Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Chapter 15

Author's Note: Well after two heart pounding episodes of season three, Merle's really not redeeming himself with Jewel! I love Michonne but the Governor is a few screws lose of even half of a tool box!
Warning feels! At least I can save one person I liked in the show! Review!

"I may not be perfect but when I look at my children, I know that I got something in my life perfectly right-Author Unknown."

Summer took a breath holding her hand over Luke's mouth as she watched the group of walker's go by. "Shh….it'll be alright, shh…" she reassured him as she met Jewel's eyes from underneath the other car.

Luke took a breath as the herd passed, moving slightly when he thought they were gone.

"Luke, not yet!" Summer hissed as the movement caught a walker's attention. "Shit! I mean crap! Luke over the rail!" she yelled as two walker's tried to grab her. "I'm right behind you!" she told him as the little boy ran in front of her. "Come on!" she yelled as she took the little boys hand.

"SUMMER!" Jewel yelled as she crawled from underneath the car.

"Stay here!" Rick ordered as he jumped over the railing.

Jewel took a breath before she started behind him as she felt Daryl's arm grab her. "T Dog's hurt, bad. You're the only one who can properly stitch him up."

Jewel looked at him. "That's my…daughter bein' chased," she told him.

"And my niece. We taught her well, she'll get her and the boy back here. And Rick's after them," Daryl reassured her as he kissed the top of her head. "What's the first rule of trackin?"

"To many people mess up the trail…" Jewel said. "But Rick doesn't know how to track!"

"He was right behind them, I'm sure he's got them by now," Lori told her.

"Is my brother gonna be OK?" Mitch asked as he ran out from Lori's arms.

Jewel glanced at Daryl as he bent down. "Summer's with him baby…Sophia, Carl can you…two please take care of Mitch?" she asked obviously not trying to cry.

"I'll help," Carol told her as she grasped the other woman's arm.

"They'll be OK, Summer's strong," Sophia reassured her.

Jewel took a breath. "Shane get T into the RV," she told him.

Glenn looked at Daryl. "Do you think they got a chance?" he asked.

Daryl looked at him. "I know you didn' just ask me that about my niece," he hissed as he stood guard.

Jewel took a breath as she got into the RV and got the first aid kit out. Andrea looked at Dale before she bent down. "Need any help with this?"

"Help..him hold his arm out, this is gonna hurt like a bitch," Jewel warned. "I'm sorry I don't have anything' in here to ease the pain."

"It's alright, I can handle it," T Dog told her.

"Bet they'll be back before you get him stitched up," Andrea assured her. "She's a strong brave girl. Braver then I ever was at that age."

Jewel cleaned out the wound. "Sorry," she said as T Dog flinched.

"She's a Dixon, got the….stubborn gene in her doesn't she?" T Dog asked as he struggled to keep his arm straight.

Jewel looked at both of them. "Didn't help Merle much did it?" she asked. "Sorry, I…I know you did what you had to do," she assured them as she started stitching the wound. "This is pretty deep," she told him. "I've done one thing right in my life, and that's that girl, I can't lose her. I won't," she insisted.

T Dog, Andrea and Dale looked at each other not sure what to say. "Can I have a minute?" Lori asked Dale and Andrea as she came into the RV.

"Sure, we'll just go look for more supplies," Dale said.

Andrea nodded as she squeezed Jewel's shoulder as she let Lori switch places with her so she could help with T Dog. "I can't imagine what you're goin' through right now," Lori told her. "None of us can," she told her. "But as mother's we do what we can to prepare them to make the best decisions in life. You taught her to think of others before herself, or she wouldn' have thought of that little boy first. None of us are gonna leave either one of them out there."

Jewel shook her head. "I think I missed the whole 'what to do when a walker is after you' section of the mother's manual," she said. "Hand me a bandage please?" she asked as she nodded toward the first aid kit.

"There's a mother's manual?" Lori asked. "I must have missed the whole thing," she told her as she handed her the bandage.

"How you doin' T?" Jewel asked.

"Hurts like a mother…." he responded.

Jewel nodded. "If you need to cuss, please feel free. I've heard worse," she assured him. "I'm sure it does hurt."

Daryl walked up on the front step. "I'm goin' after Rick. Like you said, he doesn't know how to track. I can't just sit here while Summer and the boy are out there."

"We'll go too," Shane said.

Daryl shook his head. "To many people muckin' up the tracks aren't gonna help anyone. We'll come get you if we need you," he said as he glanced at Jewel. "We'll get them back," he said. "Lori," he said as he motioned for her to come out.

"I got this, it's fine," Jewel told the other woman.

Lori nodded as she got up and went out. "I'll watch her, don't worry. Go do what you have to do to get them back."

Daryl nodded as he took off.

Summer's POV:

Summer took out her knife as she heard something behind her and turned before she stabbed one of the walkers. "Shit! There's more then two. OK Luke I need you to listen to me, OK?"

Luke nodded. "Can we go back to the road?"

"Summer!" Rick whispered. "You OK?"

"We're OK but we got more then two walker's, I counted four set of drag marks," Summer told him. "Take him back, I'll distract them."

Rick shook his head as he picked up Luke and went into the river. "We'll divide them, then meet back here. Luke you need to listen to us OK?"

"You're gonna leave me?" he asked scared.

"We don't have a choice, it's the only way we're all gonna survive," Summer told him.

Rick nodded. "We get winded, they don't. We wouldn't be able to protect you," he assured the boy. "We'll be back for you! If we don't, follow the road keep the sun over your left shoulder."

"You know which one is your left?" Summer asked as she touched his face.

Luke nodded as he patted his left shoulder.

"Good. Now follow the highway back the same way we came, and keep the sun over your left shoulder," Rick repeated as he put the boy in the tree covering. "Ready?" he asked Summer.

"Do I 'ave a choice?" she asked. "God you're an ugly sucker aren't you?" she asked as she taunted a walker as she went one direction and Rick went the other. "Come on!" she taunted. "You want me not him!" she taunted as she let one get near her and pierced the hunting knife in his head. "Bastard!" she told him as she caught a glimpse of another one over her shoulder. "Shit!" she said as she pierced his head with the knife. "Damn bastards! I know I'm more attractive but come on let's be fair about this!" she said as she ran. She took a breath as she ran and tripped over a tree stump. "Shit!" she yelled as she grabbed her other knife out of her knife case. "Only thing that can kill a Dixon is a Dixon…" she said as she tried to stand up. "Son of a…." she exclaimed as tears came to her eyes and she fell back down. "Shit," she said again as she glanced around as she stumbled to find something to lean on. "You're not gonna let these things win, you're not gonna go out like this," she told herself.

"That's the fightin' Dixon spirit, girl," she heard a voice tell her.

Summer shook her head. "You aren't here, Uncle Merle."

"Well, looks like I need to be, don't it?" the vision told her. "You Dixon's are getting' soft without me," he told her.

"We're not soft, just human beings. Maybe if you had a bit of softness you wouldn't have been left on a damn roof," she told him as she tested a stick.

"What are you doin' out here chasing after some kid? He's not blood, I am," Merle told her.

"They went back, Rick and Uncle Daryl," Summer told the voice. "Now bug off! You aren't here."

"Don't get rid of me that easy, girl," Merle said. "Look at you, riskin' your life as walker bait, for what? For people who leave your flesh and blood on a roof."

Summer stood up as she tested the branch she found and immediately went back to her knees. "Well if my flesh and blood knew how to behave like a human bein' then maybe Rick wouldn't have had to handcuff you to a pipe. You did that all by yourself! You, not mom, not Uncle Daryl, not me, but you. See I know you aren't real, cause if you were, you'd be telling' me not to sass you. It takes a lot more then blood to make a family, Uncle Merle. He's a scared little boy that has no other family left besides his younger brother. We're it," she told him. "I'm not leavin' a little boy out in the woods as walker bait, not happening," she told him. "These people they are my family. You and I, we just share some DNA."

"You've been listenin' to your mom to much," Merle told her. "Now come on, get up, get back to your family."

"What the hell does it look like I'm doin?" Summer hissed into thin air. She moved her head at the sound. "Shit!" she said as she saw two more walkers. "Damn it!" she said as she stumbled to reach for her knife. "Of course disappear when your needed the most, always good at that, aren't you Uncle Merle?" she asked as she stumbled to get away from the walkers. "SHIT!" she yelled as she stumbled to the ground again, one of the walkers coming at her. "Hell!" she screamed as she stuck her knife in it's head. "Bastard! Let go of my knife!" she hissed at the dead corpse. Summer looked up as an arrow flew by her and into the other walkers' head.

"Rick she's over here!" Daryl yelled. "You bit? Scratched?" he asked as he pulled the walker off her.

"No….Luke?" she asked.

"He didn't come by here? He wasn't where we left him," Rick told her as he came up and bent down. "You OK?"

"My ankle…we got to keep lookin' He's not gonna be able to survive out here on his own. He can't be far," Summer begged.

"First we're goin to get you back to the road," Daryl told her.

"No! We have to keep lookin! I promised him he'd be OK," Summer told them as she tried to stand up.

Rick looked at her. "Summer, we both promised him. And we're not gonna leave him, that I promise you. But you can't even stand or put pressure on that ankle," he told her.

"We'll get you back to camp, your momma is worried sick," Daryl told her. "Then we'll get a couple others out here and I'll track him. I promise," he told her. "And a Dixon never breaks there promises," Daryl told her. "Come on," he said as he took one arm and Rick took the other.

"My knife," Summer said as she motioned to the knife in the walkers' head.

"Hold her," Daryl told Rick as he went over and grabbed the knife. "You take these all down by yourself?"

Summer nodded. "I thought we were supposed to split them up Rick," she told the other man as she balanced against him. "They sure liked me."

Daryl winked at her. "Us Dixon's are more attractive anyway, you know that. Come on," he said as he took her other arm.

TBC