rag doll | TWD

[10] better angels

tw: heavy mentions of SA*

edge of seventeen --- stevie nicks

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The group stood under the same tree they held Sophia's, Annette's, Shawn's and Otis' funeral underneath. They were tiring of the amount of funerals they already had to have. Especially the ones who'd been there since Atlanta, the ones who knew Dale the longest.

"Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt." Rick spoke. "That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale," JJ noticed the tears rolling down Carl's cheek, and put her arm around his shoulder, pulling him into a side hug. "he'd be lookin' back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could always read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us, the truth, who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it, set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety, our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."

After the funeral, the Greene family and the group conversed, talked of moving everyone into the house. "Gonna be tight, 14 people in one house." Rick said. 

"Don't worry about that." Hershel told him, "with the swamp hardening, the creek drying up..."

Maggie interrupted, "with 50 head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell."

"She's right," Hershel nodded. "We should've moved you in a while ago."

"Alright, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out toward the road. We'll build a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sightlines both sides of the property. T-Dog, you take the perimeter around the house, keep track of everyone coming and going."

"What about standing guard?" He asked Rick.

"I need you and Daryl on double-duty."

"I'll stock the basement with food and water, enough that we can all survive there a few days if need be."

Andrea joined in, "what about patrols?"

"Let's get this area locked down first. After that, Shane'll assign shifts while me and Daryl take Randall offsite and cut him loose."

JJ froze, listening more closely to the conversation.

"We're back to that now?" Shane asked. 

"It was the right plan first time around. Poor execution."

"That's a slight understatement." Shane smarted, leaning against the truck.

Rick took a step toward him, "you don't agree, but this is what's happening. Swallow it. Move on."

"You know, Dale's death and the prisoner- that's two separate things, right? You wanna take Daryl as your wingman, be my guest."

"Thank you." Rick marched off. 

JJ thought about what Daryl had said- if she just fessed up to Rick, all of this could be over, but she continued to keep it to herself. 

♮♮♮
[JJ]

I was moving some things closer to the house when Carl walked up to me. "Hey, Aunt J?"

"What's up, kid?"