Deadland

Chapter 22- Strawberries

(Tw!! Mentions of self-harm and suicide!!)

"He saved me, dad. He was alone and we figured he would be fine here!" Alyssa's starting to get irritated, her voice more and more firm. 

"We don't know him!" Shane spits, his voice sour. 

"Hershel didn't know us but he still saved Carl! He still let us stay on his property and is still letting you stay after you opened the barn!" Alyssa stands up and slams her hands down on the table. "I am not going to let Damien turn and walk away from a safe space! Damien could be killed tomorrow if we turn him away!" 

"Look, it's fine. I can just-" "Shut up Damien! Stop being nice!" Alyssa quickly turns to him and then turns to look at my dad and everyone else. 

"If you let...the Monsters Inc. character stay, you have to let Damien stay! Damien didn't try to kill us!" "Maybe he was aiming for you!" My dad points to Damien but continues looking at Alyssa. She scoffs, very agitated.

"Oh my god! You people are so oblivious to someone who could help us! Just because you guys don't trust anyone, doesn't mean that nobody can be trusted!" 

"Alyssa, you weren't in that town. You didn't experience being shot at." Glenn points out. "Literally, what does that have anything to do with this?" Alyssa's angry tone has dropped and been replaced with a "you've got to be kidding me" tone. 

"So why did you bring Randall back, huh?" She turns to Rick. "Since he shot at you." "We couldn't leave him behind. He would've bled out." Rick interlocks his fingers and looks around at all of us. 

"It's gotten bad in town." Glenn mentions. "What do we do with him?" Andrea asks. The fact she's standing next to my dad for some odd reason gives me a nauseating feeling. She's standing a little too close. 

Hershel comes back in the room from doing surgery on Randall. "I repaired his calf muscle as best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage. Won't be on his feet for at least a week." "When he is, we give 'im a canteen, take 'im out to the main road, send 'im on his way." Rick quickly says. 

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the Walkers?" Andrea asks. "He'll have a fighting chance." "Just gonna let 'im go? He knows where we are." Shane speaks. 

"He was blindfolded the whole way here. He's not a threat." Rick reassures. 

"And what about him?" Shane nods at Damien. "Was he blindfolded?" Alyssa's face flushes. "No." I say, flatly. "And why not?" Shane steps a little closer but since he's behind the table, he can't get much closer. 

"Because he ain't a threat." I cross my arms. "How do you know that?" Andrea asks. "Shut the fuck up Andrea, I wasn't talking to you." I roll my eyes. Damien smirks and nods, knowing who this "cussword name" is. 

"Damien was alone. I searched for any signs of anyone else being there and there wasn't a single sign." Andrea narrows her eyes at me, "And how do you expect us to believe that?" "You ain't in fuckin' charge!" I announced. "Adrian quit that!" Shane orders. 

"Nah! Because neither are you! The only two people who have any say are Rick and Hershel. It's Hershel's property and we all agreed weeks ago that Rick was in charge! And Shane, you are not in charge of me anymore. Not after how the fuck you've been acting." Shane scoffs and rolls his eyes. 

Damien's eyes narrow as he connects the whole "backhanding" comment to my dad. 

"Let's say Damien's alone," Shane acts like he just forgot about what I said. "What about Randall? You killed three of their men, you took one of 'em hostage, but they just ain't gonna come lookin'?" "They left him for dead! No one is looking!" Rick says through gritted teeth.