Okay, I know it's been a long time and this chapter is kind of short but I just wanted to get something up :) Hope you like. Please tell me what you think I'm open to suggestions.

Chapter 9:

Fire. Jennifer was surrounded by fire and bloodshed as she tried to escape the trap. She crawled on the ground, passing her dying squad members. They reached out for her but she only crawled past them without hesitation. When she looked into the eyes of her men all she could see were the families they had back home. She saw the pleading eyes of Donavan and thought of how he had three children back home and one on the way. She saw Andrew and thought back to how his children would scream with excitement when he returned and how they would weep when he left. She saw Fredrick who was only a few months from retirement. He had told them so much about how he and his wife were going to celebrate his retirement by going to Fiji; he had been so excited because they had never gone on a real vacation. Jennifer pushed these thoughts out of her mind as she focused on one thing and one thing only, her survival. Unfortunately, she was too slow and the flames that had been licking at her body now consumed her fully, filling her with tremendous pain.

Everything went dark and the scene changed. This time, Jennifer was in her childhood home. She stood before the cold fireplace in their family room. She heard a soft giggle that sent shivers up her spine. She began to follow the sound when her barefoot stepped in something warm and sticky. Her eyes slowly looked down as she lifted her foot to meet her fingers. She drug her two fingers over the ball of her foot, collecting the liquid on the. Jennifer brought the two up to her face and examined them. She knew what it was even before she smelt the metallic smell. She dropped her hand to her side and, slowly, her feet began moving her forward.

It was as if something possessed her. She couldn't control her body; only go along with it as it brought her down the narrow hallway. Her feet began to move faster and with each step she took the hallway seemed to get longer and longer. Eventually, Jennifer broke out of her trance and she felt herself break out into a full on sprint as she tried to reach the door. Her arms were pumping vigorously and she could feel her bare feet splashing through the pools of blood that had grown in size.

Jennifer reached her hand out, only inches from the door. She finally felt the cool metal knob in her hand and she twisted it so hard she almost broke it. As she broke through into the light, her body halted and waited for her mind to catch up.

Jennifer saw her little sister before her. The small girl's back was turned and her hair fell in a cascade of golden. Jennifer smiled as she approached Mackenzie. Her hand was outstretched and a smile was plastered on her face. That smile dropped when a cold feeling washed over Jennifer and she was frozen in her steps as her hand feel to her side, numb. The small girl before her turned to meet her and everything changed. A gloom washed over the scene and everything seemed darker.

Jennifer watched in horror with nothing to do but stare. The young child turned to fully show what she had become. Her skin was rotting, her cheek had a large chunk missing, revealing the small teeth of a child, and the worst of all though, was the once bright blue eyes were now bloodshot with a ferocious look of hunger.

Jennifer began backing away as her sister stood up, knocking the chair she had been sitting on over. Mackenzie was getting quicker and Jennifer started to get desperate. She was backing up so fast that her foot slipped on the blood covered ground and she was sent to the floor.

"No!" Jennifer yelled as she began backing up causing blood to cover her body. "No!"

Jennifer's back hit the wall and she desperately searched behind her, only to find that the door had disappeared. Her breathing was heavy and the smell of rotten flesh stung her nose. She continued to try to back up, even though she knew there was nowhere to go, as the snarling creature got closer.

"No!" Jennifer let out on last scream before the monster fell on her, taking a large chunk of flesh from her neck.

Jennifer awoke suddenly as her eyes snapped open and she took a deep breath in, which was followed by many short pants. Her body ached and was covered with a thin layer of sweat. As she slowly arose, the ache in her body got more noticeable and she was attacked by the bright sunshine shining through the window in front of her. She quickly moved to get out of bed when the abrupt pain crept up her back and she recalled the events that took place before she passed out. Upon realizing this, Jennifer mentally scolded herself for forgetting about what happened, but this was quickly shaken off when she heard the sound of the creaky front door opening and the beating sound of footsteps on the wooden floor.

Jennifer slowly got out of bed and made a move for the door; getting out of the bed left her breathing hard and just moving in general made her back screech in pain. Even with these obstacles, Jennifer made her way to the door, determined to get some answers to questions she didn't even know she had.

Just as she laid her trembling hand on the doorknob, it was off of it as the wooden door swung open, causing Jennifer to stumble back onto her butt. For a while she had forgotten about the wound that marked her head but that impact with the ground made her remember instantaneously as her head began to ache unlike anything she'd ever experienced.

"Ow!" Jennifer screeched as two sets of strong arms lifted her up and placed her, delicately, back into bed as if she were some porcelain doll that would crack if touched. Then, without hesitation, Hershel began examining her, starting by putting his cold, metal stethoscope under the plain shirt she wore. Jennifer jumped at the coldness and had a hard time comprehending what the elderly man was doing.

Once she realized what Hershel was doing, her attention moved to the three others currently occupying her room. One look at Rick's stern face and she knew she was in for it. 'Great' she thought as she mentally rolled her eyes. She didn't need to be scolded and lectured as if she were a child, she knew what she did was stupid, but what could she say? Stupid hurts.

As her eyes left Rick's profile, they wandered to the one she didn't expect to be here, Daryl. She narrowed her eyes at the redneck wondering just what he was up to. He definitely didn't come here to tell her off and he for sure didn't care about her well-being. Or was he? 'No, don't be an idiot Jen. This hillbilly doesn't care about anything except his own survival.' She thought as her head crooked slightly to the side. 'What's your game redneck?'

The sound of Shane clearing his throat reminded Jennifer of what was going on around her.

"What the hell was that about, Jen?" Shane asked before anyone else had the chance to speak up.

"Well," She began, looking down at her fingers that were now intertwined. "I was in the woods and I was attacked by a panther. It was just roaming the forest, must've escaped from a zoo or something."

"You know that's not what I mean." She looked up and was met with Shane's big brown eyes. His face looked stern, but his chocolate eyes told her different. They did hold anger but there was also confusion, frustration and hurt.

Jennifer let out a sigh as Hershel began to inspect the wound on her head. "I heard you over heard say something about not going to look for Sam until tomorrow. I couldn't wait that long so I decided to take matters into my own hands and search myself."

"You could have died," Rick spoke up.

"But I didn't." Sam said casually.

"But you could've." Rick threw back.

"And I didn't." Jennifer said getting more and more aggravated.

"Bu-" Rick began but was cut off as Jennifer began to speak.

"Look, I don't need the three of you coming in here a lecturing me. Yeah, I could have died, but I didn't and that's all that really matters now." Jennifer snapped looking at each one of them. Shane put his head into his hand as he ran the other one up and down his nearly shaven head, Rick stared at the foot of the bed nodding at something, and Daryl kept his place leaned back against the wall silently taking in the scene. Hershel, who Jennifer hadn't really been paying attention to, had replaced the bandage around her head and was now steadily listening to the conversation, even though the room was now cloaked in silence.

"Why?" Shane broke the silence as he raised his head from his head a small amount. As if he sensed her confusion, he continued. "Why is this girl so important to you? I get it, she's a little girl all alone out in the woods and we wanna find her too. But why is it that you're willing to put your life on the line and put yourself in situation you shouldn't come out of just for her?"

Jennifer bit her lip as her gaze dropped back down to her hands. That was the inevitable question. She knew it was coming and she had hoped it would be later, at least to give her enough time to deal with the inner demons that followed. Jennifer let out a breath and lifted her gaze to the men before her. "She reminds me of my sister."

Confusion flashed over their face and Jennifer let out a sigh.

"Guess I'll have to explain." She said looking back down. She already felt exhausted.