Firecracker

Raine sat on the ground with her back pressed against the tree trunk as she handed Daryl his arrows one by one to put in the quiver. She was frustrated and angry with her brother. He had told them that he was giving Dale the rest of the evening to talk to everyone about what to do with Randall. She just wanted it to be completely cover with.

Daryl could see the anger on her features and he gave her boot a light kick, getting her attention. He sent a small smile her way which she couldn’t help but return. He understood why she was upset, hell he kinda was too. He didn’t care if the kid lived or died, as long as he was far away from Raine.

As he loaded another arrow into the quiver, a movement caught his attention and he looked over to see Dale making his way over to them, rifle over his shoulder.

”The whole point of me coming up here is to get away from you people.” Daryl snapped and took the arrow from Raine’s hand.

”Gonna take more than that.” Dale replied, not phased by Daryl’s tone one bit.

”Carol send you?” Daryl asked and Raine looked up at Dale with her free hand blocking the setting sun from her eyes.

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

”Oh man, I don’t need my head shrunk. This group’s broken. I’m better off fending for myself.” Daryl said gruffly as he slipped on his jacket. Raine took that as her cue to stand up and get ready to go wherever Daryl was going to go.

”You act like you don’t care.” Dale sounded hurt as he spoke. He was hellbent on saving this kid’s life and it only seemed to anger Raine further.

”Yeah, it’s cause I don’t.”

”So, live or die, you don’t care what happens to Randall?”

”Nope.” Daryl answered nonchalantly, looking over his arrows and crossbow to make sure everything was working like it should be. Raine chewed on her thumb nail, itching to just get away from everybody.

”Then why not stand with me? Try to save the kid’s life, if it really doesn’t matter one way or the other?” Dale pleaded, his eyes watering at the mere thought of this kid dying.

”Didn’t peg you for a desperate some of a bitch.” Daryl turned to face Dale completely and slipped the crossbow over his shoulder.

”Your opinion makes a difference.”

”Man, ain’t nobody looking at for nothing.”

”Raine is, Carol is, and I am. Right now. And you have Rick’s ear.”

”Rick just looks to Shane. Let him.” Daryl didn’t want the responsibility of being a leader figure in this group, it was easier to just let Rick handle everything.

”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. So is Rick. Shane- he’s different.”

”Why’s that? Cause he killed Otis?” Daryl asked and Raine’s ears immediately perked up. She thought that she was the only one that found Shane’s story sketchy. The fact that somebody else was seeing it made her feel sane again.

”He tell you that?” Dale questioned, an eyebrow shooting up.

”He told some story. How Otis covered him, saved his ass. He showed up with the dead guy’s gun. Rick ain’t stupid. If he didn’t figure that out, it’s cause he didn’t wanna. It’s like I said, group’s broken.” With that, Daryl walked off and Dale immediately turned to Raine.

”What about you? Will you stand with me?” He asked, his face softening. Raine sighed and licked over her lips, thinking of how she could break this to him gently.

”I can’t, Dale. You weren’t there when those men were shooting at us. He wouldn’t have hesitated to kill us. And after what Daryl found out, I’m not comfortable with him being around. I honestly don’t care if they kill him or if they let him go. I just don’t want him here.” She explained, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck.

Dale stood there, staring at her with that disappointed look that you get from your parents. Raine didn’t know what else to say to him and she was grateful when Daryl hollered at her from over his shoulder. She flashed the old man an apologetic smile and then ran after Daryl.



”So, do we take a vote or...?” Raine asked as she stood in front of Daryl, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. Dale had spent literally all day going from person to person, begging for them to side with him. He didn’t get Daryl’s or Raine’s vote and he definitely didn’t get Shane’s, but maybe he got others.

”Does it have to unanimous?”

”How about majority rules?” The questions were fired at Rick and he held up his hand, silencing everybody. He needed to think. He wasn’t happy about wasting time with this, but he wanted to know what people thought.

”Well, let’s just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options.” He answered, placing his hands on the back of an armchair.

”Well, where I sit, there’s only one way to move forward.” Shane chimed in, clearly angry over this meeting. Raine rolled her eyes and shifted her weight to the other leg. Daryl bit back a smile and discreetly pushed his hand under her shirt, gently rubbing the skin on her lower back.

”Killing him, right? I mean, why even bother to even take a vote? It’s clear which way the wind’s blowing.” Dale snapped, his eyes brimming with tears.

”Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know.” Rick responded, looking around at everyone.

”Well, I can tell you it’s a small group. Maybe just me and Glenn.” Dale looked down at Glenn who looked like he was battling with himself. Raine closed her eyes, knowing that Glenn was about to change his mind.

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

”They’ve got you scared!” Dale interrupted.

”He’s not one of us! And we’ve- we’ve lost too many people already.” Glenn defended.

This went on for a few minutes. Nobody could make up their mind on what they wanted to do. Some were willing to leave him tied up, others were willing to let him pull his weight around the farm, some wanted him dead, and the rest didn’t care. Raine did not want this kid running around the farm, not with the possibility of him hurting someone. The only way she would be comfortable is if he was tied up and his legs were broken.

”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 argued. It was a good point, Raine had to give him that.

”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. These is no civilization.” Dale shot back and Raine rolled her eyes.

”Dale, I’m sorry, but civilization died when the dead came back to life and started eating us. We’re not like we used to be, we never will be. Randall tried to kill us. Before this went down, he would be tried for attempted murder and he would lose. He would probably get life in prison just for that. This is how things were handled before we had the justice system we have today...well, had.” Raine pointed out. She was a lawyer, she knew how these things went.

She wasn’t sure how long this meeting went on, but she was ready for it to be over. As soon as everyone finished talking, she went outside and immediately lit up a cigarette. Rick, Shane, and Daryl came out behind her and went out to the shed. Daryl stopped beside her though, he looked down at her as if he was asking for her permission.

Raine grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him down for a quick kiss. When she let him go, he followed after Rick and Shane. She didn’t dare take her eyes off of them. This was going to be hard on all of them.