Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead comic book or TV series, nor do I own the characters...I wish I did, but I don't!
Summary: Betty was far from the typical refined southern heritage. Having drifted from her family at a young age, she never saw or heard from then again.
So when a apocalypse hits, she doesn't really care. That is until she meets her brother again.
A second chance. Now that's something you did not get too often, a time to reinvent yourself and start a fresh page. The basic necessity of a person's life is to feel accepted, you only have one chance to do this, before society writes you off into a category. It has no affiliation with 'wise' slogans or intellectual lectures. Second chances were about as rare as an undead apocalypse.
Fortunately, Betty was back at square one.
Sure some aspects of the world had changed, such as a wild outbreak of flesh eating monsters, but Betty got her second chance. It did not deter her that the world had gone to the pits, all that mattered to her was that no one could judge her from a piece of paper anymore. Should she be cursed for enjoying the new world? Probably. Did she feel the slightest bit guilty about her thoughts? Fuck no.
#
"What type of pansy ass speed limit is this?" Betty shouted. Her voice rung out to the two passengers in front of her, their joyful singing drowning her voice out. Betty looked between the pair angrily, and looked at the woman beside her.
"Pipe down Betsy, don't get ya braids in a knot" Scarlett remarked, breaking off her singing and looking back to her frustrated passenger. The dark haired woman was curled up with a brooding expression, the rolled down window creating a shampoo ad effect on her hair.
That was Betty. Mostly acknowledged as 'Black-Eye-Betty' or Betsy by her three companions. She scowled back at Scarlett, "I ain't got braids, ya mug" She drawled snottily, turning her head back to the window and enjoying the breeze.
"Naw, from what I 'member, you had braids all tha time as ah youngin'" Johnny laughed from the front seat, reaching back to tug at her hair playfully. She tried to scowl at him, only to end up grinning back at him. "So, where we headin'?" Johnny asked, turning back to the steering wheel and gazing ahead.
Betty looked over to their more silent companion, peering closely at the brunette. "Your choice Valerie, where ye wanna go?" She asked, she lifted her legs and rested them on the bench seat in front of them. She heard Johnny briefly complain about the vintage leather, only to cut him off with a kick to the back of the head.
"I don't know" Valerie said quietly, cautiously looking at Betty and chewing her lip.
"Well we're loosing daylight, so ye better make a decision, quick sticks" Betty urged, growing impatient with the girl.
Valerie fumbled with a decision before blurting out "Atlanta" with a heavy sigh.
"I don't know about Atlanta, we ain't heard transmissions for weeks" Scarlett mused, turning in her seat and looking at Valerie "Ye sure?" She asked. Valerie gave a short nod and Scarlett shrugged, "Well move it Johnny"
Johnny sped up quickly, taking off down an deserted dirt track and heading onto an abandoned highway. Half of the highway was filled with cars and the other empty, to the group's horror, it was the lane exiting Atlanta that was filled with burnt vehicles.
"Christ, was there a napalm or sumfin'?" Betty wondered aloud, sitting up straighter and sticking her head out the window. "Damn" she sighed, watching the cars past.
"Maybe this was a bad idea" Valerie said meekly, shying away from Scarlett's sarcastic facial expression.
"Nonsense" Betty said cheerfully, raising herself from her car seat and sliding through the sunroof. She sat on the hood of the car and looked down at Valerie "There's probably more food for us" She laughed optimistically.
Scarlett scoffed from within the car "You mean more fuglies to eat us"
Stone chuckled from the top of the car, she remembered how the group had argued for days over what to call the living dead. Scarlett had eventually won the right to call them 'fugly' or 'fuglies', she had won a game of poker that night for the privilege.
"Look on the bright side Scar, at least we can get rid of Betsy quicker" Johnny snorted, swerving the car from one side of the road to the other. Betty squeaked and held on tightly, eventually falling back into the car.
"Idiot!" She snapped, slapping the back of Johnny's head angrily. Johnny turned around quickly, taking his hands off the wheel and leaning over to slap Betty back repeatedly. The car swerved back and forth dangerously, scratching alongside other cars and causing dents.
"Watch out!" Scarlett shouted, grabbing the wheel just before it could slam into a car. It skidded to a halt and Betty smashed into Johnny painfully. The group froze momentarily, staring at one another and rubbing sore joints irritably. "Nice going Johnny" Scarlett snapped, hopping out of the car and checking the damage. She cursed loudly and kicked at the car angrily.
The rest of the group joined her outside, each member groaning louder than the other. The car was totaled and the front of it was crushed into the other vehicle. "What are we gonna do now?" Betty wondered irritably, taking a seat on the boot of the car and scanning the area.
"We could try take another car" Valerie suggested, eying a black jeep hopefully.
"We'd need one that ain't gonna take too much gas" Johnny mused, dismissing Valerie's silent thoughts on the jeep. He looked over at a burnt vehicle "It's gonna be hard to find a functioning one in this mess" He added. The group exchanged glances before tiredly separating and searching for a car.
They aimlessly stumbled around the highway, the remaining cars were mostly burnt or siphoned. Gas wasn't a problem for the four, but finding a vehicle when the sky was darkening was becoming a high priority. After searching for a long period and covering a vast area, the group met back at their car only to find scavengers.
Johnny bolted into action, racing towards the burliest bloke and slamming him back into the car. "Wha' tha fuck ye think ye doin'?" A harsh southern voice spat, before the man did a three sixty on Johnny and slammed him against the car. Valerie looked fearfully at Betty, who immediately sprung towards the car. She grabbed her gun from beneath the car seat and leapt outside.
She pulled her gun on the man who almost knocked Johnny out, and gritted her teeth "What do ya think you're doing?" Betty asked, cocking the gun and setting her finger on the trigger deliberately. The man shifted his eyes to her, his face hardened when he saw the gun and he unfurled his hands from Johnny's shirt.
"Ah should be askin' questions" The man said indignantly, stepping backwards with raised hands "Yer tha ones tha' nearly knocked me on ma ass" The man's southern accent increased with each word and he looked between Johnny and Betty closely.
"Well you were in our car" Betty said snidely, frowning at the redneck.
"Maybe ye shouldn't leave ye gear lying 'round" The man retorted.
"Touche"
"Sorry" Johnny mumbled quickly, outstretching a hand apologetically. Betty rolled her eyes at Johnny's goody two shoe behavior. The man was caught off guard naturally and frowned momentarily at him, but shook his hand nonetheless with a crooked grin.
"I'm Johnny"
"I'm Merle" Merle said gruffly. He looked over at Betty with a cocked eyebrow "How 'bout yew, sugar tits?" He leered. Betty pulled a face at him and remained silent, still pointing her gun in his face.
"That's Betty" Johnny said quickly, interrupting the tense silence between the three. "And that's Scarlett and Valerie" He added, pointing behind them. Merle peered over Johnny's shoulder, winking at both the now shy girls and looking back up at Johnny with admiration.
"Three bitches, now tha's impressive" He drawled.
"Charming" Scarlett muttered from afar, earning another leering grin from Merle.
"Eh Merle, can't find naw gas" Another southern accent called from afar. Merle turned with a scowl and looked out to the cars impatiently.
"Ye ain't lookin' hard 'nough" Merle snapped, slapping the other man upside the head as he approached the group. The man stopped suddenly, his hand clenching his crossbow cautiously while he looked at Betty's raised gun. "Aye sugar tits, ye gunna shoot tha gun or wha'?"
Betty lowered the gun slowly and tucked it into her belt, she still looked cautiously at the two men, especially the newcomer.
"This 'eres Betty 'n Johnny" Merle drawled to the man "And tha's Scarlett 'n Valerie" Merle flicked his hand in their direction and watched his brother nod shortly. "This is Daryl, my liddol brudda" He added, looking pointedly at the group. A murmur of greetings echoed between the groups and was followed by a tense silence.
"So..er what brings ya 'ere?" Johnny asked, peering around the highway as if it was a popular social club.
"We was huntin', buh we ain't got much gas" Daryl said finally.
"We 'ave gas" Betty mumbled, moving behind the car and lifting a small container of gas "This 'nough?" She asked, handing the container over.
"Should git us back ta tha' camp" Daryl remarked, checking over the container and going to the pick-up truck.
"Camp?" Valerie asked softly, moving forward and looking at the brothers questionably. "Don't you mean the refuge center?"
Merle snickered, shaking his head at their obliviousness "Atlanta ain't nuthin' buh rotting geeks"
"Wha' ye mean?" Betty asked, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Like ah said, nuthin' buh rotting geeks. Army did shit all, bombed tha' place and nuthin' been in there since" Merle shook his head with a grimace, "Buh we got a camp just outta Atlanta, ah mile or so up ahead" Merle looked at the group "Ya lookin' for some where ta stay, ah bunch of survivors been livin' up t'ere"
Johnny and Betty exchanged a suspicious glance, considering the option of staying with the group.
"We're gunna head up t'ere now, ya'll can come" Merle added, his eyes traveled over the group and he hopped into the truck. "Jus' hook up 'n we'll take ya there"
Johnny looked back at her, "Sure" he mumbled and grabbed a piece of rope. They eventually tied their car to the brother's and got back into the car. Betty dithered for a moment, she looked up at the darkening sky and saw no other option. She reluctantly slid back into the car, allowing the brothers to lead them.
"How do we know we can trust 'em?" Scarlett asked, staring at Johnny and then at Betty.
"We don't" Valerie whispered.
Betty shrugged nonchalantly, "Wha' can we do? It's dark and we ain't got anywhere else ta stay" She said brazenly.
"I reckon we should still be careful though, we don't know these men" Scarlett pressed.
"Well why don't ye find us a place ta stay" Betty snapped impatiently, throwing Scarlett an irritated glare. Scarlett backed down automatically and turned her attention to the road ahead. The car ride was silent, each member enthralled in their own thoughts.
"We'll stay for one night if ye that bothered" Betty mumbled after a while, having mulled over numerous violent situations in her head. Scarlett looked back at her with a slight grimace.
"It ain't really 'em I'm worried 'bout Betsy, its being so close to tha' city. Ye heard 'em, it's overrun. Ah don't think it's safe being so close" Scarlett voiced.
"We'll give it till tomorrow" Betty agreed.