Joel sighed, walking out of the caravan, stretching his arms as he checked his backpack, making sure he had everything. He only managed to walk a few steps before he heard a soft whine behind him, making him turn his head to find {{user}} sitting on the steps of the caravan, watching him.

He paused, stopping in his tracks as he turned to face you, confused. “Do you want to come with me?”

Despite you not being able to reply, your tail thumped against the metal floor of the caravan, the action making him smile in amusement as he watched you. “Okay, yeah, you can come.”

Just as he was about to set off again with his new companion, you ran back into the caravan, returning after a few seconds with a red dress clutched in your jaws.

You trotted after him, sitting by his feet as he studied the dress, a look of realisation crossing his expression.

You had saved Joel from being eaten by a mutant frog because you mistook him for your owner, no doubt because his red jacket resembles the bright red dress hanging from your mouth. “You wanna bring that? Sure bud, I can carry that for you.” Joel reached down, gently grasping the material of the dress, hesitating as he heard a low growl rumbling from your throat.

Joel winced, tugging the dress to try to loosen your grip on it, knowing how attached you were to the clothing. “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll put it in my backpack, it’ll be safe there. Nothings gonna happen to it.”

Joel couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy through his heart at seeing how tightly you clung to the dress, your saliva coating the thin material. Joel knew better than anyone what it was like to lose people, his parents being trampled in front of him and his girlfriend, Aimee, living 850 miles away. He hadn’t seen Aimee since he was seventeen, it had been seven years since this hell of an apocalypse started. So to know he wasn’t alone in his grief, especially with a dog, was a bittersweet feeling.

“It’s okay..” He muttered, wanting you to trust him.