Finley -> Rick's Dog

e l e v e n

I don't remember much of what happened after the incident. I remember seeing Sophia's lifeless body fall to the ground with a thud.

Beth ran over to an old looking woman, or, the corpse of the old looking woman at least. Turns out the walker was still alive. After trying to eat her, someone shot it.

Rick grabbed my lead, that was hanging down by my side, and led me away. Of course feeling that I couldn't walk properly, I kicked my legs out to the side, in the most awkward of ways, until Rick picked me up.

I leaned into him, and wished he would never let go of me. Never did I want to leave Rick's side again.

We approached Hershel's house, and Rick placed me down gently onto the floor, and then left me standing in the room that Carl was in, alone.

No longer than a minute later, he came back with Patricia, who walked in puffy-eyed. I trudged over to her nervously, nudging her hand, to comfort her.

"I know that this may not be the best of all times. And I am truly sorry, about what happened there. I didn't want this, I never did. But I need to ask you, what's wrong with Finn? What's wrong with my dog?" Rick says softly.

"I- I... thank you, for everything." Patricia thanks him, before speaking about me, "Do you know if Finn has ever been spayed?" Rick shook his head, "Not that I know of, no. Why?"

"She is going into season for the first time. It is the fertile period of a dog's cycle when they can get pregnant. They usually have their first heat at around 6 months old, and then every 6-7 months afterwards. Each heat, or season, tends to last approximately 16-18 days. Signs seen during this phase include a excessive licking of the genital area, clingy behavior, and aggression toward male dogs. Your dog may also hold her tail close to her body." Patricia says. By the end of it, I could tell that I was pulling a face, by the way she was looking at me.

"Oh.." Rick said seemingly wishing he had never asked. I too, wish he'd never asked. But instead you made me suffer. "Anything else I should know?" Rick asks.

"Yes, diapers. I would recommend them, seen as though I don't suppose you want blood everywhere. You put pads in them, and change it every day, at minimum. No longer. You hear me? Oh and another thing, her emotions are gonna be all over the place." Patricia, once again, scares the living shit out of me, and I decide that I want to hide.

I army crawl under the bed, and wait until I hear Patricia leave. I heard Rick sit on the bed above me. I whined, and leaned my head, up against his leg. "I know." He says, rubbing my head gently, "But I think that if we can survive the dead coming back to life, and trying to eat us, I'm pretty sure we can handle this. Come on Finn."

I poke my head out, and led, half under the bed, and the other half not under the bed. Rick chuckles, and he takes off my headcollar. "World's gone to shit. I don't think we need to worry about you trying to pull hard on the lead." I crawl the rest of the way out, and rest my head on his knee. "Come on Finn, let's go fix this shit show." Rick says, tugging on my lead.

I trotted out behind him pleased, but my heart sunk, as Rick handed over my lead to Daryl. I gave him a 'bitch what the fuck' look, before turning my back on him. "Haha, yer gonna enjoy yer life." Daryl says to me.

I huffed, as we headed towards the edge of the forest, well away from the farm, and everyone else. I guessed it to be half a mile, at least.

I saw a tent, and a few logs. "Aye, ya can do wha' ya want, jus' don't be nosy, kay?" Daryl says, while unclipping my lead. I padded over next to the fire, and led on the ground gently.

We sat in peaceful silence, absorbing what had just happened. It lasted for about an hour, until Lori walked up. "Moving to the suburbs?" I grumble, and she continues. "Listen, Beth's in some kind of catatonic shock. We need Hershel."