Dallas and Daryl made it back at sunset, just in time to join everyone inside the house for the discussion on Randall.
Dallas, to no surprise, stood by Daryl. the man looked at Carl, waiting for him to leave. he looked to Daryl, then to Rick, and scampered off.
Tyler sat on the couch, peering up at Dallas standing by Daryl. his face was unreadable. everyone was silent, nobody knowing how to start the conversation.
Glenn looked around and finally spoke up.
"so how do we do this?" he asked. "take a rope?"
"does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked, looking to Rick.
"majority rules," Lori responded.
"let's just see where everybody stands. then we can talk through the options," Rick spoke. he glanced at Dale and back to Glenn.
"the way i see it," Shane said. "there's only one way to move forward."
"killing him. right?" Dale looked between everyone. "why even bother taking the vote? it's clear which way the wind is blowing."
"well, if people believe we should spare him, i want to know," Rick responded to him, looking at Dale and then to Glenn.
"i can tell you it's a small group. maybe just me and Glenn," Dale told him. Glenn looked down and then slowly up to him.
"look i- i think you're pretty much right about everything all the time, but this-"
"they got you scared!" Dale exclaimed, looking at Glenn with an astonished expression.
"he's not one of us," Glenn raised his voice slightly. "and we've lost too many people already."
"how about you?" Dale motioned to Maggie with his hat. "do you agree with this?"
she hesitated before turning to Rick.
"couldn't we continue to keep him prisoner?" she asked.
"just another mouth to feed," Daryl spoke.
"it may be a lean winter," Hershel agreed.
"we could ration better," Lori pitched in. Tyler looked around the room.
"or he could be an asset," Dale argued. "give him a chance to prove himself."
"put him to work?"
"we're not letting him walk around," Rick shot the idea down.
"could put an escort on him," Maggie suggested.
"who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane scoffed.
"i will," Dale immediately told him.
"i don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy," Rick shook his head.
"he's right. i wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up," Lori supported.
"we can't exactly put chains around him, sentence him to hard labor," Andrea glanced around.
"look," Shane shifted as he spoke. "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 back to his thirty men."
Dallas watched as Daryl shifted uncomfortably at that thought. his gaze fell to the floor momentarily, before flicking it back to Dale.
"so the answer is to kill him? for a crime that he may never even attempt?" Dale questioned. "if we do this, we're saying there's no hope. rule of law is dead. there is no civilization."
