EMMA CLUNG TO THE
cat like it was oxygen, like the cat was her heart, beating. Beth had made some cat toys to entertain Simba. Currently, Simba was playing with a peice of paper that was crumbled into a ball as Beth, Emma, and Lori watched, laughs escaping her lips as the cat used its back feet to kick the ball away from its stomach.
"He's a very cute cat" Beth spoke with a small smile. "I wish I had a cat" She complained as she watched Simba run around on the rug in the living room.
"Why didn't you? Get a cat?" Emma asked her.
"I'm a farm girl. A cat wasn't really in the picture. Maybe a dog, but not a cat. But at least I got my horses" Emma said with a small smile at the girl.
"Dogs are too much to handle. You gotta clean them. Cats clean themselves. Cats are independent. Dogs are stupid" Emma argued as Beth gasped, turning to meet Emma's gaze as Lori stood up, going to check on Carl.
"How dare you? Dogs are protecters. Dogs are just another species of wolves. If you don't like dogs then your the stupid one" Beth argued.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Cats are way better than dogs" Emma said, longing out the 'y' in way as she shrugged. "And everyone knows it. Dogs have bad breath, get drool everywhere and expect you to clean them"
Beth crossed her arms. "A dog is a man's best friend. They protect people and there cute! What does a cat do? Pest control?"
"Yes. Pest control is important. I think I saw a cockroach in the bathroom today" Emma said as she made a disgusted face.
"Everyone has cockroaches. They just only come out at night. They don't hurt nobody" Beth explained.
"Cockroaches are disgusting"
Beth made a 'yeah, good point' look as she grabbed Simba and began giving him ear scratches as he curled into her lap, purring as his eyes closed.
"I will admit though, cats are cute" Beth spoke, smiling as the cats head lied on her lap.
"And I will admit that dogs are a little cute. Only the pugs though!" Emma told her.
"Pugs stink"
"But are cute"
"Yeah...alright"
***
The next morning, Emma walked out with the original group and began looking at the map to figure out where to look for Sophia next.
Although, Emma didn't want to really admit it, but she was starting to lose hope for Sophia. It had been about a week or two. There was no way to was alive. And that guilt tore her into shreds.
But, she still stood there with a smile, acting hopeful despite the little voice in the back of her head telling her Sophia was dead and it was all her fault.
"Alright, everyone's getting new search grids today. If she made It as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far." Rick explained to the small group of people leaning on the trunk of the car.
"I'd like to help" Jimmy, one of the people that originally lived here. He wore jeans with a belt and a gray T-shirt. "I know the area pretty well and stuff"
"Hershel okay with this?"
"Yeah, he said I should ask you" Jimmy told the man.
"Alright then. Thanks" Rick thanked as Emma politely smiled at Jimmy. They needed extra hands, they needed someone who knew the grounds.
Daryl was pretty useful aswell as she stood beside him. Daryl knew how to track, which was very handy. If Sophia bled, left footprints, or even a hairstrand fell from her head Daryl would find it and know which direction to take. That's mainly why Rick chose for Daryl to do most of the searching, which Daryl didn't mind. Daryl needed to get his mind off things and he didn't really like this new environment with these new people so he liked staying in the woods.
"Don't worry about it. I'm gonna burrow a horse. Head up to this ridge right here, take a birds-eye view of the whole grid" Daryl explained.
"Umm...can I come with?" Emma asked. She had been planning to go back into the woods. She liked the woods. The peaceful wind on her face, the trees that you could get lost in. It was a peaceful environment. And with all the guilt she felt, maybe this would relieve it slightly.
Daryl turned to her before looking at Rick, using there eyes to communicate. When Rick nodded, Daryl agreed. Emma's bandages had come off her arm, but there was still a scar reminding her of the events. Which only told her to be careful in the woods.
"Alright you and Emma will go to that ridge and look for Sophia" Rick spoke as Emma had a smile on her lips.
Dale come with guns as everyone took one. When Jimmy grabbed one, Rick questioned if he had ever shot one. Emma took a pistol and put it in her waistband.
Emma and Daryl drifted off from the group. "You know how to use that gun?" Daryl asked.
"Why you offering to switch?" Emma asked. She had always wanted to use Daryl's crossbow. Ever since she arrived at the Alanta Camp at fourteen and her blue eyes eyed it.
Daryl scoffed. "I'm taking that as a yes. Look, no offense but I don't need to dragging me down. I prefer to work alone."
"I know. I just wanted to begin to go In the woods again. At the farm it's so loud and filled with people I feel like I can't get a second to myself" Emma answered honestly.
"Know how that feels."
Daryl and Emma walked over to two horses. "Sure Hershel won't mind if we steal an extra, do you think?"
"Yeah I mean...old man probably won't even notice" Emma said as Daryl helped her get onto the horse before they went to the woods.
On the search, Daryl shot every squirrel he saw, taking it to eat. He still wasn't fond of eating the food back at the farm and he sure as hell didn't want to be an extra mouth to feed. Daryl was very independent like that. He never relied on anyone, and that mostly was because he never had a parent to rely on.
When Daryl got off his horse, Emma slowed her horse to a stop. "What do you see?" She asked, getting no answer as Daryl was too focused with doing what he was doing.
With a lack of an answer, Emma got off her horse to and tried to look where Daryl was looking. That's when she saw something that looks like a human or maybe an animal. "That a walker?" She asked, mostly asking herself rather than Daryl as they went down the steep hill to get a better look.
When they arrived, Daryl and Emma went to it, seeing a wet doll. A type of doll that Sophia would have. And Emma knew it was Sophia's because Emma was the one who gave it to her. "Oh my god" She gasped. "That's Sophia's"
"Hey, don't think of it as a bad thing. Think of it as a good thing. It shows that were in the right direction and that we'll find Sophia. We're close" Daryl told her as Emma nodded.
Emma then took a few steps away from Daryl before cupping her mouth and yelling for Sophia. "Sophia!" She yelled.
Daryl joined along with her as they both screamed.
Unfortunately, they didn't find her.
Shortly, Daryl and Emma climbed back on their horses and began searching yet again, slowly losing hope.
Suddenly, two snakes began to attack the horses, freaking them out as they knocked Emma and Daryl off and ran.
Daryl and Emma fell down a hill, hitting their heads as Emma's vision fell black. Her head had hit on a rock that knocked her out.
She had only began to wake when she heard Daryl yelling for her. "Emma! Emma! Wake up! Emma!" He began shouting, begging for help as one of his arrows went into his side and there was blood everywhere.
Emma groaned as she touched her forehead, seeing blood as she stood up and saw Daryl, in the water with a arrow in him, the water red in blood around him.
"Daryl! Oh my god! What do I do?" She asked, wondering whether to take it out or not.
"Don't pull it out. I'll just bleed out. I need you to help me up the best you can" Daryl breathed out as Emma did as he said. "Put me over here" He directed out of the water.
She did as he said as Daryl grabbed his pocket knife, cutting the sleeves off his shirt as he made a long bandage to tie around his body and the wound. As he tied it Emma winced at his yelps in pain.
Emma only then noticed how down they were. They had fallen down a long ways and it would take alot of effort (if they could) to climb back up. "Daryl, how are we gonna get back up?" She asked, hoping he had an answer but by his expression he was just as clueless as her in this situation.
While Daryl stood himself up and grabbed a stick, Emma turned at the sound of rustling in the bushes near them.
Daryl used the stick to search the small river to get his crossbow back. When he did, the rustling stopped and they decided to attempt to climb back up the very steep hill.
Daryl used his sticks as Emma grabbed two and used hers. She could tell that she had the upper hand because with every movement he made, a groan of pain escaped his lips.
Emma had offered to help but he had refused.
After awhile of struggling, Daryl ditched the sticks and chose to use his hands, grabbing onto small tree trunks but his foot slipped and he fell back down.
"Daryl!" Emma shouted. "Fuck!" She exclaimed, not knowing what to do.
"Daryl! What do I do!?" She shouted but got no answer.
Emma felt tears burn her eyes at the idea of not knowing what to do. But she wiped them away as she needed to be tough in this situation. That was when she heard a walker growling, approaching Daryl's body.
"Daryl? Daryl move!" She shouted but he didn't.
Her heart raced as she broke a tree branch and dropped it far away from Daryl to try and lure it away from him until she could figure out what to do next. But all the walker did was stare at the tree branch and go back to its meal.
A small word escaped Daryl's lips but she couldn't make out what he said as the walker was ontop of his body.
That was when Emma realized she had her gun. She let go of one of her sticks, holding a small tree branch like it was life or death because it was as she pulled it out of her waistband and clicked the safety off, aiming it to the walkers head as she pulled the trigger, it falling on Daryl's body as Daryl pulled it off of him.
His ears rang as he looked up, seeing Emma. Emma turned to put the gun back when she turned back around at the groan of Daryl and saw that Daryl had pulled his arrow out of him and put it into his crossbow as there was another walker. Before Emma could shoot it,, Daryl already did.
He looked up at her. "Couldn't have shot another one for me? Pulled the damn arrow out of me!" Daryl complained.
"Sorry! I didn't know there was another one!" She told him, guilt eating at her. "Daryl! Hey! You gotta get up and climb!" She told him as he took off his other shirt and tied it around his wound.
Daryl mumbled something but Emma couldn't hear it. "You gotta talk louder! I can't hear shit from up here!" She yelled.
"Give me a second" Daryl said as grabbed the doll and began climbing back up, this time faster, this time more confident.
They had finally made it back up, but this time Daryl seemed more distant as they made there way back home, his hand over his wound.
***
When they finally made it back to the farm, they were exhausted and almost dying of lack of hydration. Not to keep in mind that they were covered in dirt and blood.
When they approached, T-Dog, Rick, Shane, and Glenn ran to them, Rick aiming a gun at them. "Don't shoot! It's us" Emma said, a little behind Daryl.
"About time you aimed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl asked as Emma eyed him.
"What? Daryl...no" She breathed out.
Rick put the gun down as Daryl and Emma instantly got shot, falling to the ground.
Emma gasped out in air as her eyes stared into the sky, tears burning her eyes. Rick went down to Daryl as Glenn went down in front of Emma. "It's okay, it's okay. You are fine. Breathe" He tried to reassure her.
"It was about time I died anyway. At least....it was for somebody else. If you...find her....tell Sophia that it wasn't her fault, and that....she gave my life meaning" Emma breathed out as her mouth filled with saliva and her body went numb.
"No, no, no. You're okay. Come on" Glenn grabbed the girl while Rick and Shane grabbed Daryl.
Emma's eyes closed as her head leaned onto Glenn's shoulder as he carried her.
Andrea and Dale came running. Andrea had such fear in her voice. "Are they dead!?" She asked.
"No. Unconscious. You just grazed them" Glenn answered. "But look at them, what the hell happened?" Glenn spoke.
"Isn't this Sophia's?" T-Dog asked, holding the doll that came out of Daryl's pocket.
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Words- 2355
Written - Apr 29-30th 2024
Published - Apr 30 2024
A/N: Chapter seven published! Lots happened. I didn't feel like writing anymore towards the end.
Andrea honestly pissed me off while I was watching this. "Oh let me prove I can do more than just washing clothes" maybe you should stick to washing clothes cause you almost got Daryl killed.
Anyway, I felt Emma's life at the farm was getting too boring and needed some interesting things to entertain yall! So I had her go with Daryl!
Also, it's about to be 2AM on a school night so I needed to stop otherwise I would've gone to bed at around 3-4 AM and I need at least some sleep.
Have a good day/night!
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