A Broken World

Thirty-Seven

Later That Night

Everyone was back inside to give a final vote on what to do with Randall. Dale was able to change the mind of Andrea and partially Glenn, but everyone else was on the side to kill him. Dale is a good man with a good heart, but that just isn't good enough for this world anymore. It was too great of a chance to keep Randall alive. He knows where the farm is, so he could go back to his group and bring them here. And from what Daryl told me about what Randall told him about those men, I did not want that happening.

Dale stormed out of the house and walked off. Shane, Rick, and Daryl went out to get Randall to take him to the barn. Rick had decided the most humane way to do it was to shoot Randall. One bullet in the head. It was clean, painless, and quick. The rest of us minus Dale stood and sat around the fire waiting for it to be over. I paced back and forth, waiting to hear a gunshot that never came. It was only maybe five or ten minutes when Shane and Rick came walking towards us with Carl in tow. Daryl came a few minutes later.

Randall was still alive and in the shed. They didn't get to do anything because Carl had come in telling his dad to do it. Shane was the one to drag him back out. It's not surprising that Lori didn't have her eye on him. When Rick told us that he and Daryl would be taking Randall eighteen miles out like the original plan, maybe even go a little further than that. When Andrea heard that, she took off to find Dale. A few minutes later, we heard a gunshot. We all took off towards the field with Rick in the lead. When I finally made it, pushing my way past everyone to get to the front, the sight in front of me had me turning back around.

Dale was lying on the ground with his stomach ripped apart. The walker who had done it was lying not far away. He was suffering. We could all see it in his eyes. There was nothing Hershel could do for him. Dale pleaded with Rick with his eyes. He was begging for him to give him mercy and put him out of the pain he was in. When Rick hesitated, Daryl stepped forward. He took a few seconds until Dale gave him a slight nod, and then he pulled the trigger.

The next day after we buried Dale with Sophia and Hershel's wife and stepson, it was decided that we would all move into the house. It would be cramped, but it was the best choice. Not only would it be safer, but the weather was getting colder. Shane didn't agree to letting Randall go. He wanted to stick to killing him, but Rick's mind was made up after what happened to Dale. I was helping pack supplies into the car when Daryl came up to me. “Can I talk to ya?”

I set the stuff I had in my hands into a box and turned to him. “Yeah, sure, what's up?” I asked. Daryl shuffled from one foot to the other while he bit the side of his thumb nail. He couldn't even make eye contact with me, which told me he was nervous. “I see you still have the bad habit of chewing on your thumb nail.” His head snapped up, blue Eyes meeting mine, and he dropped his hand down to his side. “I need ya to stay outta trouble while I'm gone. Don't do anything stupid.” I raised my right eyebrow at him and then narrowed my eyes. “Excuse me?”

“Don't go get yourself killed while I'm gone.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I know damn well you are not trying to tell me what to do. How about instead of being an asshole towards me, you may, maybe, I don't know, treat me like a human being, and kindly ask me to be safe while you're gone. I am so sick of these mood swings of yours, Dixon.  If you hate me so much, maybe try not talking to me at all. I am sick of your mood swings!”

“Everything okay here?”

Daryl and I turned our heads towards the voice. Rick stood there, hands on his hips. “Fucking peachy,” I replied. Rick looked over at Daryl, who wouldn't make eye contact or say anything. “Okay, well, if you say so. You ready to head out then, Daryl?” Daryl gave a nod and a small grunt as an answer. “Hwy, T-dog, mind going and getting Randall?” Rick yelled over to T. “You got it!” He said and walked off towards the shed.

“He's gone! Randall is gone!” T-dog said, running back towards us. The whole group followed him to the shed. I pushed past everyone walking into the shed to see the handcuffs hanging from the pipe. I walked over to them, kneeling down to look closer to them. “How did he get out of these?” I asked no one in particular. It's possible but it's not easy to get out of cuffs. The cuffs were covered in blood so he had been trying for a while.

“He's been trying for a while to get out of these cuffs,” I told Rick. He nodded his head. He was about to say something until we heard his name being called. “Rick!” Shane walked out of the woods, a cut on top of his nose, and blood running down his nose to his chin. “Son of a bitch snuck up behind me and clocked me. He has my piece, man.” I narrowed my eyes and looked over at Daryl, who was already looking at me. It was clear neither of us believed that Randall could take Shane. “You're telling me that Randall, a guy who weighs maybe a buck twenty-five, was able to sneak up on you?” Daryl asked, full of suspension.

Shane just gave him a look before talking to Rick. “We need to go after Him,” he said. Rick nodded and turned to the rest of the group. “Glenn, Daryl, and yn, you three head one way and Shane and I will go the other. The rest of you go back to the house.” Daryl shook his head, “Nah, she's staying here,” he said. I turned my head and glared at him. “You don't get to decide what I can and can't fucking do.” Daryl threw his hands in the air. “Ya just got shot a few days ago! Not even healed all the way!” 

“I'm going and that is final!”

I walked past Rick and Shane and headed into the woods. I pulled my flashlight from the pocket on the side of my pant leg and turned it on, then pulled my knife from my belt. I pointed the light to the ground and looked for footprints and any other signs of which way Randall might have gone. “Hey, yn, wait up!” I stopped and looked behind me. Glenn was walking towards me with Daryl behind him. I sighed and turned back to looking at the ground. “Watch your step. There are tracks on the ground; two sets of them.” Daryl moved past Glenn and came up beside me. “I don't believe Shane. There is no way Randall was able to get a jump on him.”

We kept walking through the dark woods following the tracks that eventually turned into one set; one set of tracks that changed from normal to all over the place, like someone was dragging their feet. I saw movement up ahead and  bumped my elbow into Daryl's arm, nodding my in the direction of movement. We walked closer, getting a better look, seeing it was a walker. But when that walker turned around we noticed it was Randall. Daryl brought his crossbow up and put a bolt through his head. When we went to check where he was bitten we couldn't find anything. “His neck was broken; someone purposely broke his neck. And how did he turn when he doesn't have any bites or scratches on him?”