Bleeding Souls (Daryl Dixon)

27. Baby

Daryl had moved away from me to go check on my grieving brother. Carl walked up to me and I could tell he was wanting to hold his baby sister. I smiled down at him and handed him the baby. The tears had now dried against my face, making my face tighter. I looked around and saw the sad faces and the concerned faces.

Daryl looked back at me and I saw him start to worry about the baby. We have nothing for her to eat. "Let me see the baby." I hear Hershel say. I turn around and follow Carl to Hershel. "What are we gonna feed it? We got anything a baby can eat?" Daryl asked Hershel. Truthfully, if we weren't all grieving and worried about the baby, I think I might have laughed at Daryl. You can tell he has never taken care of an infant before.

I grabbed a hold of Daryl's arm and stood next to him. I watched as Hershel started to look the baby over. "The good news is she looks healthy. But she needs formula. And soon or she won't survive." Hershel tells Daryl. Daryl was quick to put his crossbow back where it belongs on him. "Nope. No way. Not her. We ain't losing nobody else. I'm going for a run." Daryl states. I look at him and quickly speak up. "I'll back you up." I say to Daryl. "I'll go, too." Glenn says right after me. Daryl looks at both of us and nods his head. "Okay, think where we're going." Daryl says to Glenn and I before he walks over to Beth and pulls her away to say something.

While Glenn and I were trying to think of places, I could hear Daryl talking loudly. "You two get the fence. Too many pile up, we got ourselves a problem. Glenn, June, let's go." I smiled inside at the fact that Daryl sounded like a leader. A good leader.

Glenn and I started to walk towards Daryl, but then I saw Rick get up and grab the axe. I tried to stop him, but he walked too fast for me and I needed to hurry and get food for his daughter. "Get the gate. Come on, we're gonna lose the light." Daryl hollered at Glenn and I.

Glenn, Daryl and I got to the cars and I threw on a long sleeved shirt over my tank top. I wiped as much blood off my arms and hands as best as I could. "There's a Piggly Wiggly on 85." Glenn stated to Daryl and I. I shook my head at him. "No, the baby section's been cleared. Lori asked me to keep an eye out. I haven't had much luck." I say. I hear Glenn sigh behind me. "Is there any place that hasn't been completely looted?" Daryl asked me. I looked back at him with serious eyes, letting him know that I'm not in the mood for his smart-ass remarks. He quickly looked away from me.

"We saw signs for a shopping center just north of here." Glenn says. I shake my head again at him. "Yeah, but there's too much debris on the road. A car will never get through there." I say. Daryl looks at both of us. "I can take one of ya. June maybe you stay here. Glenn and I got this." Daryl says to me. I shake my head at him. I understand that he thinks I need to go lay down right now or something, but I can't. "No... I'll go. I want to go. For Lori, I have to." I say to them. Daryl nods his head at me. I look at Glenn and smile. "Go check on Maggie. Make sure that baby is taken care of while we're gone." I say to Glenn. Glenn smiles at me and runs back up to the group.

Daryl starts up the bike and the engine comes to life with a roar. I threw one leg over and grabbed Daryl by the hips while I sat down on the bike. One we both were comfortable, I brought my hands a little higher on his body and rested my face against his back while we drove off. Allowing the rumble of the engine to drown out my sobbing. I felt my hair flying in the wind as Daryl drives fast on the road. I tightened my grip around him and I felt him bring one of his hands to mine that were wrapped around his midsection. I felt him rub his thumb across my hand, letting me know that he knows I'm crying and that he is here for me.

Daryl had been looking around and when I felt him start to drive into a run down town. We stopped in front of a small building that has a swing set out back. Daryl parked the bike and we both got off. "What is this place?" I ask him. He looks back at me and grabs his crossbow. "Saw a sigh back there. Think this is a day care or something." Daryl says to me. I nod my head at him. I make sure my backpack was tightly on my back and I started walking towards the building. But then I felt Daryl wrap his hand around my arm. I turned around and I saw the concern in his voice. "I know... and right now I want you to comfort me... but we needs food and stuff for that baby. So, let's make sure that baby doesn't die. Then you can take care of me." I say to Daryl looks at me for a few seconds and then nods his head.