Angel With A Shotgun (Walking Dead Fanfic)

Chapter 32: Our Broken Moral Compass

Chapter Thirty Two


Our Broken Moral Compass


▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬ 


     “Ow.”

     Rick hissed out of pain as Electra ran the disinfectant soaked cloth over the wounds that were scattered in disarray across his forehead. Despite the fact that Electra had already dealt with him, Shane had taken his place in the corner of the room, sitting on a rather comfy looking armchair.

     “Stop your complaining.” Electra ordered with a roll of her mismatched eyes as she applied a little more pressure onto one of the wounds causing Rick to grimace. “And to think you were sniggering at Shane’s reactions….it’s just disinfectant guys.” She shook her head with a little chuckle. “This could have all been over when you came back last night but no….you’re the ones who insisted on leaving it for today.”

      In all honesty, Electra couldn’t blame them. A lot of shit had gone down the day before and the day before that. When Rick, Glenn and Hershel had finally returned to the farm they had brought a little ‘friend’ along with them. Turns out that they had encountered a group of men when finding Hershel and had gotten themselves into a fight in which two men had been killed and one was injured so bad (through no fault of their own) that they took pity on him and brought him back to the farm to get fixed up.

     Yesterday, they had come to the conclusion that they would drive him around eighteen miles away from the farm and leave him there so he would not know where the group was located if by any chance he encountered his people once more. Complications had arisen once more and so had the fact that the captive knew Maggie and therefore knew the location of the farm.

     Currently, he was being kept in the slaughter house whilst they figured out their plan of action.

     “I thought you were menna have the ‘healing hands’ there, Ellie.” Rick mocked her, quoting Patricia’s words to Electra when she had first arrived at the farm and had disinfected T-Dog’s wounds despite the fact he had not been present at the time.

     “I’d be careful if I were you, Rick.” Electra warned him in a calm tone as she removed the cloth from his forehead and applied more disinfectant on to it. “If you’re not, you might end up having to do this yourself……” she mused before looking into his eyes. “Or even worse…Shane might have to do it for you.” She smirked at Rick cheekily, causing him to chuckle a little bit.

     With a grin, Electra turned her head to catch a glimpse of her brother who seemed to be disconnected from the conversation with a blank expression lying across his features. Seemed was the word, because his eyes were completely fixated on his little sister who, for some reason, couldn’t help but think back to their previous words.


◄◄◄


     “Should I be taking watch or should I be keeping an eye on you?”

     “What the hell is that meant to mean?”

     “You know what it’s meant to mean, Shane.” Electra told him having just followed him on his way out of the Greene house having just been shown up by Hershel and Rick. “Look, Shane, I am your sister and I’m gonna tell you something.” She sighed.

     “Oh, so this is a lecture.”

     “Shane.”

     “Sorry.”

     “Have you ever considered somewhat of a…lighter touch, brother?” Electra enquired, folding her arms across her chest. “Abandoning the search for Sophia, taking out the walkers in the barn, lying to Lori today.” She listed his actions. “All of them were the right calls, Shane.”

     “Finally, someone-”

     “No, Shane, let me finish this before you start.” Electra interjected causing Shane’s eyes to bore into her own. “They were all the right calls but it’s your presentation that leaves something to be desired……” Electra pointed out. “A whole lot to be desired.” she muttered under her breath.

     “Dale send you?”

     “What?” Electra questioned him with her brows furrowed. “What has Dale got to do with this?” she asked him, honestly confused by his question but Shane continued a little. “I see what you’re doing, Shane.” Electra said, grabbing his arm and forcing him to face her. “I see you pushing everyone away: Rick, Lori, Carl, Stacie….me. Why? We need you, Shane.” She told him causing Shane to scoff.

     “I’ll always be the odd man out.”

     “Not to me, you’re not.”

    
►►►


     “Did you ever pick off a scab?” Daryl questioned Randall cruelly as he teasingly ran the blade of his hunting knife across the scab, applying minimum pressure that caused Randal to grunt out of pain. “Start real slow at first,” he recited, continuing to run the blade down the scab. “Sooner or later, you’ve just got to rip it off.” He said harshly, successfully scaring Randall. 

     “Okay. Okay.” Randall caved in much to Daryl’s satisfaction. “They-they-they have weapons, heavy stuff, automatics.” He stammered over his words. “But I didn’t do anything.” Randall reinforced, it must have been the hundredth time that Daryl had heard those words come from his mouth.

     “Your boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm.” Daryl drawled. “You just went along for the ride?” he enquired. “You’re trying to tell me you’re innocent?”

     “Yes!” Randall panted. “These….These people took me in. Not just guys, a whole group of them.” He spilled causing Daryl to withdraw his knife. “Just like you people. Thought I’d have a better chance with them, you know?” Daryl certainly did not know. “But we go out, scavenge, just the men.” He explained causing Daryl to pace a little bit. “One night, we….We found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters…..Real cute, not like that Electra of yours though. Teenagers, you know? Real young.” Daryl slowly turned his head to look back at Randall. “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 left him there.” He stammered before he caught the look in Daryl’s eyes. “No, but….But I didn’t touch those girls. No, I swear I didn’t.” Grunting, Daryl kicked Randall in the stomach. “Please. Please. You gotta believe me, man. I’m not like that. I aint like that. Please. Please, you gotta believe me.” Daryl simply kicked him again.


►►►


     “So…….” Electra started whilst Lori placed some firewood down on the campfire, Electra herself was seated on a camp chair with Stacie sitting on her lap. “So what you gonna do?” she questioned her brother and Rick. “We’d all feel better if we knew the plan.” She said on behalf of all the group who were in agreement with it. “If there is a plan that is……” she muttered under her breath.

     “We gonna keep him here?” Stacie questioned eagerly causing Rick’s eyes to shift uneasily towards Electra, probably thinking this was no place for an eight year old girl to be, which of course, it wasn’t. “Well…..?” she questioned with determination in her eyes.

     “Why don’t you go and find Carl, Stace?” Electra suggested as she popped Stacie off of her lap. Stacie span around to face her. “Go on.” She urged her causing Stacie to sigh and comply, running off in the direction of the Greene house assuming that was where Carl would be. “So…..” Electra turned back in Rick and Shane’s direction. “Are we gonna keep him here?” she queried.

     “We’ll know soon enough.” Rick nodded at her.

     “Boy there’s got a gang, 30 men.” Daryl informed them as he approached the group causing Electra’s head to snap in his direction. “Got heavy artillery and they aint looking to make friends.” He explained whilst Electra’s eyes trailed to his bloody knuckles. “They roll through here, our boys are dead and our women, they’re gonna…….” Daryl trailed off causing a shiver to tingle down Electra’s spine. “They’re gonna wish they were.”

     “What did you do?” Electra questioned Daryl, her mismatched eyes trailing down from his face and down to his bloody knuckles.

     “Had a little chat.”

     “No one goes near this guy.” Rick declared.

     “Rick, what are you gonna do?”

     “We have no choice.” Rick told them causing Electra to angle an elegant eyebrow at him. What don’t we have a choice about? “He’s a threat.” He stated causing everyone to nod, he was pointing out the obvious. “We have to eliminate the threat.”

     “You’re just gonna kill him?” Dale questioned him.

     “It’s settled.” Rick said turning his head in the direction of Dale, who both Electra and Shane had no doubt was going to start an argument. “I’ll do it today.” He informed the rest of them making it very clear that this was going to be the way that this was going to go down which definitely shocked them all. Without another word, Rick walked off with Dale hot on his heels. Electra took a step forward with the full intention of following Rick also.

     “Hey, Electra.” He called for her causing her to reluctantly stop in her tracks. Sighing, she twisted around to meet the eyes of Daryl. “A word.” It wasn’t put as a question, more like a command accompanied by a cocked head in a gesture. Grudgingly, she decided to follow his lead to the side of camp so they could talk in private without the prying eyes that were always here.

     “Believe me, I have more than one word I wanna say to you, Daryl Dixon.” Electra told him, hooking her thumb through the belt loop in her grey denim shorts. Daryl simply stared on at her wondering what she was going to say. “Just…..” she trailed off. “What do you want, Daryl? I’m busy.” She said impatiently, her eyes glued to her knuckles. “And for Christ’s sake, clean off your damn knuckles.” She said, unable to take it anymore as she pulled out a red rag from the back of her pocket and threw it at him.

     “Thanks.” Daryl said, taking it from her and complying whilst Electra rolled her eyes wishing he’d have just got to the point. “That guy….Randall…..you know him?” Daryl enquired, looking up from the rag that he was wiping his knuckles to her face.

     “No.” Electra shook her head with a little scoff. “I think it would be common knowledge if I knew him, Daryl.” She rolled her eyes once more. “Why?” she questioned him, folding her arms across her chest.

     “You’ve never had any contact with him whilst he’s been here…..?” Daryl enquired causing Electra to cock an eyebrow at him and shake her head at him. “He knew your name, that’s why.” Daryl revealed causing a shiver to travel down Electra’s spine.

     What?

     How?

     Why?

     When?

     Just, what?!

     “You might wanna check it out.” He suggested moving on to his left hand.

     “Yeah…..” Electra agreed, very curious and very fearful. “I’ll probably go and do that.” She stated, taking a few steps away from him. “Hey, Daryl?” she questioned causing him to look back at her. “I was wondering; did you get what you wanted?” she questioned.

     “Say what?”

     “Approval from Rick and Shane? Thanks?” Electra questioned. “I mean, just out of pure curiosity, was hitting that kid really worth it?” she questioned. “I mean, they’re my brothers but…..why would you do that just to seek approval from some ‘idiots’?” Electra questioned him, quoting his own words.

     “He aint a kid.” Daryl retorted in response to calling Randall a kid. “He’d do a lot worse that hit you if you gave him the chance.” He stated getting up uncomfortably in her face. “What do you want me to do, woman? Huh? I don’t need this.” He stated stepping back a bit.

     “I don’t want anything from you, Dixon.” Electra told him. “Never have and I never will……Sure as hell won’t see me asking you for anything.” She stated. If he were Merle, Electra would have been dead by now. She knew exactly how to get under his skin and she knew it. “Look, Daryl, you want your friendship back? Feel free to take it. Otherwise, I think we should just stay away from eachother.” She offered before walking off.


▬ First Person- Electra’s P.O.V ▬ 


     Here I was, sitting on a tree branch which had been thankfully and successfully holding my weight for the last five minutes or so. Having decided that this was the best way I could not be spotted, I had climbed up the tree. Retrieving Shane’s binoculars that I had managed to steal from within his tent proved hard, but not impossible. Glancing through them, I saw a new figure come into show.

     Andrea.

     Well there goes my plan for slipping into the slaughter house whilst they changed watch.

     Cursing under my breath, I slung the binoculars back over my shoulder before releasing a huge exhale. Growling, I made my move to climb back down again but then I pushed off of the trunk and retrieved the binoculars once more. I brang them up to my eyes to search for an alternate route I could take to enter the slaughter house. There must be a way….I need a way.

     I need to get in there, no one else can be involved this is personal. He knew my name. My name. A name that he had no business knowing, the name he wouldn’t know. Shane and Rick wouldn’t mention me around Randall, I know they wouldn’t. They wouldn’t do anything that would aid him in any way, I know they wouldn’t. They’re cops, they’re not stupid, they wouldn’t do that shit.

     I bet I could climb in through the back.

     Smirking, I decided to go and try my method. It wasn’t a very long climb back down the tree trunk. Shane and Andrea seemed to be having a long and meaningful conversation. So not about that time they had sex then. Electra finished off mentally before sprinting, using the woodland to cover to me, around the back of the slaughter house. It was a good climb but luckily some idiot had left barrels piled up near the way in.  

     “How’d you even know my name?” I demanded straight up causing Randall’s head to tilt upwards in my direction allowing me to get a good look of his face. Damn. Bruises cascaded all around his face and blood splatter was evident pretty much everywhere.

     “Electra…..hi-”

     “I believe I asked you a question.” I told him sternly, dropping down to floor level and successfully landing on my feet. “We’ve never encountered, my name’s never been mentioned around you and even if it had you wouldn’t be able to pair it to my face.” I reasoned. “How do you know me?”

     “You’re…..You’re lucky you still got your family….that’s your brother out there, right?” Randall questioned, clearly avoiding my question. “I lost my family.” He informed me. With a fierce look plastered on my face, I took a step forward causing him to groan. There was no way in hell I’d hit him, but he didn’t know that. “Okay, okay.” He cowered causing me to take a step backwards. “Back at camp, there’s this guy….he, he talked about this girl he met with really pretty mismatched eyes.” He said in explanation. 

     Oh shit.

     “What’s his name?”

     “You do have really pretty eyes-”

     “What’s his na-” 
      
     Bam.

     “What the hell are you doing in here?” I heard the familiar drawl of my elder brother as the slaughter house was flooded with sunlight. God-dammit. It was a matter of seconds before I was forced to face him an he pushed me behind him overprotectively. “What did you say to her?” he demanded, looking to Randall before I gave Andrea a side long look. “What did you say, huh?” Turning back, I saw that Shane had forced Randall up against the wall.

     “Shane!” I protested.

     “I didn’t say nothing!”

     “Listen to me, I will shoot you were you sit.”

     “Okay, Shane, not now.”

     “Open your mouth.” Shane commanded, pressing the barrel of his gun to Randall’s lips. “Open your mouth!” he commanded causing me to stiffen up out of fear. “You like talking, man? You like talking?” Shane questioned whilst Andrea and I tried to pry him off of Randall.

     “Back off, brother!”

     “Get your ass out this door.” Shane said as he turned back to look at me but I didn’t. “Let’s go.” He said, grabbing my arm and dragging me outside of the barn causing me to hiss out of pain and shrug him off of me before he slammed the door to the slaughter house closed. “What the hell were you doing?” he demanded, turning back to me. “Ellie, that aint cool.” He told me.

     “Neither was that, Shane.”

     “You could’ve got hurt in there.” Shane continued, ignoring my comment whilst I rubbed my forearm that was slightly red. Well, I did, didn’t I? My arm hurts a lot. “You heard Daryl.” He said. “You heard what his group does, Ellie. You heard.” He said slamming his palm against the slaughter house.

     “I can handle myself, Shane.” I assured him, closing the space in between us. “Look at me,” I said but his eyes were glued to the floor. “Look at me,” I said, cupping his cheeks in my hands and forcing him to look me in the eyes. “I’m fine, Shane….relax a little bit, alright?” I suggested causing Shane to lift his hands up and placed them so that they were on top of my own.

     “Ellie…..” Shane addressed me before looking out somewhere in the distance causing me to slowly remove my hands from his face before he enveloped me into a tight bear hug in which he smelt my hair before stroking it. “Just quit trying to get yourself killed, okay.” He whispered into my ear causing me to bring him closer.

     “I’m not getting killed any time soon, okay.” I assured him, now whispering in his ear. “Last time I checked, you’ve had more and closer encounters with death than I have.” I jogged his memory. “I should be telling you that, big brother.” I hissed before I backed off.

     “I wasn’t aware that it was a competition, Ellie!” Shane called after me to which I shook my head. “Where you headed anyways?!” he questioned, his voice growing even louder.

     “I’ve got a date!” I shouted sarcastically as I took off in the direction of the house, coming into contact with Stacie and Carl.

     “Hey, y’all.”

     “Hey, Electra!”

      “Have you two seen R-” I started as I took Stacie’s pink baseball cap in one hand and Carl’s sheriff’s hat in the other. “Carl, have you seen your dad recently?” I questioned him, examining Stacie’s cap. “I wanna have a word with him,” I explained whilst I plopped Stacie’s cap down on Carl’s head and the sheriff’s hat down on Stacie’s head.   

     “He’s in the barn.” Carl explained whilst he removed Stacie’s hot pink cap from his head and stole his sheriff’s hat back off of Stacie’s head,  messing up her hair. “You gonna talk to him about the nights, right?” Carl questioned me with a cock of his head.

     “Clever boy.” I stated as I started out in the direction of the barn. Looking up, I could see Rick was up on the rafters. I hadn’t actually been in here before. It looked pretty secure, no wonder the walkers had never escaped. Sighing, I climbed the ladder. 

     “Nights are getting pretty cold out and we’re pretty exposed out there in our little tents.” I started, stepping up on the rafters where Rick was tying a noose. Immediately, I averted my eyes away from the noose and back to Rick’s face as he shot up to his feet. “Winter’s coming a lost faster than I thought it would be.” I stated as I felt a shiver travel down my spine.

     “Yeah, I thought so too.” Rick agreed with me, nodding his head. “I was thinking we could maybe clear the barn out…..” he stated causing me to squint at him. Why would we clear the- Oh. “We could station lookouts up here.” He said, pointing around. “Or we could talk to Hershel about staying in the house.” He added on after looking at me. I guessed my facial expression wasn’t the best.

     “Yeah.”

      “Alright.”

     “Now……” I started, placing my hands on my hips. “No one ever did tell me what happened out on the road yesterday.” I pointed out leaning my body weight against the wooden wall. “So….which brother am I going to be getting this out of?” I questioned Rick with a cocked eyebrow.

     “Nothing happened, Ellie.” Rick told me, looking directly into my eyes.

     “It’s not like you to lie to me, Rick.” I commented, twirling around one of the wooden pillars out of boredom. “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” I sang out, repeating my previous action. “Your eyes gave it away, they were looking at my eyes…..not in them like usual.” I pointed out.  
 
     “And it’s like, Shane?” Rick questioned, angling an eyebrow at me. What? I found myself squinting at Rick once more. “Is it like Shane to lie to you?” he asked.

     “Now, I didn’t say that.” I retorted, moving closer to him having been rather far away at first. “Shane doesn’t let me in on things cause he cares about me too much.” I explained. “It’s actually a wonder he hasn’t gone bald cause of all the stress he puts on himself over me.” I stated.

     “I worry and care about you too, Ellie.”

     “I know you do, Rick. Believe me, I do.” I sighed. “I just wish you two would realise that you don’t need to worry about me so much.” I admitted. “You’re like a year older than me and Shane’s two years older than me and yet you both treat me like you would Carl or Stacie.”

     “Well, I’m sorry about that.”

     “Yeah….You should be.”

     “Where are you-” Rick questioned as I hopped down onto the ladder. “Where are you going?” he enquired. I was a busy bumble bee, wasn’t I? “Sister?” he questioned.

     “Gonna pay a little visit to Daryl.”

     “Alright, don’t punch him in the face.”

     “I’ll try not to.”


►►►
   

     “You’re seriously giving me the silent treatment?” I raised an eyebrow at Daryl in disbelief who continued to ignore me running the knife up and down the stick. “Daryl?” I gained to response. “Daryl!” He was silent as his eyes flickered up to my face. “Glad to see I finally have your attention,” I commented sarcastically. “Anyway, why are you up here? We’re meant to moving camp towards the house not further away from it.”

     “None of your business,” Daryl growled looking down at the stick again, pressing the tip to his finger tip. Satisfied with the arrow he placed it in his quiver before picking up another stick from his pile. My eyes lingered on his knuckles that were still sore.

     “Why are you being like this?”

     “Being like what?”

     “An asshole,” I pointed out the obvious but Daryl didn’t bother to reply to me, running a swipe at the other new makeshift arrow. “Fine, be like that.” I held my hands up in surrender as I turned to walk away before turning back to look at him. “You know…..” I trailed off, exhaling. “You have been a distant son of a bitch ever since you came back from that forest,” I said storming back to him. “What the hell happened out there Daryl?” I demanded.

     “Nothin’”

     “Fine. Stay away from the rest of us, but word of advice. Though you’re obviously too good to associate with us, it’s still safer to move a bit further towards the house. Any walkers come up here, you’ll be the first to be nommed on.” I shot at him coolly.

     “I thought I told you to stop worrying about me Electra!” Daryl snapped at me aggressively, dropping the arrow to the ground and shooting up to his feet and looking at me. “God, why won’t you just leave me alone?!” he shouted at me causing me to look at him in disbelief shaking my head.

     “I-” I opened her mouth to retaliate but I stopped myself deciding he wasn’t even worth it. A decision I should have come to a long, long time ago. Shaking my head, I turned and walked away from him and in the direction of the house. On the doorstep I met Dale.

     “There you are.”

     “Look,” I started as I climbed up the stairs and onto the porch. “Whatever you are going to say about Rick and Shane, I’m backing them.” I told him, gently.

     “So is everyone else, apparently.” Dale revealed. “Rick and Shane are wrong….and so are all of you.” Dale accused causing me to look down. “And you know it, Electra, I know you do.” He told me causing me to open my mouth. “I know that yo-”

     “Dale, I know I may disagree with my brother on a few things-” I interjected, Dale rose an eyebrow at my words. “Okay, maybe a lot of things. But, I have to stand by him on this one, Dale.” I informed him. “He shot at Rick, Glenn and Hershel. We are lucky that they were not killed.” I reasoned with him.

     “And Rick save him…..twice.” Dale retorted. “He doesn’t want that boy dead, you know he doesn’t, Electra.” He told me causing me to look of to the side. “You have to convince him to do what he already knows is right. You have to be his conscience whispering in his other ear.” He stated.

     “Lori’s his conscience, not me, Dale.” I told him. “Lori’s way more effective than I’ll ever be.”  

     “I was so sure people would see this my way.” Dale said, sounding very disappointed.

     “If the world hadn’t gone to hell, we would.” I assured him causing Dale’s eyes to sparkle out of disappointment. Slowly, he began to open him mouth. “Come on, Dale.” I said, looping my arm through his. “It’s time to face the music.” I stated, walking him back inside the Greene house where everyone was already present. With a small smile at Dale, I squeezed his arm before taking my spot in between my brother and Andrea.

     “So......” Glenn spoke up from his lone seat on an arm chair. “How do we do this?” he put his question to no one in particular as he looked around the Greene living room where everyone was present besides Stacie and Carl. “Just take a vote?” he asked.

     “Does it have to unanimous?” Andrea questioned from my right, leaning her weight against the wall, taking the stance of my brother who was positioned on my left. “How about majority rules?” she suggested, looking to Shane and I before Rick.

     “Well, let’s……” Rick’s eyes darted around the room until they landed on me. “Let’s just see where everybody stands.” He proposed causing everyone to nod in agreement. “And then we can talk through the options.” He said, turning his gaze onto Lori.

     “Well, the way I see it, there’s only one way to move forward.”

     “Killing him.” Dale spoke up, not allowing my brother to finish his sentence knowing how it was going to end. “Right?” he questioned. “I mean, why even bother to take a vote?” he enquired with a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s clear which way the wind’s blowing.” He said with bitterness.

     “Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know.”

     “Well, I can tell you it’s a small group.” Dale told Rick, placing his hands on his hips. “Smaller than I thought it would be.” He breathed, glancing at me causing me to avert my eyes to Shane who had moved closer to me. “Maybe just………me and Glenn.”

     Slowly, everyone’s head turned in Glenn’s direction. “Look, I…..” Glenn started before he trailed off, looking the most uncomfortable he had ever have looked. “I think you’re pretty much right about everything, all this time, but this…..” he said with a bite of his lip.

     “They’ve got you scared.” Dale argued.

     “He’s not one of us, Dale.” I continued Glenn’s point, diverting Dale’s attention away from Glenn and towards me. I could see Glenn was secretly calling out for someone to help him, so I did. He nodded at me in a method of thanks causing me to nod discreetly back at him. “I’m sorry, Dale but there’s no way we can just let him go. We’ve lost too many people already, I don’t want to lose more.” I reasoned. “But…..” I looked to Rick as an idea just sparked in my mind. “We could continue to keep him prisoner, right?”

     “Just another mouth to feed.” Daryl spoke up from his spot in the corner. Oh, so now he decided to speak up. I thought we were just peasants to him. “Could be a lean winter.” He argued against me, looking directly at me for the first time in public.

     “We could ration better.” I pointed out.

     “Or he could be an asset.” Dale interrupted mine and Daryl’s brewing argument before it could quite begin causing him to drag our attention away from the other. “Give him a chance to prove himself.” He said to Rick, almost like a shove away from the idea.

     “Put him to work?” Glenn said, squinting at him in confusion.

     “We’re not letting him walk around.” Rick stated.

     “We could put an escort on him.” I suggested, knowing too well that the last thing I wanted was Randall let go but knowing that the second last thing I wanted was him dead. I didn’t even need to turn my head to feel Shane’s eyes burning into the side of my face. “Shane, I’m standing by you on the fact that we can’t let him go.” I said, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. “I never said that I agreed that we have to kill him.” I put emphasis on the killing, making it known that though my gut told me otherwise, I wouldn’t argue against it.

     “Okay then.” Shane said nodding his head causing me to angle my head at him in surprise. “Who wants to volunteer as an escort?” he questioned reasonably but surely enough, no one volunteered.

     “I will.” Dale said causing Shane to scoff.

     “I don’t think any of us should be walking around with this guy.”

     “He’s right. I wouldn’t feel safe unless he was tied up.”

     “We can’t exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labour.”

     The conversation kept on going over my head, it was like I couldn’t concentrate.

     “Look, say we let him join us, right?” Shane said causing my attention to focus once more. Shane’s voice brought a sense of order that not many other peoples did. “Maybe…..” he trailed off. “Maybe he’s helpful, maybe he’s nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his 30 men.” He said, telling us a hypothesis as if it were the inevitable story of our near future.

     “So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime he may never even attempt?” Dale spoke up once more in a questioning tone, his voice growing in volume. “If we do this, we’re saying there’s no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilisation.” He said.

     “Oh, my God.” Shane breathed.

     Chaos once more.

     Suggestions.

     Plans.

     Argument.

     “Stop it!” Carol shouted out a once and the chaos was brought to silence. I had managed to come out of my own little dream world to see what the wise woman had to say. “Just stop it.” She breathed with a shake of her head, everyone’s eyes on her. “I’m sick of everybody arguing and fighting.” She voiced. Amen. “I didn’t ask for this. You can’t ask us to decide something like this.” She denied. “Please decide, either of you, both of you……” she looked to my brothers before she glanced back at the rest of us. “But leave me out.”

     “Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there’s no difference.” Dale voiced causing Carol’s expression to change from annoyance to shock and she wasn’t the only one. He was right: There was no difference. If you don’t speak against it, you’re just as responsible for his death as those persecuting him.

     “All right.” Rick shouted loudly, looking at Dale seeing as he had upset Carol with his words of honesty. “That’s enough.” He growled. “Anybody wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance.” He spoke with authority, with his eyes darting around the room.

     “You once said that we don’t kill the living.” Dale argued.

     “Well, that was before the living tried to kill us.”

     “But don’t you see?” Dale questioned Rick. “If we do this, the people that we were, the world that we knew is dead.” He said, his eyes sparkling once more in disappointment. “And this new world is ugly.” He shook his head in disgust. “It’s harsh. It’s survival of the fittest. And that’s a world I don’t wanna live in.” he voiced. “And I don’t believe that any of you do.” He pointed out, looking around at us all. He was right, none of us did. “Let’s just do what’s right.” He suggested, his eyes brimming with tears. “Isn’t there anybody else who is going to stand with me?” he questioned us all but no one spoke up, much to my amazement.

     “Me.”  

     “El-”

     “No, Shane.” Andrea spoke up too, interrupting my brother before he could rebuke my decision. “Dale and your sister are right.” She agreed with us causing me to send a small smile her way as she moved closer to my side. “We should try to find another way.”

     “Anybody else?”

     I looked around the room with a new sense of hope, waiting for the hands to shoot up and for the words to come out but I soon found my hope crashing down along with the smile on my face. No one. No one else had agreed with us. I…..Just, no one.

     “Are y’all gonna watch too?” Dale questioned them all, the tears now running down his face and I couldn’t blame him. Dale was our moral compass. We had been acting immoral, cruel and inhumane. Something that none of us truly were. They were the minds that this new world created. “No, you’ll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we’re slaughtering a human being.” He pointed out to the cowards. “Oh….I won’t be a party to it.” He protested, making his way to the door before he stopped by Daryl and laid a hand on his arm causing him to look up at him. “You’re right. This group is broken.”  
    

►►►


     “We’re keeping him in custody for now.”

     “Oh, thank God.” I breathed out of relief as I hugged Rick happily. Rick wasn’t a killer, Shane wasn’t a killer and neither was Daryl. Now they didn’t have to become killers. “Thank you.” I thanked him as I backed out of the hug. “I’m gonna find Dale, he’s gonna be so stoked.” I laughed happily as I turned my back.

     “Hey, Ellie.” Rick called me causing me to stop in my tracks and pivot myself around in his direction. “Can you wait up for a second?” he questioned causing me to nod and approach him as everyone quickly dispersed from around us. “Carl followed us in there. He wanted to watch” He told me causing me to inhale deeply. “Stacie too,” What? “She came in to stop us.” He explained causing me to exhale out of relief. “But Carl….I just….I couldn’t.”

     “That’s okay, brother.” I told him with a nod. “That’s more than okay, brother.” I reassured him, fixing his dark waves. “If anyone, and I mean anyone says that it isn’t. That’s bullshit, okay?” I informed him causing him to smirk a little. “Complete and utter bullshit.” I said as my eyes started to drift off. “Even if his name happens to be Shane Johnathan Walsh.” I stated with a sigh.

     “Thanks, Ellie.”

     “No problem, brother.”

     Just then a blood curdling scream filled camp.

    
►►►


     The repetitive fields blurred below me along with the night sky as I felt a surge of adrenaline pulsing through my being. The steady thump of my own footsteps echoed in my ears as I felt beads of sweat form on my arms and my face, rolling down my nose. I had no clue where the others were but I didn’t care.

     Screams were more than enough to get me running, they were bad signs in the old world but in this one……this could be life or death. Without a torch, I was rendered blind to anything more than three meters in front of me but thankfully my sense of hearing always overcompensated for it. I continued running for what seemed like longer than it should have taken to get to the source of the screaming.

     Dale with a walker on top of him, the son of a bitches teeth snapping right in front of his face.

     Oh God.

     My breathing hitched in my throat making my already screaming lungs just about burst as I did the only thing I could possibly do. Lunging like I cat, I managed to tackle the son of a bitch off of Dale so that he was underneath me. Before I could reach for my knife another pierced through its head causing it to fall to the floor lifelessly as the knife was pulled back out again.

     I didn’t bother looking up at my ‘saviour’ but simply crawled closer to Dale.

     “Oh, God.” I gulped as I laid my eyes on his stomach that was torn in half. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.” I couldn’t get any other words out of my mouth as Dale’s intestines were spilling out of his gut. Dale simply looked up at me, unable to speak, in shock.

     “Help!” Daryl screamed from beside me, as clueless as me as what to do. Thankfully, he was able to think logically whereas I failed. “Over here!” he yelled out into the night as we could hear the others running aimlessly around. “Help! Run!” he screamed once more before looking down at Dale. “Hang in there, buddy.” He told him as I ran a hand through my hair before intertwining it with one of Dale’s.

     “Dale, all right.” I addressed him, taking my other hand and stroking the side of his face soothingly. “Just….just listen to my voice, okay.” I improvised, still unsure of what to do as the other gradually trickled to the frightful scene. “Just listen to me, all right? Just listen to me. All right?” I nodded whilst Dale nodded slowly. “Okay, hold on now….yeah.” I tried to smile through my tears.

     “Get……get…..get Hershel!” Rick shouted at the others, crouching down next to me to try to see Dale’s responses. “He-he-he needs blood.” He said as his eyes travelled to his stomach. “We’ve got to operate now.” He stated. “Get Hershel!” he shouted again.

     “Hang on, Dale.” Andrea told him. “Hang on.”

     “HERSHEL!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “HERSHEL!!! PLEASE! HERSHEL WE NEED YOU! PLEASE!” I begged in screams.

     “What happened?”

     Thank God.

     “What can we do?”

     “Dale, it’s gonna be okay.”

     “Can we move him?”

     “He won’t make the trip.”

     “You have to do the operation here.”

     “Glenn, get back to the house.”

     “Rick.”

     “No!”

     I could barely see through my tears that were dropping down on Dale’s face. I tried to move but I couldn’t, my hand squeezed Dale’s. “Rick, he’s suffering.” I told him as Dale looked around aimlessly, groaning out of pain. “Rick, do something please.” I said, unable to look away from Dale as I stroked his face again. “Somebody! Anybody! Please!” I begged before I heard the cock of a gun. “Oh, God.” I felt myself being pulled up from Dale as I still held his hand in my own.

     Another hand grabbed the hand that had been holding Dale’s and I practically walked straight into Shane, wrapping my arms around him as he held me so tight that I thought I might burst but I couldn’t care less. Dale….Not Dale……He was like my new…..He was my second……I couldn’t……I just-

     “Sorry, brother.”

     Bang.