➳ Emily and Daryl ➳

Camp

"Great, so they both like to fight. I guess I'll be the punching bag, right?" I say.

"Merle was swinging at me, but he missed and hit you. It was sorta my fault, I guess." Shane runs his fingers through his hair.

I smile. "It's fine, and it wasn't your fault. It was mine; I was standing there like an idiot when I should've moved."

He laughs. "Okay, okay, you got me there."

"So, this camp that we're going to, what is it like? Safe? Plenty of food and shelter?" I ask.

"Nowhere's safe anymore. But it's pretty secure and everyone takes watch duty." Shane says.

I nod. "How much further?" I ask as I see a walker heading this way.

T-Dog raises his gun, but I quickly step in. "Don't waste the bullets, might need them for later." I say as I stab the walker in the skull.

I make my way back to Shane as I secure my knife back in its holder.

"When we get to camp, I'll come look at the mark on your face that Merle left." Shane says to me.

After ten more minutes of walking in the pure darkness, I finally make out a light, which looks like a fire.

As I look better, I make out ten tents, an RV, chairs, clothing lines, and buckets.

When we near the fire, a little girl with short red hair waves at me and I wave back.

The mother, which had short grey hair, sends me a welcoming smile, but the father eyes me down from my head to toe.

Shane stops and the whole group follows suit.

"The man is Ed, the woman is Carol, and the little girl is Sofia." Shane introduces me and Chloe.

As I look up, there was another fire going, except it had more chairs around it.

This time, an old man with binoculars around his neck sat in a chair, a woman with dark brown hair had a boy, around eight or nine sitting in her lap, two blond girls, and an African American woman was all sitting near the fire.

"I'm Lori, and that's my son Carl." The woman with the child on her lap says, smiling.

"I'm Dale." The old man says. "I'm Amy." One of the blond one says. "And I'm Andrea, the older sister. "The other blond says. "I'm Jacque." The woman says.

I give a sly wave to each of them as Shane tugs on my arm. "Y'all's tent is already set up." He whispers.

Chloe and I make our way to the tent and lay our stuff down.

Only two sleeping bags, two pillows, and a chair were in the tent.

"Here." I pass out the blankets from the book bag and lay them over the sleeping bags.

"That'll keep us warm." Chloe comments, smiling as she places it over her sleeping bag.

I jump forward as the zipper unzips to the tent and Shane sticks his head in. "Chloe, Amy and Andrea caught fish, you can join if you want."

Chloe looks at me and I nod my head in permission.

She leaves the tent and sits beside the two blonds.

"Let me see your face, where Merle hit you." Shane sits in the chair and I prop myself up on my knees.

He gently holds my cheek as he rubs the pad of his thumb across the bruise. I flench in pain.

"Sorry." He says. "I'm good. So, that Carol, Ed, and Sofia family?" I ask.

"Ed abuses them, and I'm about sick and tired of it." He lets go of my face as he leans back in the chair.

"I hate to be the one who puts my foot down as soon as I get here," I start.

"But you're going to anyways." Shane smiles.

"If you or anyone else don't put a stop the abusing, I will. I've seen it before and I don't wanna see it again."

"Really?" Shane asks. "My ex boyfriend use to abuse me, and I didn't know what to do." I explain.

"Why did you want to come risk your life for two girls?" I ask.

"Daryl came back to camp and mentioned something about a girl who is out in the woods. So, we decided we'd go take a look."

"Well, thanks for looking and at my bruise." I thank as I stand up and head out the tent.

I sit beside Chloe as Shane makes his way out of my tent. Everyone looks at me, smirking.

"Wha- no! He was just looking at the bruise on the side of my face!" I squeal.

Everyone laughs, including myself.