Chapter Nineteen
Summer's POV
I had managed to find an old fruit crate to fill with blankets as a crib for Harry. It worked out pretty well, although he spent most of the night tossing and turning and just fussing in general. He wasn't all that used to sleeping outside. And every time he made any sound it made me nervous that he would be attracting a group of walkers. But when we woke up and noticed nothing had changed I began to let myself not stress about it.
I got Harry dressed for the day and laid him in his crib while I got dressed myself pulling on a pair of jeans, a plain white t-shirt, biker boots, and Daryl's leather angel wing vest which he either didn't feel like wearing today or just forgot to put it on. I picked up Harry and made my way over to the fire pit area where everyone was already seated having breakfast. I sat down in the seat next to Daryl and he motioned for me to hand him Harry as he picked up a bottle and placed a plate of food on my lap. I handed Harry over and Daryl fed him as I ate the scrambled eggs and fruit that was sitting on my plate. I had to say, ever since being with this group I was eating a hell of a lot better than I was eating when I was on my own. Everyone was eating in silence and it struck me as odd. Most mornings everyone was talking to one another about something, but not today. Lori seemed overly tense and Dale kept glancing at Glenn like he knew something and I could see Carol giving Andrea looks, clearly as a repercussion for shooting Daryl. I was about to say something to break the silence when Glenn did it for me.
"I can't take it anymore," he said and we all looked at him, "Lori is pregnant and the barn is full of walkers."
I could see Lori's face turn bright red and look down at her knees and then raise her head to look at Glenn because clearly the second part of his sentence was more alarming than the first.
"There's what?!" I said dropping my fork.
"The entire barn is filled with walkers," Glenn repeated.
I looked over at Daryl as everyone started to panic. I knew if he wasn't in the middle of feeding the baby he would have jumped up and ran over to the barn, much like Shane was doing at the moment. Daryl got up and handed Harry to me as he finished his bottle and started off toward the barn. I pulled the towel from my back pocket and placed it on my shoulder and began to burp Harry as I followed my husband.
"We need to keep someone on guard down here at all times," Shane said, "Andrea get your gun and keep first watch."
"Don't do that," Rick said, "you know Hershel doesn't allow guns on his property. Let me talk to him and see what we can do from there."
"I don't give a flying fuck if Hershel doesn't want guns," Shane replied, "I want to be able to keep our camp safe. You want these things getting out and going over to where we sleep? Where Lori sleeps?! Where Carl sleeps!? Andrea stay on guard. Go ahead and talk to Hershel, we still need a guard."
I could see the look of panic on Daryl's face as we all walked back over toward the camp and Andrea went into the RV to get her gun and Rick went off in search of Hershel to obviously talk to him. I didn't see the point in having someone on guard right this minute. From where I was standing I could see that the barn was clearly chained and padlocked shut. There was no way those walkers were getting out of there.
"They could still get out, ya know?" Daryl said as if he was reading my mind.
"How ya figure?" I asked him unzipping our tent and stepping inside.
"They can still break through the wood if they get riled up enough and all pile on, and then the chain and lock would mean nothing," He said as I laid Harry down in his crib, "I've seen huge herds of them break down fences…wooden and chainlink. If they can do that they can break through a barn. Still think we don't need a guard?"
"I guess it's good that Andrea is down there then," I said sitting down, "and I know I've asked you this a thousand times, but seriously, can you read minds? Because how the hell did you know that's what I was thinking."
"You forget that I've known you for nine years and I can tell exactly what you're thinking just by the look on your face," he said crossing the tent to kneel in front of me, "Now, for more pressing matters. Can I have my vest back."
"No, you forgot to put it on this morning there for I have every right to wear it," I said and he leaned forward and kissed me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He laid me back on the bed and was hovering over me, never breaking the kiss, and started fiddling with the button on my pants when Harry started crying. We broke apart and I couldn't help but laugh. Daryl looked so upset it was funny. I walked over to Harry, picked him up, and noticed he had a dirty diaper. I pulled over a chair and laid Harry down on it and held him in place before I grabbed a diaper.
"Don't look so distressed," I said to Daryl with a laugh as I started to undress Harry.
"Can't we get a baby sitter for a while," he said laughing.
"What do they charge now a days anyway?" I said
"At least fifteen an hour," he said coming over to help me.
"I can't afford that," I said finishing up by fastening the diaper and starting to redress the baby.
"But seriously," he said taking Harry from me so I could clean up, "I don't think we have had a second to ourselves in months."
"Well, if you haven't noticed, the world did end and I was pregnant for most of it," I said cleaning everything up.
"True, but you forget that I didn't see you for two months," he said.
"Fair enough, maybe I can find a way to scrounge up fifteen dollars," I said with a smirk and went out of the tent to join the group.