Oblivion - D. Dixon (ON HOLD)

9. Wildfire (Part 2)

Emiko walks into the camp and sits next to Glenn, he grabs her hand and leans his head on her shoulder. In the camp, Andrea is asleep in a chair. Lori is sharpening a stick. Carl taps Emiko's leg, "Are you guys dating?"

Emiko and Glenn look at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. They fall to the ground wheezing, leaning on each other for support. Emiko is the first to calm down. She stands up and dusts herself off with a sigh, "No sweetie, we're not. Besides, he's like my brother."

Glenn finally catches his breath and stands up, "Yeah, little dude. She's like my sister and not my type."

Emiko gasps in mock offense, "Dude! Are you saying I'm not pretty?"

"No!" Glenn panics, "You are pretty! I'm just-"

"Glenn!" She grabs Glenn's shoulders, "I'm kidding."

Carl giggles at the duo's bickering as Rick, Shane, and Dale walk into the camp where people are gathered. Shane puts down his shotgun, "I've been, uh—I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no—there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts."

Lori looks at Shane with suspicion.

"I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"

Emiko and Glenn look at each other and nod. They walk together to their tents.

Glenn looks at her, "Is Shane giving you a bad vibe too?"

"Yeah," she replies, "He was just butting heads with Rick earlier, and he seems too stubborn to change his mind like that. Not to mention the dude was definitely sleeping with Lori and is obviously jealous that Rick has the family he always wanted."

"Whoa, it looks like your psychology undergrad came into use," Glenn teases, nudging her with his elbow.

Emiko laughs, "Yeah, I guess so."

She ducks inside her tent. She packs up all her clothes, except for a pair of underwear, a sports bra, and a pair of socks to change into in the morning. Just because it's the middle of the apocalypse, it doesn't mean you shouldn't change into clean underwear when you have access to it. She rolled up her sleeping bag, knowing that she'll be put on watch and that she wouldn't be able to sleep. She packs almost everything and decides to take down her tent in the morning.

She unzips her backpack and grabs a book she found on a run, The Dictionary of Body Language: A Field Guide to Human Behavior by Joe Navarro, and her reading glasses. Emiko walks out of her tent and sits by the campfire. She puts on her glasses and starts reading.

She was so immersed in her book that she didn't hear Shane walk up to her. He taps her shoulder and she yelps in surprise, throwing her book at him.

"Ow, really?" He groans, holding his nose. "You just had to throw the book."

"Okay, I didn't mean to throw the book at you, but if I apologized, I know I won't mean it." Emiko laughs.

Shane glares at her, "Whatever, it's our turn to keep watch."

Emiko sighs and grabs her jacket. She climbs up the ladder to the roof of the RV. Emiko sits criss-cross applesauce a few feet away from Shane. Emiko broke the awkward silence, "So, how are things with Lori after Sheriff Woody came back?"

Shane scoffs, "What are you talking about? There is nothing between me and Lori."

"Don't lie to me, Deputy Douchebag. We all could hear y'all doing the horizontal mambo in the wood's. Not to mention Daryl and I saw you guys when we were looking for firewood." Emiko shudders, "It scarred me man... for life."