TWD: Saving Merle First - Chapter 50: Life or Death, Choose One (Patreon)

By evening, the campfire was blazing high. Wade had also dug a small fire pit nearby to use as a barbecue pit.

Daryl had taken Otis and Jimmy hunting and successfully brought back two deer, along with a pile of smaller game such as rabbits, squirrels, and wild turkeys.

The three of them were now processing their catch in the fading light. Otis and Jimmy worked as Daryl's assistants, carefully following his instructions as they handled the animal hides.

Wade had specifically asked them to preserve the hides. They could potentially be turned into leather armor, which would offer some protection against walkers.

The others agreed that it made sense, so they took extra care with them.

Carol, Nancy, Andrea, and Lori were preparing the food for tonight's gathering.

Emma and Amy were acting like the leaders of the kids, sitting beside the tents with the three little ones and holding some kind of private meeting. Whatever they were talking about, they were clearly having fun. Bursts of laughter rang out every so often.

Wade sat on the grass with both hands braced behind him, smiling as he watched everything unfold. Two empty bottles and another half-full bottle of beer sat beside him.

Glenn glanced over at Wade, his hand pausing halfway to his own bottle.

The smile on Wade's face was gentle and peaceful, without even a trace of the violence or bloodlust he'd shown earlier.

The contrast was so striking that Glenn stopped what he was doing.

For some reason, he found himself remembering the fearlessness and pride Wade had carried when he'd first arrived at camp.

All those different sides of him seemed to overlap like layers of fog.

Glenn couldn't see through him.

He really couldn't.

Wade noticed him staring and turned his head.

"What's wrong? Still thinking about what happened earlier?"

The moment Wade said that, nearly everyone who had been drinking and talking nearby fell silent at the same time.

After hesitating for a moment, Glenn nodded.

"Wade, I..."

"You're wondering why I insisted on finding out whether those guys had a camp?"

Glenn glanced at Wade. Seeing no sign of anger, he gathered his courage and nodded.

Rick immediately cut in.

"Wait. Glenn, are you saying you took prisoners during the run today and interrogated them? Tortured them, even? Just to find out whether they had a camp?"

Wade didn't try to hide it.

"Yes."

Rick's hand tightened around his beer bottle.

The shock in his eyes gradually gave way to a much more serious, assessing look.

"Why? They'd already surrendered. They were prisoners. You can't just take someone's life after that. There are lines people aren't supposed to cross. There are basic standards of humanity and morality. Wade, I think you owe us a reasonable explanation."

For a moment, the expressions around the fire shifted in different ways.

Disgust.

Anger.

Suspicion.

Regret.

Almost without anyone noticing, a faint sense of distance began forming between them.

Wade wasn't angry at Rick's questioning or his outrage.

At this point, Rick still held firmly to his moral principles. He preferred gentler solutions and was far more inclined toward mercy.

Wade smiled, took a drink from his bottle, then looked up at the moon.

"It's simple. Back home, there's a saying. If you're going to cut down the weeds, pull them out by the roots."

Dale didn't understand the original saying, but from Wade's wording and the context, he could hear the violence behind it.

"Wade! We're human beings, not animals! We have moral standards. We have consciences. We can think, judge right from wrong, and understand the consequences of our actions. We can't hurt innocent people!"

Wade lowered his gaze and looked at Dale.

Then he smiled.

It wasn't mockery.

He genuinely found the little old man somewhat naive and endearing. More than that, he respected the fact that Dale could still hold onto his principles even now.

Dale was different from Hershel.

Hershel was a Christian who believed in God, so his worldview and reasoning naturally carried a certain philosophical and religious foundation.

Dale, on the other hand, seemed to have developed his kindness and conscience through his upbringing and the society he'd lived in. Even after everything he'd been through, those values hadn't changed much.

That was rare.

And worth respecting.

But Wade still wouldn't back down today.

Because this was no longer just an argument.

Whatever conclusion they reached here would set the standard for how the camp handled enemies in the future.

"I'm not some petty bastard who holds grudges over nothing. Quite the opposite. I'm willing to help strangers when I can. But only as long as they don't threaten my life or the lives of the people beside me. If they do, I'll use whatever means necessary to remove that threat."

When it came to enemies, Wade believed in answering blood with blood.

"But... they were prisoners. And if they had people back at their camp, those people might've been innocent..."

"Innocent?"

Wade looked at him.

"The moment the shooting starts, innocence stops being that simple."

"The second two groups become enemies, it becomes a fight where one side may have to die for the other to live."

"If I don't make sure the threat is gone, then I'm gambling with all of your lives. I'm betting that the people they left behind won't come looking for revenge after finding out their friends are dead."

"And if they do, who dies then? You? Me? Rick? Carl?"

"And when that happens, who's going to stand there and say Rick, Carl, or anyone else who never took part in today's fight was innocent?"

Wade had chosen to strip away the moral framing entirely.

He forced them to look directly at the bloody reality underneath it, along with the part of themselves that didn't want to admit what survival might require.

As Wade's tone grew heavier, even Carol and the others preparing food farther away stopped what they were doing and looked over.

A long silence followed.

Eventually, Rick sat on the ground and carefully chose his words.

"Maybe you're right, Wade. We can't gamble with people's lives. But... there might still be another way. Maybe we could give people a chance to change."

Wade knew Rick was still the same man with the makings of a powerful leader.

He was willing to use compassion to keep his anger in check.

But Wade wasn't Rick.

And besides, what was safer than a dead enemy?

"I understand what you're saying, Rick. And I wasn't trying to take my anger out on anyone."

He looked toward Dale.

"Sorry, Dale. I probably raised my voice more than I needed to. But I don't think what I said was wrong."

"This isn't an orderly society anymore. Out here, hesitation gets people killed."

Wade looked around at everyone.

"When a threat appears, we either leave it alone or remove it. In the end, it comes down to one choice."

"Live or die."

Once the comfortable surface was stripped away and the bloody reality underneath was exposed, it was no longer simply a question of morality.

It was a question of survival.

Life or death.

Choose one.