"No!"
Emma was in her cell putting on some proper jeans and boots for the run. Of course she knew August was going to object but he had been telling her over and over again for the last 10 minutes how she was staying right there.
"August-"
"No!"
"I'm going. You can disagree all you want but I am going."
"Like hell. Emma you are not going out there." August looked down at her as she sat in the chair putting on her boots.
"And why not?!" Emma huffed. "Give me one good reason why I can't go."
"You could get hurt Emma. You have Henry here, he can't lose you." August reasoned.
"I could get hurt every where! Anytime of the day! Henry is safe here, and he will not lose me August." Emma sighed. "All those months ago before we were saved, you were hellbent on sending us away while you laid on the ground about to die. You had so much faith in me then, why not now?"
"Emma I was going to die! I had no other choice but to think that. You had no other choice but to run. But there are choices here! We have choices here. There are other people here that can go out and do this."
"Half the people here are old and the other half are kids or barley adults who have never even shot a gun a day in their life. There are people here who haven't even left the prison since they got here almost a year ago! I can go!"
"Emma I will go and get whatever you need just stay here!" August pleaded.
"Your leg is better but you still have pains everyday, August. You can't even run without wincing or worrying about pulling your muscle yet, you are still recovering."
"Emma-"
"August listen to me." Emma stood up. "I am not going to die the second I walk out of those gates ok? You kept us alive before we got here and Dad did too before he died. I am not afraid of what's out there. You and dad and mom have taught me what I need to know. I know how to survive and keep myself alive. I will be safe. Ok?"
August looked at her, his jaw tight like he still wasn't convinced.
"It should take no more than two hours and then we will be back." Emma touched the side of his face.
August still didn't say anything, Emma sighed and looked over at Henry on the bed flipping through his book. Emma got down on her knees and kissed his cheek getting his attention.
"Mama will be back ok, baby." Emma smiled at him, kissing the tip of his nose.
"Get Gina, Mama?" Henry asked and brought his little hands up to cup her face.
"This will help us get Gina, yes." Emma nodded her head and puffed up her cheeks making a funny face, getting the little toddler to giggle. "This is gonna help bring her home."
Henry puckered up his lips and leaned forward and quickly pecked her lips. Emma smiled and showered his face with kisses, picking him up from the bed and standing up straight. August was behind them and gave her a sad smile before he walked forward and wrapped his arms around them. Hugging them close and putting his chin down on top of her head, he closed his eyes.
"You better come back, Duck." August whispered. "In one piece."
Emma smiled and laid her head on his shoulder, it had been a while since they hugged like this.
"I love you both, I will always come back. Don't think the worst of this Aug, just two hours and then I'm back."
"Are you sure there isn't enough?" Ruby sighed.
"I counted twice, we should check out some stores on the way there see if we can find some more bullets for the rifles." Mulan shrugged.
"We won't take the rifles then. Save those for a more dire situation. We're just going to the hardware store and looking around for cars and buses." Ruby told them all.
"I'm still bringing mine." Jefferson shook his head.
"Grab some knifes, handguns, and ammo. Maybe some explosives?" Ruby questioned as they looked at their weapon choices.
While they picked, Emma walked out in the courtyard, dressed in a blue leather jacket, two thick shirts, some black jeans, and her boots. Her machete was strapped to her thigh and her handgun was at her hip. Mulan looked over to her and saw her making her way over to the trucks.
"Ummmm what are you doing?" Mulan questioned, strapping her sword to her back.
"I'm coming with you. Ruby didn't tell you?" Emma grinned. "Ooh nice sword."
"She what?!"
"Mulan-"
"Regina is going to kill you. She can't come with us." Mulan scoffed.
"Regina isn't here to make these decisions now is she?" Ruby huffed. "Emma can come, just relax."
"Objecting me going, is only putting bad energy into the air. There's been enough of that already. I'm coming with you guys. So you better suck it up." Emma walked away and got into the back seat of Regina's truck.
Mulan sighed and got in the passenger seat as Ruby got into the driver's seat. Kristoff, Jefferson and Graham climbed into the other truck while Felix got the gates open. Kristoff pulled off first and Ruby followed after, and away they went.
The super center was over a 20 minute drive North of the prison, and the the hardware store was just a little ways East down the road from it. As they drove, Emma watched the trees and snow zoom by, they only passed a few biters on the road. Passing by the super center, they all looked out the window to see the parking lot crawling with biters covered in some snow that was still around.
"I wonder how long that alarm went off after we got out." Mulan mumbled.
Ruby just sighed and continued to follow the guys until they pulled up in front of a line of stores. They passed a broken down bus and down the line they could see a bright yellow sign that read Lehman's. Emma opened the back door and they all climbed out of the trucks.
"What do you need from this store again?" Mulan questioned.
"An oil press. A lot of hardware stores have them, well at least this one does I hope." Emma sighed.
"And how do you know so much about this stuff?" Jefferson scuffed.
"I was a chemistry major, took a lot of labs. So much time and money waisted, for the world to end in a matter of months." Emma shrugged.
Everyone nodded at that sadly and looked around.
"Alright, Jefferson and I will go looking for the parts and belt for the bus, into the auto shop around the corner." Kristoff said.
"Emma you and Graham will go into the hardware store. Find your press machine and anything else of use for us back at the prison."
"Ruby you and Mulan go scope out the other stores, siphon some cars maybe. Keep an eye out, watch your surroundings. I don't want any surprises alright?"
Everyone nodded again and went off their separate ways, Ruby stopped Emma before she got far.
"Stay alert." Ruby looked her straight in the eyes.
Emma nodded her head once and turned to catch up with Graham.
"So Little Swan, you're not a ditzy young blonde after all." Graham teased.
"Should I be offended or was that a compliment?" Emma chuckled.
"However you want to take it." Graham shrugged. "What was college like? How far were you in before the world ended?"
"My first year." Emma sighed. "I left home to go down to Florida, got a scholarship from my university's cross country team. It was winter break so I managed to get home before things got too bad."
"Is that where you met Henry's father?" Graham asked.
"In Florida yeah. He didn't go to my university though, he was older." Emma shrugged.
"So you have a type then Little Swan." Graham chuckled.
"What do you mean?"
"For the riper fruits. People older than you."
Emma blushed at that and rolled her eyes, "People my age have never been interesting to me." she shrugged.
"Oh I don't blame you, darlin'. You and Regina are cute though. Play your cards right and you'll have that woman wrapped around your fingers...have you talked about you know...having a kid?" Graham carefully asked.
Emma looked down at the side walk as they walked, biters were in the windows of a few stores they passed. She and Regina hadn't talked about babies or anything like that...not yet anyhow. She realized she wasn't opposed to the idea of having Regina's kid though.
"No. Well not yet? I don't know, Regina's never brought it up. She's great with Henry though, and the other kids around the prison."
"Yeah she'd make a pretty great mom." Graham nodded as they stopped in front of the door.
Standing next to each other they both looked inside. Luckily the doors weren't boarded up like most of the stores on this street but this was the biggest building.
"Some hardware stores have special departments, I think we really may find a lot of good stuff in here. If everyone else hasn't taken it yet." Emma looked over to him.
"Let's get this over with then. I'll grab a cart."
"So you think Dorothy's pretty huh?" Mulan asked Ruby.
They were walking along the few parked cars still on the street, looking through them and checking for gas.
"What?" Ruby looked back at her from her position in the drivers seat of a car.
"Last night. You called Dorothy pretty." Mulan smirked.
"Well...she is." Ruby shrugged.
"Mhm and you were admiring her beauty I assume?"
"And if I was?" Ruby stepped out of the car.
"I'd say you should go for it." Mulan shrugged.
"She probably isn't even into women..." Ruby sighed. "She seems really close to those guys, she's probably dating one of them...or all of them."
"They're probably like her brother's. That buff dude Jackson looks like he could be her uncle or her dad even." Mulan reasoned.
Ruby sighed and they moved over to the next car, she took the pump they'd manage to find around the super center and tried it on that tank.
"Empty." Ruby sucked her teeth.
Mulan sighed and they moved down the street. They were doing well before that one but still didn't have enough to fill up the can.
"I thought I was supposed to be the one giving you pointers on getting a girl." Ruby smirked.
"That girl wound up already having a girl, and you didn't even know. I think I'll stick to my own guidance thanks." Mulan laughed.
"To be fair no one knew. They had just slept together when you said something. If anything you should have made your move quicker, or fought to get her from Regina." Ruby shrugged.
"I'm surprised I didn't notice it sooner."
"I know right? Thinking back on it they looked so domesticated and shit, playing house with Little Henry." Ruby chuckled.
"Yeah but...I'm good off that whole situation. Emma is my best friend, she still talks to me after the way I treated her I'm happy she still does that; so I'm not going to fall back into that. She's happy that's all I care about."
Ruby gave her a sad smiled and patted her shoulder. "You'll find someone for you one day, Lannie."
Mulan gave a tight smile back, picking the lock on the next car and leaning in.
Walking around the corner from where the other four were, Jefferson and Kristoff took down the few biters limping towards them in the street.
"There's the auto repair shop." Kristoff nodded his head toward it.
"Think we'll find everything in there?" Jefferson tightened his hold on his rifle.
"I sure hope so." Kristoff sighed.
Taking down a fat biter in only his jeans, blood was running down his waist where his stomach was slashed open. Jefferson winced and took the butt of his rifle, banging it against the poor bastards skull.
Making their way into the auto shop, Jefferson crouched down his rifle held firmly in his grasp. Kristoff moved forward and knocked on the wall to see if the noise drew any of the dead out. Waiting a minute, they didn't hear anything and moved normally around the shop.
"Exhaust Valves, Oil strainer, Funnel. Those are our main targets but I'm sure anything else we find will come in handy one way or another." Kristoff said lowly. "We'll go back out to that bus down the way we came to look for the drive belts."
Jefferson nodded and took the photos of the items out of his pocket and started to search.
Kicking the biter's body to the side, Graham let out a deep breath as he and Emma finally made it to the back of the hardware store, that was the fifth one he'd killed. Emma was behind him pushing a cart of all the other supplies they'd managed to find and needed for Emma to make the biodiesel. All that was left was hopefully the oil press.
"This door better be unlocked." Graham sighed having worked up a sweat.
Emma looked behind them to make sure nothing snuck up on them and turned back to watch him. Graham tried to open the door but groaned to find it indeed locked, sighing again he stepped back. Bringing his heavy foot up and down on the doors lock, until it started to crack and finally it busted open.
Waiting with his hand up holding his knife, they listened for any kind of noise but didn't hear anything. Graham released a long breath and leaned down to rub his hand along his shin. Emma stepped forward and brought the cart over with her.
"I can go in and look for it." Emma offered and stepped forward. "You've done everything else let me help."
Graham sighed and leaned against the wall, motioning for her to go right ahead. Taking his flashlight out from his hip, he flip it and pushed it out to her. Emma grabbed the flashlight and clicked it on, walking into the dark spacious back room. Walking with her handgun ready in her grasp, Emma had to walk further back until she reached the larger storage closet.
It was eerily quiet so Graham called out to her, when he heard her coughing.
"Little Swan."
"I'm good. Just dusty back here."
Graham listened and nodded his head at her reassurance.
"Tell me more about Florida, Little Swan."
Emma was looking over the many numbers and names on an inventory list posted on the wall.
"Uuhh. Well, it was hot. And it rained a lot." Emma shrugged.
Graham chuckled, "What about a school? How were your classes?"
"Too early in the morning and too late at night. I woke up at five every morning to go to 6AM practice, then classes started at 8 AM and lasted till about 4 PM. After that I had to go to afternoon practices." Emma groaned.
"Jeez how did you function?" Graham questioned.
"Sleeping in on the weekends mostly, doing my assignments during lunch. The only people I knew were from the team but still even then I kept to myself. My roommate wasn't bad though."
"And how did you have time for dating with all of that?" Graham asked.
"I met Neal at a auto shop actually, I had this old yellow Volkswagen bug that I bought when I got down there. It was always breaking down on me though, I took it to the shop for repairs because I wanted to drive it home for winter break." Emma sighed.
"How old was he when you met him?"
"Uuuh 26 about to be 27. I only slept with him twice, one of which I was drunk and happy I'd passed my midterms so we celebrated."
Emma finally found the number and turned to look at the shelves of boxes.
"Oh well that's not too bad. I thought you meant he was like a really old geezer." Graham snickered.
"Oh gods no." Emma shouted back as she got deeper into the shelves. "I spent a lot of time on the phone with him. Told him I was pregnant and going back home cause the world was going to shit."
Looking up at the boxes, at the numbers on the sides, Emma scanned and whispered the names as she went along until she finally found the one she was looking for.
"Gotcha!"
Emma looked around with the flash light until she saw a ladder down against the wall.
"Graham I found it!"
Emma called out to him as she climbed up the ladder to reach the box.
"Do you need help?"
"No. No. I got it." Emma put the flashlight down on the shelf and grabbed the box and grunted climbing down slowly.
Releasing a heavy breath as she put it down on the ground, climbing back up the ladder Emma went to reach for the flashlight and quickly pulled her hand back as a rat ran by on top of the shelf.
"Holy shit!" Emma gasped, almost falling back off the ladder.
"Emma?!" Graham started to walk in, hearing the ladder banging against the steel shelves.
"I'm ok! I'm alright! Sorry! Was just a rat..." Emma took a breath to will her heart to quit pounding.
Grabbing the light and climbing down quickly, Emma put the flashlight on top of the box and made her way back to the busted door. She saw Graham with his hands on his hips and smiled as she got closer.
"Looks like the universe is on our side with this whole operation." Emma smiled.
"Let's get everything back to the trucks before the universe changes it's mind." Graham chuckled and took the box from her.
Emma grabbed the cart of supplies and together they walked out of the hardware store and walked down to the trucks.