My Hope

Chapter 45

As I walked in, Shane and Rick were setting thing up for the execution. I walked to the shed in back where Isaac and Randal were and knelt down next to Isaac.

"I'm sorry, about everything." I whispered, not wanting to wake up the sleeping Randal on the other side of the room.

"Don't be." Isaac said back. He looked up and I noticed Rick and Daryl standing in the doorway, the sun was starting to set.

Shane walked in and woke up Randal and lead him out to the bigger part of the barn. I helped Isaac to stand, but before Rick and Daryl took him away, I had to ask him something.

"Wait, Isaac? Why did you save me that day?" I asked Isaac. He looked to me, then over to Rick and Daryl, then back to me.

"When I was little, I had a sister named Gabby. She was older then me, and my father abused her too. He beat me, but not as badly was my sister." I knew what he meant as he continued his story.

"One day, when Gabby and I came back from school, he was waiting for us. He was drunk and wanted to blow off some steam. My sister protected me from him that day, but he beat her and whipped her with his belt the rest of the day."

"The next morning when my alarm went off, I snuck into my sister's room. She hung herself with the same belt my father used to beat her with. I saved you because you reminded me of my sister, and how I didn't do anything to help her. It was the least I could do, maybe I could have stopped it altogether." Isaac stopped as his eyes watered. He looked me and gave a weak smile before walking out with Rick to where Randal was.

Isaac was like a brother to me, and I was about to loose him.

Daryl and I were left in the small room. I leaned on the wall and put my hands on my knees. I wanted to scream, but instead tears started to fall. Daryl walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder but I shrugged it off.

"Don't. You don't get to try and comfort me. You don't get to be the hero." I stood all the way up and wiped away my tears. I couldn't let Daryl see me cry, especially about him.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"No, Daryl. I can't talk to you right now, not while Rick and Shane are about to kill the man who saved my life. If you go along with this, then we are done." I cried. I looked into Daryl's eyes and I couldn't tell what I was seeing. No anger, no sadness.

Daryl just stood there silent, staring back at me. I pushed past him into the middle of the barn where Isaac and Randal stood. Isaac looked up at me then behind me to Daryl then back to me. He smiled and knelt down, that was when Randal started to realize what was going to happen.

"Wait, wait! Please! Don't do this!" Randal begged as Shane pushed him to his knees. Randal started whimpering in pain and crying as a black bag was put over his head and Isaac's. I held in my tears, seeing that the sun had gone down and it was dark outside.

As Randal whimpered, Isaac rested on his knees and was quiet. Rick took out his gun and pointed it to Isaac's head. I closed my eyes and waited for the sound of a gunshot, but instead it was the sound of a voice.

"Do it, Dad. Do it." it was Carl standing in the doorway of the barn. Rick looked at Carl then lowered his gun.

"Get him out of here." Rick told Shane. Shane dragged Carl outside and I looked to Rick. He had a look of guilt on his face and what he said next astounded me.

"Take them away." Rick ordered Glenn and Daryl. They took Isaac and Randal into the shed, locked it and came back out. We all looked at Rick wondering why he spared them. He just walked out of the barn, but turned back before he left.

"You can tell Dale that I will figure out something else to do with Randal and Isaac." and then he walked out. Glenn followed and I smiled.

"Thank god. Daryl," I turned to Daryl but he was already halfway out the door.

"Daryl, wait!" I ran after him, but he turned and faced me, anger written all over his face.

"What?" he growled.

"Daryl, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I was angry." I said nervously. He just turned and started walking away. I grabbed his arm but he pulled it away.
"No, I'm done with this crap. You can't seem to make up your mind! Better off finding someone who knows what they want..." he mumbled the last sentence to himself. I knew exactly what he meant.

"Like Jessica?" I sneered. He walked up to me and towered over me.

"Yeah, just like Jessica." Daryl turned and stalked over to where Jessica was talking to Andrea. It seemed like she had stolen all my friends and now Daryl. Its like she wants to completely ruin my life. Why? Why me? I'm nothing, no one. What was so special that she had to ruin what was left of my life?

Did Daryl really mean what he said, that he wanted Jessica? Just calm down, take a breath. I needed to find Dale and tell him the good news. I saw Daryl tell something to Jessica and they both walked over to where Daryl's tent was set up.

Then the worst blood-curling scream came from the field. Dale...