Where Do We Go From Here

It was morning by the time we got back to the farm. What was supposed to be a quick in and out trip turned into absolute mayhem and us bringing back one too many people. As soon as the rest of the group heard our truck pull up the dirt road they made sure to be waiting for us on the front lawn. They wanted to make sure no one was injured or dead. I was the first to get out, I wanted to get as far away from that kid as possible and I was starving.

"Honey are you okay? What happened?" Lori ran up to me, she looked so worried, clearly noticing the severe bruising around my neck and my left eye was bloodshot from blown blood vessels. I could still feel the grip he had around my neck.

"I'm fine," I lied. I winced in pain as she put her hands to it, examining it.

"Someone needs to get her some ice," Herschel called out.

Carl immediately ran by me calling out for his dad, happy to see him. I watched as he ran into his arms and then my eyes landed on Daryl. He was staring at my neck intensely, he looked bothered and pissed off, he was clutching his crossbow so tight I could see his white knuckles from where I was standing. Maggie then ran to Glenn, giving him a hug, grateful that he made it back. He seemed to just brush her off, all of us were in no mood for a welcome home after the night we had.

"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery," Herschel demanded, walking by his family and into the house.

"Who the hell is that?" T-Dog asked, shocked to see someone else in the car.

"That's Randall," Glenn answered.

Randall was currently passed out in the back of the truck, a rag tied around his head to cover his eyes on the drive back. Everyone looked concerned about the mystery kid we hauled back. Shane managed to only look at Rick though like he was once again questioning his authority.

"Here let's get you some ice," Carol walked up to me, lightly grabbing my arm and leading me into the house.

I sat at the dining room table waiting for her to get it together for me, coughing the odd time to try and clear my throat. The creaking of the front door abruptly being swung open caused me to snap my head up to see Daryl walking in, he still carried his crossbow over his shoulder. Herschel wouldn't be happy if he saw Daryl carrying that in the house. He walked over to me and slammed it down on the table.

"That kid do this to you?" he asked, I could tell that he was fuming, but he tried horribly to keep it under control.

"No," I answered, my voice still cracking, "it was one of his friends or just some guy he was with, I don't know."

"Man, he was still with them, the hell Rick bring him back here for."

"He's just a kid," I repeated Rick's words to him.

"A kid who was hangin' round guys that do shit like this," Daryl pointed at my neck. He was in such disbelief by Rick's decision that he was almost laughing. "I'll kill him."

"I don't need your protection," I snapped, "I killed three men today," I confessed. The image of them clouding my vision. Dave, Tony, and Shawn.

Daryl looked taken aback and even more mad than he was before, "you never shoulda gone on that run," Daryl said.

"Well, I didn't see you chomping at the bit to volunteer and help," I retaliated. Carol had now walked back into the room, handing me my ice pack.

"I'm done lookin' for people!" he shouted, then looking up at Carol, "all you had to do was watch her!"

I now understood where all this anger was coming from. He was angry at himself. He was angry that he didn't do enough to find Sophia, which wasn't true. Saying his peace, he picked up his crossbow, walking away to leave the conversation, but not before the rest of the group walked in.

"Daryl, stay here we need to have a talk," Rick ordered. People filtered in and took the open seats around me, some of them standing around the outskirts of the room.

"Okay now before we start the discussion I just want to say we couldn't just leave him behind, he would have bled out, if he lived that long," Rick sunk his head, referring to the number of walkers there were. He stood at the head of the table, we all needed to discuss our next move with this kid.

"It's gotten bad in town," Glenn explained what Rick meant by that, striking fear in everyone's face.

"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked.

Herschel then stepped into the room, cleaning his hands of blood, "I repaired his muscle as best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage. He won't be on his feet for at least a week."

"When he is well we'll give him a cantine, take him out to the main road and send him on his way," Rick offered up what he thought to be the easy and humane solution.

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea asked.

"He'll have a fightin' chance."

"You're just gonna let him go? He knows where we are, look at what one of his guys did to Scar," Shane fought. I had to agree with him on that, but that didn't mean I wanted Randall dead. In this situation, he was innocent until proven guilty, but there was no way of knowing how that situation would play out until we had actually done it.

"He was blindfolded the whole way here, he's not a threat," Rick retorted.

"Not a threat? How many of them were there? She kills three of their men, you take one of them hostage, but no, they're just not gonna come lookin' for ya-"

"They left him for dead… no one's looking for him!" Rick shouted back, losing his cool.

I was uninterested in listening anymore, I knew it would be the same old song and dance between these two anyways, there was no coming to a solution today, but Rick's word would end up being final. I pushed my chair back abruptly and left the conversation.

-------

I could hear Daryl hitting Randall from outside of the shed they kept him in for the time being. I needed to get some fresh water for a soup Patricia would be making tonight and their pump sat only a couple of meters from the side of the shed.

"Why are they doing this?" I asked Glenn as I pushed down on the nozzle.

"To get answers out of him, see what his group of people are like and if they could be a threat," he explained.

"We're marching down the wrong road here," I shook my head.

"Well, there's not much else we can do, not since we found out that he went to school with Maggie and knows where the farm is. If we just let him go, we might as well put a welcome mat on the front porch for them," Glenn made a point.

I flinched when I heard a chair topple over and hit the floor from Daryl hitting him so hard, "Why'd they make Daryl do it?"

"I don't think they're making him, I think he volunteered," Glenn said, picking up the bucket of water, "he was pretty mad at himself after seeing the state you came back in this morning."

"We got out of there just fine, I don't need his protection, I told him that," I said.

"I don't know, Daryl's weird with the way he projects. I think he just feels guilt. I overheard Lori saying that she had asked Daryl to go look for Rick and he denied her, so he probably feels guilty now," Glenn tried his best to explain.

"Yeah but then he should feel guilt towards Lori not me," I disagreed.

"Scar, I don't think Lori is the one Daryl cares about."