Fearless: Daryl Dixon Love Story

Chapter Seventeen: Better Angel's

┏━━━━━━ Kayla's pov ━━━━━━┓

" Dale could...could get under your skin. He sure got under mine."

I wiped away a lingering tear staring at Dale's grave knowing the old man was never going to be seen ever again. Dad started the speech, but even his words fell a bit empty with grief. Daryl squeezed my hand and I glanced at him before placing my head on his shoulder. I was sick of crying and sick of losing people.

I was sick and tired of having to dig graves, but I knew deep down, it would never end. This world was too dangerous and it took real survival in order to see the next day. Dale proved that much. He also proved no place is truly ever safe.

" Because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave." Dad admitted." Whenever I made a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us...The truth."

T-dog looked to the sky in honor of Dale thinking of back on the highway, when the old man looked after him. I heard the sound of small cries and looked overseeing Carl crying while he held onto Lori. He saw me looking and quickly hid his face.

" Who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group is broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety, our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale." Dad's final words were before kneeling down to Dale's grave and putting his hand on it.

After the funeral, Dad and Daryl started talking while I packed the tent. Hershel invited us to move into his house after seeing what happened to Dale. Alongside me, he didn't want any more deaths. He would instead be compressed in a house, then seeing another grave and giving another prayer.

I felt eyes on me and glanced over my shoulder at Daryl seeing he had a smirk on his face. Instantly, my cheeks flushed about last night and I turned back around biting my lip and wondering if it could ever happen again given we were moving in with the others.

Carl sat in a little camping chair kicking a rock, but what concerned me was his sad face. He's been like it lately and Dad told me he snapped on a couple people out of anger. Getting up, I walked over with a smile sitting next to him.

" Okay Sheriff. What's wrong?" I asked lightly poking his side." You've been down lately."

" At first, I was mad they were going to kill the boy," He said, and I felt sorrow knowing where this conversation was going to lead to." But then I thought about some things and..."

" I know, Dad told me. He said you walked right into the barn and told him to shoot the kid." I said, seeing his baby blue eyes coated with watery tears. I wiped it away with the ends of my thumbs and smiled." Hey, it's okay. You know, it was really brave of you to do that."

" I'm so sorry." He dejected.

" I understand what's going on. You're turning into a man." I explained, seeing he looked up at me with confused eyes, but I just laughed, hugging him close to me." I'm going to miss these moments."

" Everything okay." I heard and looked up, seeing Daryl with a small smile on his face.

Carl looked at him and nodded." Yeah, we're okay."

I saw the hat on Carl's head and took it off before standing and placing it on top of mines." I'm gonna be the new sheriff for a while." I joked, causing a giggle from Carl. I laughed also and saw even Daryl was lightly chuckling. I took the hat off again and placed it on Carl's head sideways." Here, go find your mom."