Chapter 3
When Emily woke up the truck was stopping. "What's happenin'?" She asked quietly so she wouldn't wake Lauren. "I don't know, I'll go find out." Daryl said quietly. "We'll come too." Emily told him as she got up and carried Lauren over to where the rest of the group was. "What's goin' on?" Emily asked. "Roads blocked, we need to start movin' cars." Rick explained. "Alright, when do we start?" Emily asked. "You wanna help us move cars?" Shane snorted. "Or gather supplies from the cars, either one." Emily said with only a tiny hint of annoyance in her voice. She was really trying not to let Shane get to her. Lauren started waking up. "Mommy.." She said quietly. "Hey baby, everythings okay. Wanna help mommy look through the cars for some stuff?" Emily asked soothingly. "That's okay, I can watch her for you." Lori offered. Emily was hesitant, she'd seen how little Lori actually watched Carl. After a moment she smiled and agreed. "Okay, thank you." Emily said as she handed Lauren over to Lori. "Okay baby mommy and Daryl are gonna go down the road and look through some cars, you be good and always stay right beside Lori, okay? I love you." Emily told her daughter softly, but sternly. "Yes mommy, I don't want the monsters to get me. I love you too." Lauren said quietly. Daryl looked at Lauren for a moment then walked up to her. "Hey, the monsters ain't gonna get ya. Your mom and me ain't gonna let that happen." Daryl told her as he gave her a quick smile. "Promise?" The little girl asked him. "Promise." Daryl said softly. Lauren smiled at Daryl before him and Emily walked away.
After a couple minutes Emily and Daryl heard Dale saying there was walkers. "Lauren.." Emily whispered with worry in her voice. "She'll be okay, get under the car with me." Daryl muttered. Emily nodded and got under the car with Daryl, he dragged a couple dead bodies near to cover up their scent. After a few minutes all the walkers were gone, when they headed towards the group something wasn't right. Lori came running towards Emily panicing. "I'm so sorry, there were walkers and I forgot Lauren was with me so I ran over to Carl and two walkers chased her into the woods.." Lori explained. "What?! I trust you with my daughter and you just forget about her?! My four year olds out there in the woods alone with walkers chasing her because you're too damn stupid to know how to watch a kid! I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Emily screamed as she ran towards Lori with her knife in her hand. Shane tried to stop her, but she got out of his grasp easily. It took Glenn, T-Dog, Shane, and Andrea to hold her back. Emily was still struggling to get free and go after Lori. "A little help here Daryl?" Shane asked impatiently. "Nope, far as I'm conserned that bitch deserves it. Besides someones gotta get that little girl." He said bluntly as he left into the woods. Emily still hadn't stopped struggling to get free. "I'm gonna fucking kill you! That's my baby and you just forgot about her! You just left her to die you fucking bitch!" Emily continued to scream at her. "How would you feel if I did that to Carl?" Emily asked coldly. After a few minutes Emily stopped struggling and the men and Andrea let her go. Before they knew what was happening she was on top of Lori beating the shit out of her. "You just left my daughter to die you fucking bitch!" Emily yelled before stabbing Lori in the stomach. She was about to stab her again before she was once again held back, this time it was only by T-Dog, Glenn and Andrea because Shane was rushing to Loris side trying to help her. Lori turned and looked at Emily. "I had to.. I had to check on Carl." She tried to explain. "Well you could have oh I don't know.. brought my daughter with you! Its not my fault you can't keep an eye on your own damn kid!" Emily practically screamed at her. Emily was sobbing and Glenn, T-Dog and Andrea were trying to comfort her. "Thank you guys, I appreciate your efforts, but the only thing that's gonna make this better is seeing my little girl." Emily told them.
After about a hour later Rick and Daryl came back to the highway without Lauren. Emily tried to start breaking out of everyones hold to run to Daryl, but everyone thought she was trying to get at Lori again. "I just wanna see Daryl, please.." She begged. Everyone let her go and she ran to him practically tackling him with a hug."Daryl.. what happened?" She asked him as she sobbed. He wrapped his arms around her tighter before answering. "Rick went after her, but he told her to go hide and she did, but then something spooked her and she ran off. I lost her trail." Daryl said sadly as he looked down at the ground. "I'm so sorry, but we'll find her." He said confidently. "I know we will Daryl." She told him as she kissed him on the cheek. "What happened to Lori?" Daryl asked as he pointed to the woman who was dramatically laying on the ground still. "She let my daughter run off into the forest with walkers chasing her, that's what happened." Emily said simpily. Daryl leaned in and whispered to her. "Good, the bitch got what was coming to her. She shoulda been watching that little girl extra closely when she heard there was danger.." Emily looked up at Daryl and for the first time since her daughter went missing she smiled. Then Rick began to walk over to the two. "Did you stab my wife?" He asked calmly. "If she knew how to keep an eye on children I wouldn't have had to." Emily said bluntly. "I understand you're angry and I'd do the same thing if that was Carl, but please.. stop." Rick practically begged. Emily didn't say anything so Rick continued. "I know what Lori did was wrong, I will be talking to her about that, but please don't do this to me or Carl." Rick continued. After a moment Emily finally answered him. "Okay Rick, but I'm not doing this for her or because I forgive her. I'm doing this for you and Carl." Emily said softly. Rick pulled her into a hug. "Thank you, we'll find your little girl." Rick said reasuringly. Emily hugged him back and nodded. After that Rick headed back towards Carl and Lori. Daryl wrapped his arms around her again. "I'll find her don't worry." Daryl mutterd to her.