ch.16

judge, jury, executioner

after me and glenn took a long walk around the farm, rick motioned for us to come back in the house.

i groaned knowing what the group meeting would be about. randall.

"so how do we do this? just take a vote?" glenn asked, holding my hand tightly in his as he glanced around the room.

"does it have to be unanimous?"

"what about majority rules?"

rick motioned an x, "well let's- let's just see where everybody stands. then we can talk through the options."

i nodded, looking to shane when he started talking, "well, where i sit, there's only one way to move forward."

"killing him, right? i mean why even bother to take a vote. it's clear which way the winds blowing." dale huffed, causing me to fiddle with glenns hand, unsure what side i was on.

"if- if people think we should spare him, i wanna know." rick ruled out, looking at dale with irritation in his eyes.

"well, i can tell you it's a small group— maybe just me, melanie, and glenn."

glenn slowly, looked up to dale, almost looking regretful of his opinion, "look, i- i think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time but this-"

"they've got you scared." dale hollered, pointing to everyone with his hat. "he's not one of us and we've lost too many people already."

"look, say we let him join us, right? maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. we let our guard down and he runs off. bring back his 30 men."

dale scoffed, "so the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never attempt? if we do this, there is no hope. the rule is dead, no more civilization."

i nodded, folding my hands together, "dales right. if we do this...if we kill him. our last bit of civilization is destroyed. gone."

"oh my god" shane groaned, earning a dirty look from me.

"if you go through with it. how would you do it? would he suffer?" patricia questioned, looking to rick, who looked to me.

i shrugged, "um, hanging him would be cruel, he'd suffer. shooting would be more humane."

patricia nodded, having her question answered. "this is a young mans life! and it is worth more than a five minute conversation!" dale shouted, blowing me and glenns eardrums out.

"anybody that wants the floor before we make the final decision. has the chance." rick announced, causing my eyes to search the room. no ones expression changed.

"it's survival of the fittest and that's a world i don't wanna live. i don't believe that any of you do. i cant. please." dale started, fidgeting with his hat, "isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

i hesitated for a moment before i stood up, moving to his side. "i'm with dale" i insisted, scanning the group.

andrea nodded, "he's right. we should try to find another way."

"anybody else?" rick questioned, only earning silence.

"are y'all gonna watch too?" dale asked, forcing a laugh, "no, you'll go hind your heads in your tent and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. whoa."

my eyes follow him as he started to walk away, "i won't be a party to it." he started, walking past rick to meet daryl, "you're right. this group is broken."

my eyes fell to glenn once he left, "i'm gonna take a breather" i mumbled, walking to the back door. __________

i leaned against a tree, a bit away from the group, waiting to hear the shot. waiting to know they killed him.

though when it never went off, and rick returned with carl. i felt some kind of weight lifted off my chest.

"we're keeping him in custody for now." rick explained, causing loris face to droop. i watched as andrea stood up looking at me, "i'm gonna go find dale."

i nodded, giving her a small smile before she took off. my eyes shifted to glenn, trying to read his expression.

i jumped as a loud shriek rang through the air, snapping me out of thought. "what was that? what happened?" glenn panicked, looking at me worriedly.

"i dont know?!" i stammered, grabbing my gun out of my holster, "let's find out." i mumbled, checking my clip before taking off near the commotion.

"dale!" i heard andrea yell from a different direction, sending me into full panick mode, making me run even faster.

"help! over here. run!" daryl shouted, waving his hands for us to find him.

my eyes widened when i got to the scene, seeing dale on the ground with his insides spilling out. "oh my- oh my god" i whimpered, kneeling down beside him.

"okay. okay, someone get hershel." i pleaded, causing rick to shout for someone to find hershel.

"listen to me. okay, listen to my voice." rick whispered, grabbing dales face. my eyes flickered to glenn who had just arrived with some of the others, his face filling with sadness seeing the scene.

i started to tear up, watching him struggle to breath. hershel soon arrived, looking down to me. "anything?" he questioned, trying to be subtle so the others didn't freak out.

i shook my head, no, choking back the sobs. "can we move him?" rick asked urgently, glancing between me and hershel for answers.

"he won't make the trip." hershel replied, causing rick to come up with another idea, "we'll do the operation here, glenn get back to the hous-"

i shook my head, placing a hand on his shoulder, "rick."

"no!" he yelled, panicking as he looked around.

i felt the sadness fully take over my body, sending me into tears as i stood, looking down at him.

glenn came to my side, engulfing me into a hug as we both lightly cried. "do something!" andrea pleaded, watching dale gurgle from the amount of blood in his throat.

glenn kept his hand on my waist, as we leaned against each other for support. my eyes watched rick hold his gun to dales head, struggling to pull the trigger.

daryl moved to him, taking the gun into his own hand, still pointing it towards dales head. "sorry, brother." daryl mumbled, not long after a gunshot rang through the air. ____________

"dale could get under your skin because he wasn't afraid to say what he thought. how he felt. that kind of honesty is rare and brave. he saw people for who they were. he knew things about us, the truth. who we really are. he said this group was broken. the best way to honor him is to unbreak it. set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety. our future. we're not broken. we're gonna prove him wrong. that's how we'll honor dale."_____________

"it'll be tight, 14 people in one house." rick stated, looking to hershel. "don't worry about that. with the swamp hardening, the creek drying up...."

"with fifty head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell" maggie finished, earning a nod from hershel.

"she's right. we should've moved you in a while ago." hershel mumbled, looking almost regretful for not trusting us in the beginning.

me and glenn walked to our tent, packing up our stuff to move into the dining room. i reached down, grabbing glenns baseball cap from the ground.

"i thought this was surely lost" i mumbled, positioning it on my head backwards. glenn smiled at me before leaning down to place a kiss on my lips, "looks even better than it did the first time you wore it"

i chuckled, grabbing my gear and pack, "do i rock it better than you though?" i asked, causing him to think, "no"

i scoffed, smacking his arm, "rude ass"

he chuckled, exiting the tent, me following behind, "i'm kidding, you look better in all my clothes."

i smiled as we slowly made our way to the greene house, setting our stuff down in the corner of the dining room.

"wow, it's our second house and we aren't even married" i joked, watching him shake his head as he placed our stuff down.

"come on, let's go help andrea with the rv." glenn mumbled, motioning for me to follow his lead. i nodded, feeling a rush of sadness when dale crossed my mind.

"andrea. hey, did you try pumping the gas pedal?" glenn questioned, looking up to where she sat in the rv.

"i think it's been parked too long." she insisted, giving us a frown, "you gotta tap it three times..."

"and give her a twist" me and andrea finished in unison, smiling to each other afterwards. she attempted to start it again, resulting in a clanking noise.

    "let us see" glenn stated, unlatching the engine cover, soon inspecting it. "dale, told me that in these old vehicles, the points get corroded"

    "screwdriver?" andrea questioned, holding it out for glenn to take. "flathead" i corrected, earning a nod before she started digging through the bag to find one.

    while waiting, i decided to go inside, tracing my hands over the books like i used to. "to kill a mockingbird, huh?" i chuckled, pulling out the book.

    i felt a tear slide down my cheek catching me off guard as i quickly wiped it away. "you ready?" glenn questioned, pulling me out of thought.

    i turned, seeing glenn and andrea looking at me. i quickly nodded, taking the book, "yeah." _____________

   "i'll see you after guard duty, okay?" i asked, earning a nod from glenn, "be careful"

   i smiled, leaning in to place a ginger kiss on his lips, "aren't i always?"

    he scoffed, "no"

    i shook my head, turning around to head down to the barn where we kept randall held hold up.

   when i arrived, i knocked lightly against the door, "i brought you some water." i mumbled, pressing in the code to the lock.

   my eyes widened as i opened the door, seeing bloody cuffs and no randall. "oh no" i uttered, running back out the door.

  my body collided with someone else's causing terror to flood through my body, thinking it was randall.

    i quickly pulled out my knife, holding it in front of me as my body shook from sudden freight. "good lord" daryl muttered, pushing the knife down.

    "oh thank god" i mumbled, shoving it back into my holster, "what's got you spooked?"

   i pointed to the barn door, revealing the empty space, "randall's gone"__________

   once everyone was down at the barn, they started inspecting it, checking to make sure he wasn't hiding.

   "rick! rick!" i heard a familiar voice yell, causing me to snap my head in the direction it came from, seeing shane.

     "he's armed! he's got my gun!"

    my eyes widened, looking between rick and daryl. "are you okay?" carl asked, looking up at shane's bloodied face.

   "i'm fine, little bastard, he clocked me in the face." shane assured, sending me weird vibes as he got closer.

   "all right, hershel, tdog, melanie. get everyone back into the house. glenn, daryl come with us." rick announced, earning nods from everyone.

  i squeezed glenns hand, giving him a look of support before letting go.

   "get everyone back in the house, lock the doors, and stay put!" rick demanded, walking off with shane, daryl, and glenn.

   "y'all heard him, let's go." i muttered, ushering everyone to walk towards the house.

   it wasn't long after the front door swung open, revealing only glenn and daryl. "rick and shane aint back?" daryl questioned, earning a no from lori.

   "we heard a shot." daryl mumbled, holding his crossbow in hand, "maybe they found randall."

   "we found him." daryl  revealed, causing me to let out a breath in relief, "is he back in the shed?" carol asked, only to be told he was a walker.

    i furrowed my brows, crossing my hands over my chest, "did you find the walker that bit him?"

   glenn shook his head, looking towards me, "no, the weird thing is. he wasn't bit. his neck was broke"

    "the thing is, shane and randall's tracks were right on top of each other and shane aint no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. they were together" daryl informed, causing worry to flood through my body.

    i moved to where glenn was, tracing his body with my eyes, "are you okay? you didnt get bit?" i asked, causing him to grab my arms, shaking his head no.

   i sighed, pulling him into a hug that was quickly interrupted when everyone decided to go outside.

    "come on" i ushered, tilting my head for glenn to follow me outside. we walked to the edge of the porch, seeing a huge herd of walkers in the field.

   "patricia, kill the lights" hershel whispered, his eyes never leaving the huge crowd of them. "i'll get the guns" andrea mumbled, walking back inside the house.

   "maybe they're just passing like the herd on the highway. should we just go inside?" glenn asked, causing me to shake my head no

   "a herd that size would rip the house down." daryl replied, earning a nod from me.

   "we're either gonna have to fight it or leave." i started, turning my focus to the others, "and rick didn't leave me when i was helpless so i'm not leaving him."

    before anyone could respond, lori bursted through the front door, "carls gone."

   my eyes widen, looking at her worriedly, "he- he was upstairs. i can't find him anymore."

   "maybe he's hiding" glenn suggested, quickly getting shut down, "he's supposed to be upstairs. i'm not leaving without my boy."

   "we're not. we're gonna look again. we're gonna find him" carol assured her, leading lori back inside.

    andrea appeared again, dropping the bag of guns on the floor. everyone started grabbing one while i slipped mine from it's holster, checking how much ammo i had.

    "i got the number- it's not use" daryl grumbled, looking at the size of the herd.

   "you can go if you want" hershel replied, clicking his gun, "you gonna take em all on?"

   "we have guns. we have cars." hershel retorted, causing me to nod, "kill as many as we can"

    "we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm" andrea finished, causing me to smile, honestly feeling pretty badass.

   "are you serious?" daryl asked, looking between us as if we were crazy, "this is my farm. i'll die here."

    daryl shrugged, "alright. it's as good a night as any" daryl started, hoping over the rail, "melanie, you riding with me?"

    i laughed, giving him a nod, "hell yeah i am" ________________________________2/30/2021