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QUIETLY THE girl set the kit on the ground, pushing daryl backward so he'd fall onto the stump. he grunted knitting his eyebrows together in frustration, "what's this? hospital admissions?"
rosaline rolled her eyes, "be quiet, you look like you've been punching a wall for hours with that hand. just let me handle it." she grabbed his larger hand and placed it in hers. taking some water, she rinsed through it carefully, wiping away at the dried blood with a clean rag.
the marksman's mind flashed back to the time at the tent when she had come to redress his gunshot wound. her hands had worked the same way they did last time, freezing him into place. daryl couldn't help but feel his heart begin to pound faster. it was aggravating him, but he stayed still for her sake.
rosaline took some balm, placing it on each knuckle, and began to massage his hand. they were so lucky that hershel had so many medical supplies back at the house, otherwise, they would've been screwed. of course, she didn't take it all for granted and used it sensibly.
"try not to hit anything anymore, hmm?" rosaline directed, wrapping the knuckles neatly with the palm of his hand.
daryl nodded, standing up. rosaline went to walk away but pulled her back, squeezing her small body into his for a moment before letting her go. he smelled of leather and the forest and a bit of smoke - probably from the fire. it was a smell that seemed so foreign to her, yet she craved more.
that was also his way of thanking her. she gave him a gentle smile before slowly walking back over to where everyone else was.
carl was hanging out at sophia's grave with rhaegar. something about seeing that made rosaline so sad, she had to look away for a moment. although carol beat her to walking over to the boy, uttering a few words of comfort to him. as of late, she had been quietly getting over the death of her daughter.
the next action the little boy took made rosaline have a double take. he stood up angrily looking at carol, "no she's not! heaven is just another lie, if you believe - you're an idiot!"
then he walked away. the german shepherd didn't follow as he saw his owner.
carol seemed to also have the same reaction. rosaline approached her, "did i just hear him right?"
"you did..." she whispered.
the sounds of steps caused them both to turn around. rick and lori had just been making their way out of the barn. carol wasted no time in going up to them, "you need to control that boy."
"carl? what happened?" rick asked, surprised.
"he's disrespectful," she said.
rick raised an eyebrow, "did he say something?"
"something cruel about sophia." the woman answered.
rosaline sighed, "from where i was standing i heard him call carol an idiot."
rick turned around to gather himself for a moment, clearly disappointed in carl's behavior. it seemed that everything around him seemed to be influencing his behavior. adults arguing had clearly rubbed off on him, resulting in the backtalk he was giving.
lori crossed her arms, "we'll figure it out. it's okay."
carol didn't seem satisfied, "it's not okay!"
rick raised a hand trying to calm the woman down, "i'll have a talk with him."
"we'll deal with it. if you can calm down, so that i can-"
"don't tell me to calm down!"
lori began to stammer, "i don't-"
rosaline was starting to see that the conversation was beginning to get out of hand as carol raised her voice. for the first time in a while, the woman had decided to use it, "i don't need you to patronize me. everyone either avoids me or they treat me like i'm crazy. i lost my daughter. i didn't lose my mind!"
the older woman stomped away.
rhaegar whined. rosaline met eyes with lori who seemed to be stuck. she didn't know what to do. rosaline offered her some words of comfort, "you know it's not your fault. everyone has been at each other's throats and it's been rubbing off on carl."
"i just can't believe he's acting like this," lori muttered, watching rick speed after the boy.
rosaline rubbed her back, "don't worry perhaps it's just those teenage hormones finally coming out."
"i hope that's the only thing."
"i heard hershel needs help with the cattle. they've been running wild. maybe i can take the dog out to wrangle them all." rosaline proposed walking away, "you coming to see?"
"no sweetie, i think i'll wait for rick." she said.
"alright. if carl needs looked after you knew where i am." the girl waved, she whistled her dog over and they both walked to the fence, "hey, hershel."
"yes?" the older man looked up, inquisitively.
"patricia was talking about how you need help herding up the cattle this morning, i can send my dog in. he won't bite them, how about it?" rosaline offered.
"it'd be greatly appreciated," he said, nodding thankfully.
rosaline led rhaegar over to the fence where the cattle where roaming, she tapped the top of the wooden boards, "jump. no biting." she commanded. the german shepherd responded with a bark, clearing the fence waiting for the next instruction, "round them up."
to the dog, this was a game of tag, basically. it had been something she taught him with walkers, except he would bite while she threw knives. he was having a lot of fun, barking causing the cattle to start trotting in the direction he'd guide them into.
the work was going smoothly, hershel watching with approval, "you train that dog yourself?" he queried.
"yeah, ever since he was a puppy. started early. he listens to almost anything now - who knew how much talking to a dog frequently helped them understand," she explained with a chuckle. although the reason she would talk so much to rhaegar was when her father would beat her, she'd vent - because there was no one else.
the man chuckled, "intelligent dogs are hard to come upon. we used to have one, as you may have figured from the toys maggie had given you."
"yes, i thank you for that. he has something to chew on now if he gets bored." rosaline smiled.
"the pup seems plenty occupied when he's playing with carl." hershel returned the gesture.
"right. carl?" rosaline suddenly looked around. nowhere to be found. she'd trust that lori had taken him back to the house.
"i'm going to check on maggie." hershel announced, "i'll trust you and jimmy will finish up here?"
"of course."
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during the evening, everyone returned to the house. this was to talk about the upcoming execution. luckily, rhaegar had finished up with the cattle quite quick, meaning rosaline could join the talk.
"so how do we do this? just take a vote?" glenn proposed.
"does it have to be unanimous?" andrea inquired.
"how about majority rules?" lori added.
rick seemed to quickly get overwhelmed by the number of questions being shot his way, "well, let's just see where everybody stands." he said putting his hands up to ease everybody, "then we can talk through the other options."
shane decided to speak first, "well, where i sit, there's only one way to move forward."
"killing him," dale finished for the former cop, "right? i mean why bother to even take a vote? it's clear which way the wind is blowing."
rosaline knew this well. the girl was very much on dale's side of the argument, hence why he had not approached her during the day to convince her. it was evident that she didn't want the kid to die - she had pity for him.
"well if people believe we should spare him, i wanna know." rick pointed out, leaning against the love seat.
dale jerked his chin towards rosaline and glenn, "well, i can tell you it's a small group. maybe just me, rosaline, and glenn."
however, glenn looked unsure, "look i think you're pretty much right about everything all the time... but this-"
"they've got you scared." dale was outraged.
glenn raised a hand in the direction of the door, "he's not one of us, and we've lost too many people already."
the old man turned to maggie, "how about you? do you agree with this?"
she seemed unsure, "couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?"
"just another mouth to feed." daryl piped up from the background. rosaline's eyes landed on him, surprised that he'd decided to even get a word in.
"it may be a lean winter." hershel informed.
lori agreed, "we could ration better."
"well, he could be an asset." dale suggested, "give him a chance to prove himself!"
"we could have him milk the cattle, feed the chickens, clean the coops." rosaline advocated.
glenn noted what rosaline said, "put him to work?"
their idea was shut down by rick, "we're not letting him walk around."
"we could put an escort on him." maggie proposed.
"who wants to volunteer for that duty?" shane asked, not believing anyone would be up for the task to look after randall.
rosa thought for a moment. she could do that, it's not like there was anyone better for the job. she raised a hand, "i could."
"so will i." dale said.
"no sweetie, i'm not letting you do that. you've got your hands full already." lori shook her head. rosaline didn't seem to understand though, what was she doing that kept her busy? usually, she'd look after carl because she was denied the opportunity to go out with the men.
rick decided to step in, "i don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy."
"he's right." lori agreed, "i wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up."
andrea scoffed, "we can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor."
"look, say we let him join us, right?" shane theorized, "maybe he's helpful. maybe he's nice. we let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his 30 men."
"so the answer is to kill him, to prevent a crime he may never even attempt?" dale asserted, infuriated with their lack of empathy, "if we do this, we're saying there's no hope. rule of law is dead. there is no civilization."
"oh my god." shane muttered, turning to look the other way, rubbing his head.
hershel came up with an idea, "can you drive him further out? leave him like you planned?"
"you barely came back this time." lori objected, "there are walkers. you could break down. you could get lost."
"or get ambushed." daryl butted in.
"they're right. we should not put our own people at risk." glenn said.
"if you go through with it, how would you do it?" patricia proferred, "would he suffer?"
shane reintroduced himself to the conversation, "we could hang him, right? just snap his neck."
rick bobbed his head up and down, "i thought about that. shooting may be more humane."
for the first time, t-dog spoke, "what about the body? do we bury him?"
"hold on, hold on," dale panicked as if they've already come to terms with their decision, "you're talking about this like it's already decided."
daryl paced, "you've been talking all day, going around in circles. you just wanna go around in circles again?"
"this is a young man's life!" dale shouted, "and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation! is this what it's come to? we kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? you saved him! now look at us. he's been tortured. he's gonna be executed."
rosaline pushed off the wall finally deciding her overall answer, "i agree with dale. there's no way i want any part of what you're doing. It's cruel and he's practically just a teenager."
he continued, "how are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"
a momentary silence swallowed the whole group.
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rhaegar rounding up the cows, not staying true to his breed, lol. also a serious conversation, yet none of the group seems to want to take it seriously.
don't forget to vote and comment!
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