Author's Note: Ever start and idea and then realize that you just didn't know how to write it or it just isn't turning out how you wanted it to? For everything I post, I think I scrap at least 2 others. On Thursday I'm going down to the court house with my class, it's kind of exciting! This is my second story Beth x Daryl, I can't decide who's my favorite walking dead couple. This story takes place after they lose the farm and have been on the road for about a month. I'm imagining it's sometime in December by that time. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave a review if you can find the time.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story itself.
Beth looked over at Daryl, who was wrapped up in his poncho, and couldn't help but feel a tiny bit jealous that he wasn't shaking like a leaf in the wind like the rest of them were. Not that he had anymore clothes on really; he just seemed to be better at masking how cold he was, or how unhappy he was. It was weird, most of the group liked to spend their time complaining that this life was so much harder than life once was. Beth had never heard Daryl talk about the past once, but for some reason he seemed to always be just a little bit happier about life when someone asked him for help.
Beth always tried to not complain about the way life was right now, she was used to hard work from growing up on the farm and it had also gotten her used to get up early; her early teen years had gotten her used to running on no sleep. She refused to complain about things when her dad was still alive, when she had been able to watch her older sister find the love of her life despite the horrors going around. It meant that one day she could still find someone that would love her more than anything else in the world and would never stop searching for her if she was suddenly gone.
The group had been holding up in an old apartment building for the last few days, it had already started snowing and they weren't going to move until either those things drove them out, or maybe if they started starving to death. Until either of those happened, this place was a great place to get out of the cold. Not that they had much food, though Daryl had gone out yesterday and brought back a deer, and because of the snow, they were able to keep everything cold enough that it wouldn't go bad. They were going to try and make the deer last for about a week, or at least four days. Daryl needed some rest, he hadn't given himself a single day off from hunting since they had left the farm, couldn't afford to because most of the time him bringing back food was the only source of food they had.
Daryl was standing guard just outside the window and Beth couldn't help but think that he should really just be inside sleeping. Though Glenn was really sick at the moment, along with Carl. Lori was trying her best to be cheery, but couldn't leave Carl's side no matter how uncomfortable she was herself. Carl clung to her like he was a small child again and Beth could tell that Lori and even Rick was happy about that. Carl had been acting like he had been in this walker situation his whole life, instead of these few months. This was why children shouldn't be exposed to death, this was what happened. They turned cold.
Anyway, Rick had asked Daryl to cover watch for a few hours and Daryl had done his Daryl thing where he grinned at someone when they asked specifically for his help and then patted Rick's shoulder exclaiming that he had it covered and Rick should spend some time with his boy and his wife. Another thing Beth had noticed that on the farm Daryl hadn't gotten along with Lori all that well, but now that she was starting to show, he was giving her some of his food, and entraining Carl to make sure he stayed somewhat out of trouble and away from that harsh depression that he always had on his face when they were moving around. She had the feeling Daryl had cared all along, just Lori or anyone else just hadn't been nearly as grateful before. It was more than likely to be that no one cared if a dirty redneck was doing way more then pull his weight in attempt to keep them alive. Now it stuck out to everyone like a purple giraffe.
Beth went outside to stand by a still Daryl, who was unmoving even in the cold wind. It was freezing out and Daryl made it look like it was just a spring afternoon. She was already freezing and she had been outside a total of 2 minutes. Daryl had glanced over at her when she stopped beside him and just stood there. He looked confused to why she was out here, and that was ok because she wasn't exactly sure either. She just didn't want him to be alone, especially when T-Dog and Carol were watching back side of the house through the back door together. It wasn't fair for them to team up and then have Daryl do it all by his lonesome. She wasn't about to tell that to Daryl though, she knew very well that he didn't really want someone looking out for him, he wasn't comfortable with it. Why, she didn't exactly know, but when Daryl wanted to talk she wanted him to know that she would be there to listen.
She gave him a smile, but didn't say anything. He raised an eyebrow in return, and even looked like he was about to say something in return. Then a scream came from inside the house, a whole lot of screams. Daryl and Beth turned to the house ready to run in at full speed when Daryl held his arm out in front of Beth. "Stay here, and keep watch. Can't just leave the shift." He shouted as he charged in. She wasn't sure if Daryl was actually worried about there not being anyone on post, or if he didn't want her getting in the way of whatever fight was obviously happening in there. That scream had definitely been Maggie's and she really wanted to check out why her sister had screamed when two gun shots fired. More screaming happened and a few sounds that didn't exactly sound human; Beth bit her lip harshly, had some of those things somehow got in the other side of the house? More gun shots made her heart pound, she didn't exactly want to run into the room if it had some of those things in there, but didn't want to just stand out here quietly either.
Daryl had told her to stay out here, but she couldn't anymore. That first scream had been her sisters, and she was more worried about Maggie then she was worried about Daryl being mad at her for leaving the post. Beth did something stupid that she later would wish she never had done, she entered the apartment.