So… I've tried to update Something Short of Human more times than I can count, but the more I try to work on it, the more I dislike it. I don't like my characterization of Daryl or Linzie or really anyone. I don't think I've been doing the show justice. However there has been such an outpouring of reviews and love for it from you guys. So instead of updating, I'm going to completely rework it. Linzie is going to be mostly the same and it's still DarylOC, but I'm going to make it fit better with where I think the show is going.

Notes: Story and Chapter title/summary is from "Natural Disaster" by the Zac Brown Band.

One: Rebel in Her Soul

And the rebel in her soul

Brought her to me

"What do you think, Linzie?"

She shrugged, green eyes focused on the data on the screen. "I think we're still losin' too much energy in heat. Maybe if we..." She paused when she heard the chuckling behind her. She straightened and looked at her colleagues over her shoulder, brushing her red hair behind her shoulder. "Wha'?"

They pointed silently at the TV.

"Government officials have yet to release a statement that can pinpoint a cause or a treatment for the fever sweeping the country. One can only speculate on what this mysterious virus is. We know that this fever has primarily hit large metropolitan areas such as New York City and Los Angeles, both of which have reported deaths in the hundreds. It is fatal within as little as few hours in some cases and is extremely contagious. Citizens are asked to stay home and to avoid contact with infected people."

"Sounds like swine flu." She shrugged and turned back towards the computer.

Bobby, her research partner, sighed, dark eyes tired, and ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. "With that many deaths, though? Swine flu killed a couple dozen, not a couple hundred."

She chewed on her ball point. "Yeah well.. I just won't go shaking hands with sick people…"

John Adeyemi, her dean, chuckled and mused, West African accent deep and melodic. "Always so pragmatic, Linzie."

She grinned. "With the kiddies away, the professors can play. Just thought I'd get something done. It's not like I have anyone waiting on me anyways."

John spared her a sympathetic glance. "Yes, I know, Linzie. What's your research looking like?"

She threw her pen lightly on her clipboard. "I just don't know, man. Nothing I'm trying seems to be working. It's having little to no effect on the amount of heat radiating out of the is being loss to heat."

"You'll never fully be able to reduce heat."

She rubbed a hand over her face. "I mean I know that… Obviously, I know that, but if I could just find a way to keep as much of it internal as possible..to use it. I'm starting to suspect that I'm going to need to redesign pistons to make any difference."

John nodded, cupping his chin with one dark-skinned hand. "If you could trap that energy and make it useful, you'd solve half a dozen common engine problems; overheating, chief among them. But just normal everyday maintenance; belts, gaskets, spark plugs, you wouldn't have to replace those as often. Maybe we could even make them out of more economical materials. Recyclables, maybe."

She smiled. "If that energy was kept internal, think of the performance upgrade, of fuel efficiency. Even if we just double the amount of energy used, up it to a meager 30%, you'd need less gas for half the distance."

Bobby smiled. "We'll figure it out… eventually."

She huffed. "Eventually… my favorite damn word."

"Weel… How much longer you think you're gonna stay tonight, Linzie?"

She straightened in her seat and rotated her head, rubbing at her neck. "I think I'm about ready to go… Jus' need to pack up."

Bobby nodded. "Good. I'll walk you to your car, if that's okay?"

She cast a look at him. "Sure, that's fine."

He bobbed his head vaguely and took a look out the window.

"Bobby, what are you so worried about?"

He chuckled weakly and shrugged. "They said that this fever is making people go crazy. That they've been running around killing people. Like they've gone rabid or something."

Linzie arched an eyebrow, swinging her briefcase onto her shoulder. "Yeah, maybe in Los Angeles and New York.. this is Auburn. It's just barely a statistical MSA. Sure as hell ain't no New York or Los Angeles."

"Atlanta's only an hour and a half away…"

The first vestiges of nervousness flitted across Linzie face. "Yeah, but…" She smiled. "I've got a gun in my car. I should be okay."

He smiled back. "Not in your bag?"

"It's illegal to have guns on school property."

"Isn't your car on school property?"

She put a finger over her lips. "I won't tell if you don't."

He shook his head. "You Southerners and your guns."

She shoved him lightly with her elbow. "Someone's gotta keep you Yankees in line."

He smiled faintly and peeked outside again. "Well.. all looks clear. Ready to go?"

She nodded and caught his eyes nervously. "Yeah, let's go."

He squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sure it'll be fine. It's Auburn, right?" He opened the door for her. Closing it behind them, he winked. "You Southerners don't have the market cornered on chivalry."

She shook her head. "I feel like we've had this conversation before."

"Many times over." He locked up and they looked out over the empty green space, past the construction zone next to their building, finally settling on the parking lot.

Huffing, she smirked and rifled through her briefcase for her cigarettes and lighter. "We're bein' silly. It's still Auburn. I mean we can see our cars, for fuck's sake." She pulled a cigarette between her lips and lit it. Blowing out a smoke ring, she sighed and threw away the now empty pack. "300 yards.. Maybe."

He nodded, nose wrinkling at the smell of her cigarette. "Though to be fair, we can see our cars because we're the last people on campus. That's still quite the jaunt."

Straightening her spine and squaring her shoulder, Linzie adjusted her bag on her shoulder and took a deep breath. "Well… I'm going home. You can stay here if you want. I'm sure there's a hammock you can sleep in somewhere."

He smiled ruefully. "Okay. Let's go."

They started out, chit-chatting lightly like they weren't the least bit on edge. About half way across the green space, they fell silent, jumping at every skittering squirrel and rustling tree. They spared each other a small tense smile and pushed on. A couple yards closer to their vehicles, there was a heavy shuffling, too loud to be one of the small animals that lived on campus.

They both looked up, eyes nervously sweeping the construction zone that sat between Lowder Hall and their offices in Shelby Hall. Something metal clattered and they jumped, eyes swiveling to scan the green construction fence.

Bobby's large hand cupped her lower back and she stepped a little too deliberately out of his reach, stubbing out her cigarette with her loafer. Bobby took it in stride and stepped a little in front of her, moving to block her from whatever was in the construction zone.

Something shuffled noisily behind the fence and Bobby swallowed dryly. "Anyone there?"

There was a gurgling moan from behind the fence and they both paled. Linzie gripped his elbow and pulled him toward the cars gently.

He grinned at her over his shoulder. "Scared?"

She glared and released him. "If you're thinking about seeing what's back there, don't."

Bobby frowned. "They could be hurt."

"Or sick." She motioned towards the car. "Leastways, let me get my gun... Just in case."

"You don't need a gun for sick people."

"You're the one that said the fever was making people go crazy," She huffed, "That they were killing people."

"That doesn't mean we can kill them."

She rolled her eyes. "It does if they attack us. Jus' want to be prepared, is all. I want to make it home tonight. In one piece preferably."

He sighed and nodded. "Fine. We'll go get your gun and then come back. Hope they don't die in the meantime."

She scoffed. "If they die that quickly, there wasn't much we could've done anyways."

He glared at her again and moved to follow her towards the cars. As they rounded the corner, making toward the entrance of the construction site, Linzie put out a hand.

"What?"

She shushed him and peered into the construction. Inside, ambling among the parked equipment and work trucks, was a man dressed in a dirty maintenance uniform.

"Isn't that Edwin Brown?"

"The head of maintenance?" Linzie considered that. "Looks that way…"

"Hey! Edwin!" Bobby rushed out from behind her, waving his arms.

Linzie cussed. "You dumbass! Jus' 'cause you know them doesn't mean they can't get sick and go nuts like the rest of the goddamn world."

Bobby glared back at her. "He could need help."

She rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath as she followed him. "How the hell did we lose the fuckin' Civil War? No basic survival skills." She shoved her hands in her pockets and fingered the small pocket knife she kept there. "Mr. Brown? Are you okay, buddy?"

As she moved closer, the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach intensified. Edwin Brown was quite possibly the cheeriest person she had ever met, all bright smiles and jovial 'War Eagle's. Hell, he'd been known to coax a smile or two out of some of the grumpiest people she had ever met, chiefly her. The person shuffling around in front of them, could not be farther from Edwin Brown.

All the same, Bobby walked further into the construction zone, showing only the slightest amount of hesitation as she trailed reluctantly on his heels. "Edwin, man… Am I glad to see you!"

Edwin looked up suddenly, as if he hadn't heard all the noise Bobby had already been making. He sniffed at the air and Linzie reached out to grab Bobby's arm. "Stop. What the hell is he doing?"

Bobby paused and rolled his eyes, trying to move forward. She kept a firm grip on his arm, forcing him to stay where he was. "What?"

She nodded at Edwin. "Something isn't right. That's not how Edwin normally acts."

Edwin turned toward them, the other side of his neck painted a gory red, flesh dangling in battered ribbons. Linzie felt the bile rise in the back of her throat as Bobby recoiled with a hoarse shout. "What the fuck!"

She staggered back a couple steps as Edwin gurgled and moved forward.

"We need to go!"

Bobby was taking out his cell phone. "We need to call an ambulance."

"Are you stupid? People can't live with their throats torn out! Something unnatural is going on and we need to leave!" She tugged on his sleeve.

"Stop it, Linzie!"

"Hell no! I'm not dying here and I'm not letting you die here because of your fuckin' bleeding heart! Let's go!"

Edwin snarled and made another move towards them. She turned to leave, eyes wide, and pulled her knife from her pocket, flicking it open. Bobby scrambled away from Edwin, cell phone pressed to his ear. "They aren't picking up!"

"Who?"

"911!"

"Oh well, you tried. Let's go!"

Bobby slid his phone back into and nodded dumbly as Edwin snarled again and staggered a few feet closer to them, still a good five yards away from them. She grabbed his arm and pulled him roughly towards the entrance. Once out, she grabbed the gate and swung it closed, dropping the latch. They stepped away from the gate as Edwin reached it, pressing mindlessly against it.

"Why doesn't he try to open it?"

Linzie shrugged. "Look at his eyes."

Bobby glanced at her. "What?"

She smirked weakly. "Wouldn't expect a Yankee like you to know, but that's what dead eyes look like. Clouded over and shit. He smells dead too."

"H-how is he still on his feet?"

"I don't know… what I do know is that we need to go. Now."

He nodded and they turned toward the cars, still a solid hundred yards away. Linzie took a deep breath. "Let's go. Quickly this time. No stopping."

They started towards the car again, Edwin rustling the gate of the construction site behind them.

About halfway across the parking lot, they spotted another shuffling figure this one a bare ten yards from her jeep. She held a finger to her lips and motioned towards the far side of her jeep. He nodded and they moved slowly toward the cars, as silent as possible.

Linzie pulled her keys from her pocket as she walked, wrapping her hand around everything on the keyring to keep them from jingling, the other hand still wrapped around her knife. Bobby, panting nervously behind her, started digging around in his pockets noisily.

She turned toward him and shushed him at the exact moment his cell phone clattered loudly from his pocket. She looked back at the ambling man now looking right at them with the same dead eyes. She cussed and the dead thing growled, staggering at them.

"Run."

"Linzie..."

"Run now!" She took off across the parking lot, her briefcase hitting her side with regular, solid thumps. She heard another clattering sound and turned to see Bobby doubling back to pick a set of keys off the ground, the man slowly closing the distance between them, one ankle bent at a painful angle.

Cussing again, she screeched. "Run, you damn fool! Leave 'em!"

The snarling man's ankle suddenly gave out, sending him sprawling. Instead of screaming out in pain like a normal person, the man kept going, half crawling, half dragging himself toward Bobby who had lost his balance and sat slumped on the pavement.

Bobby crab walked backwards, staring at the man with wide eyes as he steadily advanced.

Sparing a quick glance around to make sure there weren't anymore lumbering, dead-eyed people, Linzie cussed and sprinted towards Bobby, swinging her briefcase down on the crawling man's head with an audible crunch. Not stopping to see if that made any difference, she grabbed Bobby's arm and hauled him to his feet. "Let's go, Jackass! You're comin' with me!"

Bobby followed after her, glancing back at the now immobile man. "You killed him…"

She grunted. "Maybe.. but if I hadn't you would've ended up just like Edwin. Now run."

They made it to the car, Linzie looking briefly in the back to make sure nothing had gotten in. She unlocked it and hopped in, starting it up and closing the door just as a small group of stumbling people, most in construction hats, rounded a corner between Lowder and Shelby.

Bobby gasped and she cast a look at him. "We're gonna stop by my place and get my junk and my dog and then we're gonna stop at your place and get your stuff."

"Where are we going?"

"One step at a time." She threw the jeep into 1st gear and squealed out of the parking lot. "Can't stay here though."

I'm gone. Take what you want.

Linzie pulled into the gas station and pulled her short barrel from the center console. "I need cigarettes…" She pulled her credit card and handed it to Bobby, Cooper, her bloodhound, snuffling at her hand. "See if you can get gas."

He nodded. "Pump looks like its still on."

She stepped out of the jeep and walked around the jeep, holding a double-barrel shotgun out to him. "Keep a look out, kay?"

Wrapping a nervous hand around the butt of the gun, he closed the door behind him and peered at the gas station store. "You sure you want to go in there by yourself?"

She nodded. "It'll be okay."

He sighed and nodded.

She the hammer back on the pistol and moved slowly toward the shop, checking all the windows for movement indoors. She pulled the door open and tapped the glass with the barrel of her revolver. When she got no response, she moved into the abandoned gas station and surveyed its meager offerings. "Anyone here?"

Closing the door, she looked at the cigarette display behind the counter and breathed a sigh of relief. The previous round of looters apparently hadn't been smokers. Taking everything but the menthols, she set them on the counter and moved around the rest of the store, taking everything that looked useful.

Bagging her haul up, she opened a pack and pulled a cigarette between her lips. She smiled around the cigarette and picked up the bags. She pushed out of the gas station, worrying her cigarette happily. As the door closed behind her, she looked up, biting back a curse.

Bobby stood by the jeep, hands in the air, two men holding weapons standing in front of him. Instead of immediately dropping the bags and running for the jeep, she carried the bags toward the jeep and set them by the liftgate.

One of them, obviously the younger man's father, snarled "What the hell are you doing, lady?"

Opening the liftgate, she set the stuff in the back and went around to the driver's door.

"I said what the hell are you doing, bitch?"

She cocked an eyebrow at him and smiled. "Bobby, get in the car."

Bobby looked panicked. "They said they-"

"They ain't gonna do shit. They would've already done it. Get in the car."

Bobby cast the two a look and the nodded, running for the passenger door, moving the double barrel he should have been holding off of the chair so he could climb in. The man closest to her cussed and made for her window, stopping only when his forehead pressed against the barrel of her snub nose.

She smiled. "Bye, boys."

Her tires threw up smoke as she squealed from the parking lot. Once they were clear, she set the snub nose in the center console and made for 85, lighting her new cigarette with a pleased smile.

Bobby still looked shaken as he stared at her across the car.

Cooper whined and laid his big, slobbery head in the crook of her shoulder. She cooed at him and scratched behind his ears. "Get scared, did ya?"

Bobby nodded. "Yes, scared is a good descriptive word for what I was feeling."

Linzie snorted. "If they were gonna shoot you they would have already done it."

Bobby puffed up like a balloon, angry for anger's sake. "And how exactly did you know that? Please tell me that you didn't just gamble my life on a hunch."

She shook her head. "They waited until I went inside and you got distracted doing something to walk up on ya. They were trying to force you to give up without a fight."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "How did you know that the wouldn't shoot us as we left?"

She grinned. "Their guns were dusty. Haven't fired them or even cleaned them recently. Out of practice. Couldn't hit us if they tried... most likely."

"Most likely?" Bobby glared at her. "And how could you have seen that their guns were dirty as you walked up behind them?"

"I didn't, not until I got in the car."

"We could've been killed."

She nodded. "Coulda, but weren't. I've known guys like that all my life. They are petty criminals, B&E, drug use, that kinda shit. They are cowards fundamentally, sure ain't murderers. Coulda taken them if I needed to." She shrugged.

Bobby sighed deeply. "How can you be so…"

"So…? So what?" She dragged deeply on her cigarette and ashed it out the window, hackles rising. Here it comes… Surprised it took all night.

"Callous. So detached? The world is apparently ending and you've just been shrugging it off." He grunted. "I've known you for two years now and I thought you were-"

"Like you?" She glared at the road. "You thought I was some intellectual, some civilized trophy wife in the making? You thought you could rub the rough edges off; get me to stop smoking, stop hunting, stop cussing. That you could clean me up and present me to society as your pretty little wife. Is that what you thought? Did you think that I would thank you? That I'd blush and demure and let you take over?"

"N-no.. Linzie I never thought that…"

She spared him a hard glance as he blushed. "Oh... I know what you thought...I'm not stupid or ignorant or blind. I knew what you wanted and I was willing to ignore it as long as you didn't mention it. You were a good research partner, you were nice enough and smart. I enjoyed working with you, but I had no intention of dating you. I would've said no if you had ever asked."

He looked out the window. "Why?"

She sighed and took another deep drag on her cigarette. "Because I know that you don't know me. And I doubt that you would've stuck around if you did."

"Mind if I bum a smoke fer me and m'brother?"

Linzie looked up, one hand on her pistol, and shook her head, passing the man her cigarettes and a lighter.

The man watched her quietly with clear blue eyes and pulled a pair of cigarettes free. Lighting them both, he handed one to the older man standing next to him and handed the cigarettes and lighter back to Linzie. The older man grinned widely and winked at her.

"How ya doin' tonight, Sugartits?"

She cast him an irritated glance and set her hand on Cooper's wide head. She pulled her cigarette from her lips and blew out a steady stream of smoke. "Haven't died today, so I suppose it ain't too bad, Honey-balls."

The man exploded with laughter. "My kinda woman! Merle Dixon, this is m'brother Daryl." He stuck his meaty hand out, blue eyes twinkling.

She arched an eyebrow and grasped his hand with a firm shake then grasped Daryl's. "Linzie Lawrence."

"Whatcha doin' out here, pretty lady?"

"We're trying to get to the refugee centers in Atlanta."

"Aren't we all." Merle sucked deep on his cigarette. "Who's we?"

She smirked and motioned at Bobby, who was standing with some small town Georgia cop they had met an hour or so ago.

"Husband?" Daryl settled himself next to her in the cargo area of her jeep, puffing away at his cigarette.

She moved closer to Cooper, making room so Merle could sit too, and snorted. "Colleague."

"Where you folks from?"

"From? We drove here from Auburn. He's a Yankee, from Boston; I'm from Vernon, AL."

Merle laughed. "Auburn? Whatcha do there?"

"We're professors."

The Dixon brothers drew back as if surprised. "What?"

She smirked. "We teach. Are you surprised?"

Daryl shrugged. "What d'ya teach?"

She chuckled. "Mechanical Engineering. I teach Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, he teaches Computer Aided Engineering and Statics and Dynamics."

Merle laughed. "Sounds like a whole bunch of gibberish."

She shrugged. "Where you two from?"

"Originally? Centralhatchee."

"Really? I've got kin down there." Linzie smiled. "Do you know Jeremiah Lawrence?"

Daryl groaned and smirked. "Boomer Lawrence? Coulda guessed you were kin to that jackass Boomer Lawrence."

She nodded. "You know how he is?"

Merle shook his head. "Ain't been in Centralhatchee for a coupla months."

She nodded. "What do y'all do?"

Merle smiled cryptically. "This an' that."

She shook her head. "Yeah, okay?"

"Linzie!"

She groaned and looked up at Bobby, who was jogging lightly toward them with a mullish frown, the cop and his lady friend approaching more slowly. "Who're your new friends?"

She huffed and stared, nonplussed at him. "Bobby, these are Daryl and Merle Dixon. Dixons, this is Bobby Provenzano."

Bobby held his hand out to shake and Daryl and Merle just stared at him dully. Merle arched an eyebrow. "You a wop?"

Bobby's face colored and Linzie rolled her eyes. "Let's remain civil… I ain't got the patience today."

Merle's eyebrow drew down deep over his eyes. "What ya say?"

"I said: shut up. You start a fight with Bobby, I'll have to step in and I ain't in the mood. I may shoot first, ask questions later. Don't be a dick."

Merle stared her down and sighing she pulled her snub nose from her waistband and checked the chamber.

Grinning, Merle backed down. "No harm meant, but damn I like you, baby."

Linzie rolled her eyes again and sucked on her cigarette. "Whatever."

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