𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐬 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝¹

SIX - MDRT

"HE BETTER BE OKAY. ITS MY ONLY WORD ON THE MATTER." daryl spoke up, eyeing t-dog venomously. the younger dixon had been cleaning his precious crossbow the entire ride. in fact, the entire journey had been gruelling, with daryl being at t-dogs throat, and t-dog not giving a shit. astrid wished for t-dogs zen in situations like this. but instead, thoughts raced through her head like a whirlwind.

"i told you the geeks can't get at him." t-dog repeated for what felt like the millionth time. "only thing thats gonna get through that door is us." he assured.

over the course the drive into the city, astrid had taken to playing with her hair, before deciding to tie her brown locks back in a ponytail, to keep it out of her face. the last thing she needed in a stand off with the dead was her hair blowing in front of her eyes. however, it took her three attempts before she was content with her hair. daryl had asked her, 'how long does it take ya to do your hair, woman?' she had shaken her head at him, he didn't understand. it wasn't perfect the first two times. it wasn't good enough.

"third times the charm." she had replied back, jokingly, lying straight through her teeth. daryl stared at her weirdly, but didn't say anything more on the topic.

then, the engine sputtered to a stop as the brakes were pressed, "we walk from here." glenn said, turning to look at the trio in the back of the truck. daryl practically leapt out of the truck after springing the door open. he didn't bother to offer astrid a hand, who left the truck next, t-dog following close behind, holding the bolt cutters over his shoulder.

when glenn said walk, he really meant jog. astrid didn't mind, however, cardio was never a problem for her. furthermore, they wouldn't have to travel that far, astrid thought.

she jogged alongside rick and glenn, who were leading the merle dixon rescue team, daryl and t-dog were close behind, though.

they reached a section of the train line when they stopped, glenn reopened a section of the fence that had been cut, allowing the group to step through without injuring themselves on the sharp edges of the metal.

"merle first or guns?" rick asked once he was through the wired fence.

"merle!" daryl dramatically decided for the group, "we ain't even havin' this conversation." he declared, holding his crossbow up.

"we are." he shot back, "you know the geography. it's your call." the sheriff spoke to glenn.

the group broke into a jog again, "merles closest. the guns would mean doubling back." he told, "merle first." he decided. daryls silence showed he was content with the decision.

astrid entered the department store in silence, following closely behind rick. he held up his hand and the group stopped in their tracks. the sound of footsteps shuffling caught her ears. no living person shuffled their feet like that. the sheriff held two fingers to his eyes then pointed in the direction of the reanimated corpse.

daryl claimed this walker as his, he moved like a ghost, practically floating over the floor. it reminded astrid of all the times her ballet teacher told her to cushion through her feet when landing a jump, that would really come in useful now. "damn. you are one ugly skank." the rednecks insults snapped her from her thoughts of ballet. he shot an arrow, which impaled the walkers skull as it collapsed to the ground with a thud, dead for a second time. rude. astrid thought, it wasn't her fault she looked like that.

the dixon retrieved the bloody arrow from the corpse, wiping its remains on his trousers as he loaded it back into his bow.

thankfully, only one living corpse inhabited the ground floor of the department store, yet astrid unsheathed one of her knives, just in case.