Chapter Twenty-One

Daryl's POV

Summer wanted some time alone to kind of recuperate and get herself together. I picked up Harry and went to see how everything was going. All the bodies were separated and all we did was make sure Hershel's family and Sophia got actual burials. It was almost time for the funeral and I went to get Summer and Carol. Summer and I walked over to the RV to get Carol.

"We're ready to have the funeral," Summer said, "you ready?"

"Why should I be?" Carol said.

"Because that was your little girl," I said starting to get annoyed.

"That thing is not my little girl," Carol said, "Sophia died a long time ago."

Summer could tell that I was getting pissed off at Carol because of this. She grabbed my arm and nodded at me knowing that it was best that we just leave and attend this funeral without her. The two of us walked out of the RV and headed toward the burial site. The funeral for everyone was more than emotional and I could see that Summer was getting emotional all over again. She gripped my hand as tight as possible to keep her composure. When everything was all said and done everyone went their separate ways. Summer and I made our way back over to our campsite which I had moved a little farther away from everyone else. Summer sat down in front of the tent with Harry in her lap while I sat a little ways away whittling some wood into arrows.

"Listen, Beth's in some catatonic shock. We need Hershel," I heard Lori say and looked up at her.

"Yeah. So what?" I said to her.

"So I need you to run in to town real quick and bring him and Rick back," she said and I just went back to what I was doing, "Daryl?"

"Your bitch went window-shopping. You want him? Fetch him yourself. I got better things to do," I said and I could see the look on Summer's face telling me to be nice but I didn't care anymore.

"What's the matter with you? Why would you be so selfish?" she asked me and that's when I got really pissed.

"Selfish?" I said getting up and in her face, "Listen to me, Olive Oyl. I was out there looking for that little girl every single day. I took an arrow and a bullet in the process. Don't you talk to me about getting my hands dirty! You want those two idiots? Have a nice ride. I'm done looking for people."

"Daryl!" Summer yelled at me getting up.

"What?!" I shouted at her and walked into our tent.

Summer's POV

As Daryl stormed into the tent I went after Lori who stormed off in the opposite direction. I finally caught up to her as she was approaching the house.

"Lori, wait up!" I said and she turned around.

"What, Summer?" she spat at me.

"I'm just here to apologize for Daryl's behavior. I don't know what's gotten in to him lately he's just a very complex person and he gets emotional over the most random things," I said.

"You really need to keep him in check," Lori said and I bit my tongue or I would have gone off on her as well, "he can't be going around yelling at people for no reason. It's not going to do him any good."

I just nodded and she went into the house and I walked back over to the tent. Daryl was sitting down outside again whittling the wood into arrows.

"What the hell was that all about?!" I said to him.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you nuts?! All she did was ask you for help," I said, "and you freaked out on her for no fucking reason!"

"Because, Summer no one needs to be asking me or you for any help," he said, "We can fend for ourselves and we don't need to owe anything to anyone and that's all favors do, they put you in people's debt."

"I don't even know who you are right now," I said shaking my head and walking toward the house.

I asked Carol if she would look after Harry for a little while and then went to find Lori. She was about to get into Maggie's car and I grabbed the car door before she shut it.

"I'm coming with you to get them," I said and Lori nodded.

I made my way around the side of the car and climbed into the passenger's seat. We drove down the road and went toward the town. As the two of us were trying to read the map Lori slammed into a walker and the car flipped and rolled off the road. I slammed my head pretty hard and blacked out. When I finally woke up I had no idea how long I was out. I saw that Lori was still out and shook her. She came around and I asked her if she was all right. Before she could respond there were walkers reaching through the car's windows trying to grab at us. We managed to fight them off and get out of the car. They were coming toward us faster than before and I pulled the knife from my boot and Lori managed to break the shifter off the steering column and we took down both the walkers.

"Are you ok, did you get bit?" I asked her checking her arms.

"I'm ok, are you?" She asked me grabbing my arms as well.

"I'm fine," I replied, "we should probably just keep going on foot. Sitting around here isn't going to do us any good we could be attacked again."

"Good point," she said and we made our way toward the direction of town.

Daryl's POV

I hadn't seen Summer in a while and I was beginning to worry. I was trying not to let it get to me though because there had been plenty of times when we had gotten into fights and one of us would storm off and disappear for hours or even days at a time.

"Have you seen Lori?" Carol asked and I looked up at her.

"Not since this afternoon," I replied, "that dumb bitch must have gone off looking for them. She asked me to go, I told her I'm done being an errand boy."

"Don't do this Daryl," she said, "I already lost my little girl."

"That ain't my problem neither," I said and turned my back on her.

"I'm just going to feed Harry then," she said bitterly and walked off.

That's when everything clicked. I hadn't seen Summer in hours, no one had seen Lori, she left Harry with Carol. I started to freak out. Summer probably went off with Lori to try and make everything right. Before I knew it I was being approached by Shane.

"I'm going out to look for Lori and Summer, I figured you would want to come with me," he said.

"Absolutely," I said grabbing my crossbow and jumping in his car.

I didn't particularly like Shane but making this drive with him I could at least put up with to find Summer. As we drove toward town on the empty road we passed Maggie's car trashed on the side of the road. Shane pulled over immediately and we parked and jumped out of the car to survey the scene. We noticed two dead walkers next to the car and there was nothing in the car. It looked like they got out all right and we got back in the car. A little ways down the road we saw the two of them walking. Shane beeped the horn and they turned around as he put the car in park. I jumped out and ran over to Summer and Shane ran over to Lori.

"Are you ok? Did you get bit?" I asked Summer frantically scanning her body for bites and scratches.

"I'm fine," she said looking at me.

I adjusted the crossbow on my back and pulled her into my arms.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to her.

"We can talk about this later," she said.

I heard Shane telling Lori that Rick and Hershel were back at the farm to persuade her to go with us. I was about to say something but Shane shot me a look and I kept my mouth shut. We got Summer and Lori in the car and headed back to the farm. We pulled into the farm and Lori got out screaming for Rick. When she realized that he wasn't there she turned on Shane and that was my cue to get Summer back to our tent. We reached the tent and she sat down on the chair outside pulling her sweatshirt tightly around her.

"I'm sorry about earlier," I said sitting at her feet, "I shouldn't have freaked out on you like that. You were just trying to help."

I saw Summer look over me and wave and Carol approached us. She handed Harry over and looked like she was about to say something when Summer gave her a look and she nodded and walked off.

"I just want to know why you've been so on edge lately," she said rocking Harry, "It's so not like you. I understand that everything is on edge every day because of what the world has come to but you can't be. You have to keep a level head. Freaking out and being a dick to people never got you anywhere Daryl. In the entire time I've known you being a dick is literally the worst thing for you."

"Well I'm sorry that I'm scared alright!" I said, "I can't lose you or Harry. Do you understand that?! I have to push people away. I have to keep you safe. Do you understand how I felt when I realized you went off with Lori and then when I saw the walkers and the car wrecked like that. I can't go through that again. I'm gonna protect us, me and that's it."

"Daryl, I know you want to protect us and I know you will, but we need people. We can't do anything without people anymore," she said, "There is safety in numbers, Daryl. I know you want to be the only one I rely on and you know that that will always be true but sometimes we need other people's help with things."

"Maybe you're right," I finally said, "but I can't make any promises on being nice to anyone."

"Just promise me you'll try," she said.

"Promise," I replied and leaned up to kiss her, "let's get some sleep."

She nodded and we went into the tent and put Harry to sleep before going to sleep ourselves.