Wow, once again, thank you all for the amazing reviews and feedback! I really appreciate all of it. I'm sorry that this chapter took a little longer than normal to get out, I've been so busy with college lately. But, I hope this chapter makes up for it—especially the ending ;). As always, here are my responses to all of your reviews:
the-autumn-leaves: Thanks! I'm glad you like it so much so far!
eXsTorDiNaRiLy InViSiBlE: Haha, thank you. I'm really excited to start getting into the second season-there will be a lot that goes on. Thanks for the review! (:
Jess: Aw, I'm glad you don't think she's a Mary-Sue! I'm always worried that my characters will come off like that—I really wanted Emma to come off as someone who was just normal, you know? Thanks for the review!
SuzuranCrow23: Haha, yep, Emma's finally gotten to Daryl so badly that she even got him to apologize to her ;) Thanks for the review!
Dalonega Noquisi: It's about time that someone finally did! Haha, thanks for the review! (:
Alina Maxwell: Thank you for the review!
WhisperInTheRain: Aw, thanks! (:
CeruleanKitten: Wow, thank you so much! I really appreciate that you love Daryl so much, I've been trying to keep his as in-character as possible. He's definitely fun to write as, that's for sure! Thanks, again, for the review!
Hollisterchick: Aw, thank you! I definitely know what you mean about boring OCs—I've been trying to keep Emma interesting, but not to the point where she's unrealistic, you know? Thank you so much for the lovely review, I really appreciate it! (:
Even as we neared the streets of Atlanta, my eyes continued to glance back out the back window of Daryl's truck—I hadn't caught a glimpse of Jim in miles, and knew it was folly to assume that I had any chance of doing so. Nonetheless, my stomach was still in knots from what had just transpired in front of my eyes.
Throughout our trip, it had been clear that Jim was fading fast into darkness, and there was nothing we could do about it. If anything, the bumpy road and Dale's RV was just prolonging Jim's pain, to the point where he was shrieking in agony. After being forced to pull over, Jim had made his request known to everyone—leave him behind, and let him die in peace. Despite some of our discomfort from the idea of just leaving one of our own on the side of the road, Rick and Shane agreed to Jim's request, and rested him against a lone tree, blanketing the dying man in cool shade.
It was there that we had left him, soaking in the warm air, finally satisfied with our decision. It had been difficult, to say the least, to watch as Daryl joined the rest of our caravan and left Jim alone. But we all did what we had to do in these gloomy times, despite how truly wrong it felt inside.
The rest of our drive to the CDC was spent in silence. As we passed by quaint, deserted white houses and sprawling, pale green fields, I found myself trying to decipher the tension between us. It had lingered all around us ever since the night before, when his arms had encircled me for the first time. Despite his apology from about an hour before, there was still unrest filling that truck, and I could nothing to fight it. I wasn't sure if I had maybe done something wrong to make him feel uncomfortable, or even of what kind of tension lay between us. All I knew was that it was thick enough to slice through and I just had no idea what to make of it, not yet.
Throughout all the time I had spent in Atlanta, I had never seen the CDC building. It was half-moon shaped and white, with sheets of glass wrapping around three quarters of the entire structure. The waning sun reflected off the glass, the only light that could be seen for miles and miles. Decaying corpses littered the ground surrounding the building, flies noisily feasting upon their flesh. There was no movement, except for our own.
Daryl, rifle and crossbow in hand, and I exchanged glances as we all exited our vehicles and slowly approached the CDC. The stench of rotting flesh flooded my senses, nearly making me gag. Shane kept pushing all of us forward, hissing that we keep moving and stay quiet, or else attract a swarm of Walkers. I kept close to Daryl, not wanting to stray too far away from him—in this madness, he was the only one who could truly make me feel safe.
Even from a distance, my eyes caught sight of the doors—or, well, what should have been the doors. They had dark silver gates pulled down over them, blocking anyone who dared to try and enter the sealed building. My heart fell to my feet—there was no way to get in, and no possible way to even figure out if the building was still inhabited or not.
Shane and Rick tried their hardest to pull open those gates, but it was futile—they weren't budging. Shane even banged his fist sharply on the metal, causing the sound to loudly reverberate all around us. "There's no one here," said T-Dog finally, stating the painfully obvious.
"Then why are these shutters down?" demanded Rick, his voice betraying his emotions—it was filled with concern, as all of ours probably were.
"Walkers!" Daryl suddenly shouted, making all of us turn hastily—indeed, one was lazily approaching us, with a few partners following closely behind him. Daryl took a few steps forward and shot an arrow right into the Walker's forehead, killing him instantly. He swiftly rounded on Rick, snarling furiously, "This was the wrong damn call!"
Shane loyally shoved Daryl back, growling for him to shut his mouth before turning back to his best friend. "Rick, this is a dead end," he told him bluntly. "Do you hear me?"
Rick didn't move though—Lori took her turn to try and force him to leave, saying, "We can't be this close to the city after dark."
When her husband still didn't respond, Shane added, "Fort Benning, Rick—it's still an option."
"On what?" snapped Andrea. "No food, no fuel. It's a hundred miles."
Something inside of me broke, and I nearly shouted at all of them, "Forget Fort Benning, we need to figure out what the hell we're going to do tonight, right now!"
"We'll think of something," Rick tried to reassure everyone, but it wasn't working. Carl was nearly sobbing in Lori's arms, and both Carol and Sophia looked as if they were about to collapse.
Shane suddenly started ushering us back to our caravan, but I noticed how Rick held back, staring up at a spot right above the gates. "Wait!" he abruptly shouted, making all of us freeze. "The camera just moved. It moved." His voice grew as my brother-in-law slowly approached the gates, his eyes unblinking as he stared up at the camera in question. Shane tried to shove him away, but he resisted, yelling and banging on the thin metal, "I know you're in there! I know you can hear me! Please, we're desperate—we have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left, nowhere else to go—"
Lori ran up to him, using all of her strength to try and drag him away from the doors. Shane quickly came to her aid, eventually forcefully shoving Rick back into our group. Just as Rick took in a breath to scream some more, the gates slammed open, revealing a bright light streaming through the fragile, glass doors, making all of us freeze.
After a moment of standing motionless, stunned at the sight of the open door, our group tentatively rushed in through the dimming light, eventually emerging into the sleek lobby of the CDC. Everything was either metal or pale, emulating a scientific atmosphere that was open to many discoveries. The lobby was empty though, and Rick's voice echoed off the bare walls as he called out for someone, anyone to answer.
I kept close to Daryl, who was pointing his shotgun at the shadows, waiting with bated breath for any sign of movement. Shane's voice vaguely reached my ears, ordering us to close the doors behind us. Just as Carol reached back to shut them, the distinctive sound of a gun being cocked erupted throughout the lobby, causing all of us to turn towards it, petrified from what we would find.
My eyes fell upon a single man dressed in casual clothes, a machine gun clenched tightly in his hands. His blonde hair was soaked with sweat, his skin pale, but his eyes remained steely and resolute as he shouted, "Anyone infected?"
"One of our group was," replied Rick, his voice trembling slightly. "He didn't make it."
The stranger slowly approached us, his gun never relaxing in his hands as he demanded, "Why are you here? What do you want?"
"A chance," said Rick simply.
"That's asking an awful lot these days," responded the man, coming even closer.
"I know," he stated.
The stranger looked around at all of our faces, clearly weighing the pros and cons of his upcoming decision. Finally, as we all waited with bated breath, he said, "You all submit to a blood test—that's the price of admission."
"We can do that," said Rick immediately, glancing around at all of us, as if waiting for some fool to refuse his request. Fortunately, no one did.
The man finally dropped his gun to his side and snapped, "If you've got stuff to bring inside, you go get it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."
We didn't need to be told twice—some of us ran back out to the vehicles, weapons in hand in case of any trouble that could come afoot and retrieved some provisions that we deemed necessary. As soon as the last person re-entered the building, the man spoke quietly to a keypad on the wall; the gates suddenly retook their stance in front of the main doors, completely locking us in once more.
After he introduced himself—"Dr. Edwin Jenner," the not-so-stranger had said curtly without shaking Rick's outstretched hand—we were all led to an elevator, which took our group down to the underground of the CDC. The walls were white and sterile, reminding me of the many hospital rooms I had been a party of. The thin air was cold—it was a relief after suffering through so many hot, humid days out in the forest. Our footsteps echoed with each stride, a constant memory of the fact that we were, for the moment, alone with this one man.
Jenner eventually brought us to a huge, dark room that held far too many shadows for me to be comfortable with. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room," ordered Jenner as we all entered. The fluorescent lights suddenly exploded in the room, destroying the shadows and revealing the round formation of computers and empty desks. We were standing upon a sloping platform that led to this circle of desks; underneath was a pathway that led to a destination that I could not so easily find.
"Welcome to Zone 5," Jenner said as we followed him down the desks. I glanced around the room, and felt my heart sink as I realized that we were the only ones here. There was no movement, no work being completed. There was only Jenner, who stood before us.
"Where is everyone?" asked Rick finally, a question that was weighing down upon all of us. "The other doctors, the staff."
"I'm it," replied Jenner, appearing unfazed by this revelation. "It's just me here."
Lori, who stood only a couple steps away from me, asked, "What about the person you were speaking with before?"
A rather sad smile appeared on Jenner's face as his voice echoed around the room as he yelled, "Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them…welcome."
A computerized voice suddenly came from all around us, replying, "Hello guests. Welcome."
"I'm all that's left," said Jenner. "I'm sorry." With that, he turned back to his computer, leaving all of us to absorb this harrowing discovery—there was nothing left here in the CDC, nothing that could save us from this horrific nightmare just yet.
After Jenner took our blood samples—there were fortunately no unexpected surprises from any of us—he brought us to the cafeteria and managed to scavenge together some food for us to feast upon. It wasn't anything spectacular—just some random types of pasta and canned spaghetti sauce and, most importantly, several large bottles of red wine. It was enough to make any solemn face transform into a beaming smile, including my own.
Soon we were all stuffed with heavy food and giddy from smooth alcohol, silly and giggling at the dumbest of stories. Carl even tried a glass of wine, which resulted in a scrunched up face in disgust and laughs from all of us. Daryl even joined in, joking with Glenn that he wanted to see how red his face could get as he drank.
As I had reached to once again fill my wine glass with some of the delicious liquid, I felt Daryl smirking slightly down at me. "What?" I had asked, laughing at his strange expression.
"You drink wine so prissily," he snickered, motioning to my grip of the wine glass and, in the process, stole the bottle right out from under my nose.
My eyebrows rose in response; I suppose that, after taking so many wine tastings throughout culinary school, my drinking stance had perfected itself over the year. No one had ever commented on it so bluntly before though. A playful smile appearing on my lips now, I replied, "Excuse me for being the only sophisticated wine drinker present." At the couple outbursts of protest from my companions—"You're such a snob, Emma," joked Lori—and the laughter from Daryl, I simply rolled my eyes and grabbed the bottle from him, taking a long swig from it. "Is that better for you?" I asked him coolly, the grin still bright on my face.
Daryl just laughed once more, snatching the bottle from me and unabashedly drinking right after me. He grinned at my wrinkled nose, and I felt my own smile growing at the sight of his happy face. My heartbeat began to race, forcing my eyes away from his before he could catch my flushing cheeks. It was a rush I was still trying to get used to, an unfamiliar sensation that made my toes tingle and my skin warm at the slightest of prodding.
"So when are you going to tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" asked Shane, his sharp voice shattering the fragile bubble of cheer that had been growing around us. "Where are all the doctors that are supposed to be figuring out what happened?"
"We're celebrating, Shane," interrupted Rick, a stern expression growing on his face. "We don't need to do this now."
"Well, wait a second," he replied, his eyes glancing at Rick briefly before returning to Jenner, "this is why we're here, right? This was your move to find all the answers and, instead, we found him." A sarcastic laugh escaped Shane, causing a frown to come to my face. His eyes were slightly bloodshot from the wine—it clearly wasn't affecting him like it had been changing the rest of us. "We found one man—why?"
Jenner hesitated, clearly weighing his words carefully before he began, "Well, when things started going bad, a lot of people just started leaving to be with their families. And, when things got worse and the military got overrun, the rest bolted."
"Every last one?" asked Shane snidely.
"No," replied Jenner quietly. "Many couldn't face walking out the door. They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. It was a bad time."
Andrea's eyes never left Jenner's face as she said, "You didn't leave. Why?"
"I just kept on hoping to do some good," said Jenner, and his voice slowly faded as his eyes turned away from all of us.
A tense silence filled the room, one that made my skin crawl with discomfort. Glenn finally broke it by voicing my own thoughts, mumbling aloud to Shane, "Dude, you are such a buzz-kill."
My eyes never left the ceiling above me as I lay on top of the uncomfortable couch. A thin blanket had been given to cover my limbs, but I had kicked it away only moments before. I was determined to absorb as much as this air conditioning as possible—who knew how long I would be able to enjoy it.
Carol's soft snores mixed with Sophia's quiet breathing in the silent room. I glanced over at the slumbering pair, curled around one another so closely that it was difficult to decipher whose limb belonged to whom. They had been my assigned roommates, since there were only so many rooms for all of us to share. It was a perfectly fine decision, really—they were quiet sleepers, and didn't bother me with endless small talk before bed. They would just occasionally whisper to each other before they both dozed off into a deep slumber.
As for myself though, I could not bring myself to sleep. Jenner's words kept running through my mind, of how people had given up so easily on life and taken the simple way out. The idea was ridiculous to me; how could one just quit on their loved ones and the human beings surrounding them, just because life had thrown some challenges at them. Wasn't that all apart of having a life? You just took one challenge at a time, doing your best to beat them every time. If you didn't, you learned from your mistakes and moved on. But it seemed that not everyone perceived this lesson so easily.
I shifted on my make-shift bed, my thoughts roaming towards the man probably sleeping across the hall from our room. I had accidentally run into Daryl just after I left the shower, my damp, tangled hair already soaking through my dark t-shirt. My words seemed to tumble from my lips in snarled batches, nearly spoiling my attempt to simply tell him good night. Finally, I had managed to wish him sweet dreams before stumbling into the bedroom, my cheeks flaming and my heart pounding in my chest. I had never felt this way with anyone, especially not with someone like Daryl. It was as if I was back in high school and being giddy over some boy. It was so unfamiliar and strange, I was sure I was close to losing my mind.
In the past, I had been rather decent with relationships and feelings for the opposite sex. There had been an occasional boyfriend, but it normally ended with us just remaining friends, or a mutual separation. With all of them, though, there hadn't been that spark that so many people dreamed of. There was no chemistry or passion to any of my relationships. But, with Daryl, even when I was frustrated with him, my heart raced rapidly and my entire being was out of my control. There was this longing inside of me that I could not push away any longer and try to ignore. It was there, lingering in my heart as it whispered in my ear that, while Daryl wasn't what I had dreamed of when I was a little girl, no one had ever risked his life for my own so many times. Nobody had ever made me feel this way before.
Frustrated with this new revelation, I pushed my body up off the sofa and silently left the room. I needed some of that fluorescent light in the corridor to wake my body up, to stop my mind from continuing to dawdle on Daryl Dixon. But now, as I stood with my arms crossed over my chest near Daryl's door, a desire broke out inside of me to at least try knocking on the door, to see if he was awake.
Allowing my instincts to take over, I shyly approached the door and softly rapped my fist against the wood three times. I had been so sure that he would never answer, that he was deep in pleasant sleep, that I was honestly startled when the door was thrust open, revealing the man who had been plaguing my mind for many nights now.
Daryl's dark hair was still damp from the shower, the pearls of water clinging to the occasional strand. It was messy, as if he had been shifted on a pillow many times, but his eyes were wide awake. Clearly I was not the only one who had found difficultly in falling asleep. "You alright?" he asked me, somewhat startled that I was still awake at this hour.
Taking a deep breath, I untangled my tongue and replied, "I'm not sure." Daryl frowned down at me, but said nothing, watching as my fingers knotted together anxiously. "I, uh, can't sleep," I finally finished, cringing at the lame tone of my voice.
Daryl still said nothing. I wanted to shake him, to force him to reply to me, to find something to say. Eventually finding the courage to meet his eyes, I was startled by the slight spark of amusement held in his eyes. And, in those usually guarded, dark blue eyes, I found other emotions that I had not been privy to before—intense feelings that I was sure were reflected in my own pale green eyes.
My nerves eventually began to settle at this discovery, and I felt my body nearing his. My hands found his face, his unshaved skin tickling my fingertips. Daryl didn't even seem surprised by my movements, as if he had been expecting them all along. Standing on my toes, I finally allowed my instincts to fully take over my body: my lips met his, movement sparking between us. His hands tangled in my red hair, shoving my flesh against his. My hands moved from his face to his neck, dragging him even closer.
Oh, there was that spark that I had always been dreaming of. I had only found it in the most unexpected, unintended place imaginable—within Daryl Dixon's arms.
Okay, so you guys got a little something extra in this chapter ;) I hope you all enjoyed the developments in Daryl and Emma's relationship, and that this was all worth the wait! Thank you again for reading, and don't forget to review! Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!