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Third person pov.

Back at the farmhouse, Herschel checks on the semi conscious Nyla. At least she's breathing well and still alive, "Well, wha's wrong wit' her?" Daryl asks, stroking her fur.

"Not much." He replies.

"The hell do you mean by that?" Daryl growls. "She's just thrown up and passed out!"

"Calm down, son. She just has Nausea and Fatigueness; Common symptoms for Pregnancy." Hershel explains.

Those words just made Daryl shut up, he didn't just hear what he thought he heard. "W-what? Pregnant?"

"Yes." He examines the young husky, it was hard to tell the change of appearance but she might be around two-to-three weeks in. "She could be around two weeks in."

"Son of a bitch." Daryl mutters under his hands. His blue eyes glared down at Snowy who looked in on what's happening, "I'll deal wit ya later." Snowy whines and immediately trots away.

Hershel excuses himself to leave the two friends for some space, the news still shifts in the air, this was some new and unexpected. For both of them.

"Well, I guess this is somethin' unexpected huh?" Daryl asks dryly with a chuckle.

Nyla whines with rolled eyes at that, Daryl chuckles and rubs her head.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

The next day the group gathered around the gravesite where Dale was buried beside Sophia and Hershel's family, "Dale could— could get under your skin." Rick starts. "He sure got under mine, 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. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another." Nyla sat beside Daryl who stood away from the group, The archer held his crossbow over his shoulder.

"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."

The archer and his companion stare at each other, they know that Rick's trying his best to keep the group stable. "From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale." He finishes.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

Nyla's pov.

After the funeral, Daryl, Angela, T-Dog and Shane were off to scan the perimeter while I stayed behind since I need to "Take it easy" for now on—Well until my pups are born. "Gonna me tight, fourteen people in one house." Rick tells Hershel who finally convinced to let us move in. Me and Snowy lay on the trunk of the truck while Daryl scratches my neck. "With fifty head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing the damn dinner bell." Maggie adds in.

"She's right. We should've moved you in a while ago." Hershel says. You just answered it, a while ago.

Rick thinks this information over, he finally answers. "Alright, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out towards the road." Everyone starts to get ready to do their tasks, "We'll build a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sight lines both sides of the property."

Most of everyone went somewhere to contribute to the group; While Rick, Shane, Lori, Daryl, T-Dog and me and Snowy stayed behind. "T-dog, you take the perimeter around the house. Keep track of everyone coming and going."

"What about standing guard?" T-Dog asks.

"I need you and Daryl on double duty." Rick orders.

"Gotcha." T-Dog says.

Daryl straddles his bike and starts it up, revving the motor. I hopped off the truck and trotted alongside Daryl as we reached the farmhouse. I watch Daryl head towards the barn, I was about to join him when Snowy stops me. "You need to rest." He tells me.

I snort in annoyance, "I'm starting to get annoyed by the whole "Need some rest" thing. Hell, I'm not even showing physical signs." I lashed out.

"Sorry. But, uh, Herschel's orders." He says while trotting up to me.

I let out a sigh, "Sorry, didn't mean to lash out like that." I apologized. I guess mood swings are an actual thing.

Snowy chuckles, "No worries. I've gotten worse."

"Really?" I tilt my head to the side with an ear twitch. "Okay then."

"I'm really glad that Hershel's letting you guys stay inside the farmhouse," He started. "Well now you can sleep beside me, if you want."

A sinister grin appears on my face, "Ya better watch out what you say, Snowy." I teased. He looked at me puzzled. "W-what?"

I laughed, "I'm just kidding!" I said. "Sure, I'll stay with you for the night. Besides, I don't think Daryl's the type to stay in a farmhouse." I'm pretty sure I saw his tail wagging even faster. "Okay. Cool!" He exclaimed while cantering inside a house like a happy little puppy. I chuckled and followed him inside, the living room was topples with supplies until Snowy led me towards the fireplace where a large dog bed was perfect for two dogs to lay in. "It ain't much. I often sleep in Beth's room whenever she's upset." He explained while stepping inside the dog bed while retrieving a dog toy in the shape of a goose. "Y-ya know I can always sleep on  the—"

"No no, it's alright." I cut him off. I follow his movement and eye the goose toy. "You know I used to have a toy like that." I told him. "When I was a pup."

"What happened to it?" Snowy asks.

I huffed, "Possibly somewhere in the woods all the way in Atlanta." I replied. Trotting off the bed.

Snowy grabs his goose and drops it in front of me, "Well now you and our pups can have him."

"Thank you." I look down at the goose toy. "What's his name by the way?"

"....Squeakers." A long pause fell between us before we both laughed at that.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

An hour passed by as I sat outside with Daryl and Rick since I watched some fresh air after being inside the stuffy farmhouse, the two looked over at a map to decide how they would handle randall. Also Rick chose Daryl as partner instead of Shane. Excellent choice, in my opinion.

"Take him out to Senoia — hour there, hour back, give or take. We may lose the light, but we'll be halfway home by then." Rick explains to Daryl.

Daryl steps back from the map still looking down at it,  "This little pain in the ass will be a distant memory. Good riddance." He says while sitting down on the porch bannister.

"Carol's putting together some provisions for him, enough to last a few days" Rick continues with her thorough plan. Carol always cares about others first and then herself.

We  momentarily turn our  attention to a car with the trunk open speeding over to where we are. The one occupying the car was Shane. "That thing you did last night—" Rick starts but cuts himself off.

"Ain't no reason ya should do all the heavy liftin'." Daryl responds while squinting his eyes from the sun.

The car comes to an aggressive halt, "So are you good with all this?" Rick asks Daryl.The car door opens for SHane to step out.

Daryl picks up the map to fiddle with it, "I don't see ya and I trading haymakers on the side of the road. Nobody'd win that figh'." Ain't that the truth. Daryl throws down the map onto the bannister before standing up, "'m gonna take a piss." He announces before going inside.

And that's the cue for me to leave.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

It was a quarter to sunset when Daryl and T-Dog prepared to let Randall loose. I can finally come along with the men (after a few pleas with Daryl). I lay on the trunk of the old beat up truck with Daryl's crossbow beside me. After finishing up T-Dog hands Daryl a gun, " Only got so many arrows." He tells him.

"Is that Dale's gun?" Daryl asks while grabbing the gun.

"Yeah." T-Dog responds while closing up the tailgate.

"Wish I knew where the hell mine is." He says putting Dale's gun into the waistband of his jeans.

Rick walks up to us, "Ready."

"Yeah." Daryl mutters out.

T-Dog smacks the end of the truck, "I'll get the package." He left to go grab Randall from the barn.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

Ignore what I said before; The boy got out. Don't know how since it was locked from the outside and the windows were boarded up, the others  come running over soon after our investigation, and begin to repeatedly ask varying questions pertaining to the disappearance of our prisoner. I tried to sniff out anything unusual but found nothing. Only a hint of Shane's scent but it was faint.

The cuffs are still hooked, he must've slipped 'em." Rick says, stepping out of the shed with me in tow.

"Is that possible?" Carol asks.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose." Andrea says, being the last one to step out of the barn. I notice Daryl seeming confused and suspicious as I am.

"The door was secure from the outside." Hershel says while showing everybody the lock on the outside of the shed. I'm starting to wonder about Shane's scent; He was in the shed without permission or he killed Randall. I'm thinking about the second one.

"Rick! Rick!" Everyone snaps their heads towards the forest, where the shouts of Shane are heard. His face is bloodied from his broken nose or mouth and he's out of breath.

"What happened?" Lori asks through a shout.

"He's armed! He's got my gun!" Shane shouts back while staking towards us. How the hell did he let that happen?

"Are you okay?" Carl asks from where he stands beside his bitch dumbass mother.

"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face." His voice is hoarse, and he does not slow down his pace as he approaches. Ah, well, I don't believe that.

"Alright, Hershel, T-Dog! Get everybody back in the house. Glenn, Daryl, come with us." Rick shouts his orders and the group scrambles to follow them.

This doesn't make sense; How can a scrawny boy like Randall 'get the jump' on a trained and armed ex-officer? That just doesn't make sense.

"T, I'm gonna need that gun." Shane commands. T-Dog obliges.

"Just let him go. That was the plan, wasn't it, to just let him go?" Carol asks. Nope.

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not on our front door step with a gun." Rick leads Shane, Glenn, Daryl, and I away from the non-search group people.

"Search!" Daryl commands. And I obliged with a bark.

"Don't go out there. Ya'll know what can happen." Carol calls.

Sorry Carol. But we have too.

"Get everybody back in the house. Lock all the doors and stay put!" Rick doesn't even turn towards everyone when telling them what to do. They all quickly run towards the direction of the house.

I trotted beside Daryl while Rick, Glenn, and Shane walked in said order on his left. They all carried their weapons while I had my teeth and claws. "I saw him head up through the trees that way before I blacked out."

Still doesn't make any sense.

The sun is setting and the suspicion I had against Shane are all pointing towards him letting Randall out. "I'm not sure how long." Shane says leading the group further into the forest. I still can't get any scent of Randall which is odd.

"He couldn't have gotten far. He's hobbled, exhausted." Rick says.

"And armed." Glenn adds.

"So are we. Can you two track him?" Rick asks, pointing towards Daryl and I.

"No, I don't see nothin'." Daryl responds.  "And it don' look like Nyla's smellin' nothing either." He says skeptically looking at the ground. I put my nose to the ground again trying to get the faintest scent but I can't find anything.

"Hey, look, there ain't no use in tracking him, okay? He went that way. We need to pair up. We spread out, we just chase him down. That's it." Shane tries to convince us.

"Kid weighs a buck-25 soaking wet. You're tryna tell us he got the jump on you?" Daryl accusingly asks.

"I say a rock pretty much evens those odds, wouldn't you?" Shane spits back. I growl at him.

"Alright, knock it off. You, Glenn, and Nyla start heading up the right flank. Me and Shane'll take the left. Remember, Randall's not the only threat out there. Keep an eye out for each other." Rick instructed.

We go our separate ways.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

Nightfall came as the sound of nocturnal animals can only be heard— My ears swivel in the direction of any sound emitted looking for one that may be a walker or any predator. "This is pointless. You got a light?" Daryl asks Glenn who handed him one.

After hours of searching, I finally got Randall's scent.

Daryl turns the flashlight  on, instantly flashing it towards me to see if I've found anything. I let out a whimper and let out a bark. . Daryl then points the flashlight towards the floor and he seems to find tracks of some sort because he moves the flashlight in a straight line away from him. Towards a direction we already looked.

He let out a growl mixed with a sigh, "C'mon."

I lead the way, making sure not to scuff up the tracks, the boys following pursuit, "We're just back to square one." Glenn says.

"If you're gonna do a thing, you might as well do it right." Daryl says in response.

"Interesting quote." I say to myself. Only a grumble for the boys to hear.

Daryl slows down, he focuses more intently on a certain spot, "There's two sets of tracks right here. Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said." He then brings the flashlight up to a tree stained with fresh blood. "There's fresh blood on this tree."

He steps away from the tree, his eyes met the ground. "There's more tracks. Looks like they're walking in tandem."

An animal makes a loud call in the distance, making Glenn turn his head in the direction of the sound. This then makes Glenn bump into Daryl's back—Daryl looks back before turning back to the tracks and shaking his head. It doesn't take long for his focus to redirect to the tracks, "Yeah, there was a little dust up right 'ere."

"What do you mean?" Glenn asks.

"I mean somethin' went down." Daryl replies.

"It's getting weird." Tell me about it.

Daryl slows down, his eyes trained on the floor. "Had a little trouble." He points the flashlight to a piece of cloth on the ground—I walk up to it and sniff it. It had Randall's scent around it. How did that happen?

Glenn picks it up as he and Daryl examine it—We heard the snap of twigs in the darkness and I can smell the distinct scent of the dead. Glenn makes a scared or shocked gasp and the two take off to two nearby trees.

I stood in front of Daryl who held my neck with his arms. Daryl and Glenn peek from behind the tree to see a lone walker walking towards us. The walker finally within a few feet of us, finally comes into view. It turns, facing Glenn and lets out a loud growl before Glenn can take the action. The Walker pushes him to the ground.
"Attack." Daryl commands. I hopped on its peak and sank my teeth into its neck. Its arms flail about and grab onto me, trying to tear into my lean muscles and flesh but before it can do any harm I bite down even harder. An arrow whizzed past me and landed onto a tree.

Its hand grabbed my neck and tossed me to my side, fear coursing through my veins as I started to worry about my growing pups. What if it killed them?

The walker starts to attack Daryl but Glenn sank his knife into its skull, killing it. The walker fell onto the ground, we saw that the walker was Randall. "Nice." Daryl comments while patting Glenn's shoulder.

I stool up and walk over towards the boys

Daryl leans over, already having noticed that it was Randall. He crouched down beside the body and began to inspect it for bites or scratches but the only saw nothing. "Got his neck broke." He rechecks Randall's body for any bites or scratches but still, "He got no bites."

But how's that possible?

"How is that possible?" Glenn questions, the boys looked at one another. Took the words out of my mouth.

Now this is getting scary.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

We head back inside the house, Daryl opens the door as we head inside. We see  everyone gathered in the room minus Carl who I assume is upstairs, and Rick and Shane.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asks, carrying his crossbow in one hand with Glenn behind him carrying the hatchet.

"No." Lori replies.

"We heard a shot." Daryl says. Only one shot.

"Maybe they found Randall." Lori says.

"We found him." Daryl says. He's dead now.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie speaks up.

"He's a walker." Daryl replies.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asks.

"No, the weird thing is he wasn't bit." Glenn responds.

"His neck was broke." Daryl said.

"So he fought back." Patricia spoke up.

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other, and Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together." Daryl explains to the group. I let out a whine in response.

"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane, and find out what on Earth is going on?" Lori pleads walking closer to Daryl.

Hell no! Do it yourself!

"You got it." Daryl replies. Dammit!

Lori thanked him before I followed ahead of Daryl. towards the front door we came through only minutes ago.

He opens it and I squeeze through before he can even fully open it. The first thing I notice is the strong smell of the dead being carried through the air, I let out a snarl as I bare my teeth at the danger inbound.

Everyone heads outside to see a swarm of walkers, no horde or whatever the hell you call a large group heading towards the farmhouse.

Well, we're screwed.