Our Shadows (Carl Grimes/The Walking Dead)

Chapter 17: Insane

"You've never seem a walker be killed before?" Daryl snickered sarcastically.

I shook my head, "not just any walker... Randall"

Daryl ripped his arrow from Randall's head. Glenn inspected the body. "That's strange" he started.

I knelt down beside Glenn, "What?"

"There's no bite marks" Glenn said. Daryl lifted Randall's chin, purple and black bruises covered his neck.

"Looks like he broke his neck" Daryl added.

"If there's no bite marks then... how did he turn?" I asked. Both of them shrugged they're shoulders.

An agonizing scream came from the field followed by gun shots. All three of us bolted back to the barn house to see the group huddled in the feild.

When I got to the group feel to my knees. There Dale was, laying on the grass. His stomach ripped open and a walker crumpled up dead beside him. "Oh... Dale" Andrea mumbled, pulling back tears as she grabbed his hand.

Dale opened his mouth but not a single breath could escape. Tears ran down his face, he was in too much pain. Everyone stood silent as they watched Dale suffer. I looked up at Rick who pulled his gun out, aiming at Dale's forehead. Rick was really going to do it. As much as it hurt to end Dale, it would hurt more to let him die suffering.

Rick pulled his arm back, looking down. Daryl took his cross bow instead. "I'm sorry" he said before releasing the arrow into his head. Dale was gone.

I didn't know Dale very much but seeing Andrea made my heart break just a little. She had lost everyone she loved and it was harder on her than it was for me. At least when my family died, I wasn't there to see it.

We all have our respect before walking back to the camp. That's where I spotted Carl sitting on the porch, looking at his pistol.

I joined beside me. Strangely I wasn't mad at him anymore. Instead I just wanted to dig next to him and not talk. Silence was nice for the first time.

After a couple minutes of starring into the dark sky, I could tell something was bothering him. "Are you alright?" I asked. He continued to stare at his pistol. I took it softly from his hand. He didn't fight but just let me take it. I placed the gun next to me and took his hand into mine, laying my head on his shoulder.

"It was my fault" Carl mumbled.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Carl rubbed the palm of my hand with his thumb for a silent moment. "It's my fault Dale died"

I lifted my head from his shoulder, "it's not your fault, a walker attacked him. There was nothing we could do" I reassured him.

Carl shook his head, "When I went into the woods to find Randall, I came across that same walker. It was stuck in the mud so I didn't kill it. I told myself it wasn't going to do any harm. That walker killed Dale because I didn't kill it"

My eyes trailed down to my shoes. I think if I knew Dale more than I did, then I would believe it was Carl's fault but I know it's not. "Things happen for a reason and maybe it was just his time to go? No one could prevent what happened Dale, what happened was meant to be" I reassured him.

He shook his head, "You don't get it, I could have saved him if I wasn't so... sympathetic!" He said angrily.

"And that's what makes you human, Carl. That's how you survived this long, that's how you stay alive." I said. "People die everyday, we just need to accept it. Don't blame yourself."