A/N Hot off the press, just for you guys! This chapter was on and off for me, aside from it being hard to write because of Dale. I'm really excited to be getting to the end of season 2. I have some surprises in store soon! Hope you guys like this one. Reviews are always greatly appreciated. Much loves!
Daryl ignores the stinging of his split knuckles and punches Randall again.
"I told you." he cries when Daryl winds up to hit him again.
"You ain't told me shit." he pulls out his hunting knife and grabs the kids leg "You ever pull off a scab? You start off real slow, but sooner or later you just gotta rip it off."
He whimpers and pleads with Daryl when he puts the blade to his healing leg.
Sam sits on the railing of the deck, iced tea in hand. Maggie joins her and sits on the rocker against the wall.
"I heard about Beth," Sam says "I'm so glad she's ok. Andrea's got a real way with people, huh?"
Maggie scoffs "Yeah, she's a peach."
"So you and Glen?" Sam raises an eyebrow. "Come on, I know you've gotta be dieing to share with someone."
"Only if you share on you and Daryl…"
"Not much to share." she shrugs "You've probably done more with Glen than I have with Daryl."
"Wait, what?" Maggie stares at her "No."
"It's," Sam pauses "complicated. He's complicated." she smiles "But I'm determined."
In the distance Daryl comes out of the shed, Sam and Maggie walk over to the gathered group.
"What did you find out?" Rick asks.
"He's got 30 men, heavy artillery. Our boys'll be dead, and our women, well they'll wish they were." Sam sees his bloody knuckles when he adjusts his crossbow on his shoulder, but doesn't say anything.
"What did you do?" Carol asks, noticing his hands too.
"Had a chat." he brushes past her, Sam starts to follow him..
"He's a threat. If he gets back to his group. The choice is clear now." Rick says.
"Now hold on," she can hear Dale start to argue.
"Your hands ok?" Sam asks, glancing again at his busted hands.
"Yeah, fine. Don't you start getting on my case now too." he sends her a pointed look.
"You were just doing what you had to, I get it," she holds her hands up "just like I know, as much as it sucks, we can't just let him go."
Daryl gives her a nod of approval, "This group's a fuckin mess. No one knows who to follow anymore."
"You're not thinking of leaving again, are you?"
"Nah, guess not. But this shit's getting old."
"Sam," Dale approaches her "how do you feel about giving Randall the death penalty?"
"It's best for the group Dale." she says "That's really what you gotta look at."
"How do we know he won't be an asset to the group, given the chance?"
"How do we know he won't stab our backs if we let him stay?" Sam argues back.
"So you're willing to condemn him before we even know him?" Dale looks at her hard, disappointed.
"I don't know that we can afford not to. The world just isn't the same anymore, we all know this. We can't do the jury and trial and all that anymore. I wish I could stand up there with you and give him a chance, I really do Dale, but I don't see it being the right decision."
"Daryl says this group's broken. The more people I talk tom the more I start to think he's right." Dale shakes his head and walks away.
The group is gathered in Hershel's living room again, Dale is still trying to convince people that killing Randall is the wrong decision.
"This is a young man's life! And it's worth more than I five minute conversation." Dale scolds everyone. "Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him?" he looks at Rick "You saved him. Now look at us. He's been tortured, he's going to be executed. How are we any better than those people we're so afraid of?"
Everyone in the room turns their eyes away from Dale.
"We all know what needs to be done." Shane says.
"No," Rick shakes his head "Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned."
"What's the other option? We haven't been able to come up with one viable solution." Andrea says, cutting Rick off.
"So let's work on it!"
"Stop it! Just stop it." Carol interrupts "I'm sick of everybody 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," Dale stares at her "or killing him yourself, there's no difference."
"Alright, that's enough." Rick says, holding up his hands to stop them "Anybody that wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."
The room is quiet for a few heartbeats, people glancing at each other.
"You once said we don't kill the living." Dale tries to reason.
"That was before the living tried to kill us."
"But don't you see? If we do this, the people we were, the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's … harsh, it's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in. And I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. please, let's just do what's right." Dale waits for anyone to speak up, change their minds "Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"
"He's right," Andrea nods "we should try to find another way."
"Anybody else?" Rick looks around.
Sam steps forward, unable to believe she's actually agreeing with Andrea on something "There has to be another way to go about this."
When no one else speaks up, Dale shakes his head "Are y'all gonna watch too? No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget we're slaughtering a human being. Whoa. I won't be a party to it." Dale walks our of the room, putting his hand on Daryl's shoulder "This group is broken."
Sam sits on the deck in the chilly night air, her arms wrapped around herself, warding off the chill, both external and internal. Maggie walks up to her and hands her a heavy sweatshirt. Sam takes it with a weak smile of thanks and pulls it on. They can just barely make out the shapes of Rick, Daryl, and Shane leading Randall towards the barn.
"I don't" Maggie starts "I' m still so confused. Part of me wishes I had stood up with you and Andrea, the other part of me still sides with the rest of the group."
"I know. I can't blame you".
Daryl escorts Randall back to the shed, his grimy bike rag stuffed in his mouth so the kid will be quiet. He didn't want to be right about the group being broken. Him and Sam would do just fine on their own, but before it all went to shit, the group wasn't bad.
He hears a commotion outside and hurriedly finishes tying up Randall before bolting towards the noise. He follows the screams into the field behind the barn and tackles the walker off Dale, taking it out as soon as they hit the ground. He takes one look at Dale and starts calling for the others.
"Over here! Help! Run!" he waves his arms "Hang in there buddy."
The group runs over and quickly takes in Dale's condition. Sam covers her mouth and sobs.
"Hershel! We need Hershel!" Rick shouts "Dale, hold on. You'll be ok. We have to get him back to the house."
"He won't make the trip" Hershel says grimly.
"Then we'll do t it here." Rick says "Glen, go back to the house."
"Rick." Hershel interrupts, shaking his head.
The blood pounds in Sam's ears so hard that it starts to drown out the sobs and cries from the rest of the group. Tears fill her eyes as she watches Dale gasp for breath and start to go into shock. She walks over to Daryl and hides her face in his shoulder.
"He's suffering" Andrea sobs "Do something."
Rick slowly unholster his pistol, aiming it at Dale's pleading face. Daryl steps away from Sam and gently takes the gun from Rick, kneeling on one knee.
"Sorry brother."
"It's me." Daryl says softly as he steps into the tent.
Sam is on the ground on the makeshift bed, and the tears just keep streaming down her face, and her breath is coming in shuddering gasps. She looks at him over her shoulder, opens her mouth, closes it again and shakes her head as fresh tears start to fall. Daryl doesn't say anything else, just lays down next to her. She moves her head to his chest and he wraps his arms around her, letting her tears soak into his shirt while she cries herself out.