𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐀𝐑𝐃 │ 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍 ¹ [✔]

[19]: happy birthday

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it," Daryl instantly said.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked him.

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

Well that question was counter productive.

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

Isn't that a little insulting?

Rick quickly jumped in. "Jim's not some monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Dale tried to explain himself but Rick cut him off, "He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw that line?"

"Well-" I was cut off.

"The line's pretty clear," Daryl snarled. I felt like slapping him. "Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be."

"None of us ever agreed to that," I argued directly at him, "he is human right now. Human's get human rights, which includes how they want to die when given the choice."

"What if we could get him help?" Rick suggested.

'does he even want help?' I said to myself.

"I heard the C.D.C was working on a cure."

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

"What if the C.D.C is still up and running?"

"Man, that is a stretch right there," Shane said, shaking his head in disbelief.

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

I did agree with him there. The C.D.C would be the best shot. I mean, they blew up Atlanta probably to protect it.

It was obvious that wherever this group went, despite there being no Merle, we would go with them.

Shane cut him off. "Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning."

"That's 100 hundred miles in the opposite direction," Lori said.

"That is right," Shane started, "but 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."

Okay... I agreed to go anywhere that was safe.

"But I don't think the army survived better than any of us, to be honest," I reasoned. Everyone looked at me like I just threw away their birthday cake. "The military must have been on the front line, and they got overrun."

"That's why the C.D.C is our best chance," Rick assured, "Jim's best chance."

Again with the whole, 'maybe he doesn't want help' thing rang through my head. Some people just don't want to be saved.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Daryl shift his weight back and forth. Like he was preparing to do something. He looked over his shoulder and I followed his gaze. He was looking at the cowering Jim by the RV. I knew that Daryl wanted to do something, and I was sure no one else was going to like it.

"You go looking for aspirin," he started, "do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem."

Daryl had paced to Jim quickly, throwing his pickaxe over his shoulder ready to strike Jim. But he only got a few feet away before Rick's python was pointed at the back of his head.

"We don't kill the living," Rick warned.

I had a sudden flashback. Nobody knew around here, but... Daryl has killed a living person before. It was to protect someone too. It was to protect me. Daryl was only doing what he felt needed to be done so that we (or maybe just he) could be protected in the long run.

Daryl eventually lowered his pickaxe, and turned to look Rick in the eyes. "Tha's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."

"We may disagree on some things," Shane explained to Daryl, creating s barrier between him and Jim, "not on this. You put it down. Go on."

Daryl grumbled, but dropped the pickaxe in a huff. He walked away. Rick ushered Jim into the safety of the RV. Away from everyone.

I couldn't do anything to help anyone. The one time I felt mentally prepared, I had to be injured. I would have these bandages for at least a week or two. It sucked.

Everyone walked off to do some good work, whilst I took my previous seat on the old car seats. Dale was already sat there, but immediately he got up to walk over to Andrea as soon as I sat down.

From afar, I could see Andrea put what looked like a necklace around Amy's neck. Andrea told me that this day would be Amy's birthday. It made me feel sick that she missed it. Just by a day.

When Dale got up from the ground, I decided to go over to Andrea.

I sat on the twig infested ground. It hurt a little to sit on my knees. I always found it uncomfortable.

"Hey Andrea," I said softly, hoping she wouldn't blow up on me. She didn't thankfully, but glance up quickly to see it was me, only to revert her gaze back to Amy's closed eyes. "Happy birthday Amy."

Just as I said that, Andrea put her ear near Amy's face. I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. When I concentrated more, I heard shaky breathes come from Amy's walker form. Her eyelashes twitched. Her jaw moved slightly. Along with her arms twitching. She was "waking up".

I gulped nervously, but I didn't move from my seat.

Her muscles spasm, as Andrea put a hand on her face. I watched as her eyes eerily, and slowly opened to reveal eyes that looked so human, but at the same time, looked so dead.

I didn't know what to do, I just looked at Andrea nervously. She seemed to be calmly watching as her dead sister prepared to take a bite at her.

Amy's form looked at her grieving sister. Andrea exchanged hushed words with her, something along the lines of, "I'm sorry."

The walker grabbed Andrea's hair, reaching her mouth to Andrea's face. Pawing at the air, but Andrea kept her at bay. My eyes were wide at the scene unravelling in front of me. I was hoping Andrea would come to her senses.

"I love you," Andrea said. Just before the walker could do any harm, a gunshot rang through the air.

I closed my eyes at the sharp, loud noise. I turned away, and winced. My ears were ringing. But I knew that Andrea had done it. She had done what I never wanted to do. She put her down.