From Now On (Daryl Dixon Love Story)

The Threat

Daryl's POV:

While Lauryn was napping I decided to interrogate the little bastard. Hopefully he can give us some good information about his buddies. I walked into the shed to see Randall chained up and blindfolded. I pulled the blindfold down and let his eyes adjust so he could see who he's talking to before questioning him, "How many in your group?"

"Uh, 30-- 30. 30 guys," Randall stuttered.

"Where?" I crouched down getting in Randall's face trying to intimidate him.

"Uh... I don't know. I swear. We were never anyplace more than a night," Randall cried out wide-eyed scared of what I might do to his little punk ass.

"They have weapons--Heavy stuff, automatics. But I didn't do anything," Randall pleaded, but it wasn't enough. "Your boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm. You just went along for the ride? You're trying to tell me you're innocent?"

"Yes! These-- these people took me in. Not just guys-- A whole group of 'em. Men and women, kids too--Just like you people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know? But... We go out, scavenge--Just the men. One night, we-- we found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters--Teenagers, you know? Real young. Real cute. Their daddy had to watch while these guys-- they-- And they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just-- They just made him watch as his daughters--They just-just--just left him there. No, but-but-- but I didn't touch those girls. No, I swear I didn't to--Please. Please. You gotta believe me, man. I'm not like that. I ain't like that. Please. Please, you gotta believe me," Randall started to cry. Oh that's it. His people raped any women they came across. I can't stand the thought of them getting near Lauryn, but they wouldn't. They would be dead before they could even look at her if it was up to me. Anger boiled inside of me knowing those guys might be out there looking for Randall and they want this farm and our women. I threw a couple of punches taking my anger out on Randall.

Lauryn's POV :

The group was standing around the picnic table waiting for Daryl to come back from interrogating Randall. " Is there a plan? Are we gonna keep him here?" I asked looking to Rick for an answer.

"We'll know soon enough," he nodded over to Daryl who was walking up to the group.

"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna--They're gonna wish they were," Daryl told the group and wanted to see Rick's opinion.

"We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat," Rick states firmly in his decision, "I thought about it all night. Knowing what we know now, I don't see a way out of it."

Dale started to argue with Rick about killing Randall. I didn't really care what happened to Randall and neither did Daryl. The group is like family and we have to do whatever it takes to protect our family, but Randall hasn't done anything to hurt us or shown psychotic behavior. He does deserve a chance to prove himself, but it would be difficult to have eyes on him 24/7. 

Later that night we were all sitting around a fire that Glenn had made while Rick, Shane, and Daryl took Randall to the barn to execute him. We all sat in silence waiting to hear the gunshot wondering if this really was the best decision. A few minutes later the boys came back saying that they weren't going to kill Randall but keep him in custody. I guess Carl followed them to the barn and wanted to witness the execution and Rick couldn't go through with it. Daryl was tying Randall back up in the shed when we heard a scream. It came from the field.

We all grabbed our guns and started sprinting to where we heard the scream. Daryl made it out there much quicker than all of us. " Over here!" Daryl yelled jumping and waving his hands to get our attention. As we got closer we saw who it was. It was Dale. A walker had gotten to him. We all started to cry knowing that there was nothing we could do to help him. Rick yelled for Hershel to come out and help Dale, but there was no hope of saving him. Rick knew he had to put him down to stop the suffering, but he couldn't do it. Daryl took the pistol from Rick and aimed it at Dale's head, " I'm sorry brother."

The sound made all of our stomachs churn knowing that bullet went through one of our own. It's different when you shoot a walker versus when it's your own especially someone who didn't deserve to die that way.

The next morning we had a funeral for Dale. Rick said some beautiful words to honor our friend, but I'm sick of it. I'm sick of funerals. I've been to enough. I don't want my friends and family to die what seems like every other day. Daryl noticed something was bothering me probably by the look on my face. He pulled me closer to him kissing the top of my head.

After everything that has happened, Hershel invited all of us to stay in the farmhouse. All that we have experienced together has brought us close together. We started making plans for resources and how to make this a better place for all of us to live. Daryl and I packed up our tent and belongings and brought them into the house. We took only a small corner of the living since there were only two of us, we didn't need a lot of space. I went out to my truck to check on how much ammo I still had and to make sure I left some of my belongings in my truck. I didn't take everything with me into the farmhouse just in case of an emergency. 

Rick went to go check on Randall, but a few moments later we heard Rick yell for all of us to come to the shed. We all ran over to Rick to see what he was yelling about. Randall was gone. And so was Shane...

*Hey everyone! I'm sorry this chapter wasn't my best. It's really just a filler chapter. I hope you all are enjoying the story so far!