Deadland

Chapter 24- Hand Holding

It's been a few hours since I've seen Alyssa, so I decide to go and look for her. Before I even make it into the woods, I see her and Carl trekking out of it, Alyssa has a leaf and a stick in her hair and Carl has dirt on his pants.

"Jesus!" I whisper-yell, running up to them. "Why the fuck were you in the woods?!" I check them for bites before straightening up. "Stop yelling!" Carl yells. "Woah! I've said like...nine words." Carl looks at me and then at his feet, "I lost Daryl's gun."

I sigh and rub my face with my hand. "No you didn't." I say. "But I-" "No you didn't." Both him and Alyssa catch on and he smiles.

"Don't do stupid shit without me anymore, okay? Or at least Damien. You guys don't know how to use guns or knives perfectly yet and it could cost you your life." I say, softly. "Yeah, yeah, I know. We're too young." Carl mumbles.

"When did I say that?" Both him and Alyssa look at me. "This has nothing to do with your age. It has everything to do with your skills. Now c'mon. I need to have that boring discussion about Randall." They walk in front of me and we make our way to the house. Carl stops and turns to me, "You'd be a good mom." He begins walking again. I smile and look at my feet, not responding.

As we're walking, I pick leaves and sticks out of Alyssa's platinum blonde hair.

"Come on Carl, I want you to stay with Jimmy. You too Alyssa." "Aw." Alyssa whines. "Listen to Lori, 'Lyss. You know dad will say the same thing." I say, motioning her to enter the house. "But I wanna listen." Carl groans. "Hm-mm, not this time. Come on." Lori puts her hand on Carl's back and leads him into the house.

I follow behind them. When we enter, it's silent. Uncomfortably silent.

I sit on the bench next to Glenn, Damien stands next to me. "So...how do we do thus? Just take a vote?" Glenn asks. "Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asks. "How about majority rules?" Lori suggests.

"Well let's just see where everybody stands. Then we can talk through the options." Rick says, stepping up.

"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward." My dad says, standing next to Andrea. I swear I can feel my dinner come up my throat when I see them together.

I swear to fuck if she becomes my stepmom.

"Killing him, right?" Dale projects, looking around. "I mean why bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing." "Well, if people believe we should spare 'im-I wanna know." Rick says, running his fingers through his hair.

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group. Maybe just...me and Glenn." Dale says.

Glenn doesn't respond, he just slowly looks up at Dale. Dale's face drops. "Look I-I think you're pretty much right about everything all the time, but this-" "They've got you scared!" "He's not one of us. And we-we've lost too many people already." Dale shakes his head at Glenns words. He looks to Maggie, "How about you? Do you agree with this?"

"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" She asks, crossing her arms. "Just another mouth to feed." Daryl says, softly.

"It may be a lean winter." Hershel acknowledges. "We could ration better." Lori says.

"Well, he could be an asset. Give 'im a chance to prove himself!" "Put him to work?" Glenn asks. "We're not letting him walk around." Rick looks around.

"We could put an escort on 'im." Maggie suggests. "Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane scoffs. "I will!" Dale exclaims.

Rick puts his hand up, "I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy." "He's right. I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up." Lori says.