Daryl left some time after to go hunt. I was too tired to go with him so I kissed him goodbye, staying behind at the tent. Light footsteps approached our tent and i peaked through the window, putting my book down.
Carl had made his way to our campsite and he slowed, looking at the squirrels Daryl hung out on the line. His eyes slowly drifted to Daryl's bike and he reached for the handles. I saw him fidgeting with the bag and I stood, exiting the tent.
"Carl," I said softly. He jumped, hands behind his back and I eyed him suspiciously. He smiled at me, bringing his hands in front of him showing me his palms. "looking for something?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was here." Carl's face went red and he looked at the ground. I frowned at him, not sure if I believed him. "I'm sorry I went through Daryl's stuff, please don't tell him." I smirked at the kid.
"I wont, believe me, its bad enough seeing those squirrels hung up there, I don't think I could handle him hanging you up to dry." I teased. Carl's face went from embarrassed to horrified and I laughed, walking up to him and crouching in front of him. I ruffled his hair with a smile. "I'm kidding." Carl loosened up, smiling at me. We sat there awkwardly and I stood looking back to camp. "You should probably head back to camp before your momma misses you." I suggested.
"Okay," he turned to walk away before stopping to look at me. "Thanks for not telling Mr. Dixon." I nodded my head, smiling at his retreating figure, before turning back to the tent. There was the slightest bit of unease in my mind and I glanced at Daryl's bike bag. I shook my head, cursing myself as I retreated to the tent.
Daryl returned around dusk and we both made haste for the house. The others were waiting for us patiently on the porch and when Rick saw us coming he started ushering people inside.
The room was awkward, quiet, for the longest time. I studied everyone as me and Daryl hung back. Nobody looked at each other, everyone's eyes were somewhere else. I glanced up at Daryl and he frowned at me.
"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?' Glenn spoke up first, looking for guidance from somebody.
"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.
"How about Majority rules?" Lori interjected. Rick stepped forward, like I knew he would.
"Lets just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options." He offered, looking around the room.
"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward." Shane commented dryly.
"Killing him." Dale shouted from the other side of the room. Everyone's eyes turned to the old man and I shifted, crossing my arms uncomfortably. "I mean why even bother taking a vote? It's clear which way the winds blowing." I narrowed my eyes at him, confused. This is what he wanted, he wanted a vote and he was going to get one. It wasn't our fault if it didn't go in his favor.
"If people believe we should spare him, I wanna know." Rick said frustrated. I felt bad for the man. He finally made a black and white call and he was being force back into the grey area that everyone yelled t him for to begin with.
"Well I can tell you it's a small group." Dale looked up at me and I shook my head. Dale seemed disappointed and he sighed. "Maybe just me and Glenn." Glenn looked up at the man awkwardly.
"Look, I think you're pretty much right about everything all the time, but this-" Glenn started, not in agreement whatsoever.
"They've got you scared!" Dale shouted, interrupting him. He tore of his hat, frustrated.
"He's not one of us!" Glenn argued. Dale was disappointed in him and it showed on his face. He was used to Glenn following his lead. "We've lost so many people already!" Dale scoffed, looking at Maggie.
"How about you? Do you agree with this?!" He asked her. She stood quietly, glancing at Glenn before looking at Rick.
"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" She asked. Daryl fidgeted beside me.
"Just another mouth to feed." He spoke quietly. I eyed him up and down, taking a step closer to him.
"It may be a lean winter." Hershel spoke his ambiguous agreement.
"We could ration better." Lori interjected.
"He could be an asset!" Dale started again. "Give him a chance to prove himself." I listened to Dales words, flashing back to that night at the bar, how they grabbed me, then to the story Randall told.
"Put him to work?" Glenn asked, wanting so badly to help Dale in his argument.
"We're not letting him walk around." Rick said, his tone final.
"We could put an escourt on him." Maggie offered. Shane scoffed.
"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" he said sarcastically.
"I will!" Dale said defiantly.
"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy." Rick stated silencing the bickering.
"Well we cant exactly put chains around his ankles and sentence him to hard labor." Andrea said smugly glancing around the room. We locked eyes and I watched her coolly, still angry with her over Beth.
"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 flatly, laying out the scenario. I found myself nodding in agreement, something that deeply terrified. Daryl looked at me pointedly, placing his arm around my waist.
"So the answer is to kill him? To prevent a crime that he may never commit?" Dale asked, his voice wavering. He was upset and disappointed with the group, that much I knew. "If we do this we're saying ether is no hope. Rule of law is dead, there is no civilization."
"Oh my god." Shane breathed from across the room, rolling his eyes.
"Could you drive him further out? Leave him like you planned?" Hershel asked suddenly, looking to Rick for an answer.
"You barely came back this time." Lori said shaking her head no. "There are walkers, you could break down, you could get lost."
"Or ambushed." Daryl chimed in, tightening his hold on me.
"They're right, we should not put our own people at risk." Glenn finally said, back on our side of the fence.
"If you go through with it, How would you do it?" Patricia said. I hadn't spoken to her in days, shed been locked away after the barn slaughter. "Would he suffer?"
"We could hang him, just snap his neck."
"I thought about that, but I think shooting may be more humane." Rick told her.
"Hold on! Hold on!" Dale shouted, ending our conversation. Again my eyes darted to him and I sighed, growing tired of this. "You're talking about this like its already decided!"
"You've been talking all day, going around in circles, you just wanna go around in circles again?" Daryl asked from beside me. He too was growing tired of Dale's bantering.
"This is a young man's life! And it is worth more than a five minute conversation!" Dale was now yelling at us, gesturing wildly and flailing his hat. We watched him quietly as he began to yell again. "Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we cant decide what else to do with him?" Dale looked at Rick. "You saved him! Now look at us!" he pointed to Daryl angrily. "He's been tortured, he's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?" His question hit home and I gasped, covering my mouth. No one said anything, everyone's eyes dropping again to the floor.
"We all know what needs to be done," Shane said after a while.
"No, Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here." Rick answered.
"So what's the other solution? We haven't come up with a single, viable option yet." I asked frustrated. "I wish we could but-"
"So lets work on it!" Dale interrupted me. I closed my mouth, biting my lip.
"Stop it, just stop it." Carol said from where she stood at eth door. "I'm sick of everybody 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 said pointing at her. Carol flinched at his words and I grabbed my temple. The fighting made my head hurt, I just wanted someone to pick already.
"Alright that's enough!" Rick shouted, ending the conversation. "Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance." Maggie and Patricia both sat down and Dale watched, looking from person to person as his hope for us waned.
"You once said you don't kill the living." Dale pleaded with Rick.
"Well that was before the living tried to kill us." Rick defended himself.
"But don t you see? If we do this, the people that were were? The world that we knew? They're all dead. And this new world is ugly!" Dale paused looking over the room again. "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 either. Please… Lets just do what's right!" No one replied to him, we all stood quietly as he fought back tears. "isn't there anybody else that's gonna stand with me?"
the room was quiet, only thing that could be heard were the crickets and birds outside. Andrea shifted awkwardly and Carol drug her hands down her face. I frowned at the floor, waiting for anyone to say anything.
"Anyone else?" Rick offered, turning to each of us. We sat quietly and Dale shook his head, realizing he was on the losing end of this argument.
"Are ya'll gonna watch too?" he snapped, tears forming in his eyes. My heart ached for him, to watch him stand so strongly for what he believed in, only to be shut down by everyone, including myself. "No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being." Dale again shook his head. "I wont be a party to it." Dale walked off, heading towards Daryl and I. He stopped, placing a hand on my shoulder, looking at Daryl. "This group is broken." He said, alluding to our earlier conversation.
A nightfall Daryl, Rick and Shane left for the shed. I stayed behind, watching with the other women as they went to do everyone's dirty work. I took a deep breath, turning to the others, looking at each of the quietly, before taking a seat around the fire. We sat quietly around the fire, each of us minding our own. The fire crackled and popped, the only noise heard other than the crickets.
A while later, Rick approached the campsite, Carl hot on his heels. We stood, waiting for him to tell us something. He hesitated, looking at each of us.
"We're keeping him in custody, for now." Rick said finally, looking at each of us. I sighed, looking back to the fire and Andrea stood from her seat.
"I'm gonna find Dale." She smiled, excusing herself from the fireside.
"I'll go too." I stood, eyeing her warily. She watched me for a long minute before smiling, nodding her head. I followed her into the darkness, away fro the others.
"I'm sorry about earlier today. For what I said and what I did." Andrea apologized. It took me off guard and I looked at her. She seemed sincere enough and I smiled.
"Its okay, tensions have been pretty high lately." I shrugged. She nodded, not saying another word to me as we walked. The night was cool and I wished I'd brought a jacket. I shoved my hands into my jean pockets as we picked up the pace.
A loud yell rang out across the fields and both of us stopped in our tracks. I glanced around warily, drawing my knife as Andrea held her pistol ready. The screaming continued and my heart sank. It was a man's voice. We bolted out into the field, in the direction of the screaming.
"Dale!" Andrea screamed as we dipped over a broken down fence, into the tall grass. We could see movement in the field ahead, but we were still too far to see just what it was in the dark. Footsteps pounded behind us and I knew the others were close, running after us towards the screaming.
"Help! Over here!" I heard Daryl yelling. I could see him far ahead of us, waving his arms back and forth. "Beau! Beau help!" He yelled, recognizing me in the dark. I closed the gap quickly, kneeling down next to Dale who lay in a bloody heap on the ground.
My hands shook as I placed them on his torso, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. I gagged, realizing he had been torn open, his insides laying on the ground around us. Dale moaned in a mix of pain and shock and Andrea knelt next to me. I tore off my jacket, pressing it to his torso.
It began to grow wet, soaking up blood that continued to come. My hands were drenched in his blood and I took a deep breath, trying my best to keep it together. Dale continued to moan while Rick called for Hershel. I flipped my shirt over, the other side already soaked, pressing it to his wound.
"What happened?!" Hershel called, finally reaching us. I looked up at him, covered in blood and removed my shirt for him to see. Hershel stared down at me, kneeling, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Can we move him?" I asked, my voice breaking. Hershel stared at me gravely, shaking his head and I sobbed, hard, applying more pressure.
"He wont make the trip." Hershel explained.
"We have to do the operation here, Glenn get back to the house!" Rick commanded. Glenn made to run but Hershel stood, shaking his head at the sheriff. Rick watched him in disbelief. "NO!" he screamed loudly, frustrated.
Dale gurgled and moaned, but I kept my hands where they were, not ready to walk away from him. I knew there was no hope, even before the apocalypse this was fatal, but I kept trying to stop the blood, which now poured from his body in a river. I could feel his insides under my hands twitching and pulsing.
Andrea began to sob across from me, as did a few of the others. I watched her, unable to hold back tears anymore, and I cried. Dales eyes found mine, and I watched him, his face frozen in a twist of pain and horror. Rick pulled out his gun, kneeling next to the man and I watched him, eyes wide.
"No…" I shook my head at the sheriff and he frowned at me, biting back tears. "no, no, no, no. I can save him." I looked up to Hershel for his help but he gave me none, turning away from Dale's body. "I can SAVE HIM!" I screeched, pleading for help from anyone. Two rough hands grabbed me under my shoulders, pulling me away and I fought them, kicking and screaming. "No! No please!"
Rick looked at me, then to Andrea before he placed the barrel of the gun to Dales head. I watched in horror, reaching for him as Daryl held me back. I began to cry, not able to take my eyes off of Dale's face. He gurgled in pain. A loud bang broke through the night air and I screamed one final time as Dale went still on the ground.
Just like that it was over. Dale stopped moving, stopped moaning in pain. All that could be heard was Andrea's sobs. I stopped struggling against Daryl and collapsed on the ground, still watching Dale's body where it lay.
DALE! YOU WERE SO YOUNG D'x