the deceased ❀ glenn rhee

twenty seven

THE DECEASED
twenty seven | ❝I'll go with you❞

❀

AURORA COULD TELL THAT ANDREA was taking the death of Dale hard. She never forgave him for deciding wherever or not she should live, and that carried on until his demise. Aurora had told Andrea not to feel guilty - her emotions were valid, and she didn't need to forgive Dale if she didn't want to. But nothing helped. Andrea shrugged off any attempt at anyone making her feel better.

Andrea wasn't the only person feeling guilty about Dale's death. Whilst walking along the perimeter, Aurora saw Carl sat on the fence, looking at the field where Dale died.

"You doing okay, buddy?" Aurora asked, coming up behind him. Carl shrugged before looking at her with big eyes.

"It was my fault," he said, quietly. Aurora smiled and shook her head.

"How?" she asked, climbing the fence to sit next to him. "How could it have been your fault?"

Aurora looked at Carl for an answer, and she could tell that he wanted to talk, but something was stopping him. And then it clicked that he was probably doing something that would give Lori a heart attack, and he was afraid of her finding out.

"I won't tell your parents," Aurora said after a moment of silence. Carl exhaled.

"I went out walking," he began, "not far! I just wanted to do something, you know. I'm sick of feeling like no one trusts me. And I saw this walker, but he was stuck in mud. So I threw rocks at him, and then I ran away from him but I guess he must've-"

His voice trailed off, and Aurora took in what had been said. She couldn't go against her promise to not tell his parents, and she wouldn't, but she knew he couldn't sneak off like that again. That would be a conversation for a different day though. Today, Carl was going through enough.

"Are you the walker that killed Dale?" Aurora asked Carl. He scrunched his face up and shook his head. "Then how could you have killed him?"

❀

Hershel had been gracious enough to open up his house to the group. Lori, of course, got the bed, which no one was bothered by at all. Aurora didn't know where she would sleep, but she didn't mind. The idea of being in a heated building, with actual floor space, was enough for her. In her mind, the floor of a house was a huge upgrade from the floor of the RV.

There was still a question of what to do with Randall, though.

"Me and Daryl will take Randall offsite and cut him loose," Rick said once everyone was someone settled.

"We're back to that now?" Andrea asked.

"It was the right plan the first time around," Rick replied, exchanging a stern look to Shane. Not that it was surprising to anyone, but Shane didn't seem affected at all by Dale's death. Dale was the one person will the balls to stand up to Shane. Without him, Shane would just have to worm his way into Rick's ear.

It might be too late for that though, Aurora thought. Rick seemed to be more certain in himself. And if it came down to voting for a leader, and it was between Rick and Shane, she would be backing Rick to hell and back.

Aurora decided not to worry herself with having to pick sides. Things were doing as well as they possibly could, given the circumstances. Glenn had somewhat confirmed his feelings for her with the kiss, Andrea was slowly letting go of the guilt she was feeling, and Carl was healed. Aurora wouldn't let anyone, let alone Shane, disrupt that.