Walking With the Dead

The next morning Emma ate breakfast – which consisted of instant oatmeal and canned peaches – with Mitch and Lucy in the cafeteria. There were about ten other people in the cafeteria, but none of them sat with the trio, though several would turn to look over their shoulders at Emma throughout breakfast. No doubt word of her arrival had spread through the building like wildfire.

David was also in the cafeteria, sitting at a far-off table with two men. For the first time Emma had a clear view of David’s face. He appeared in his mid-forties, had a crooked nose that suggested multiple fractures, a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard, and a white scar cutting through his right eyebrow. Emma watched David from the corner of her eye until he caught her looking at him and sent her the most bone-chilling glare imaginable.

They spent a good part of breakfast with Emma relating how she made it safely out of Atlanta. She told them how she joined a group of survivors, and had been living with them. She told them about Hershel’s farm, and the horde of walkers that displaced them. Then she told them about the prison. Emma knew Rick wouldn’t be happy with Emma spreading the details of their home, but she couldn’t lie. Emma was wearing an orange jumpsuit with the words GEORGIA STATE PENITENTIARY on the back, after all.

Mitch and Lucy listened patiently, and it was only after Emma finished her story when Mitch asked her about the scar on her cheek.

“Oh, uh, that…” Emma stuttered, instinctively bringing her hand up to cover her cheek. A cold chill claimed her as a pair of black eyes flashed in her mind. How could she tell her brother what happened? How could she tell him that she was almost murdered by a psychopath? It was something she wanted to push away into the farthest recesses of her mind, forget it had ever happened.

Luckily, Emma didn’t have to answer Mitch’s question because they were interrupted by Kyle, who slid in the empty seat next to her, carrying a stainless-steel carafe in one hand and balancing four tin mugs in the other.

“Coffee, anyone?” he asked, filling the small mugs with the dark liquid.

Emma quickly jumped at the offer. It had been several months since her last caffeine fix. The coffee was thick as mud, and so strong it set her teeth on edge, but the rush of energy that spread through her was sweeter than she could have imagined. Emma was so happy she didn’t even mind that Kyle was sitting so close their arms practically touched.

“You know, Em,” Kyle said between sips of coffee, “you should’ve seen how driven your brother was to get to Georgia. We hardly stayed in one place for more than a week. Just as we were getting settled, Mitch over here would make us move camp.”

“Why?” Emma asked, taking another sip.

“To get to you,” Kyle answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

A surge of gratitude burst forth within her. She looked over at her brother, who was staring fixedly at the far wall. “Really?”

Mitch just shrugged. “Don’t get a big head. I only did it ‘cause you’re my little sister.”

A big, goofy smile spread on Emma’s face, but before she could tease her brother about actually caring for her, the clatter of nails tapping on linoleum caught her attention. Emma cocked her head to the side. I know that noise, she thought, eagerly searching the cafeteria for the source of that sound. When she saw it, a blur of dark brown fur bolting across the cafeteria, Emma fell out of her seat and onto her knees.

“Chewy!” she cried, holding her arms outstretched as the dog – her dog – ran into her arms. She folded her arms around Chewy, pulling him into a tight hug. Everything about Chewy was just how she remembered. His wet nose that nudged at her face, the long tail that whipped back and forth. He felt a little on the thin side – she could feel his ridges of his ribs beneath his coarse winter coat – but he seemed as happy and healthy as ever.

Emma was crying and laughing at the same time. She couldn’t help it. Big salty tears fell down her face, only to be cleaned up by Chewy’s rough tongue. She ran her fingers through his fur, scratching him in his favorite spot that made his leg beat up and down.

“Chewy! Stop that! Leave that lady alone!” a younger, female voice called out. The voice belonged to a red-haired girl in her late teens who was rushing through the cafeteria, following the same path Chewy had taken. The girl was walking with a younger boy, also with red hair. Emma could see a strong family resemblance between the two.

“It’s okay, Jen,” Mitch said with a laugh. “Chewy’s not hurting anyone. It’s just Emma.”

Jen? As in Jennifer? Emma looked at the red-haired girl, stunned. It can’t be. She looked from the girl and then to the boy, and back to the girl, and finally over to Mitch. It is…

The girl, Jennifer, was also looking at Emma with a similar look of disbelief. Her chocolate brown eyes – so familiar to Emma – were wide. “It’s nice to meet you, Emma,” Jennifer said, her voice automatic and stunned.

“Yeah,” Emma said, the tone of her voice nearly identical to Jennifer’s. Emma then looked over at the boy. His eyes, also a warm chocolate brown, were looking at Emma, but with a blank look that suggested he wasn’t really seeing her.

“This is Eric,” Jennifer said, introducing her brother for himself.

“Nice to meet you, Eric,” Emma said, smiling slightly. Eric did nothing to acknowledge Emma. He didn’t even nod his head. Instead, Eric grabbed onto Jennifer’s sleeve and tugged it gently.

“I know. We’re going,” Jennifer said softly, speaking only to Eric. Then she looked up at Mitch. “Eric wants to go out and see the snow. Is it okay if we go outside?”

Mitch frowned. “I don’t know if I like that idea…”

“Mitchell,” Lucy said, placing a delicate hand on Mitch’s forearm. “Let them go outside. The snow won’t last forever.”

For a while, Mitch said nothing, but then the stoniness in his face caved as he ceded to Lucy’s suggestion. “Fine. But no longer than fifteen minutes. And be safe.”

“I will,” Jennifer said, her hand brushing a gun she had holstered on her belt. Then she grabbed a hold of Eric’s arm. “Come on Eric, we’re going outside to play in the snow,” she said, her voice soft and gentle. Together they walked out of the cafeteria. Emma stood up, watching them go. Even their walk is familiar.

Before they reached the doors to the cafeteria, Jennifer looked back over her shoulder and stared directly at Emma before passing through the doorway. Emma felt her knees go weak, so she sat down, still staring off into the distance.

“They have Dad’s eyes,” she murmured.

“Yeah,” Mitch said, his voice strained. He scratched at the back of his head. “Em, there’s something you need to know…”

“Where’s the other one?” Emma asked, interrupting Mitch before he could say anything else. “I thought there were two boys, Eric and Michael.”

“Yeah, there were—Wait! You knew?”

Emma looked over at her brother, whose eyes were wide with shock. Emma couldn’t think of anything to say, so she just nodded.

“For how long?” Mitch asked.

“Since spring.”

“Spring?” Mitch blinked rapidly. Then, the light bulb went off. “Is that why you ran away? Because you found out Dad had another family?”

Again, Emma nodded. “How did this happen?” Emma asked. “How did they get here? How did you find them?”

Mitch shook his head, leaning back in his seat. “It’s a long story.”

“I have time.”

Mitch looked up and into Emma’s eyes, hesitant. He bit the inside of his cheek, debating, before letting out a sigh. “Before things started to get bad, Mom and Dad left Seattle and came down to Portland to pick me, Lucy and Kyle up.”

“Why did Dad pick up Kyle?” Emma asked. “I understand you and Lucy, but why Kyle? No offense,” Emma hastily added, peeking over at Kyle from the corner of her eye.

“Offense taken,” Kyle retorted, mock hurt in his voice but a laugh in his eyes. Emma quickly looked away, suddenly enraptured with the tin mug in her hands.

“Kyle and I were sharing an apartment in Portland,” Mitch responded.

“I didn’t know that.”

Mitch shrugged. “It didn’t seem like something you needed to know.”

Sure. The fact that my brother is living with the dick who took my virginity is something I don’t need to know. But Mitch didn’t know about the history between Emma and Kyle. If he did, Emma was certain that they wouldn’t have been living together.

“Anyways,” Mitch said, continuing on with his story. “We all went to the summer home, on Tahoe. Dad said that we would be safer if we kept away from big cities. But the day after we got to Tahoe, Dad got in the car and drove away without saying a word.

“He was gone for five days. Mom was a wreck, convinced that he had been attacked by a biter. I’ll admit, I was even beginning to lose hope… But then one morning, he came back… Only he wasn’t alone.

“I thought Mom was going to lose it. I mean, don’t you remember how she reacted that time I broke Grandma’s crystal vase? She went totally ballistic. But when she saw Dad’s… Allison… and their kids, she didn’t do anything. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t even cry or hit him like any other person would. She just walked into the woods. Dad tried to follow her, but she stopped him and… That’s the last we saw of her.”

“I’m so sorry,” Emma whispered, truly meaning what she said. She used to regret that she hadn’t been with her mom and dad at the end, but now she wasn’t so sure. In a sense, maybe Emma was the lucky one. She didn’t have to see the break up between her father and mother.

Mitch shrugged, his thumb tracing the lip of his mug. “We thought that we would be safe at the lake. It was isolated, and we had enough food to last us for a while. We thought that in a couple months the Super Flu would die out, and everything would go back to normal. But we were wrong. A month into our stay – I don’t know how it happened – Dad got bit. He tried to hide it from us, but it was too late. He turned. Took Allison with him. We left Tahoe after that, and we’ve been on the move ever since.”

“So what happened to Michael?” Emma asked.

Mitch paused, inhaling deeply before continuing. “We lost him when we were clearing out the high school. Eric had to take care of him… He hasn’t been the same since.”

Emma didn’t realize she was crying until she felt a single tear welled in her eye and fell down her cheek. It was strange; hearing of her mother and father’s death did nothing to her, but she felt grief for the brother she never met. Emma heard a low whine, and looked down to see Chewy had placed his head in her lap, and he looked up at her with warm, sympathetic eyes. Emma gave a sad smile and scratched him behind his ears.

Just then, the door to the cafeteria opened and Daryl came walking in. Clumps of snow clung to the hem of his pants, and his cheeks were bright red. He took a seat next to Emma.

“Good news. Snow is meltin’, so we can head back to the prison.”

Emma stood up. “Great. Let me get my stuff.”

“Hold up, you’re leaving?” Mitch asked. Lucy looked up, panic in her eyes.

“Yeah. Why? Is that a problem?”

“David won’t allow that,” Mitch said.

“I don’t care what David will or will not allow,” Emma replied. “We need to get back.”

“Why would you leave, Em?” Mitch asked. “We only just found each other. Why would you leave your family?”

Emma hesitated, guilt pulling at her heart strings. How could she explain to Mitch that her friends back at the prison were also her family? Of course she loved Mitch and she didn’t want to leave him, but she loved everyone at the prison, too. How could she be expected to make this choice?

“We are going back. It ain’t an option,” Daryl said. “That baby will die if we don’t get back, and soon.”

“A baby?” Lucy whispered, mystified.

“Baby?” Mitch snapped his head to look at Emma, his eyes wide. “Emma?” his voice cracked with panic, his lips set in a disappointing frown.

“It’s not mine,” Emma sighed in frustration with her brother jumping to conclusions. “Yesterday a baby was born at the prison. Her mother died; Daryl and I went into town to get formula but we got caught in the snow storm. That’s when we found you,” she said, gesturing to her brother. “But Daryl’s right. We need to get back.” An idea popped into Emma’s head. “You can come with us! All of you. We have plenty of room in the prison.” Emma felt Daryl’s gaze snap to her after she made that suggestion, but she refused to return it. She knew what that look would say. Are you crazy? his eyes would read. We can’t invite these people into the prison. Not without Rick’s permission.

“I don’t believe this,” Mitch said, resting his head in his hands and shaking it.

Lucy placed a gentle hand on Mitch’s shoulder. The other hand rested above her stomach. “The baby… Is she healthy?”

Emma nodded. “Ten fingers, ten toes, and no hunger for human flesh.”

“Mitchell, maybe we should go with Emma and Daryl,” Lucy said in a soft, comforting voice.

“You know we can’t do that.”

“But we’ve talked about leaving before. We said we were going to leave in the spring, remember?”

“Yeah, but that was just talk. You know David won’t let us leave.” Mitch looked up at Emma and Daryl, a dull sense of defeat in his eyes. “And he won’t let you two leave, either.”

“Don’t matter what David thinks,” Daryl said. “He can’t control us.”

“You don’t understand. There is a reason we followed David. Do you think it’s because of his congenial personality? No. It’s because he knows how to keep us safe in this world. Sure, there are a lot of rules, and they aren’t all easy, but they’ve gotten us this far. And the most important rule? No outsiders know where we are. Once someone finds us, they become one of us.” Mitch leaned back in his seat. “There have been people who have tried to leave the group, and they never made it far. David made sure of it.”

Emma, suddenly feeling weak, sat down and stared at her fingernails. It all seemed so hopeless.

“Mitchell, can I talk with you?” Lucy said.

“Of course.”

“Alone?” she clarified, the tone of her voice suddenly turning low. Mitch took the hint, and the two of them stood up and went to the corner of the cafeteria.

Then, Daryl leaned in towards Emma. “We need to talk.”

A smile twitched on Emma’s lips when she took note of the similarities between Lucy and Daryl’s attempt at starting conversation. Then again, Lucy asked a question, and Daryl made a demand. But Emma knew Daryl didn’t waste time on pleasantries. “Okay.”

“Alone,” he added, turning his eyes over to Kyle.

At first, Kyle was oblivious, swirling the dregs of coffee around the bottom of his mug. But, after a prolonged silence, he looked up and saw Daryl’s frowning stare. “Oh. I’ll just, uh, go over there…”

“Are you crazy?” Daryl hissed once Kyle was out of earshot. “We can’t invite these people into the prison. Not without Rick’s permission.”

“Why not?” Emma asked, shaking her head. “I don’t understand why there is so much drama every time we bring new people into our group. Despite what you might believe, people are not fundamentally evil.”

“Are you so sure about that?” Daryl asked, his eyes lingering on the puckered scar that disfigured the side of Emma’s face.

A flash of fury shot through her, and Emma turned her face away. She watched her brother and Lucy talking on the far side of the cafeteria. Lucy was speaking, holding her hands palm-up in a pleading way. Her hand passed again over her stomach, and Emma saw her brother’s eyes grow wide before he pulled his fiancé into a hug. Mitch and Lucy turned to head back to Emma, and she quickly averted her attention, not wanting them to know she was watching them.

“If the offer still stands,” Lucy started, standing in front of Emma and Daryl. Mitch was standing by her side with an arm wrapped around her waist. “We’d love to join you at the prison.”

Emma sneaked a glance over at Daryl, silently asking his permission. For a moment Daryl did nothing, then his jaw tightened and he gave a slight not. Emma gave him a small smile, and looked back up at Mitch and Lucy. “What about David?”

“Screw David,” Mitch said, a fierce determination in his voice.

And that was the end of that.