In which a girl finds herself falling in love at the end of world with her leader, only he thinks he's hard to love but loving him is like breathing to her.
Emory Foster was a farmers daughter, struck by tragedy when the dead started to walk among...
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Maggie stared intensely at the side of Emory's face, whilst the girl just stared off into the field.
She had an awful feeling in her gut, like this was the beginning of something sinister. She wasn't aware of what people were capable of in this new world, how people would take and kill for what they deemed theirs.
Rick seemed like a genuine man, he ached for his son but she didn't know him or Shane.
She tried not to let the worry set in when a car rolled up. They watched as two men walked toward them, a gun in tow.
"So do we ring the bell? I mean it looks like people live here," the Asian boy questioned his friend who looked awfully sick, bitten kind of sick.
"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we? Having to be considerate," his friend said.
"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" Maggie asked, clutching her knees to her chest as Emory eyed gun in the boys hands with unease making him lower it to the ground.
"Uh, hi. Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything" the boy said nervously and suddenly Emory felt like maybe he wasn't a threat at all as Maggie sat up.
"Hello. Nice to see you again. We met before briefly," he said.
"Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?" The other man asked, Maggie glanced at his arm covered with a bloody bandage as her and Emory stood up. Emory hid behind her out of fear, Maggie clutching Emory's wrist for reassurance.
"It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though," he explained.
"We'll have it looked at. I'll tell them you're here," Maggie said as the boy started digging through his backpack.
"We have some painkillers and antibiotics. I already gave him some. If Carl needs any," the boy said holding said holding a pill bottle out toward her.
"Come inside, we'll get y'all something to eat," she said, allowing Emory to go in first. Emory made her way to the kitchen. She pulled out cans of beans, opening them with a can opener before she started pouring them into bowls.
She nearly dropped them to the floor when the Asian boy came up behind her, startling her. He grabbed the bowls before she could drop them, apologizing for scaring her.
"I'm Glenn" he said, hoping to put her at ease which it did very little to.
"Emory," she said watching as Maggie and Patrica sat his friend down. Patricia began to stitch his arm.
"You got here right in time. This couldn't go untreated much longer," Patricia said through the man's groaning while Maggie held his arm down.
"Merle Dixon. Is that your friend with the antibiotics?" She asked, reading the pill bottle on the table.
"No, ma'am. Merle's no longer with us. Daryl gave us those— his brother," Glenn said.
"Not sure I'd call him a friend," the man grunted.
"He is today. This doxycycline might have just saved your life. You know what Merle was taking it for?" Patrica asked.
"The clap," Glenn said making Emory laugh out loud, the sound shocking her and even Maggie who smiled. It'd been a while since she had laughed and Maggie loved the sound of it. Glenn smiled at Emory, feeling a sense of accomplishment that he'd amused the shy girl.
"Um, venereal disease. That's what Daryl said," Glenn further explained.
"I'd say Merle Dixons clap was the best thing to ever happen to you," Patrica said making Emory smile wide, flashing her pearly whites before she slapped her hand over her mouth to get ahold of herself.
"I'm really trying not to think about that," the man groaned making Glenn leave. Emory followed him, not sure why but she did. He sat in the rocking chair looking at his lap.
"What's it like out there?" She asked, making him look up. She hadn't been outside of her town, she had only been to her house and the Greenes since the epidemic.
She was too afraid to go on runs into town with Maggie, which made her feel like an awful friend but Maggie was better off without someone who was now afraid of their own shadow.
"Scary," Glenn said, making her nod.
"I'm sorry," she answered, sorry that he probably had to fight hard to even be sitting in front of her while she got to live comfortably on the farm.
"It's fine, I'm grateful your dad is helping Carl," he said making her shake her head.
"Hershel's not my dad, more like my godfather. Maggie's mom was bestfriends with mine, so we were inevitably born to be bestfriends," Emory explained, oddly feeling comfortable with Glenn.
"And your parents?" He asked making her look down.
"They didn't make it, I ran here once those things raided my farm and killed my parents," she said sadly and he nodded.
"I'm sorry," he said as Maggie walked out, surprised to see Emory conversing with a stranger but even Maggie had a good feeling about him, and she knew if Emory was comfortable enough to talk to him then she must be right.
Emory had shut down after her parents died, she hadn't talked for weeks, just laid in bed staring at the wall as tears poured profusely from her eyes.
She never imagined a world without her parents, never expected to lose them so suddenly, so brutally. She blamed herself, if she had been there maybe she would've stopped them, saved her parents and at least they'd all be together.
Unfortunately this was her life now. Hershel was convinced this would pass, people would be cured but she knew deep in her heart that wasn't going to happen.
She found herself crawling into her bed, pulling the covers over her head as she tried to hide from everything.
She felt the weight of the bed dip, her heart stopping as a body placed itself behind her, arms wrapping over her.
"We're gonna be okay," Beth whispered, feeling Emory's body relax against her as Beth began to sing a song to help her sleep.
"I took my love, I took it down I climbed a mountain and I turned around And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills 'Til the landslide brought me down"
