Chapter Twenty-Five
Summer's POV
Early the next morning we all buried Dale and held a small funeral service. We were all in tears through all of it. It was just too much to bear. When the funeral was over Daryl went with T-Dog, Shane, and Andrea to make sure the rest of the fences around the property weren't breached and I went to help everyone move everything into the house because it was getting colder and Hershel felt bad that he hadn't asked us to move into the house sooner. I was moving tubs of clothing inside when Hershel pulled me aside.
"Summer can I talk to you for a minute," Hershel said as I was putting a tub down on the living room floor.
"Sure, what's up?" I asked.
"I want you and Daryl to take the spare room," he said, "sleeping on the floor is no place for new parents and a newborn."
"Are you sure, Hershel? This is your house I don't want to impose," I said.
"Summer," he said and smiled, "you aren't imposing at all. I'm offering and to be honest I won't take no for an answer."
"Thank you, Hershel," I said, "I really appreciate it."
He showed me where the spare room was and I began to move all of mine and Daryl's things into it. I was getting another bad feeling, much like I did at the CDC and thought it was best to keep some emergency bags packed. Carol brought Harry in to me and I laid him in his crib and began to unpack and repack three emergency bags. I made sure all of Daryl's essentials were packed in one, all of mine in another, and all the bottles, formula and clothes for Harry in the third. I just figured it would be best to make sure we had everything we needed just incase something went wrong. About and hour later Daryl came into the bedroom.
"What are you doing in here?" he asked.
"Hershel gave us this room because of the baby," I said and smiled at him, "He said new parents shouldn't be sleeping on the floor."
"I'll be sure to thank him for that," he said, "I just came in to check on you. I'm gonna head out there to put supplies in the truck with T for Rick and Shane to drive Randall off."
"Ok, I'll see you in a few," I said and kissed him before he walked out.
Daryl's POV
T-Dog and I finished getting all the supplies into the bed of the pickup truck and T said he was going to get Randall to load him in. I finished up everything and was about to go look for Rick and Shane to tell him we were almost ready when T came running back over to the truck. At this point Summer, Lori and Carol came outside.
"Randall is missing," T said, "I went into the barn to get him, he's gone."
Everyone started panicking and began to frantically look for him. Just then Shane came running up to the group his face bloody.
"I went to get Randall out of the barn, he snuck up behind me, knocked me out and took my gun," Shane said breathing heavily.
"Alright, everyone get back inside, we don't know where he could be," Rick said, "Daryl, Glenn I need you two to come with me and Shane. We're going into the woods to look for him."
Summer came over to me and squeezed my hand before going inside. I grabbed my bow from the back of the truck and followed them all into the woods. Once we were inside Rick told me and Glenn to go in the opposite direction of them to cover more ground. It was getting dark and we weren't getting anywhere. I finally noticed two sets of tracks and I pointed them out to Glenn.
"This didn't go down the way Shane said," I said.
"What do you mean?" Glenn asked.
"Look at these tracks," I said, "they're right behind each other practically on top of each other. One of them was leading the other and by the looks of the tracks Shane was the one pushing Randall forward."
"Are you sure?" Glenn asked.
"Tracks don't lie man," I said and we continued our search for Randall.
The sun finally went down and I was about to suggest heading back and finding Rick and Shane when we were attacked by a walker. It jumped me and I tried to fight it off. When I finally got it off Glenn took it out. When we looked at the walkers face we noticed something familiar about it.
"It's Randall," I said and began checking him for bites and scratches, "he wasn't bit or scratched."
"That we can see," Glenn said.
"No, this poor bastard died of a broken neck," I said pointing out the bruises that were appearing around his neck.
"What does that mean? How did he turn?" Glenn asked and I shrugged.
"Lets get back, maybe Shane and Rick realized they couldn't find him," I said and we walked back to the farm.
We walked into the house and Summer immediately ran over to me.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" she asked.
"I'm fine, don't worry," I said.
"I'm sorry, bad feelings," she replied.
I knew she got bad gut feelings a lot but with the world the way it was now I wasn't sure if there could be any validity to them. Every day I woke up with a bad gut feeling.
"We have to tell you guys about Randall," Glenn said and looked at me.
"We found him," I said, "as a walker. Glenn took him down but when we looked at the body he wasn't bit or scratched. His neck was broke."
The group started to murmur and Lori came over to me.
"Daryl I'm sorry to ask but Rick and Shane aren't back yet," she said.
"I'm on it," I said, "Glenn."
He nodded and we exited the house, everyone else following close behind. As soon as we got on the porch it was apparent that Summer's bad gut feeling had some merit this time. In the distance was a huge walker herd and it was approaching fast.
"I can't find Carl," Lori said frantically coming back out on the porch.
"I'll help," Summer said and turned to me, "find Rick."
I didn't question her and I knew that from what I said about Randall she didn't want me to find Shane. The conversation we had a few days earlier was starting to make sense. Shane was not to be trusted. She ran back into the house with Lori and I grabbed a gun and readjusted my bow before trying to find a way around the house to look for Rick.
Summer's POV
I ran inside calling for Carl. I made my way into the room Hershel had given Daryl and I and threw all three emergency bags on my bag and fastened Harry into the makeshift baby carrier on my chest. I called for Carl again and found Lori in the house she was about to cry.
"Lets check outside," I said to her and she nodded.
We walked outside and the walkers had taken over. I couldn't see Daryl anywhere and I was beginning to panic. Lori looked absolutely distressed. She started screaming for Carl again.
"We can't find him," Beth said looking at Patricia.
The herd was closing in on the house and Hershel was making his way down the steps firing shots.
"Maybe he's with Rick," I said, "Rick probably saw the herd and went to get Carl."
I tried not to think of the fact that Daryl was literally nowhere in sight. Just then T-Dog pulled up in a pickup truck and Andrea got out of the passenger side door.
"You guys have to get out of here," Andrea said.
"No! Not without my son!" Lori screamed.
"Lori we have to go, we have to get out of here, he's more than likely with Rick, it's not safe here," I said.
"What about Daryl?" she asked me and tears welled up in my eyes.
"He will be fine," I said, "he's a survivor. He always has been."
Lori nodded and Beth and Patricia followed us over to the truck. As we were approaching it a walker grabbed Patricia and bit into her arm. She started screaming and Beth started crying. We yanked Beth off of Patricia and managed to all fit in the cab of the truck with T-Dog. T pulled off of the farm and headed out to the road.
Daryl's POV
I couldn't find Rick or Carl so my next move was to try and meet up with Summer. I circled the farm on my bike at least ten times and she was nowhere in sight. I was beginning to have the worlds biggest anxiety attack. I resolved that she probably made it out with someone else and started to leave the farm when I saw a figure running toward me. It was Carol.
"Come on! I don't got all day!" I shouted to her and she climbed on the back of the bike.
I pulled on to the dirt road and headed off the farm and even though I was fighting them off the tears started to fall. I had worked so hard to keep her safe and now she was gone and I had no idea what happened to her. I couldn't stay at the farm and dig through bodies I would be a dead man. I pulled onto the road and headed in the direction of the highway where we had set up supplies for Sophia. I figured that maybe if everyone was to meet up it would be there.
Summer's POV
"We have to go in the other direction!" Lori yelled at T-Dog.
"Hell no! We're heading for the coast," T-Dog said, "east. That's where it's supposed to be safe."
I couldn't even form words. The second we climbed into the car I started crying and I hadn't stopped since.
"If anyone got out of there alive they would have headed to the spot we set up for Sophia! We need to get back to our people!" Lori yelled.
"No!" T-Dog said.
"Fine, then we are getting out," Lori said and opened the door.
"Woah, woah, woah! Calm down and shut the damn door," T-Dog said and pulled a u-turn and headed back toward the highway.
We pulled up to the highway and I saw Daryl standing there with Carol, Rick, Hershel, Carl, Glenn and Maggie. We all practically forced each other out of the car and I ran full speed at Daryl. He pulled me into a hug being careful not to crush Harry.
"Are you ok? Did you get bit? Is Harry ok?" He asked his voice shaking.
"We're ok, we're both fine," I said, "are you ok?"
"I'm fine, I promise," he said and kissed me.
"Where is everyone else?" Daryl asked.
"We're all that made it," Rick said, "How did you all find each other?"
"I saw tail lights zig-zaggin down the highway and figured the driver must be Asian, got here and it was Glenn," Daryl said with a laugh.
His attempt to lighten the mood worked and everyone seemed to calm down for a minute.
"We need to get out of here," Rick said, "It's not safe. The herd could head this way."
"We need to go back for Andrea," Daryl said.
"No, we can't," Rick said, "she's probably gone. Everyone seemed to know to meet here if she's not here she's gone."
Everyone agreed with Rick about leaving and I climbed on the back of the bike with Daryl, making sure Harry could breathe while being sandwiched safely between us, and everyone else piled into the cars and we headed out. Eventually we all stopped because we ran out of gas. Rick told us to set up camp here for the night and we would all go out and find gas and supplies in the morning.
"What if a herd comes through?" Beth asked.
"Rick there's something you need to know about Randall," Daryl said, "He wasn't bit. His neck was broke and he still turned."
"How can that happen?" Beth asked.
"Shane killed Randall, just like he always wanted to," Daryl said.
"What the hell happened?" Lori asked.
The look on Rick's face showed that he was fighting an inner battle. There was something he hadn't told us and he was fighting himself on whether or not he should tell us.
"What's going on, Rick?" I asked.
"We're all infected," Rick said simply and we all stopped and looked at him, horror on our faces.
"What?" Daryl said.
"At the CDC, Jenner told me," Rick said, "whatever it is we all carry it."
Everyone looked around both horrified and disgusted.
"You're just thinking of telling us now?!" I shouted, "Why wouldn't you have said something earlier!? What if Harry was a still born, Rick?! He could have killed me, he could have killed Hershel!"
"But he wasn't!" Rick shouted back, "If I thought that would have been a threat to you I would have said something! I didn't know for sure! It wouldn't have made a difference if I told you."
"Like hell it wouldn't have!" I shouted back.
"That wasn't your call! When I found out about the walkers in the barn I told for the good of everyone!" Glenn said.
"Well I thought it best if everyone didn't know," Rick said, he was getting heated.
Rick turned and walked off and Lori went to follow him. I turned to Daryl with a confused and pleading look in my eyes and he put his arm around my shoulder and we walked off in the other direction.
"We're not safe with him," I said, "how could he keep something like that from us!? We don't need him anymore Daryl, he's just going to pull us down."
"Nah, Rick's done alright by us," he said, "he saved your life on your way to Atlanta and brought you to me. He found us help when you were in labor. He's done more than alright by us."
I thought about what he said and maybe he was right. We were indebted to Rick whether either of us liked it or not. We rejoined the rest of the group and began to set up our camp. Daryl went out to collect some firewood and I sat around the dug out fire pit with Maggie and Glenn. We got a fire started and all sat around it in silence not sure of what to say about anything anymore. Daryl put some more wood on the fire and sat down behind me pulling my head against his chest so I was seated between his legs rocking Harry. Everyone was having side conversations when we heard a rustling in the woods.
"What was that?" Beth asked and sat up from her spot resting on Hershel's leg.
"Could be anything a raccoon, some other animal," Daryl said.
"A walker," Glenn pointed out.
"Which direction did it come from?" I asked.
"Same direction we came," Beth said.
"I'm not taking anymore chances, we need to move now," Maggie said, "what if another herd rolls through."
"No," Rick said, "no one is going anywhere."
"Do something!" Carol said.
"I am doing something!" Rick snapped back, "I'm keeping this group together! Alive! I have been doing that all along! I didn't ask for this! I killed my best friend for you people for Christ sake!"
We all stared at him in shock.
"You saw how he was like," he said, "how he pushed me. How he was constantly compromising and threatening us. He staged the entire Randall thing. He led me out there to put a bullet in my back! He gave me no choice! He was my friend but in the end he came after me! My hands are clean!"
After a few moments of silence with everyone being in shock, Rick continued.
"Ya know, maybe you people are better off without me," he said, "go ahead! I say there's a place for us, but maybe…maybe it's just another pipe dream and maybe I'm just fooling myself again but ya know why don't you go and find out for yourselves! While you're at it send me a postcard! If ya wanna leave, go ahead, there's the door. If you think you're better off let's see how far you get. No takers? Fine, but get one thing straight, if you stay this isn't a democracy anymore."
No one said a single word to challenge him and he walked off. Daryl sat back down behind me and I rested my head against his chest once more. Harry had begun to whimper, all the yelling upset him and I went back to rocking him to sleep. I tried my best to calm myself down but I was more scared than ever.