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chapter twenty-eight | the eulogy
ANOTHER DEATH, ANOTHER GRAVE. As much as heartbreaking it was to lose Dale, this loss felt familiar to her.
Yesterday was a roller coaster, so much happened that Laurel couldn't fully wrap her head around it all. Between the meeting, the panic attack, the moments with Daryl, and then the death of Dale, She just couldn't believe it all happened in only a few hours.
The moment with Daryl would feel like she was still in it every time she saw his face, her breath would hitch at the sight of his angel wing vest and her cheeks would redden immediately. She didn't understand why she was reacting this way toward him, she never felt like this with anyone else. It was new, surprising, and frightening.
He stood not far from her and her siblings, Rick and his family in between them. His gaze was locked on Dale's grave in front of them all. Everyone stood in a circle around the gravesite. Too many graves so soon and it reminded her of the day they left the quarry, the funeral they held for all the members they lost the night before during the herd that snuck upon them.
Daryl saved her then too, and many times after that. It seemed like he was always there for her time in need, including last night. She'll never forget last night. She missed his touch already. She stole side glances, she just couldn't help it. She hoped he didn't notice, or anyone else for that matter.
Cassie had her hand wrapped around Laurel's while the other played with the bottom of her hoodie. She sniffled silently as Rick began the eulogy for Dale. She was missing him so much already.
"Dale could get under your skin," Rick started, "because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. 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, who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was 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."
Ethan swallowed the lump in his throat, becoming overwhelmed that one of the first real people he met since they met the group had died. Just like everyone else he once knew. He understood what Rick said was nothing but the truth. And while Rick went on about they would honor Dale, Ethan tried to think of his own way to honor him. And that was to listen to Dale's advice for once.
Everyone came together at camp, circling up as they discussed them moving in with Hershel and his family into their house. As the weather drops, it would become harder to survive than it was earlier in the summer.
