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Emmalyn opened her eyes slowly and looked out the window as she yawned, the car came to a stop as Daryl wanted to ditch the truck due to their lack of petrol. "Mornin'," Daryl spoke up as he turned to her, she smiled at him before they grabbed their bags and threw them into the RV with Dale. Emmalyn smiled happily as she climbed onto the back of the motorcycle that originally belonged to Merle, her arms wrapped around Daryl's torso comfortably and they were back on the road. Emmalyn's eyes watched the surrounding nature that presented itself beautifully despite the threat of dead littering the fields and cities; she was again reminded how nature would continue even without humans tending to it.

It wasn't long until they reached the highway graveyard that blocked their way, Daryl continued ahead of the RV to search for a way through but they didn't find any way out for the cars though a few Geeks were hanging around. "This is not good," Emmalyn told Daryl who nodded in agreement with her. They headed back to the others and Emmalyn frowned as she spoke, "Doesn't look like there will be much room for the cars to get through. May need to take that exit we passed and go around." Rick sighed, he had been concerned about that. Their attention was taken as the RV sputtered to a complete stop and shut off telling them all they needed to know, without a new radiator hose, the RV was going nowhere.

Emmalyn could hear Rick and Shane talking, the latter mentioned a gas station up ahead that he and T-Dog were gonna go check out for fuel. She approached Carl and Sophia, Lori was smiling at her as she pulled the two into a tight hug. "Would you go with Carl? He wants to scavenge for any supplies that could be useful but I'm helping Carol," Lori asked with a small smile. Emmalyn nodded with a smile before reaching out for Carl's hand, he took it and as they turned away, Lori spoke, "Stay within Emma or Dale's sight please." The boy agreed to his mother's request before he and Emmalyn walked away to search for any supplies they could find; Emmalyn and Carl spoke about random things as she broke free some useful tools that Carl pointed out.

Emmalyn was searching through a car parallel to Carl when someone put their hand over her mouth startling her, she turned to see Daryl with a panicked expression. "Grab Carl and get under the car," He whispered quickly before glancing over at the large herd of geeks coming our way. Emmalyn quickly kissed Daryl before grabbing Carl and dragging him under the car closest to them, she held him tight with her hand on his mouth as he cried. She spotted Rick holding Sophia a short distance away, her gaze soon landing on Daryl who was laying under a geek with T-Dog beside him doing the same. Geeks stumbled past causing Carl to whimper before moving closer to Emmalyn, she tried her best to soothe him as her heart raced.

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Once the geeks thinned out, Emmalyn helped Carl out from under the car and ushered him to his mother before turning at the sound of a scream, Sophia had ran off into the woods with two walkers chasing after her. Emmalyn pulled out her knife and ran after her with Rick following behind her, she quickly grabbed Sophia and covered her mouth while Rick lured the Geeks away from them. Once she felt it was safest, they followed the path back to the highway when groaning caught their attention. Sophia shrieked as three Geeks approached them from the brush, Emmalyn pushed for Sophia to run and they both took off in the opposite way of the highway and away from the direction Rick had gone.

They continued running until they encountered another small group of Geeks, Emmalyn was quick to take them down with her pocket knife protecting Sophia. She had noticed one of the Geeks had a machete in its side, she ripped it free and turned to the Geeks that had approached her while she was distracted. "Tree, Sophia!" Emmalyn called out to the girl, she followed the order and climbed up into a tree. Emmalyn was focused on the Geeks fighting her when she tripped over one of the bodies, a Geek falling down onto her. She knew the situation would get worse if she didn't get the Geek off of her before the other reached them, she rolled them over unintentionally resulting in the machete penetrating her thigh.

Emmalyn shouted out and grabbed a nearby branch, slamming it down into the Geek's head multiple times before pulling the machete free and driving it up the Geeks chin into its head. With the Geeks dead, Emmalyn pushed herself to stand up only to stumble and collapse at the wound that was bleeding through her camo pants. "EMMA!?" Sophia called out as Emmalyn took a breath, the preteen climbed back down and rushed over to the injured woman. "What do I do!?" Sophia asked with teary eyes. "Take a breath and look around... is there a building nearby?" Emmalyn asked knowing they were too far from the highway for her to walk back, they needed somewhere safe.

"I think there's a building over there," Sophia answered as she pointed towards the east of the woods, Emmalyn nodded. "Alright," Emmalyn replied, "Grab my pocket knife and hold it ready. If something dead shows up, kick the knee ─ from the back if you can ─ and with every bit of strength, you drive the blade into its head... understand?" Sophia was shaking as she looked wide eyed at Emmalyn. "Do you understand?" Emmalyn asked more sternly, the girl was startled but she nodded and grabbed the pocket knife as told. Emmalyn gritted her teeth as she sat up, pulling off her jacket, she removed her shirt and tore it to make a makeshift bandage to protect the wound; she pulled her jacket back on.

Emmalyn, with Sophia's struggling help, managed to get back to her feet and they slowly made their way towards the run down shack. Emmalyn stumbled and dropped to one knee, she took in slow breaths before pushing to continue walking. "Emma, are you okay?" Sophia asked as she looked around, her hands were shaky as they held on tightly to the pocket knife within her hands. "I will be," Emmalyn promised as her head felt light, she knew the mix of adrenaline from the attack and the loss of blood was going to result in fainting. "Soph─" Emmalyn fell back and darkness overtook her. Sophia was panicked as she looked at the shack and back at Emmalyn, putting the pocket knife into her pocket, she grabbed Emmalyn's arms.

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Back at the highway, Rick had reached the highway and held high hopes that Emmalyn and Sophia had made it back to the others safely. However, his hopes were crushed by the sight of the group watching him approach but no sight of the ginger or the little girl. Carol broke into tears, "Where's my daughter?" Carol's heart shattered at the thought of her daughter being out there with the dead. Rick stepped forward, "Emma didn't return with her?" Carol shook her head as Lori stepped forward with Carl, "They haven't come back..." Rick's heart pounded as he saw the tears in his son's eyes, he felt like he had failed them all by losing two of his people; two of this misfit family they had formed with survivors.

The young girl and Emmalyn, someone he'd come to consider his little sister, they were both out in the woods alone with hardly any insurance of survival. "I'm sure she's fine," Shane spoke out loud, he personally had a vendetta against Emmalyn since the rejection. Lori shook her head as she glared at Shane, "We can't leave them out there alone!" Shane rolled his eyes before stepping to the side. Daryl walked over and looked around before his gaze landed on Rick, "Where are they?" Rick swallowed dryly as everyone stayed quiet. Daryl felt his panic rise as he readied his crossbow, he began making his way into the woods to find them ─ to find his girl. His girl ─ was she his girl?

He never cared much for women, Merle always said they were good for one thing only but Daryl had always crushed on Emmalyn Tate, the girl who didn't care about his scars, his torments or his reserved personality. Merle; He wouldn't stand by and leave her in the woods but he also taught her everything he knows, so maybe she'd be fine. Rick sighed, "Daryl, Shane and Glenn, I need you to come with me. We gotta find them as soon as we can." The four of them walked into the woods and Rick led them to the exact spot he had left Sophia with Emmalyn, "This is where we split ways, I chased off the walkers while she grabbed Sophia to head back to the highway." 

Daryl knelt down to look at the tracks, turning his head he noticed Glenn in the way, "Could ye move to one side, yer mucking up the tracks." Glenn quickly moved out of the way not wanting to ruin the chances of finding his best friend. They followed behind Daryl as he focused on the tracks, he needed to find both of them as soon as possible and nothing was gonna stop him. "They were doing just fine until they got 'ere, then they veered off that way," Daryl spoke as he looked at Rick. "They must have gotten spooked," Rick spoke as he looked around, Daryl noticed the tracks that are usually left by walkers, Daryl noticed the spot of blood.

"One of them is hurt," Daryl told the others, they looked down at the puddle of blood and torn pieces of a shirt gaining Daryl's attention, "That's Em's shirt." The situation became more severe with this knowledge in mind while Shane sighed, "What if she was bitten? Why waste our time finding the dead? Let's just move on." Daryl's glare on Shane was something that Glenn and Rick had never seen before, it proved just how much the redneck cared about Emmalyn. "Ye want to rethink your words, Shane, or I'll put a bolt through your head," Daryl threatened, his hands tight on the crossbow.  "Shane and Glenn, you two get back to the highway before people start freaking out, let them know we'll be back soon," Rick spoke, he was gonna find them himself no matter what.

Shane and Glenn headed off as Daryl and Rick began following the trail, Rick took a moment to look at Daryl before smiling lightly. "You know, you and Emma are good together. You balance each other out," Daryl grunted slightly in acknowledgement of Rick's words. "She's strong, They'll be fine," Rick wasn't sure if he was saying that for Daryl or himself. He just hoped that Emmalyn and Sophia are okay, he had faith in Emmalyn. She had proven multiple times that she was more than capable of surviving, he had full faith that she'd make it through and the words that Jenner told him was swirling through his head; she'd be just fine.

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Unsuccessful in locating the two missing females, the two men had come across a Walker and had search its stomach only to find remnants of an animal not a person. It was getting late and Rick made the call to return to the group back on the highway, Daryl was hesitant, he didn't like the idea of leaving Emmalyn or Sophia out in the woods if the older woman was injured. But Rick's adamant words coerced him into listening, he knew better than to wander the woods at night with the dead wandering around, he wouldn't find her if he was dead. And so, Rick and Daryl returned to the group and informed a distraught Carol that Sophia hadn't been found and to tell a scared Carl that Emmalyn was missing still.

No one managed to sleep that night but the next morning, they had decided to head out and search for the two in a group leaving an injured T-Dog behind with Dale who was fixing the RV with the new supplies he had thanks to the car graveyard. After coming across a church, Rick sends the group back to the highway while he, Shane and Carl continued their search. Daryl begrudgingly agreed to Rick's request to ensure the others got back to the highway without getting lost on the way. Unfortunately, during an encounter with a wild deer that Carl had been admiring in child-like awe, he was accidentally hit with the shrapnel of the bullet that went through the deer.

The man who fired the shot, Otis, hadn't seen the boy and was immediately distraught at what had happened. Rick, frantic at the sight of his injured son, had picked the boy up and listened to Otis' instructions to the farm that he was living on. Rick rushed his way towards the home with Shane pushing Otis towards the farm a distance behind them. The owner of the farm, Hershel had been startled by the appearance of Rick holding his son pleading for the older man to help him. Hershel promised to do what he could while his daughter, Maggie had offered to head into the woods and bring Lori back to the farm; instructing the other survivors where to go before riding off with Lori on her horse hoping that Carl would be okay.

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Rosemary Speaks

Those who read the original would know that I had Emmalyn simply lost but the rewrite made me realise how stupid it was to have a well trained tracker/hunter unable to find her way to safety sooooo... I injured her instead 😅😂

How do we feel about the change re-readers?

Thoughts, Suggestions or Questions?

See you in the next chapter!