Survival Guide: To Surviving the Living Dead 101

Rule #13

Don’t Trust Everyone

Just because someone looks trustworthy or acts like it doesn’t mean they are. Even someone you’ve known for years could turn out untrustworthy. This new world changes people. We’ll do anything to survive no matter what it takes. Strangers will make you think that you can thrust them and once they do gain that trust, well, they’ll abuse it. I wish my brother would see that. The same with Dale he is way to trusting. Well except for when it comes to Shane. He doesn’t seem to trust Shane but then again I don’t blame him. But back to not trust everyone.

Lori took off after she came to see Daryl and I. She went to try and find Rick and just left Carl for someone else to watch. Shane went after her and found Maggie’s car, which Lori took without asking, flipped over. She’s fine, just a couple scratches. Carl now knows his mother is pregnant and he’s excited to be a big brother. He’s still too young to understand how any of that works. Rick never got around to having the talk with him. Eventually Daryl caved and was going to go out with T-dog to look for Rick, Glenn, and Hershel. Beth had collapsed earlier in the day. She was in some kind of shock from what happened down at the barn.

Just as Daryl and T-dog were getting ready to leave, Hershel’s truck came speeding down the driveway. Dust kicking up behind them. Maggie ran straight to Glenn but he just walked away from her. Then Rick found out what happened to Lori. I was standing beside T-dog when I saw another figure in the back of the truck. I looked up at T-dog and we locked eyes. He had seen the person too. “Who the hell is that?” I asked, pointing to the back seat. “That’s Randell,” Glenn told us.

Apparently there was some kind of shoot out at the bar. Randell was left behind by his group when he fell off the roof and landed on the fence below. Hershel was out in the old shed where they had the kid locked up while Hershel did surgery to save his leg. “Why didn’t you just kill him?” I asked. Rick looked at me in shock, “what?” He asked. “He was shooting at you. He could have killed one of you and you brought him back here. What happens when his friends come looking for him?”

“They would be. They were quick to just leave him for dead,” Rick told me. “So. That does not mean you bring him back here. You should have killed him and left him as walker food,” I said. “I couldn’t just leave him there, YN.” I shook my head and walked away. This was going to end messy. A couple hours later we were all standing around in the house waiting for Hershel to come inside. He was just finishing up the surgery on the kid's leg. When he came in he told us he was going to be fine and he wouldn't be walking on his leg anytime soon. That's where the voting came in on what to do with him.

It was suggested he works around the farm but that was shot down. Nobody wants to be on babysitting duty. Then it was suggested we just kill him. Dale however had a big problem with that. He begged Rick to give him a few hours to talk to everyone. When he came up to Daryl's camp where me and Daryl were just sitting around the fire, it didn't end too well. Daryl told him he could care less what happens to the kid and I told him that I think he should be killed. Dale then proceeded to remind me that I'm a cop. "No Dale, I was a cop. I am no longer a cop. Not in this world. There are no more laws. He's a danger to the group." He stormed off after that but not before telling us that this group was broken.

It was decided that Randell would die. Rick, Shane, and Daryl took him to the barn. It would be simple and quick. Rick would shoot him in the head. It was the most humane way to go about it. But right before Rick did even pull the trigger Carl showed up because once again Lori wasn't watching him. When Rick came back to tell us what happened Andrea was a little relieved and went to go find Dale. But before she could we heard a scream out in the field.

Everyone ran as fast as they could towards the person who screamed. The sight we found was horrible and shocking. Dale was there, laying on the ground, his stomach ripped open. Daryl had taken down the walker that had attacked him. He was suffering and Hershel couldn't do anything. He wasn't going to make it. I could see the weight on my brother's shoulders as he lifted up his gun. Dale had a pleading look in his eyes. He was pleading for Rick to kill him and put him out of the misery he was in. Rick's hand shook as the gun weighed it down. Daryl stepped forward, taking it from him before kneeling down. He put the barrel of the gun to Dale's forehead and he nodded ever so slightly. "Sorry, brother." Then the sound of the gunshot echoed around us out into the darkness.

With Dale buried with Sophia and the decision to just drive eighteen miles out and drop Randell off was made, Rick and Shane shoved him into the back of the car and headed out. The only reason that was what was agreed on was because it was a way to honor Dale. Of course things don't always go as planned and they end up bringing Randell back. He already knew where the farm was. He went to high school with Maggie. She had to look him up in an old yearbook. He was a few years behind her so that's why she didn't recognize who he was. Now he's locked back up in the shed. Daryl was in there with him now getting answers out of him. We had to find everything out we could about his group. The last thing we needed was for them to ambush us. Good thing we did too. Daryl found out they had a pretty big group. Mostly men and if they showed up here our men were dead and us women would wish we were.