The Walking Dead Season 2

Chapter 17

"Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine. Because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought. How he felt. That kind of honesty is rare, and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale, and he'd be looking back at me with that look of his. We've all seen it 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 loosing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to un-break it; aside our differences, and pull together. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves. 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 finished at Dale's funeral.

I couldn't believe it. Dale was gone. I'd never see him again, hear him beg to do it the human way. Just like Amy. Sage. My mom, my dad. Jim. Jackie. Sophia. Otis.

After we all left, we did our jobs. My job was to help Hershel stock the food in the basement. I walked through the bitter late fall, early winter air toward the house. Once I entered, I went straight to the kitchen. Patricia was struggling with opened cans of peaches, beans, squash, and apples. She was attempting to shut two cans of peaches. I walked over and took one and screwed it shut. I poured a little bit of water into a can of peaches. She smiled at me as Beth walked in. "Alex, why don't you go help stock firewood at the side of the house?" Patricia asked. "Beth can take it from here." She added.

I nodded at walked out. The second the bitter air hit me, I zipped up my leather jacket. I walked to our old tent camp and picked up a few logs, and started walking back to the house. I went to the side, a few meters from the side of the house and dropped them here. I did that a few more times, until there was two piles. Then I headed to the barn to scrape up some straw.

Once I got there, I noticed that Rick and Carl were sitting up at the window. I ignored them, and walked over, picking up the rake and pulling it through the straw. Once I had most of the dirty straw up, I emptied the wheelbarrow next to the door and spreaded some clean straw around.

I heard yelling, and ran over to the shack. the group had gathered at the door. "What's wrong?" Maggie was asking. "Randall's missing." Glenn replied. "Missin'? How?" She asked. The group all started talking at the same time. Then Shane burst out of the woods.

"Rick! Rick!" Shane hollered. His face was bloody. "What happened?" Lori called out. "He's armed. He's got my gun." He called back. "Are you ok?" Carl asked. "I'm fine, little bastard just snuck up on me and clocked me in the face." He replied. "Alright, Hershel, T Dog, get everybody back into the house. Glenn, Daryl come with us." Rick said. "T! I'm gonna need that gun." Shane said. "Just let him go, that was the plan wasn't it?" Carol begged frantically. "The plan was to cut him loose far away from here. Not on our front step with a gun!" Rick snapped as Shane took T Dogs gun. The four of them headed to the woods as Hershel and T Dog herded us to the house. Carl fell into step with me.

As everyone set up inside, Carl and I headed upstairs. He watched from the window as I paced. He lifted up his binoculars and peered through, looking for his dad or Randall. I went to my pack and shoved my things into it, and then closed it and fastened the buckle. I laced up my boots, and shoved a knife into each. I pulled on my jacket and made sure that it had the knives in it. I buckled on my belt and shoved my gun and a few knives into it. Then I strapped my pack on.