𝐍𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 | daryl dixon

- 𝟕𝟖

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     THREE OF them stalked on through the woods. rosaline was curious as to what aaron had been doing there, apart from hunting rabbits, considering the community had enough food for carol to be baking casseroles.

     "so what exactly were you doing out here?" she quizzed, taking a look around before making the next step. you could never be too careful around the woods.

     "like i said, hunting." he shrugged.

     the girl gave him a look, "doesn't the community have enough food? wouldn't there be a greenhouse?"

     aaron bobbed his head up and down slightly, "you can never get too much food in an apocalypse."

     "can ya get any louder?" daryl hissed from the front.

     rosa rolled her eyes playfully while aaron gave her an awkward look. he was obviously intimidated by the marksman and was unsure how the girl managed to handle his attitude. although, he understood that he meant well.

     in the distance, the sound of a horse bickering caught their attention. swiftly, rosaline almost fell forward trying to tug on rhaegar's chain-link collar in order to bring him back. the two men crept forward, examining the animal. it was just a beautiful black stallion.

     the recruiter let out an exasperated sigh, "we've been trying to catch him for months. bring him inside. his name is buttons." he explained, causing both of them to give him a look, "one of the kids saw him run by the gate a while back. thought he looked like a buttons."

     "that's sort of cute." rosaline shrugged, tilting her head, watching the horse graze on the grass.

     "i hadn't seen him for a while. i was afraid it was too late." aaron cracked a grin bringing out a rope, "every time eric or i came close, he gets spooked."

     daryl took it from him, slapping his thigh, "rhaegar." he caught the attention of the german shepherd. just like back at the farm with cattle and walkers he'd have a job of herding the horse back to him.

     "have you done this before?" he queried, confused.

     "my group did. rosaline's dog herd cattle before." the redneck informed, "but they weren't out there that long. wild horses - the longer they're out there the more they become what they really are."

     the brunette's mind flashed back to that one time at the cdc. a time where daryl had told her that rhaegar wouldn't stick around for long because he'd do what comes naturally to him. nothing of the sort had happened since; he'd proved him wrong. that established a similar trust between the dog and him as he had with her.

     silently, daryl inched forward letting the german shepherd slink around the back of the horse just in case it were to run away.

     rosaline's browns knitted together, "be careful." she whispered. her boyfriend gave her a small nod.