━━━Wildfire
Grace shifts her weight nervously as Daryl marches back up to the group after talking with Randall.
"Boy's there got a gang, 30 men. They heave heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead and our women, they're gonna wish they were," Daryl announces and Grace gulps.
"What did you do?" Carol speaks up with a soft voice.
"Had a little chat," Daryl replies, his eyes flashing dark for a moment.
"No one goes near this guy," Rick announces through gritted teeth, his eyes glancing over the group.
"Rick, what are you going to do?" Lori asks with a low voice, closing the distance between her and her husband.
"We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat," Rick's words echo throughout Grace's eardrums. She snaps her head towards him and he averts his gaze from her.
"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale scoffs out, his eyes widening. Rick shoots him a quick glance and clears his throat.
"It's settled. We'll do it today," Rick nods his head, marching off as Dale quickly follows behind him.
As the sun goes down over the horizon, the group gathers inside the house. Grace leans against the wall as the silence starts to fill the house and she gulps.
"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?" Glenn's the first one to speak up.
"Does it have to be unanimous?" Lori asks curiously and Andrea shrugs her shoulders.
"How about majority rules?" she replies dryly.
"Let's just see where everyone stands then we can talk through the options," Rick announces and Shane scoffs quietly.
"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward," Shane speaks up harshly and Dale rolls his eyes with annoyance.
"Killing him, right? I mean why even bother to take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing," Dale snaps back at him and Rick lets out a tiny sigh.
"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I want to know," Rick clears the air between the two men eyeing each other down.
"I can tell you its a small group. Maybe just me and Glenn," Dale announces and Glenn inhales sharply.
"Look, I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this-" Glenn starts to speak.
"They've got you scared!" Dale quickly cuts him off and Glenn sinks down in his figure.
"He's not one of us and we've lost too many people already," Glenn comments.
"How about you? Do you agree with this?" Dale asks, glancing over at Maggie. She stays silent for a minute and shifts her weight nervously.
"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" Maggie sighs out.
"Just another mouth to feed," Daryl chimes in.
"It may be a lean winter," Hershel points out.
"We could ration better," Lori speaks up, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, he could be asset. Give him a chance to prove himself," Dale points out and Grace chews on her bottom lip.
"Put him to work."
"We're not letting him walk around," Rick speaks up, shaking his head.
"We could put an escort on him," Grace shrugs her shoulders and Rick glances over at her.
"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane scoffs out, clearly against it.
"I will," Dale retorts harshly.
"I don't think anyone of us should be walking around with this guy," Rick raises his voice
"He's right, I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up," Lori mumbles out.
"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles and sentence him to hard labor," Andrea
"Look, say we let him join us, right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let out guard down and brings back his 30 men," Shane suggests and Grace's eyes widen.
"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," Shane mutters underneath his breath.
"Could you drive him further out? Leave him like you planned?" Patricia suggests and Lori's eyes fill up to the brim with concern.
"You barely came back this time. There are walkers, you could break down, or get lost," Lori chimes in.
"Or get ambushed," Daryl clears his throat.
"They're right. We should not put our own people through at risk," Rick sighs out, shaking his head.
"If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would he suffer?" Patricia asks, shifting her weight uneasily.
"We could hang him right? Just snap his neck," Shane suggests and Grace's stomach twists into uneasy knots at the thought.
"I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane," Rick tilts his head to the side, pondering in his mind.
"And what about the body?" T-Dog shifts his weight uneasily and Dale's eyes widen.
"Hold on! You're talking about this like it's already decided," Dale scoffs out with disbelief.
"We've been talking all day. Going around in circles. You just wanna go around circles again?" Daryl furrows his eyebrows, spinning his finger around in the air.
"This is a young man's life and it's worth more than a 5 minute conversation. Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide to do with them?! You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured, he's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?" Dale rambles on and Grace lowers her head with shame.
"We all know what needs to be done."
"No, Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here," Rick clears his throat.
"So what's the other solution?" Andrea asks, stepping forward.
"Let Rick finish," Lori demands, shooting her a sharp glare.
"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet, I wish we could," Andrea finishes her sentence.
"So, let's work on it!" Dale shouts, his voice echoing in the house.
"Stop it. Just stop it. I'm sick of everyone fighting and arguing. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide, either of you, or both you, but leave me out of it," Carol speaks up with a fragile voice, standing in the corner.
"Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there's no difference," Dale snaps at Carol and she cowers away.
"Alright, that's enough. Anybody that wants the floor has the chance," Rick announces, his eyes darting around the room.
"You once said that we don't kill the living," Dale speaks up, once again.
"Well, that was before the living tried to kill us," Rick shrugs his shoulders.
"Don't you see? If we do, the people that we were, the world that we knew is dead. And this new world...is ugly, harsh. It's survival of fittest and that's a world I don't want to live in. I don't believe that any of you do, I can't! Please. Let's just do what's right. Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?" Dale asks, eyes darting around the living room.
"He's right. We should try to find another way," Andrea steps forward, standing beside Dale.
"Anybody else?" Rick asks, glancing around.
"I...think that we should at least go through the options. He's just a scared boy. Not a man...but a young boy," Grace speaks up, stumbling over her words.
Once again, the silence settles in and no one else decides to stand up.
"It's settled," Rick lets out a deep sigh.
"Are y'all gonna watch, too? No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Whoa...I won't be a party to it," Dale fights back the tears before storming out of the house.
Grace clenches her fists and lowers her head with shame. Everyone piles out of the house and Grace sits out on the porch as the darkness starts taking over with Maggie.
"You really think Rick is gonna kill him?" Maggie asks, crossing her arms over her chest. Grace glances up at Maggie and lets out a tiny sigh.
"I hope not," Grace lowers her head.
Suddenly a loud scream rings throughout the fields and Grace perks up her head. Her heart skips a beat and panic floods her body.
"Go!" Maggie demands and Grace sprints off the porch. She follows behind Rick, Daryl, and the others running towards the sounds of agony.
Grace's stomach twists into uneasy knots as a walker hovers above Dale, ripping him apart. Her lips tremble and her mouth slightly gapes open.
Andrea sprints ahead of the others and immediately drops down onto her knees, taking out the walker with her gun. The gunfire rings throughout the air and Grace flinches at the ringing sound.
"Hang on, Dale. Hang on," Andrea begs Dale, tears gleaming her eyes.
"Hershel! We need Hershel!" Rick screams out, his throat burning.
"What happened?" Hershel asks, rushing through the fields and coming to an abrupt stop as his eyes land on Dale's body.
"Can we move him?" Rick asks Hershel, stepping closer.
"He won't make the trip," Hershel whispers, his eyes softening.
"You have to do the operation here," Rick demands and Hershel places his hand on Rick's shoulder. He glances into his eyes and shakes his head.
"Rick," Hershel calls out with shame.
"No!" Rick screams out, clenching his fists. Grace sinks down in her figure and tries to control her erratic breathing. She clutches at her chest and Hershel grabs onto her hand. He pulls her back to reality and she gazes back at him.
"He's suffering. Do something!" Andrea begs, choking on her sobs. Rick pulls out his pistol and aims it at Dale's head. He hesitates, finger not even on the trigger and Daryl steps forward.
Daryl takes the pistol from Rick's hand and kneels down on the ground. Dale's eyes gaze at the gun with fear, but also relief hidden in his eyes.
"Sorry, brother."