"You know, something seems different about you, can't put my finger on it" Michonne mused as she fell in stride next to Daryl.
"And how is that" Daryl reluctantly asked. "I don't know, but don't you worry I intend to get to the bottom of this".
"Don't try too hard, wouldn't want you to strain yourself" Daryl half mumbled to the ground in front of him.
Michonne smirked to herself and quickened her pace to catch up with Carl. Daryl had become good at pushing thoughts of Beth to the back of his mind as they crept up on him. Today however, had been trying on all of his might.
Images of her kept flashing in his head. He saw her sitting across from him drinking that moonshine like she didn't have a care in the world. He envied her ability to see the good in things, to maintain some semblance of hope even after all they've been through.
It was people like Beth that made this world worth saving. He couldn't understand how a naive farm girl could have this effect on him. For some reason, unknown to Daryl, Beth also thought he was worth saving. Somewhere beneath that hardened exterior, she pulled out parts of him he didn't even know he had. Parts, old Daryl would have scoffed at and preferred to light a fire to.
Don't you think that's beautiful? Those words reverberated in his head with each step he took. Beautiful wasn't even a word he had known. He thought it was reserved for the privileged. The ones that had the luxury of being able to stop and smell the flowers, who didn't have a drunkard of a father that viewed anyone with a shred of emotion as weak and accommodating. Beth and Daryl came from two different worlds. Worlds that were never supposed to mix.
He couldn't help but laugh to himself at the thought of how it must have looked to see a small blonde girl slumming around with a rugged looking redneck with a crossbow. He let his mind continue to wander off to places where she wasn't gone, where he had caught her captors before they had the chance to whisk away his only salvation.
Daryl was pulled out of his stupor when Rick abruptly stopped the survivors in their path.
"We should consider setting up camp for the night. We are running out of daylight and we should be far enough away for now." No one questioned Rick's command. The remaining group looked hesitant and still wasn't sure of their new found leader's competence.
Daryl was uncharacteristically the first to put down his weapon and agree the area should be safe for the night. Sleep over took his weakened body quickly, and he succumbed to all of the thoughts he didn't dare let enter his mind in the daylight.
Beth woke up lying in the dirt. Or she didn't wake up at all, she couldn't really be sure anymore. She could feel the wet leaves beneath her head and see the branches blocking out the sunlight above her.
Beth wasn't sure how long she lay there, staring up into the sky, trying to make sense of her new reality.
The events of the last week hit her like a ton of bricks, but there were still missing pieces she couldn't find. She saw Daryl desperately trying to fight off the horde and lead them away from her. He gave Beth the chance to run out into the darkness but it soon enveloped her and she couldn't hear her companion anymore. Panic struck her even harder than the erratic memories of the event. Her pulse quickened and she could feel every muscle in her body tense. Did Daryl make it out? Was he alive? Of course he was, this was Daryl she told herself over and over like some sort of mantra.
She slowly lifted herself off the ground, using her hands to steady her she made her way to her feet. Her progress was halted when she felt a searing pain rip through her side like a thousand bee stings. Luckily her whimpers were only heard by a passing squirrel. Beth lifted up her shirt trying to find the source of the pain. She saw two large gashes running diagonally across her abdomen, and was somewhat relieved to see the source of her pain wasn't a bite. One seemed fresher than the other, there was still some blood that hadn't dried yet. She winced as she applied mud to her stomach to seal the wound. Well I'm sure this is sanitary.
Beth carefully lowered her shirt and looked around trying to make sense of her surroundings. At least I'm in the woods and not out in the open, My knife! She desperately ran her hands down her side finding nothing. She took a step forward and felt something stiff against her ankle. I'm glad unconscious me had enough sense to hide my knife in my boot. Beth gripped her hand around the knife bringing it to her side like some sort of security blanket.
The wind rushed past her ear making a howling noise that sent chills down her spine. Beth was suddenly aware again of how alone she was. The weight of this threatened to consume her, but this world's Beth knew better. She tried to dredge up all of the knowledge Daryl had given her about tracking. Pretty soon I won't need you at all. She cursed herself for ever uttering those words. The irony of her now current situation wasn't lost on her.
A quiet moan was heard in the distance. She knew she had to begin moving and quickly. Walkers didn't care if you needed a minute. She forced her tired to legs to move underneath her and began her descent into the woods. It must have rained while she was out. Most of the ground was damp, which made it easier to make out any kind of tracks that may have been left by human or non human. Seeing the human variety would have been a nice pick me up but she wouldn't dare have that kind of optimism yet.
Beth and Daryl had covered a large area of the woods on their travels but she couldn't find a hint of anything familiar around her. Where am I? There were paths through the woods but none of them seemed to lead anywhere. It was just an endless maze of leaves and branches. She chose a path that seemed to be worn more than the others. This could just mean that a herd of walkers had come through but Beth ignored this and chose to think it was the less obvious answer.
After what seemed like endless wandering, Beth came across a body blocking her path. It was a walker of course, but more importantly it was a young man. No matter how many mangled corpses she saw, this wasn't the type of sight she would get used to. The man's left arm was twisted above his head in an unnatural manner. His right arm was almost severed and what was left of his clothes was torn and tattered. It had looked like he put up a fight before he died, but there was something else that was strange about the body. He didn't appear to have died that long ago. Beth held her breath and searched through what was left of his jacket and pants. Nothing. She inspected the body further and saw an obvious head wound, but also marks and discolorations around his throat. Did someone kill him while he was still alive? This thought made her shudder. Someone may have killed a man to take what little belongings he had on him. Maybe he had a pocket knife or a wallet. Nothing substantial or necessary for survival.
Beth decided to not look into it any further her psyche was already damaged. She carefully stepped over the man to not to disturb him and carried on into the woods. There are still good people Daryl. Another utterance that seemed to be her damnation.
Most of the ground was covered in leaves but she noticed an area off to her right that appeared to have indentations in the mud. She kneeled down for a closer inspection. They were definitely footprints, but instead of the usual uneven and wobbly gait they appeared even and deliberate. The signs are all there, you just gotta know how to read em. Beth didn't even let her thoughts think the words she simply followed the tracks with only one person on her mind. Daryl.
Daryl was awoken by incessant footsteps pacing back and forth in front of him.
"Could ya be any louder!" Daryl yelled out annoyed.
The weird one with the mullet answered back "I'll take it that was a rhetorical question but I'm sure it's well within my abilities to produce even more noise." He continued to march on in the same robotic motion.
Daryl made an agitated grunting sound and stumbled to his feet. He saw Glenn and Maggie off to his right talking about whatever it is an Asian and a southern girl would talk about. Maggie had yet to confront Daryl on her sister's whereabouts, and he was quietly thankful for that fact.
Daryl saw Carl was off in the distance sharpening a stick so he assumed Rick and some of the others had gone out early to gather supplies. The Mullet and Glen weren't really his idea of the best company so Daryl headed off into the woods telling himself he was looking for Rick but in reality any distraction would do.
The funny thing about this new world was that it gave you plenty of time to think. It was often just you alone in your head, suffocated by every thought you ever had. Daryl never really took much time to think when he was with Merle. He followed orders and drifted through life the only way he knew how. He never really saw anything wrong with that lifestyle. Everything was just a means to get from point A to point B. The in between didn't matter. People like Beth were foreign to him. They put thought into their actions and didn't just see the world in shades of black and white. The gray areas came out most when he was with her, but that didn't...
What is that? Daryl froze in his tracks. If he wasn't sure what panic felt like before he was sure that's what was happening now. It was the body of a girl he knew that much. What he didn't know was if he was brave enough to get closer to identify who she was. He gripped the crossbow on his back almost ready to use it on himself if it turned out to be the outcome he feared. He steadied his arm and approached the body.
A wave of relief washed over him when he saw she was much younger than Beth and had brown hair. He found it odd that he was still referring to the walker as a she. It was just another dead thing. Daryl saw a tarp nearby instinctively grabbed it and covered the girl. What if someone found my dad? Daryl shook the thought of Beth's words out of his head and turned to walk in the other direction.
"I saw that you know." Daryl was caught off guard by Michonne's arrival.
"You didn't see nothin" Daryl mumbled as he busily adjusted his crossbow. "What did I see then?" Michonne asked already knowing the answer.
"Did you find anything out there?" Daryl said changing the subject. "No, but I walked the perimeter, no sign of anyone yet." Michonne gave up on her previous query knowing she would have more luck getting information out of the dead girl on the ground than the Georgian in front of her.
"Good, let's head back." The pair waked back in silence once again leaving Daryl alone with his thoughts.
