Cw: Character's death.

—🏹—

Nyla's pov.

"Army came in and put these fences up," Daryl explained to the group. We arrived at our destination which was an old store, fenced off like a small fortress. "Made it a place for people to go. Last week, when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain link, keeping people out like a bunch of guard dogs."

Bob chimed in "So they all just left?"

"Give a listen," Sasha said, tilting her head toward the source of the music.

My ears lifted up to hear faint music that drew the walkers away from us. "You drew them out?"

Michone asks in astonishment.

Sasha nodded, "Put a boom box out there three days ago."

"Hooked it up to two car batteries." Adds Glenn.

"All right, let's make a sweep. Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can, we'll come back tomorrow with more people." Daryl addresses the group.

I let out a ruff and let my nose do the rest while the group moved through a gap in the fence. When we reached the store's entrance, Daryl banged on the window a few times. "Just give it a second," he said as he waited to see if any walkers would respond. He sat on the wall by the window, still holding his crossbow.

I walked over to him and sat down in front of him, his free hand ruffled my fur. Zach proceeds to sit down next to Daryl. "Okay, I think I got it," he said with a confident smirk.

Michonne walked over to us, eyebrow raised "Got what?"

"I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn," Zach explained, a mischievous grin on his face. "He's been trying to guess for like six weeks," Daryl said with a smirk, I could tell he enjoyed it.

Zach continued, "Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people but still being kind of surly. Big swing here...Homicide cop."

Michonne laughs, I mentally laugh myself—the idea of Daryl as a cop was hilarious. But in fact, I can see this shit.

Daryl glanced at her, feeling offended to say the lease. "What's so funny?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Nothing," She replies. "It makes perfect sense."

Yeah, it does.

Daryl decided to play along with this, "Actually, the man's right. Undercover."

Zach looked at him skeptically. "Come on, really?"

Daryl nods his head, lying, "I don' like talking about it. A lot of heavy shit, y'know?"

Zach shook his head, still unconvinced. "Dude come on, really?"

Daryl just gives him a "You think?" look.

Zach scoffs, "Okay. I'll just keep guessing, I guess."

"You keep doing that," Daryl said, looking at the boy.

A loud loud slam against the window behind them. A walker had crashed against the glass, snarling as it clawed at the barrier, making me growl—After dealing with the remaining walkers inside the stores we began to raid the store from its supplies.

I sniffed the aisles and headed into one aisle where it had every pet item. I notice one thing that catches my eye; a lone stuffed duck toy laying on two hooks—memories flooded my mind like a tsunami, the day where I was abandoned by my old owners.

I shook the memory away and grabbed the plushie for my pups and trotted to where Daryl was, I sat in front of him holding the plush dog in my mouth. "Ya wan' that?" He asks me with a smirk. I let out a bark in return. Saying yeah.

"Alrigh'." He grabbed the stuffed duck from my mouth and stuffed it into his bag.

Then, we heard a loud crash and glass shattering. We made our way over to where the source came from, we saw Bob trapped in between the shelves—Daryl crouched down, shining his flashlight into the mess. "You all righ'? You cut or somethin'?" Daryl asked.

"Nah, man. But my foot's caught." groaned Bob.

Daryl stood up, waving over Tyreese and Zach. "All righ', he's just caught. Come on, help me get him out of there."

From across the store, Glenn shouts, "What happened?"

"Everyone's alright! We're over in wine and beer!" Zach called back, his voice echoing through the aisles. EVeryone starts to hoist the shelves off of Bob while I try to pull him out with the sleeves of his shirt.

I paused when I noticed something was off, my instincts were right when the ceilings started to collapse as a walker's body was hanging by its guts dangling grotesquely from the rafters. Gross.

Yeah, uh... we should probably go now," Glenn said, eyeing the walker hanging above them. Taking the words out my mouth.

Daryl nodded. "Bob still stuck. Get him out of there," he called out, turning to the rest of the group. Michonne was already moving, her eyes scanning for the others.

More and more walkers came falling out the ceiling, half of them already dead, a few have their limbs fall off while others were...well walking.

Chaos fell around us, I abandoned Bob to attack the walkers with my mouth and claws. Trying to stay with Daryl at all costs. Daryl pulled out his gun and fired at the walkers closing in on them, but the walkers cornered us. But we stay as close to each other as we can, we manage to kill the walkers that cornered us.
"Let's get Bob!" Zach shouted, his voice strained with urgency as he pushed through the walkers. Daryl and Zach moved quickly, cutting down any walkers that got in their way with brutal efficiency, Daryl yanked a walker off him and stomping on its head with a sickening crunch, blood splattering across the floor and on my fur. Nice.

Zach hurried over to lift the shelf that had pinned Bob, while Daryl grabbed Bob's arm, trying to pull him free. "Come on, time to go!" Daryl shouts.

Just when I was catching up with the others, something grabbed my left right leg, making me fall to my side. Lifting my head to see a grotesque walker staring at me with its dead white eyes. No. No. No.

But the walker had also grabbed Zach's leg and sunk its teeth into his calf. Zach let out a blood-curdling scream as the walker tore into his flesh, out of instinct I bite into its wrist and twist its hand off. I shook the hand off with a shudder. The walker now bites into Zach's neck, blood pouring from the wound. "Zach!" Glenn screamed.

Go! Go!" Daryl shouted, the remaining of us left the debilitating store. Barley getting out with our lives.

One thing probed in my mind.

I almost died.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

That evening in the prison I made my daily check ins, looking at the residents — At Beth's cell I saw her giving him a hug. It was cute, they had a brother/sister relationship.

When I headed to mine and Daryl's cell where the pups were fast asleep—I couldn't help but think about what would happen to me, to them if they had lost their mother.

I shook my head, letting the thought scramble away—I stepped into the makeshift dog bed and curled up next to them. River opens her eyes, "Mother." she softly said.

"Hey." I softly greet her. "Did you have a nice day?"

She nods, snuggling closer to my neck. I lowered my head onto Levi's side, from afar I could hear the distinct sound of coughing.

But I ignored it and fell asleep.

Bad idea.