The way to explain the actual scenario of what we saw when we walked into the shack was....blood. Just mass amounts of blood on every surface in the room. Blood somehow even managed to make it's way onto the ceiling. I couldn't help the gasp that came form my mouth as I looked around in horror....

I could see two dead bodies laying in this room....Dale, and Lori. I cried out looking at the two dead figures I had grown to care for so much. Dale, he had a bullet hole through his head, meaning he must have turned into a walker at some point. He had blood surrounding his mouth, and stains of it down his shirt. I sank to my knees beside him and took his cold dead hand in mine. "Im so sorry Dale" I whispered. I felt the warm tears trickle down my face as i stared at a man who I thought of like my family.  I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, and looked to see Daryl looking at Dale with saddened eyes. 

I stood up remembering that there was another body in this room, and her son happened to be with us. I heard heart shattering sobs coming from Carl, who had fallen to his knees next to his dead mother. Lori had been cut open towards the bottom of her belly, blood still poured from her abdomen, meaning all of this must have happened recently. But what about the baby?? The womb looked empty, and I didn't see a newborn anywhere in the shack. My guess was Lori went into labor and decisions were made to kill her and save the baby. It really wouldn't have mattered if I was here or not, we had next to no medical supplies before we got here, and the results would have been the same....but it didn't make this any easier. 

I placed a gentle hand on carl's shoulder, who just shrugged me off and wrapped his arms around his mothers shoulders. I wiped away the tears that were falling down my face and took another glance around the room. Someones leg was laying beside Dale, cut right under the knee. I couldn't figure out who's leg this belonged too, but I was guessing it was male. But what confused me most, was that Dale and Lori both had bullet holes through their heads, and neither of them had bite marks from walkers. 

"I don't get it" I mumbled to myself, still not tearing my eyes from the bloody mess. "What?" I heard Daryl ask as he wrapped an arm around my waist. I could feel my skin tingling at his touch, and slightly leaned into him. "They weren't bit, why were they shot in the head?" I asked quietly as not to upset the grieving young boy who sat before us. "You don't have to be bit....you die and you turn" He whispered in my ear. "That's what Dr. Jenner told us at the CDC" He added.

Knowing that no matter what, if you die from anything makes you come back as a walker, made me suddenly feel sick to my stomach. Dale must have not made it through the night, came back as a walker and then all hell broke loose. I just shook my head and left outside of the shack, I couldent stand looking at the mess any longer. I sunk to my knees outside of the shack, in the cold wet dirt and just cried to myself. 

I heard the shack door close again behind me, I just sat in the dirt with my head in my hands. "Emma, we need to go, we have visitors" Daryl said placing a hand on my shoulder. I wiped my eyes and looked up to see around five walkers heading up the hill in our direction. I jumped up from the dirt and ran over to the car with Daryl and Carl close behind me. Daryl jumped in the drivers seat and took off down the dirt path towards the main road...

It was dark outside and no way of telling where the group had gone to, or any way if knowing if any of them were alright...But i know they needed me desperately, with a newborn and someone with a missing limb a doctor was essentially a key part for their survival, especially since we now have medical supplies. "We need to find the group" I said quietly, looking outside at the dark woods that were passing by the window. "Lets just head back to the hotel, we can find the group in the morning" Daryl said glancing in the rear view window for a response from Carl...Carl just sat looking out of the window, his tears had finally dried, he now just looked angry....

The town was still deserted like we had left it, except for a set of headlights who were up ahead...it was the green Hyundai that Shane had found before I even joined the group. I could see a few people standing around outside, and someone was standing on the roof of the car. "Daryl, It's them!" I said pointing in front of us, Daryl sped up slightly and parked on the opposite side of the road and turned the car off. 

"Dad!" I heard Carl shout as he jumped from the backseat and ran towards the group. I stepped out slowly as did Daryl. I saw Carl hugging Rick who had tears running down his face. Shane jumped down from the top of the car and gave me a quick hug and nodded at Daryl. I know Shane had been a little off the wire lately, but I still cared about him. I hugged Rick when he let og of his son, along with the rest of the group. I learned it was Hershel who's leg was the one we found at the shack.

Hershel was lying in the bed of the truck unconscious, what was left of his leg was wrapped in what looked like a t-shirt. "Wheres the baby?" I asked hesitantly, knowing Lori had just been killed. Beth reached into the trunk of the car and pulled out a tiny bundle wrapped in a pillowcase. I gasped and took the tiny figure from Beth's arms. The baby was beautiful, with a bundle of dark brown hair on top of it's head, it didn't have a diaper on and I could now see it was a girl. 

"Shes Beautiful" I said softly, and handed her back to Beth, who took her graciously. "How long have you all been here?" I asked, walking back to the truck to clean up Hershel. "About an hour, we must have went a different way and missed you guys" Glenn told us, his arms wrapped around a shivering Maggie. I nodded and grabbed some gauze and peroxide out of my bag. I unwrapped the bloody shirt from around his stump, and poured some peroxide on the wound. Whoever cut it off did a pretty good job, it was a clean job. I re-wrapped it with some medical gauze and wrapped a blanket around him tightly. 

I walked back over to the group, just as Daryl was explaining the hotel to Rick, who looked ecstatic. "Ill go get some formula from the grocery store down the street, Daryl you get everyone and the gear inside" I said to Daryl, who just raised an eyebrow at my bossiness. Lately I had felt more like a leader, and I was willing to take that position, especially since now Rick would probably not be in the right frame of mind since loosing his wife. 

"ill go with ya" Shane said, walking up beside me with his pistol in his hand. I nodded to him and looked back to Daryl. He looked hesitantly at Shane for a few moments before awkwardly placing a hand on my shoulder and directing everyone else towards the hotel which was a couple blocks away.

I was still surprised, especially since it was night time that no walkers were roaming around right now. Shane and I headed to the grocery store silently, our flashlights pointed forward. The store was empty of walkers, and full of food which only made me smile more about the luck we had with this town. I grabbed several cans of formula and stuck them in my bag along with some infant medicine that was int eh same aisle. 

I didn't know where Shane had wandered off too, but he was probably so hungry he was eating whatever he found. And I was right when i found him eating a container of cookies, barely stopping to breath. "Easy there" I said chuckling, grabbed a few boxes of crackers and put them in my bag as well. Shane just looked at me with saddened eyes before nodding at the door. I didn't even think about Shane when I saw Lori on the ground, I knew he had feelings for her, and the fact that shes dead was really hard on him as well. I placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and went ahead of him outside to the cold....

We got back to the hotel to see Rick and Daryl sitting in the lobby, with no one else around. "There you are!" Daryl exclaimed and walked over to us. I smiled and handed Rick the bag with the baby supplies "Thank you Emma" he said quietly and walked down the hall, I could barely hear the baby crying on the first floor. 

"Shane just pick any open room, there's plenty" Daryl said nodding to the quiet man beside us. Shane nodded and headed up the staircase. "Everyone ok?" I asked Daryl. He bit his thumbnail and winced when he heard the baby scream a little loudly and then quiet down. "Yeah, Maggie and Glenn took a room up top. Hershel is down here with Beth, Rick and Carl are with the baby.  And T-Dog and Carol took rooms on the second floor" He told me nodding in the direction of the stairs.

I nodded and wondered where i would sleep. "You and I are up there as well" He said reaching down and grabbing my hand. "Come on" He said and dragged me up to the top floor, the floor i had cleared earlier. The only door that was closed was at the end of the hall, Glenn and Maggie must have chosen that one, and they must have cleaned up the walkers because their bodies were gone. Daryl led me to the opposite end of the hall and closed the door behind us. 

I locked the door behind us and placed my bow and arrows on a chair in the corner, along with Daryl's crossbow. Daryl plopped down on the bed and closed his eyes. I pulled my boots off and crawled in the bed beside Daryl, it felt so nice to lay down on an actual bed since laying on the ground for so long. I thought Daryl was asleep but he leaned up off the bed and pulled the blanket out from under him to cover both of us. I looked over to see Daryl staring at me intently, I just stared right back into his crystal blue eyes, before my eyes grew heavy and i fell asleep...I vaguely remember Daryl reaching over to push my hair out of my face, his fingertips giving me warmth for the rest of the night...