Love and Death (The Walking Dead - TWD)

A Funeral For One

After the discussion in the house, Rick, Shane and Daryl headed to the barn to kill Randall. While they were in the barn I decided to introduce Ashlyn to the rest of the camp. After she met everyone we sat with Lori.

"How you feeling, Lori?" I asked her

"I'm okay I guess" she nodded looking towards the barn "What do you thinks taking them so long?" She asked

"I have no idea" I replied looking towards the barn too

A little while later Shane stormed out of the barn angrily and Rick and Carl followed him

"What's Carl doing in there?" Lori cried as Rick headed our way, Lori took Carl in her arms as Rick explained

"He wanted to watch" he stated looking at the floor "I couldn't" he finished

Suddenly screams from the field filled the air it sounded like Dale I rushed to the scene finding Daryl already there with a dead walker and Dale with his stomach ripped apart. Nearby a dead cow laid with the same thing.

Daryl was shouting for help while I lifted Dale's head into my lap gently trying to soothe him and help him be more comfortable.

"Oh Dale, I'm so sorry" I whispered as Hershel arrived with more members of the group

"I'm sorry" Hershel said as he examined the damage "I can't save him"

Tears fell off my cheeks as I looked at Daryl.

"Please Rick you need to help him, he's in agony" Andrea begged and Rick nodded aiming his gun at Dale but he couldn't shoot

Daryl took the gun from Rick giving him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder then allowed me to kiss Dale on the forehead and move away.

Daryl knelt beside Dale aiming the gun at his head whispering "sorry brother" as he fired.

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The next day Rick held a funeral for Dale reflecting on his mortality and repeating his final words.

"This group is broken" Rick stated "the way we honour Dale is by unbreaking it. From now on, we do things his way"

After the funeral Rick planned on taking Randall into the forest to release him, Daryl and I sat at Dale's makeshift grave for a while until we over heard Carl's conversation with Shane.

"This is Daryl's gun" Carl confessed "I took it from his bike a few days ago, the walker that killed Dale, that was my fault"

"How could it have been your fault?" Shane asked

"I found it in the swamp I should have shot it but I didn't it got free and followed me here, now Dale is dead" Carl started to cry

"It's not your fault Carl, but you need to keep this gun for your safety" Shane told him

"No thanks" Carl refused and walked back to his mother

Shane walked off in the opposite direction towards the barn where Rick was

"I need to load the truck for Randall" Daryl stated offering me his hand to stand up

"Okay" I nodded "thank you Daryl"

"What for?" He asked

"Everythin'" I told him giving him a small kiss on the cheek "your badass but your one of the good guys" I stated making him give me a small smile before he headed off to the truck

When the truck was ready for Randall, T-Dog and Daryl went to get Randall, Rick was talking to Carl so Daryl and T-Dog agreed to release Randall.

"Randall's gone!" T-Dog shouted from the barn as Rick and Daryl rushed to see for themselves.

Shane came stumbling through the trees his nose broken and bloody.

"Randall escaped" he shouted "he hit me and took my gun, he ran off he's dangerous"

Rick looked around the group "everyone inside, now" he ordered and everyone rushed inside the house Rick stood silent for a moment then said "Glenn, Andrea, keep a look out for Randall in case he returns, Shane you come with me to search the left side of the forest, Daryl, Ruby, you search the right side" I nodded in agreement heading to the RV to get my swords to make sure they were sharp.

We hasn't needed weapons here for a long time, it was safe enough, but now was time to need them again.

The four of us headed into the forest Rick and Shane taking the left side and Daryl and I on the right.

We searched for what seemed like forever, night eventually came turning the sky black. Daryl luckily had a flashlight to use and we continued our search.

We found Randall's blindfold and some blood on a nearby tree "Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said" Daryl muttered.

From the trees a branch cracked and I turned to see who was there, suddenly a walker stumbled out from the trees and knocked Daryl over before he had time to shoot an arrow.

I rushed over and stabbed the walker in the head realising that it was actually Randall. Daryl pushed the dead body off himself and inspected it.

"He wasn't bit" he said confused "his neck was broken... But he wasn't bit"

"That's not possible" I stated

"Tell the to the broken neck and no bites" Daryl said standing up frowning at the body.

Suddenly a gunshot was heard from the left side of the forest where Rick and Shane were supposed to be searching.

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