Disclaimer: I don't own TWD or any of its characters or the information on plants
Plants of Prey
Once you've accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you—Tyrion Lannister
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Beth had always acknowledged that her greatest flaw was the lack of physical strength and willingness to kill once society had fallen apart. Though, she could argue that what she lacked in physical strength was made up for with her mental strength and ability to make plans. Bitterly she thought, maybe the Governor situation could have been changed if she had spoken up with her ideas or at the very least a rendezvous point could have been created. Except, escaping with Daryl had forced her to accept her flaws had forced her to accept his. She wasn't planning on ever letting it go. Whatever had been between them had shifted and she planned on confronting that shift once she had this Terminus situation plotted out.
Luck had been on her side when Daryl's group had been placed into the train car with her sister. She thanked her daddy in heaven, she had a feeling he was doing his best up there to make the situation easier for her to solve. The first mistake the people at Terminus made was assuming that she was a little lamb ready for the slaughter. They saw the lack of her physical strength and had wrongly assumed she would just fall in line with them. The second mistake was taking her family hostage because if Beth needed something to stroke the coals of her rage, knowing her family was in danger reignited her will to escape. The final, but most deadly mistake, was the people at Terminus had trusted Beth with a task as simple as gathering plants and cooking the meals for the community. That mistake was the exact window of opportunity Beth had needed.
In high school, Beth had chosen to take botany as one of her electives. That decision had brought so much teasing from both Shawn and Maggie who had both treated high school like a hang out. Only Beth knew that botany was a connection to her mother who loved plants. Her love of plants had brought her to Hershel's vet clinic when some of the horses showed symptoms associated with eating local plants that were toxic. Her expertise in botany had also landed her the love of her life. In a roundabout way Beth had believed botany would be how she met the love of her life too. Beth surmised in a way botany would be saving the people she loved and no one would be laughing anymore. As she walked the perimeter of the fence she caught sight of one of the flowers she had been looking for: sheep laurel.
There was a grouping of several shrubs with the pinkish flower known to inhabit this region of Georgia. Beth stopped once again to thank her father for giving her this gift and then thanking her mother for imparting the knowledge of this flower. Before her mother died she used to take Beth to catalogue all the plants in the area that were toxic which had inspired her to pursue botany seriously in high school. Sheep laurel was one of the ones she remembered clearly from her mother's journal. She closed her eyes and could picture the journal laying open and the exact words that followed.
Kalmia angustifolia, or commonly known as sheep laurel, is a highly toxic plant with narrow leaves and pinkish flowers. Symptoms of consumption include: incoordination, excessive salivation, vomiting, muscle spasms, coma, and even death. Death occurs only after six hours if the plant leaves are consumed…
Gareth had run to Beth's side shortly after she discovered the plant. Beth knew he wanted to be near her with everyone around getting sick. The people of Terminus were beginning to catch early symptoms of a common cold with the chilly fall weather beginning to set in. Gareth's obsession with Beth had saved her when she was brought to Terminus. The man who had taken her had wanted to trade her for his daughter. Gareth chose to kill both the man and his daughter and keep Beth as a macabre prize. Everyone in Terminus knew Beth belonged to Gareth, if it weren't for the bruises that discolored her skin it was the dog collar kept tightly around her throat. The collar was tight enough to bruise her throat, but not to affect her breathing.
Beth should consider herself lucky that Gareth hadn't slept with her yet. He had wanted to break her morale and then have her beg for him. Beth knew that his patience was wearing thin because every night the beatings had become worse with her resistance. The only way she was getting those flowers was to convince him that this was the final act before she gave herself up to him. With heavy resignation she turned towards Gareth and plastered the biggest smile she could manage in his direction. Gareth seemed pleased with this acknowledgement before he leaned down and kissed her bruised cheek.
"Gareth, do you see those flowers over there? If you boiled that plant and feed it to the people it'll help with the cold symptoms." Beth had quietly told Gareth. She needed him to believe she was still meek and scared. If he had any inkling about her intentions he would surely kill her before she could save her family. He asked her how she knew about the plants and Beth told him botany was her mother's passion and her knowledge was all Beth had left to remember her by.
It was crazy that anyone would buy what their captive was telling them, but Gareth had considered himself to be God and Beth to be a little lamb offered to him. In Gareth's mind, little lambs don't betray God. He nodded and helped Beth gather several of the shrubs growing outside the fences and near the creek which supplied their fresh water.
Gareth had led her to the kitchen and proceeded to watch her as she prepared the plants into their dinner. Beth felt unnerved that he was watching her closely, but she soldiered on. This entire plan had her on edge. None of these people would die immediately and even then they would become walkers. Every step had to be followed perfectly if this was even going to work.
The rest of preparing dinner had gone smoothly. Beth could breathe a sigh of relief that Gareth rather watch her than speak to her about what she was doing. Beth didn't know if she could handle lying on top of what she was planning. Everyone had gathered around and grabbed plates and seemed excited that Beth had found something to soothe their colds. Now that everyone was eating, it was time for Beth to pull of her biggest obstacle.
She turned to Gareth and tried to picture someone she loved when she told him that tonight was the night and that she was tired of fighting him. Gareth had grinned like he had been given the cure to the apocalypse, it had taken only two weeks but he had broken her in. She had quietly requested to go up to their room to get ready. For a second Beth had thought he wouldn't let her until he shook his head. Most of the group had weapons on them, even if Beth managed to get a weapon he couldn't imagine her doing any real damage.
Beth rounded the corner of the building and went into the building that had become a make shift apartment. She grimaced when she reached their room and saw the bed she had been forced to stay in. She knew that a bed was probably more comfortable than a train car, but she couldn't help but be envious. In that moment she had caught sight of her face in a mirror, her entire left side was bruised and her lip busted. She had no idea to how her family would react when they saw her or if they'd hate her once they knew what she had done. She pushed that thought to the back of her head. She had done what needed to be done to survive. She stripped her pillows of their cases and at that point she heard the screaming as symptoms of the sheep laurel began to take over. She rushed down the stairs and into the warehouse where they stored their prisoner's items as a type of marketplace. She filled the bag with guns, ammo, knives, Michonne's sword, and finally she grabbed Daryl's prized crossbow.
More screaming had pierced the air and Beth knew she had little time to act. She ran to the train car that had haunted her dreams since she saw her family placed inside. She had found the button that opened the door and pressed it. The few seconds it took for the door to open had Beth on edge. She needed to see them and then they needed to put as much distance as possible from this place. The door was opened and Beth called out hesitantly. She wasn't risking going inside the train car. She didn't know if anyone from Terminus still had control of their muscles and she didn't want to waste all of this planning to die in a train car.
Maggie had been the first to charge out of the train car when she heard Beth's voice. Glenn had followed his wife closely behind and saw their reunion. Both girls held onto each other for a moment before Beth handed the pillowcase over. The rest of their group had finally exited the train car after Glenn had said it was safe. Beth hadn't recognized three of the people, but that hadn't mattered. In that exact moment her eyes had landed on him and that was all that mattered to her. She pushed her way towards him and stopped just short of throwing herself on him.
She reached out and touched his face to make sure that he was real. That this entire situation was real. This wasn't the moment, but Beth knew that there weren't guarantees in this world anymore. She had to tell him so he knew, so he knew how she felt.
"I know that I changed your mind. Your look was enough, but you should know that it was easy to remember good people existed because I got to spend time with you." She told him, she had laid the cards on the table. It wasn't the greatest proclamation of love and no one would be rushing to write that in their next romance novel, but it was everything that Beth had felt in that moment. She had thought he was going to ignore her confession for a moment as he grabbed the crossbow from her hands.
"I hope you know that I don't plan on missing you anymore Beth Greene" and with that statement he had pulled her in for a quick kiss. The rest of the group seemed bewildered but they didn't say anything.
Screaming broke the happy reunion up and one of the people Beth didn't recognize asked her what the fuck she had done to those people. That question had caught Beth off guard. She wasn't sure how to admit that she fed those people plants that were poisonous.
"Plants of prey. It's an expression my mama taught me. I gave them poisonous plants they have a few hours max before their bodies shut down." Beth looked around expecting looks of disgust. Even worse she was waiting for them to tell her killing all of them meant she couldn't stay. Maggie had stepped forward and hugged her and laughed.
"Maybe Shawn and I shoulda taken that botany class. You really do have a Greene thumb" at that awful pun their father used to use both girls began laughing. The group began to head out before the people of Terminus began to turn. Beth held tightly onto Daryl's hand.
Beth knew that the next few months traveling would be difficult, but with her family she knew she could endure.