It was a child zombie. Daryl killed her so that carol didn't have to kill her. He was trying to take some of the burden off of her. The burning of the child could have some symbolism to sophia. I'm pretty sure that the little kid and the mom were in the shelter just as Carol and Sophia. They represented who Carol used to be.

 

When he and Carol saw the walker abused mum and child essentially they were seeing her and Sophia in their previous life. Daryl did the decent thing and put them down and then gave them the best funeral he could

 

Yes, when they were in the shelter they heard a noise - went to investigate and saw a walker behind frosted glass, then a smaller walker appeared. It was as if Carol was seeing herself - it could have been her and Sophia years ago. When she woke up, Daryl had put them down and was burning the child for Carol.

 

This was also juxtapositioned with Tyreese holding 1 of the girls in a white sheet to bury them and Carol had to dig the grave. Daryl took Carol in this instance and Carol had a positive experience and could lean on Daryl. She was not able to do that with Tyreese.

 

Yes it was to say to Carol that she doesnt need to take all the burden of being the "mother" of the group, she still feels guilt over the loss of Sophia and not attending her funeral at the farm, this is why she was so affected by Lizzie and Mika and why she felt she had to deal with that situation and why she is so grateful that Daryl took that need away from her in this episode.

 

Nice to see that we have some really perceptive Walking Dead fans here.

 

The last few episodes have had many scenes that were especially dark - Daryl and Carol following the Hospital car all night, the Termites attacking Father Gabriel's church in the middle of the night, etc. I usually watch these on my main TV, which has a good contrast ratio and I can see everything clearly. However, sometimes I will have the same episode on in my bedroom later that night, and will notice that the smaller TV in there, which doesn't show dark colors as well, will tend to let all the night scenes be close to pitch black.

Long story short, it really might be your TV.

 

That was a very moving scene, but didn't get it on the first watch either.

 

I have also been having trouble seeing the last few episodes! I don't know if they've been doing a lot more night scenes lately or what. I remember it being bad when they were in the church and last week in the bookstore, as well. I turned the brightness way up on my main tv and it helped, but when I try to watch in my bedroom I can barely tell what's going on if it's not broad daylight.