Aug. 12 - Difficult Decisions
Title: Difficult Decisions
Author: 3am_moonlight
Crossover: BtVS / The Walking Dead (TV)
Rating: Gen / Teen.
Word Count: 1,389.
Timeline: Post-Chosen / TWD: S01. (01x05 - Wildfire, 01x06 - TS-19)
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss and TWD belongs to whoever holds the copyright.
Summary: They're finally leaving, but there's still a hard choice to be made.
Author's Note: Follows ' Turn of Events' and ' Let's Talk'.
An hour and a lot of procrastination later and they were finally ready to make some decisions. None of them had much to their name so it shouldn't have taken that long. The two Slayers had been shamelessly eavesdropping on all of the conversations in case they needed to make even more arguments to get them to move away from their makeshift camp, but surprisingly there hadn't really been any. The herd attacking the camp the night before had managed to force them to face reality in a way they hadn't done before and now they were scared for their own safety. There had only been one group of people who had had a different conversation than the rest, and they had made up their minds. But the real issue was what to do with Jim.
Jim was dying. If thousands of hospitals around the country and the entire world couldn't help the bitten, then they had no chance at all. They had three options: 1. They brought him along and kept an eye on him until he succumbed to the infection. Then stab him in the head before he reanimated, and then bury him. 2. Kill him now before he had a chance to harm anyone. Or 3. Leave him behind to turn on his own and then bite whoever was unlucky enough to come across him.
The latter wasn't something the two women were willing to do, it went against all logic. They wanted the undead to be properly dead, not help them kill more people. This group didn't seem to understand the simple fact that a bote or even a scratch was a death sentence, were instead under the impression he would get better, or at least that he wouldn't turn. Given their lack of resources, the obvious thing was to kill him now and be done with it. Legally, if that was even an option anymore, and morally it was the wrong thing to do. Which left taking the dying man with them and wasting precious resources.
Not far away Rick and Shane were gathering the group for the final discussion on where to go, and unsurprisingly they were getting nowhere. Faith, being an impatient soul, to begin with, interrupted them after a short while. "If we can't agree on a place to go, we'll just get in the cars and start driving. Anywhere is better than here, and maybe we'll even find something to eat."
It was a good point and thankfully Rick had given up on going to the CDC after Faith had taken him aside and bluntly got the point across a bit earlier. It was a waste of time and it would get them too close to Atlanta and all the walkers who were still there. Some arguing later and they were finally agreed on just driving away from Atlanta and all of its suburbs. Finding somewhere to stay was one of their goals, preferably a small gated community or a large property with big, thick walls all around it. The other was food and water, as they were lacking in both.
The bright point of the morning was breakfast as there was leftover fish from last nights dinner and some other food they'd managed to find. Plus, squirrels caught by their resident redneck, a man named Daryl, whom most of the group appeared to dislike despite him being one of the most useful members of their group. Hello, hunter? There was someone who could get them food when they were unable to scavenge anything edible. He could also teach them the trade and how to prepare what they caught so it could be eaten. And these people were deliberately alienating him? Self-preservation didn't appear to be a concept they were familiar with at all.
After some back and forth they agreed on who would be driving each vehicle and who would ride with them. The Morales family took their own Jeep. T-Dog, Andrea, and Amy would drive the white van. Shane got the open Jeep with Faith riding shotgun. The Grimes family along with Carol and Sophia took a white-ish car. And finally, Daryl would be driving the last truck with his brother's motorcycle in the flatbed. Buffy chose to ride shotgun so he could maybe teach her something about hunting for dinner. Somehow she was certain it would be very different from hunting vampires and demons, but some of her Slayer abilities should still be useful. Like her supernatural hearing and sense of smell, and, of course, her speed and agility.
As they were about to go over to the cars Morales broke the news his family had agreed on, "We're not coming with you."
"What?" Rick looked mildly confused, "Why not?"
"We have family in Birmingham, we want to be with our people."
Shane gave him a doubtful look. "Are you sure? You'll be without the protection of the group, and there's no guarantee you'll find your family. Everyone has scattered to avoid the walkers, they probably aren't in Birmingham anymore."
When both Morales and his wife, Miranda, agreed they let them go. What else could they do? None of them were prisoners, so if they wanted to split from them it was their choice. It meant the group was down four people, soon to be five, but they'd gained two. It was four fewer mouths to feed, but it still meant there were fifteen of them and there wasn't much food left.
Soon after the Morales family left in their car and took a right at the junction, while the rest of the caravan took the left. They drove for about five hours before the RV broke down and they were stuck in the middle of the road. Once again Jim's fate was up for debate while Dale and Glenn attempted to fix the RV.
"Jim wants to die. He's suffering and there's no help for him. No way to lessen his suffering." Faith first looked Buffy in the eyes and then Rick and Shane. "If he wants to die I'll help him, I already have blood on my hands. Killing Jim is mercy, not murder."
Buffy looked sadly at her friend, she made a good point but it didn't mean she had to like it. Her sense of right said there had to be another way, but she also knew there wasn't. Riley had told her about how the military sometimes had to commit mercy kills for the sake of the rest of the unit. It was never easy, but it was a choice that had to be made. Her thoughts wandered while the others argued, but she made eye contact with her friend and then entered the RV to ask the man in question what he wanted. It was his life, his choice.
Not long after he was being carried outside by Rick and Shane, and put down on the ground with his back against a tree. One by one the group gave him their goodbyes and empty platitudes before finally she and Faith were the only ones standing outside the cars. She waited until both the RV and the Grimes/Peletier car had begun driving before she removed her favorite knife from its sheath and took the few steps needed to get next to the dying man. Behind her, the white van turned back to the road and began slowly following the other two vehicles. Shane gave them a last look before he followed.
Faith went down on one knee in front of Jim, knife held steady in her right hand, "Last chance, is this was you truly want?"
"Yes," he replied in a tired voice. "There's nothing left, just do it. I don't want to turn into one of them." He swallowed, "Do it." Faith gave him one last look before she lifted her hand and stabbed him in the middle of the forehead, fast enough that he never felt a thing. Afterward, she cleaned her blade on a piece of cloth and went straight for Daryl's truck without making eye contact or saying a word. Buffy followed, silently giving her support the way she hadn't done back in Sunnydale all those years ago.
Three days later they were all startled by a huge explosion which lit up even the bright summer sky.
Author: 3am_moonlight
Crossover: BtVS / The Walking Dead (TV)
Rating: Gen / Teen.
Word Count: 1,389.
Timeline: Post-Chosen / TWD: S01. (01x05 - Wildfire, 01x06 - TS-19)
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss and TWD belongs to whoever holds the copyright.
Summary: They're finally leaving, but there's still a hard choice to be made.
Author's Note: Follows ' Turn of Events' and ' Let's Talk'.
An hour and a lot of procrastination later and they were finally ready to make some decisions. None of them had much to their name so it shouldn't have taken that long. The two Slayers had been shamelessly eavesdropping on all of the conversations in case they needed to make even more arguments to get them to move away from their makeshift camp, but surprisingly there hadn't really been any. The herd attacking the camp the night before had managed to force them to face reality in a way they hadn't done before and now they were scared for their own safety. There had only been one group of people who had had a different conversation than the rest, and they had made up their minds. But the real issue was what to do with Jim.
Jim was dying. If thousands of hospitals around the country and the entire world couldn't help the bitten, then they had no chance at all. They had three options: 1. They brought him along and kept an eye on him until he succumbed to the infection. Then stab him in the head before he reanimated, and then bury him. 2. Kill him now before he had a chance to harm anyone. Or 3. Leave him behind to turn on his own and then bite whoever was unlucky enough to come across him.
The latter wasn't something the two women were willing to do, it went against all logic. They wanted the undead to be properly dead, not help them kill more people. This group didn't seem to understand the simple fact that a bote or even a scratch was a death sentence, were instead under the impression he would get better, or at least that he wouldn't turn. Given their lack of resources, the obvious thing was to kill him now and be done with it. Legally, if that was even an option anymore, and morally it was the wrong thing to do. Which left taking the dying man with them and wasting precious resources.
Not far away Rick and Shane were gathering the group for the final discussion on where to go, and unsurprisingly they were getting nowhere. Faith, being an impatient soul, to begin with, interrupted them after a short while. "If we can't agree on a place to go, we'll just get in the cars and start driving. Anywhere is better than here, and maybe we'll even find something to eat."
It was a good point and thankfully Rick had given up on going to the CDC after Faith had taken him aside and bluntly got the point across a bit earlier. It was a waste of time and it would get them too close to Atlanta and all the walkers who were still there. Some arguing later and they were finally agreed on just driving away from Atlanta and all of its suburbs. Finding somewhere to stay was one of their goals, preferably a small gated community or a large property with big, thick walls all around it. The other was food and water, as they were lacking in both.
The bright point of the morning was breakfast as there was leftover fish from last nights dinner and some other food they'd managed to find. Plus, squirrels caught by their resident redneck, a man named Daryl, whom most of the group appeared to dislike despite him being one of the most useful members of their group. Hello, hunter? There was someone who could get them food when they were unable to scavenge anything edible. He could also teach them the trade and how to prepare what they caught so it could be eaten. And these people were deliberately alienating him? Self-preservation didn't appear to be a concept they were familiar with at all.
After some back and forth they agreed on who would be driving each vehicle and who would ride with them. The Morales family took their own Jeep. T-Dog, Andrea, and Amy would drive the white van. Shane got the open Jeep with Faith riding shotgun. The Grimes family along with Carol and Sophia took a white-ish car. And finally, Daryl would be driving the last truck with his brother's motorcycle in the flatbed. Buffy chose to ride shotgun so he could maybe teach her something about hunting for dinner. Somehow she was certain it would be very different from hunting vampires and demons, but some of her Slayer abilities should still be useful. Like her supernatural hearing and sense of smell, and, of course, her speed and agility.
As they were about to go over to the cars Morales broke the news his family had agreed on, "We're not coming with you."
"What?" Rick looked mildly confused, "Why not?"
"We have family in Birmingham, we want to be with our people."
Shane gave him a doubtful look. "Are you sure? You'll be without the protection of the group, and there's no guarantee you'll find your family. Everyone has scattered to avoid the walkers, they probably aren't in Birmingham anymore."
When both Morales and his wife, Miranda, agreed they let them go. What else could they do? None of them were prisoners, so if they wanted to split from them it was their choice. It meant the group was down four people, soon to be five, but they'd gained two. It was four fewer mouths to feed, but it still meant there were fifteen of them and there wasn't much food left.
Soon after the Morales family left in their car and took a right at the junction, while the rest of the caravan took the left. They drove for about five hours before the RV broke down and they were stuck in the middle of the road. Once again Jim's fate was up for debate while Dale and Glenn attempted to fix the RV.
"Jim wants to die. He's suffering and there's no help for him. No way to lessen his suffering." Faith first looked Buffy in the eyes and then Rick and Shane. "If he wants to die I'll help him, I already have blood on my hands. Killing Jim is mercy, not murder."
Buffy looked sadly at her friend, she made a good point but it didn't mean she had to like it. Her sense of right said there had to be another way, but she also knew there wasn't. Riley had told her about how the military sometimes had to commit mercy kills for the sake of the rest of the unit. It was never easy, but it was a choice that had to be made. Her thoughts wandered while the others argued, but she made eye contact with her friend and then entered the RV to ask the man in question what he wanted. It was his life, his choice.
Not long after he was being carried outside by Rick and Shane, and put down on the ground with his back against a tree. One by one the group gave him their goodbyes and empty platitudes before finally she and Faith were the only ones standing outside the cars. She waited until both the RV and the Grimes/Peletier car had begun driving before she removed her favorite knife from its sheath and took the few steps needed to get next to the dying man. Behind her, the white van turned back to the road and began slowly following the other two vehicles. Shane gave them a last look before he followed.
Faith went down on one knee in front of Jim, knife held steady in her right hand, "Last chance, is this was you truly want?"
"Yes," he replied in a tired voice. "There's nothing left, just do it. I don't want to turn into one of them." He swallowed, "Do it." Faith gave him one last look before she lifted her hand and stabbed him in the middle of the forehead, fast enough that he never felt a thing. Afterward, she cleaned her blade on a piece of cloth and went straight for Daryl's truck without making eye contact or saying a word. Buffy followed, silently giving her support the way she hadn't done back in Sunnydale all those years ago.
Three days later they were all startled by a huge explosion which lit up even the bright summer sky.