( DISCONTINUED ) ¹Sphinx's Oath ✸ TWD

II. Vestige Of Hope

This wasn't supposed to happen at all. The camp was meant to be safe. But within that matter of five minutes, so many people managed to die and Jim was bitten. Everything was going so wrong.

‎
     "I say we put a pickaxe in his head, and the dead girl's and be done with it."

Dani rolled her eyes at Daryl's Godawful suggestion. She crossed her arms and shook her head, "The difference between Jim and Amy is that Jim is still alive," She explains, "Yeah, he's been bit, but if he wants to ride it out then we should let him. It's his choice." Dani waits a second for anyone else to say something before continuing, "As for Amy... Just let Andrea grieve, and if she's able to do it herself, then let her. It's her sister, for crying out loud."

"And put the rest of us in danger?" Dale spoke up, "But back to Jim, I hate to say it— I never thought I would— but maybe Daryl's right."

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick argued. "He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"

Daryl dropped the pickaxe from his shoulder and held it close to the ground, "The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be."

"What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure."

"I heard that, too," Shane interjected, "Heard a lot of thing before the world went to Hell."

Dani nodded and looked to Rick with a sad expression, "He's right, the CDC would be a long shot. It might not be the best idea."

"Why? If there's any Government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they?" Dani scoffed and looked away, clearly no one was listening to her. "I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection—"

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do, too, okay?" Shane starts, "Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning."

Lori spoke up from her silence beside her Husband, "That's 100 miles in the opposite direction."

"That is right, but it's away from the Hot Zone. Now, listen to me, if that place is operational it'll be heavily armed... We'd be safe there."

Dani took a moment to think about Shane's suggestion. It wouldn't be a bad idea, and being around skilled and armed soldiers would definitely be the best option the group has so far. But then she thought of something that contradicts the idea: "Okay, but if we go for Fort Benning, that's gonna use up a lot of our fuel. I mean, who says we're even going to make it there before we lose it all?"

"The army got overrun anyways, we've all seen that! The CDC is our best shot and Jim's only chance."

Daryl grunts, clenching his fists, "You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do," then he starts backing up towards Jim. Oh god. "Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!"

As soon as Daryl raises the pickaxe to swing, Rick already has his Colt Python raised to Daryl's own head, ready to fire. "We don't kill the living."

Daryl lowers the pickaxe to his front, "That's funny, coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."

Shane was now standing in between Jim and Daryl, protecting him from Daryl's attempted murder. "We may disagree in some things, not on this. You put it down."