Chapitre 37: Fate

Rick and Shane came back with bruises in the afternoon. They said that Randall knew Maggie, so they had no choice but bring him back. The group started discussing about what to do with him. Damian was waiting for the right moment to tell the group about their encounter with Jim's group in the town.

"We should give him a chance. Let him in the group", Dale said.

"I don't think that's a good idea. That boy tried to kill us", Glenn said. "We can't trust him".

"Glenn's right. We can't just forget what he did and make friends with him?", Andrea said.

"I think Dale is correct. We should give him a chance. It's not like he would be able to do anything when he is alone", Amy said.

"Why don't you guys understand? He is dangerous. He will run away the first chance he gets", Shane said.

"Where will he go? He's nowhere to go to", T-Dog said. "Damian said their base was destroyed. His people are either dead or gone".

Damian said stayed silent and observed the group. Amy looked at him with prompting him to tell who they encountered in the town to others, but Damian shook his head discretely to keep it a secret from the group.

"I don't know man. The boy lived with criminals, murderers and rapists. Those things can change a person you know", Shane tried to convince the group.

"I murdered people. I am also a murderer", Rick pointed out while seriously looking at Shane.

"He did that because he had no other choice", Lori looked at the group and clarified as she grabbed his arm.

"You were protecting your people. That was different", Andrea said.

"He lived with them to survive. That's all everyone who's alive right now been doing. You can't survive alone in this world anymore. He was just unlucky with the group", Damian tried to put his point.

"He can be a threat, but we can still give him a chance. We won't let him have any weapons. One of us will always look over him. Until we see he doesn't mean us harm anymore", Shawn said.

"I'll volunteer", Dale came forward to take Randall's responsibility.

"Don't count me in on this. I ain't got no time to babysit some guy", Daryl said as he walked away.

"Yeah. If I see him glancing at any of the women here in a weird way, I'll kill him then and there", Shane announced as he looked at Lori for an instant before turning his head at others and finally stopping at Rick.

"It's decided then. We give him a chance to prove himself", Rick said as others started to leave.

Amy approached Damian and dragged him away from others. "You're not gonna tell them about those people?", she questioned Damian.

"No. Don't worry. They are not going to find this place. We're safe and from now on, we'll have to be extra careful when we go to the town. I'll talk to Rick about it. Don't tell anyone about them yet", Damian requested her seriously, looking directly in her eyes. Amy nodded.

After a while, Randall came out of the barn following Rick who was probably telling him the rules if he wanted to live with us. Dale followed behind him, smiling, probably feeling like the winner as he managed to bring Randall to the group. Randall looked at Damian from far away and waved his hand towards him with a happy face. Damian, not trying to dull his face, did the same. Randall was given a spare tent to live in as T-Dog stepped up to sleep in the tent with him. It looked like everything will just be okay if this goes on like this. Night approached and everyone had dinner. Randall, out of all people, didn't know how to shut his mouth and kept blabbering about his life before the pandemic although he also added that he often does this because he gets nervous. After dinner, Damian offered himself to stay on lookout for the night which others found no reason to decline.

In early morning, Glenn woke up and came out and saw Damian sitting on the roof of RV. But what he found strange was what Damian was wearing. He looked like he was going somewhere. Looking at Glenn, Damian stood up and jumped down from the roof.

"Good morning", Damian said.

"Gud maurniiing", Glenn replied with a yawn. "You 'going somewhere this early in the morning?", he asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. I'll leave silently", Damian replied before adding, "can you keep watch on my stead now?", and Glenn nodded.

"Let me at least wash my face first", he said as Damian nodded with a smile.

After a while Glenn came back and Damian got in one of the cars they had. Glenn peeked inside the car and saw an M16 rifle and M9 pistol with a box of cartridge and a granade.

"You going to war?", Glenn asked jokingly.

"Yeah. Call of Duty", Damian lightheartedly said while both smirked at each other before fistbumping. Damian silently started the engine and drove off to the road.

A while later, others started waking up and walking around greeting others. Glenn looked at them from above as they normally did their usual stuff.

Rick came towards Glenn and asked, "Where is Damian?".

"Where he usually goes. He goes running early in the morning", Dale, who was with him replied instead.

Suddenly, Amy came out running from the RV and looked above. Not finding what she was looking for, she started looking around. Glenn, Rick and Dale observed that she looked worried for some reason.

"What happened Amy? Who are you looking for? Damian's gone out jogging", Dale said concluding she must be looking for him.

"Um... he left for town in car an hour ago", Glenn said as everyone turned towards him.

"What? Did he tell you why?", Rick asked as Dale's expression was of surprise.

"No, but he had guns with him", Glenn said.

"Oh no", Amy said as she took a step back.

Rick noticed the paper in her hand and ask, "What happened? Do you know something? What's that paper in your hand", Rick said as he moved his hand towards her. Amy who looked anxious handed the paper to Rick.

Rick opened the paper which read, "I will be back. Don't worry". Rick turned towards Amy and asked, "Did he leave this?".

Amy nodded.

"What does this mean?", Rick asked.

"He went back to the town to meet those people alone. He asked me not to tell you guys about them. That they were not going to be a problem yet", she said.

"What people?", Dale asked as he took a step towards her in worry.

"The people from Randall's group. Those who survived. We met them yesterday in town. They asked us to take them to where we were looking. Damian told them to wait a day there and he'll come back with the answer. He told me he wasn't going back and told me that he'll talk to you about it", Amy explained.

"He didn't talk to me about it", Rick said looking at Dale and Glenn who looked at him, questioning if he knew.

"You are saying he went there alone?", Glenn asked.

"Yes. If he took the guns, then he is going there", Rick answered.

"He should've told us yesterday", Glenn said as he also started worrying.

"He did this to protect the group. He's gone on a suicide mission", Dale said as Amy started crying.

"Rick, please. Do something", she pleaded to Rick.

Rick looked at Amy and made a resolve as he turned to Glenn and commanded, "Go bring Shane and other guys here. We're gonna leave right away. Dale, bring out the guns".

Both of them nodded and left.

Soon, Amy, Dale, Daryl, Glenn, Randall, Shawn, Shane and T-Dog gathered around.

"Yesterday in the town, Damian and Amy met the people from Randall's group. Damian's gone to the town to deal with them alone. I'm going too. Anyone who wants to come?", Rick was direct. "We don't have time", he added. Glenn and Dale raised their hand.

"I'll go but not if he goes", Daryl said as he pointed at Randall.

"Dude, come on. I can help. Look I don't like those guys either, okay. I just lived with them becau-", Randall got interrupted.

"You're not coming", Rick announced before adding, "and neither are you, Dale. We need to be quick and ready, if they attack".

"Count me in", Shane said. "Those guys can be a threat if we don't finish them", he added.

"Let's hope he's alright until we arrive", Glenn said.

"He'll be. He was in army, remember? He's the strongest among all of us", Andrea said.

"I doubt that. They have numbers. It'd be tough", Shane said.

"Why you always gotta think negetive, man?", T-Dog looked at him with disgust and walked away with other while Shane just shut up and walked behind, looking at Rick.

A few minutes after, the group left as everyone who was left saw them leave from the farm.