Deadland

Chapter 24- Hand Holding

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor." Andrea rolls her eyes.

"Look, say we let 'im join us, right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice." My dad says the word "nice" in this smartass way that I know pisses Dale off. "We let our guard down. Maybe he runs off, brings back his thirty men."

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt? If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization." "Oh my god." My dad groans.

"Wait, Dale." I finally speak up. "You are aware that people died before all of this right? Like...police officers 'n shit killed criminals. This isn't some new-found thing. It happened way before this." Glenn nods at my words. 

"Could you drive 'im further out?" Hershel asks. "Leave 'im like you planned?"

After a few more questions, we begin to talk about how we would kill him and what we would do after.

"We could hang 'im. Snap his neck." Dad suggests. "I thought about that. Shooting him might be more humane." Rick says. "What would we do with the body?" Glenn asks. "Would we bury him or-"

"Ho-hold on! Hold on!" Dale interrupts. "You're talking about this like it's already been decided." "You been talkin' all day. Goin' around in circles, you just wanna go around in circles again?" Daryl questions.

"This is a young man's life!" Dale yells, he's starting to get even more irritated. "And it is worth more than a five-minute conversation!" He pauses. "Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us! He's been tortured. He's gonna be excecuted. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of."

"Damn." Damien whispers.

I think that last part really got to everybody, minus my father of course. "We all know what needs to be done." He says.

"No, Dale is right." Rick quickly says. "We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility-" "So what's the other solution?" Andrea interrupts. "Let Rick finish." Lori spits, I smirk.

Andrea ignores her, "We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could-" "So let's work on it!" Dale yells.

"We are!" Rick responds. "Stop it. Just stop it." Carol speaks up. "I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting!" Her voice is quivering slightly. "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." She shrugs and looks around.

"Not speaking out, or killing him yourself-there's no difference." Dale projects. "All right, that's enough." Rick puts his hand out. "Anybody wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

Nobody says anything. Dale looks around, fidgeting with his hat. "You once said that we don't kill the living." He pleads. "Well, that was before the living tried to kill us."

"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were, the world 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 any of you do! I can't. Please." Dale's voice begins to crack. "Let's just do what's right." 

Nobody responds, "Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?" 

Silence, until. "He's right." Andrea says. "We should try to find another way." "Anybody else?" Rick asks. Nobody responds. 

Dale has tears forming in his eyes, "Are y'all gonna watch too? Nah you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being." Dale shakes his head, "I won't be a party to it." And with that, he walks away. Before exiting the house he puts his hand on Daryl's shoulder and says, "This group is broken." 

It's silent for a beat before Rick says, "We'll do it tonight." 

Everybody is sitting around the fire when Rick and Carl come back. Everybody stands up and looks at Rick, ready to hear whatever he has to say. 

"We're keeping him in custody...for now." Andrea stands up and smiles, "I'm gonna find Dale." 

Lori looks at Rick, "Carl go inside. Now, please." She orders him without looking at him. 

Carl walks into the tent, Alyssa follows him. 

Lori and Rick whisper to each other but I can't hear them. 

Screaming catches everyone's attention. "Get Carl." Rick says, standing up. "Alyssa stay with Lori!" I yell, following Rick. Damien and everyone else trails after us. 

We all run to the fenced in area with the cows. There's a Walker on top of Dale, his screams filling the air. "Help! Over here!" Daryl screams. 

When we make it over there, Dale's stomach is completely ripped open. So ripped open that I can see his spine. 

"Oh fuck." I whisper.

Rick is giving orders as Andrea crouches down next to Dale, crying. 

Hershel comes running, "What happened?" "We gotta get him to the house!" "He won't make the trip." Hershel looks at Rick. "Then we have to operate here." Rick pleads. "Rick-" Rick spins, looking around. "NO!" He yells. 

The sounds of Dale's gurgling and everyone else's sobs fill the air. 

Glenn grabs my hand, not tearing his eyes away from Dale. We interlock fingers, not saying anything or looking at each other. 

"He's suffering." Andrea sobs. Everyone either groans or sobs louder as Rick holds the gun up to Dale's pale face. Dale's eyes are wide, his fingers gripping the grass under him. 

When Rick hesitates, Daryl lightly grabs the gun and lowers it. He kneels next to Dale and holds the gun to his head. Dale weakly holds his head higher so that his forehead is resting against the barrel of the revolver. "Sorry brother." He speaks. 

Boom.

Andrea screams out, Glenn's hand squeezes mine tighter. I hear Alyssa whimper and I look over and see her and Carl cuddled into Lori. 

I look at Glenn and he looks at him, his teary eyes locking with mine. We don't say anything, we just look at each other. 

I can see Damien looking at me in my peripheral vision but I don't look at him. I can't look away from Glenn. 

The thing that breaks our eye contact is Maggie wrapping him in a hug, his hand leaves mine and wraps around her waist. 

I trail my eyes down to my feet, trying to focus on Dale, not Glenn and Maggie.