Complicated ✔

Ch. 33 - Biased Opinion

DARYL'S POV

"Boy there's got a gang," I said as me and Kathryn walked up to where the others stood still under the trees on the Greene's property, "about 30 men. They got heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll in here, our boys are dead." I looked around the group as they took in what I said. I couldn't help but glance over at Kathryn for a second, knowing she heard the kid mention what I'm about to say next to the group. "And our women they're gonna," I pause for a second and look back to Kathryn before I continue on, "they're gonna wish they were." I looked away from Kathryn, looked back to the group as they let what I said sink in.

"What did you do," Carol asked, looking to my hand that was holding onto the shoulder strap of my crossbow. "Had a little chat," I said, ignoring the look she gave me. I looked to Kathryn again to see she had this distant look on her face, probably thinking about what that boy said back in the shed, about what his group did to those two teenage girls. "No one goes near this guy," Rick said, causing Kathryn to snap out of her daze and look to her father before her eyes turned to me. I gave her a weak, half smile before she returned it with the same. She turned her attention away from me for a moment, looking around at the group as they discussed what to do with the kid, before her attention came back to me.

KATHRYN'S POV

Cautiously, I walked over to where Daryl stood as everyone seemed to forget about the two of us since we weren't talking with them. "Can I clean your hands up now," I asked timidly as I lowered my head and looked anywhere else but at him. I half expected him to shove me away, but not physically do so, when I asked but instead when I didn't get a verbal answer from him I looked up to see him nod once before walking off away from the rest of the group. Inwardly smiling, I quickly rush to the RV where I know Dale has some stuff for this sort of thing. Grabbing what I needed, which was a bottle of water and a rag, I walked out of the RV and headed towards where I last saw Daryl walking.

When I find him, he's sitting on a tree stump by the edge of the woods and staring off at the shed where that boy was. Walking up to him, water bottle in one hand and the rag in the other, he looks over at me when I make some sort of sound as I grow closer. His blue eyes land on me, showing hidden emotions that he doesn't let anyone see and yet I see them, but his face is guarded like it normally is. I crouched down in front of him, not saying a word as I gently grabbed his right hand and pulled it closer to me. Stretching his fingers out before I started so I could make sure I got everything, I lightly poured some of the water onto his bloodied knuckles. Setting the bottle down, I picked the rag up off my lap before gently brushing it across his knuckles.

I felt his hand flinch when I lightly brushed the rag over the tender skin of his knuckles, causing me to peer up at him as his own eyes were locked on every move my hand made. "Sorry," I whispered when his eyes moved to look into my own. He didn't say anything so I looked back down to his hand as I brushed the rag over it again, causing him to flinch once more. He did so a couple more times before he stopped altogether and just let me finish cleaning his hand off of blood and dirt so if there were any cuts they wouldn't get infected. "I want you to stay away from the kid," Daryl's voice said, cutting through the silence that had surrounded us well after I apologized for causing slight pain to his hand earlier. "Wasn't planning on going near him," I whispered as I kept my eyes on his hand, "dealing with one potential rapist is enough for me for a lifetime."

DARYL'S POV

I inwardly flinched when she said rapist. I knew who she was referring to at that point and I couldn't help when my blood began to boil as I remember that night a week ago when her dad went off to find Hershel but came back with this kid too. "There," I heard Kathryn say before I looked back down at her to see her standing to her feet and placing the cap back on the water bottle she'd been using. I looked down at my hand to see it clear of the blood and dirt that had been caked on it earlier. "Thanks," I muttered, causing her head to shoot up to look at me. I guess she wasn't expecting me to thank her at all from the look on her face. Seconds before she answered, a smirk crossed her face as it turned slightly pink with a blush.

KATHRYN'S POV

"You're welcome," I said smiling, "Tarzan." I was just teasing him with the name now, knowing he didn't like it all that much but I couldn't help it. My smile grew when he just scoffed and rolled his eyes before standing to his feet from the stump he'd been sitting on and walking off, back to his camp site set up away from the others. Looking back towards the group, I could see Dale talking to the others, probably about my dad wanting to execute Randall. I walk towards the Greene's house, not wanting to deal with him and his pestering to save the boy, but I don't get off so easily. He spots me as I'm walking towards the porch and calls out my name.

"I know what you want to talk about Dale," I said not turning to face him as he drew closer so he could hear me, "and I don't want to talk about it. I don't care what my dad does." "But he's a kid Kathryn," Dale said as I rolled my eyes with my back still to him, "he's your age. And you just want to allow you father to execute him for being guilty by association?" "Dale I was there listening as Daryl questioned him," I said turning around to face him, "I heard what he said his group did. Two teenage girls around my age were raped because of the men in his group. I was almost raped a week ago by a member of this group that I've known most of my life. So excuse me if my decision seems biased on what to do with the guy. He gets away from us, he could bring them here and I don't feel like reliving almost being raped. Excuse me Dale."

I didn't wait for Dale to speak again before I turned my back to him and headed into the Greene's house and up to Maggie's room. That had basically became my room as well this past week, no one forcing me to go back out there and sleep a few tents away from the one person my dad thought he could trust around his family. Instead of going to Maggie's room, I walked out onto the balcony I'd sat on yesterday with her while we waited for Dad and Shane to return from attempting to drop off the kid. I smiled down at my little brother, as I spotted him walking up to the front of the house. Everyone was gathering tonight to discuss what was to happen to Randall. Dad had given Dale until sun down and now was the time to find out if he'd swayed anyone's decision on killing the guy.

I looked over to the door that led to the balcony when I heard it open. I smiled slightly when I spotted Maggie looking back at me as she stood in the doorway. "Everyone's gathering downstairs for the meeting," she said looking at me, "you coming?" "No," I said shaking my head, "I've done told Dale my opinion on what should be done with him. Dad and Daryl both know it too should they need to speak on my behalf. I'm just going to stay up here until it's time for bed." "Alright," she said nodding before closing the door behind her as she went back inside. I sat down on the floor, with my back against the wall, as I thought about what was going to happen. I didn't think it was okay to kill the kid but I didn't want to risk him bringing his group here. I don't think I could live if I was raped by those men like what had happened to the teenage girls. So I just sat up there on that balcony, and waited until I saw people leaving out of the house before I walked back downstairs.

Okay so, two things for y'all.
1) I'm thinking of setting up two set days for updating this. And I'm gonna let y'all choose when. As long as u have a couple days between to write I don't care what days and as long as one isn't Thursday because that's when I update A Second Chance.
2) I'm thinking about changing this story's cover and I figured why not let y'all design a new cover to use. You're welcome to make it however you want and don't worry about putting my username for the author because I'll put it the way I've been doing and you'll still get full credit to making it. If you decide to try you can send them to my Twitter account: Normans_Girl93.
And I think that's everything. Thanks y'all for reading.
- Kenz