The Odds Are Stacked

::5::

After Daryl, I walk over to Andrea, Ares trotting beside me. I sit down quietly next to Andrea mumbling a "hi". I put my hand gently on her hand.

"Andrea, I'm so sorry." I whisper sighing deeply. "We will never be able to understand how you're feeling. But know that you're not alone in your grief. I lost the light of my life, Daniel. I lost my hearing in the same explosion that I lost him in. For so long I thought that God wanted me to suffer, to wake up with the reminder that it was my fault he died...I gave the order out that killed my fiancé."

"Today's her birthday." She says quietly, I barely hear her but I read her lips clearly. I squeeze her hand tightly as Dale comes up beside her.

"Did I ever mention how I lost my wife?"

"Cancer wasn't it?" Andrea asks causing Dale to nod his head.

"I dragged her to every doctor...every test. After all the surgeries, all the chemo, all the tests, she was ready. She accepted it you know? But I never could, and I spent the last few years so angry. I felt so cheated. Since she past you girls were the first people that I cared anything for."

"Her birthday was always like a week long affair. And somehow I always missed it. Too busy for kids parties. She'd call all excited, I always said that I'd make it home and I really always meant to but I never made it past that phone call."

"Things are already hard without adding guilt into the mix, huh?"

Andrea fumbles quietly with the delicate necklace she got for her sister. Ares lifts his head off of my leg causing me to glance over at James who had his lips pursed in a whistle. I squeeze Andrea's shoulder as I walk towards James and a few of the others.

Ares' hackles pop up and I'm unsure if it's because of Carol axing the shit out of her husbands head or because of Amy's reanimation.

James stands in front of me protectively as everyone else becomes aware of the situation. My body flinches as Andrea has to shoot her sister in the head.

———

I left Ares down at the camp as James and I were asked to help Shane and Rick bury the bodies.

We work in silence all noticing the fact that Shane is holding something in. I wipe my face with my tank as Rick's voice breaks the silence.

"Say it." He says breathing heavily as he stops to look at Shane.

"Okay...I'm thinking if you'd have stayed here protected our own. Instead you went off. You took half our manpower with you. I'm thinking maybe our losses wouldn't have been so bad." Shane responses calmly as James turns towards me.

"I think if we hadn't gone off and brought those guns back when we did, I think our losses would have been a lot worse. Maybe the entire camp." Rick responses out of breathe as him and Shane bicker. Shane shakes his head spitting as Daryl backs the truck with bodies up the hill.

"You think they're always like that?" I sign to James causing him to shrug as he moves to help pull bodies off the truck.

"I still think it's a mistake not burning these bodies." Daryl says as he walks over to Shane and Rick. "It's what we said we do right, burn em all, wasn't that the idea?"

"At First."

"Chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, we just follow him along?" Daryl says watching the group as the all file onto the hill.

"Maybe you need to stop riding yourself and listen to what the group wants. I'm sure your hick self loved the American democracy, how about we keep it that way?" I call out causing Rick, Shane and Daryl to look at me like I grew three heads. James snorts behind me causing a smile to break across his face.