Chapter One
Dawn
Daryl hadn't slept more than a couple of hours since the hospital. Closing his eyes meant seeing her face. Blue eyes, wide smile, streams of yellow hair. When that happened, he would look to the dark room and take in the quiet. It was still dark when he picked up the crossbow lying by his side. He walked over the others, careful not to make a sound. Opening the barn door, Daryl slipped out into the blue dawn. Here, in the cold exterior of the Georgia forest, he was home. This was where he belonged.
As the others slept soundly inside, he crept out to the treeline. Hunting had become such a habit that it took him half a mile to realize he wasn't hungry. He hadn't been hungry in days. It didn't matter. He would kill squirrels for the others. He just needed to shoot something.
He stopped at the path when something stirred in the brush to his right. He pulled the crossbow from his back and quietly set it in his arms. The rabbit hopped from the greenery, completely unaware of his presence. Daryl lined his sights with the animal and fired.
He moved to it and bent down, but he stopped before picking it up. He watched the blood ooze from the wound and fall along the fur. The rabbit's eyes remained open.
#
"What's your favorite thing to do?" Beth asked. It was probably the ninth question she'd asked in the last two hours of walking. He mostly deflected them or just ignored her outright. Every time he turned around she seemed to be having trouble navigating through the mud or avoiding sharp twigs sticking up from the ground. But he had to admit, he was almost impressed. He never would have thought Beth of all people could keep up with him.
"Survive," he finally answered. She clicked her tongue and sighed.
"What do you get out of never saying anything? Is your air supply attached to your vocal chords? If you talk you die or something?"
"What do you get outa talkin' all the time?"
"I don't talk all the time."
He quickly stopped and lifted a hand, she stumbled and froze behind him. Ahead, a shadow broke the light between distant trees. Daryl took the crossbow, she pulled her knife from her belt and held tight to it. A deer stepped into view. He lowered the weapon. "Just a damn deer."
"You're not gonna kill it right?"
"Too big," he said. "We ain't got the right-"
Beth screamed, he spun, a walker lunged at the girl from behind, knocking her to the mud. From the side, two more blind-sided Daryl, their teeth inches from his arm. Beth screamed again but he couldn't help her. He kicked the first walker in the knee, shattering its leg and sending it crumbling to the ground, he stomped on its head. As much as he wanted to use the crossbow on the second walker, it was too close and was moving fast. It was fresh, full of muscle. Daryl grabbed its head from behind as it opened its mouth just over his shoulder. He pulled the hair hard enough to bring the teeth a full foot away from him. He reached into the crossbow quiver and pulled an arrow out, as fast as he could, he rammed it through the walker's eye until he felt the resistance of its brain. The walker dropped limp and Darryl snatched the arrow back, he twisted to the side, ready to kill the walker over Beth, before he even saw her, he knew she would be dead.
Beth stood in front of him, mud and blood covering her clothes, still clinging to the knife in her palm. The walker that had attacked her lay face down, three narrow holes in its head. She didn't say anything, only stood there, breathing fire.
He scanned her up and down. No scratches, no bites. She was alive, and standing there, hair stuck to her face like thin yellow ropes, she looked strong. She looked like a survivor.
Chapter Two
Not Her
He could hear Sofia screaming in the distance. Daryl tore through the woods, branches slashing at his face as he searched for the source of the cries.
"Sofia!" he shouted, the green ahead shone bright beneath the hot Georgia sun, birds and critters filled the silence like a wild chorus.
She screamed again, this time he knew where to go. His legs stomped the dirt, his eyes fixed on the brush ahead, his focus absolute. As he broke through the green, he found a clearing. Sofia stood alone, hugging her doll.
"It's okay now," Daryl told her, his hand reaching out. "I found you."
But she remained, eyes to the ground, tears falling silent. He moved closer and closer but as he did, he began to notice the decay. The more he moved toward the girl, the more she began to rot. Her pale skin faded brown, her muscle dissolving thin. Daryl's heart ached as he watched her wilt. He fell weak to his knees as he reached her, wrapping his arms around her fragile bones.
"Daryl..." Beth said as she shook him awake. It took him a few seconds to realize where he was. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"What?"
"You were talking in your sleep," she said. He sat up, turning his away from her. "So...?" she began, "...are you okay?"
He stood. "I'm fine," he said, throwing the crossbow around his shoulder "We need to find water."
"Okay, should I-"
"Stay here, watch our stuff, I'll be back," he said, and in seconds, he was gone.
#
Daryl threw three squirrels by her side. He wasn't sure how long he'd been gone but it had been most of the day. He was sure he was going to hear about his absence, how he shouldn't just leave, how he should tell her where he is in case there's an attack but Beth said nothing. She sat with her back to him, writing on scraps of paper she'd been collecting along the way with a half-inch pencil she'd found in a broke down car on the highway.
"Eat up," he said. She didn't stop writing, didn't even turn back. "What is that?" he asked. She finally stopped scribbling and turned to face him.
"I think that's the first question you ever asked me."
"Nu uh."
"It's... nothing. Yet."
"Come on, help me start a fire. Gettin' dark."
She put her work down and helped him find dry leaves and wood. When night fell, they sat silent, watching the yellow flames brush the meat of the skinned squirrels which lay over the top of the fire. "Why don't you like me?" she asked. He was always caught off guard by her directness.
"What's like got to do with anything?"
"Did I do something wrong? Did I insult you?"
He lay down on his back, eyes up to the dark canopy of leaves above. She watched him for a moment, then, realizing he was done talking, she reached back to the papers by her side and took the pencil from her pocket.
"What're you writing?" he asked again.
"Wouldn't you like to know."
"Waste of time," he said.
"Why?"
"Words on a page won't help you when you need it."
"They're helping now."
"Yeah? Let's hear'em."
"It's not ready yet," she said, crossing a word off and replacing it with another. She turned to him, her mind wandering from her work to the man across the fire. "What was your favorite song?"
"Why?"
"Because, I want to know more about you."
"Why?"
"Because, you're interesting," she said.
"I'm not interesting, I'm simple."
"I don't think you're simple."
"Simple's good. Simple means not complicated. Means easy."
"I think you're very complicated."
"And why do you keep asking about things that don't matter?"
"I think it matters."
"What difference does it make what my favorite song was or what I did before? All we gotta think about now is how to get our next meal."
"That's stupid. What's the point on being alive if that's all you think about?"
"There's no point, there's alive and there's dead."
"There's more than that."
"Yeah?" he said, sitting up. "Like what?"
"Well, like, you can be interested in things, you can hope for things, you can look forward to things. You can read stories about great adventures, you can love."
"Love? Read stories?" he stood up. "Come here," he said.
"Where?"
"Follow me." He stepped over the string surrounding the campsite and nearly vanished in the dark. She quickly darted up to her feet and moved the squirrels off the fire.
"Where we going?" she asked. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along. After only a few minutes, they came across a tiny cottage. He looked back to her for a moment, then pulled her to the door and rushed inside. He took the lighter from his pocket and lit a gas lamp which sat on a counter. He opened the bedroom door in front of him and moved inside. Beth walked slow behind him.
The room was filled with books. They sat stacked along the walls, thrown on the floor, huddled beneath the bed. Beth smiled. Daryl lifted the lamp to the bed.
A man and a woman lay side by side, a bullet hole in both their heads. The man held the gun in his skeletal hands. Daryl turned to her. Her eyes took it all in, then turned to meet his. She walked out.
"See that?" he asked, following her outside. "That's love. That's interesting people. That's what it gets you."
"No," she said. "You're wrong. They gave up. Or maybe they died the way they were supposed to."
"Supposed to? You're supposed to die when you're old, safe, not like that."
"Screw you for bringing me here like this."
"You want me to keep you alive? Forget your songs, your hobbies- you want to live, you think about water, you think about weather, walkers, you learn to track."
"I can do that and still care about things."
"Ain't no point in talking to you," he said and moved past her.
"You're just scared," she shouted.
"I ain't-" he began.
"-Scared of nothing," she cut him off. "Yeah, well you may not be scared of walkers, but I know you're scared of losing people. So am I," she said. "But I'm not gonna live my life being scared all the time. If I want to write a song, I'm gonna do that."
"Yeah? And what do I tell Maggie? Sorry I couldn't keep your sister alive, she was busy with other things?"
"You're not responsible for me."
"Yeah I am!" he yelled. "I have to be."
"Why?" she asked. He only looked at her. "I'm not her," she said. "You did everything you could, it wasn't your fault-"
"You don't know anything about it."
"I'm not her," she said again and moved past him into the darkness ahead.
Chapter Three
Runnin'
Daryl carefully pushed the door open, his crossbow out in front. The bar was dark, silent. Dust had settled on the floor, counter, over the bottles. No one had been here for a long time. He knocked the crossbow against the back of a chair three times and waited. Nothing.
Satisfied he was alone, he put the weapon on the bar and moved behind the counter. He searched through the bottles to find something, anything with a proof higher than fifty percent.
A shadow moved across the glass door. He reached for the crossbow but relaxed when he saw Maggie moving inside.
"Want to be alone?" she asked.
"Don't matter," he said. "What's your poison?"
"Never got very good at figuring out what I liked. Daddy never kept anything in the house."
Daryl nodded, he turned behind him and found coconut rum. He pulled it off the rack which sat against the mirror and plopped it atop the counter. "Try that."
"As much as I want to just drink, I got Glenn out there. He's not really happy with the drink to oblivion plan."
Darryl shrugged and put the rum back.
"I just came," she began. "I wanted to tell you... thank you."
"For?" he asked while searching through the bottles.
"Being with her. Taking care of her."
"Taking care..." he repeated. He found a bottle of whiskey and tore the cap off. He drank.
"Just because things ended how they did, it doesn't mean it didn't matter. It mattered what you did. It mattered to her, it matters to me," she said. He took another pull from the bottle, never looking at her. "I just wanted to say that," she said and walked out.
Alone now, Daryl waited for her words to pass. He brought the bottle to his lips again- he put it down on the counter before taking the next sip.
He spun around to face the bottles- with all his might he pushed every bottle from the shelf, letting them smash to the floor by his feet, whichever ones remained he pulled out and threw across the room. Daryl stood, lungs short of breath, hands shaking.
Hidden behind the other bottles, he noticed a jar. A clear liquid sat inside. Slowly, Daryl reached out and took it. He unscrewed the top. Moonshine.
His hands weakened with the memory of it and the jar slipped from his palm, smashing to the floor like the others.
He lifted his head and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He slammed his fist into the glass, punching a dent with a hundred tiny cracks racing from the center. He saw himself through the broken glass. He saw broken eyes.
#
In the days following their fight, Daryl and Beth had barely spoken. They would break down their campsite in silence, the only sound was that of the hollow drool the dead made as they marched just beyond the trees. The horde they'd lost the week before had grown, and it was getting closer by the day.
The two ran, keeping their strides long to preserve energy, taking breaks to drink and eat. But mostly, they only ran.
"Where're we going?" she asked as they reached a clearing a few hundred feet from the slow moving horde.
"We're running" he said, turning to face her.
"I can't," she shook her head, trying to swallow the air around her and coming up short. "I need to stop."
"We can't stop," he said.
"Then go!" she shouted. "You wanna survive right? Here's your chance. Go."
He looked past her, the walkers were still too far to see but they weren't far off. He marched up to her and took out his water bottle. "Drink it," he told her. The two inches of water rocked in the small plastic bottle.
"It's yours," she said.
"Take it."
She wanted to resist but couldn't. Beth took the bottle and drank the last of the water. "I'm sorry," she said. He wasn't sure what she was apologizing for. "All we have to do is find someone good like you," she said.
"No good people no more," he said.
"Of course there are. You're good. Maybe we don't agree on everything but-" but before she could finish, she saw something. A man stood a hundred yards away, watching them.
For a few seconds no one moved. Then, the horde began to filter through the trees. The man saw them and turned his eyes back to Beth and Daryl. He spun on his feet and ran. Daryl grabbed her hand and pulled her, following the stranger.
"They're all over," Beth said. Daryl looked and saw the walkers weren't only coming from behind them but also ahead. The three ran parallel to the hordes as they closed in. The man vanished behind the trees head. A few seconds later, Daryl heard the scratching of a car ignition struggling to start.
The pair came barreling from the woods to find the man sitting in his Toyota, desperate to leave. Daryl reached for the door but it was locked. The hungry droll of the dead grew behind them as the walkers inched closer and closer.
"Open it!" Daryl demanded. The man turned frightened eyes to them but only kept turning the key. Daryl cocked his arm back, the crossbow in his hand. He looked to the window, knowing it would take a hard hit to get it to break.
"Wait," Beth said and ran to the drivers side. She looked the man in the eyes. "Please, we can help, we're good people, don't leave us."
The car sparked to life.
Daryl could hear the walker's steps as they broke twigs and crunched grass only yards away. He tightened his grip on the crossbow, about to break the window. The man looked at Beth, then Daryl.
The car locks popped open. They both jumped inside.
"See?" she crooned, lips locked in a smile. They jumped inside and sped off, leaving the walkers to stumble in from all sides. "He saved us when he didn't have to," Beth whispered. "Maybe there are some good people left."
Daryl knew it was true, and still, he doubted.
Chapter Four
Strangers
The car came screaming down the road and banked left when they reached an unmarked exit in the woods. Daryl and Beth held to anything they could as the car bounced along the dirt road, finally breaking from the wooded path and ending up in a trailer park. The driver slammed on the breaks and all three spilled out, hurrying into the closest trailer. It had been secured with a barbedwire fence. The man opened the gate and they hurried inside.
"Thank you," Beth said once they were in.
"They saw the car," the man said as he peeked out the window, looking back to the empty road. "They'll be coming this way."
Daryl pushed the man down- he collapsed in the narrow hallway of the RV. "You were just gonna leave us to get eaten alive," Daryl said, looming over the man.
"I didn't!" the man shouted. "She said you were good people, is that what you are?" he asked. Beth ran behind Daryl and pulled at his shoulders.
"Yes," she said. "We're just... we're scared."
The man stayed down, Daryl towering over him. Then, with Beth pulling him back, Daryl finally relented and stepped away. The man stood.
"Help me pack up my supplies, there's another place we can go. It's safer."
"What's your name?" she asked.
The man hesitated. "Conrad," he said after a moment. Beth smiled.
"I'm Beth, this is Daryl, thank you again."
The man nodded, "Let's get moving," he said.
#
Once back in the car, Beth couldn't believe her luck. The trunk was now full of water and canned food. Her pounding headache finally subsided after taking just a few more sips and eating some jerky. Though she knew he would never admit it, he was starting to see that she was right. As hard and punishing as the world had become, there was still hope.
"He must be taking good care of you," Conrad said, looking at Beth from the rearview.
"Huh?"
"For you to still be alive."
Daryl turned to him from the pasenger side. "She's tougher than she looks," he said.
They reached a small deserted town, dry leaves and crashed cars littered the streets.
"I need your help, there's always a few stragglers around here," Conrad said as he pulled in front of the police station and parked. He got out. Daryl moved to the trunk to get the supplies but Conrad walked up the stairs toward the station doors. "We're not staying here," Conrad told him. Two walkers lumbered around the corner and began shuffling towards them. "Kill them, then come inside," Conrad told Daryl and walked up the stairs into the station.
Beth moved Beside daryl. He aimed the crossbow to the closest of the two walkers and shot it in the head. He reloaded and fired at the second.
"More," she said. Three more appeared on the other side of the street. Daryl jogged to the two on the ground and took his arrows back. Another group of three stumbled from the sporting goods store ahead.
"I'm gonna get him back," Beth told him, turning to the police station doors.
"No," Daryl said. "I don't trust him."
"We need help, I'm going." She ran inside.
The lobby was trashed. Dried blood and broken glass covered the floor. Two old bodies in police uniforms lay sprawled by the counter. As she ran past, Beth noticed the photos of policemen lining the wall. Conrad was one of them.
She reached the top of the stairs leading to the basement which looked like nothing more than a dark pit. "Hello?" she called. "We need help."
Conrad reappeared, a shotgun and two handguns craddled in his arms. "Me too," he said. Beth ran down and grabbed the handguns. She ran outside, all the walkers lay dead on the asphalt.
"Looks like I made the right decision with you two," Conrad said.
"Where's this safe place?" Daryl asked, pulling an arrow from a walker's eye.
"Military base just north of here."
"We need to find the others," Beth told Daryl.
"We need to rest, eat. Then we'll find them," he said. She nodded.
#
In the car again, they rolled through town, slow so as to not attract the leftover walkers remaining in the stores and homes nearby.
"What'd we get?" Conrad asked Beth who held a pile of weapons in her lap.
"Shotguns, handguns, a rifle, taser."
"You know how to use a taster?" He asked. She shook her head. He held his hand out as he drove, she passed it up to him. Daryl watched the homes as they passed, his eyes scanning the windows from the passengers side.
"This is actually a stun gun," Conrad told her. He put the device to Daryl's neck. A loud crack broke the silence, Daryl convulsed in his seat, Beth screamed and reached down to the handgun in her lap. Conrad slammed the break, sending it all falling to the floor. He quickly reached his hand back to her and put the stun gun to her leg.
"Hands where I can see them, he said. Beth obliged, putting her palms against the ceiling.
"Get out," he commanded.
Chapter Five
No Good People
Beth watched as Conrad opened the trunk of the car, she stood on the sidewalk as he had instructed. He reached inside, past the food and water and pulled out a heavy black duffle bag. He closed the trunk and walked to the middle of the street right in front of her. He unzipped the bag and pulled out a plastic robot dog and set it on the blacktop.
Conrad moved along the white traffic line taking out more toys and laying them down on the street. A firetruck, a toy guitar... she didn't ask questions. Her eyes wandered to Daryl who was stil unconcious in the car. Then, she heard a muffled cry. She looked across the street and noticed a young girl about her age tied to a telephone post. She was sitting on the ground, arms tied behind her back, a gag around her mouth.
"What're you gonna do?" Beth finally asked him as he lay a gray spaceship on the street.
"I never wanted this," he told her. She noticed he had tears in his eyes. He wiped his face and regained his composure. "Get him out of the car," he ordered as he took the shotgun which sat strapped to his back and turned the hollow end toward her.
Beth opened the door and pulled Daryl out. He fell to the street with a thud. She gripped him beneath the arms but wasn't strong enough to drag him. Conrad signaled her to move to the sidewalk again. She walked back as he took hold of Daryl's vest and pulled him along to the road the telephone pole on the corner. Conrad tossed her a piece of rope. "Tie him. I'm gonna check it, make it tight."
"Please," she said as she began to tie him. "What do you want? We can help."
"You don't get it. We're surrounded. That horde behind us is nothing. Ahead, there are hundreds of them, maybe thousands. My wife can't run, she's sick. If I get them moving, then we can get around them, we can drive through- we'll be out, we'll be okay."
"You're gonna feed us to them?" she said. He walked to the girl across the street and pulled her gag off.
"Please!" the girl yelled.
"Don't scream," Beth wanred. The girl closed her mouth as she cried.
"I"m sorry," Conrad said as he came back. "Go over there," he ordered, pointing to another pole on the corner. She walked.
"Does your wife know what you're doing?" she asked.
"No," he said. "She'll never know."
"You will," she said. "You'll never be able to forget. Please just-"
"No!" he shouted. "Hands behind your back."
She did as he asked, her eyes searching for something, anything. There was nothing. He pulled her to the pole and tied her hands. "I tried to kill myself once," she said, mostly to herself. She turned her eyes to the rich blue sky above. Broken white clouds drifted lazily past. "So stupid," she finished.
He paused for a moment, then, finished trying the knot. Beth watched Conrad walk to the toys on the street. One by one, he turned them on. The spaceship hissed and flahsed. The robot dog barked. The firetruck wailed.
The girl tied to the post across the street began to sob.
Conrad pointed the shotgun to the sky and squeezed the trigger. The boom echoed through the town. He climbed inside the car and sped off.
#
Daryl raised his head as the cacophony of sirens and buzzers woke him. His eyes caught glimpse of the toys as they wobbled and rolled along the street ahead. Looking up further, he saw the girl at the opposite sidewalk mumbling to herself. The racket from the toys grew louder and louder, he wasn't sure where he was or what was happening. Not until he tried to move his arms and felt his wrists scrape against the rope.
He remembered.
"Beth?" he called. He turned left, Beth was standing on the corner thirty yards east, her arms tied back like his. She tried to pull herself free but there was no getting out.
His attention returned to the noisy toys ahead. He understood.
A walker lumbered toward him from behind. He scanned the street. They were coming from all sides.
The one closest to him thew its arms up and took hold of Daryl's elbow, mouth open, teeth bared. Daryl jumped up and kicked his feet back, pushing the walker to the ground. The girl across the street yelled as they got closer. She was surrounded by them. The walkers attacked, unaware of her screams as they fed.
Chapter Six
Deadlocked
Daryl ran in a circle, his forearms scraping splinters as he did. Facing the downed walker, he lifted his boot brought it down like a hammer on the back of its head, cracking the skull against the pavement. Beside him two more were closing in. He turned to Beth who was about to be over run. One walker moved faster than the others. It lunged at her.
Beth kicked up her feet momentarily pushing it back but the walker remained standing.
"Trip him," Daryl told her. She watched its feet as it moved closer, when it was in range, Beth swiped her foot across his legs. It fell on its back, she lay one leg over its chest- the walker tried to get up. She used her other leg to kick her heel against his temple until the head nearly ripped off.
The other walkers were getting close. She knew she couldn't fight them all.
"Get his belt," Daryl called out as he kicked at the walkers attacking him. The sound of a hundred shuffling feet rose around the corner as the horde Conrad had feared came into view.
Beth looked to the walker she'd just killed. He was wearing construction clothes and still had a tool-belt wrapped around his waist. She wrapped her foot around the belt and pulled the body toward her, when it was close enough she reached for the box cutter sitting in its holster and pulled it out. She extracted the blade and cut her rope just as another walked stumbled close. She darted left and ran for Daryl.
"Run," Daryl ordered. "Get out!"
As a walker opened its mouth to bit him, she stabbed it in the back of the head and cut Daryl's bonds. Daryl took her hand and pushed his way through the thickening horde down the empty alleyway ahead.
"Which way did he go?" Daryl asked.
"We need to leave," Beth told him. They came out onto an empty street, Daryl opened the first car he saw and jumped inside. He pulled the panel beneath the steering wheel and tried to hot-wire it to life. Beth stood beside the car, watching him.
"Daryl-" she began.
"Which way?" he asked. She pointed past the horde. "Get in."
She sighed and finally did as he'd asked. They tore out once the ignition caught on. Daryl swung around the horde, hitting a few stragglers as they sped towards Conrad's car.
"Why didn't you listen?" he asked.
"I saved your life," said.
"Should have been trying to save yours."
"I am saving mine. What do you think would happen to me if I left you there to get torn up?"
"You need to start thinking about yourself," he said.
"Aren't you listening? I was." The road ahead was till teeming with dead. Daryl swung the car this way and that trying to avoid them but he couldn't. Soon, they were hitting every walker along the way, blood covered the car black and crimson. "This is stupid," she said, "why're we going after him?"
"You were wrong," he said. "There's no more good people left."
"What about us?" she asked as he hit a walker which exploded into thick chunks of gore as they drove through it. Daryl swerved. In the distance he saw two red dots of Conrad's car. It was sitting still.
"What about us?" he asked.
"We don't have to be like them. We don't have to hunt them down. Even if they did try to kill us. We can be better."
Daryl was silent for a moment. "Just getting some supplies from 'im," he said. "And my crossbow back."
The tire's burned as Daryl hit the brakes behind Conrad's car. The drivers door sat open, the ding, ding, ding, the only sound save for the rumbling engine. The car was empty, it had been parked in front of a hardware store. Daryl jumped from his own car and rushed to Conrad's. He opened the back seat and pulled out his crossbow. He fished around for a while longer, Beth waited behind him.
"You got your crossbow, open the trunk and get some of the water then let's just go, please. What're you doing in there?"
Daryl get out and handed her her knife.
Conrad, oblivious to the pair, appeared at the door, he walked his sickly wife to the threshold. He held her arm on his shoulders, helping her along. Daryl turned to meet him.
"Oh Christ," Conrad said when he saw them. Daryl stood still for a moment, then, he raised his crossbow. Behind the, the dead were fast approaching.
Chapter Seven
What Did You Do?
"I know," Conrad said, holding his hands out in front of him. "I'm sorry for what I did. But you don't have to hurt us." His wife hung barely conscious by his arm.
"Not her, just you," Daryl said.
"Kill me, you kill us both. She's not well, she needs care."
"Care? Like what you did back there? You left that girl to get eaten alive."
Conrad winced. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know what else to do."
Beth watched as the dead crowded the road and descended the hill, only minutes away now. "Daryl," she said. He turned to her and saw the horde moving down.
"We're taking your supplies," Daryl said as he lowered the crossbow and turned to Conrad's car. "Come on," he said as he passed Beth. She stood watching the husband who carried his wife, he seemed pathetic where once he had been a menace.
She moved to Daryl who now sat behind the wheel, waiting for her. "We can't take it all," she said.
"He left us to die!" Daryl reminded her. "Get in."
"No."
The horde groaned as it made its way closer and closer to the hardware store. He turned back and saw them approaching, their eyes reflecting white against the moon. Daryl grabbed his crossbow from the passenger seat and stood, pushing past Beth.
He raised it again.
"Don't!" Beth screamed.
Daryl fired. The arrow cut the air and plunged itself between Conrad's eyes. He collapsed to his knees dead, his unconscious wife falling with him.
Daryl slung the crossbow behind his back and moved to the woman. He lifted her in his arms and brought her to the car. he laid her in the back seat and turned to Beth. "Get in."
#
The car drifted along the dark night, the only sound was that of the tires humming on the road. Beth watched as the moon was taken over by dark clouds. Tears rolled along her dirty cheeks, leaving clean streaks on her face as they fell. Maybe she was wrong, she thought, maybe he was just like all the others. Maybe there was no one good left.
The car pulled to the side of the empty road, rolling atop the grass. She turned to Daryl as he put the gear into park and jumped out. She remained seated, watching as he walked across the street. She wasn't sure what he was doing or why. Then, she watched as he covered his eyes with his hands and wept.
Beth opened her door and moved around the car. "Stay back," he said, not turning around.
"You're not like them," she said.
"Yeah? What am I then?"
"He tried to kill us," she began, "...he killed that girl. He would have killed more people."
Daryl turned back to face her. "I'm not what you think," he said. "I'm not anything."
"Yes you are. You are to me."
He only looked at her, his eyes shinning from fallen tears. For a moment she thought he believed her.
The sound of a car door opening behind them broke the silence. Conrad's wife stepped out, she looked confused and frightened. She looked around, searching for her husband. She turned her eyes up to Beth, to Daryl.
"What did you do?" she asked.
Chapter Eight
While You Sleep
Beth watched the woman sleep in the backseat of the car, she knew it would be hard to keep her around but she needed help and Beth was certain that Daryl was the man to help her. She covered the sleeping woman with a blanket Conrad had stashed in the trunk. She had tried to find out her name but the woman had kept silent. If not for her illness, she would have left Beth and Daryl behind.
They had driven the car through the woods and parked near a small clearing where Beth started a fire and Daryl went out to hunt. They were only minutes from being out of gas.
Daryl came back with two rabbits and a squirrel, he threw them on the dirt beside the fire.
"We have food," Beth told him. "For once."
"We can save the cans for when we need 'em."
Beth bobbed her head in agreement. She tried to quell the smile on her face but it was hard when Daryl was near. She couldn't quiet place the feeling. She had never felt it before, whatever it was.
"What're we gonna do with her?" she asked, leaning her head to the car.
"She's not a prisoner."
"She's sick."
"I killed her husband, if she doesn't want to say with us... I don't know."
Beth was quiet for a moment. She watched Daryl cut the rabbit's hide and skin it. "If she wants to leave-"
"We'll find a place for her," he said. "We'll try anyway. We owe her," he said putting the dead animal over the fire to cook. "You shouldn't have come back for me back there," he said.
"Why, you would have come for me."
"Yeah that's different."
"How?"
"If you got hurt because of me..."
"I decide what I do and don't do," she said.
"I wouldn't be able to live with myself," he said and looked at her.
"You'll outlive us all. You know that don't you? You're gonna live when everything else falls apart. You're better than us. But that means you're gonna have to live after we die."
"No one's dying."
"Not yet, but one day. You have to learn to live with things like that. When I'm gone-"
"Alright," he said. Lying down. "Tired."
She laughed quietly to herself, amused at how such a strong, sometimes fearless man could shy away from the subject.
"What do you want to do tomorrow?" she asked.
"Do? What we always do."
"We should do something else. Something specific."
"We need to get her some medicine."
"She's not gonna make it," Beth said, turning to the car. "She has cancer. I've seen it."
"We can get her some painkillers."
"Yeah," Beth said.
"You wanna take first watch?" Daryl asked.
"Aren't you gonna eat?"
"Nah, you eat. I'll get the next one."
#
Daryls eyes rolled open, it was daylight. Beth hadn't woken up him to take second shift. He sat up, alarmed when he didn't see her beside him.
A small cry sounded by the car. He turned behind him and saw her standing by the backseat, looking through the back door. She was crying.
"Beth?" He said as he stood and joined her. He likes inside. The woman had cut her wrists with a knife they didn't know she had.
"She turned during the night," Beth said. The woman's hand pushed at the glass, trying to get out. She bared her teeth at them, hungry.
"Why didn't you wake me?" he asked.
"I wanted you to sleep, just a little longer."
"look away," he told her. Beth turned around. Daryl threw open the door and spiked the knife into the woman's head.
"Grab the bag," he said. "Fill it up with the supplies from the trunk. We're leaving."
#
They wondered the forest in silence, following a winding path.
"You can't cry for them all," he said.
"I don't. It's just, it's not supposed to end like that. My dad-" she stopped herself.
"He deserved better," he said.
As they walked, Beth noticed a large red sign atop a building across a grouping of trees. "I can't believe it!" She said and darted out, running in a full sprint.
Beth!" He called- but she was nearly gone. He followed close behind until they ended up crossing out of the woods and into a parking lot.
She stopped, he ran beside her and skidded on his feet.
"What the hell you thinkin'?" he asked. She smiled. He looked up.
The letters read Roller Rink.
Chapter Nine
Through Her Eyes
Daryl and Beth moved through the empty roller rink, clearing each room until they were satisfied they were the only ones here. He walked to the counter and put his crossbow down. Beth nearly skipped to him.
"We're good?" she asked.
"All clear," he said, she smiled wide and ran around him to the selection of skates behind the counter. "You sure we should be wasting time here?"
"We have food, water, we don't know where the others are... you have better ideas for how to spend the day?"
He hopped atop the counter an pulled an apple from his pocket, he took a bite.
"You're not coming?" she asked.
"Not much of a skater."
"Fine, more room for me." She found her size and pulled out a pair of purple skates from its cubby and quickly kicked off her shoes. Beth threw on the skates and tried to stand. The wheels spun beneath her and she came falling back.
She looked up to Daryl and held her hand out. He took another bite of the apple and laid it down. He jumped off the counter and took her hand. He pulled her up.
She stood awkwardly in front of him, her feet shuffling beneath her. She held his hand while trying to keep still.
"You done this before?" he asked.
"Once," she said. "When I was little."
"Alright," he said as he walked slowly ahead, towing her along. "Come on." He gently pushed her into the rink once they'd reached it. Beth drifted to the center, arms out for balance. Slowly she got more and more confident, kicking her feet to move faster and faster. Daryl leaned against the barrier and watched.
After Hershel was killed in front of her eyes, Daryl wasn't sure he would ever see her smile again. She didn't know if her sister was alive, she had nearly been killed time and time again. She had seen terrible things and had her hopes dashed and turned to horror. And yet, now, she simply put on a pair of skates and enjoyed herself.
Daryl wondered if anyone else in the world could be like her, but as soon as he'd asked himself the question, he already knew the answer, there was no one. She was something else, she was something special.
She floated around the rink, first stiff and cautious, then, revolution by revolution, she softened he stance, her arms relaxing at her sides, palms turned down like little wings, strands of blonde trailing behind like the streak a comet leaves as it makes its quick but bright pass across the sky.
#
"You were right," Daryl said. They had taken refuge in the clock tower overlooking the deserted town. "Ain't enough to just survive." He watched the sun fall behind the old homes, the sky behind it turning gold before night took over.
She watched him with a soft smile. "What makes you say that?" She asked.
"It's easy to give up when you think of the future and all you see is more fighting."
"So my skating really worked for you huh?"
He held back the urge to smile. "You played me Greene?"
"No... But I wanted you to see it."
"See what?"
"Fun," she said. "I think maybe you forgot what it looked like."
"Forgot? Not sure I ever knew it in the first place."
She looked around where she was sitting, suddenly something dawned on her.
"Damn it," she said.
"What?"
"This would be a good time to write in my diary but, I left it at the prison."
"What about that song you were workin' on?" he asked.
"What about it?" she asked. He shrugged.
"It's not finished," she said, taking out the crumbled papers in her pocket.
"What's it about?" he asked. She smiled, turning her chin up toward him.
"You want me to sing it?"
"I didn't say that."
"Okay, so I won't."
"Don't you need a guitar or somet'n?"
"Works better with one yeah, why is my voice not good enough for you Mr. Dixon?"
He turned back to the window and shrugged again.
"Oh my god..." she said.
"Hm?"
"You actually want me to sing."
He scoffed and turned his back to her completely.
Beth cleared her throat and closed he eyes. She sang. Daryl turned back, watching as she did.
"Oh, sweet girl, at the bottom of the ocean, at the bottom of the world, won't you turn your eyes to light, won't you turn your eyes to the sky?
"Oh sweet girl, has it been enough time, are you strong enough to climb? She's a little less refined, a girl with light-white eyes.
"Oh Sweet, sweet girl, place your hand in mine, we won't say goodnight, we won't think about it twice, you're the ocean, I'm the wild, once asleep, now like a child. .."
She opened her eyes. "Told you, it's not finished."
She seemed like a different person to him. Confident, strong. She looked like she knew who she was. Like how he wished he felt about himself.
He heard the echo of the song in his mind, realizing it wasn't just about her, but him too. He was a part of why she was okay. All at once, he saw himself through her eyes and what he saw was someone who was worth something.
Chapter Ten
When I'm Gone
For the first time since he could remember, Daryl had a smile on his face when he woke up. he watched as a line of dust swirled across a sunbeam that bled through the window above. He turned and saw Beth asleep across the floor. All at once he knew he would do anything to keep her safe.
Daryl stood and moved to the duffel bag filled with cans. Beside it were the empties they'd eaten the night before. He pulled a full one out: chicken soup. He put it back, knowing it was Beth's favorite.
Something caught his eye out the window. He turned to look. A massive horde was ambling into town, just a few blocks from the tower.
"Shit," he said quietly to himself.
"What is it?" Beth asked as she woke up.
"Whole lot of 'em," he said. She sat up, alarmed and ran to the window beside him.
"Do we stay?" she asked.
"I don't know. If they stop we could get trapped here for good."
"Maybe they'll just pass through."
"Maybe," he said, looking out over the trees surrounding the town to try to see how big the horde was. It was impossible to tell from here. They only kept coming.
"Can they climb stairs?" she asked.
"I think they could manage," he told her.
"We should run," she said.
"You sure?"
"No, but I know what would happen if a bunch of them wander in here and trap us. There's only one way out. Besides, if we run out of water and they're still down there, we'll be dead for sure."
He watched as they made their way down the streets toward the clock tower. More and more continued to come through the trees. For all he knew it wasn't only one horde but many, for all he knew they could go on for days. If they ran ahead and turned so most of they didn't see where they went, they could still lose them. But if any walkers entered the tower they'd be trapped just like she said.
If they made any noise, it could bring the rest of them and there would be no getting down, ever.
"Let's go," he said, taking up the duffel bag. She stayed close as they hurried down the stairs, nearly falling as they ran.
They exploded from the doors, Daryl out ahead, trying the car doors as he went but all were locked.
A hand jetted out beneath one of the cars, grabbing him by the ankle. Daryl tumbled on the pavement— the bag flying out in front of him. Beth took her knife but the walker's head was beneath the car, she couldn't get to it. Daryl pulled his leg free, taking the walker's arm with it.
Three more walkers that had already been in town came out in front of them, Daryl shot one in the head with an arrow and stood. They poured from every doorway. Daryl reached for the bag but the remaining walkers lunged at him.
"Forget it!" Beth yelled, taking his hand. They ran.
#
By the afternoon they had lost most of what Daryl had seen coming at them from the woods but what was still following them was enough to keep them running.
They rested and ate, drank and ran. When the sun finally set, they were back in the woods again and the group of walkers behind them seemed to somehow grow and gain distance even as the pair barreled through the woods.
"We have to hide," Daryl told her. "Can't keep runnin'."
She nodded, too out of breath to speak. They needed rest or they wouldn't make it.
Daryl burst through the brush first, he was on a road. Ahead of him, he heard more moans of the dead and raised his crossbow. Beth came out just after him. A broken car sat beside them. They were surrounded.
"Get in," he told her, opening the trunk. She did, he followed. Soon, the walkers came and with them a thunderstorm.
The two remained hidden close as the walkers marched around the car throughout the night. Beth held her knife, Daryl aimed his crossbow. They waited until daylight. It was then she knew she couldn't just run anymore. She had to live. Tomorrow, she decided in silent thought, she would have her first drink.
#
"We're not expecting any problems," Rick said. He, Tyreese, Glenn and Michonne waited with Noah to go to his hometown. "You don't have to come on this one, we got plenty of people."
Daryl wasn't one to sit out on these kinds of runs, but even Rick could see he still wasn't ready, though he was surprised when Daryl agreed.
"You guys take this one," Daryl said. Rick nodded and in minutes they were gone.
Daryl stood on the road beside the car where Maggie and Sasha were packing their gear, getting ready to go out in search of a water source.
"I"m gonna see if I can catch anything," he told Maggie who gave him a simple nod. Daryl walked slow into the woods ahead, first careful as he always was when hunting, then, he began to hurry. His feet burning to move as fast as he could away from the view of the road.
He looked back, making sure no one could see him. Turning his eyes to the bright afternoon, he could see the leaves above blend into one another as tears filled in his eyes. "Why her?" he asked the silence.
Daryl dropped the crossbow to the ground, his breath seemed to get caught in his lungs and the air around him became impossible to take in. He fell to his knees, his hands finding nothing but dirt.
He closed his fists around the soil. Daryl screamed. Tears rained from his eyes. His throat burned, his body tensed. He screamed until there was no sound left inside him.
From behind, something broke, twigs, and branches, he didn't care if it was a walker, he was finished, there was no fight left in him.
Two arms wrapped around his torso and squeezed. Maggie.
"Shh,' she crooned. "I know," she said. Her own tears now falling to the dirt beside his.
"I-" he said, but wouldn't allow himself to finish.
"I know" she said. "I miss her too," Maggie confessed.
#
"I wasn't sure if I was going to show you this," Maggie said when they'd come back to the parked van by the road. She reached into the glove compartment and pulled out what looked like a journal. "It's her diary. Glenn found it when he was looking through the prison after he woke up. He was gonna give it to her," she said, handing it to Daryl. He took it and opened it. Just seeing her handwriting was enough to hurt.
"The last entry..." Maggie began. She wiped a tear from her eye. "You should read it. She mentions you." Maggie stood, taking her weapons and moving the way Sasha had walked into the woods.
Daryl sat for a long time simply looking at the book. Finally, he flipped through the pages, finding the last entry marked just a few days before the attack on the prison.
"Sometimes I wish I was strong. I like who I am now. I think I could be strong, someday, but sometimes, when I think about what the others went through, I'm not sure I could do it. Like Rick losing Laurie, or Daryl... he searched for Sofia every day. Day and night. She wasn't even his daughter or anything. But he looked for her, trying to help Carol, giving her hope. And then she came out of the barn and... he must have been devastated. And then, his brother... it's more than strength. It's more than courage. Daryl Dixon has something. He's more than the rest of us. He's strong but he's still good inside. I don't know if I could be both at once. But he is. And he's so brave. He goes on runs all the time... I only hope he can stay good, this world has a way of changing people, I hope I can be like Daryl when bad things happen, when it all falls apart like I fear it will. I hope I can be like him. I hope I can be good."
The End.