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--

They say that in a moment of panic, your mind leaves you. Something disappears completely. All that planning, function, and reason just floats away, leaving nothing but action and fear. Fear. That's the worst part, really. Fear is what causes you to make bad decisions.

Fear is what fucks up something beyond reason. So you learn to live without it. Fear becomes something that cannot be tolerated. Or at least, that's what Shane said. He talked about a switch, inside your brain, which you have to turn off in order to survive. You have to be ruthless and unmerciful.

In this world, a world where the living are few and the dead are rising, fear does naturally come into the equation. But you can only allow that to happen for a moment, a fleeting second, before you have to find that switch and shut it off.

Aim. Breathe. Shoot.

Bang.

~~

It had been four days since I had been captured by the cannibals. How did I know that? There was a little window in the corner of the room and I watched day in and day out the sun going up and down. Every day the beating and the raping seemed to get worse.

Now they had started taking turns and some of the guys even sat and watched while I was tortured. They were using me as their pet basically. They got everything they wanted out of me and there was nothing I could do about it, absolutely nothing.

Nobody had come down this morning and I was grateful. I didn't know how much more I could take. There was only one thought that had popped into my head. I was going to die. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I looked around frantically for the voice.

I recognized that voice. I blinked a couple times. I had been hit I don't know how many times over the head so God only knows what I'm seeing and hearing. But that voice didn't belong to one of the guys in the group. I blinked again looking around the room.

"Daryl," I breathed once I saw him sitting in the corner looking at me intently. I knew I was hallucinating. He wasn't here because if he was he would've already cut me loose and gotten me out of here. I scoffed a little and spit more blood to the side.

"Just hanging around," I retorted to the figure that wasn't even there. I blinked again trying to get rid of him but there he sat. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon it seemed like. "So you're just gonna sit there and let them do that to you?" he growled.

I coughed before spitting out more blood again. "Can't really do anything, now can I?" I said while pulling on my bounds that were behind me. "Come on girl. I taught you how to fight," he said. I rolled my eyes. "You didn't teach me nothing. I just stood beside you and watched you fight."

Daryl let out that typical Daryl chuckle. "You need to fight back. Show them what a Dixon is all about," he said. I chuckled. "Dixon? I'm still a Dixon?" I asked having some kind of hope in my voice. I had officially gone crazy. I was hoping that none of the guys came downstairs.

"You always have been. Don't let my stubbornness tell you otherwise," he said. He stood up and walked towards me. "Now come on. It's time for you to fight! Show them what you're made of! Show them they Emery I know and love," he said while kicking me in the boot.

My head snapped up and I sucked in a sharp breath. "It was a dream," I breathed. My eyes became wide when I thought about something. I moved my foot trying to get it up to where my hands were bound behind my back. I hadn't bent like this since I was seven.

Finally after a few minutes I felt the handle of my knife in my boot. It wasn't the best for my ankle that one of the cannibals had stepped on. I'm pretty sure it was severely sprained or broken. I screamed in my head at the pain as I finally was able to pull the knife out. I quickly started cutting at the ropes.

~~

"No, no, NO!" I screamed. This wasn't happening right now. Blood was everywhere and I was up to my elbows in it. I ran a hand across my forehead wiping the sweat away only for it to be replaced by a smear of blood. I groaned wanting a major shower.

Blood. It wasn't mine. I sat back on my knees and looked at the scene around me. It looked like I had murdered someone. Well I basically had. I looked around the room and I felt a tear escape. This was all my fault. I shouldn't have left Daryl. I should have let him follow me.

I quickly stood up ignoring the pain in my ankle and in my side. One guy was dead but I didn't know how many more there were. There were at least four. I knew that much. I quickly pulled on my jacket though I didn't have a shirt. I bent down and grabbed the guy's gun.

"Nobody messes with a Dixon," I growled before spitting on him. I slowly crept up the stairs. I heard voices. It sounded like quite a few. I prayed to God, though I never had before that the door wouldn't squeak when I opened it. I almost squealed with delight when it didn't.

I took a couple steps into the hallway and peered around the corner. Three of them were sitting at a table eating while a couple women were working around them to serve them. I smirked to myself when I noticed they were all unarmed as far as I could see.

The guy that had come to check on me had a silencer on his gun and my smirk grew. I sucked with a gun but I was hoping that fate was on my side today and it was as I watched the first guy drop. The women screamed while all the men cursed.

Aim. Breathe. Shoot.

Bang.

Aim. Breathe. Shoot.

Bang.

Aim. Breathe. Shoot.

Bang.

Aim. Breathe. Shoot.

Bang.

Aim. Breathe. Shoot.

Bang.

I had left the women for last. They were both crying and I could tell they didn't know how to protect themselves or what to do. I stepped out from my hiding spot and I watched as both of their eyes became wide. They both held up their hands slowly.

"P-please don't kill us. We, we didn't know they had you down there," she said. I chuckled. "Wrong answer," I pulled the trigger and watched as she fell. The other woman's eyes became even wider. "I'm begging you don't kill me," she whispered while looking down.

At first I hesitated, feeling bad for her, but something caught my eye and I didn't hesitate after that. I watched as her body slumped to the floor. I walked over and grabbed her hand while pulling the ring from it. "Last time I checked that was mine," I growled while sliding the ring back on my finger.

I quickly ran through the small area trying to find my weapons. I finally found it sitting on a shelf like some sort of trophy. The adrenaline soon stopped and I felt my injuries catching up with me again. I groaned as my ankle burned with every step I took.

I walked outside into the cold Georgia air to see that the snow was beginning to melt. Hopefully it would stay like that. I always hated snow. I started through the woods slowly trying to find my way home.

~~

I had taken down a few walkers along the way and my side was screaming. I didn't have any food or water for the past few days. On top of my injuries, starvation was catching up with me quickly. I didn't know what I was going to do. My crossbow was dragging the ground.

I'm pretty sure blood was still pouring out of every part of me. My legs were sore and bruised from the multiple unmentionable things those men did to me. There was a huge gash on my forehead that I had to keep wiping at because the blood was dripping down my head.

I knew I had broken a couple ribs, my ankle, who knew what was going on with it, my hair was matted with blood from a blow to the back of the head. I was losing blood and way too quickly for my liking. If I didn't get back soon I was definitely going to die out here.

I wiped my forehead again and groaned as I felt more blood come out. I heard the snap of a twig and I brought my crossbow up with the little strength that I had left. I was freezing, I was bloody and bruised, and I'm surprised somebody hadn't confused me as a walker.

My vision started to cloud over as I saw the figure starting to advance towards me. I released a bolt blindly hoping that it would take down the walker or what I thought was a walker. I watched as it continued to advance towards, me knowing that I didn't hit it.

My crossbow dropped. I couldn't hold on any longer. I had made it this far and I was going to die from another human or a walker bite. I accepted my fate as my vision blacked out and I felt my knees give. I was waiting to hit the snow but I felt a pair of arms wrap around me.

"Don't worry, Girlie. I gotcha."

--

I think you all know who that is ;)

So yay! Emery's back! And she kicked ass!! How do you think Daryl is gonna react? What about the group?

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