Author's Note: Well, this took me longer than I meant to! Like our dear, Cassandra, I too am a busy grad student (although not at Harvard, she's smarter than me people :p ). I'm also working and trying to keep the rest of my life together, but I really want to keep this story moving so I'll do my best! Anyway, when we left our heroine had just been saved by our favorite redneck. I miss him already...but he will soon be here permanently, I promise! A quick note, the book cover I made for this story is supposed to show Cassandra right after the fight that Daryl rescued her from so check that out. I had a little too much fun beating up the girl for that picture (only in a photoshop kind of way lol). Thanks so much to everyone that has reviewed so far. The next chapter is when things should start to get really interesting and I'm working on it now so keep an eye out for that. Let me know what you think of this one! Enjoy. : )
By the time Cassandra made it back to the truck where she'd left Emma there wasn't an inch of her body that didn't ache. Her head was still spinning from the blows she'd sustained and she could feel herself limping slightly since putting her full weight on her right foot sent an excruciating blast of pain radiating up her leg.
All of these ailments disappeared from her mind though when she peered anxiously into the window and saw Emma safe and sound inside, not crying but simply staring off into space. Cassandra was slightly disturbed that Emma seemed so out of it but that couldn't temper her relief and joy at seeing the girl was physically ok.
Her hands shook as she inserted the key into the door and wrenched it open, immediately reaching for the little girl inside.
"Emma, I'm back," Cassandra said, doing her best to keep her voice soft and comforting.
The girl didn't react until the older girl's hands actually touched her and then she flinched away, her mournful blue eyes lazily latching onto Cassandra's face.
"Emma," She tried again, reaching out slowly. "It's me, it's Cassandra. It's ok. I'm so sorry I had to leave, but I'm back now, see?"
If the girl did see she gave no sign of it. She did allow Cassandra to wrap her arms around her, though she made no move to hug her back.
Cassandra buried her face in the girl's soft curls and struggled to hold back the rush of emotions that threatened to break free. It was finally hitting her that she'd come very close to dying today. That coupled with Emma's continued state of detachment was threatening to overwhelm her. She wanted to do right by the little girl. She wanted to keep her alive, to keep them both alive. It was just so hard. If the dead didn't murder you the living seemed all too eager to do the job.
Not all the living.
The thought came to Cassandra unbidden and she clutched Emma closer to her. Yes, there was the case of the mystery man who had saved her life, stolen from her, given her a weapon and then vanished without leaving so much as a name behind. It wasn't like she was expecting a formal introduction complete with a handshake and how do you dos, the situation was a little too menacing for that. It was just that Cassandra was so used to being alone with Emma, alone with the silence, now that part of her had been desperate to cling to the human interaction he'd offered. True, she'd traveled with others but she hadn't had much more than surface dealings with them, she'd made it a point not to.
The truth was that for all his asshole comments and brutish ways, the mystery man had given her the first real conversation she'd had since all of this started.
"Scoot over, sweetie," Cassandra told her small companion, slipping her backpack off and placing it on the floor of the cab. Finally Cassandra reached out and gently placed the girl further over on the seat herself when she showed no signs of understanding the request.
Cassandra slid into the cab beside Emma, and closed the door behind her as quietly as possible.
"Ahhhh," She let out a whoosh of relieved breath as her back made contact with the relatively comfortable seat. "That's better, huh?" She glanced over at Emma out of habit even though she didn't really expect a response.
Her expectations were confirmed when Emma just continued to stare at nothing in particular. Cassandra sighed and reached gingerly for the backpack and pulled out a bottle of water and a nutrition bar.
"Look what I've got, Emma," she unscrewed the water bottle and reached out to gently grasp the little girl's chin. She carefully tugged until Emma turned towards her and then tipped the bottle over the little girl's lips. The first few drops ran down the girl's chin without reaction but then her mouth opened and she gulped greedily as Cassandra poured the liquid down Emma's parched throat.
"That's it, sweetheart, careful, don't choke," Cassandra cautioned as Emma let out a delicate little cough before closing her mouth and letting the water run down her chin again.
Cassandra quickly tipped the bottle back up trying to keep as much as possible from spilling. She put it to her own lips and quickly downed the water that remained in the bottle, relishing the feel of the soothing liquid. It felt as though she hadn't had anything to drink in weeks even though she knew it had only been a little over a day. She thought wistfully of the drinking fountain in her dorm hallway and the fully stocked mini-fridge she'd had back at Harvard before forcing herself to return to the task at the hand.
She unwrapped the nutrition bar, breaking off a small piece and holding it out towards Emma, hoping against the odds that the girl would show interest in it. When she failed to get a reaction she reached over and practically shoved a piece into the girl's little fist. Emma didn't react at first but after a moment her eyes flicked slowly over in Cassandra's direction.
Encouraged, Cassandra broke off another piece and very slowly raised it to her own lips, placing it in her mouth and chewing enthusiastically.
"Mmmm, yummy," She wished she was a better actor. The nutrition bar wasn't even close to the worst tasting thing she'd had to eat since all of this started, but it wasn't exactly a nice greasy slice of pizza either.
Emma watched Cassandra chewing before slowly raising her own piece and placing it in her mouth.
Cassandra wanted to cheer out loud but instead she quickly broke off another piece and handed it to Emma, feeling like this small success was worth everything that she'd gone through that day. Well, almost.
Together the girls finished the nutrition bar, Cassandra giving Emma a bit more than half. She wanted to open another one but she knew she had to ration them extremely cautiously. Instead she offered Emma a handful of the trail mix, which the girl picked at unenthusiastically. Cassandra was pretty sure the girl ate a few pieces and knew she had to settle for these small steps towards progress.
What choice did she have?
Cassandra used to measure her self worth by her academic accomplishments, her parent's approval, her stupid rowing trophies when she was younger. If she closed her eyes and concentrated she could still recall snatches of that life, those feelings, those sensations. The crisp resistance of the water against her oars. Applause. The weight of her undergraduate diploma clutched tightly in her fingers. Internships. Fellowships. Research and writing, always writing, writing, writing. Her mother's cool fingers brushing against her cheek. Her father's firm handshake. Awards. Plans for the future.
Look at me now. Convinced a three year old to eat something. Survived encounter with would be murderer and crazy ass redneck. Pretty successful day by my new standards.
Cassandra sighed and brushed her hand lightly over Emma's hair, ghosting her fingers down the side of the girl's face with barely there pressure. The girl flinched but allowed the contact.
"I'm doing my best, Emma," Cassandra whispered, turning her face to the truck's window and the world beyond. "I know it's not even close to enough in the middle of all this shit, but I'm trying."
She knew she had to come up with a plan for the rest of the day but she wasn't sure she had it in her. She was so tired and her body ached so much with each breath. Not that it mattered.
When in doubt, just go.
She knew she needed to make a decision about which direction they were going to head. She'd been planning to continue heading west but after finding the map and realizing they were most likely just outside of Atlanta had her doubting that course of action. She figured they would have to backtrack and find some way to bypass the city even though that was the last thing she wanted to waste time doing. She'd never had a great sense of direction and now that they were well and truly on their own she wasn't especially confident in her ability to navigate them safely through roads that were sure to be as choked with cars and corpses as this one was.
When in doubt, just go.
"Ok, Emma," She pulled the truck's key out of her pocket and glanced over at her companion trying to sound enthusiastic rather than just plain scared. "Ready to head out?"
The girl merely met her gaze for a split second and then dropped her expressionless gaze to her lap. Cassandra tried to block out her disappointment and inserted the key into the ignition, smiling slightly as the engine roared to life.
She reached over and with a little bit of a struggle to do so one handed snapped the seatbelt down over Emma's waist. Satisfied that the girl was more or less secure she turned her attention to the situation at hand.
A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed Cassandra that this was going to be a little more difficult than pulling out of a parking space in the student lot back at school. There were several other cars crowded around the immediate area as well as a smattering of random objects. She thought that she had enough room for a three-point turn to get herself turned around if she was very, very careful.
She eased the truck into reverse and eased her foot off of the brake allowing the vehicle to coast backwards slowly.
So far so good.
She pumped the break, switched to drive and got the truck at a slightly better angle. She was just easing the truck around towards the direction she wanted to be facing when a loud noise sounded that had both girl's jumping out of their skin.
Emma let out a sharp cry, and both her hands went up to cover her little ears, her eyes wide and fearful.
Cassandra for her part slammed on the brake and found herself reaching instinctively for the knife she'd been given earlier. It took a few seconds for her brain to catch up with the situation and realize that it hadn't been a gunshot but the sound of air expelling from one of their tires.
No!
She felt fear and dread settle over her like a too warm blanket, stifling her ability to breathe and think. She didn't want to have to scavenge for another car with gas, didn't want to stay here any longer, didn't want to think about what that noise might have attracted to them…
She forced herself to put the truck in park, reach over and pat Emma's shoulder in as comforting a manner as she could manage, and take a few deep breathes.
Cassandra gathered herself for one more moment, gripped her new knife as tightly as she dared, and then opened the door and slid back out of the truck as quietly and gently as possible. Her caution didn't stop a hiss of pain from escaping when her right foot made contact with the asphalt but she was fairly certain she hadn't been loud enough to attract any unwelcome visitors.
Not that it mattered. Not after what just happened.
She limped over to the rear passenger's side tire and saw that her fears weren't unfounded. The tire hadn't just been punctured it had all but exploded after she had driven over what appeared to have once been some kind of liquor bottle but now was little more than shiny jagged pieces and a puddle of mocking liquid.
Could have used a drink.
Cassandra couldn't help but smile a little at the thought. She remembered a world where that would have been funny. Not exactly irony by the official definition but by the Alanis Morissette version surely.
A low groan and shuffling, dragging sound startled her from her thoughts and Cassandra whipped around on instinct, pressing her back flush against the side of the truck. She wanted to just stay there, hope wherever the dead freak was it would just shuffle on by without noticing her. A quick glance back the way she'd come though revealed that she'd left the driver's side door open and she knew right away that passive hiding wasn't an option.
Emma!
Her mind was running amuck with fear and she did her best to tamp down on it without much success.
Please stay still, stay quiet, please!
She sent out mental instructions to the little girl, praying that she didn't decide now was a great time to start speaking or in some other way draw attention to herself.
Forcing her gasping breaths to slow and trying to be as mindful of the limitations of her injured body as possible, Cassandra poked her head around the back of the truck and saw the zombie was already too close for comfort. It was about two car lengths away and what was more it wasn't alone. A little further down the road were at least five more, ambling towards their position, bumping into things as they came. From this distance they didn't look that intimidating but she knew better. She'd seen what five of these things could do before. What one of them could do.
She couldn't stop the small sound of fear that escaped at the sight before her and clenched her teeth together in an effort to stop herself from revealing their position.
Cassandra began to slowly shuffle herself, easing her away around the side of the truck towards the open door and Emma. Her body was tense, every second expecting the nearest zombie to notice her but somehow luck was yet again on her side and she made it around to the other side without incident.
"Emma!" She hissed, reaching the open door. The girl was huddled over on the far side of the cab, eyes wide, seatbelt still buckled.
"Damn it," Cassandra whispered reaching in and triggering the release on the seatbelt with a solid click.
She didn't have time to look up and see if the zombie had noticed the noise but if the sounds were any indication the answer was yes.
"Emma, come here, now!" Cassandra reached in desperately but the girl only shrank back further. "Shit, come on, please!"
Suddenly another arm was reaching towards the open door and this one was covered in rotting flesh.
"Arghhh," Cassandra sputtered flying backwards on instinct to put more distance between herself and the creature before her.
Perhaps sensing a weaker target, the zombie ignored her for the time being and reached towards the little girl in the truck, its teeth snapping grotesquely as skin hung loosely from its chin.
This finally seemed to wake Emma from her stupor and now the girl was screaming, a wordless, agonized wail that had all of the other zombies shuffling towards them quickly.
"Oh God," Cassandra's voice was shaky but then so was every inch of her aching body.
The truth was her instinct in that moment was to turn and run. Even injured she was pretty fast, she thought if they were distracted she could probably make it. She didn't know this girl. Not really. She hadn't asked for this. The girl didn't even like her, barely let her feed her, would probably end up starving anyway. This wasn't fair. She wasn't her mother. She wasn't hers.
When in doubt just go.
When she finally moved though it wasn't towards safety but towards the zombie that had managed to wrap what once must have been a hand around Emma's ankle.
"Leave her alone!" Cassandra shouted even though what was left of her rational brain knew that thing was well beyond understanding her words.
Not stopping to come up with a more viable, survivable plan, Cassandra launched herself at the zombie full force tackling it like she would any other attacker. She wrapped her arms around its throat and used her entire body weight to pull it back and away from Emma.
She hadn't counted on the zombie losing its balance, hadn't thought that far ahead, so she was unprepared when it toppled backwards taking her with it.
Cassandra hit the ground and felt all the air leave her body as her head once again connected with the concrete. She had no time to feel the pain though as the zombie on top of her thrashed, its teeth snapping close enough to her arms that she could feel its rancid breath. She struggled to hold it to her, preparing herself mentally for her inevitable death that was sure to follow until a thought shot across her mind so obvious that she wanted to laugh and cry and get the fuck out from under this zombie.
She was holding the knife.
Cassandra untangled one arm from her chokehold on the zombie and tried to angle it towards the creature's head. The zombie was too strong though and threw its head back barely missing making contact with her own.
She released her grip on it entirely and shoved hard removing its weight from her for the split second she needed to get out from under it. She crawled a few inches away, every inch feeling like an eternity but she clearly wasn't moving her body fast enough. A disturbingly wet hand gripped her ankle and she kicked out hard out of instinct though it did nothing to dislodge her undead attacker.
Cassandra whipped her body over with all of her strength and brought the knife down, stupidly closing her eyes, her mind rebelling against what was happening. She heard rather than saw the impact of her knife with the zombie's skull. The hand on her ankle went limp and Cassandra let out a shuddering breath before opening her eyes and frantically kicking out at the now dead, deader thing before her.
Emma.
Cassandra dragged herself to her feet, every inch of her protesting the action and limped as quickly as she could back to the truck. She could see the other zombies were closing in on their position, maybe four cars away now. She reached the still open door of the truck and reached one hand in towards the still cowering little girl.
She could only imagine what she looked like. By now her bruises must have been starting to show, she knew she'd felt blood drying on her face after her morning run in. She also knew she had to have gore and God knows what else all over her after rolling around with a rotting corpse.
"Emma, come now," She said firmly, adrenaline and urgency lending a steadiness to her voice that implied a calmness she sure as hell didn't feel.
And now, finally now, Emma didn't hesitate. She slid across the seat, out of the truck and into Cassandra's waiting arms. Her little arms went around Cassandra's neck and her face instantly buried itself in the older girl's blonde hair.
Cassandra placed one hand on the girl's back holding her more securely, feeling the rushing thump of the little girl's frantic heartbeat. She clutched the knife tighter in her free hand and glanced behind her at the seemingly unending woods than back at the ever approaching zombies.
When in doubt…go.
Cassandra turned away from the road and took off at a sprint she didn't know she still had in her towards the waiting trees, hoping against reason that she could disappear into their depths as easily as her mystery man had managed to.