Chapter Six
Her breath was quick and shallow. There was a stinging pain in her neck. She wanted to move but her body wouldn't let her; instead, it kept her pinned the ground. Her eyes flickered around, searching for something; searching for someone. Black and blue dots flew across her vision and she started to panic. Her insides seemed to be on fire. It was a crushing, horrible, burning pain.
Emily's eyelids fluttered shut but she snapped them open, not quite ready to fade yet. There was a snapping sound and a walker fell close by. Whoever shot it walked up to the zombie's head and retrieved something. An arrow. It was Daryl. He looked over to his left, where she was, to see what was laying there making the panting sounds. His eyes went wide and he quickly went up to her. He got down next to her.
"Emily?" He questioned, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Emily gave all her will to nod her head in reply.
"What happened?" He asked, placing a hand on the bite on her neck to try and stop the bleeding.
"Shit." He cursed, trying to find something to use as a makeshift bandage.
"It's no...use." She choked out. She regretted speaking; she was losing too much oxygen to talk.
"Don't say that!" He shouted angrily, still searching. He began to tear part of his shirt.
She moved a limp hand to his. He flinched slightly at her touch. Her hand was cold, almost corpse like.
"Don't," She sighed. She took in a big breath of air and her lungs burned.
He looked at her, sorrow and anger mixed into his eyes.
"Don't...let me...become one..." Emily took a sharp breath through her now clenched teeth. The bite was stinging more; in less than a minute she would be dead- then a walker. "Of them."
Daryl felt failure once more. He had let someone else, someone who trusted him completely and had almost become sort of a little sister to him, die. She was bit, there was no helping her now. He knew that he couldn't do anything now but he didn't seem to process it. It was almost too much for him to handle.
The look in her eyes said more than words. She was begging him to kill her before she turned. She didn't want to be one of them. Daryl knew what he had to do but he didn't know if he could bring himself to do it.
"Please..." Her voice was soft and almost not heard.
He looked her in the eyes. His gaze was unchanging and serious. Grabbing his crossbow, he stood up. An arrow was already loaded into it. He aimed for her forehead, the look on his face still the same.
"Sorry, Em."
Her eyes snapped open. Emily's body was covered in sweat. She sat up quickly and put her hand to her neck. There was no bite mark. It was all just a bad dream. Just a bad dream, that's all, just a nightmare.
She could remember the terror in her nightmare. Walkers had attacked and she was fighting. She was grabbed from behind and one of them bit into her neck. Then-
She stopped. Emily didn't want to remember the dream.
When Hershel had taken care of Beth, he had taken out her stitches. Emily had gotten tired afterwords, so she had gone off to the tent and taken a nap. She unzipped the opening and walked out, zipping it back up behind her. Emily walked towards the farmhouse, her dream haunting her with every step. The sun beat down on her, adding to the lines of sweat already dripping down her neck. She ran her hand against her hair line, wiping away some of the sweat.
As she reached camp, the front door burst open nearby. Andrea, who was sitting on the steps, looked behind her to see who was there. Lori stepped out, her black hair bouncing on her shoulders.
"She didn't cut herself too deep." She sighed, leaning against a pole.
"She wants to live then." Andrea smiled.
Emily couldn't help but wonder who 'she' was. Maggie? No, Maggie wasn't suicidal. Carol? She looked around and spotted the gray haired woman tending to the fire. As she thought further into this, Emily's thoughts were interrupted by Daryl's voice behind her.
"What the hell happened now?" He asked.
Emily turned around and saw the three fresh squirrels and a rabbit strung on a line around one of his belt loops. His crossbow was slung around his shoulder like always.
"I don't know," She answered. "Can I help you with those? Get the meat or something?"
"These?" He motioned towards the dead animals. "Ya know how?"
"Kinda. My dad taught me something on this one hunting trip back in Alabama."
After a moment, he nodded. He was curious about what the girl knew about survival and hunting. "Jus' don't mess 'em up or nothin'. If ya do, it goes against all of us. We can't afford that."
She smiled and followed him to a spot near the fire. He lay the three animals out on the ground and pulled out a knife from his pocket. He thought he had another but he couldn't find it. Setting his crossbow on the ground near him, he picked up one of the squirrels. He sliced the knife down the animal's stomach. Daryl looked over to Emily to see if she winced or closed her eyes at the sight. Her eyes were wide open, staring curiously at what he was doing.
"Gotta cut around the bones. Get as much as ya can out of it." He dug the knife around and pulled out chunks of raw meat. He looked over once more. She hadn't even blinked.
"I knew that. That's kind of common sense, ain't it?" She asked.
"Nah. Some jackasses eat it like a chicken leg."
"But it's okay to eat it like that, though."
"Yeah, but do it this way if you wanna cook it."
After a while she had taken care of the other squirrel and the rabbit, much to Daryl's surprise.
"Don't act surprised. I might be thirteen but I still survived the apocalypse by myself. I can also take meat out of a squirrel. Dear Lord, I must be Superman." She said sarcastically. "Haven't you ever met a tomboy before?"
"Yeah. Plen'y of 'em in Georgia. But all they ever do is get a 'lil bit of dirt on their hands and think they're doin' a man's job." He pointed behind him to the top of the RV where Andrea was sitting, a gun in her lap. "Like that. Thinks she's all badass and stuff, shootin' a gun and all, but what happens? I end up gettin' shot because she didn't listen to what people tell 'er to do."
"She shot you? Like, with a gun?" Emily exclaimed.
"Yeah. In the head, actually."
"And you're still alive! You must be Superman here, not me."
"Not in the forehead or nothin'. Bitch got terrible aim. Grazed my temple is all."
"But still. Wow. Kudos to you, my friend."
He smirked and chuckled slightly.
"Says the thirteen year old who got knocked senseless but still had the guts to shoot a walker."
"That isn't anything compared to getting shot in the head."
"He got an arrow through his side, too." Carol muttered to Emily.
"THROUGH YOUR SIDE! LIKE ALL THE WAY THROUGH!" The girl practically shouted.
"Stop shoutin'. You want all the damn walkers around to come 'ere and get us?" He snapped angrily.
"Sorry," She said softly in reply. "That's just amazing, that's all."
He chuckled again. "But yeah, all the way through."
"Wow..." Emily trailed off.
"Be lucky that all you got out there was a stab with a rock through your side. You could have got a lot worse out there. It's dangerous. Especially when you're all alone out there."
The thought of Sophia went through his mind. She was out there, all alone, and got bit. She must have been scared out of her mind. If only he had found her...
"You okay?" Emily asked him. He was looking into the fire with a look of sorrow on his face. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders like she did to her big brother when he looked like that.
"I'm fine." He shook her arm off.
"You didn't look fine."
"I said I'm fine!" Daryl snapped. He got up from his seat and stormed off, his crossbow slung around one of his shoulders in less than a second.
Emily watched him walk away. Something was bothering him and she was going to find out what.
"I told you he gets like that a lot." Carol said, sitting beside her. "Used to it yet?"
She turned her head to look at Carol. "Kind of. Is he bipolar or something?"
"No. Just an angry person, that's all. You must have hit a nerve on him." There was a moment of silence before Carol spoke again. "He lost a brother, you know. Merle."
"Yeah I know. He told me."
Carol was surprised Daryl had even said a word about it, let alone to Emily. She kept talking, the thought still on her mind. "He never forgave himself for not finding him. But my daughter, S-Sophia..." Carol choked on her name. She didn't want to say it.
Emily felt bad that she had asked about Daryl in the first place.
"You don't have to explain, Carol." She spoke, trying to talk her out of it.
But Carol went on. "Sophia's the one that kills him every day. She got lost out there in the woods. All alone. He searched for her every day, did more than her own father ever did for her, until we found her. She was- she was in the barn over there. She was bitten by one of those things." Carol spat the word with pure hatred. "She was a walker when she came out of those doors. Daryl probably felt like he failed me, failed the group, because he didn't find my little girl. It was horrible." Carol took a second to try and get herself together. One day she would get over the death of Sophia, she knew she would, but today was not that day.