My Hunter || D. Dixon (On Hold)

Thirty - Settling In

The line of graves still sits beneath a grove of trees, only now, there's one more. That was another name for the book. Amy, Jim, Jaque, Jenner, Sophia, and now Dale.

"Dale could get under your skin, but that's only because he was never afraid to say exactly what he was thinking. That kind of honesty is rare and brave." Rick says. Tears run down my cheeks, Daryl has his arm around my shoulder while I try to take in a good breath.

Caleb stands next to me, his hands on Jess' shoulders. "Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it at one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us. The truth, who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to use it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety, our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."

Rick goes silent and we continue to stand. Slowly, one by one, people leave, until I'm alone with Daryl by Dale's grave. The last thing we did was argue about killing someone. Now he's gone. Dale knew that I had a soft spot for Daryl before I myself could see it. "A few of us are goin' on a run. We're gonna look for some stray walkers, check the fences, that sorta thin'"

I nod and turn around, giving him a hug. He tenses then gives in and hugs me back. "Be careful," I say against his chest. He nods and we part ways. I sit by the house, fiddling with one of my arrows.

Carl walks over to me and sits down. He's wearing Ricks hat like he has been for a while now. "Hey Coral," I say, using a nickname I'd given him.

He doesn't smile at it like normal though. "Hey," he says sadly. "Can I tell you something? Promise not to tell anyone?"

I nod my head, raising an eyebrow. "Of course, what's wrong?" I question him.

Carl takes in a breath before explaining it to me. "I went for a walk in the wood yesterday." He starts. "I found this walker stuck in the mud, and I started throwing rocks at it. Then, it got out and started chasing me, and instead of killing it, I ran back to the camp. . ."

"Okay. . .what's the point of this story?" I say. Carl looks at me with his big blue eyes.

His eyes are filled with tears. "That walker got Dale. If I had killed it, Dale would still be alive...I was gonna shoot it. Right in the head." He says, tears starting to run down his face.

I shake my head, crouching down to his hight. "No Carl. Don't say things like that. It isn't your fault."

He shakes his head in disagreement. "I didn't shoot it. If I had..." he repeats

"No. It was an accident," I say pulling him into a hug.

He sniffles and hugs me back. "Are you sure?"

I nod my head. "Yea, I'm sure," I say, letting him go.

"That's not all I wanted to tell you..."

I tilt my head to the side. "Okay. What else?"

He reached behind himself and pulls a gun from his waistband and hands it to me. "I took it from Daryl's motorcycle bag. If he knew that, he'd kill me."

I take the gun from his hand and turn it over, handing it back. "Here. You keep it. You'll need protection."

Carl backs up a bit, shaking his head. "No. I'm never touching a gun again. Just give it back to Daryl."