thirty one.

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CHAPTER THIRTY ONE,
he fell into himself














   "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

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"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. That kind of honestly is rare...and brave.

Whenever I'd made a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking 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 read us. He saw people for who they are. 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.

This is how we honor Dale."

Words echoed in the numbness of her brain and brought more tears to cascade down her cheeks, the grief still fresh and the wound that Dale's death had given her not patched up.

"Can't believe he's gone."

Wiping her tears away she looked looked her shoulder, acknowledging T-Dog's lingering presence. Samantha couldn't believe he was either, as if his death had been nothing but a horrific dream, except she wasn't able to wake up.

The world had less light in it without his presence.

"That man kept me balanced when I was going through it back at the highway," T-Dog explained, frowning. "That took a lot of patience, and I never really thanked him for that."

"You just did," Samantha said, mustering up a weak smile. "Dale would say something on the lines of i'm not truly gone."

For a second, T-Dog smiled too. "Yeah, he would've," He looked back at the grave. "Girl, not only are you a firecracker, but you're poetic too?"

Samantha tilted her head. "Firecracker?" She repeated.

"Yeah, it's my nickname for you," T-Dog chuckled, grinning now. "It's fits, always throwing fists to anyone who went against you - Firecracker."

It took her a second to realized that T-Dog had been the one that held her back and tried to calm her down each and every time. Whenever Samantha would throw punches, he would be the one to hold them back. "And you were always there, risking getting punched too by holding me back," Samantha noted. "Thank you."

"Can't let that pretty face get all messed up."

"Oh, believe me, it's been messed up pretty bad before." She promised.

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