Keep Holding On

Angela reached out and softly touched the fur on Samantha's head where it was clear of blood. Tears still streamed down her face, she was slowing losing what was left of her family.

"What happened?" She choked out as she tried to dry her tears.

"Walker got her." Shane stated causing Angela to look up at him.

"But there's no walker here. Did one of you kill it and take it away or something?"

"I don't know where it went, must of wandered off somewhere. We'll find it Angela and kill the son of a bitch." Shane said.

"Why do you have blood on you?" Angela asked her eyes staring hard at Shane, not trusting his say in this event.

"Reached down and checked on the dog, in hopes we could save her." Shane explained. Angela accepted the story though she figured it was a lie, she just didn't want to bother with figuring out what was true or false about his statements.

"We need to bury her." Angela said as she looked down at the dog again. "And someone needs to tell Rick about the walker."

"Right, I'll go get a shovel and tell Rick." Shane said turning to leave.

"Shane." Angela called looking over at him again. "Don't let Layla know, I need to be the one to tell her." Shane nodded and continued his way back to camp.

"You alright?" Daryl asked. Angela tore her eyes away from the grim scene in front of her to look into beautiful blues.

"No, not really." She told him truthfully; her voice barely loud enough for him to hear. "What am I going to tell Layla?" Her eyes fell to her lap as tears began to make her way down her face again. Daryl shifted on his feet awkwardly for a moment before he knelt beside the girl he cared for.

"Ya gotta tell her the truth." He said pausing for a moment. "Well what we think is the truth anyways."

"You don't believe him either." She stated as she desperately wiped the tears from her face. She was tired of crying, especially in front of Daryl, afraid he would see it as a weakness.

"He had too much blood on him to have just checked her, unless he was in panic."

"But this is Shane, he doesn't care about Layla. He just wants to be seen as leader." Silence stretched between the two before Angela broke it. "I'm tired of losing people."

"Ain't we all." He said and slowly placed a hand on Angela's shoulder causing her to look at him. "But we gotta get through it."

"Be strong, told Layla something like that last night." Angela said with a sad smile that quickly faded. "You probably think it's stupid cryin over a dog, but Sam's been in the family for a couple of years now. We raised her, she was family."

"If she was considered family then it ain't stupid."

"Thanks Daryl." Placing her hand gently on Daryl's that rested on her shoulder and was surprised when he didn't pull away.

"Ya say that a lot."

"Sorry bet that gets annoying. It just seems that ever since we met, you've had my back without really meaning to at times and I don't know, just seems like I have a lot to thank ya for." She said meeting his eyes again.

"Ya don't have to keep sayin it though."

"I'll try not to say it so much anymore." She said with a small smile.

"Good."

"Shut up Daryl." She said leaning over and placing her lips against his. Just as his hand slowly slid from her shoulder up to her head, she pulled away, a small smirk on her lips knowing e did the same thing to her the other day.

Voices reached their ears and they both looked up to see Rick and Shane were coming into view, which in turn caused Daryl to stand up quickly and move away from Angela who rolled her eyes as an attempt hide the hurt she felt at his actions. Shane carried a shovel with him and he dug it into the ground and leaned on it slightly when he reached the eldest Morrison sister and the Redneck.

"Angela, I'm sorry to hear what happened." Rick said after glancing down at the dog.

"Yeah, I just hate having to tell Layla this. I just got her talking to me again."

"I understand." Rick said placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Go talk to your sister, we'll handle things here."

"Thanks." She replied her eyes drifting to Shane then Samantha's lifeless body once more, and then landing on Daryl who gave a slight nod, before she turned and headed to camp.

Finding Layla was unfortunately easy, not giving Angela much time to think about what to say. Instead of being with Lori and Carl like she usually was; she was chatting happily with Dale, completely unaware of the horror that had happened.

They looked up as she approached them.

"Angela is something wrong?" Dale asked noticing the tear tracks on her face along with any other signs that her face bore.

"Dale do you mind if I talk to Layla for a minute?" She asked ignoring his question, he'd probably know soon enough.

"Sure thing." Dale said walking off to the others.

"What's up Angie?" Layla asked confusion laced in her voice. Angela kneeled down in front of her sister and took her hands.

"Princess it's about Samantha."

"Is she still missing?"

"No, no Shane found her this morning." Angela's voice broke as she spoke.

"Where is she? Is she okay? Please tell me she's okay." Layla questioned, fearing the worse.

"Layla I'm sorry, she wandered over by the woods and I guess a-"

"No!" Layla interrupted, tears burning her eyes. "Angela no! She can't be!" The tears spilled over, dripping down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry Layla. She's gone."

The noise her sister made broke Angela's heart more than seeing their dog torn to shreds. This was more about just losing Samantha though, that was just the trigger causing Layla to completely break. She lost her parents, her brother, her friend, now she lost her pet. No child should have to see so much death, but in this world it was unavoidable. All Angela could do was hold her sister close as she screamed and cried, just letting out all the hurt she felt. The tears that Angela had stopped earlier began falling down her face once again. She felt useless, because she couldn't stop the pain and loss from happening to her sister.

The group gathered around the freshly made grave. Most probably would have thought it was dumb to have a service of sorts for a dog, but after Layla's breakdown, everyone in their small group made it their priority to be there. Angela kept her arms around Layla as they stood there looking down at the mound where their beloved pet lay, cruelly taken from them in this hell of a world.