CHAPTER EIGHTEEN,
Judge, Jury, Executioner.
IT HAD BEEN ONE MONTH since the death of Lori Grimes. Things had been difficult for the group, Hope was still unresponsive, they had the teen Randall locked in a barn with no clue of what to do with him, a baby who was low on formula, and the weight of grief on their shoulders. It was a rough patch but they were pushing through.
Rick had been quieter. Most of the group thought it was due to loosing Lori, and yes that did play a small part in the reason why he was acting different. But the main reason was because of Hope. Everyday he knew the chances of her waking up were lessening, Hershal said it could be any day. But he said that every month. Rick often thought about the day in the kitchen with her after they found Sophia in the barn. He had promised her that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. He broke that promise.
Carl had been doing better, he realized he didn't want his mother to have to suffer in this world. She decided to save the baby, even if that meant killing herself. Though the boy was still upset. Everything seemed to be falling apart and he didn't know how to cope.
Ryder and Skylin got worse. They didn't talk as much and Rick had to basically force them to eat. The poor kids just wanted their mother back.
The rest of the group was working together to get through the hard time. "Everything happens for a reason" they had to keep reminding themselves.
It was currently Monday and Daryl Dixon was beating the living shit out of Randall, the boy who they had kept in the barn for months on end.
Ignoring Randalls crying and grunting, Daryl sent three more blows to the kids face.
"I told you-" Randall started only to be interrupted by a pissed off Daryl "You told me shit!" He yelled as he slammed the younger boy into the wall.
"I barely knew those guys! I met 'em on the road" Randall panted as blood dripped down his face.
Daryl started to pace. "How many in your group?" He demand.
Randall didn't answer, only speaking when he noticed Daryl pull out his knife. "Uh, no no no no no no no no no. Come on man" he pleaded.
Daryl jumped forward and stabbed the knife into the ground right next to Randalls leg. "How many?!" He demanded once again.
Giving in Randall finally started to talk, "uh, thirty. Thirty guys" he hesitated as he spoke, as if he wearnt to sure of his answer.
"Where?" Daryl asked.
After a moment with no answer Daryl grabbed a hold of the boys bandage and ripped it off causing Randall to scream in pain.
"I don't know I swear!" He yelled through gritted teeth. "We were never any place more than a night!"
Placing his knife on the boys cut Daryl continued with his questions, "Scouting? Planning on staying local?"
"I-I don't know. They-they left me behind" Randall said.
"Did you ever pick off a scab?" Daryl asked.
"Come on man! Im trying to cooperate." Randall tried to get him to stop.
"Start real slow at first" Daryl started as he drug the knife along the kids leg. "Sooner or later you just gotta rip it off"
Randall finally gave in, "Okay okay! They have weapons, heavy stuff. Automatics. But-but I didn't do anything!"
"Your boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm. You just went along for the ride? You're trying to tell me you're innocent?" Daryl snarled at him.
"Yes!" Randall yelled. "These- these people took me in. Not just guys, a whole group of them. Men and Women, kids too just like you people! Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know? But...we go out, scavenge. Just the men. One night we-we found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters, teenagers you know? Real young. Real cute. Their daddy had to watch while these guys- they." He went silent for a moment. "And they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just made him watch as his daughters were." He looked down. "They just left 'em there. No but I-I didn't touch those girls! No I swear I didn't to-" he was cut off by Daryl kicking him in the face.
"Please" he begged. "You gotta believe me man. I'm not like that. I ain't like that. Please please you gotta believe me."
Daryl kicked him again, knocking him out and silencing his screams.
"Little Bitch." Daryl mumbled to himself as he picked up his bow and left the barn walking over to the others.
"Boy there's got a gang, thirty men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here our boys are dead. And our women" he stopped to glance at Carol and Maggie. "Our women are gonna wish they were."
"What did you do?" Carol asked him.
Daryl shrugged. "Had a little chat."
Rick looked at the group infront of him.
"No one goes near this guy." He told them sternly.
Dale took a few steps forward, he had a look of concern on his face.
"Rick what are you gonna do?" He asked.
Rick looked at the older man before glancing down. "We have no choice, he's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."
Dale looked at him in horror "You're just gonna kill him?"
"It's settled. I'll do it today." Rick said before walking away, Dale right behind him.
"You can't do this. You don't want to do this, I know you don't. " the older man stated.
"I thought about it all night." Rick started as he picked up his pace. "Knowing what we know I don't see a way out of it."
"But you can't just decide on your own to take someones life." Dale said.
"The group seemed pretty supportive." Rick snapped, the decision was final and he wasn't changing his mind.
"What because they didn't speak back? You didn't let 'em. There's got to be a process" Dale examined as the two stopped walking.
"And what would that be?" Rick asked. "We can't call witnesses, go before a judge-" he started before Dale interrupted. "So hes just automatically guilty by association and sentenced to death?" He yelled. "He's just a kid! Give me some time to talk to everyone."
"We can't" Rick snapped.
"We can find a way to figure this out." Dale pleaded
"We can't drag this out any longer. People are scared" Rick said as he glanced around them.
"Which is why they need time to discuss this. " Dale excalimed.
"No, no, no they need to be safe. I owe them that." Rick told him before starting to walk away again.
"You think about your kids, the message that your giving them, shoot first think later. Or Hope. You know she wouldn't agree with this. I'm asking for one day to talk to everyone, you can give me that. Think about Carl, Skylin, and Ryder." Dale pleaded.
"I am." Rick nodded before finally giving in. "We reconvene at sunset, then what happens happens."
And with that Rick walked away, towards Ryder who sat on the porch steps waiting for them to throw around a baseball together.
"Hey dad!" The seven year old smiled as he tossed the baseball to his father figure.
"Hey little man, you ready?" Rick couldn't help but smile back, a smile on Ryders face was rare, barely ever seen anymore by the group. And seeing a smile on the little boys face warmed Ricks heart.
So despite all the problems going on at the moment the father and son duo went into the feild and started throwing a baseball back and forth like the world was once again normal.
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
CARL AND SKYLIN WERE sitting outside on a tree stump when Carol approched them. Carl was counting bullets and Skylin was drawing a picture of the group.
"You know we'll see Lori and Sophia in heaven again someday." Carol started as she glanced back and forth between her daughters friends. "They're in a better place."
Skylin stopped drawing to look up at the older lady and she gave her a small smile.
"No they're not." Carl shook his head as he stood up. "Heaven is just another lie. And if you believe it, your an idiot." And with that said he grabbed Skylins hand and walked off, ignoring her whining about leaving her picture behind.
Carol stood there watching the two walk away with a shocked look on her face, Carl had never been so rude. Glancing to her right she noticed Rick walking her way, deciding to make his trip short she started to power walk over to him.
"You need to control that boy." She spit out.
"Carl?" Rick asked as he glanced over to Ryder who stood at his side. "What happened?"
Carol stopped infront of him and crossed her arms over her chest. "He's disrespectful."
"Did he say something?" He asked as he glanced over her shoulder and saw Carl walking around with Skylin in the distance, her small hand in his slightly larger one.
"Something cruel about Sophia." She shook her head in disappointment as she followed Ricks eyes to the Grimes boy.
"I'll have a talk with him." Rick said before walking off towards his son, leaving Ryder standing there rather awkwardly.
"I hope you never act like that." Carol said to the seven year old.
"Yeaaaa" Ryder said as he glanced around looking for an escape. He loved Carol, but she was in a mood and he didn't want to be caught up in it.
"About your mom-" she started but he cut her off with the shake of his head.
"Lets not talk about that, she's going to wake up. I know she will." He said confidently.
"I hope so." Carol gave him a small smile.
"Carl." Rick called after his son. "Carl come over here." He said sternly.
"Well hello daddy" Skylin smiled widely as she turned around and looked up at him.
"Hey pumpkin." He smiled back at her before bending down to her eye level. "How about you go find Ryder? Go play dog and owner or something." He nodded over to the boy who still stood awkwardly next to Carol.
"Yay!" She squealed before running off towards her big brother.
Rick stood back up and turned his attention back over to Carl.
"Did you talk back to Carol?" Rick asked as he put his hands on his hips.
"No." Carl said.
"She says you did." Rick stepped up closer to his son. "You can't talk back to people like that."
"I said it's stupid to believe in heaven." Carl admitted as he looked into his fathers eyes, which were identical to his. "Cause it is"
"Well just think about that for a minute." Rick started. "She lost people, just like the rest of us. Even is it has been a long time, she wants to believe they are alive somewhere."
"But she-" Carl started but Rick interupted.
"Don't." Rick shook his head. "Don't talk. Think. It's a good rule of thumb for life."
"Mom always wanted you to talk more." Carl pointed out.
"Don't change the subject. And don't act like that when your sister is around. She's still little, she looks up to you and Ryder. She is gonna want to be like you, acting like that isn't setting a good example. Think about that. You owe Carol an apology. You made a mistake. Fix it." Rick said before turning around and getting ready to walk off.
"Is that why your gonna kill that guy?" Carl asked causing Rick to stop in his tracks and turn back towards his son. "Fixing your mistake?"
"That's different." Rick shook his head.
"How are you gonna do it? Are you gonna hang him in the barn?" Carl asked.
"You just think about how your gonna make things right with Carol. Don't talk. Think. Got it?" Rick dismissed Carls question.
"Yeah" Carl nodded his head.
"Alright good." Rick gave is son a pat on the back. "You do that, I got to go feed Judith." And with that said he walked off leaving Carl alone in his thoughts.
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
AFTER FEEDING JUDITH Rick walked upstairs to the room he found himself in most of the time now days.
He quietly shut the door behind him before sitting down on the chair that sat next to Hopes bed and taking her cold hand in his warm one.
"You gonna talk back today?" Rick let out a breathy chuckle as he looked down at her plae face.
"Things are getting harder, I just wish you were here." He breathed out. "I hate the fact that I can't help you. I can only watch and wait, wait for either good news or bad news. It hurts to watch not knowing whats to come. Not knowing if your ever going to look into my eyes again, or hold my hand. Or even hit me on the back of the head and scold me for being dumb. I miss you. I miss everything about you. I know I say that every day when I come see you but it's true. God I miss you." He croaked out as a tear ran down his face. This was an everyday thing now, for him to come in and plead and cry trying to get her to wake up.
"I got Ryder to smile today." He smiled slightly at the thought. "I know you'd be proud of them. They are all good kids, you will love Judith. She is adorable, even if she isn't ours I know you'd want us to treat her like ours. But it's always been like that with us, with Ryder and Skylin. I basically treated them as my own before you even came along, I remeber when they told me about you I wanted nothing more than to meet the woman that they talked so highly of. And now I see why. I wish I would have realized it sooner, how great you are. How you are always looking out for others. How you would do anything for this group. How you crinkle your nose when you laugh. Or how you curl your lip when your concentrated. These little things I never noticed before I now see everytime I think about you. And god I pray you wake up so that I can see you do these things everyday." He told her honestly, even if she couldn't hear him it felt good to get it off his chest.
"Please wake up." He cried out and he squeezed her hand tighter in his. "Please give me a sign you are okay. Squeeze my hand or-or move somehow."
She still layed there, her face sunken in and her skin pale. She showed no signs of waking up soon.
"Please come back to me." He sobbed as he leant over and placed his head on her chest, listening to her heartbeat gave him comfort, even if it was barely there.
"I can't do this without you, everything is falling apart. I need you." Rick whispered as he started to calm down a bit.
He stayed in that position for a while, silent tears streaming down his face as one question flashed through his mind.
Would she ever wake up?
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
EVERYONE GATHERED in the living room as the meeting was about to take place.
"Hey Carl" Rick called out for his son who had just walked into the house. "You, Ryder, and Skylin are going to stay with Jimmy during this. He's upstairs in Beth's room with Judy. Go ahead and go up."
Carl nodded and started to walk upstairs with the Smith kids hot on his trail.
"So uh, how do we do this? Just take a vote?" Glenn asked as he glanced around the room.
"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea butted in.
"How about majority rules?" Carol spoke quietly.
"Well let's just see where everybody stands then we can talk through the options" Rick told everyone who now looked at him.
Shane was the first to state his opinion.
"Well." He started. "From where I stand there is only one way to move forward."
"Killing him, right?" Dale asked. "I mean, why even bother to take a vote. It's clear which way the wind is blowing."
"Well if people believe we should spare him I want to know." Rick told the older man.
"Well I can tell you it's a small group. Maybe just me and Glenn." Dale stated before looking over at the Korean boy, his face falling as he noticed the look on Glenns face.
"Look." Glenn started. "I think your pretty much right about everything all the time but this-" Dale was quick to interuppt. "They've got you scared!"
"He's not one of us!" Glenn defended himself. "And we- we've lost to many people already."
Dale shook his head before turing to Maggie.
"How about you? Do you agree with this?"he asked.
Maggie stood silent for a second before turning to Rick.
"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" She asked him.
"Just another mouth to feed." Daryl said.
"He could be an asset. Give him a chance to prove himself." Dale argued.
"Put hin to work?" Someone asked.
"We're not letting him walk around." Rick shook his head.
"We could put an escort on him." Maggie threw an idea on the table.
Shane scoffed, "Who wants to volunteer for that duty?"
"I will." Dale said.
"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy." Rick help up his hand.
"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles and sentence him to hard labor." Andrea pointed out.
"Look." Shane started as he leaned back on the fireplace. "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, brings back his thirty men."
"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime he may never attempt?" Dale asked in horror.
The old man glanced around the room with a sad look on his face.
"If we do this." He started. "If we do this we're saying there is no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."
"Oh my God." Shane sighed as he looked away.
"Could you drive him further out?" Hershal asked. "Leave him like you planned.
"We should not put our own people at risk." Glenn shook his head.
"If you go through with it how would you do it?" Patricia spoke up for the first time since the meeting started. "Would he suffer?"
"We could hang him right? Just snap his neck." Shane shrugged.
"I thought about that." Rick nodded. "Shooting may be more humane."
"What about the body?" T-dog asked. "Do we bury him?"
"Hold on!" Dale stopped anyone from answering. "You're talking about this like it's already decided."
"You've been talking all day, going around in circles. You just wanna go around in circles again?" Daryl asked as he moved his finger around in a circular motion.
"This is a young mans life! And it is worth more than a five minute conversation!" Dale yelled. "Is this what it comes 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 executed." He let out a shake breath. "How are we any better than those people that we are so afraid of?"
"We all know what need to be done." Shane said.
"No Dale is right." Rick shook his head. "We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility-"
"So what's the solution?" Andrea cut him off.
"Let Rick finish." Dale told her.
Andrea quickly dismissed him, "We haven't come up with a single valuable option yet, I wish we could"
"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled.
"We are." Rick replied.
"Stop it!" Carol butted in. "Just stop it. I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide one of you, both of you." She glanced around the room. "But leave me out"
"Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there is no difference." Dale held his arms open.
"Alright that's enough." Rick stopped him. "Anybody wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."
People around the room started to sit down as Dale fiddled with his hands nervously, no one said a thing.
"You once said we don't kill the living." Dale said.
"Well that was before the living tried to kill us." Rick shook his head.
"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were, the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly, it's-its harsh! It's survival of the fittest! And that's a world I don't want to live in. And I don't believe that any of you do. I can't." Dale shook his head as his eyes started to build up with tears. "Please." He begged. "Let's just do what's right. Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"
The room stayed silent for a moment before Andrea spoke up.
"He's right." She nodded. "We should try to find another way"
"Anybody else?" Rick asked as he glanced around the room.
No one spoke up and Rick turned towards Dale.
Dale started to shake his head.
"What are y'all gonna watch too?"he blinked away tears. "Nah, y'all go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we are slaughtering a human being. I won't be a party to it." He shook his head before making his way towards the front door.
He stopped next to Daryl and layed his hand on the mans leather vest.
"This group is broken."
And with that he left, leaving the group to think about what he just said.
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
"WAIT WAIT." Randall said as Daryl dragged him into the barn.
"Put him there." Rick pointed to a small opening.
Daryl obeyed and shoved Randall down onto his knees.
"It's all gonna be over soon." Shane said as he tied a blindfold over the younger mans eyes.
"What?" Randall asked in fear. "What's gonna be over soon?"
"Relax." Shane said.
Randall started to cry out and Shane tried to keep him quiet as Rick loaded his gun.
Rick glanced at Shane who nodded before asking a question he wished he didn't have to ask.
"Do you have any final words?"
"No please." Randall sobbed. "Please don't."
Rick held up his gun towards Randalls forehead, getting ready to pull the trigger before a voice interupted him.
"Do it dad. Do it." It was Carl.
Rick looked over to Shane who sighed before walking over to Carl.
"Are you kidding me? What did I say to you? " Shane spoke harshly to the boy as he grabbed his arm and drug him out of the barn.
Rick turned back to Randall who continued to plead and sob before putting his gun away.
"Take him away." Rick ordered.
Daryl picked Randall up by the collar of his shirt and started to drag him away.
Rick looked Carl in the eyes before walking him back to camp where the others were waiting.
"We're keeping him in custody for now." He told them.
Some nodded while others walked away.
"I'm gonna find Dale." Andrea said as she stood up with a smile on her face.
The group stood in silence for a moment, no one knowing what to say.
Just as Rick was about to talk again a bone chilling scream rang through the air.
"Get the kids." Rick ordered Patrica who nodded and ran inside to sit with the children.
"T-dog get a shotgun now!" Rick yelled before he joined the other in sprinting towards the noise.
"Dale!" Andrea screamed as they all came to the realization of who was in trouble.
The screams started to get louder as the group got closer. They were to late.
Daryl quickly pulled the walker off of Dale and stabbed it through the head before running back over to attend to the hurt man.
"Help! Over here!" He yelled as he jumped up and down to show the others where he was at.
"All right just listen to my voice." Rick bent down besides Dale and looked over his injuries. "Listen to me all right? Listen to me."
Dale started to wail louder as more blood started to gush out of his stomach.
"Get Hershal!" Rick yelled.
"Hold on Dale." Andrea sobbed as she grabbed onto her father figures hand.
"Listen to my voice Dale." Rick tried to keep him awake.
"Hershal! We need Hershal!" Rick screamed as mlre people started to arive.
"Look at me"
"Dale were gonna help were here."
People were talking every which way as Hershal finally arrived.
"Can we move him?" Rick asked but Hershal shook his head. "He won't make the trip."
"We have to do the operation here. Glenn get back to the house." Rick started to give orders but Hershal imterupted him with the shake of his head.
There was nothing they could do.
"No!" Rick yelled out as tears started to stream down his face.
Everyone was a sobbing mess as Dales moans of pain were heard all around.
"He's suffering." Andrea pointed out the obvious as Dale looked around.
"Do something!" She sobbed.
Rick pulled out his gun and held it to Dales head, but he was stopped by the pained voice.
"T-tell h-her I-I-I l-love h-h-her." Dale barely got out through his gurguling of blood.
But everyone knew who he was talking about.
Hope and Dale had a relationship that resembled father and daughter, he always held hope that she would wake up. He would always say he'd be the first to greet her when she did. But now if Hope were to ever wake up, he wouldn't be there.
Rick took a step back, each second it was getting harder and harder to get himslef to pull the trigger.
Noticing his struggle Daryl walked forward and took the gun from his hands.
Kneeling down Daryl locked his eyes with Dales pained ones.
"Sorry brother." He said.
And with that he pulled the trigger.
A/N
Oh well look at that I'm alive lolz.
Sorry it took me so long to update I've been slacking in life.
How did you like this chapter? Opinions?
I'm so excited for y'all to read the next few chapters hahahaha
R.I.P Dale I love you :(
What's been your fan part of this book so far?
Also start asking me questions please so I can answer them at the end of every chapter!
Love you all! Stay safe!!
Word count: 4527
VOTE AND COMMENT!!!