A Broken World

Thirty-Six

Yn

Rick and Shane left to take Randall eighteen miles out. I made my way upstairs to visit Beth, who was sort of out of her shock. She was sitting up and talking a little, but she was depressed. She didn't see the point in living in this world anymore. It was sad to see someone so young; someone as bright as Beth became a shell of themselves. I spent a few minutes with her until Maggie came up, and then I walked outside.

I didn't want to just lay in bed all day and get stiff. I knew my limits and when to take it easy. It's not like I plan on running around and doing anything like lifting heavy objects or taking down walkers. I literally just want to take a little walk and get some fresh air. I walked over to the camp and was greeted by everyone outside. “How are you feeling?” Carol asked. I shrugged, “Still in some pain, but it's not too bad. Have you seen Daryl?” I asked. She looked around the farm. “He went out hunting,” Dale said, walking over to us.

“I was going to go for a walk. Thought I'd ask him to come with me so we could talk about his attitude,” I said. Carol hummed, “He cares about you.” I nodded, “Yeah, I know he does. But he's keeps being an ass towards me. He hasn't forgiven me for whatever I did a long time ago.” Carol put done the laundry she was folding. “Well, how about I go for a walk with you and we can talk.” I smiled, “That sounds wonderful.”

We decided to walk the down the drive towards the gate, taking it slow and easy. “So you want to talk about what happened between you, Daryl?” Carol asked after a few minutes. I sighed and shook my head. “I don't exactly know for sure. We were fine until I graduated from college and decided to go to the police academy. Things got even worse a few years later when Merle became a person of interest in a murder. Eventually, Merle was arrested but on other charges. Daryl, he um, he went off on me. He accused me of arresting his brother when I didn't. I moved after that and left for Atlanta. It's been years since we've talked or seen each other.”

“Were you two together in a romantic sense?” She asked. I shook my head, “No, not really. Daryl stuck up for me when we were kids. A bunch of older boys were picking on me at the park, and he took care of them. I kind of clung to him after that. We slowly became best friends. We used to tell each other everything. I thought things were going to be more when I came home my junior year of college for Christmas. He was my first. I thought that after that, we would have the talk about moving forward and becoming more than just friends. But the next day…the next day, he told me it was all a mistake.”

“Well, it's very clear that he cares about you. Even after all that time of not talking to each other.”

“Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Daryl has always acted differently when it came to Merle. He's not the person he showed at the quarry. I mean, he's prickly, always has been. It's hard for him to trust people. But once he does trust someone and he becomes close to them, they become his family. Family is everything to Daryl. If Merle would ever show back up, Daryl would choose him over everyone else, even me.”

Before Carol could say anything, she was cut off by a deep gruff voice yelling my name. Carol and I turned around to see Daryl storming over to us. “The hell ya think you're doing?!” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “Carol and I are taking a little walk around the farm. I don't want to get stiff from sitting doing nothing, Daryl, so get the fuck off my ass.” Daryl scoffed, “Do what the fuck you want. But don't expect me to come help ya ain't!” He turned around and walked away.

Later in the day Rick and Shane returned with Randall. Turns out Randall went to high school with Maggie. Now we had to figure out what to do with him. We were all in the house discussing what to do with him. “He knows where the farm is so we can't let him go. If he finds his way back to his group…” I trailed off. Everyone came up with ideas on what to do with Randall. In the end it came down to killing him. Dale wasn't very happy about that. He didn't feel right killing an “innocent” man.

But that's what was decided; Rick, Shane, and Daryl were going to take care of him. But it was agreed that Dale had the time between now and then to talk to everyone. Daryl had gotten information from him earlier from Randall. He found out where his group was staying and how many there were. He also found out that the group was a bad bunch. They were all men; men who took advantage of women after killing the men.

I went up to his campsite later that evening to talk to him. We need to clear the air between us, especially since we're in the same group and are going to be spending a lot of time around each other. It would be better for us to get along and work with each other, and try to be friends. “The hell ya doing up here? If this I'd about not kill–” I held up my hand to stop Dsryl from talking and sat beside him. “No, It's not about that. That asshole needs to die.”

I looked down at his hands to see his cut up knuckles. Without even thinking I grabbed his hand. “Jesus, Daryl, how fucking hard did you hit him?” He pulled his hand out of mine, “Not hard enough for what he said about you.” That caught my attention and I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? What did he say about me?”

Before Daryl could answer me on what Randall had said about me, Dale came walking up to us. He tried hard to convince us that killing Randall wasn't the right thing. Dale was a good person but it was too dangerous to keep Randall alive. When we told him we didn't agree, he walked back to camp.