Daryl's Lullaby ~ Daryl Dixon x Reader ~ On Temporary Hold

Ch.29 ~ Skylla's Close Call

3rd Person POV

It took Daryl and Skylla a long time to stumble and limp their way back to the farm occupied by the Greene family. At some point during the long trek back to their temporary safe haven Daryl had noticed Skylla was limping.

"Sky." He croaked out kneeling down on one knee before the dog. Skylla stopped, coming closer to the man and sniffing him. He was covered in blood and dirt, clothes tattered and worn down to their last fibres.

He reeked of blood, dirt and body odour from travelling in the woods for so long. The sweat accumulating and soaking into his clothes, drying up in small patches as the water which had once seeped through his clothes had dried.

"I'm fine." He breathed out heavily. He carefully and gently pushed the dog away as he looked at her with exhausted eyes. His gaze fell to her right paw and began to follow a deep gash which had been oozing blood and painting the fur of her paw up to about the middle of her leg.

Daryl picked up the injured leg making Skylla let out a small whine and nuzzled her snout into her leg where Daryl's hand rested, hoping to push his hand away. Daryl's other hand stroked her head as he let go of the leg, sensing the pain she was in as he too was still in pain.

Taking off the binding of his wound he unfolded his shirt which had been pressed to the arrow size hole in his side and tore some more of the fabric away before redoing his binding. He then carefully wrapped the new piece of torn cloth around the dog's leg patting her head once again before pushing himself up off the ground with a grunt and a huff.

Skylla had licked the man's hand in thanks and watched as he struggled to pull himself back up off the ground. Once Daryl stabilised his wobbly figure with the help of a nearby tree he pushed off and continued to drag his mud covered feet through the forest ground.

About half an hour after he had helped the dog was when he felt himself fall into a state of sleep walking with his eyes open. His mind was carrying him to where he needed to be but he himself wasn't present. His crossbow dragging behind him as he staggered like a walker into the open field just across from Hershel's farm.

As Daryl broke through the tree line with Skylla at his side back on the farm a frantic Andrea stood atop the Rv yelling out to her group about the supposed incoming walker.

"Walker! Walker!" She cried.

"Just the one?" Rick asked, rushing over to the Rv and shading his eyes with his hand to look across the field.

Unfortunately for Daryl the sun was directly behind him casting a glare over his noticeable figure as Andrea looked through the binoculars to confirm Rick's question.

She nodded and dropped the binoculars, adrenaline flowing through her as she quickly ushered out. "I bet I can nail it from here."

"No, No Andrea. Put the gun down." Rick commanded, a slight undertone of panic in his voice. Glenn, T-Dog and Shane all rushed to grab baseball bats, crowbars, pickaxes, any quiet weapon that they'd be able to use to take the walker out without sending out a giant echo to bring more their way.

"Shane, hold on, Hershel wants to deal with walkers himself." Rick called to the man who was already marching towards the gate that led to the field with his pickaxe ready.

"What's for? We can handle it." He states brushing Rick off which made the man curse under his breath and rush to the Rv to grab his Colt Python just in case.

Racing across the field to deal with the "walker" Andrea decided to ignore Rick's command and raised the gun to her eye level ready to fire and prove herself worthy of protecting the group.