Sooner or Later

Emma woke with a start the next morning, nearly jumping out of her bed looking for the source of what had caused her abrupt departure from sleeping. She sighed when she realized it was just Maggie coming into the room.

"Well good morning sleeping beauty" Maggie said, unable to contain her laugh as Emma broke out into a huge tired yawn.

"I swear ta god Mags" Emma growled, she was never a morning person "wha sa time?" She asked through another yawn

"Bout 11, daddy said to let ya sleep. Cause lord knows ya needed it... ya still look like shit by the way" Maggie said looking at her. Emma didn't even bother to respond, instead she just flipped Maggie off as she continued her journey to full conscientiousness.

Maggie just laughed at her again but stopped quickly at the look that Emma gave her. Maggie shuffled her feet and cleared her throat before speaking again.

"It's uh... it's time for the funerals." She said quietly "Nobody would blame ya if ya didn't want to go though" That woke Emma up, and she was assaulted by all the memories from her conversation with Maggie the night before.

They had talked well into the night, and Mags had told her everything. Emma's head was still spinning from it all, she had told her about Annette, and Shawn, to Otis accidentally shooting that poor boy, and then dying to try and bring back the supplies they needed to save the kid, and then the whole ordeal with the barn the day she had arrived, ending with Rick shooting Carols daughter, the one they had been looking for the whole time. It was a lot.

"Nah, I'm comin'. Just give me a minute" she told Maggie as she finally started to get out of the bed. She had to admit, the bed was heaven. Hell just about everything on this farm was heaven to her after having gone without so much for so long. She put on her jeans that she noticed had been washed, and made quick work of putting on her bra, and a black t-shirt that she took from Maggie. It was a little big on her, but she didn't care, she tucked the front part into her jeans, and began to pull on her boots.

"Lemme brush my teeth, and I'll meet ya outside" she told Maggie, and made her way to the bathroom. She spent longer than normal brushing her teeth, but she couldn't help it, again it was just one of those things you didn't know how much you missed till you couldn't do it every day. Her mind drifted over to the funeral they were gonna have, she wasn't really lookin forward to it, she had never been good at these kinds of things, but she felt she owed it to them. Maggie had told her how Hershel had reacted, and that he was this close to kicking these people off his land. She couldn't help but shake her head at the thought that Hershel actually thought these things were sick and could get better. It was fuckin' stupid, but that was Hershel for ya, always lookin for the good in things.

When she was finally done brushing her teeth, she brushed her hair, surprised at how soft it was. 3 months of no chemicals and frying heat had done it some good and all her time outdoors had given her some natural blonde highlights. She decided to leave it down, she had always had a lot of hair because it was just so full, but it also meant that ponytails were heavy, and she would end up with a headache later. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, besides the blonde highlights the sun had also given her the one thing she hated most, freckles. Being a redhead so was quiet used to the freckles, but it didn't mean she had to like them, in fact they were the bane of her existence... well before the world went to hell anyway. It was silly she knew, but it was one of those things, she always thought they made her look dirty, like she hadn't quite washed all the dirt off her face. She shook her head out of that train of thought, it was the end of the damn world and here she was worried about fuckin freckles. She quickly turned and left the bathroom to make her way outside.

The funeral was a silent affair. Literally, not even Hershel said anything, not even scripture. It unnerved her. Hershel's faith was his rock, and although she had never been able to understand it, she just didn't hold that kind of faith, it was weird to see Hershel not leaning on it now. She stood next to Maggie and Beth trying to give them whatever comfort she could even if it wasn't much and she let her eyes wonder over the others that were out there, Ricks group. Maggie had told her that they were good people, just trying to make it in this shit world, and for the most part she could see that - except Shane. Maggie didn't like Shane, so best friend rules dictated she didn't either, she had been impressed when Maggie had mentioned that she had slapped the shit out of the man.

She glanced over at the others in the group and noticed that Carol was missing. Emma wasn't a mother so she really couldn't understand what the woman must be feeling, but she didn't think she could hold it against her for not being there, after all they hadn't really buried her daughter, that was just a shell. Not even human anymore.

As suddenly as they had all come together, they all broke apart too, signaling the end of this makeshift memorial. Emma watched as the Greene's made their way back to the house, but found that she couldn't follow them, not yet. Instead she decided to walk around the property a little bit, and without even realizing it she had made her way to the stables. Deciding it was a good idea to go check on her horse, she quickly opened the doors and made her way through the stables to see where Daryl had put him. She found him in the last stall on the left, and he came up to her at once.

He was a beautiful black and white paint, about 16 hands tall. She could tell he was anxious being in the stall, he wasn't used to be cooped up like this. She tried to soothe him the best she could, by rubbing his nose and talking to him.

"Hey boy, how ya doin in here? We're safe here ya know" almost like he knew what she was saying he snorted and shook his head. "well for now anyway. But look you have good food, and you don't always have to be on guard here, or draggin my ass around all the time. That's gotta be somethin right?" He snorted at her again "alright fine. Stubborn ass, you wanna go for a ride then?" It wasn't unusual for her to talk to him like this, he had been her only companion for the better part of 2 months. She made quick work of getting him saddled up, she could tell he was literally chomping at the bit to get outside and run. When she got him outside, she had only managed to get one foot in the stirrups before he took off on her.

She quickly got herself seated in the saddle as he galloped around the back of the house, and she steered him toward the fence so they could jump it and be in the open field. She had always loved riding horses, her mom had been a barrel racer back in the day, and even though she died before she could teach Emma how to ride it was still in her blood. She was always thankful the Greene's had horses and let her ride them whenever. There was something so free about being on the back of a horse, running at a full gallop, the way the wind hit your face and blew her hair back. It was like she could forget about everything, including the dead. After about 10 minutes of running around, he finally started to calm down and was now happy going along at a nice cantor. She leaned down and patted the side of his neck.

"Feel better now?" She asked him, and just laughed when he moved his head. She glanced over toward the house and noticed she had a little bit of an audience. There at the fence was Carl, Lori, Andrea, and two people that she hadn't met yet, she made her way over to them, and could tell Carl was bouncing on his heels, excited she had finally seen him.

"Howdy sheriff" she said, when she dismounted and brought him up to the fence.

"That was so cool" Carl told her with his childlike wonder, she couldn't help but smile at his excitement. "Can I pet him?" He asked her breathlessly

"Of course, here right on the nose" as she showed him how to do it.

"So, you're the new girl" the large black man said to her "I'm T-Dog" he introduced and stuck his hand out to her.

"Emma Monroe" she said shaking his hand. He was one of those guys that always looked super intimidating but was usually a big ole softy. "And really y'all are the new ones, I've been around for a while" she said with a laugh.

"Oh yeah, we know" the other man responded. He had a kind face, was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and bucket hat. He looked like an uncle, or at least what Emma thought an uncle was supposed to look like, she didn't really know cause as far as she knew she didn't have any aunts or uncles. "Glenn regaled us of your tale this morning. I'm Dale"

"It's a pleasure to meet ya Dale, and you too T-Dog" she told them with a smile. "You know Carl, I could show you somethin' really cool if you wanted?" She asked the little boy and laughed when he eagerly nodded his head up and down, almost making his sheriffs hat fall off.

"Alright, you do me a favor, and hang out with Whisper, I need to go grab a few things. Think you can do that?" She asked him "Hey T-Dog, you look like you got some muscle, you wanna come help me with somethin?"

"Sure, thing lil lady" he said, as he helped her over the fence.

"Cool, it's in the stables" she told him, as they took off in that direction, she also noticed Glenn hangin around "Hey Glenn, come help us with somethin'" she called out to him

"Oh god, tell me it's not another walker in the well" he said when he caught up with them

Emma swung her head in his direction "da fuck you just say?" Clearly Maggie had left that story out.

"Uh never mind" he said sheepishly.

When they finally made it to the stables, she directed them to the end where there were, well for lack of a better word, scarecrows and she told them to grab them and take them back to the fence line while she searched until she found the lead rope with clips on both ends. She told them she would meet them out there because she had one more thing that she needed from the house. When she got there, she saw Maggie, Beth and Carol in the kitchen

"Hey Mags, you seen my bow?" She called from the living room where she was currently looking for it.

"Yeah, they are in my room." Maggie told her coming around from the kitchen "are you showin off again?" She asked her with a smile on her face

"What? Me? No, course not" she said, unable to keep the shit eatin grin off her face "s'not my fault the kid asked to see somethin' cool though" She made quick work of finding her bow and arrows in Maggie's room, and on her way out the door she told them they should come and watch. She had just stepped off the porch, when she heard a gruff voice behind her ask

"Ya any good with tha thing?" She turned around and saw Daryl leaning against the railings, another cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Emma couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to look like James Dean.

"I donno" she said shrugging her shoulders, a mischievous glint in her eyes "guess you'll just have to come find out" she told him before turning on her heels and making her way to the fence line. When she got there, she noticed that almost everyone was waiting for her, including Rick, and Shane. She quickly went about setting up the scarecrows in a line, making sure there was enough space between them, and that she wouldn't be shooting anywhere near the group. When she was done with that, she ran a couple of yards down the fence line toward the back of the house, and dropped her bow and quiver in the field, before returning to the group.

"Why'd ya do that?" Carl asked her, pointing to where she had dropped her bow.

"You'll see" she said smirking, she took the lead rope and clipped it to each side of Whisper, before tossing it over his head, she took the reins and turned him around so that the group had a good look at his butt. She positioned herself so that she was on Whispers left side, right at the front of the saddle, but facing the group. She had her left hand grabbing the pommel, and her right was across her body grabbing the saddle.

"I'm gonna laugh when you fall and bust yer ass" Maggie said when her, Carol, and Beth made their way to the fence.

"Oh, bite me" She told her, although now that everyone was out here, she was rather nervous and hoped that she didn't fall on her ass.

"Ya know that ain't how ya get on a horse righ?" Came Daryls lazy drawl, as he bit into a peach. Instead of answering though Emma just shot him a glare and cried "yah!"

Her body was stiff, and her feet were just barely off the ground, to anyone else it would almost look like she was being dragged, after a few seconds though when Whisper got to a full gallop she dropped her feet to the ground, and using the force of the impact and her arms she swung around dropped into the saddle. As she rode out a little way, she could hear the group behind her clapping, and she couldn't help but smile. When she got far enough away, she steered Whisper to turn around, as they made their way back to the fence she dropped the reigns and picked up the lead rope, took her feet out of the stirrups, using the saddle she lifted herself off it, and brought her feet up so they were where her butt used to be. She took a deep breath and made sure she had Whispers rhythm down before she stood straight up, using the lead rope to help keep her balance, and waved. The group broke out into applause again.

Before she could close in on the fence, she turned Whisper so that they were riding down to where she had put her bow and dropped back into the saddle. After she was well passed her bow, she turned, and before she could think too much about what she was about to do, she urged Whisper into another gallop. She got her left ankle in the stirrup, and pulled it up to her thigh so that it was tight, she brought her left leg out, and without thinking too much she leaned over the side of the saddle so that she was upside down, with one leg in the air, her fingertips just brushing the grass, a suicide drag. When they finally reached her bow and arrow, she grabbed them in one hand, and using ever bit of upper body strength she had she brought herself back up, and in the saddle. When she passed by the group, she could tell Carl was enjoying it, and some of the older adults looked like they were on the verge of a heart attack, and Maggie was just laughing her ass off.

She passed by the scarecrows, and turned so that now she would come up between numbers 2 and 3, using her thighs to grip the saddle she stood in the stirrups, nocked an arrow on her bow, turned her hips 180 degrees, and let her first arrow fly, perfect head shot, and the group applauded once more. Emma couldn't help the smile that graced her face, she hadn't had this much fun in a long time. Galloping away from the targets, she did a few more tricks where she slides around the saddle, drops her legs to the ground, and uses the force to push herself back up and into the saddle again. She turned Whisper so that she was once again headed straight for the targets, and urged him on she pushed up on the saddle to get her legs underneath her again, this time one in front of the other, and when she got close enough, she stood keeping her knees slightly bent so that they could still move with the rhythm of the horse, she knocked her arrow and let it fly, another head shot. She quickly lets two more arrows fly, both with the same result, on the fourth one though she felt her balance slipping and she released the arrow too early, the shot went wide.

"Damnit" she swore, and she dropped herself back into the saddle, and slowed Whisper down to to a walk, and made her way over to the group.

"That was soooo cool" Carl told her once she was close enough "can you teach me to do that?" His voice was breathless, and Emma couldn't help but smile. It was nice to see children be able to act like children, there wasn't much room for it these days.

"Oh, I don't know lil man" she said, as she dismounted. "It took me like ten years, and more than a few injuries to be able to do that" she told him, flicking his sheriffs' hat. She heard someone snort behind her and turned to see who it was. She could see Daryl with his trademark lean against the fence.

"Ya missed" he said to her with a scowl on his face "if tha' was a walker. You'd be dead" he almost growled at her. Emma just rolled her eyes

"Well, I guess it's a good thing it was just a scarecrow then. Plus, I'd like to see you try it, I heard that last time you were on a horse you let it throw you and impaled yourself with your own freakin arrow" she told him as she crossed her arms over her chest and quirked her eyebrow at him.

Daryl scoffed at her again, and she could see his eyes had darkened and held that same intensity from the night before. "Gonna git yourself killed with them damn tricks... princess" he spat at her, and without another word turned and walked away from them all.

"It's called fun" Emma called after him "you should try it sometime" when he was out of earshot she turned to the rest of the group "Is he always so... ornery?" She asked and couldn't help but laugh when they all enthusiastically nodded their heads up and down.

Everyone left to go do their daily chores, and Emma didn't really know to do... she was feeling a little out of place. She had asked Maggie if they needed any help, and she had said they had it under control, and that she should be resting, but Emma didn't want to rest. She was up now, and needed something to do, her eyes landed on the stables and she figured that was as good a job as any and headed over to start cleaning them out.

She had been at it for about an hour and half and decided to take a break, she didn't want to admit it, especially to Maggie, but she was tired. Her body wasn't even remotely recovered from her journey to the farm, and she was exhausted from the small amount of physical exertion. She was already trying to figure out how she could sneak inside for a nap, when she noticed Maggie sitting on the porch, and went to join her. Wordlessly she just sat down next to her and pulled her long red hair up into a messy side ponytail, before stretching out her legs, and leaning on her elbows trying to catch that elusive summer Georgia breeze. They both sat there for a while, each lost in their own thoughts even though they hadn't seen each other in almost 6 months when Maggie had come to visit her over the winter break. It was comfortable though, they had been friends for almost 20 years, they didn't always need words, and often sat in silence with each other. She was broken from her thoughts when she heard Maggie give a small chuckle, and she turned her head to see what was so funny.

"I see you're still borrowin' my clothes" Maggie said, her eyes twinkling with the inside joke. It had begun as an accident, Emma borrowed one of Maggies blouses because she had an interview and didn't have anything remotely suitable to wear. She did however forget to return it, till about 8 months later when Maggie had been looking for it to wear. Emma had stuttered, apologized and had even offered to rush home when she realized what she had done, but Mags had just stood there, giving her this searching look before shrugging her shoulders. She told her to just keep it, and that she probably needed to have something like that in her wardrobe. After that it had become this unspoken rule between them that if Emma asked to borrow it, then she really needed it, and would simply "hold on to it".

"Yeah well, you did always have more clothes than me. 'Specially now" Emma told her with a laugh, "So... you and Glenn huh?" Emma said following Maggies line of sight. She could tell Maggie was trying to keep a smirk off her face, and failing miserably, as she nodded. Emma took one look at the way Maggie was watching Glenn, and couldn't help but laugh,

"Well, you look like you want to eat him, so I take it the sex is good?" She asked, turning her head so she could see Maggie clearly, and the blush that was overtaking her cheeks.

"So good" Maggie finally told her with a bright smile on her face "I mean, I honestly wasn't expectin' anythin' when I propositioned him in the pharmacy, but I donno... he kinda grows on ya, ya know?" Emma could tell that Maggie was falling hard, she never talked about guys like this.

"Seriously Mags?! The pharmacy?" Emma laughed "Leave it to you" she finished shaking her head.

"Damn right leave it to me!" Maggie said laughing with her.

"I gotta hand it to you though Mags, even at the end of the world, you somehow managed to get some of the hottest men in Georgia livin' in your front yard" Emma told her as she looked out over the yard, Rick and Shane were milling around the camp, and Daryl was off a little ways tinkering on his bike.

"Really? Even Shane?" Maggie had a look of disgust on her face at the thought of Shane being attractive.

"Never said I liked the man, but you can't deny... if you ignore everything that comes out of his mouth, GI Jackass is hot." Emma said as she eyed Shane as he was using the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face, revealing his toned stomach.

"Alright. Yeah, yeah, I get it. And I could see why you would think that Rick is hot... I mean he's got that whole good ole country boy look going on, but Daryl?" Maggie asked her to throw a sidelong glance over where Daryl was messing with his bike. Emma looked over at him, he was covered in dirt and sweat, wearing another button up flannel with the arms ripped off. Emma could see the way his arm moved as he wrenched something on the bike, the sight made Emma's stomach clench.

"Oh, especially Daryl..." she was interrupted by the sound of a glass shattering in the house. Both Emma and Maggie sat up at the sound, and almost paralyzed looked toward the door waiting for something to happen; then Patricia screamed.

Almost as soon Rick and the others were coming to the realization of where Hershel could have gone to, Emma was bounding up the stairs to the room she was sharing with Maggie to retrieve her weapons. There was no way in hell she was letting them go without her, she owed her life to Hershel many times over, hell he was more of a father to her than her actual father ever was. She made sure to grab her backpack, and even though it didn't have much, there was a little bit of food, and some medical supplies. Once she had made sure that her weapons were secure, she grabbed her pack, and made her way back down the stairs to wait outside by the truck. She could see Rick and Lori having what appeared to be an intense conversation just inside the door, it seemed Lori wasn't pleased that Rick was going to go out and risk his life to bring Hershel back but from the look on Ricks face, it looked she had about as much of a chance of convincing him to stay as the walkers did of suddenly turning back into actual people. Emma watched as Rick come out to the truck and did a double take when he saw her with all her gear standing by the front door.

"You sure about this?" He asked her "This might not go well"

"There is nothing you could do or say to make me stay" She made sure to look him in the eye when she told him that, as she opened the back door and settled herself in the middle of the backseat. Her and Rick sat there while he loaded his gun and watched the interaction between Glenn and Maggie on the porch.

"You got any extra for me?" Emma said leaning over the seat "You're out? What size?" He said questioning her. "9mm. Been down to my last one for about a month a now" she said giving him a knowing look - if she was going to die, she was going to stay dead. Maggie hugged Glenn, her and Emma locked eyes, and Emma couldn't help but give her a sheepish shrug at the heartbroken look on Maggie's face. She could see Maggie was worried that Glenn was going on the run, and she was going to be pissed at Emma for going, especially since she didn't tell her. Maggie turned to Glenn and said something before going back into the house, leaving Glenn alone looking absolutely terrified as he shakily made his way to the truck, and got inside the passenger's seat. Rick shot him a look as he turned on the truck

"You ok?" He asked him with concern in his voice. Instead of answering him though, Glenn just nodded. Emma couldn't help but notice that he didn't look Ok but didn't push the issue since she didn't really know him all that well, however not long after they pulled of the property, Glenn apparently couldn't contain himself.

"Maggie said she loves me." He blurted out to the car. Emma was shocked, in all time she had known Maggie she had never been in love, she was more of the love 'em and leave 'em type.

"Mm-hmm." was Rick's only response, although he did have an annoying smirk on his face

"She doesn't mean it." Glenn started, Emma reached up and smacked him on the back of the head. "Hey! What was that for?" Glenn turned around and asked her "I mean she can't. I mean- well She- she's upset or confused." Emma reached up and smacked him on the head again "Hey, seriously, what the hell?" Glenn sputtered as he tried to glare at Emma. "No, just listen she's probably feeling, like-"

"I think she's smart enough to know what she's feeling." Rick interrupting and preventing another head smack.

"No, you know what? She wants to be in love, so she's- she needs something to- to, like- to hold onto." Glenn tried to reason, he turned his back to the door so that he was out of reach of another head smack delivered by Emma.

"Glenn, it's pretty obvious to everyone Maggie loves you, and not just because you're one of the last men standing." Said Rick, again trying to reason with him.

"Look Glenn, I can count on one finger how many boys Maggie has said "I love you" too. If she said, she means it" Emma told him in a stern but still soft voice. Glenn looked like he wanted to try and dispute her claims, but she could see him coming to the realization that Emma might have the upper hand here, but to everyone's surprise he looked disheartened.

"So, what's the problem?" Rick asked him when he saw the look, he was giving them.

"I didn't say it back." Glenn said uncomfortably hanging his head at the exasperated looks Rick and Emma were giving him. "I've never had a woman say that to me before except my mom, of course, and my sisters." He started, trying to defend himself, "But with Maggie, it's different. We barely know each other. What- what does she really know about me? Nothing. We're practically strangers. But I- I didn't know what to do with it. I just stood there like a jerk."

"Look, Glenn. You just gotta do what you feel. If you love her tell her, if you don't — tell her. The world has gone to hell in a hand basket, no one has time to waste anymore." Rick told him in his gentle fatherly voice.

"I mean you could very well be eaten on this little outing." Emma deadpanned from the backseat, and when Glenn shot her an incredulous look, she just shrugged her shoulders at him.

"You're gonna feel like a real asshat if you get eaten, and you didn't tell her you love her though. Just sayin'" Emma shrugged nonchalantly as she looked out the window. "Take a left, it's just over there on the right."

"Hey, this is a good thing. Enjoy it, lord knows we don't get enough of those these days" Rick told him as he parked the truck on the side street by the bar.

Make the plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go off the rails.

Emma couldn't even remember where she had heard that now, she was pretty sure it was from some TV show, but it was a good motto to live by. Nothing was the same anymore, used to be a night at the bar meant nothing more than a depleted bank account, and a headache the next morning. Now, it meant you could get shot, or eaten, or both apparently.

"Someone shut that kid up!" Rick yelled from the front seat, as he tried to navigate his way out of the downtown area. Emma shook herself out of her thoughts, Hershel was in the backseat with her, and the injured kid. He was trying to get the bleeding under control on his leg, she looked down at the kid who was still screaming in her lap. She quickly wrestled the gun out of her holster.

"Sorry kid" She said, and she quickly brought it down on his temple, knocking him out. The sudden silence was jarring. She was still trying to get her breathing under control, and she looked up at Glenn and Hershel. No one said a word. Once Rick had gotten them clear of the walkers, he pulled the truck over.

"Everyone okay?" He asked, looking them over, Glenn didn't seem to have regained the ability to speak yet, and just nodded, looking a little green.

"Just peachy" came Emma's reply as she leaned her head back and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Rick, if we don't get this bleeding under control, and the wound cleaned, then all of this will have been for nothing" Hershel told him, in the matter of fact tone he often used when it came to treating the injured.

"He's right, we need to get off the road, and find somewhere to hole up for the night" Emma stated, while she was looking through her bag for her canteen.

"What do you mean? We're going back to the farm, aren't we?" Glenn asked, confused why they were even talking about it.

"No Glenn, she's right. We can't risk it, we could lead the walkers, or this guy's friends back with us. Best to wait for sunrise, it'll be safer." Rick told him, as he took the canteen that Emma was passing around to everyone. "Hershel, got any ideas where we can go?" He asked

Hershel lifted his head and looked around taking in their surroundings and nodded his head. "Make a right up here, we'll go the opposite way of the farm" he told them. Rick nodded and pulled the truck back onto the road to follow Hershel's directions.

Surprisingly, 5 uneventful minutes later they were pulling into the driveway of a very respectable looking farmhouse. According to Hershel the owners, Barbara and Benjamin had boarded the house up about a month before the outbreak and headed out on a cross country tour in their RV. With any luck the house would still be boarded up, and maybe even have something useful. Rick had told Hershel and Emma to stay in the car with the kid, while Glenn and him took a look around, and inside the house.

Emma leaned back against the seat and sighed a little before she glanced over at Hershel. He looked tired, and old. With a jolt, this was the first time she had really thought of him as old. He had always seemed so strong, and invincible when she was a kid. She wanted to be pissed at him, for putting them in this situation, for running off and getting drunk of all things, hell for believing those things could be cured. He kept those things in his fucking barn for Christ sake! She would never actually say it out loud, but she didn't think Rick's group was entirely wrong about what they did, sure it probably could have been handled with a little more tact - but they aren't people anymore. Just shells where a human being used to live. She couldn't do it though, sitting back there in the truck, he just looked so sad, and... broken. This was a man whose whole entire worldview had been inexplicably shattered in seconds.

"If you're gonna say something, you might as well get it over with" He said interrupting her thoughts, she hadn't realized that she had been looking at him this whole time.

"Nope, not me" She told him with a small smile, she looked passed him, and could see Rick and Glenn working to get the front door opened.

"Hmph. That would be a first" He said, looking at her as if she had grown a second head.

"Hershel" Emma sighed, and reached over and grabbed his hand, "I am just really, really glad that your still here" she told him and gave his hand a squeeze.

"I am too honey. When we had heard what had happened in Atlanta... well it wasn't a very good day for anyone. Almost had to hogtie Maggie to the bed so she would go running off trying to find you." Hershel told her.

Rick and Glenn came back out to the truck and told them that the house was cleared, it didn't look like it was picked over by scavengers either, so they might get lucky with some food, water or medicine. Emma grabbed her bag and hurried out of the truck to take Glenn's shotgun so him and Hershel could get the kid into the house.

"I'm gonna board up the front of the house again, and park the truck around back, so that no one can see it from the road" Rick told them when they got into the house.

"Emma, check the house find any towels, curtains, anything to stop the bleeding and wrap it with, and any other medicine you can find. Glenn, I need to to get me some fresh water, and we are going to need to get a fire going as well. Nothing too big, just needs to be hot." Hershel had started to firing off instructions as soon as they had laid the kid on the couch, and everyone bolted to their assigned tasks.

A short time later they were all sitting in the living room, not speaking. Hershel had done everything he could for Randall, he had woken up for a short while, and they had managed to get his name from him, but he was in no shape to give them any more information than that, so Rick had the honor of knocking him out with the butt of his pistol this time - he would be out for hours.

Emma was sitting next to the fireplace with her head in her hands, when her stomach gave an almighty grumble in the silent room. Emma's head shot up out of her hands, and she gave the other occupants a wide-eyed look before she started laughing. She couldn't help it, it wasn't funny, but it broke the tension. The rest of the group started laughing too.

"Y'all didn't happen to find any food in the house did ya?" Hershel asked her and Glenn

"As a matter of fact," Glenn said as he started digging through his bag "I found these!" He grinned as he laid out several packs of Tuna to Go and 4 Twinkie's. He looked very proud of the meal that he had found for them. Rick chuckled has he took his portion "This is pretty gourmet these days" he said as he dug into his tuna.

They were silent for a while, enjoying their food as much as they could before Glenn spoke up "So Emma, what were you studying in school?"

Emma swallowed her food before answering "I had just finished my first year in law school" she told them shaking her head "sorta wished I had picked medicine now though, that would actually be useful with the current state of things"

"Yeah, but you would have a made a fine lawyer though" Hershel told her with a sad smile.

"Thanks Hershel" she reached for her Twinkie before continuing "What about y'all? How did all y'all meet?" She knew some of it from Maggie, but she knew there was more to it. So, between Rick and Glenn they managed to get the whole story out - and it was a doozy.

"I still can't believe you rode into Atlanta on horseback" she said to Rick shaking her head.

"Neither can I to be honest with ya, but I didn't really have any other options. It was a weird time, like I had seen them, and killed them - but I still felt like I was gonna wake up again and it would all be just... a horrible nightmare" Rick told them, he had a haunted, faraway look in his eyes. Emma didn't blame him, sometimes she thought that herself and she had watched it all happen from the beginning. She couldn't imagine just waking up in the middle of it not knowing what was going on.

They all decided to sleep down in the living room, by the fireplace where it was warm, and they could make a quick getaway if they needed to. They were going to head back to the farm at first light, they knew the others were probably worried sick about them - Maggie especially. Emma cringed at the thought of the welcome she was going to get once they were back on the farm, Maggie was gonna be pissed. She was gonna be even more pissed off once Emma told her that she had somewhere she need to go, there was still one piece of unfinished business that she needed to take care of, and judging by how bad it had gotten in town she needed to do it now, while she would still be able to. Her last thought before she closed her eyes, was how tomorrow was already shaping up to be a long day.

A/N - I still don't own any part of the Walking Dead, or any of the characters except Emma. So that's chapter 2, hope that you enjoyed it. This is not a scene by scene retelling of the show, especially after season 2, that being said, I am using some quotes from the show that I particularly enjoy. Anyway leave a review, k, thanks, byyyyye.