Muted // A Daryl Dixon Fanfiction

•Chapter One Hundred & Twenty Two•

M U T E D

Season 9

Bobbie's Point of View:
Aaron, Jesus, Daryl, Dog and I walk through the large hilly field. We look out and see a large herd of walkers, seeming out of the norm. As of dead people coming back to life wasn't normal, these walkers are definitely not normal. They were walking in a circle. It's like they were deciding where to go next. We all duck down behind a large tree, keeping ourselves quiet and hidden. They moved slowly amongst each other, but another large group seemed to walk slowly down the hill. It's like they were confused or just loitering around each other.

"You ever see them do this before?" Jesus asks.

"No. Never." Daryl frowns. "Rosita's back trail goes right through 'em. We should get the horses, circle around, then we'll pick up on foot."

"What about them?" Aaron asks.

"What about 'em?" Daryl asks.

"They're just milling around. That's not normal." Aaron points.

"No." Daryl utters. "No, it ain't." The wind has been picking up and the sky is turning dark and fast. "We should go. There's a storm comin." We all pick ourselves up and circle back to the horses as fast as we could.

Once we grabbed the horses and circled back, we were now on foot. We all walked quietly, but made sure to move fast. Daryl and I lead the way, Dog trotting beside and sometimes ahead of us. Jesus and Aaron walked behind. The wind keeps picking up and stopping every few minutes. I could tell by the looks of it, it's going to be quite a big storm. I furrow my brows when the wind gets quiet for a second and I hear growling in the distance. I throw my arm out and stop Daryl. He stares at me and he nods, he hears it too.

"The herd...it's comin for us." Daryl announces.

"The wind is carrying the sound." Aaron informs.

"C'mon. Let's put some ground between us and them." Daryl says, guiding us off the trail and into the woods.

The sun falls. We've been at this for hours on end. The night air flashes with lightning and rumbles with thunder. The wind is a bit stronger. So is the herd. Just a couple hours ago, we found the same herd, but bigger. We all declared they merged with another herd, but, they doubled back on us. We were only left confused on how they could just double back the way they did. It's almost like their following us. It's normal for walkers to follow, but to double back the way they did? That isn't normal.

We pushed through the trees and find a barn sitting alone in the woods. "Go find him, Dog." Daryl points. We all follow Dog into the barn and he sniffs around for Eugene. Dog jumps into a pile of hay and begins whining at it, pawing at the hay. Daryl and I quickly approach him. "Good dog." Daryl says, petting Dog.

"Eugene?" Aaron softly calls. "Are you in there?" There's a moment of silence and thunder rumbling before we hear Eugene's voice.

"Affirmative." He responds. We all finally dig up the hay and see a door and a latch. Daryl unhooks it and opens it up. We find a dirty and obviously shaken up Eugene, pointing his flashlight and gun at us. Once he realized it was us, he lowers his gun. We all lean down and help him up out of the storage box, Eugene letting out a grunt.