The two hunters returned to the prison with Daryl's crossbow strap around the grey-brown dog's neck like a leash. As it walked and panted, Cailey could see its ribs through its fur and skin more. She padded silently through the prison field with Daryl, and Rick greeted them at the building gates.
"That a dog?" The man drawled out with a slightly surprised face.
"No, it's a possum," Cailey hung her hands limply to her sides.
"Where'd you find him?" Rick ignored the girl's sarcasm. "Just in the forest?"
"Some ole' farm," Daryl shrugged one hand towards the direction they came. "Not much there, mostly cleaned out. Found 'im in a bush."
The former sheriff gave a small smile as he hunched down, petting the scared dog. "I'm assuming you're gonna wanna be keeping him?"
"Could help," Daryl made an excuse, watching Cailey. They both knew they simply liked the dog. "Pretty easy to train tah be guard dogs."
Rick grinned again, seeing through Daryl's excuse. "All righ', but Cailey, I'm puttin' you in charge of him. You've gotta be the one to make sure he's safe and fed and doesn't attack nobody."
Cailey gave the man a small nod, her hand resting on the soft fur of the dog's head.
"Woah," a loud boyish voice called. "You found a dog?"
Rick turned to his son as the boy ran up to the dog. There were four people crowding around the dog now, and Carl was trying to pet it, and the dog began cowering away behind Cailey and Daryl.
"All right, bud," Rick put a hand on Carl's shoulder. "Why don't you give him some space for now? There'll be more time to meet him. Why don't you go finish your reading?"
Carl nodded, fixing the cowboy hat he always wore as he turned away. The man nodded back at Cailey, putting his hands on his hips. "So you gonna take care o' that dog?"
Cailey nodded again, hand still on the soft fur, thumb stroking over his floppy ears. Daryl unclipped his crossbow strap from the dog's neck, nodding at the girl. When he looked up again, he saw Rick with a wide, confused look on his face. The sheriff was staring out behind the hunters, towards the outside field gates. Daryl and Cailey turned their heads.
There was a woman amongst the walkers. A living woman with dark braids in her hair, a headband, a sword, and a bullet through her leg. She held a shopping crate of baby formula in one hand. She was covered head-to-toe in dark blood, and the smell of it was disguising her from the walkers. They weren't attacking her.
"Cailey, get back inside," Rick whispered, as if talking normally would trigger the hearing of the woman hundreds of feet away.
"I can help," the girl whispered back, hand holding tighter to the dog's shoulder.
"Go inside," the man repeated. "Bring that dog, and tell the others. She has that formula. Glenn and Maggie could be gone."
Cailey nodded, pulling gently on the dog's scruff to encourage him to follow her. She jogged through the tunnel hallways of the prison, staring back every once in a while to make sure her new companion was padding behind. The cell block lighting shone through, and she ran inside. Carl and Hershel and Carol were inside the dining, and Beth was sitting on the stairs by the cells. Cailey announced "Someone here. Rick's bringin' em in. Get in the cells."
There wasn't any question. Hershel hopped over from his crutches into his cell, Beth hid with her father, and Carl sat silently on his bed. Carol approached Cailey first. "You should go in, too, Cailey. I can lock the doors."
"No," Cailey picked up the keys from the hook on the wall. "Gotta wait 'til they get back. Then we can lock it up."
As if on cue, the quick padding of feet rang through the halls. Cailey and Carol stepped into the cell block, watching Rick and Daryl hoist the woman in. Cailey held her dog to her knees, listening to it growl. Rick and Daryl lied the woman on a towel in the corner, kicking her sword away.
"Look, we gonna help you out. Get you fixed up, all right," Rick nodded as he pushed the woman to the ground.
"Cailey," the sheriff called over his shoulder. "Grab Judith from her crib. Get her some of this formula."
Cailey nodded, taking the crate of formula from Daryl's hands. When she turned with it, a hand met her shoulder. She turned back to the hunter. "Aye," he whispered. "Fill one o' the kid's bottles up with bottled water, put three o' them spoonfuls of this shit in there and shake it."
Cailey nodded, holding the crate to her chest. The dog was sniffing it, and Cailey walked off and up the stairs of the cell block. The dog was already starting to form some type of attachment, following her across the prison. Cailey looked over the edge of the post-office box with a blanket in it, seeing a squirming baby inside. She had puke on her shoulder, but was otherwise okay-looking. She held up her flask, smelling the water inside to ensure its safety. The girl pulled out one of the baby bottles from a box, filling it with the flask water as Daryl had instructed. She finally opened one of the tubs of formula powder, finding a plastic spoon inside, then pouring three of the spoonfuls inside. Cailey shook the tiny bottle-probably harder than necessary- then left the crate of formula on the table. She lifted up the baby- who she now understood was named Judith- as she was beginning to cry. Little wails and sobs echoed from her mouth before Cailey offered the plastic bottle to her, then the baby began silently sucking on the rubber tip.
Cailey turned to see the dog behind her, still sniffing at all that Cailey held. The girl sat on her knees, allowing the brown-grey dog to sniff Judith. The baby's eyes went wide as she stared at the dog, much larger than her. The dog simply kept sniffing at the baby, and Judith let out a loud screaming laugh. She raised her hands in laughter, throwing her bottle on the floor. Cailey sighed, picking up the bottle to give Judith again. When she stood up tall again, Cailey let her free hand run through the fur on her dog's head. Judith was silent again, but Cailey still couldn't hear what was going on in the cell block dining hall. The teen sighed as she leaned against the guardrail, watching the dog sniff at the floor.
Daryl was the first to leave the small group as Hershel was cleaning up the strange woman. He padded silently up the stair to meet Cailey, leaning against the guardrail next to her. "Says 'er name's Michonne," he nodded. "Glenn n' Maggie got taken by some people in some settlement. Not any good people. She gonna show us how to get there."
"I'm ready whenever you are," the girl nodded.
"Nah, y'ain't goin'," Daryl shook his head. When he watched the girl's face scrunch up, he added "Yer' the only one left who's gonna be able tah protect this place. Beth n' her ole' man can't do it, Carl can't, an' Carol's all righ' with a gun, but she still a lil scared. We gotta have someone here to do some liftin' if it comes down to it. Dunno if them guys'll find us and attack us while we out."
Cailey nodded, taking the empty baby bottle from Judith as the baby threw her arms everywhere. She turned back to the makeshift crib, placing her back inside. "Ya gettin' goin' now?
"Yeh, gonna be dark in an hour or so."
Cailey nodded, and Daryl turned back to step down the stairs. The girl followed with the dog in tow, nearly stepping on her heels. Daryl met his group again in the dining hall as Rick was packing up guns and ammo and knives. The sheriff turned to Cailey. "You already know what you gotta do?"
Cailey nodded. She could feel the dog at her hip, leaning against her and panting. Rick nodded back, slinging his gun bag over his shoulder. "Help us pack up the car, then head back on in here to keep watch."
The girl fixed her bow strapped to her back as she followed the men out. Carol stayed in the dining hall, sitting silently with Beth and Hershel. Carl was on the opposite side of Cailey as the dog was as they headed out the tunnels.
Rick handed a container of gasoline and a bag of guns to Cailey, and she began packing them into the trunk of the pale blue minivan. She helped organize the car they would take and make sure it had gas.
Rick was speaking to his son, one hand on the boy's head. When he stood back up, he turned to Cailey again. "You be safe, too," he pressed a hand on her rigid shoulder. "We'll be back by tomorrow mornin', all right?"
Cailey nodded, then looked back at Daryl as he packed up his crossbow and arrows in his seat. The two hunters nodded again a each other.
When the girl was about to follow Carl back inside the prison building, she heard a gruff voice. "Aye, clodhopper."
Cailey turned to Daryl's call. He held out a small book in his hand. "Found it wit' some others at that farm. Only wanted this one. Want'cha tah read it while we out. Try to sound out all the words like I showed you, ask Carol 'bout the ones ya don't know."
Cailey held the small book in her hands. There was an old illustration of a man dressed in all green pulling a bowstring back. She couldn't read the title very well. "Row-bin Hood?"
"Robin Hood," the man couldn't help but have the tiniest of smiles on his face. Carol was right, he really did feel like some older-brother figure. "Y'always remind me of it. Read it while we gone."
Cailey nodded. she held the book close to her chest, watching as Daryl roughly scratched the dogs ears with his fingerpads. She knew he may not come back from this, the one person she had grown close to like family over the past year, but neither of them were for sad and sappy moments. They knew it. It would just get awkward, and it would prepare them even less if something happened. Instead of anything else, Cailey only nodded. "Thanks."
Daryl stared back up at Cailey. The man pressed one hand on the girl's shoulder as they nodded at each other again. Cailey put her hand on Daryl's wrist by her shoulder with a harsh blink, almost as if they were communicating silently. And in reality, they kind of were. In an I don't want to get awkward, but I care about you way.
"Stay safe, redneck," she nodded again.
"You too, clodhopper."