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When Emmalyn woke up, her head was throbbing and her body ached but she was lying on something soft. She blinked her eyes open and refused to move as she woke from forced unconsciousness, she took in slow breaths in hopes to not cause her ribs further pain. The sound of rustling alerted her, she jumped up despite her body refusal but the one standing before her was someone she hadn't expected to see. "M-Merle?" Emmalyn whispered, her throat was dry and the lack of using her voice was catching up to her. "Hey, Em," Merle replied to her, he had aged that was for sure. But that same mischief glinted in his eyes as he sat by the cot, gently pushing her back down onto the cot to ease her wounds.

"You are on bed rest, Em," Merle told her with a certain warning glare, "I bought the jeep back after Boss man informed me of its whereabouts. Your stuff is safe." Emmalyn smiled softly before looking around, she turned her eyes back to Merle. "Where's Daryl?" Emmalyn whispered, the action enough strain as it was. "Out hunting. He doesn't know that you're here yet. I'll tell him when he gets back tonight," Merle answered her as he grabbed a water bottle, stuck a straw into it and held it out to Emmalyn. "It's good to see you again, Em. Just wish you were in a better condition," Merle said to her as he lightly brushed his finger against the bruise under her eye.

"These aren't from the accident, are they?" Merle asked her, she swallowed slowly allowing the cold water to soothe the dryness of her throat. "No..." Emmalyn answered him, her eyes growing misty from tears that wouldn't fall; she had cried enough for the pain of her past. "Where is he?" Merle asked through gritted teeth. "Dead..." Emmalyn whispered. "One of those things? The Walkers?" Merle questioned her and she nodded. "Don't talk much anymore?" Merle asked, she turned her head away and closed her eyes. Merle knew this side of her, she started falling into this back when she was younger but Jason had saved her from it before it got too bad.

"You just rest, Em," Merle instructed before grabbing a pack and climbing out of the tent, he zipped it up and walked away leaving Emmalyn to her own thoughts. She took the time to process everything that had happened, she pushed it aside and focused on happier memories of her childhood with the Dixon and Smith boys and allowed herself to fall asleep. Merle approached a man and woman standing by two other men and a child. "How is she?" The woman asked him. "She's as good as she can be. Don't talk much but the same Emmalyn I knew," Merle answered Lori Grimes despite the dislike he held to the others, she and her son, Carl were the ones who convinced the boss man, Shane to bring Emmalyn back.

"That's good news," One of the men told Merle with a nod of his head. "It is, Dale. Now I just gotta pass the news to Daryl," Merle told Dale who frowned slightly. "How long will it be till she's healed up?" The other man asked. "Not sure but knowing Emmalyn, she'll be walking around in no time despite her injuries," Merle replied to him. "Come on, Glenn," Dale told the man, Glenn nodded before the two walked away. "Can I see her?" Carl asked Merle. "She's resting kid, let her rest," Merle replied to him before walking away to work out how damaged Emmalyn's beloved jeep really was from the accident; he kept the supplies inside hidden.

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Later that night, Daryl trailed back to the campsite the survivors had set up in the Quarry outside of the city. It was surrounded by trees and had a fairly safe water source plus it was high ground that allowed them to see anything that came their way. Daryl walked out of the woods and practically tossed the buck he was carrying to the ground by Shane's feet, the leader nodded his head to the hunter. "You're brother's been waiting for you," Shane motioned his head to Merle who was standing by the tent. "Somethin' wrong?" Daryl asked Shane who shook his head but the look on his face told Daryl all he needed to know so he made his way over.

"What's goin' on?" Daryl asked his brother, placing his crossbow down. "You know how Shane and Lori went out to the car pile up to find supplies?" Merle questioned his brother. "Yeah, they seem fine, what's this about?" Daryl pushed further. "They found a survivor while they were out there, Carl's the reason they saved them," Merle answered his brother watching him and his response carefully. "Another mouth to feed?" Daryl growled out in annoyance. "Don't be saying that, boy," Merle warned before nodding to the tent. "And now they're in our tent?" Daryl complained before unzipping the tent and peeking in, he froze at the sight of long red hair and a familiar leather jacket.

"Go on, baby brother. I got the buck," Merle encouraged before making his way over to Shane to get to work on the Buck before Shane or Ed could ruin it. Daryl climbed into the tent and zipped it up behind him, quietly walking over to the woman laying on the spare bed cot. He brushed her hair out of her face and silently gasped at the familiar face he still adored all these years later, though the bruises and cuts weren't ideal to see. Emmalyn stirred slightly before suddenly jumping at the new presence, she held out her pocket knife towards Daryl but he held her wrist gently so she wouldn't stab him in the head.

"You know to go for the head, that's good," Daryl told her with a small smirk on his face, Emmalyn blinked a few times to push away the sleepiness. "Daryl?" Emmalyn whispered before she pounced forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pushing her head into the crook of his neck before tears fell from her eyes. Daryl was a little hesitant to hug her back, physical touch not being the easiest thing for him but the skip of his heart and the feeling of her body against his was enough encouragement to hold her. Though, his heart broke at the silent sobs that broke free from her, he knew she had been through a lot and when she was ready, he'd be there to listen.

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Emmalyn smiled as she sat with Carl and Sophia, the two kids had warmed up to the ginger since she was rescued by Shane, Lori and Carl two months ago. They had a few supply runs into the city thanks to their lead runner Glenn and from the moment Emmalyn had healed up, she joined him on those runs being one of the smaller and quicker members of their group. She hadn't said a word to anyone other than Merle or Daryl but even those responses were whispers and nothing more. It took her a few weeks to finally tell the brothers about her ex and how he treated her, they were both fuming and hoped he was burning up in Hell for what he had done to her.

The group of survivors on the Quarry consisted of an older man named Dale who always wore a fishermen hat and showed compassion and kindness, Emmalyn adored listening to his stories about his late wife and the fishing trips he missed. There was a couple Carol and Ed with their daughter, Sophia. Carol was a kind woman who quickly recognised Emmalyn's silence being a defence mechanism to lessen her pain and she did her best to accommodate for that, giving the younger woman a small notepad she could use to write on. However, she was married to Ed who was clearly a sexist, abusive bastard towards his wife and there were many moments where Emmalyn wanted to kill him.

Then you had the sisters, Andrea and Amy who were equally sweet as they were co-dependent. Andrea was very protective over her sister, Amy and that made sense but there were moments where Andrea overcompensated in the sake of proving herself worthy to work with the men rather than the women. And their minds were trapped on the belief that this would all blow over soon and everything would go back to the way it was. Emmalyn had been approached by T-Dog and Jacqui who were hesitant due to her bond with the Dixon boys but Emmalyn's sweet smile was all both african-american's needed to talk to her; even if she only listened with a smile.

The Morales' family kept more to themselves but Morales never hesitated to be a helping hand, Emmalyn had spent time drawing with his kids. Another guy with the group was Jim, Shane had been the one to point him out to Emmalyn as the man kept to himself with a constant sad expression, Shane had told her that he lost his family to the Walkers and the ginger felt terrible for him; leaving him be. And as for Shane, Lori and Carl, she had been grateful to them for saving her but it was Carl, Lori's son who had grown attached to Emmalyn. Wherever you found Emmalyn on the campsite, Carl wasn't too far behind her. The others thought it was adorable and Lori was happy her son had someone to look out for him.

They had all done well to survive this long, there were a few others that lurked around the small group of survivors but Emmalyn had done her share of socialising. She spent most of her time hunting with the Dixons or sitting with Carl and Sophia as they studied or just talked like children should. And with her remaining time, she was working on Dale's RV engine as the vehicle had broke down on the Quarry, convenient at the time but not so convenient should they need to escape the Quarry in a hurry. Thankfully, the jeep hadn't been too damaged but they had no spare tire rendering the car useless so it was perfect for parts that everyone needed minus a radiator hose for the RV.

"Try turning the key?" Carl called out to Dale, the older man did as the boy instructed once Emmalyn gave the okay. Everyone had smiled as the RV started, the hose would be a later issue for them to deal with but for now, they could guarantee the RV to work. "Thank you, Emma," Dale told the woman, shaking her hand before walking away allowing the RV to run for a little bit before turning it off. She looked back at her father's jeep and frowned slightly at the sight of its torn apart appearance, she shook those thoughts away and allowed Carl to take her hand and the two walked away from the RV towards the campfire where food was cooking.

Emmalyn left Carl with his mother for the days study session deciding to change out of the grease stained shirt she wore. She climbed into the tent and zipped it, quickly changing her v-neck shirt into a black tank top and her leggings into some high-waisted shorts. She was lacing up her combat boots when her eyes focused on the scars that littered her arms and legs, to any outsider you would think she either harmed herself or had a battle against a dense collection of trees but the others knew exactly what those wounds were from; Merle's drunken words let it slip that she had been abused growing up. She had stormed away from him at that while Daryl snapped at his brother for opening his big mouth.

So she didn't bother to hide the scars and with it being the end of the world as they know it, she didn't see the point in worrying about such things like old scars; who is she trying to impress? The dead? Emmalyn shook those thoughts away as she brushed her hair into a ponytail to get it out of her face, she sat back on her bed cot and sighed allowing her body to cool down from being under the sun. "Hey, Emma! You in your tent?" Glenn's voice called out from the outside of my tent. She rolled her eyes before unzipping the tent flap and raising her brows in question. "I'll keep trying to get you to talk, it'll happen," Glenn teased with his usual happy grin.

Emmalyn shook her head before stepping out. She stood in front of Glenn with a questioning gaze making him sigh, "I'm going on a run into the city, I'm taking a small group and thought you may want to tag along." Emmalyn nodded with a small smile and proceeded to get her things together for the run, usually Glenn and Emmalyn did the supply runs alone but she understood the need for a group, they were running low on a lot of supplies. Emmalyn zipped up the flap of hers and the Dixons shared tent ensuring no one would go snooping though Carl might end up in there, he tended to sneak in and sleep beside Emmalyn sometimes; something the Dixon boys allowed.

Emmalyn let her eyes wander over the group joining her and Glenn on the supply run into the city; it was Jacqui, Morales, Andrea, T-Dog and Merle. Emmalyn smiled at Merle, the older Dixon winked at her with his usual smirk. Lori walked over to Emmalyn with a smile, "You be careful out there, Emma." She smiled and hugged her as Merle spoke up, "Don't ya worry, I'll make sure she comes back." Emmalyn grinned at him before hugging Carl, as she pulled away she pointed her finger from her heart to his, "I know, but I don't just want you in my heart... I want you here." She ruffled his hair before standing up, nodding at Shane before turning to leave with the rest of the group.

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Rosemary Speaks

Now we start getting into the first season of The Walking Dead. This season will stick to script pretty strictly with the addition of Emmalyn and flashbacks to her life before.

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See you in the next chapter!