I'm With You ➝ Daryl Dixon

mushroom madness.

four.

tw. usual gore of twd

"How did we get stuck with this job?" Amy sighed, her pale legs carrying her across fallen branches, snapping and crunching with every tired step.

"I don't know," Layla sighed, following behind her, "I think I'd rather be doing this than laundry."

Amy gave a small laugh, "Good point. If I have to hear Jacqui talk about how much she misses her glorified kettle one more time I'm going to lose it."

Layla laughed in agreement, ducking under a couple of fallen mossy trees and keeping her eyes trained on the forest ground, "You know what you're looking for, right?"

"Anything that looks like a mushroom, I'll pick it. I'll let you sort out the ones we can and can't eat 'cause that I'm not so good with."

Layla nodded at the younger blonde with a soft smile, "Let's just say if it ain't white or brown avoid it for now."

The girls walked further out into the forest until the trees became sparse, leaving enough room for the girls to spread out and search the forest floors for any hidden gems hiding amongst fallen leaves, branches and rocks.

"How'd you learn about mushrooms and stuff?" Amy asked as she crouched to the floor, picking up some tiny white mushrooms from the bottom of a tree trunk. They were a little rough and fleshy like and Amy cringed as her fingertips squeezed against them.

"My parents loved camping," Layla smiled, reminiscing on the memories replaying in her head as she looked around the area intently, "They used to take me and my brothers out all the time when we were kids."

Silence fell between them as her eyes spotted something from around the other side of the large tree she stood in front of. The white and pale orange spikes stuck out from its gills, its bright flesh a contrast to the dark muddy forest floor.

"Hey, Amy, come look!" Layla said happily, moving away from her find slightly so Amy could join and have a good look, "These are called Hedgehog mushrooms! They have no poisonous lookalikes so they're super safe for picking and stuff – and they taste bomb."

The day went by quite similar to the rest; Layla showing Amy which mushrooms were safe and which weren't. The sun seemed to just get hotter and hotter and when the girls were low on water and pretty far from the camp they decided to head back; the walk back seeming longer than the walk there.

After a while, a feeling of dread seemed to eat away at Layla's stomach. She was barely able to open her mouth to express her concerns when Amy's sudden scream filled the open air around them. Amy's blond locks were yanked back by the hand of a rotting geek, its bottom jaw unhinged but still trying desperately against the girls struggling form to bite her pale flesh.

Amy's cries caused Layla to whip her head around and hurry to the girls' aid, stabbing the living dead aggravator through its skull. The crunch of bone sent a shiver up Layla's spine. The thought of how easy the knife seemed to disappear in the head of the attacker lingering on her mind. Its bony arms that had tightly gripped onto Amy's hair fell limp, releasing their grip as Layla used all her might to throw the now lifeless vessel to the ground. Amy almost dived across the forest floor away from the re-dead corpse.

Layla looked at Amy who was shaking, fear written on her tear stained face. Crouching down to the muddy ground Amy now sat on she checked her frantically for bite marks or scratches.