In the Shallows

It had been a few days since Randall had been staying in the barn, the day after we had all came back, Rick and Shane took the kid out into town, but later that day they had came back. They looked like they had just stepped out of a horror movie, blood splatter, busted lips, cuts, bruises. It didn't take a genius to figure out that where they were planning on leaving the kid wasn't safe.

I had also gotten into it with Andrea again. Beth had been in shock ever since the barn incident and she had threatened to kill herself. After Maggie and I had spent hours upon hours watching over her, Andrea had decided to give us a break. Low and behold she let Beth lock herself into the bathroom only to slit both her wrists. Granted she hadn't cut herself that deep and regretted the decision just like Andrea planned. But, I lost it.

I had hit her with all the what ifs and didn't give her a damn chance to plead her case. If it weren't for the fact I was trying to control my anger around her and her little boy friend Shane, I would have slit her own damn wrists to see how she liked it. Beth was only seventeen, she was still a child. This world was too stressful for children, of course they would want out. But, suicide was not the answer. I didn't care if Andrea wanted to end her own life, that was on her.

Like always she just had to put her two sense in everything. I reminded her of how if she would have had a good shot, she would have had Daryl's blood on her hands and then Beth's; if she went through with it. I couldn't begin to explain how pissed off I was and I sided with Maggie; Andrea had no right to let Beth try to make that executive decision.

I sat Indian style on the ground next to the fire while everyone started to question and ponder what we were gonna do with the kid. Honestly, I didn't give a shit. I understood he was a kid, I got that, but for some reason, he gave me a horrible feeling. But it could have been because of the people he had been with. I looked up as Daryl came walking up, my eyes narrowed at his bloody knuckles that he tried to hide.

"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead and our women, they're gonna wish they were." He gave me a slight look before his attention was pulled in Carol's direction.

"What did you do?"

"Had a little chat," he ignored her facial expression and continued past her.

"No one goes near this guy." He continued and let everyone know that it was time to eliminate the threat. I choked on air, he had to be kidding. I took back on not giving a shit. We couldn't kill a kid. At least not us, walkers maybe? I watched as Rick marched onward and Dale following like a lost puppy. I jumped up and went to find Daryl, even though we had just made nice, I was angry that he used his hands on a boy.

"Daryl!" He spun around and rolled his eyes slightly but slowed down, he gave me a weary look, "Was that necessary?"

He groaned, "Lex, don't do this. Ya ain't gonna like the answer. So don't ask."

I placed my hands on my hips and tilted my head sideways, "You've got to be kidding. Didn't you think a nicer approach would have done just fine?"

Daryl scoffed, "Nice ain't really my thing." He started to walk back towards his little area and set down his crossbow and shrugged off his vest, "What's it to ya anyway?"

I bit my lip as I followed him, "What's it to me? He's still a kid, Daryl. I mean granted I didn't care but after Rick talking about killing him? I don't know if that's the best choice."

"It's ain't any worse then sendin' him on his way with a bunch of geeks." He retorted, giving me an annoyed look. He bent down and started inspect some of his man made arrows, "Besides, had to get my anger out somehow, didn't I?"I was about to respond but Dale started walking towards us, he acknowledged me and gave me a slight smile. Daryl on the other hand just glanced over and scoffed out, "The whole point of me coming up here is to get away from you people."

Dale still held a tight lipped smile, "Gonna take more than that. Alex's up here."

He scoffed again, "Lex is different, Carol send ya?" I rose an eyebrow, still confused on what went down between the two of them.

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

He sighed, "Oh man, I don't need my head shrunk." Daryl continued to give Dale half of his attention as he tended to his bolts. "This group's broken. Lex and I are better off fending for ourselves."

Dale frowned, "You act like you don't care."

"Yeah? It's 'cause I don't." He reached over and placed his jacket and vest back on, probably to go out hunting, perhaps clear his head. I could only imagine he was still holding some anger from the whole bruise thing. I mean it was visible to the naked eye and I'm sure every time he looked at it, he'd get mad.

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

He gave me a look and then back at Dale, "Nope."

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

"Didn' peg you for a desperate sumbitch."

"Your opinion makes a difference."

"Man, ain't nobody lookin' at me for nothin'." He started to walk off, giving me a slight look of telling me that he was leaving and I shrugged.

"Carol is, and I am. Right now." He hollered out, "And you obviously have Rick's ear."
He started to walk towards Dale, his voice dripping with attitude, "Rick just looks to Shane, let him."

"You cared about what happened to Sophia, cared what it meant to the group. Torturing people? That isn't you." Dale had no idea, "You're a decent man. So is Rick. Shane? He's different."

Daryl and I locked eyes before he spoke up, "Why's that? 'Cause he killed Otis?"

His face said it all, the color drained from his face, "He tell you that?"

I snorted, "He told some story how Otis covered him and saved his ass."

Daryl nodded, "He showed up with the dead guy's gun." He shook his head, "Rick ain't stupid. Neither are we. If he didn' figure that out, it's 'cause he didn' wanna. It's like I said, group's broken." And off he went, leaving Dale and I standing there.

"What about you, Alex? I know you, you're a kindhearted woman. Do you want Randall to die without any hard evidence?"

I sighed, "Dale," I shrugged, "I could be biased because of what his friends did but I don't know." I chewed the inside of my cheek, "Apart of me is screaming do it but the other part is trying to rationalize."

"He's just a kid."

"I get that, Dale. Trust me, I get it." I sucked in air, "What do we do if we let him walk and he leads his buddies right to this farm? We can't do anything and the only thing that will run through our minds as we're being slaughtered is that we could have prevented it." I ran a hand through my hair, "If those guys back at that camp are anything like the guys I met at the bar, we'd be good as dead."

"We don't have any evidence that this kid is even apart of that." He tried to reason his case.

"I've known Daryl since I was a kid," I started, receiving a confused look from him, "I've learned to trust his judgements and instincts, lately, I've been trying to break away from him. I'm trying to fool myself into thinking that I don't need him when I really do." I tilted my head slightly and tried to shield my eyes from the Georgia sun, "I gotta stick with Daryl on this, Dale. I can't give an input."

"That's a shame, you could have really saved a person's life, Alex."

I nodded and watched him walk away with his head down, I understood where Dale was coming from but I also understood where everyone else's concerns were. It was a hard decision and to me, it wasn't one that I wanted to really be apart of. I didn't want to be apart of ending a kid's life that could potentially innocent or be apart of the decision on letting him walk and then later it coming back to bite us in the ass.

Regardless a decision was going to be made and I just wanted no part of it. I started walking towards Carl who sat at Sophia's grave, sitting down next to him, I dusted my hands off and gave him a small smile, "How ya holdin' up, buddy?"

He shrugged, "Good I guess. I just miss her."

I nodded, hugging my knees and resting my head on my shoulder, "Me too. She reminded me a lot like myself."

"Really?"

"Mhm."

We both turned our heads as we heard Carol coming towards us, "You know, we'll see Sophia again in Heaven some day." I watched him carefully as he gritted his teeth, "She's in a better place."

He cocked his head towards her, his lip twitching, "No, she's not." He stood up fast, his eyes narrowing, "Heaven is just another lie." He stepped over me and walked straight up to Carol, his voice dripping with venom, "And if you believe it, you're an idiot."

My mouth dropped as I watched him walk away and into the field, I looked up at Carol who's face said it all. I quickly stood up as she walked towards Rick, "You need to control that boy!" I quickly caught up to her.

"Carl? What happened?"

"He's disrespectful."

Rick narrowed his eyes as he exchanged glances with Lori, "Did he say something?"

She nodded, "Something cruel about Sophia."

Lori nodded back, "We'll figure it out, it's okay. I-"

"-It's not okay."

Rick held up his hand, "I'll have a talk with him."

I bit my lip as I looked at Carol, "Just calm down-"

"Don't tell me to calm down," she snapped, giving Lori and I a dirty look, "everyone around here either avoids me or treats me like I'm crazy. I lost my daughter, I didn't lose my damn mind."

Lori and I exchanged glances as she stormed away, I pursed my lips and she just sighed. "Well, um."

I nodded, "Yeah." I bit my lip and squinted my eyes, "It may or may not have been as rude and disrespectful as she put it out to be."

Lori nodded, "Well, either way, he shouldn't be acting like that."

"Agreed."