Worth It

Chapter 5: Wildfire

We all stand in a group, silently watching Andrea sit with her dead sister.

Lori is the first to move. She walks over to her and crouches beside her. "Andrea. I'm so sorry. She's gone. You got to let us take her. We all cared about her and I promise we'll be as gentle as we can." But she doesn't move. I didn't expect her to either.

"Hey. You alright?" Shane asks me, resting a hand on my shoulder. I nod and turn into him, noticing Daryl watching us from beside the RV. "Just spooked is all." I mumble. He sighs and hands me an axe. "Why don't you start clearing and I'll handle the Amy situation." He says. I nod, gratefully, and take the axe.

Daryl swings one of the axes against the head of a walker and I follow suit, silently. Glenn and T-Dog throw the bodies in a fire. "She still won't move?" Rick asks. I look over to Andrea and then over to James who's with Sophia and Carl.

"She won't even talk to us." Lori says. "She's been there all night. What do we do?" I shake my head and focus on the task at hand. "You alright?" Daryl asks me, pausing his work. I shrug, hitting another walker through the skull. I move to the next one, violently hitting it, and the next, and the next.

"Hey. Woah." Daryl grabs the axe from my hand, tossing it to the side. "What's wrong?"

I my breathing gets heavy and fast and I look around us over and over. "It's my fault. I should've been here."

He recoils. "What?! How the hell is it your fault?" I sniffle but don't respond. He grabs my face with two hands, turning it towards his. "It ain't no one's fault. Especially not yours." He tells me before picking up his axe and walking away.

I sniffle and wipe my eyes and continue to hit the dead until there's nothing left to hit.

"Y'all can't be serious. Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb." Daryl says. I don't like the way he said it, but I agree. Sam stands beside me, keeping an eye on James in the distance. "What do you suggest?" Rick asks him.

He steps forward. "Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No." Lori says, sitting down. "For God's sakes, let her be." Daryl looks around the group before scoffing and walking away. I look to Sam and he nods, so I go to follow him. "Wake up, Jimbo. We've got some work to do." Daryl says to Jim as he walks past him.

Instead of trying to talk to Daryl in his annoyed state, I go to help Morales drag some of the bodies, but before I can, Daryl gently takes the body from me and helps Morales himself.

"Thanks." Morales says to both of us. They drag the body towards the fire. "What are you guys doing?" Glenn stops them. "This is for geeks. Our people go over there."

"What's the difference?" Daryl asks. "They're all infected."

"Our people go in that row over there. We don't burn them!" He yells before pausing. "We bury them. Understand? Our people go in that row over there." Daryl rolls his eyes. He and Morales drag the body towards the other row. When they drop the body, Daryl looks around, looking at the rest of the group. "You reap what you sow." He says.

"You know what? Shut up, man." Morales tells him, all gratitude gone.

"Y'all left my brother for dead. You had this coming." He tells them before looking at me and pausing. "Well, 'cept for her." And he storms off. "Are you bleeding?" Jacqui says. I tear my eyes away from Daryl and look over at her and Jim, walking over to them.

"I just got some on me from the bodies." He says looking at the both of us. "That blood is fresh." I tell him. "Were you bit?" Jacqui asks him. "No." Jim says before continuing his work. "I got scratched during the attack."