— CARL WAS ACTING STRANGE, AND ZOE seemed to be the only one that could see it. The fact he kept asking questions on how to use a gun, how to kill a walker, and where people go after they die, made her feel uneasy. With Randall now in camp, and the group trying to figure out what to do with him, everyone was stressed, and slightly scared of the situation at hand. Zoe didn't exactly know how she felt about the boy in the barn - the fact that everyone seemed so okay with killing him without even thinking about letting him go, made her question where everyone's humanity was. She knew for a fact that Nate wanted him gone, only because he thought of him as dangerous and that he could jeopardise the safety of the farm, but Zoe still didn't think that they should exactly kill him. Maybe that's what made her more like her dad in that department. Maybe they should have just left the boy to his own group..

Her ankle still hurt like hell, she had been given a walking stick to avoid any pressure on the ankle, and she hated how vulnerable it made her look, and feel. The fact that she couldn't even walk without help annoyed her entirely, and she wanted nothing but for her ankle to get better. Nate told her that it was nothing to worry about, and that he would be there to help her all the way, but it didn't make her feel any better, that she needed help with almost everything she did on a day to day basis. What if a walker got hold of her and she couldn't do much because of her ankle? She would surely be dead within a heartbeat.

Zoe had been sat around the camp for most of the day, unable to do much due to the fact that her ankle was busted, but she tried to do what she could, like hang up the washing, or help cook and keep the campfire lit. But it felt like nothing compared to when she would be out in the woods with Nate, looking for Sophia, or practicing shooting. Being able to protect the camp and the people in it was something that Zoe wanted to do - throughout her whole life, she had been wanting to be like her dad and her uncle, saving people had been something that had always interested her. You are your fathers daughter. Is something that her mom used to tell her, and it still related to her till this day.

Whilst doing all of these small jobs at the camp, she still had her mind on Carl, but it's not like she could just chase after him around the farm, not with her ankle like it was. She hadn't seen him almost all day, and she was starting to get worried. Her suspicions on his whereabouts weren't pointless, when she saw an upset Carol approach her. "I can't find your mom anywhere, do you know where she is?" The woman asked Zoe, having just come back from being at Sophia's grave, something that she did everyday.

Zoe furrowed her brows in confusion, wondering what had gotten her so upset and angry, "Uh, no, I don't, is there something you need from her?" She asked Carol. When Carol shook her heads looking back towards the house with a longing look, Zoe pushed herself up with her walking stick, "Do you need help with anything?" She asked, trying to be nice to the grieving mother.

Carol looked at Zoe with a guilty look, not wanting to blame her for what Carl had done, as she knows it wasn't her fault. "Carl called me an idiot for believing in heaven and that Sophia was up there." She ended up telling the young girl. Zoe's eyes widened at the revelation, not believing that Carl could say something like that. She knew that something was up with him and she was right, and Carol had to suffer because of it. She felt awful.

"I'm so sorry." She replied, not knowing what else she could possibly say to the woman, "I've been looking for him all day, he's been acting really strange. I think he's just going through something." She admitted.

"One of you need to sort him out. He's being disrespectful." Carol told him, trying not to go too hard on Zoe, as it wasn't her son, but it was her brother.

Zoe nodded at the woman, "I will. I'll go looking for him." She told Carol, as the woman nodded appreciatively, before walking away, avoiding Nate as he approached the two. Zoe sighed as she watched Carol walk away, knowing that she needed to do something about Carl's behaviour, he couldn't be going around the farm and insulting everyone.

"What was that about?" Nate asked as he approached Zoe, placing a kiss on her forehead as he stood in front of her. The second that he saw her sad face from across the field, he came rushing over to make sure she was okay. Call him whipped, but he didn't care.

Zoe smiled into his kiss, before looking up at him with sad eyes, "Something's wrong with Carl, he upset Carol just now." She told him, still upset with the fact that she hadn't been able to find him and prevent upsetting the woman. "I was looking for him all morning. Had to stop 'cause my ankle was hurting." She carried on, the guilt eating into her.

Nate noticed this, and immediately stopped her, "Hey, don't put that on yourself. The kid's young, he's bound to get rebellious at some point in time, today just happened to be that day." He told Zoe, knowing that he's been through something like that, too. When she didn't look like he was getting through to her, he sighed, "Do you want me to talk to him?" He asked her, knowing that he might be able to get through to him. Nate thought that Carl liked him, so hopefully he could save Zoe the stress on trying to get him in line herself. In reality, it should be the parents job to do that, but he knew that, with Rick leading the group, and Lori pregnant, they had a lot on their plate.. And it wasn't like Nate had the best example of parents growing up, not with his mom dying and having an abusive father..

Zoe seemed to brighten up at the idea, "Would you mind? I know he can be a bit of a handful at times, but he only means well.." She rambled, feeling bad that Nate had offered. She gathered that with a man talking to the boy, it might be a better idea, due to the fact that Nate could understand Carl more.. After all, Zoe was a girl, and boys and girls go through puberty completely different.

"Anything for you." Nate replied, before leaning in for a short kiss. When they pulled apart, he noticed that she was still looking nervous, so he took her chin in his hand and made her face him, so he could talk to her. "I promise you, I will talk to Carl and see what's going through that boys head." He told Zoe, causing her to nod appreciatively.

She couldn't help but lean into his touch, feeling comfort whenever his skin was touching hers. Zoe couldn't believe that she had found someone like Nate during the end of the world, it seemed like when something bad happened, something good came along with it, and that something good, was him.

——

Zoe couldn't believe that they had to sit around as a group and hold a vote on what to do with Randall, she would have thought it would be reasonable to send the boy on his way once he was better, but it seemed that everyone had their own opinions.. She was given a seat on the sofa as some others from her group stood around the living area, all quiet, not knowing what to say, as they were all waiting on Rick's arrival. Nate had been searching for Carl for most of the afternoon, but after the meeting had been called, he had to stop and come and make a vote on what he wanted to do with Randall. As soon as Rick entered, Carl came after, looking like he had been up to something.. The fact that he had avoided Zoe's eyes, said that he had been doing something he wasn't meant to, and she just knew that she was going to have to talk to him. She was sure that her dad had already had a chat, but she still wanted Nate to try and see what was wrong with him. There was no way that Carl would open up to their dad as much as he would with Nate..

Carl walked off in a strop, annoyed that he wasn't allowed to sit in the meeting, causing Zoe to sigh in annoyance - as she could see that her dad's talk with the boy obviously hadn't helped one bit. "So, how do we do this?" Glenn was the first to speak up, "Just take a vote?" He asked.

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea then asked.

"How about majority rules?" Lori then suggested.

"Well, lets just see where everybody stands." Rick interrupted, wanting to get a good idea on what everyone wanted to do with the boy. "Then we can talk through the options." He said.

"Well, the way I see it, there's only one way to move forward." Shane then spoke up.

"Killing him, right?" Dale scoffed. Zoe felt like she was watching a tennis game with the amount her head was moving from side to side to look at each person that spoke up. "Then why even bother to take a vote?" He asked, clear as day that he didn't want to kill anyone. "It's clear which way the wind's blowing." He said.

"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know." Rick spoke up, not complete long ruling out the option to keep Randall alive and well. Zoe didn't exactly want to make the decision to kill the boy, but she also didn't want him living with them, or taking their recourses for him to go on alone. She didn't exactly have much of an opinion in the matter, at least, one that mattered.

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group. Maybe just me and Glenn." Dale spoke, confident that Glenn would take his side. But when Glenn gave him a guilty look, the old mans face fell.

"Look, I think your pretty much right about everything all the time.. But this.." He tried to reason, only to be interrupted by Dale.

"They've got you scared." He all but shouted, angry that the group had gotten into Glenn's head - the one that was supposed to be on his side. Zoe hated to watch this, she had always liked the man, but she just knew that he wasn't right with this.. Randall couldn't be let off scotch free, not when him and his group tried to kill them.

"He's not one of us." Glenn defended, basically speaking Zoe's mind. "And we've.. We've lost too many people already." He said, implying to all of the people they had lost.

Dale scoffed, turning to Zoe, knowing that she would have some heart in this situation, "How about you? Do you agree with all of this?" He asked her.

Asking this had just made her feel even more guilty for her thoughts. She sighed, looking up at her father, "Couldn't we just keep him as a prisoner for longer?" She asked. She knew that if it was voted for Randall to die, her dad would be the one to kill him, and she didn't exactly want that, either..

"It's just another mouth to feed." Daryl spoke up from his place next to his brother, who was watching Zoe with a sad look, knowing that she felt guilty.

"It may be a lean winter." Hershel spoke up.

"We could ration better." Lori suggested.

This was when the group began talking about having him in the farm, but as a worker, but then came the debate about whether or not to keep him tied up, and none of them had a stable idea on what they should do with the guy. Zoe watched as Dale complained about humanity with a frown on her face, feeling awful. The fact that Dale had begun to look down on the group, didn't make her feel any better, as he was always the one to believe in everyone. When the group began talking about how they would kill him, Zoe had to block it all out, not exactly wanting to listen to how they were going to murder someone in cold blood. Granted, she wouldn't be the one to do it, but she would have voted towards it, and that's just as bad as killing him herself.

"Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance." Rick spoke up, breaking up everyone's arguing.

This was when everyone went deadly silent, no one wanting to speak out for Randall's life except for Dale. Zoe knew for a fact that she wasn't going to go against her father, so whatever he says, goes, in her eyes. When Dale looked towards her and Glenn, they avoided his judgemental glare. "You once said that we don't kill the living." He then spoke to Rick, hoping to get through to him.

"Well that was before the living tried to kill us." Rick defended.

As Dale nearly started crying, Zoe couldn't help but allow her eyes to tear up; hating the fact that they were all making the man feel like this. But he just had to realise - it was survival of the fittest - as much as none of them wanted to admit it, it was just how the world was, now. That was until Andrea spoke up, did he calm down slightly, but when no one else did, he was damn near tears. "Are you all gonna watch, too?" He asked. "Nah, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Woah. I won't be a party to it." Before he left, he placed his hand on Daryl's shoulder, "This group is broken." He said.

Zoe sat for a few more seconds before realising that she had had enough. She grabbed her stick and began walking out. "Zo.." Rick began to speak, only for her to hold her hand up to stop him. This stopped Nate from going after her, as she had given him a look that indicated that she wanted to be alone.

"I just.. No." Is all she was able to say, before she finally walked out, feeling like she had just been a part of a murder. She might as well had been. She sighed as she reached the end of the house.. She needed to take a breather.

Later on at the camp, Zoe had been sat by herself for most of the evening, still feeling guilty that she had played a part in Randall's death, until her dad had come back to claim he hadn't done it.. She watched as her dad nearly broke down, and she hated it.. She hated what this world had made them become. Zoe was about to finally get up and go and speak to Nate, apologise for ignoring him for most of the evening, but when she and the group heard screams from just outside the farm, she paused in her steps. Everyone sprung into action, Zoe grabbing her pistol and her walking stick, as Nate was quick to find her and pull her to his side, ready to protect her if anything were to try and attack her, as she wasn't as strong with her ankle. "Dad, what's going on!" Zoe called for her dad, who had rushed over to get a shotgun.

"Stay with Nate! Don't go anywhere without him!" He simply ordered her, causing her to quickly nod at him, before he rushed off.

When they all seemed to notice that the screams were coming from one area, everyone took off, "Let's go!" Zoe encouraged, pulling Nate along. At this moment, the pain in her ankle had subsided, and she wanted to get to the screams, which Andrea had guessed was Dale, and the whole group began taking off in that direction with their flashlights and guns, ready to attack whatever was hurting him. Nate stayed close behind Zoe, ready to catch her in case she fell over due to her ankle. "Oh my god." Zoe gasped, upon finally reaching Dale, seeing that his insides had been ripped open to the point of death.

Nate was quick to pull her into his side, each of them breathing heavily from the long run over here. "Don't look." He muttered into her ear, knowing that there was no way he was going to make this - his insides were hanging out of his stomach, there wasn't a way they could even move him. As everyone was panicking over him, Zoe couldn't help the tears from spilling out of her eyes, especially when Hershel had announced that there was nothing he could do to help him. Everyone in the group had begun crying when it was revealed, even her father, who began sobbing at the sight. Dale was the glue of the group, and now he was gone, a huge hole had taken his place..

The next thing Zoe knew, she was practically tackled to the floor by Carl, who began sobbing in the girls chest at the sight of the dead walker that had been the one to rip Dale's insides out, the one that Daryl had killed.. The very one who Carl had been afraid to kill earlier on in the day. Zoe cried into his hair as he gripped onto her for dear life - she had never been so heartbroken in her life. She felt like she had just lost a family member. And that's what Dale was.. Family. When she looked up at Nate, to see that some of his own tears had begun to steam down his face, Zoe cried even more, now being the one to cling onto her brother for dear life.

Dale was gone. And he wasn't coming back.