[DISCONTINUED] FIND YOU ( T. WALKING DEAD )

- IX.

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FIND YOU
CHAPTER NINE;
( sight. )

❛ elijah helps jack make an important decision. ❜

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"IF YOU GO through with it, how would you do it? Would they suffer?"

Shane, leaning against the mantle, shrugged as he looked to Rick, "We could hang them, right? Just snap their necks."

"I thought about that," Rick nodded. "Shooting may be more humane."

"And what about the bodies?" T-Dog began to ask. "Do we bury-"

"Hold on, hold on!" Dale vehemently intercepted, taking a small step into the crowded living room. "You're talking about this like it's already decided."

"Been talking all day, going around in circles," Daryl countered from the back of the room. "You just wanna go around in circles again?"

"These are young men's lives, and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation!" the older male exaggerated. "Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with them? You saved them," he looked to a silent Rick, "and now look at us. They've been tortured. They're gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

The living room was quiet for a moment, everyone's certainty faltering in response to Dale's persistence. Except for Shane, who sternly responded, "We all know what needs to be done."

"No, Dale is right," Rick swiftly intercepted. "We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility-"

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea questioned. "We haven't come up with a single viable option yet... I wish we could."

Hands waving with every syllable, Dale shouted, "So let's work on it!"

"Stop it. Just stop it," a meek, small voice spoke up. Nervously wringing her hands, Carol continued, "I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting... I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide - either of you," she glanced between Shane and Rick, "both of you - but leave me out."

"Not speaking out," Dale leaned forward, "or killing them yourself- there's no difference."

"That's not fair, Dale," Jack spoke up from the other side of the archway. "You can't make somebody feel like shit for not wanting to argue with you." The living room was left in silence, awkward and tense, before Jack added, "Don't you think we'd suffer a lot less by choosing to kill them? Y'know, once they're gone... that's it. But if keep them alive, there are a million ways it can go wrong."