Author's Note/Disclaimer: I am so, so sorry this took so long! I have written up a chapter for a new story and am working on a fourth one, as well as the two I already have going, so I've been in that weird spot between lots of stuff to write and not enough time or ideas to actually write them. However I've discovered reading other fan fiction makes me a little more likely to feel guilty for not working on mine! So, how is everyone else feeling after that season finale? Honestly, I feel a little jipped. Negan was fantastic, as was to be expected from Jeffrey Dean Morgan, but they spent so much of this season building up to him I'm very annoyed we only got like ten minutes of him, and a ton more build-up. Plus now I have to imagine who got killed for months, because I REFUSE to look at any of the spoiler articles popping up. Not to mention Carol's roundabouts are giving me whiplash. But anywho, here's a thank you to An Amber Pen for reviewing my last chapter (and shootouts to sweet kitty and masquerade04, you guys didn't review but you were nice enough to point out when I mixed up my chapters), as well as to everyone who has liked/favorited my story since then. An on we go!
Chapter Fourteen
Emma nearly jumped out of her skin, but fear gave way to an exasperated groan as steam started billowing up from under the hood of the RV. "Great." She muttered. "Because that's just what I needed in my day."
All of the cars pulled over as Dale popped the hood of the RV. "Well, I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times, dead in the water."
Emma waved her hand in front of her face to blow away some of the steam as she peered into the engine. It all looked like a tangled mess of wires and parts to her, who knew what was wrong with it.
"And now we're stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-" Dale broke off as he looked around at all the broken-down cars. Emma had to smirk a bit. "Okay, that was dumb."
"If you can't find a radiator hose here…" Shane said, smirking as well.
"There's a whole bunch of stuff we could find," Daryl pointed out, already digging through a car.
Emma wandered over to a mini-van whose tires looked half flat. "It looks like most of these people left in a hurry." She said, glancing in an open window. "They could have left food, water, medicine."
"And we can siphon more fuel from these cars," T-Dog threw in. Emma gestured him over, since her car's fuel gauge was relatively full. Already Emma was digging out some Tylenol from the glove compartment.
"This is a graveyard." Lori said, causing everyone to stop. "I don't know how I feel about this."
Emma suck her head back inside the car and pulled out a box of Ritz crackers, still 3/4 of the way full. She tossed it to Carl before turning to Lori. "It's food." She said simply. "Food and water and gas. We can't exactly afford to be picky anymore."
This got everyone spreading out to the cars agin. Lori looked a little affronted, but Carl was happily handing a sleeve of crackers to Sophia, so Emma turned back.
In the second car she found a knapsack, similar to the one she already had, and she shoved the Tylenol in before searching the rest of the car. She managed to find a couple more boxes of crackers, a few sleeves of oatmeal and some batteries. 'I hope someone is finding something a little more substantial," She thought dryly, staring at the boxes before moving on.
She did find a few Gatorade bottles, and in one car she found a nearly full box of ammunition and a medical kit. But her fifth car she found her first body.
There was a bloody wound on its head, so Emma knew it wasn't a Walker. But the way it was slumped against the seat…she could almost have mistaken it for a sleeping person. Maybe there'd been an accident, maybe it had been suicide. Had there been a family? She saw a 'Baby on Board' sticker in the window and swallowed hard. Where was the baby?
She heard Carl and Sophia coming up behind her, so she quickly rummaged. There wasn't really anything, useful, but she did find a copy of Harry Potter in the back seat.
"Hey guys," Emma said, blocking their path to the car. "Not much in there, but here's something to do the rest of the ride." Both kids thanked her and scampered off to the next car.
"Hey Emma!" Glenn called from a couple cars behind. "Can you give me a hand?"
Emma glanced up and saw he was digging around in an engine. "Trust me, you don't want me in there. I'll probably break something." She warned.
"Yeah, I can attest to that." Shane joked from behind Glenn as he tried to bust open the back of another truck. Emma just rolled her eyes.
She heard the sound of a door rolling up before a low whistle. "Hey guys, were we short on water?"
Emma whirled around to see the truck was full of water cases. "Finally, something goes right!" She said, grinning, as Shane popped one open. "Hey, hey! Save that!" She protested, though Glenn just kept laughing.
"Aw, don't be such a worrywart Emma!" She said, still grinning. "It's like being baptized!"
Emma rolled her eyes. "Boys." She muttered. She turned back towards the RV, rummaging through her bag. There was a decent pile, maybe enough to feed everyone-
A hand gripped her arm tightly and she jumped. Rick was dragging her along, eyes wild. "Lori! Down!" He called, half in a whisper. "Everyone under the cars!" She yanked Emma down next to him and then crawled under the nearest car.
"What is it?!" Emma hissed as Rick rolled onto his back. Carl was under the car next to them, Sophia on his other side, their mothers slightly behind them. Rick put a finger to his lips and gestured behind them. Emma tilted her head up and gasped.
A hoard of Walkers, which she could only see from about the knee down, was shuffling their way, moaning and hissing, so packed in amongst the cars that they were stumbling into each other as they moved down the highway. Emma's heart started pounding. She put a hand to her mouth, trying to cover her now heighten breathing, and Rick squeezed her shoulder. His finger was still to his lips, silently telling her to stay calm. Emma nodded and glanced towards the kids. Sophia looked scared out of her wits, and her mother had both hands over her mouth to keep from crying out.
The herd kept moving, stumbling by the cars the group were huddled under. If any one of the Walkers had been crawling or fell over, they would be able to clearly see the meals that were quivering just inches away from them. It was probably only a few minutes, but it felt like hours. Emma closed her eyes, silently praying (to who, she didn't know) that this would all be over soon.
At last the scuffles started to fade and she untended, opening her eyes and letting out a shaky breath.
Too soon.
There was a squeal from her left from her left as two stragglers caught sight of Sophia. Emma and Rick both rolled out from under their car as Sophia scooted away from the Walkers, sliding down a hill off of the highway and running into the woods. The two adults took off, Emma pulling out her handgun as she leapt the guardrail.
As soon as her feet hit the uneven, rocky ground, Emma felt the usual ache travel up her legs. She gritted her teeth and pushed after Rick; it was no time to be limping. Two Walkers were chasing Sophia and who knew how many more there were.
Even half hurting, she and Rick were still faster than Walkers, so they managed to catch up with Sophia, who ran straight to Emma and tried to grab her handgun. "Shoot them, shoot them!"
Rick grabbed her by the shoudlers. "Sophia, we can't! Those Walkers on the road might hear, then there wouldn't be two, there would be hundreds!" He grabbed her up in his arms so he could carry her, before glancing back at Emma. "Are you okay? Cover me?"
Emma nodded, following after him as he ran further into the woods. She glanced behind her once or twice to see the grey shapes behind them moving faster than she would have thought. Since when did these bastards know how to run?!
The little group reached a creek and Emma jumped down so she could take Sophia from Rick, only to stumble on a rock and swear. Rick set Sophia down next to her. "Hey, you okay?"
"I'm good," She said as he hopped down next to the two of them. He raised his eyebrows at her, probably remembering the last time she'd said that. "I am!" She insisted, but he saw that it took her longer to get to the other side of the creek.
Rick carried Sophia to a small hole on the edge of the creek. "Rick!" Emma hissed, training her gun on the woods.
"Sophia, you have to do exactly as I say," Rick said in a hushed whisper. "Hide in there, squeeze in tight, Emma and I will draw them away from you."
"Don't leave me!" Sophia pleaded.
"Listen, listen," Rick said, waving his hand at Emma who was making furious noises at him. "They don't get winded, we do, and Emma's hurting again. We can only take then one on one. This is the best way for us all to survive, okay?"
Emma hissed down at him as Sophia burrowed into the hole. "I can deal with this Rick!"
"Would you stop!" Rick hissed back. "You're hurting and need help, I'm helping us all here!"
Honestly she would have kept arguing, but when she glanced back up, she could see the Walkers starting to turn their way.
"Sophia, if we don't make it back, run to the highway." Rick said hurriedly. "Straight the way we came. Keep the sun on your left shoulder." He backed away and started kicking up the water, calling to the Walkers. "Emma, start going!" He yelled. "Go, go!"
Emma hesitated before reaching down to pull Rick up first. "You're supposed to help me, remember?" She said, half-joking, half-still-frustrated. They both took off, careful to not go fast enough that the Walkers decided to go back.
A couple yards from where they'd left Sophia, Rick grabbed Emma's arm to stop her. "We can take them now." He said, but really he'd noticed how she'd stumbled and was limping even more. He grabbed a rock and handed it to her, gesturing to a tree. "Get back there, we'll get them."
Emma narrowed his eyes but did hide behind the tree. It was nerve-wracking— the moans getting closer, the scuffling leaves. Eventually the Walkers reached the little clearing and Emma wasn't going to wait anymore. She leapt out from behind her tree and slammed into the Walker nearest her. It immediately went sprawling — she wasn't very heavy, but these things were damn unstable.
She could hear Rick taking car of the other Walker behind her, but she just kept bringing the rock down on her Walker's head. The rock was big enough that it only took a few hits before it split like a ripe watermelon. She was careful to close her eyes at the last moment so that no blond or goop got in her eyes. They couldn't have another infection, not now.
When Rick finished with his Walker, they both stood up and glanced around. The highway wasn't that far off, but they had to back track to find Sophia. As they walked back, the only sound was the crunching leaves and far off sounds of birds. It was almost as if she was out hunting again, as if the world was normal.
"We didn't have to split up." Emma said abruptly.
Rick looked over at her. "Excuse me?"
"I could have handled that Walker and taken care of Sophia." She insisted. "Two of us versus two of them, we didn't have to leave her alone."
"You were hurting." Rick said, narrowing his eyes. "And don't you say you weren't, I saw you limping. You couldn't take on a Walker and protect Sophia like that!"
"You don't know that!"
"But I was not going to risk it!" Rick hissed, pulling Emma to a stop. "You've given me some good advice Emma, so let me return the favor." Both adults faced each other, glaring with their arms folded.
"You have what you have." Rick said, not harsh, but forceful. "You don't have to be happy about it, but you need to recognize it, and you need to understand that the world is not the same as what it used to be! You can't do what you used to do."
Emma puffed herself up. "So what you're saying is I'm a liability." She snapped.
Rick's eyes bore into hers, and Emma couldn't help but notice how blue they were. She'd always thought that someone needed contacts to have eyes that vibrant, like the guy who played Jim Kirk in the new Star Trek movie.
"You will never hear me say that." Rick said in a low, gravely voice. "You can't think that after all you've done for us. You know I trust you with my family. I just want you to understand yourself, because I don't want anything to happen to you because you won't admit your limitations to yourself."
The intensity in his voice threw Emma off. She didn't understand what he wanted — he wanted to take care of her, it sometimes seemed, but he also knew she could take care of herself. She was so used to one extreme or the other — someone either wanted her dead or to keep her from exerting herself, not trust her to help.
She averted her eyes back to the creek. "Sophia's not here." She said abruptly. "She must have started back towards the highway." She turned on her heel and started back, taking care not to catch Rick's eye again. After a moment she heard his footsteps following her, but neither of them spoke again.
The dull ache was still in the soles of her feet though, and she didn't slow down. She couldn't slow down. She couldn't let herself be weak.
TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD
By the time they reached the highway, the sun was starting to creep its way through the second half of the sky. They would need to find shelter for the night soon.
As Emma and Rick stepped out of the forest, the group all straightened to attention. Rick went to Lori and Carl, Emma followed slowly. She started to make her way to the car, wanting to take her medication before her feet got any worse, when she was stopped by Carol. The woman looked frantic. "Where is Sophia?! Why isn't she with you?!"
Emma's eyes widened. "She's not back?"
"No one's been by here," Glenn said as Carol moaned and leaned against the guardrail.
Emma swore. "We had her hide so we could draw the Walkers off her, she wasn't there when we got back, we had told her how to get back here so we assumed she was already here…"
"You just left my baby alone?" Carol sobbed. "There were two of you, why didn't you stay with her?!"
"Alright everyone, let's calm down." Shane said, putting himself between the two women. "It hasn't been that long, we'll go out and find her before it gets dark."
Emma nodded as Rick, Daryl andGlenn all gathered up their weapons and hopped the guardrail. As Emma followed them, she and Rick locked eyes. His were filled with guilt, because it had been his idea to split up.
Hers were too, because she hadn't argued, and now that little girl was out there, alone, lost, and and hunted.