At the end of the world- A walking dead fanfic, Book 1

7- Always

The group gathered around Kyllian and Jim was left to sit in the shade on his own, unable to hear anything they discussed. The others looked at Kyllian like they were expecting him to say something.

"Do you have a solution?" Rick asked eventually.

Kyllian frowned. "No." He had fully expected that someone else would come with a solution.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and be done with it." Daryl spoke up, as angry as always.

"Is that what you want, if it were you?" Shane deflected.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it."

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." Dale said.

"Jim deserves better." Kyllian shook his head. "He's a bit odd, but he deserves better."

"He's not a monster or some rabid dog." Rick agreed.

"I'm not suggesting-" Dale tried, but Rick's voice grew louder and overpowered his.

"He's sick. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" He bit back.

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers. Or them to be." Daryl bit back.

"I agree." Leland nodded. "Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, Jim poses a risk to us." He held back tears. "And I can't lose another child." The reality of last night hadn't fully dawned on him yet.

"What if we can get him help?" Rick questioned. "I heard the CDC was working on a cure."

"I heard that, too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." Shane replied.

"What if the CDC is still up and running?"

Shane scoffed. "Man, that's a stretch right there."

"Why? If there's any government left, any structures at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection..."

"I think we all want those things, but there's one thing we need to consider." Kyllian crossed his arms. "The army, the government, turned on the people in Atlanta. I was there. If they're protecting the CDC at all costs they won't hesitate to mow us down, because what's a couple more dead civilians to them?"

"We all want shelter and protection." Shane spoke up. "But if they exist they're at the army base. Fort Benning."

"That's even worse." He mimicked a gun going off. They would end up shot dead there too, but no one seemed to give much attention to his words.

"That's 100 miles in the opposite direction." Lori noted.

"That's right." Shane affirmed. "It's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there."

"The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that." Rick objected. "The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance."

Daryl shook his head slightly. "You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Somebody needs to have some ball to take care-" He turned around and raised his pickaxe as he stormed up to Jim. "Of this damn problem!"

Rick was by far the fastest to react. Daryl had barely turned around or he had already pulled his gun out. He cocked the hammer back and pressed the barrel against the back of Daryl's head, making him pause in the middle of his swing.

"We don't kill the living." Rick hissed. It wasn't a command, it was demand. There was no way to twist his words or go around it.

Shane walked forward and stood in front of Jim, protecting him. Daryl lowered his pickaxe and stared Rick down.