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to kill or be killed

"THEY'RE BACK."

Iris lifts her head from Glenn's shoulder as he speaks out, rubbing her eyes until her vision clears. A small group of them were sitting in a circle next to the RV, waiting for Rick and Shane to return. It seemed to be all they ever did these days, just waiting for people to return and give them some semblance of good news.

The car came to a very sudden stop and Iris ran to meet it, along with everyone else who was waiting with her. Rick was driving, and Shane was in the passenger seat. Iris couldn't make out their expressions, but she could tell from their body language that they were both pissed off about something. There was a third person in the car, and upon further inspection, Iris realised it was Randall.

"What happened?" Iris asks, as soon as Rick steps out of the car with heavy footing. Her eyes widen when she finally gets a good look at his face, which was cut and bruised, littered with what seemed to be thousands of little scrapes. He holds his arm. "Rick? What-"

"Walkers." Rick replies, but his words were short and curt. Shane steps out of the passenger side, and his face was equally as bruised and cut.

Iris raises an eyebrow, looking at both of them with exasperation. "Walkers? So if I look at your fists, there won't be any matching bruises, right?"

"Rick!" Lori calls, saving Rick from having to come up with a response to her snarky comment.

Rick sighs, turning around to see Shane dragging Randall up and out of the car. He massages his temple, before addressing the small crowd that had formed. "He knew where the farm was. We couldn't risk it. We gotta find another solution."

The solution, which was temporary and very impulsive, was to send Daryl in to question Randall. Iris wasn't sure how well that would go, but she also knew that Daryl would probably resort to more violent methods to get the information out of Randall.

It wasn't until an hour or so had passed that the group, who were gathered around the campsite, started to go a little stir crazy waiting for Daryl to return with any information that might make the decision about what to do any easier.

Lori sighs. "So, what are you gonna do? We'd all feel better if we knew the plan."

"Is there a plan?" Andrea asks, sounding unsure.

"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn asks next to her. Iris doesn't know if that is a good solution, especially if they were going to be staying in the farm for the long run. So many things could go wrong, it was too unpredictable and too risky.

"We'll know soon enough." Rick says. He turns around, watching Daryl as he steadily approaches, swinging his signature crossbow over his back.

Daryl speaks as soon as he reaches the group. "Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna, they're gonna wish they were."

Iris shuffles uncomfortably, the implications of Daryl's words making her squeeze Glenn's hand. He recognises her subtle need for comfort, and starts to rub her hand with his thumb. She knows that the whole situation with Randall was probably really hard for Glenn, being there when this all started and saving him when he was trapped in the fence, and now they had to decide his fate all over again.

"What did you do?" Carol asks.

"Had a little chat." Daryl replies. Carol puts a hand over her mouth as she looks at the cuts all over Daryl's knuckles.

"No one goes near this guy." Rick says firmly.

"Rick, what are you gonna do?" Lori asks.

Rick pauses, sharing a look with Daryl before making his decision. "We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

Iris listens to Rick's words, licking her lips in worry. The thought of Rick executing Randall brought a twist to her stomach, but at the same time, she understood just how necessary it was.

However, some didn't.

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale exclaims, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"It's settled. I'll do it today." Rick says, and he pushes on his feet and stalks off. Dale sighs and stands up to follow him.

Iris could guess that Dale would have a lot to say about this decision.

𖤓𖤓𖤓

"Iris."

She was walking back towards the farmhouse, her hair trailing down her back, feeling nice and smooth due to her new access to running water and showers. The air wasn't as sticky as it was a couple of weeks ago, and for once, her bangs wasn't stuck to her forehead like they had been for so long, and it was fluffy and freshly styled, the first layer of her hair swooped up into buns in the back of her head. She was looking for Carl, it had been a while since she had spoken to him, and she knew that all of this stuff had to be affecting him in some way. Not just the Randall stuff, but his mom was having a baby, and that could be a lot for a kid to deal with.

"Iris."

Iris turns around, seeing Dale running towards her, and she stops to let him catch up. She had a feeling that she knew what Dale wanted to talk to her about. "Dale. Are you okay?"

"Iris." Dale pants, clearly out of breath. "We don't have to do this. We don't have to vote for murder."

"Dale." Iris sighs, rubbing her temples. "It's not that simple. This isn't black and white."

"Well, why the hell not?" Dale exclaims. "This is a human life. We can't do this. I can't condone this. And I need help, support. What do you say?"

Iris exhales heavily. "Dale..."

"Please, before you say no, just hear me out." Dale says desperately. "You're Rick's sister. You have a sway in this group, more than most."

"That's not true." Iris frowns. "Rick hears everyone out equally."

"Yet if his baby sister begged him not to kill a human just for the crime of trying to survive, do you think he could really go through with it?" Dale presses.

Iris shrugs, shaking her head. "And what if I think he's right?"

Dale's face falls. "You can't seriously think that. Glenn-"

"-Is traumatised by what happened at the bar." Iris grits her teeth. "Because of him, shooting at them. Because of his whole damn group shooting at them. They could've died. And I can't forgive something like that. We have to prioritise our own, Dale."

"By killing, without mercy? Is that what it's come to?" Dale asks.

"Listen, I understand." Iris implores. "I really do. But I can't have someone like that around Carl, around Lori's baby, around my family. Our family. Life is different now, Dale. It's time to adapt to it." She spots Carl walking in their direction, looking a little deflated. She sighs. "I've gotta go, Dale. I'm sorry. I have to put them first."

She walks away from Dale, her heart heavy with responsibility and even a little guilt. She doesn't want to vote for execution if it wasn't necessary, but it felt like the only option that could keep everyone in this farm safe. Andrea was right, in an odd way. Iris was lucky that she still had Rick, and Lori, and Carl. She was lucky that she found something special with Glenn, something that makes her want to live and survive through this hellhole just so she could see him everyday. It was that luck that the universe had gifted her, for whatever reason, that made her so adamant to protect what was hers.

"Hey, kid." She says, purposefully brightening her voice so Carl wouldn't pick up on the heaviness that pressed on them all.

"Hey." Carl says, kicking his feet on the ground and squinting his eyes.

"What's up?" Iris tilts her head. "You look upset."

"Is Randall really a kid?" Carl asks. Iris' breath hitches. "Shane said that it's all grown up stuff, that I wouldn't understand. He said I should let you guys handle this. But I want to understand."

Iris takes his hand, kneeling down and looking him in the eyes. "I know you do. Randall isn't a kid. Not really. That's just what adults say to people younger than them, because they're inexperienced, in a lot of ways, At life, at having responsibilities. But that doesn't excuse bad actions. And bad actions have to have consequences, especially in this world today. I know you want the answers, but everyone here is trying to protect you from being exposed to something that you don't need. Okay? The walkers, Randall, everything. You deserve to have a chance to still be a kid. Because, you, sweetheart, are a kid."

Carl listens to her words, still not really looking at her. Iris knows that it isn't what he wants to hear, but it's what he needs to hear. They had a real chance here, with this farm, to get away from everything that was dragging them down. Carl had a real chance. "I guess."

"You guess?" Iris echoes, pinching his cheeks with a smile.

"I understand." Carl corrects, looking down at her with the same blue eyes that she had. "I wish I was the same age as you, though, Aunt Iris."

Iris chuckles. "You don't. I promise you, you really don't. You said you talked to Shane? Where is he?"

"He's talking to Andrea. She's guarding Randall, outside the barn." Carl says.

Iris sucks on her teeth. She still didn't exactly trust Shane, and the fact that he was still talking to Carl made her feel nervous. Dealing with Shane had become low on their list of priorities, what with Hershel disappearing and Beth still in recovery and everything that had happened with Randall. However, she wasn't stupid, and those injuries on Shane and Rick's faces were obviously from punches. Maybe Rick was dealing with it in his own way.

She pats Carl on the cheek. "Okay. Go find your mom, you got it?"

Carl nods, and Iris stands up, conflicted by her own thoughts as she walks towards the barn. She didn't exactly want to talk to Shane, but he had a tendency to be short and curt with Carl, and it couldn't fly. Not now, not ever. No matter how mad he was with Rick or with Lori or even with her, Carl loved Shane and he didn't deserve to be treated like that. If she wasn't so wrapped up in her own mind, she might've noticed Carl sneaking into the other side of the barn, his own curiosity getting the better of him.

Shane was in a heated conversation with Andrea, which didn't surprise Iris. Every conversation Shane had was heated, lately. They both stop talking as Iris steps on a twig, snapping their attention towards her. Andrea leans against the barn, crossing her arms, and Shane rubs his hands over his head.

"Dale ask you to keep watch?" Iris asks, stepping closer to Andrea.

"Yeah." Andrea nods. "He's real torn up about all this."

"I know." Iris sighs. "He tried to convince me."

"You disagree with him?" Shane asks, standing up straighter.

Iris tilts her head at him, intrigued by his sudden interest in her opinion on the matter. Shane hadn't seemed to care about any opinions other than his own recently. "Yeah, I disagree with him. I want to protect my family."

"Really?" Shane asks, a bitter tone in his voice. "That's interesting, Iris."

Iris sighs, already annoyed. "Yeah, really. And by the way, Shane, be careful what you say to Carl. Kids can pick up on subtleties, you know?"

"You want him to go and explore things for himself and get himself killed, or do you wanna keep him safe by scaring him with the real stuff?" Shane says.

"Oh, like the barn? You think Carl was scared watching his dad shoot his best friend dead?" Iris shoots back.

"Guys." Andrea says.

"And we're all still alive!" Shane yells. Iris flinches.

"Guys!"

"And now we're dealing with Randall because of it!" Iris shouts. "You think I can't see those bruises on your face, on Rick's face. What were you really doing when you were dropping him off, huh?"

"Guys! I can hear Carl!" Andrea finally yells.

Iris stops speaking immediately. She goes silent. She can hear Carl's voice, in the barn, and Randall's voice was talking back to him. She gasps.

In an instant, Shane was kicking down the doors and running into the barn, all guns ablazing. Iris was a split second after him, running straight for Carl and hugging him tightly. Carl was hovering next to Randall, and Iris dreaded to think what they were talking about in there, and she swallowed her disbelief that Carl had even come in here in the first place.

Shane grabs hold of Randall and shoves him straight into the wall of the barn, bringing his gun into his face, clenching his teeth. "What the hell are you doing in here? What did you say to him? What did you say to him, huh?"

"I didn't say nothing." Randall argues back, struggling in Shane's grip.

Iris takes hold of Carl's head, pulling it into her stomach, in the attempt to shield him from Shane's violence. Carl may have known that they were planning to kill Randall, but that didn't mean she wanted him to actually become a witness to it all. There was a difference between imagining something and seeing it with your own two eyes.

Shane still had his gun pointed in Randall's face. "Hey, hey. Let me tell you something. I will shoot you where you sit."

"Okay Shane, not now." Andrea says, stepping into the barn.

"Open your mouth. Open your mouth!" Shane yells.

"Shane." Iris says, but her words only worked to aggravate him more.

"You like talking, man?" Shane pushes Randall further into the wall. "You like talking?!"

"Back off!" Andrea warns.

Shane pulls Randall away from the wall, roughly letting him go. With all of the excess energy and rage inside of him, he grabs Carl by the shoulder and drags him out of the barn, pulling him out of Iris' grasp. Iris glares at him. "Shane!"

"Get your ass out this door." Shane ignores her, yelling at Carl. "Let's go. The hell you doing?"

"Please don't tell my parents." Carl pleads. "Aunt Iris, please. I just wanted to find out more about what he did wrong! I wanted to understand!"

"Carl." Iris' voice softens. "That's not what I-"

"Carl, that ain't cool, man." Shane interupts her. Iris shakes her head, putting her hand on her hip. "You could've gotten hurt in there."

"I can handle myself." Carl shoots back. It was the first time that Iris truly looked at Carl and realised that he was becoming a teenager, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"Let me tell you something." Shane says coarsely. "You do not go near him again. Do you hear me? Damn it."

"Carl, honey, you can't do this by yourself. It's not safe." Iris says, trying to keep her voice level and calm.

"You won't tell my parents, will you?" Carl asks.

"Carl, man, this, this isn't about getting in trouble, okay? A guy like that, he will say anything to you. He'll try to make you feel sorry for him. He'll try to make you get your guard down. You let your guard down out here, people die." Shane says. Carl's entire body language wilts, and Iris sighs. "Now, just. Do me a favor, man. Go find your ma. Go on. Carl, quit trying to get yourself killed, man."

Carl nods, clenching his fists and refusing to look either Shane or Iris in the eye, and he runs off.

"Nicely handled." Iris scoffs. "People will die. What the hell is wrong with you? He's twelve!"

"And where were you? Trying to protect his innocence? You only sparked his curiosity, Iris! I know what's good for him." Shane yells back. Iris feels the rage rise in her system, listening to his words like they were a slap in the face.

"You're not his father!" Iris yells, right in his face. She grits her teeth, her face reddening in anger. "So you'd better damn stop acting like it!"

Shane scoffs and stalks off.

𖤓𖤓𖤓

"I don't know what to do about Carl." Iris mumbles. She was in Glenn's arms, having walked over and immediately bringing him into a hug. Glenn had taken it in stride, enveloping her into his hold, letting her bury her head in his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Glenn hums, playing with the ends of her hair.

Iris pulls away and grabs his hand. "He's growing up. He's getting more curious about things. He's seeing and understanding more and more. I don't want this world to ruin him."

"Yeah, I get that." Glenn says. "Sometimes I feel like this world is ruining us all. Dale talked to me."

"And?" Iris asks, tilting her head curiously.

"I don't know." Glenn sighs. "I want to understand what he's saying, I really do. But Dale wasn't there. I was. And- I don't want to risk anyone here."

"That's what I said." Iris smiles sadly. "I'm glad we agree, at least. Sometimes, I kinda think I was ruined before this world ever ended."

"How could you ever think that?" Glenn asks, and she hears his words deep in the depths of her soul.

"I don't know. I was lost, I guess." Iris says softly. "I mean, I loved the shop, I really did. But I didn't really know what I wanted to be, what I wanted to do. My dad really wanted me to go to college, but it just... wasn't right. Nothing ever really felt right. Like I was a... wandering soul of something. I always wanted so much, but I could never bring myself to take those leaps. Like I was ruined before I even had the chance."

"That's not true." Glenn says. "I mean, I was a pizza delivery boy. I get the feeling like you're constantly waiting for a future to start that you don't even know will start. But it's not over, Iris. We still have a future, you and me. We can do everything you wanted to do, it might just look a little different."

"A little different." Iris echoes. She feels her worries drain from her, relaxing as she stands up straighter and kisses him softly. She imagined the future that she always wanted growing up. A future where she had made something of herself, where she was doing good for the people around her, especially the elderly people that she had made such good friends with. She always wanted to be able to open some kind of shelter, or open an affordable clinic and really impact people's lives for the better. In the back of her mind, she had always imagined that she would have a family of her own who would do it with her. A husband who supported her hopes and dreams, kids who wanted to follow in her footsteps, or even have their own hopes and dreams that she could watch them achieve. She had told Glenn about the first part, but never the last part. It had always felt so far away, so unachievable. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure." Glenn says. "We have a future, Iris. We're not ruined."

"I love you." Iris breathes, smiling. Glenn was perfect, exactly the type of guy that she imagined marrying growing up. She was always a romantic at heart, and she had always attributed that to watching her brother fall in love when she was very young, so love was always something that she believed in, no matter how much it scared her.

"I love you, too." Glenn smiles, and his voice sounded so, so in love that Iris wanted to hear him say those three words every single day for the rest of her life.

There were voices behind them, and Iris looks away from Glenn, spotting Rick and Carl engaged in a commotion. Before she could figure out what they're saying, Carl was storming away from him.

"Hey. Hey. Carl." Iris calls, and the twelve year old sighs dramatically and turns around. "What's going on?"

"My dad is mad at me because I told Carol that believing in Heaven is stupid, because it is." Carl grumbles.

Iris' eyes widen at his sudden change in behaviour. When she thought about the fact that he was turning into a teenager, she wasn't expecting it to happen this fast. She guessed that it had everything to do with what happened with Shane, and it honestly hurt her heart to see him this affected. "Hey. Whoa. Carl, Carol is struggling. She's clinging onto every belief she has, to comfort her about the loss of her daughter. She needs comfort, not ridicule."

Carl scoffs. "You don't believe in Heaven. I heard you. In the church, when we were looking for Sophia. You said that if God exists, he wouldn't let this happen. Now you want me to lie to Carol?"

Iris let her mouth hang open, dumbstruck by Carl's words. She had no idea that Carl was even listening to her when she said all of that. Her conflicting relationship with religion was always something that she struggled with, but seeing her own words thrown right back in her face stung. Carl rolls his eyes and walks away. Iris holds her hand out, trying to find something to say, but Carl had already walked off. "Carl, I- damn it."

"That wasn't your fault." Glenn says, watching Carl walk off. "You're allowed to feel those things. He's just having a hard time right now."

"Yeah." Iris nods, biting her cheek. "I just worry about how our decision is going to impact him. I'm not saying Dale is getting to me, and I do think that this is our only solution, but it just feels like this world is a constant struggle."

"I know. But we're gonna get through it. There will come a day where we don't have to struggle, I know it." Glenn tells her.

It wasn't very long until the group were gathered in the house, sitting in silence as they waited for smeone to speak up, to begin the heavy conversation that would hopefully lead to a decision. Iris taps her foot on the floor, looking around at everyone as they all avoided eye contact with each other. Everyone was here, with the exception of Carl, Beth and Jimmy.

Glenn sighs with discontent and becomes the first to speak. "So how do we do this? Just take a vote?"

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea adds. There was a distinct shuffle in the air as peope felt more confident speaking.

"How about majority rules?" Lori suggests.

"Well, let's just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options." Rick says, standing in the middle of the room, where he could see all of their faces.

"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward." Shane says. Iris hates the fact that she agrees with Shane, it made her feel like she was becoming someone different, someone who could condone the things that Shane could. However, she also knew that she had Rick and Glenn on her side, and they were both kind, loyal people.

"Killing him, right? I mean, why even bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing." Dale says snidely.

Rick sighs. "Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know."

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group." Dale says. "Maybe just me and Glenn."

Glenn tenses next to her, looking up at Dale apoligetically. Iris suddenly feels bad for the man. It was noble, what he was trying to do, but Iris couldn't help but think it was just a little naive. Or perhaps willfully ignorant. Dale's face fell, and Iris could see the disapointment in his eyes.

Glenn shifted sheepishly. "Look, I- I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this..."

"They've got you scared!" Dale exclaims, pointing around the room accusingly.

"That's not fair, Dale." Iris defends. "He's allowed to make his own decision. It's not safe to keep him here. It's not safe to let him go. What are we supposed to do?"

"He's not one of us. And we've-" Glenn looks over to Iris. "We've lost too many people already."

Dale sighs, giving up on Glenn and staring at Hershel in a mixture of shock and disbelief. "How about you? Do you agree with this?"

Hershel doesn't say anything, keeping his gaze rooted on the laminated floor. Maggie, who was stood next to where her father was sitting, speaks. "Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?"

"Just another mouth to feed." Daryl says. He was in the corner of the room, and his voice was deep and gruff. His words were short, but impactful.

"It may be a lean winter." Hershel says, shaking his head.

"We could ration better." Lori suggests.

Iris shakes her head. "We can't afford to spare food for someone we don't even trust."

"Well, he could be an asset. Give him a chance to prove himself." Dale says. His voice was desperate, but it wasn''t getting anywhere.

"Put him to work?" Glenn asks. He looks at Dale with a remorseful expression.

Rick shakes his head. "We're not letting him walk around."

"We could put an escort on him?" Maggie wonders.

Shane scoffs. "Who wants to volunteer for that duty?"

"I will!" Dale exclaims.

"I don't know." Iris moves her hands together. "We really don't know what he's capable of."

Rick backs her up. "I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy."

"He's right. I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up." Lori says, wrapping her cardigan around herself.

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor." Andrea comments.

Shane exhales loudly, stepping forward from where he was leaning. "Look, say we let him join us, right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his 30 men."

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt?" Dale asks, a disgusted expression on his face. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."

"What if this is what we have to do to save our civilisation?" Iris argues back. "There's no society if we're all dead because we spared his life."

"Could you drive him further out? Leave him like you planned?" Hershel proposed.

Lori shakes her head, looking at Rick with wide, pleading eyes. "You barely came back this time. There are walkers. You could break down. You could get lost."

"Or get ambushed." Daryl adds.

"They're right. We should not put our own people at risk." Glenn says. Iris smiles at him, their conversation when Glenn had gotten back from the bar echoing in her mind.

"If you go through with it, how would you do it?" Patricia asks, bouncing on her feet. "Would he suffer?"

"We could hang him, right? Just snap his neck." Shane says. Iris shudders at the mental image. It felt way too violent, like they had reverted back to a mediaeval time.

"I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane." Rick says.

"And what about the body?" T-Dog pipes up. "Do we bury him?"

"Bury him, or burn him." Iris says.

"Hold on, hold on!" Dale raises his voice, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "You're talking about this like it's already decided."

"You've been talking all day, going around in circles. You just wanna go around in circles again?" Daryl asks.

"This is a young man's life, and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation! Is this what it's come to?" Dale cries out. "We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

Iris could give him that. This was nuanced. It wasn't easy, and no one really wanted to harm Randall. If it wasn't for the threat of this group being ambushed or attackd, she was sure this would be a very different conversation

"We all know what needs to be done." Shane says impatiently.

Rick clears his throat. "No, Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility-"

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea interrupts.

"Let Rick finish." Lori spits. They were clearly still having conflict, after their fight in the kitchen that Iris had witnessed.

"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet." Andrea rationalises. "I wish we could."

"So let's work on it!" Dale implores, holding his hands out theatrically.

"We are." Rick says.

"Stop it." Carol cuts in. She was stood by the door, and her voice startled Iris for a moment, not expecting to hear Carol speak up as assertively as she did. "Just stop it. I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide. Either of you, both of you. But leave me out."

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself." Dale sighs. "There's no difference."

"All right, that's enough." Rick cuts in. Carol's eyes were wide and she hugged her arms around herself. Rick looks around. "Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

Rick waits for someone to speak.

No one does.

Dale swallows thickly, looking at Rick with the same fire that just couldn't seem to burn out. "You once said that we don't kill the living."

"Well, that was before the living tried to kill us." Rick reasons. He was right. Since the bar, everything had changed. Suddenly, they were fighting against two enemies: the dead, and the living.

"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were, the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's... harsh. It's- it's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in, and I don't- and I don't believe that any of you do." Dale's voice shakes a little. Iris looks down on the ground. Dale's words resonated with her, they really did. They were almost exactly like the words of worry that she had spoken to Glenn mere hours before. "I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right. Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

However, Iris still didn't think that they should let him go, or keep him around.

If the world they knew was dead, Iris was not going to let it take her too. If that meant adapting, then so be it.

"He's right." Andrea says. Dale's expression became elated. "We should try to find another way."

Rick nods, taking that into consideration. "Anybody else?"

No one spoke.

Dale's eyes were becoming wet with emotion. His voice was thick, clearly holding it all in. "Are y'all gonna watch, too? No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. I won't be a party to it." Dale steps towards the door, stopping to pat Daryl on the back before he let. "This group is broken."

Iris sighs.

𖤓𖤓𖤓

Rick, Shane and Daryl were going to be executing Randall.

The decision was not made lightly, but it was made with consideration and an attempt to find any other solution, but everyone came up empty. Dale hadn't shown his face since he had walked out of their debate, and Glenn was obviously nervous about it.

The three boys waited until nightfall to carry out their execution, and they didn't want anyone else involved or being a witness to it. The group gathered around the camp, just like they had earlier that morning when Rick and Shane returned with Randall. Iris was waiting and waiting to hear the shot, the silence making her nervous. This was taking way too long. The longer it went without hearing the shot that signified the end of Randall's life, Iris felt more and more unsure.

If Shane really had killed Otis, was this any different?

Were they acting too hastily?

"What is taking so long?" Iris sighs.

"They're coming." T-Dog says.

Iris looks up. Rick was walking towards them, slowly walking with defeat. Carl trailed behind him, and Iris whips her head around to look at Lori, who she thought knew where Carl was. Carl had a knack for sneaking into places he didn't belong.

Rick waits a moment when he reaches the middle of camp, sighing. "We're keeping him in custody, for now."

There was a collective sound of relief.

"I'm gonna find Dale." Andrea smiles, standing up and running off towards the RV.

"You should talk to him." Iris says to Glenn, smiling at him. "He wasn't really mad. I'm sure of it."

Glenn nods, still looking more serious than she was used to. "I will. I'll go and find him soon."

"Carl, go inside. Now, please." Lori says, nudging Carl towards the tent. Carl looks like he was about to argue, but decides against it, walking into the tent.

Rick got closer to Lori, Iris and Glenn. He puts his hands on his hips, whispering. "He followed us. He wanted to watch. I couldn't."

"Oh, no." Iris says, covering her mouth with her hands. This was exactly what she had feared. She didn't want to watch her baby nephew grow up numb to all of this. To grow up believing that all of these horrors were normal, because they were not, nor would they ever be, normal.

"That's okay. That's okay." Lori whispers, and she brings Rick into a hug.

Someone screams.

Iris gasps, grabbing onto Glenn with an iron grip. The scream was loud and guttural, and it did not bode well for the already grave environment that had been created.

"What was-" Glenn starts, but he was was cut off by a second scream, just as painful and chilling as the first one.

"Get Carl." Rick says, already jumping into action.

"Baby." Lori calls, and Carl comes running out of his tent.

"What happened?"

"Come here. Come here." Lori grabs hold of Carl, bringing her arms around her son tightly. Iris takes the gun out of her holster, gripping it tightly in her hands as more and more people become aware of the commotion.

"T-Dog, get a shotgun now!" Rick yells.

Iris can hear Lori saying something to Carl about getting back to the house, but she and Glenn were running towards the noise before she could hear Lori finish her words. They were sprinting, her heart pounding in her chest as she panicked over what the hell was happening.

"Help! Over here!"

"That's Daryl!" Glenn exclaims, and Iris only runs faster.

When she sees who Daryl was crouched over, her heart almost stopped.

There was a walker, dead on the ground with Daryl's knife in its head. Daryl was on his knees, talking to Dale, who was crying out in pain. His entire stomach had been ripped open. So much so that all of his internal organs were exposed and laid out all over the ground. It was brutal and gruesome, and Iris couldn't control the tears that streamed down her face. She took a couple of steps back, her vision skewered by the tears and the lack of oxygen caused by her short, panicked breaths.

The others finally make it over, and there was a series of gasps and cries at the sight. Iris had gone pale with shock, staring at Dale's intestines with a blank, unreadable expression.

"Who is it?" Andrea asks, before her eyes widen. "Oh, my God. Oh, God."

"Rick!" Lori screams.

Rick kneels down on the ground next to Dale, gripping his hand. "All right, just listen to my voice. Listen to me, all right? Just listen to me. Okay, hold on now." He turns around screaming with desperation. "Get Hershel! He needs blood. We gotta operate now."

Iris comes to her senses and she looks away from Dale's dying, open body, and she looks over at Glenn. His eyes were filled with pain, staring at Dale with the same numbness as hers. However, as Iris stared at Glenn, her own pain and numb feeling becoming secondary as she stumbles over to him, bringing him into a hug and pulling his head away from the sight. She could feel Glenn's sobs on her shoulder, and it broke her heart. Glenn had wanted to talk to Dale, to make things better between them, and now he would never get his chance. Dale was dying.

"Hang on, Dale. Hang on." Daryl says, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

"Listen to me. Come on. Okay, just listen to my voice." Rick soothes. He turns around again, staring at the house. "All right, please. Hershel! We need Hershel!"

"Look at me." Andrea pleads, dropping to her knees.

"Dale, we're gonna help. We're here. Just hold on. Hold on."

"What happened?" Hershel asks, sprinting on scene as fast as he could. However, his question was answered the second his eyes fell on Dale. Glenn lifts his head as Hershel approaches, his eyes a little drier as he composes himself, still clung to her tightly.

"What can we do?" Rick asks lowly.

"Dale, it's gonna be okay." Glenn says. His voice cracked as he spoke, and Iris knew that he needed to believe it so badly.

"We're all here, Dale." Iris says, doing her best to keep her voice stable. She couldn't bring herself to tell him it would be okay, because in the back of her mind, she knew. She knew it wouldn't.

Iris knew that they were about to lose Dale. Wise, kind, unafraid Dale. The man who had risked his own life to save Andrea in the CDC, the man who had taken Glenn under his wing and taught him things like a father, the man who let Iris borrow his really bad books and the man who had saved them all numerous times with his RV.

The man who had rescued Glenn, Iris and T-Dog on the highway.

Dale, who just wanted them to spare Randall's life and now he was lying on the ground, losing his own.

"Can we move him?" Rick asks.

Hershel shakes his head. He won't make the trip.

"You have to do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house!" Rick yells. Iris shakes her head painfully, still gripping onto Glenn for dear life. She didn't want to say it, and she bit her tongue to keep the words at bay.

"Rick." Hershel says quietly. Iris closes her eyes when she realizes that Hershel knew what was happening too. It was obvious, Dale couldn't survive an injury like this.

"No!" Rick screams, and Iris can hear the struggle in his voice. She squeezes Glenn's hand tighter, clenching her teeth in bold, red anger. Anger that this was happening, anger that this had to be Dale, anger that he was dying thinking that the world and the group were broken beyond repair.

"Oh god." Andrea cries. Carl pushes his way through the crowd, his eyes widening as the innocence drained from him when he saw Dale on the floor. Iris could no longer contain herself and she sobs, holding her hand to her mouth as she whimpers. Carl runs straight to Lori, burying his head in her chest. Andrea gasps again. "He's suffering. Do something! Come on."

Rick grits his teeth and raises his gun, pointing it at Dale's head. His hands shook, and his fingers tightened around the trigger, but no matter how much he stares at the form of Dale, suffering and dying, he cannot pull the trigger.

"Oh god." Andrea says again, looking away.

Daryl steps closer to Rick, placing a hand on Rick's arm. He moves in front of Rick, raising his own gun in Dale's direction.

"I'm sorry, brother."

Daryl pulls the trigger.

AUTHORS NOTE

❥ Welcome back to Doomsday!
❥ DALE :( i'm gonna miss him so much, he was so fun to write and his death was so so sad
❥ There is a lot of interesting dynamic stuff happening in this chapter. Iris' conflict with Shane is only getting more and more explosive, Carl is growing up and the adults around him are hesitant to let him, Iris and Glenn are talking about the future together and Iris has made her decision about Randall. It's a juicy one and I think it's really setting up for the prison well.
❥ This is one of the longer chapters of this fic, purely because I had so much to pack in it. But I have outlined the last couple chapters of act one, and I am happy to say that act one and season two will be concluding in the next four chapters! that's 29 chapters all together for act one, and act two will be starting on chapter 30, which is super exciting!
❥ If you enjoyed, please vote and comment <3