Daryl's Girl

Chapter 43

I walked into the house to find everyone else already inside and made my way over to stand between Daryl and Briana. Shane following me in, staring at me before his gaze shifted to Daryl. He almost looked pleased with himself and I had to do what I could to try and hide my face. The last thing I wanted was for everyone to see whatever bruise or red mark might be there. There were more important things we had to discuss.

"So how do we do this? Take a vote?" Glenn said, drawing my attention back to the matter in hand, opening the conversation with Carl being ushered out of the room to go and join Beth and Jimmy.

"Does it have to be anonymous?" Andrea asked once he'd gone.

Rick shook his head. "Lets just see where every body stands. Then we can talk through the options."

"Hell. The way I see it. There's only one way to move forward." Shane insisted. His voice more threatening as he looked over in my direction. We didn't need this meeting to know where he stood.

All his response seemed to do was rile Dale up. "Killing him? Why even bother to take a vote. It's clear which way the wind's blowing-"

"Well if people believe that we should spare him, I want to know." Rick interrupted.

"I can tell you it's a small group. Mainly just me, Glenn, Briana and Lily." Dale replied.

I looked over at Glenn and the look on his face told me he didn't agree. "I think that you're pretty much right about everything all the time, but this-" He started to say. A guilty tone to his voice.

"They've got you scared." Dale interrupted.

"He's not one of us." Glenn argued back. "We've lost too many people already."

Everyone went silent and Dale turned to look at Maggie. "How about you? Do you agree with this?"

"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" She suggested uncomfortably. That suggestion wasn't that bad. It was better than killing him.

Daryl shrugged. "It's just another mouth to feed." 

I turned to face him and shook my head. He wouldn't look at me. He was serious.

"He could be an asset." Dale pleaded.

"Don't you think we should give him a chance to prove himself." I asked, swallowing my annoyance, but as I looked around, everyone, apart from Dale and Briana, were giving me disapproving stares. Even Daryl. So much for that.

"Maybe we could put him to work?" Briana suggested.

Rick shook his head. "We're not letting him walk around."

"We could put an escort on him." Maggie proposed. Again, her idea one for consideration. Although, there was something about the way she stood that told me she neither wanted to save or kill him.

Shane just scoffed. "Who would want to volunteer for that duty?"

"I will!" Dale offered and I would too. If it meant keeping someone alive then I'd step up and play my part.

Once more, Rick shook his head. "I don't think any of us should be walking around with with this guy." This time stepping forward and gesturing with his hand as if signaling the end of that conversation.

"He's right. I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up." Lori agreed.

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles and sentence him to hard labor." Andrea shrugged.

No matter what was said, it was as if Randall's fate was already decided. No one being reasonable enough to listen to any suggestions. This meeting was just a way for them to excuse what they were doing. To convince themselves they'd covered all the options when in actual fact, they hadn't. Just like they were never going to.