⌜ chapter eighteen ⌟

"Good, you're both here." Dale says as he looks between the two of them.

"The whole point of me coming up here is to get away from you people." Daryl tells him.

"Gonna take more than that."

"What do you want, Dale?" MJ asks as she gets to her feet. It's more like, get to the point. She already knows what he wants.

"I'm trying to save a kid's life." He says. "I know you've been going along with Rick for the sake of leading alongside him. But torturing people? That isn't you two."

"You don't know shit about me."

"You're decent people." Dale looks between the two of them. "So is Rick. Shane — he's different."

"Why's that?" Daryl asks as he moves to stand beside MJ. "'Cause he killed Otis?"

That gets Dale's attention. He steps forward, glancing between the two. "He tell either of you that?" He asks.

"He told some story — how Otis covered him, saved his ass. He showed up with the dead guy's gun. Rick ain't stupid. If he didn't figure it out, it's 'cause he didn't wanna."

Dale looks at MJ. "Does he know the truth?"

"Take a look at who you're talking to...and then ask a different question." She says, and both men look at her. "Back to your purpose here... You wanna save that little punk. I don't. I don't go along with anything, Rick and I are on the same side here. I think the little asshole's a threat and nothing you say is gonna change my mind. Daryl's free to make his own decisions. I'll leave you two to chat about it." She tells him and then walks away.

MJ goes back to her tent and she starts to open the zipper, but a voice behind her startles her and makes her jump. "Sounds like you got your hands full here."

"I hate it when you do that." She says as she turns around to look at Gabriel.

"Why didn't you call to tell me that you found your parents and Dean?" He asks.

"I've been a little busy."

"Yeah, your prisoner."

The blonde sighs as she looks down. "We found Kelly too." She tells him.

He gives her a puzzled look. "I haven't seen her here." He says, and she shakes her head.

"We buried her." She says. "She was in the barn — a walker. Jack lost her twice."

"He's a tough kid, he'll be alright. Just look at who's raising him."

"Have you found Bobby?" She changes the subject. "Or Cas?"

"I'm still looking." He tells her. "I just came to check in. Are you alright?"

"Fabulous." She says sarcastically.

"You should stay close to the one with the crossbow." He says, and her eyebrows furrow. "You need someone you can talk to. Stop shouldering everything on your own."

"I'm fine, Gabriel. I'll be better when you can tell me that Bobby and Cas are alive."

"I'll keep looking." He tells her and then she hears wings flutter as he disappears.

MJ's walking back toward the house when she sees Shane. She ignores him, until he calls her name to get her attention, then she reluctantly turns to face him.

"What?"

"I remembered where I know your pops name from." He says, but she doesn't react like he was hoping. She just stands there and looks at him. "He was in town a few years back. A murder suspect when multiple women were being found dead."

"My father is many things — I'll be the first to tell you — but he's not a murderer." She says.

"No? 'Cause I think differently."

"I don't give a shit what you think, Shane." She says. "He didn't kill those girls."

"You got Rick wrapped around your pretty little finger, but I know better." He says, and she scoffs. "I'm not blind like him."

"And what exactly do you think is going on between Rick and I?"

"I think you're more than just co-leaders of this group. The way that you two always look to each other whenever anything happens, always on the same side, never a bad word for the other." He says.

"You done?" She asks, amused.

"You ain't gonna deny it?"

"There's nothing to deny. There's nothing like what you think you see." She shakes her head as she turns away from him. "You're pathetic, Shane."

"Do you think the people in this group are gonna look at you and your family the same if they find out that the only reason he wasn't charged with murder on four different accounts is because he just disappeared?" He asks, and she looks back at him. "Like smoke in the wind."

"What do you want, Shane? Or are you just threatening me for shits and giggles?"

"I want you gone." He tells her.

"And if I don't leave? Then what?" She questions. "You gonna kill me like you killed Otis? Take me out into town and feed me to the walkers?"

He clenches his teeth. "You don't know anything."

"I know how to read people. The bogus story you told and the look on your face, not to mention how you came back with Otis' hunting rifle." She scoffs. "It's you who doesn't know shit. Little advice, know who you're threatening before you threaten them. You come after my family again, I'll make sure it's the last thing you ever do."

"Everything okay over here?" Dean asks as he walks over them.

"Yeah." She looks at her brother. "Just a little friendly conversation, ain't that right, Shane?"

He glances between the siblings and then nods. "That's right."

"Hey, Deansie, where are the kids?" She asks as she starts for the house again.

"Dining room." Dean says as he follows after his younger sister.

—

"Why are you covered in mud?" MJ asks as she looks at her daughter. Ellie looks down at her clothes, but doesn't say anything in reply. "Go get cleaned up, and then you and Sophia play in your room."

"Okay." The little girl nods and then walks out of the living room.

All of the adults are in the house now, getting ready to discuss what to do with the boy in the shed — Randall.

"So, how do we do this?" Glenn asks. "Just take a vote?"

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea looks between their two leaders.

"How about majority rules?" Lori suggests.

"Let's just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options." MJ tells them.

"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward." Shane chimes in.

"Killing him, right?" Dale asks as he looks around the room. "I mean, why even bother take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."

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

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group — maybe just me and Glenn." He says, and the younger boy looks up.

"Look, I-I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this—"

"They've got you scared." Dale cuts Glenn off.

"He's not one of us. And we've— We've lost too many people already." He reminds him.

"How about you?" Dale points at Maggie. "Do you agree with this?"

The brunette sighs and then looks between Rick and MJ. "Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" She asks.

"Just another mouth to feed." Daryl points out.

"It may be a lean Winter." Hershel inputs.

"We could ration better." Lori suggests.

"Well, he could be an asset." Dale says. "Give him a chance to prove himself."

"Put him to work?" Glenn asks.

"We're not letting him walk around." Rick says.

"Hell no." MJ shakes her head. "I don't want him ending up anywhere near Ellie or Sophia."

"We could put an escort on him." Maggie says.

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

"I will." Dale says.

"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy." Rick says, and MJ shakes her head.

"No." She agrees.

"They're right." Lori says. "I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up."

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

"Look, say we let him join us, right?" Shane starts. "Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let our guards down and maybe he runs off, brings back his thirty men."

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime he may never even attempt?" Dale questions.

"What about the crime that he didn't even try to stop — what he told Daryl and MJ his group did to those girls? They were practically kids." Jess speaks up. "And he wasn't exactly an innocent bystander at the bar either. Rick, MJ, and Glenn said he was hurt jumping off a roof after he was shooting at them. He was trying to kill them too."

"If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."

"So, our group tries to preserve civilization while all of the others out there have clearly thrown it out the window?" John says, and they all look at him. It's the first time that he's spoken with them on a group matter. "Sounds like a good way for us to end up dead. And like Marie said, we have children to think about here."

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

"You barely came back this time." Lori says, worried about the possible consequences​ of that idea. "There are walkers. You could break down. Y-You could get lost."

"Or get ambushed." Daryl adds.

"They're right. We should not put our own people at risk." Glenn agrees.

"What do you think, big brother?" MJ asks as she looks at Dean.

"You know what I taught you." He says.

"That's not what I asked."

Dean sighs as he looks up at his sister. "You always gotta do what you think is best for the majority." He says. "And remember that the right decision isn't always the easy decision."

"Neither one is easy, that's why we're having this conversation." She says. "And when the hell did you turn into Yoda? Give me a straight answer."

"I trust your gut." He tells her. "Every single time I went against it, it's been the wrong move."

"If you go through with it, how would you do it?" Patricia asks. "Would he suffer?" She looks between MJ and Rick, who then look at each other.

"We could hang him, right?" Shane asks. "Just snap his neck."

"I thought about that." Rick nods. "Shooting may be more humane." He says, and MJ nods in agreement.

"And what about the body?" T asks. "Do we bury him?"

"Hold— Hold— Hold on." Dale rushes. "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, getting annoyed with all of them.

"This is a young man's life and it is worth more than a five minute conversation!" He snaps. "Is this what it's come to? 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 we're so afraid of?"

"A five minute conversation — that's what you think this is? That's what you think is deciding his fate?" MJ questions. "Rick and I have had multiple conversations on the subject. We were up all night one day last week trying to decide if we were doing what was right. We decided to let him go, that was the wrong call. We didn't know then what we know now — the size of his group, the kind of firepower they have, the kind of people that they are. He knew Maggie in high school, so he knows where we are. What's to stop him from bringing those people here if we let him go?

"You think he's worth saving. Can you tell me why? What the hell has he done to suggest to you that he deserves the benefit of the doubt? He shot at us and then he admitted to me and Daryl that he sat back and did nothing while two innocent teenage girls were victimized by the sick sons of bitches in that group. And you want to risk them ending up here? Where they'll kill the men in our group and hurt the women. I don't even want to think about what they'd do to the kids.

"You're right on one point — I saved him. We were being swarmed by walkers, and I got his leg off that pike. I made the wrong call then because I didn't have any information. And now that I know more, you can bet your ass that I will put the lives of everyone in this group before the life of that little prick."

"I never thought I'd see the day that you agree with Shane." Dale says, and she chuckles as she looks at him.

"That's an interesting tactic, Dale, I gotta admit." MJ nods. "But it doesn't make a difference. I'm not so proud that I can't tell him when he's right. And I'm not okay with Randall being anywhere near this camp."

"Stop it." Carol says, and everyone looks over at where she's leaning against the front door. "Just stop it. I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this." She looks between Rick and MJ. "You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide — either of you, both of you — but leave me out."

"So, you all want the right decision made, and you want the situation handled, but no one wants to tell us what they think the right decision is." MJ nods.

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself — there's no difference." Dale says, looking at Carol.

"Hey, low-blow. No." She shakes her head at him. "Do not do that to her."

"Alright, that's enough." Rick holds his hand up, making Dale stop before he can try to argue with MJ. "Anybody wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance." He tells them.

Maggie and Patricia both sit down, and at first nobody speaks up as Rick and MJ look around the room. The leaders both take a deep breath as they turn their attention to each other.

Dale looks at MJ. "You once said that we don't kill the living."

"That was different." She tells him.

"How was stopping Daryl from putting a pickaxe in Jim's head any different than killing that kid?" He questions.

"That kid — as you call him — tried to kill us, Dale. Jim was one of us — he was bitten, but he wasn't a threat the way that this guy is. He was infected protecting our people at the quarry."

"But don't you see? If we do this... Then the people that we were — the world that we knew is dead." He argues. "And this new world is ugly. It's...harsh. It's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in and I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right."

MJ looks down, again her mind goes back to what Crowley said in the woods. "You'll thrive in this new world. You're more monster than you realize." She feels like she's turning into a monster. He was right.

"Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?" Dale asks as he looks around the room again.

"He's right." Andrea says, and they all turn to look at her. "We should try to find another way."

"Anybody else?" Rick asks, but nobody speaks up. He looks at MJ, and she takes a deep breath as they both turn to Dale.

"Y'all gonna watch too?" He asks as he looks around the room with tears in his eyes. "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 part of it." He says and then starts to walk out of the room, but he stops next to Daryl. "This group is broken." He says and then leaves the house.

MJ turns and looks at Daryl, but he won't meet her gaze. She turns so that she can't see him anymore and ignores Dean when he tries to get her attention.