The New World 2

The next morning Daryl and Sabrina went to Rick and Shane. "Why ya bring 'im back?"

"He would've found he's way back to the farm. He knows Maggie." Rick said.

"And the place was overrun." Shane added.

"Well what are we going to do with him since he knows where we are?" Sabrina asked.

"For now we'll keep him chained to something in the barn. Sabrina can you round everybody up and tell them to meet by the tents?"

"Sure Rick."

Sabrina went to round everybody up and told them that Rick wanted a meeting by the tents. She sat down in one of the cloth folding chairs with Ana on her lap. About five minutes later Rick and Shane came to the tents.

Where's Daryl?

"So what you gonna do? Well all feel better if we knew the plan." Lori said.

"Is there a plan?" Andrea questioned.

"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn asked.

"We'll know soon enough."

Sabrina looked towards the direction Rick was looking at and saw Daryl coming to the group.

"Boy there's gotta gang, thirty men. They got heavy artillery an' they ain't lookin' ta make friends. They roll though 'ere, our boys are dead. An' our women, they're gonna- they're gonna wish they were."

Sabrina's breath hitched in her throat. They had to do something about Randall and fast. She would not let her daughter suffer the same thing that she suffered. She would kill every single one of those guys without blinking.

"What did you do?" Carol asked.

"Had a liddle chat." Daryl said.

Sabrina looked at Daryl's bloody knuckles.

Little chat huh?

"No one goes near this guy." Rick stated.

"Rick, what are you gonna do?" Lori asked softly.

"We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked.

"It's settled. I'll do it today."

Dale had the look of disbelief on his face and went after Rick. The rest of the group started doing their own thing.

"Momma." Ana said hugging Sabrina tightly.

"It's ok, it's just thunder." She said rubbing her back soothingly.

Daryl walked up behind Sabrina's chair and said, "I don't want ya two goin' an'where near tha' barn. Ya 'ear?"

"I wasn't planning on going Daryl. And neither is Ana."

"Tha' also means she can't go ta the horse stable by 'erself niether."

"But--"

"Ana, Daryl's right so don't argue. Why don't you go and read something that you packed in your bag?"

"Ok." She said then went to the tent.

"Let me see your hand."

"Why? There ain't nothin' ta look at."

"Daryl."

He grumbled something then came to the front of Sabrina with his hand held out. She examined the cut and bruised knuckles. "Let me guess, that was the only way to get the kid to talk?"

"Yeah."

She rolled her eyes and got some peroxide. She dabbed it on his knuckles and she saw his muscles tense up. When she was finished she put everything back and sat back down.

"How many times did you hit him?"

Daryl shugged. "Once he started talkin' 'bout two teenage girls 'nd his buddies, I let 'im have it."

Sabrina sighed then looked up at Daryl. "I can see where you're coming from. I'd literally kill someone if they ever touched Ana that way. I don't want her to go through what I went through."

"Tha' ain't gonna happen." He started walking away but stopped and turned to her. ""By the way yer gonna move yers an' yer daughter's stuff inta my tent."

Sabrina looked at him confused. "Wha'?"

"Nothing. When do you want me to do that?"

"Ya need ta be done by t'night." He said then walked off.

She couldn't help having a big smile plastered on her face. She finally got up and went into her tent.

"Ana?"

"Yeah?" She asked closing a book that she was reading.

"Get your things packed up. We're moving into Daryl's tent."

Ana smiled and started putting her things back in her bag. Sabrina rolled up the sleeping bags, folded the cots and put her things in her bag. The two of them put their things into Daryl's tent. Sabrina heard something next to Daryl's tent so she poked her head out.

"Oh. It's you."

"Who else would it be?"

"I don't know. By the way, where do you want me to set up mine and Ana's cots?"

Daryl put his freshly made bows down and went into his tent, slightly brushing her arm. He put his things by his cot then pointed to the now vacant space.

"Ya can set 'em up right there."

"Thanks Daryl."

He gave a little nod then walked out of the tent and resumed what he was doing. Sabrina set up Ana's cot closet to the tent wall. She was setting hers up by the door when she heard Daryl talking to someone.

"The whole point of me comin' up 'ere is ta get away from ya people."

"Gonna take more than that." She heard Dale say.

"Carol send ya?"

"Carol's not the only one concerned about you, your new role in the group."

"Oh, man, I don't need my head shrunk. This group's broken. Better of fendin' fer myself."

"You act like you don't care."

"Yeah, it's 'cause I don't."

"So live or die, you don't care what happens to Randall?"

"Nope."

"Then why not stand with me, try to save the kid's life, if it really doesn't matter one way or the other?"

"Didn't peg ya fer a desperate son a bitch."

"Your opinion makes a difference."

"Man, ain't nobody lookin' at me fer nothin'."

"Carol is, and I am. Right now."

"And you obviously have Rick's ear--"

"Rick jus' looks ta Shane. Let 'im."

"You cared about what happened to Sophia...cared what it meant to the group. Torturing people? That isn't you. You're a decent man."

Dale just lay off of him before he blows up. Although you did get a couple of things right. He did care about Sophia and he is decent.

"So is Rick. Shane is different."

"Why's that? 'Cause he killed Otis?"

"He told you that?"

"He tol' some story how Otis covered 'im, 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. It's like I said-group's broken."

"One last thing before you take off, where's Sabrina and Ana? I've looked everywhere and their things are missing."

"There in the tent." Daryl said before walking away.

Sabrina finished putting her cot up then went outside. "What's up Dale?"

"You're living with Daryl?"

"He offered and I said yes. Ana is scared to death of Shane and I'm getting tired of seeing him all the time."

"Oh. How much of the conversation did you here?"

"All of it. And I'm going to agree with Daryl on the Randall thing."

"You've got to be kidding me Sabrina? Why?"

"Look Dale you know what his group done right?"

"Right."

"And he pretty much just stood there and watched instead of helping those girls. As far as I'm concerned, goodbye Randall."

She saw Dale's face and she sighed. "Dale, I've lived through what his group done to the girls. And I don't want that to ever happen to Ana...or me again."

"Honey, I didn't know."

"It's fine. It's in the past."

"Well, I'll let you and Ana get set up."

"Alright."

Dale went off and Sabrina went back into the tent. "Want to head to the house and see if Maggie has some lemonade ready or something?"

"Sure."

Ana started skipping to the house and Sabrina followed her while giggling. When they made it to the house Ana went inside and straight to the kitchen followed by Sabrina.

"Maggie?"

"Yes sweetheart?" She asked looking at Ana.

"Do you have any lemonade or something?"

"Patricia just made some, it's in the fridge."

"Thanks Maggie."

"No problem Sabrina."

Sabrina got a glass down for Ana and poured some into it. "Sit at the table with it, we don't want any messes." She instructed.

Sabrina started helping Maggie clean up the kitchen. "When's the meeting taking place?" Maggie asked.

"Near sunset."

A couple of hours passed and the sun started setting. "Um, Sabrina, if you'd like I can watch your daughter while you guys talk. I'm watching Carl too."

"Thanks Jimmy, I'd like that." She said then looked at Ana. "Baby, go with Jimmy. I'll come get you in a few minutes."

Ana nodded and left with Jimmy. The group gathered in Hershel's living room. Sabrina was about to sit down when a familiar hand caught her gently by her elbow, signaling her to stay. She stood by Daryl and he let her arm go. Carl wanted to stay but all the adults gave him a warning look and he left with a huff.

"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?" Glenn asked from the piano bench.

"Does it have to be unanimous?"

"How about majority rules?" Lori asked after Andrea.

"Well, let's just see where everybody stands then we can talk through the options." Rick stated.

"The way I see it, there's only one way to move forward."

"Killing him, right?" Dale snapped at Shane. "I mean why even bother to take a vote? It's clear which way the winds blowing."

"Well if people believe we should spare him, I want to know."

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group-maybe just me and Glenn."

Sabrina's breathing started to become labored at the situation. She jumped a little when she felt a hand go to the lower part of her back. She looked at Daryl and he tried to give his best reassuring face that he could muster up. She let out a small smile at his attempt to comfort her. So she took a deep breath to calm herself and focused back on the situation at hand.

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

"They've got you scared."

"He's not one of us." Glenn argued back at Dale. "And we've-we've lost to many people already."

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

"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?"

"Jus' another mouth ta feed." Daryl spoke up.

"It may be a lean winter." Hershel stated.

"We could ration better."

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

"Put him to work?" Glenn suggested.

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

"We could put an escort on him."

"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked sarcastically.

"I will."

"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 said supporting Rick's statement.

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

"Look, say we let him join us, right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice."

"If he was nice he would've helped thoughs girls instead of watching them get raped." Sabrina snapped at Shane.

"I said maybe. Anyway, we let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his thirty men."

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that 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 ranted.

"Oh my God." Shane muttered.

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

"You barely came back this time. There are walkers. You could break down. You could get lost." Lori listed.

"Or ya could get ambushed." Daryl said.

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

"If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would her suffer?" Patricia asked.

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

"I thought about that. Shooting might be more humane."

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

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Hold on, hold on. You're already talking about this like it's already decided."

"You've been talkin' all day, goin' aroun' in circles. Ya jus' wanna go 'round in circles again?" Daryl asked irritatedly.

"This is a young man's life and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation!" Dale yelled.

Daryl took a long breath to keep his anger and patience under control.

"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 that we're so afraid of?" Dale ranted while ringing his hat in his hands.

There was a few seconds of silence until Shane broke it. "We all know what needs to be done."

"No, Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have responsibility--"

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea asked cutting off Rick.

"Let Rick finish." Lori said to Andrea.

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

"So let's work on it!"

"We are." Rick said.

"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.

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself-there's no difference."

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

About time Rick.

Sabrina watched Patricia and Maggie sit down without a word. All you could here was the crickets outside, that's how quiet it was until Dale broke it.

"You once said that we don't kill the living."

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

"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 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."

Dale give it a rest, the decision been made. Sabrina thought with a sigh.

"Please. Let's just do what's right." Dale begged.

Dale was greeted by silence again. "Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

"He's right. We should try to find another way." Andrea said breaking the silence.

"Anybody else?" Rick asked.

Silence again. Rick looked around at everybody and nobody spoke. He finally looked at Dale and Dale said, "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." Dale said then let out a breath. "I won't be a party to it." He said then left.

Dale stopped at Daryl and Sabrina. Daryl took his hand off of her back quickly. She hadn't even realized that his hand was still there until the warmth went away.

"This group is broken." Dale said then left the house.

The rest of the group was dismissed. Sabrina went upstairs and got Ana. She said thanks to Jimmy then left the house following Daryl.

"I got some squirrel tha' we can eat."

"That's fine." Sabrina said as they made their way to Daryl's tent.

"Ya think it was a the righ' call?"

"I honestly don't care what happens to him."

Daryl cooked the squirrel meat and they ate in silence. About an hour later Ana yawned so Sabrina tucked her into the cot then kissed her forehead before leaving the tent. When she got outside the tent she saw Daryl put his winged jacket back on.

"I wan' ya ta stay in the tent until I get back. I got a huntin' knife righ' by the flap on my side if ya need it."

"Alright."

He walked away until she called to him. He turned around and saw her coming towards him.

"Wha'?"

She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him. "Just in case I'm asleep when you get back." She said then headed to the tent again.

She laid down on her cot and before she knew it she out sound asleep. She jumped awake when she heard the tent flap unzipping roughly. Daryl came in and zipped it back up.

"How'd it go? She asked tiredly.

"Rick's damn kid followed us and was watchin'. He wanted his dad ta shoot but he didn't." He explained while sitting on his cot.

Sabrina jumped again when she heard someone scream. Daryl jumped up with his crossbow and said before leaving the tent, "Stay put."

"Mommy!" Ana cried.

"It's ok baby, I'm right here." She said going to Ana's cot and hugging her tightly. "It's going to be ok baby." She cooed into Ana's ear while running her finger's through Ana's hair.

Sabrina picked Ana up and ran to the house. "Maggie!"

Maggie ran onto the porch. "Watch her for a minute." She said to Maggie then looked at Ana. "I'll be right back, I promise." She said then kissed the top of Ana's head before sprinting off to the field.

When she finally got to the group she was out of breath.

Oh my God. Dale! Sabrina thought with tears in her eyes when she saw his intestines.

Rick pulled out his gun but couldn't shoot. Daryl gently took Rick's gun and kneeled beside Dale. He cocked the gun then said,

"Sorry, brother."

Then pulled the trigger. Sabrina's heart stopped and the tears fell freely from her eyes. Daryl handed Rick back his gun and went over to her. She hugged him tightly while burying her face into his chest and he hugged her back while burying his face into her hair.