on his hips as he watched the group beginning to circle around him. Lori poured coffee and looked up at her husband,

"So, what you gonna do? We'd all feel better if we knew the plan." Lori said.

"Is there a plan?" Andrea asked.

"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn asked. Rick looked over at Shane as he stared back, then at Glenn,

"We'll know soon enough." Rick nodded past Michael and everyone's heads turned to see Daryl approaching, his crossbow shucked over his shoulder and his fist bloody with justice.

"Boy there's got a gang. Thirty men with heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends. They show up here, our boys are dead, and the women, gonna be wishin' they were."

"What did you do?" Carol asked grimly while staring at his bloody fist.

"We had a little chat."

"No one goes near this guy." Rick stated as Lori walked up to him, looking into his eyes for some kind of help,

"Rick, what're you gonna do?"

"We have no choice. He's a threat." Rick looked to everyone else, his eyes set on what was right. "We must eliminate the threat."

Dale walked up to them, his thick eyebrows knitted,

"You're just gonna kill him?"

"It's settled. We'll do it today." Without another word, Rick stalked off towards the farmhouse and Dale quickly followed, his rifle set on his shoulder.

Dale talked to Rick and he's giving him the day to talk to everyone and their views on the situation. Later on, their going to meet in the house and have a good old fashion vote. He's hoping he can turn this around for Randall's sake.

Moments later

The day finally began to come to a close as the sun began to retreat behind the mountains, creating a creamy horizon of yellows and oranges. Rick began to gather everyone and they all flooded into the farmhouse, the strays finding their way into the den, where some sat and some stood. Merle stood by the window next to Carol and Hershel, seeing that everyone had finally settled themselves. Rick shut the door and turned towards Carl and SopThia, nodding for them to retreat to another room. Carl was hesitant at first, but ultimately he and Sophia left them.

In the awkward silence, Glenn was the first to speak, "So, do we take a vote?"

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked as Michael stands beside her with his arms crossed. Rick walked further into the group and Lori looked to him.

"How about majority rules?" Lori suggests.

Rick steps forward, intervening before any further decisions can be made. "Well, let's just see where everyone stands then we can talk through the options. If people believe we should spare him, I wanna know," Rick said.

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group." Dale pauses a second. "Maybe just me and Glenn."

Glenn's quiet for a moment, then looks up at Dale. "Look, I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this—"

"They've got you scared," Dale exclaims.

"He's not one of us. And we've lost too many people already."

Dale looks across the room at Maggie and Hershel. "How about you? Do you agree with this?"

"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" Maggie inquires.

"Just another mouth to feed," Daryl replies.

"It may be a lean winter," Hershel says.

"We could ration better," Lori suggests.

"Well, he could be an asset," Dale tries. "Give him a chance to prove himself."

"Put him to work?" Glenn suggests.

Rick immediately turns that suggestion down. "We're not letting him walk around."

"We could put an escort on him," Maggie inputs.

"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked.

"I will," Dale volunteers.

"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy," Rick says.

"He's right," Lori agrees. "I wouldn't feel safe unless he's tied up."

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor," Andrea argues.

"Look, say we let him join us, right?" Shane says. "Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his thirty men."

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime he may never even attempt?" Dale questions. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."

"Oh my God," Shane sighs.

"Could you drive him further out?" Hershel inquires. "Leave him like you planned?"

"You barely came back this time," Lori argues as soon as the offer is on the table. "There are walkers. You could break down. You could get lost."

"Or get ambushed," Daryl says.

"They're right," Glenn agrees. "We should not put our own people at risk."

"If you go through with it… how would you do it? Would he suffer…?" Patricia asked meekly from her place. Rick sighed and looked down, Dale becoming distraught.

"We could hang him… snap his neck…" Shane suggested and Rick nodded.

"I thought about that… shooting may be more humane…" There was another strong silence and T-Dog put his hand to his chin.

"And what about the body?" T-Dog inquires. "Do we bury him?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on," Dale interrupts. "Hold on. You're talking about this like it's already decided."

"You've been talkin' all day," Daryl says. "Goin' 'round in circles. You just wanna go around in circles again."

"This is a young man's life!" Dale exclaims. "And it is worth more than a five-minute conversation! Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

There's silence following Dale's speech. "We all know what needs to be done," Shane finally says.

"No, Dale is right," Rick says. "We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility—"

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea interrupts.

"Let Rick finish," Lori says.

"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet," Andrea continues, as if never interrupted. "I wish we could."

"So let's work on it!" Dale exclaims.

"We are," Rick barks.

"Stop it," Carol says, effectively quieting the group. "Just stop it. 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—but leave me out."

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself—there's no difference," Dale says.

"All right, that's enough," Rick says. "Anybody that wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

Everyone is silent for a long moment.

"I would like to say something, Rick." Michael said as he walks in the middle of the group before continuing, "For those who want us to kill Randall, you should be ashamed of yourselves."

Everyone who Michael was talking about is shocked at what he said.

Glenn is the only one who responded, "Mikey, what are you talking about?"

"I know how some of you feel. I have no love for Randall either, but if we just kill him, we're no better than the people he was with." Michael said.

"But Mikey, he shot at us. And you're suggesting we spare him?" Glenn said.

"You're wrong, Glenn. Randall may not act like an animal. It be easy for us to do the same, then we be just like the people he was with. But without our humanity, what's left?" Michael said as everyone listened to him before he continues, "Or we truly be back in the stone ages. As much as I hate it, we go with the original plan and cut him loose. May take him for who knows how long he can survive, but at least we did something without losing our humanity and prevent this group from being broken then it already is."

Everyone bow their heads, feeling ashamed of themselves.

"All those in favor of executing him, raise your hand." Rick said, but no one raised their hand. "Then, all those for cutting him loose?" This time everybody raised their hands.

"It's settled. And I would like to say this to you, Dale." Rick said before continuing, "Dale, you can get under our skin, you sure got under mine, because you are not afraid to say exactly what you thought, how you fell. That kind of honestly is rare, and brave. Whenever I or Shane or Mikey make a decision, I'd look at you. You'd be looking back at me with that look you have. We've all seen it, one time or another. I couldn't always read you, but you can read us. You see people for who they were. You know things about us—the truth, who we really are. In the end, you are talking about losing our humanity, you said this group is broken. The best way to honor you is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety, our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove you wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it you're way. That is how we honor you, Dale."

Dale is touched by what Rick said about him.

RIck looks at Michael. "Mikey. I speak for everyone and say, We're sorry and you're right." He said.

Michael smiled. "When is it that I'm ever wrong?" He asked.

"Not always." RIck said.

Dale smiled as he knew that Michael would help change everyone's mind and now maybe there is hope for humanity.

Later at night

Everyone is enjoying an evening dinner. Michael is on top of the RV as lookout. He then saw something out on the field. He climbed down the RV and went to go investigate. Dale saw him going to the field and went with him.

They went further into the field until they hear an animal moaning. Dale held his rifle, incase there is a Walker. They then found a dying cow. Body all gutted from a Walker. They found the cow, but where is the Walker?

As they turned around, there was the Walker. It tackle Dale to the ground and caused Michael to fall backward after being caught off guard. He sits up to see the Walker trying to bite Dale as he is trying to push it off him. Michael takes out his dagger, pushes the Walker off Dale, drives his dagger into the Walker's skull, killing it. He pulls his dagger out, then went to help Dale up. He checks if Dale is bitten. Which Dale isn't thanks to Michael.

They see the group running towards them to see what happened. Michael explained what happened. Then he suggested that in the morning they have a group look around the farm to see if there are anymore Walkers around.

Morning

Shane, Amy, Daryl and T-Dog went to check for Walkers, which they found 7 Walkers. After they took out the Walkers, they rejoined with the others.

Later

"Gonna be tight. 21 people in one house," Rick said. A small group of them stand in a circle by a truck, while Rick and Hershel discuss moving everyone into his farmhouse.

"Don't worry about that," Hershel says. "With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up—"

"And fifty head of cattle on the property," Maggie finishes, "we might as well be ringing the damn dinner bell."

"She's right," the farmer confirms. "We should have moved you in a while ago."

Rick gives a nod of agreement. "All right, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out toward the road. We'll build a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sight lines both sides of the property. T-Dog, you take the perimeter around the house. Keep track of everyone coming and going."

"What about standing guard?" T-Dog asks.

"I need you and Daryl on double duty."

"Gotcha."

"I'll stock the basement with food and water, enough that we can survive there a few days if need be," Hershel says.

"What about patrols?" Andrea asked.

"Let's get this area locked down first," Rick says. "After that, Shane'll assign shifts while me and Daryl take Randall off site and cut him loose."

Later on

After Shane assigned shifts, he went to check Ed, who is handcuffed in the backseat of the squad police car. He wanted to make sure he didn't get the cuffs off and escaped.

As he got to the car, he looks through the backseat window and see that Ed is not in there. He opens the door and found only the handcuffs. He puts the handcuffs in his pocket and went into the woods to find Ed.

Moments later

Daryl is getting things set for him and RIck to drive off site and cut Randall loose.

"Only got so many arrows," T-Dog says, offering Daryl a Colt Official Police revolver.

"Is that Dale's gun?" Daryl asked.

"No. It a spare." T-Dog told him.

"Wish I knew where the hell mine is."

"Ready?" Rick asks.

"Yeah," Daryl responds.

"I'll get the package." T-Dog said.

"Thanks," Rick said.

Rick and Daryl waited awhile for T-Dog to bring Randall. Then they see T-Dog running to them. Something was wrong.

"I don't mean to alarm you, but I think Randall escaped." T-Dog told them.

Rick and Daryl looked at each other and then went to tell the others.

Later on

"What happened?" Lori asks, running up the barn where Randall was. Rick, Andrea, and Daryl are inside the barn, while Glenn, T-Dog, and Michael look outside.

"Randall's missing," Glenn tells her.

"Missing? How?"

"How long has he been gone?" Hershel inquires, joining her. The rest of the group joins them, expect for Shane.

"It's hard to say," Glenn tells him.

"Cuffs are still hooked. He must've slipped 'em." Rick reports, coming out of the barn.

"Is that possible?" Carol asked Rick in a bit surprised. Andrea stepped out of the shed,

"It is when you've got nothin' to lose."

"The door was secured from the outside." Hershel said.

Before anyone can say anything, Shane bursts out of the forest, yelling for Rick and Michael. His nose is bloodied and clearly broken, as if he was hit in the face with something. "What happened?" Lori calls.

"Ed got out! He's armed! He's got my gun!"

"You okay?" Carl asks.

"I'm fine. Bastard just snuck up on me. Ram my face into a tree." Shane said.

"That means he got Randall out too. He's gone also." Michael said.

Rick turns to the group, barking orders. "All right, Hershel, T-Dog, Mikey, get everyone back in the house. Glenn, Daryl, come with us."

"T! I'm gonna need that gun!" Shane walked up to T-Dog and he handed him a pistol.

"Carol, I hate to said this but Sophia has to come with us." Rick said.

"What?!" Carol said.

"Ed wants her. Rick knows what he's doing. Don't worry, nothing is gonna happen to her with me around." Daryl told her.

Carol kneeled to Sophia, "You stay as close to Daryl and the others. Okay?"

"Yes, mom." Sophia said as she hugs her.

"Get everyone back in the house, lock all the doors, and stay put!" Rick shouted and walked off quickly in the forest, Daryl, Glenn, Sophia and Shane hot on his tail.

"Let's go, back in the house." Andrea said.

T-Dog, Michael and Andrea helped round up the group and quickly herded them back to the house, locking all the doors behind them and arming themselves heavily.

Later at night

Daryl and Glenn went one way in the forest while Rick, Sophia and Shane went the other way. To find Ed and Randall. Whether their together or not.

As Rick, along with Shane and Sophia went further out of the forest and onto the field, they hear a gun cocking. They turn around and see Ed with Shane's gun raised at them.

Ed demanded that they lay their guns down and hand Sophia over.

Rick and Shane did what Ed wanted them to do. They lay their guns and walked slowly with Sophia.

As Ed was about to get Sophia, Rick pushed Sophia towards Shane, who moves her out of the way while Rick moves Ed's arm that is holding Shane's gun, takes his knife and drives it into Ed's chest, hitting his heart, instantly killing him.

Rick and Shane check Sophia and see that she is ok. They get their guns and start to head back to the head went suddenly they see Carl standing there with Daryl's gun.

Rick asked him what is he doing here as he, Shane and Sophia move towards him but then Carl raises the gun and points it to where they are standing at. Unknown them, Ed, as a Walker now is moving towards them. He doesn't reach them because Carl shot him in the head.

Rick, Shane and Sophia turn around and see that Carl shot Ed, who is now a Walker. They check to see he is dead. Then they all head back to the house.

But unknown to them, behind them is... a huge Herd of Walkers heading towards the farm.

That puts an end to this chapter. This chapter maybe short, but I want get to the good parts of this story. If you all want, review what you like about this story and or any chapters. One more chapter to close season 2. A lot is gonna happen. Then season 3 is where the fun really begins. So stay tuned! And May the Force be with you.