Don't Get Dead | TWD | Volume 1

[28] Judge, Jury, Executioner

Daryl had gone to talk to Randall a little over an hour ago like he offered to do the day before. I knew very well that it would be less speaking and more of Daryl trying to make him talk, which made me slightly apprehensive. Everyone was standing around the fire in the middle of camp, anxious for him to come back with some answers.

I felt sick.

If it was bad news, then there was a good chance that Rick would kill Randall, but after everything that happened back in the town, I wasn't completely against it. I thought about it all night, but the only thing that crossed my mind was how scared those people made me, the way Dave had looked at me.

I hated it, but my mind was settled, and if Rick decided that the best option was to kill Randall, then I wouldn't complain or step in because part of me believed it was the right thing to do.

We were all standing around the middle of the camp, anxious for answers. Lori, who was kneeling over the fire, looked up at Rick as she said, "So, what you gonna do? We'd all feel better if we knew the plan."

"Is there a plan?" Andrea asked.

"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn asked.

"We'll know soon enough."

Rick's gaze moved past the group, looking at Daryl, who was walking over to join us. He held onto his crossbow strap with a bloodied hand, which confirmed in my mind that he had definitely beaten, and tortured Randall for information. I didn't agree with the methods, no matter how much I wanted to know about Randall and his group.

Daryl stopped in front of us, "Boy, there's got a gang, 30 men," he said. "They have heavy artillery, and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna . . . They're gonna wish they were."

"What did you do?" Carol asked.

Daryl looked down at his hand before saying, "Had a little chat."

A silence fell among the group, a silence that Rick broke by barking out his new demands about the prisoner, "No one goes near this guy."

Lori stopped him. "Rick, what are you gonna do?"

He was quiet for a second, but a nod of his head meant that a decision had been made, "We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked.

"It's settled," he nodded. "I'll do it today."

Rick walked away from the group, and Dale followed after him, leaving everyone in awkward silence as we thought about what he said. He was doing it, he was actually going to kill Randall. As much as I didn't want another person to die, I would go along with the decision.

I was glad it was over now, we would kill Randall, and the problem would go away. The only thing now was that we needed to be more careful on runs because the group was still out there, and one of the men that night managed to get back to his people, saying that we were there and killed their men. So by now, they definitely knew there were others.

Everyone dispersed now, knowing that the decision had been made and that there was nothing else to be done about it, and so I walked away to my tent.

I was confused when I saw Daryl walking over. Didn't he want to get away from us? I stood up and waited for him, crossing my arms around my body.

Daryl stopped in front of me and simply said, "Your dad ain't with 'em."

I frowned, having to wonder what he was talking about for a second until I remembered the conversation I had with him yesterday, how I wondered if my dad would have found Randall's group.