She hid.
It wasn't brave but it was necessary. The growls of several walkers alerted her to the possibility of another human being close. They had been walking by the house and something had gotten their attention outside which changed their course.
She took a deep breath and pulled back the bedroom curtain slightly. Being on the second level of the house Beth had the advantage of seeing everything going on below her. There were five walkers, maybe six. As Beth calculated an escape plan from the second story window she watched the stranger below. The walkers didn't scare him. One by one he put them down with a quick jab of his knife to the head. It had to be 100 degrees outside but he wore a long leather jacket. His beard was trimmed and he looked rested, not a common sight to see these days. As Beth watched him take down the last walker she held her breath. Would the stranger enter the house or would he pass by?
Beth stood frozen by the window. As she watched the stranger disappear around the corner of the house she had about 30 seconds to make her decision. She could escape out the second story window and take her chances trying to scale down the side of the house. She might fall and break her leg or arm. The stranger might not be alone and he could have other members of his group out there close. Going out the window could expose her. As she heard the front door creek open she made her decision. She moved back from the window and put herself in the back corner of the room and loaded a bolt into her crossbow.
Beth had been on the road for a while. She hadn't counted the days but she had seen the season change so she knew it had least been a few months. She pressed her hand to her head as she thought about all she had been through in the last couple of months. Her head hurt which was common for her most days. She supposed surviving a bullet to the head was lucky enough that she didn't have the right to complain about constant headaches.
She was alive and there was reason for that. She just had to figure out why. She had spent the winter healing in the hospital. After she felt better and was steady on her feet she knew she had to get out of there if she ever wanted to make a difference. Doctor Edwards and the rest of the people at the hospital had treated her well. She knew she could have stayed. Every time she walked down that hallway though she saw her family. The ones that against all odds had found her and came to save her. And she knew it was her own stupid actions trying to get back at Dawn that had cost them to loose her for a second time.
After Beth left the hospital she headed north. Her first instinct had been to head back to the farm house. This was the next world and going back to the farm house would be full of painful memories. She needed to move forward not backwards. If she was going to be apart of the next world she needed to step up. Washington, DC has been her goal. She remembered the spoon she had found that day back at the golf club. If there was any place on the continent that may have some answers she figured it would be there.
Beth stood her ground and didn't move an inch as she heard the stranger walking around on the main level of the house. There was a chance that he wouldn't come upstairs. She knew that chance was very small though. These days you had to look over every nook and cranny in any house you were in to find something useful. Most houses had been ransacked and all the good stuff was usually gone.
As she heard the stranger climb the stairs she knew it was only a matter of minutes before he entered the bedroom she was in. She put her finger on the trigger and waited. All he had to do was walk through that door and a bolt would be flying through the air into his chest and it would all be over for him. But is that who Beth was now? Should she talk to him first? Was there still good in the world? She had a decision to make and as the footsteps of the stranger lingered outside her door she was seconds away from making it.
Authors Notes: I haven't written fanfiction in a while. The chapters will be short to start but as I continue to write I hope they get longer. Thanks for taking the time to read!
