In the Shallows

The second the sun had risen, everyone had gotten up from around the fire and started to take care of business. I was stuck, my eyes burned from the horrible situation we had endured just short hours ago. My eyes tore away from the burned out fire and looked towards Andrea, she hadn't moved since Amy had officially died. My heart yearned for her, I didn't know what it was like losing a sister, better yet losing a sister in front of your very eyes. My head turned towards Daryl making his rounds slamming a pickax through the geeks' heads. It made me want to vomit, the sound it made going in and then when it was pulled out. It made me shiver.

I stood up from my spot, my arms hugging my body, I felt so empty and hollow. This was no way to live and quite frankly I didn't think I could survive much longer. My eyes flickered towards Daryl, who as always had a nasty tone, "Ya'll can't be serious. Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."

I scoffed, "You can't be serious right now?" I uncrossed my arms, pointing towards Andrea, "She watched her sister die, you can't really expect her to be okay with the idea of you shoving that through her baby sister's head?" My eyes narrowed, "I've kept my mouth shut over a lot of things you've done but don't sit here and try to force it."

Rick was astonished, rubbing his jaw, he slightly nodded towards me but glanced at Daryl, "Alex's got a point, Daryl. What do you suggest?"

He gave me a dirty look before answering Rick, "Take the shot." His voice was loud and clear and that made me absolutely pissed off. "Clean, in the brain. From here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

I gave a pissed off chuckle, turning towards him, my eyes watered from how angry I was. Why couldn't he just understand like I could. I've stuck through a lot on Daryl's side, but this? This really got to me. "Yeah, you could, couldn't you."

Lori cut in, her hand resting gently on my forearm, "For god's sakes, let her be." She took a seat, giving me a small pressed smile. Everyone exchanged glances, deciding right there and then that they would just let Andrea be and that was the best damn decision they could make. This world may have gone down the drain but people still needed to grieve and be human.

I watched as Daryl walked away from us, muttering a few words under his breath, mainly about me being a bitch but I somewhat deserved it. I had never really snapped at him before and to be honest it felt kind of exhilarating. Imagine that. I squinted my eyes as Glenn started to freak out out on Daryl and Morales. Glenn really did have some balls, after all. But, my attention was pulled elsewhere, towards Jacqui who started to scream out that Jim got bit. My head snapped towards her, my body trembling slightly from the idea of Jim turning into one of those monsters. We all quickly hurried towards him.

Jim stuttered, "I'm okay, I'm okay." He did look disorientated, but with these heat, I couldn't be a hundred percent sure what was causing it.

Daryl growled, "Show it to us." He repeated himself, his hand gripping the pickaxe, my blood started to boil. Everything started to happen so fast, people chattering and grabbing weapons. This was going to be a blood bath in a matter of seconds. T-Dog swiftly and quietly came from behind Jim and grabbed him, Daryl rushed towards him, lifting up his shirt, revealing a bite mark.

I looked away, running my hands over my face, "God damn it, Jim." We all stood away from him while he kept murmuring that he was okay. I glanced at Daryl who gave me the same expression as everyone else. I swallowed hard, watching as Shane and Rick told Jim to take a seat. Daryl grabbed my arm, dragging me along with him towards the others. Standing around in a circle, we all started to discuss what we were going to do.

Daryl gave me a hard look before he started to speak, "I say we put a pickax in his head. And the dead girls and be done with it." He gave me a testing look, which I knew all too well of. I rolled my eyes, turning away from him. It would take a life time of his apologies to get me to forgive him over this one.

Shane picked his head up, giving Daryl a hard look, "Is that what you'd want, if it were you?"

He was quick to answer, his tone dark, "Yeah and I'd thank ya while ya did it."

Dale frowned, giving everyone a flustered look, "I hate to say it. I never thought I would. But maybe Daryl's right."

I gasped, giving him a horrified look. Dale was the last person in this group that I would have thought would give in. Jim got bit, obviously that's a big problem, but killing him? He was one of us, he was alive, he wasn't one of them. My voice trembled, "He's one of us." I whispered.

Rick agreed, "Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." He ignored Dale's reasoning behind his choice of words, "He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers or them to be." Daryl snapped, giving everyone a dirty look.

"What if we can get him help? I heard the C.D.C was working on a cure."

Shane shook his head, shoving his hands in his pocket, "I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."

My brain withdrew from the conversation, my mind wandering. What if the C.D.C was up and running? My heart started to race at the possibilities, the answers, everything that could potentially save us from this damned world. All I wanted was to be back in a civilized world, where there were people freely walking the streets and tickets for speeding in a school zone. I missed it. Aside from the monsters, it just felt like a long ass camping trip that we didn't bring enough stuff for. I was done with it all. I snapped out of my head the second I heard that tone in his voice and I knew that tone like the back of my hand, I trained my ears for it and that only meant he was going to do something stupid.

"You go looking for Aspirin, do what ya need to do." He started to make his way towards Jim, my eyes widened, "Someone needs to 'ave some balls to take care of this damn problem."

I shrieked the second Rick pulled his gun and placed it on his head, "Hey hey hey! We don't kill the living!"

Daryl scoffed, "That's funny...coming from a man who jus' put a gun to my head."
Shane stood in front of Jim, blocking Daryl, "We may disagree on some things, not on this, put it down. Go on."

I followed Daryl the second he childishly slammed the pickaxe into the ground, I literally had to sprint to keep up with his strides, "Daryl! What the hell were you thinking!?"

He spun around, venom hitting his words, his teeth clenched, "How the hell am I gon' keep ya safe if all ya do is question my damn motives."

I took a step back, "It's Jim, Daryl. What could he possibly do to me that I couldn't defend myself? He's just bit-"

"That's exactly why I'm so god damn angry!" He yelled, "We don' know what the hell happens. As for that dead girl, ya had no right in tryin' to protect the fuckin' dead."

I gritted my teeth, "Your an insensitive ass, Daryl. Put yourself in Andrea's shoes and imagine that dead girl is Merle. Don't you dare lie to me Daryl Dixon. You and I both know what you'd be doing. Doing the same god damn thing Andrea's doing." I pulled at my hair, "Your a piece of work. Come find me when your ready to apologize, but until then. Don't say a fucking word to me." With that I turned on my heel, feeling absolutely empowered that I had finally stood up for myself. Everyone gave me surprised looks the second I walked back into the camp. I knew they didn't know what I had said but at least they heard me. I wasn't just the little field mouse anymore.