𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋 weren't allowed downstairs when the adults talked about what was gonna happen with Randall. Most thought they should just execute him. Hang him in the barn. Shoot him. Eliminate the threat. Others, and by others it was one person, Dale. Dale thought they should keep him alive.

Dale saw the best in everyone. Dale thought maybe Randall could be seen as an asset, maybe a new person in the group. Someone else to allow in the group. He wanted to give him a chance and allow him to prove himself.

Casey sat upstairs in one of the bedrooms with Carl and Jimmy. Casey and Carl were both giving one another the silent treatment. Casey's arms were crossed as she leaned her forehead against the wall and she looked out the window.

Right now, she was angry. Upset. She had many different emotions surging through her. Carl was the same way.

Carl felt angry, he was angry at everyone. Everything. He was still upset over Sophia passing away as well. He felt like everyone had just forgotten about her, or they were trying to.

And despite everything. Despite what he said to Casey, he felt guilty. Guilty that he even allowed himself to say that. And now she was mad at him. He caused her to have that thing as she had at the CDC, he didn't know what it was called. But he was responsible for that.

And on top of everything he just felt confused. He was confused about what he thought about what happened with Sophia and Casey. He didn't really know if it was Casey's fault. He didn't know if he truly did blame her...

Casey was just livid and sad. And that was all on Carl, actually. After he said that she just shut down. She had another one of those attacks, like at the CDC. Lori had to cool her off again in the tent.

Now, everyone was downstairs talking about what to do with Randall. Minus Casey, Carl, Jimmy, and Beth of course. Beth was still resting, and Jimmy was watching the kids. He didn't know why the two weren't talking to one another, but, he figured it was a petty sibling argument.

She let out a huff and stood up off of the bed. She walked to the door, an annoyed expression present on her face. "Where are you going?" Carl questioned. She opened the door, and he quickly stood up, grabbing her arm.

"Get off," She smacked his arm hand, making him pull away from her. "Idiot," she mumbled, opening up the door fully.

"What are you doing? Rick said to stay in here." Jimmy told her, standing up from his chair. Casey rolled her eyes, putting her finger to her lips.

"Can you two be any louder? I'm trying to listen and you two can't shut it." She whispered. Carl sent a glare in her direction.

"Fine, then I'm coming with you," Carl whispered. She shook her head no.

"No, I'm not talking to you." She whispered, he crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.

"You just did." She turned away from him, storming out of the room with him behind her.

"Guys, Rick said-" Casey's finger went back to her lips again as she turned with an annoyed expression.

She tiptoed toward the stairs, walking down a few of them until she could hear the conversation. Carl sat next to her, and Jimmy behind the two of them.

"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 thirty men." Shane's voice said. Casey put her chin on her knees, listening closely to what they had to say.

"So the answer is to kill him? To prevent a crime he may never even attempt? If we do this we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization." Dale argued with him, Casey heard Shane let out an Oh my God as Dale spoke.

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

"You barely came back this time. There are walkers you could break down. Y-You could get lost." Lori said, Casey looked at Carl who leaned in to whisper something.

"Apparently Shane tried to beat Dad up." He whispered to her. She raised her eyebrows.

Shane tried to beat Rick up? His best friend? Really? Casey did find it hard to believe that it happened, especially because they were just trying to send Randall away. "Who told you that?" She asked in a whisper.

"Randall."

Casey let out a quiet scoff at that, as well as an eye roll.

"You're believing Randall?" She questioned him, thinking it wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do.

Carl shrugged. "Did you see Dad's face? Shane's to..." Casey then realized he had a point. The two of them were all beat up.

While the siblings spoke, the conversation continued. What caught their attention was Patricia asking how Randall would be executed, which sparked their curiosity. "If you go through with it. How would you do it? Would he suffer?" Casey listened intently for what the answer would be.

"We could just hang him, right? Just snap his neck." Her mind went to the barn, Rick was setting up a rope in there...

That was what it was for.

"I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane." Rick figured, Casey bit her nail as they mentioned how they would kill this guy.

"What about the body? Do we bury him?" T-Dog asked.

The question wasn't answered because Dale stopped it. "Hold on, hold on. You're talking about this like it's already decided." Dale said frustratedly. He felt like nobody was listening to him. Like his opinion hadn't mattered...

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

"This is a young man's life! And it is worth more than a five-minute conversation! 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." Dale was annoyed, more than annoyed actually. Livid. Casey never saw him like that, or in this case, heard him like that. "How are we any better than those people we're so afraid of?"

A heavy silence filled the room. Casey had played with her fingers as she stared at her hands. She didn't know what she agreed with now...But her opinion wouldn't matter. She was a kid, an eight-year-old little kid.

Shane broke the silence, "We all know what needs to be done." He stated.

"No, Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility-" Rick started to say, Andrea cut off his words.

"So what's the other solution?"

"Let Rick finish," Lori commanded, Casey smiled at her mom slightly. She knew she was still probably mad at Andrea, so, she would go at her any chance she got.

But, despite Lori advocating for Rick to finish, Andrea didn't listen. "We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could-"

"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled.

"We are," Rick told him frustrated with everything going on.

Carol finally spoke up after being quiet for so long. "Stop it. 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." Carol said. Casey leaned her head against the wall, still playing around with her fingers.

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there's no difference!" Rick stopped Dale immediately, disagreeing with the statement.

"All right, that's enough. Anybody that wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

It went silent again. Casey and Carl glanced at each other, giving a knowing look at what was gonna happen next...They both knew that Rick, or someone was gonna execute Randall. And they didn't know if it was right or wrong.

The silence almost felt loud as nobody spoke up. It was uncomfortable and nobody liked it, even the three kids who weren't even in the room.

"You once said that we don't kill the living," Dale argued against Rick, trying to change his mind somehow. Going back to what Rick said to Daryl at the Atlanta chance before he tried to kill Jim.

"Well, that was before the living tried to kill us," Rick said back, Casey looked down, knowing that what he said was nothing but the truth.

"The people that we were The world that we knew is dead. And this new world it's 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 believe that any of you do. I can't! Please. Let's just do what's right." To Casey, Dale sounded as though he was ready to cry. His voice shook, and his eyes filled up with tears. "Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?" He asked, pleading for someone to agree.

Finally, someone agreed. It was Andrea. "He's right. We should try to find another way." She said.

The floorboards creaked under Rick as he turned to look at the others for another opinion. Nobody said anything. No words were said, nor were they uttered.

And that's when the decision was made.

It didn't have to be said that Randall was going to be killed that night. Because everyone knew because of the dead silence that went around the room. "Are you all gonna watch too?" Dale asked. "No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Whoa. I won't be a party to it." Dale said, starting to walk away. The three kids on the steps heard footsteps going toward them, and they quickly, but quietly went upstairs as Dale placed his hand on Daryl's shoulder.

"This group is broken."

                       𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

          𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 dinner when Rick, Shane, and Daryl took Randall to the barn to kill him. She was quiet as she leaned against Lori's legs, her head resting on her kneecap.

"Mom?" Casey questioned, now placing her chin on her knee so she could look at Lori.

She was thinking about what Dale said. The group being broken. What did that mean? "Yeah, Baby?"

"What did Dale mean when he said that the group was broken?" she asked her.

Lori didn't know how to answer. She didn't know whether to tell the truth and explain or just lie. Maybe sugarcoat it. She didn't know what to do or say when the eight-year-old asked the simple, yet hard question.

"Nothing. Sometimes people say things they don't mean." Lori told her, Casey nodded her head.

So maybe that meant Dale didn't mean the group was broken. And maybe Carl just said that thing about Sophia earlier because he was frustrated. But maybe in those heavy moments, that's when people say the things they really mean. The things they've been bottling up until the point where it's too full and it all comes out.

Casey didn't know.

What she did know was that Rick was gonna kill Randall. And so were Daryl and Shane. She didn't know where Dale was now, she figured he was in the RV or something.

She wondered if this would all be resolved. That maybe Dale would understand why it had to happen. She hoped it would because she didn't want him to be mad anymore.

Everyone was waiting for Rick, Shane, and Daryl to come back from executing Randall. But, it had been a little while and they hadn't heard anything. Not the sound of a shot being fired, no screams or fighting. Nothing.

The first to come back was Shane, and he was angry. But, when was he not? Then, Rick and Carl...The cherry on top was that Daryl was then dragging Randall back to the shed.

When Rick got back, everyone perked up to see what was going on. "We're keeping him in custody for now," Rick said. Andrea stood up, a smile growing on her face.

Dale must've gotten his way then...

"I'm gonna go tell Dale."

Casey looked at Carl who was standing next to Rick. The older man's hand was on his shoulder as they stood there.

Lori looked at Carl sternly. "Casey, Carl, go inside. Now." Carl slumped his shoulders and walked inside of the tent, Casey following behind him.

Casey looked at him as he sat down. "How come Dad didn't kill him?" Casey questioned, Carl shrugged.

"He chickened out. Took one look at me and put his gun down." Casey nodded her head sitting on the floor criss-crossed.

"Why did you go in?" She questioned, he shrugged his shoulders.

"I just wanted to see." She nodded her head, looking at the ground.

He looked down for a moment, seeing her sitting there like that. He thought of what he said a couple of hours before this, what he said about Sophia...

"Sophia's dead because of you, Casey."

He knew he had to make it right. He also knew it wasn't her fault. He needed someone to blame. Someone to take his frustrations out on and that was his sister. It was wrong but true.

He mustered up the courage to apologize to her. He didn't know if she'd forgive him or not, but it'd be nice if she did. But, he didn't get his hopes up.

"Casey?" She looked up at him. His voice was somewhat softer, somewhat nicer. It was more Carl.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It wasn't true at all, and I don't know why I said it..." He apologized, and she nodded her head, looking over at him.

"It's fine." She was short with him. It wasn't fine but she wasn't gonna be bitter, because she did love her brother. And while she constantly teased and annoyed him, she didn't like it when he was mad at her like he was.

It was silent for a moment before Casey spoke up again. "I didn't leave Sophia." She suddenly said,

Carl nodded his head. "I know, I don't know why I said you did-" Casey cut him off, wanting to further explain herself. She felt like she had to, even though Casey herself believed that she was why Sophia was dead.

"We were sleepin' in the woods and there was a walker. Sophia went one way and I drew the walker from her, I killed it, but, I guess I should've just gone with her because there were more walkers...and I couldn't protect her." She told him, Carl looked down, feeling a lot of guilt for what he said. "So, it is my fault-"

"No, it's not. Okay? I was really, really stupid for saying that and I'm sorry!"

Before Carey could hear anything they heard yelling, screaming almost. It caught their ear and the two of them immediately stood up, curious as to what was happening.

They stepped out of the tent, met by Lori who had a look of fear on her face. She looked at her children. "Come here. Come here." They heard their father telling T-Dog to get a shotgun, which worried them.

Why did he need a shotgun?

Did Randall get free? Is there a Walker? People? What was going on? The questions ran through Casey's brain nonstop. She took a deep breath, looking up at Lori.

"I want you two to go in the house. Lock the door and stay inside." Carl nodded his head, taking his sister by her hand.

"Okay."

The two ran inside, onto the front porch where Maggie was. She ushered the two onto the porch, looking down at them. "Are you two okay?" Was the first thing she asked the brother and sister. They nodded their heads up and down, putting relief through Maggie's system. "Do you two know what's going on?" They shook their heads.

"Mom told us to come here." She told Maggie, turning around to see people sprinting into the field.

Why was everyone running there?

Casey stepped off the porch, trying to see what was going on. She furrowed her eyebrows. Why did everyone look so distressed?

"Carl, come on." She waved him over, starting to run over to where everyone else was. Carl ran behind her as Maggie called after the two.

"Casey! Carl! Get back on this front porch now!"

They didn't listen.

Carl was a few steps behind his sister before they slowed down where everyone else was.

Everyone was crying, well, everyone but Daryl and Hershel. And when they saw what they were crying about, they started crying too...

Dale was lying on the ground with a gaping hole in his stomach. There was a walker across from him. He was gasping for air, struggling to keep his eyes open.

He was in pain.

Casey's eyes widened as she looked down at the man who had his organs spilling out of his stomach. As he gasped and cried in pain. At that moment she knew there was no saving him...

And that hurt.

Carl was next to her, his eyes not only on Dale but on the walker. The walker was just lying there, Casey didn't recognize that walker like Carl seemed to...

That's when Carl went over to Lori, collapsing in her arms, letting out a sob. Tears had filled up Casey's blue eyes, glossing over them. She quickly wiped them away as she took a step back away from him.

Lori quickly took her hand, leading her to the other side of her. She hugged her close like she was with Carl.

As Dale continued to struggle, Andrea finally recognized it. "He's struggling. Do something!" She sobbed. Casey took deep breaths, calming herself down as she looked down at him.

No, No, No, No, No.

She let out a small cry as Rick took out his gun, pointing it at the man. Andrea turned her head away, not wanting to watch.

Rick just stood there for a moment, trying to figure out how to do this. Trying to muster up the courage.

But, that's when Daryl stepped in. He took the gun from Rick's grasp, giving him a look that said let me handle it. He pointed it at Dale, cocking the gun before pulling the trigger.

"Sorry, brother."

                       𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

A/N:

guys i forgot the email to my tiktok acc...idk what to do. also. im like starting to get motivation to write again, so, hopefully ill be quicker with updates!!!!