Determined To Stay Safe and Sound

by EvergreenFirefly

Love is impossible when the dead walk. At least that's what Daryl keeps telling himself. Just when he thinks it's possible Beth is taken from him. Now he's determined to get her back and she's determined to escape. Mostly canon.

1. PB&J

Determined To Stay Safe And Sound

*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*

Hey peoples! Sooooooo I just wrote this when I had all these awesome ideas and was bursting to write them. This story takes place during and after season 4 episode 13: Alone. I added more time to Beth and Daryl's romance because it seemed so snappy. This picks up after the mortuary gets over run. Beth isn't kidnapped so Daryl and Beth get more bonding. NO smut rated K+ For zombies and zombie violence. Please note that this is a Beth and Daryl pairing... Enjoy!

*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*

Chapter One: PB&J

Beth's POV

No no no no no no no! Panic rushes through my entire body propelling my legs further and further into the woods. Leaves whip past me in a blur of green. The branches scratch my arms and face as I stumble. My breaths are heavy and loud. Too loud. The walkers will hear. They will tear me to pieces, hunger driving them to eat everything and everyone they could get their decaying hands on. The thought makes me run faster than I thought I could. I run deep into the woods, I run away from Daryl, from the funeral home, from my fears. I want to turn around and be a hero but instead I run like the coward I am. I stop, not able to push myself any further. I bend over with my hands on my knees, catching my breath. As I lean there a snarl comes from behind me. I turn just in time to see the sickly creature tumble onto me. It snaps its blood soaked jaws right in my face. I stumble back trying to keep its deadly teeth away from my skin. I scream in horror, the monster pushes me right into a thickly thorned bush. I shriek in sheer terror. I need Daryl…And he needs me. I grasp my knife and plunge it into the thing's head. I pull myself up out of the prickly bush and into a full sprint. Daryl needs me. I burry the fear deep inside and replace it with determination. I hear intense growls and gurgles calling me to destroy them.

My adrenaline pulls me further. My feet seemed to crack every branch in the entire freaking woods. I imagine Daryl there alone battling countless walkers as I just prance through the woods. I can see the moon's light shining through the trees and leaves. I just burst out of the tree line in full sprint. I run through the parade of the dead. Walkers dot everywhere slowly moving in one direction. All trying to get one thing: Daryl, my Daryl. My legs hit the ground hard. Walkers lumber after me. Catch me if you can! I taunt in my mind.

A walker stands right in front of me, its rotting hands reaching for my flesh. I swerve to the side hard; I loose balance and fall over. The walkers advance closer, encircling me. The ground is cold and hard, the dirt pressing into my clothes making it filthier. The walkers crowd all around me. I was food to them, just another thing to destroy and ruin like the rest of the world. Like they did to Otis to Louise to Doug to Lacey to Duncan to Mr. Fischer to Mrs. Fischer Arnold to Shawn to Annette to Dale to Jimmy to Mama to T-dog to Lori to Zach to Daddy to Maggie to Judith to Carl to Glenn to Rick to Carol To Sasha to Carol to Mica to Lizzie to Michonne to Daryl if I didn't do anything. They made this world rumble.

Not me, not yet, not now, I'm not just another dead girl. I'm alive. I spring to my feet. I stare right into the eyes of the walker in front of me. "Not me!" I sink my knife in to its head. Tears prick my eyes. Another walker advances and the first tears slide down my cheek. I bring my knife down hard into its gnarled head. Blood splatters my face, mixing with my tears. I let out a choked sob. "They're dead, all of them. You'll never see them again!" I scream through the tears. Another walker, another kill. Stupid summer picnics! I plunge my knife into the walker's bloody eyes.

Any self-control I held was gone. I was slicing and stabbing and sobbing. Not caring how many walkers I drew closer. Every thought of saving Daryl was lost in my sobbing. I could barely see through the tears and blood. "They ruined everything!" I screamed to all of them to hear. No more hearing Daddy's soft voice reading scriptures. No more having Maggie do my hair. No more holding baby Judith deep into the night. It's over. I stabbed my knife into the walker's chest again and again. They're dead, your family, your new family. All gone all destroyed.

Hot tears run down my cheeks blinding my sight, Walkers draw in all around me. I can't do this. I'm going to die. I tried to run but I couldn't see. Panic roared through my body as I fell over a dead body. I stumbled trying to get up but I fell over another corpse. Tears stream down my face in an endless water fall. Pain manifested in my eyes. Walkers were all around me. Crowding me, cornering me, killing me. I got to my knees then my feet slowly trying to get up. I charged into the next walker knocking it over not having time to kill it. Every place I call home gets ruined: Desecrated. I sink my knife deep into the walker heads, barely able to stand with the sobs racking my body. I slash the walkers scowl off its face. So much for new beginnings. I stomp down with full force on a walkers head. So much for love and help. The next walker was so old it had plants and grass growing on is decomposing body. It had bone sticking out of its sagging skin. It turned its sunken eyes toward me. I want to cower in fear but I don't. Instead I kick it full force in its torso. It was so old it died with-out further work. I wonder how many that walker killed. How many lives did you ruin? How many tears were shed because of you? I shake with little spasms. My teeth vibrate with all the crying. The prison held so many good memories know it's gone. It's dust. I stab the next walker then the next. Like dead trees; my knife carving into their heads like an ax cutting firewood. All dead all hungry, and I was food. Just like everyone else they ate!

I look down; all around me were dead walkers. Bloody and dead they lied, not to rise again. One last walker lumbered toward me, struggling to get over my pile of walkers. I watch it come closer, knowing I have time. It snarled and growled at me. It's last growl. I lung at it and knock it over. I plunge my blood soaked knife into its head. I pulled it out quickly and stabbed again, the blood raining all over me. I was too full of rage, fear and sorrow to stop. I stab its chest to a bloody pulp. Why did they die? It's not fair.

They should have lived. Maggie and Glenn could have had a family. A fresh round of tears makes its way to my eyes. "Why! Why! Why! Why!" I crumple into a ball over my pile of corpses crying with my entire heart. I wept and wept my body shaking uncontrollably. It was wrong and bad and unfair and I only made it worse! I knew I was going to die like this. The walkers were going to flood my little mortuary grounds and kill Daryl and I. I clutch my body hard with my arms, like a failed attempt to hold myself together. My life was gone; all I could do is kill walkers. My face was wet and sticky. I felt like I was ripping at the seams.

Held together only by my arms. Until a new pair of strong arms lifted me off my mountain of dead walkers. I breathed in his familiar scent and leaned my head onto his shoulder and fell asleep. *;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*

Beth's POV

The first thing I comprehended is the pain in my ankle. It throbs and hurts like hell. I try to turn my head but my neck is in tight knots that constrict my movement. I prop myself up to a sitting position so I can pop my neck. I look down in my lap despite the sparking pain in my neck. Last night I was different. I was mindless just like the walkers. I had destroyed them without any grief for what they used to be. I had no compassion; I was so selfish and apathetic. Only thinking about my pain instead of the pain I'm inflicting on others. Daryl could have died! Because of my selfishness. I didn't care about anyone except myself. Maybe that's the problem; I care for anything but myself. I wouldn't have melted down if I didn't care about others. I guess I am too empathic. Man up! Stop it with your soap opera. I need to contribute to Daryl and I's little group. I am going to make up for it.

I swing my legs over the side of the casket despite the pain shooting through my entire body. I breathe in, breathe out. Be strong.

Time to make up for my breakdown. I open the door out into the crisp early morning. I breathe in a lungful of fresh air. The ground was littered with walker bodies.

I try not to look at their faces or it would be too hard.

Now their bodies were used to destroy. I really pity them more than anything. Even though last night I acted like one of them. I didn't wield their gnashing teeth but I did wield a knife. I drag the bodies (my entire body protesting) into a pile to burn them. The area I fought in was easy to clear because I fought them in one spot so they were all piled up.

I stop to stare at my heaping pile of walkers. They lie like that, like bricks in a gruesome pile. I look away not wanting those faces etched in my mind. How am I going to start the fire with-out gasoline?! As I went to go search the out building for gasoline I realized how disgusting I looked, I had wisps of hair stuck to my dried tears. My face was puffy and red. You could barely tell my shirt used to be yellow. It was now brownish red and clung to my frame from being so soaked with blood. My pants were so tore they were scraps. My hair was tangled beyond belief. It was mixed with blood and sweat. I could be a damn beauty queen.

Daryl POV

I sit silently in the woods listening to the wind carve through the trees. The light flickers down on the ground making shifting shadows. If I closed my eyes I could almost act as if shit didn't happen. I could pretend that the prison didn't fall or that Judith didn't die or that the dead never walked the earth. But it did, deal with it. The last of the summer air warms my numb skin. Honestly I love the mornings. It seems like everything's how it's supposed to be, like it turned out perfect. That everything happened for a reason. I cling onto that idea; desperately. A single leaf flits down to land in my lap. I stare at it. It was supposed to happen. Enough philosophy, time to get back. I snatch my game and head back.

I slowly make my way back to the mortuary, carefully following my trail here. A walker could be anywhere out here. Out here in the woods you take no chances, every noise is a mistake.

A familiar smell passes my nose: Smoke, from burning flesh. Did Beth start on the walker bodies? Last night it looked like she couldn't take anymore. Guilt surges through me. If I didn't open the door like a mindless fool she would have been fine. I remember her tear stained cheeks and limp form as I pulled her into my arms. She was exhausted and spent, she was hurt and confused and its al my fault. How can I cause so much pain? Well I'll try to make up for it.

I walk through the grave yard with a plot forming in my mind. The yard isn't littered with walker bodies like before. Wait…Beth did this…all by herself. She didn't just start she finished. I step onto the porch to see the alarms restrung and the porch wiped clean. Not a spot of blood on it. Come on she did all this?

She should be resting; you can't just fight all night and be fine. Shame form within. I look up at the vibrant blue sky, just likes Beth's eyes. I come into the mortuary to see Beth preparing breakfast. "Beth?" She turns her blond bloody head toward me. She should look like shit, but she looks like we all do; living in the after math of the apocalypse. Beth passes me a weird cracker sandwich thing. I nod my head in thanks, She smiles in acknowledgment. Why is she doing all this? Only one way to find out. I'm not one to beat around the bush, so as we sit down I just say it. "Why ya doin all this?" She looks up to me with her baby blue eyes "I um" I stare her down needing an answer. "I feel bad bout' my little breakdown last night" she blurts. Is that what she thinks: That she is a burden and needs to repay the debt? "That ain't true and ya' know it" I declare. She looks up in questioning.

"Beth you didn't do nothin' wrong." I explain." It's fine to not be perfect. You ain't invincible. I'm not mad bout' you last night. You did good, killed a ton of walkers. You mourning that's fine." She looks at me like

I grew an elephant trunk. Or is it astonishment? "Daryl, I completely shut down last night! I left you alone and ran like a coward into the woods." She is angry with herself but I'm not angry at her. "I'm trying to make up for it. Just let me do this!" She looks desperate. "It will help" she adds quietly. She stares down at her lap before she ask. "Why aren't you yelling?"

"I ain't' mad" She eases back into her chair "oh" Her turquoise eyes stare down with regret. We eat our PB&J stale cracker sandwiches in silence. "These 'er pretty good" She laughs "apocalypse special" I chuckle softly. "My first PB&J" She looks shocked. "Really! I grew up on these things!" I laugh a deep throaty chuckle. "I grew up on fish and jerky" She smiles "Oh yeah you're a redneck" "I am. Got a problem with that?" She fakes seriousness with me. "Nope Mr. Dixon" then she becomes serious "You being a redneck has kept me alive." Now it's my turn to be shocked. I stare at her intently trying to pin her motives. Is she lying or trying to please me? I can't read her. "It's true" She whispers with such emotion. Then she smiles "You're supposed to say thank you Mr. Dixon" I smile "Yes ma'am"

*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*

And there you have it! First chapter, DUN DUN DUN! Hope you enjoyed it! There will be more chapters. Don't know how many but maybe a few more. Depends on if you guys enjoyed it and if inspiration strikes... constructive criticism is welcome (enjoyed even) I love hearing from you guys and I love to write this.. I am not from the south so I am getting used to the dialect. Please excuse the mistakes. But let me know so I can fix them. The beginning of the chapter is choppy but that is because Beth was panicking. Next chapter will be posted next week.

*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;