NOVEL WEB S2E67 – Winding Down
[Human killed x2 - 200p]
[560p]
[STR +1]
The group looks at me with varying expressions. People like Daryl, Shane, and Andrea look at me with a slight bit of admiration. People like Rick, Glen, and Tony look at me with looks of shock, but understanding. People like Maggie look at me with a slight bit of fear. The other remaining prisoners look at me with the same expressions, though mainly fear. Axel falls to his knees in tears saying,
"I AIN'T WITH THEM! I SWEAR!"
Big Tiny just looks at me with trepidation, almost like he's trying to get himself ready for a fight. Oscar just stands there with a neutral expression, with a slight amount of fear hidden beneath the surface. And Thomas just looks at the bodies with a slight smirk.
My group all has their guns pointed at the group of prisoners, keeping an eye on their every move. I stand there for a few seconds, not speaking while everything sits in with everyone. After everyone calms down from the adrenaline jump, I speak,
"Well, boys? You eager to join your friends?"
Axel shakes his head and says,
"No! Nonono! I was never with them! Never was!"
I look at Big Tiny and see him lowering his shoulder and shaking his head,
"N-nah… Nah…"
I then look over to Thomas and see him smirking down at the split skull of Tomas. Something about that smirk… Wait…
I look over to the group and say,
"Tie their hands up. We'll keep them locked up while we finish clearing the prison."
After tying them up, we go through the rest of the prison with little other interference. Most of the walkers were actually outside thanks to a massive hole in the wall of one of the cell blocks. For now, we sealed off the gates to that area and locked the doors leading to it. With the entire prison cleared, we all gather in the mess hall of cellblock A and talk to each other.
I look at the group and say,
"Alright. Now that this place is cleared out, we're gonna be bringing the group. I only want two of us going back so that the rest of us can keep a watch on both the prison and the prisoners. But before that, I wanna check out the prison records and see if I can find each of these guys and see what they're actually in for. I don't trust that Thomas guy one bit."
Maggie, for once, speaks up,
"Yeah, I'll be honest: the rest of those prisoners don't really bother me. Axel is a little weird, but he's otherwise fine. I think they'd be great additions to the team. Thomas, on the other hand, creeps me out to no end. Especially with how he was smirking at the dead bodies."
I nod my head to her as Rick speaks up,
"Yeah, but we can't be hasty. Being creepy isn't exactly enough of a reason to kill someone."
I shake my head and am about to counter that when Shane does,
"Nah, man. With the world we live in, being creepy is exactly enough of a reason to kill someone."
Daryl nods his head and says,
"I agree. People who give off creepy vibes only survived before because they were protected by the law, and were prevented from being a creep by the law as well. They give off creepy vibes for a reason."
Tony answers next,
"But still. Killing someone for that reason alone is bad and will set a bad precedent for us, leading us down a much darker path than what we have been."
Shane shakes his head and says,
"Morals get people killed in a world like this. I understand us having some base morals for our people to uphold; but our morals absolutely have to shift to survive in a world like this."
Rick counters,
"I'd say our morals have already degraded some considering the fact that there's currently a decapitated body outside, as well as hundreds of rotting corpses."
Shane shakes his head,
"But that's not enough. We've seen some stuff, Rick. People are vicious and violent now. They kill people for the slightest of differences, or just for fun. A good example is what just happened. Had Penny not killed that prisoner, he would've drawn his gun on her, killed her, and then wounded one of us."
Andrea, who was eating an MRE, speaks up on Shane's side,
"I agree. If she hadn't been a quicker draw, that prisoner woulda killed her. She's been adjusting to this world at a far greater pace than the rest of us have. I mean, she went from being a girl crying after killing two guys that were trying to rape her to this."
Glen speaks up,
"And this is a good thing? I don't mean to sound combative. It's just… I dunno, I guess I'm just not too acclimated to this new world just yet."
I speak up and answer him,
"No, it's not a good thing. Being used to killing is never a good thing. However, being good at it is. I won't lie and say that killing is a good thing. It absolutely is not. In a perfect world, we'd all fight together to take out the walkers and come together as a species to reach utopia. However, that is wishful thinking. Humans find conflict where no conflict should exist. We kill each other over resources, religion, race, political ideologies, or any other type of shit that doesn't really matter. It's human nature to follow survival of the fittest. And the fittest isn't the one who likes to kill, or the one who refuses to do so. The fittest is the one who hates killing, but is still damn good at it."
I look around and the group and continue,
"We unfortunately do not have the luxury of avoiding conflict by running away anymore. If someone attempts to push us out of our home, we can't just leave our home and call the police to get those people out. If someone attempts to rob us of our last bottle of water, we can't just go buy another at the grocery store. If someone tries to hurt us, we can't pursue legal action against them. Our world has changed."
I look towards Rick and Glen and say,
"I'm not saying we abandon our morals. Morals are always a good thing to have. However, they have GOT to change. I'm not saying we kill the guy for being weird. I say we check out what he's in for, and then kill him if it's something really bad."
Daryl gets up from the table and says,
"I'll go grab the papers."
I nod at him as he heads off to the warden's office. Glen looks at me and asks,
"So, what are we gonna do if he actually did something really bad?"
I shrug my shoulders and say,
"Simple. We take him out back, and shoot him."
Maggie asks me,
"Why not just let him go? You were gonna let the prisoners leave before, anyway."
I shake my head and say,
"Nah. I was never gonna let them go. They would've never actually left. Exile may seem like a good idea, but that's before the exiled person comes back with a group that wants our shit. If they would've actually agreed to leave, I woulda shot them in the back as they left. I'll do anything to keep this group safe."
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AN: i'm incredibly busy this week, so i may not upload on wednesday and friday. i'm sore in places i didn't know could get sore. penny's gonna check her status soon.
