Of Monsters and Men

Without turning around, Emma replied quickly, “To my tent... need to hold my hand and watch me sleep? I’m tired, just leave me be.”

Without being given a chance to protest, Shane quickly snatched his rifle off the ground at the sound of a deathly groan. All the color drained from Emma’s face as she accidentally approached a walker tearing open Ed Peltier’s stomach and feasting on his insides. Her heart was pounding and her palms felt sweaty. As quietly as possible, Emma scurried back towards camp only to realize that several more walkers were hot on her trail.

“Oh god.... Merle? Merle!” Emma called out for her brother-in-law, “Hey! Hillbilly shit head!”

Merle jumped up and ran to the end of the RV. The high pitch scream of Carol and Lori was evident as Shane directed them to get inside Dale’s winnebago. T-Dog and Jacqui began wailing on the oncoming walkers while Emma struggled to reach for her favorite hunting knife which was securely attached to her belt.

Nervous hands fumbling, Emma wasn’t able to get a good grip on her knife as one walker singled her out in the group. Gunshots rang out as well as several loud voices. The brunette, keeping one eye on the dead fucker shuffling towards her, anxiously began searching the ground for some other sort of weapon she could use.

Once within a close enough distance, Emma was able to forcefully kick out her left leg and practically blow out the walker’s knee cap. The dead corpse, however, fell forward and landed with a soft thud against Emma’s shins. As soon as it happened, the water works began. She was alone and she was going to die. Her husband was away and her brother-in-law was for once actually trying to help the people of the group outside his family.

The walker slowly opened it’s mouth when Emma started frantically kicking her legs hoping it would be enough to knock the body off of her. It was that moment when Emma figured it was no use. This was her fate. She screamed for help but it was muffled by the RV at her back. Everyone on the other side was preoccupied in their own battles.

Just as she decided that she had enough and was ready to go, an arrow struck the corpse and it went limp. “Emma!” Daryl’s voice shouted as he ran toward his distressed wife, “You been bit?”

No reply.

Emma shut her eyes for a moment trying to regain the ability to speak. She struggled for a moment trying to find her words.

“You been bit or scratched?! Did this thing get you?!” Daryl asked harshly, his voice cracking slightly.

Still no words. Emma shook her head furiously blinking away tears. Exhausted from her struggle, Emma mustered up some last bit of strength and leapt into her husband’s arms. The hunter held his woman as close as humanly possible. He didn’t care who could see, Daryl knew his wife needed him. “Don’t go scaring me like that again, you hear?”

Emma nodded and pushed away a stray piece of hair, “I’m sorry...”

Daryl shook his head and pressed a gentle kiss to Emma’s forehead, “Nothing to worry about. Remember what I said... I won’t let anything bad happen to you as long as we are together.” He rubbed comforting circles in the small of her back before pulling away to regroup with everyone else.

“Any bites?” Rick asked as everyone crammed inside the winnebago.

There was a low murmur of ‘no’ until Carol spoke out timidly, “Ed was...”

“He was dinner to those fuckers. There’s no way he’s coming back!” Merle announced rambunctiously.

“Merle!” Emma snapped seeing Carol wrap her arms protectively around Sophia, covering her ears in the process, “What the hell is wrong with you? The woman just lost her husband for heavens sake. Have some fucking decency and keep your trap shut.”

Andrea pushed herself off the door she was leaning on to stare at the younger brunette, “Lost her husband? Emma, are you insane? That man was a monster! You saw yourself what he did to her. If anything we should thank that walker for eating Ed.”

Emma stared at Andrea with disbelief. It seemed as if what Andrea announced was something majority agreed with. Emma paused for a moment, waiting for Daryl to have her back. When nothing came from him, Emma shook her head and stormed off the RV muttering under her breath. She slammed the door shut and began kicking one of the walker’s corpse angrily. “Stupid. Piece. of. shit!”

She ran down to her tent and grabbed her husband’s keys to the pick up and a blanket. Once inside, Emma locked the doors and spread out across the bench. The blanket created a cocoon of warmth around her body amidst the cool Atlanta evening.

The RV was dead silent as the door slammed shut. Daryl raised his eyebrow when he realized all eyes where directed on himself. “She shouldn’t be out there by herself.” Carol piped up. She turned to Lori, “Can you watch Sophia for a moment?”

Lori nodded and handed off a slightly battered baseball bat. “Glenn, why don’t you go out there too. You’ve got a pretty good shot.”

Once he and Carol where out of the RV, Andrea let out a sigh and ran a hand over her face. “Listen, Daryl, I didn’t mean to offend Emma but she just wasn’t thinking realistically.”

The hunter grunted in response with a short nod. Rick took his silence as a sign to move on to the next matter at hand, “Walkers are moving in on us and we aren’t safe here anymore.”

“Well thanks for that news flash, Officer Friendly.” Merle muttered under his breath.

Ignoring the angry man beside him, Rick continued, “Does anyone have any suggestions as to were we could possibly move next?” His question was followed only by more silence. Daryl rubbed his chin thoughtfully and debated whether or not he should open his mouth.

“Let’s get away this weekend, babe.” Emma mused, her head resting against her husband’s bare chest as they tucked into bed for the night.

Daryl looked down at his wife, “Aint a bad idea. Where you have in mind?”

“The cabin... we haven’t been up there since the honeymoon.” The brunette began tracing the tattoo over his heart and looked up at her husband through her thick lashes, “It would be nice to get away, especially after the week we’ve had.”

He nodded head in agreement and brought a hand up and rubbed his tired eyes. The past week had been absolute hell for the couple: running back and forth to the hospital, bailing Merle’s drunk ass out of jail, work, and taking Merle to the courthouse. “I’ll pack the car in the morning when I wake up. Sleep in and I’ll come wake you when I’m set to go.”

Emma feathered Daryl’s neck in kisses before reaching his lips with a tender kiss. “Love you.”

“Me too...” Daryl sighed contently before reaching over and shutting off the lamp on his bedside table.

The next morning, Daryl woke with the birds and shimmied his way out of bed carefully. After digging for a large enough duffle bag, Daryl filled it up with clothes for the both of them and a few of his hunting rifles. He tossed the bag along with his crossbow and a box of food into the bed of his truck. In chicken scratch, Daryl left a note on the kitchen table for his brother before heading to the bedroom to wake up his wife.

The ride to the cabin was a silent one. Emma and Daryl enjoyed the silence; they weren’t a couple that needed constant communication. A simple look or gesture was all they needed to get their message across. About two hours in, the sight of the Dixon cabin came into view.

The spacious cabin was a wedding gift from Emma’s late father. The man was a Cold War vet- a pilot from the Berlin Airlift to be exact, with the best war stories. His cabin up in Blue Ridge was a perfect reflection of him. With McCarthyism spreading like wildfire, Arthur sent his wife and her sister up to the cabin to avoid any accusations. The building was full of survival shit which Daryl always tried to toss out. He had yearly shipments of MRE’s sent and always kept generators up to date.

“So, our two options are Fort Bennings or the CDC, check out if they figured out what the hell is bringing the dead back.” Rick concluded.

Shane groaned once again, “Give it up, brother. If the CDC had any idea what was going on, they would’ve helped by now. Face the reality, there’s no cure for this shit. Now, I say let’s go to the military base. They’ve got to have some sort of refugee camp set up for people.”

Before allowing yet another argument ensue, Daryl spoke up, “Emma and I have a cabin. ‘Bout two hours away in Blue Ridge. Got those solar panels and shit ton of MREs.”

Everyone stared at the usually quite and easily irritated hunter. No one was quite sure how to react; The Dixon men weren’t exactly what one would call team players, so the suggestion caught everyone off guard. For once, the silence made the hunter uncomfortable.

Not giving the group a minute more to think, Merle spoke up, “Well listen here y’all, us Dixon’s are heading there whether you follow or not.”