Chapter Two

There were a few awkward silent moments between Emily and the others in the dim lighted room before someone spoke up. It was the man with the black curly hair she had seen when everyone was walking in.

"I'm Rick..." The man, Rick, started. The tone of his voice gave away that he was a little nervous and that made the situation even worse. "And this is my wife Lori," The woman with the black wavy hair stepped up next to Rick. Her eyes reminded Emily of a bunny's. They were wide and she seemed just as nervous, if not more, as her husband. "And my son Carl." The boy was friendlier and seemed less nervous than his parents. He waved a polite little wave and smiled at her.

She smiled back, chuckling at Rick and Lori.

The old man spoke next, walking up next to the side of her bed to shake her hand. "Dale Horvath. It's great to see a new face around here." Emily noticed that his voice was the fatherly one she had heard before. She shook his hand back, feeling a little more comfortable around Dale now. He reminded her of her grandfather who died before this mess. Only some were that lucky.

A girl with short brown hair was looking at the Chinese man with her eyebrows raised. She nodded her head towards Emily and the man took a double-take at her before smiling quickly.

"I'm Glenn." He told her.

Emily smiled and laughed although she didn't know why. Maybe it was because he was being instructed to do by a girl or maybe it was the fact that the situation seemed better now. It didn't matter. Laughing felt good when there wasn't really much to laugh about.

"She's learning from Daryl already..." Dale muttered, just loud enough for Emily to hear.

After everyone had introduced themselves, Emily had the idea to get up and walk. Her legs ached from lying in that bed for God-knows-how-long and she had more questions to ask Daryl. He seemed to know more about her than the others did and he was the one who rescued her. Plus, she just wanted to talk. She hadn't spoken to any of the others, even when they were introducing themselves.

She tore back the sheets from her body, folding them to the end of the bed, and put her feet on the wooden floor. She stood up and immediately regretted it. Her side seemed to have sandpaper in it, sending wave after wave of pain the whole time she stood. She bit her lip, trying to ignore it, and took a step. Emily winced and took another step. The pain seemed to get worse but she wanted out of the room. She wanted to see what was beyond her room (her curiosity was rising at every moment) and the questions she had were buzzing around her head like bees, stinging her every minute she didn't have an answer to them.

She took more steps, limping the whole time, and opened the door. She stepped outside and into the hall. She followed down the passageway and made her way to the stairs.

Emily looked down. They seemed to be never-ending. She sucked up whatever bravery she had in her and let her bramble-pricked foot touch the first stair. The wound in her side stretched a little and she bit her tongue so hard that it drew blood. She kept going like this until she reached the bottom, gasping for breath. She had no idea that it was going to be that hard to walk down a set of stairs. Stupid apocalypse...without it, she would never be in this situation. She would be back in Alabama with her family, eating dinner around the table and laughing so hard she choked on her food. A tear welled up in her eye but she blinked it away, not wanting to cry. She was strong. She was not a crier. No matter what happened, she had to stay strong and alive.

She looked around, making sure no one was there. They would send her back to the bed for sure. But Daryl wouldn't care- at least she didn't think he'd care. She walked towards the screen door, opened it, and stepped out onto the porch. The sun hit her skin and filled her with warmth. It felt nice after all she'd been through. She looked around once more, spotting Daryl this time. He was walking towards the forest line with his crossbow in his hands. If she wanted to talk to him, she'd have to get there fast. He was getting closer every second and she didn't really want to go in the woods to search for him, let alone in the woods at all.

She started to run, not letting the pain or her limp slow her down. She was about a foot or so behind him when she stopped, breathing heavily. Daryl turned around, curious about the sound.

Emily was clutching her side, a little blood coming out of it because of the running. The stitches and gash had probably stretched, but neither of them could tell.

"Shit lil' girl. Look at what you've done to yourself." He said, a little bit of sympathy in his voice as he saw her in the condition she was in.

"I...was...looking...for you." She panted out between breaths.

"What're you lookin' for me for?"

"I wanted to ask you some questions. Mostly about how you all got here to this farm. I haven't seen a person- at least, not one that was alive -in a while. It'd be nice to hear something besides my own voice like out there." She lifted a weak hand towards the woods, pointing.

"Well maybe when you can actually walk." He set down his crossbow where he could see it and started to walk towards her.

"Ohhhhh no," She protested. "Don't think that you're just gonna pick me up and take me back into that room. I don't want to lay around, I want to do something."

"I don't think," He said, picking her up in his arms. Her head rested against his chest and her feet hung off of his other arm. "I know."

"You're such a jerk." She muttered, looking up at him.

Daryl chuckled, walking towards the house.

"If you think that now, just wait till you get to know me."

Emily would have protested more but she didn't want to end up walking back to the house. Being carried was the easy way out and that's exactly what she wanted at the moment.

They made it back to the room she was in before, the door left open. Inside, Carol was looking out the window that Emily had just now noticed was there, hidden behind curtains she could of sworn weren't there before.

"Oh God," She said, relieved to see that Emily was okay. "I got scared, I thought something happened."

Daryl set her down in the bed, careful not to hurt her wounds. Carol covered the girl up sheets again, making sure that she was comfortable. Daryl began to leave the room when Emily's voice stopped him.

"You're not sticking around?" She asked, her voice soft from exhaustion.

"Just because I saved your life doesn't mean I gotta take care of ya."

He shut the door behind him, leaving her alone with Carol.

"You'll get used to it." Carol reassured her. "He's like that a lot."