Chap 10...

That night at diner the entire group gathered to come to a decision on what to do about the strangers lurking in the darkness. After two hours if was finally decided that they would start going in teams of two on scouting trips every morning. The hope was that they could find these people. Find out what they were doing, and put a stop to their games. That was the hope any way.

That night the teams were made and they were to head out at first light. Shane and Rick, Glen and T-Dog, and Daryl and Emery. Emery had recently shown that she was good with a weapon, weather it be a gun, a bow or an ax. Even though every time she wondered around she never carried one with her.

Laying down Emery waited for Daryl to join her. It didn't take long for him to enter the room and crawl under the blanket with her. He wasn't happy about her joining in the search in the morning. He'd asked Rick to have some one else go. He'd even take Merle with him. But he asked Emery and she'd said yes. Rick told Daryl if he wanted her to stay behind, he had to tell her.

"Hey, Merle is gonna go with me in the morning." Daryl whispered to her. It took a minute for what he'd just said to register with her. When she rolled over to him she looked at him like he was crazy.

"What do you mean, Rick said I was so post to go with you." Emery half laughed thinking he was joking. Just trying to make her mad for some of that make up sex every one talks so much about.

"I think you'd be safer here."

"I won't be any safer than I am right next to you." She sat up.

"I just want you to stay here." Daryl raised his voice to her for the first time. Emery didn't know what to say. In a way his assertiveness was a turn on. But at the same time she was so pissed she wanted to slap him.

"Fine take Merle." Emery stood up and walked out the door. Daryl flopped his head back. He sighed deeply and just laid there. He figured she would come back, but she never did.

The next morning all the guys got ready and left out just as the sun started to rise. Daryl was the last one in the group to walk out the door. As he placed his foot on the bottom step he looked to his left. Emery was sitting on the porch wrapped in a blanket. They locked eyes for a moment. Emery didn't even give him a chance to say anything. She got up and left.

The three different teams walked in three different directions. They marked their paths with colored rags. They wanted to weed these people out. The game plan was to work for a few hours then return to work on the fence the rest of the day. The sooner they could finish the fence the sooner they would protect themselves from these others.

In the woods the temperature kept climbing as Merle and Daryl looked for any signs of other people. "Your woman mad at you?" Merle asked as they got deeper into the woods. Daryl didn't answer him. "I told you long time ago baby brother that woman are good for only one thing. Sleep with them and get rid of them. Keep them any longer than that and they cause nothing but trouble." Merle spoke as if his words held some kind of wisdom. Daryl knew better. He knew when his brother talked about women everything he said was bullshit. "Now one like yours, she'll cause you a lot of trouble if you don't break her in fast. Show her who's boss. Like a dog, rub her nose in shit if you have to, to get the point across."

Daryl stopped to turn to his brother. Merle smiled. He was getting under Daryl's skin and he loved it. "She's got a lot of spirit. You need to put a stop to that shit." Merle never did know when to quit.

"Shut up Merle." Daryl had enough trouble he didn't need Merle adding his two cents. They'd reached their midday point and started back.

"Then again if you know how to stick it in her right she'll melt in your hands. Now if you need some help in that department you just let me know. I'll stick it to her. If she like's the little Dixon she'll love the big Dixon."

"You bess shut the hell up." Daryl turned and warned his brother.

"Hey now I'm just trying to help you."

"Well I don't need your help." Daryl walked ahead of his brother. He couldn't get out of the woods fast enough.

When they got back to the main building Daryl went directly to the room he was sharing with Emery. She wasn't there. That was no big surprise to him. When he looked around and couldn't find her he went to Rick to ask if he knew where she was. Rick pointed to one of the apple trees that was about a hundred feet behind the building. Emery had climbed to the largest limb and was reading. Daryl wasn't sure what to say to her so he just went to work on the fence.

Emery noticed that Daryl was back. She just wasn't ready to talk to him yet. She'd always been stubborn. So she just stayed in her tree reading. Lost in her book she payed very little attention to the world around her. 'Thud' she herd the sound of something hitting the ground. She looked and didn't see any one so she just assumed that it was an apple falling.

'THUD' she herd it again and it was louder this time. Emery got up so she could move. Finally able to see behind her she found the source of the sound. Below her were three men gathering apples. Frantic she looked around. There was no one. Everyone was in side or working on the fence. She ran through her options in her head. One she could run to the building in hopes of reaching it before these guys were able to catch her. Two she could run toward Daryl and Rick in hopes that again she could out run these guys.

She made her choice she was gonna run toward Rick and Daryl. Now she just had to figure out a way to get out of the tree and onto her feet quickly. If she climbed to a lower branch they would surly hear her. But if she jumped from where she was she may twist an ankle. "Shit" Emery said to herself. She had to jump and hope to hell that she would make it.

"One...two...three" Emery jumped. The force of the fall caused her to land and roll. The two men were startled. As quickly as she'd fallen Emery was back on her feet and running. "DARYL! RICK!" She screamed. Rick and Daryl both looked up from what they were doing. Emery was running towards them waving her hands like she was a lunatic. They both took off running.

Meeting her half was Emery gabbed a hold of Daryl. "There were two men picking apples." Emery gasped for air as she explained what she had seen.

"Where did they go?" Rick asked her looking towards the trees.

"I don't know, I ran and didn't look back."

Rick, Daryl and Shane followed some tracks into the woods until it became to dark to continue. That night Rick had a new plan to find these people. They knew what direction these people were coming from. That gave them their first clue to work with. "We'll go out again at first light. Three teams of two. Shane and Andrea, Daryl and Emery, and I'll take Glen with me. Merle and T-Dog I need you to stay here and keep an eye on things." Rick had a renewed hope that the following morning would be the morning they put an end to all the strange shit. "While were gone tomorrow everybody should stay inside. These people are getting braver everyday. It's hard to tell what they'll do next."

After the meeting Emery quickly went to bed. Daryl watched her leave the room. He just wasn't sure weather to follow her or not. They still hadn't really spoken. He knew if he didn't man up and go to her he would never know. He got up and went to the room. Shutting the door quietly behind him he whispered to her "Emery?"