I don't own the Walking Dead.
"What?" Beth looked up at him stunned, unsure if she had heard him correctly.
"No charge, it was just a loose bolt" Daryl looked down at the work order in his hand and wrote a big zero across it.
"But the other garage said it needed at least $600.00 worth of work, that it wasn't safe to drive" she fiddled with her credit card in shaky fingers, not believing what he had said.
"Pfft" he snorted "Well, I fixed it and it ain't no $600.00. Bring it here first next time" he turned to head back into the bay, he was doing double duty today as one of his guys was out sick.
"Well….thank you" she called to him and he turned back to give her half a smile and a grunt already intent on his next job. "No really, you made my day—my month actually, I wasn't sure how I was gonna pay the rent".
He turned from her then, offered half a wave and went back in the garage. Beth shrugged and took her keys out to her car.
An hour later she was back. His eyes widened as he saw her approach the counter with two coffees and a take-out bag from a local sandwich shop. She seemed to take a breath and then spit out "I couldn't just let it go with nothing, Mr. Dixon. I wanted to thank you for your time—I thought you seemed busy today and maybe you could use a little lunch" she smiled brightly.
Daryl shook his head at her and her down home farm girl attitude. "Just doin my job" he grunted but his empty stomach wouldn't let him turn down the sandwich she held out to him.
Somehow, before he knew it, they were both sitting in his office eating sandwiches and drinking coffee at his desk. Somehow, before he knew it, half an hour had gone by sitting there together. He learned she was a student trying to get into veterinary school, but having a hard time of it. She worked nights at the diner about 5 blocks away and shared a basement apartment with her sister. She liked horses, she grew up on a farm…she had bright blue eyes.
Daryl's phone buzzed about 3 times during his quick 3 minute ride between the store and his apartment. He didn't stop to check it, too shaken up, too focused to even register the ring. He could see Beth's face in his mind and hear his baby girl's soft breathing. His only thought was getting to them as quickly as possible.
As he ran into the apartment building he heard screaming coming from down the street. The building was in an uproar, people rushing both in and out the lobby doors. The security buzzer on the building hadn't worked in close to 6 months so the front had been unlocked for that whole time much to Daryl's frustration. He made Beth keep a pistol near the front door and he had installed an extra deadbolt, not bothering to care about the building rules. The place was a dump anyway-only one bedroom, one bathroom and a joint kitchen-living room area. It was so full of baby stuff right now that there was barely room to walk anywhere.
Forgoing the elevator Daryl ran up the 4 flights of stairs pulling himself up by the hand railing 2 and 3 stairs at a time. He reached their apartment door to find it locked and chained. Good girl.
He banged on the door "Beth, Beth!"
A moment of clattering as the lock was disengaged and then his arms were full of a flurry of blonde hair and grabbing hands. She held him tightly around the neck sobbing "Daryl, Daryl" her face was buried in his neck. He heard a shout down the hall and pushed them both back into the apartment quickly resecuring the dead bolt.
"I'm here baby, I'm here" he held her and breathed heavily trying to slow his bursting heart. "Shhh…where's bug?"
Beth pulled back slightly and whipped her eyes "She's sleeping still, she's fine. Daryl what's going on? I heard the sirens and then the yelling….then on the news….." she sobbed again "Then the power went out and…"
He kissed her soundly on the lips before speaking, just happy to have her safe in his arms. He led her over to the window and peered out the curtain. Lights flashed across the streets and he could hear the sirens even through the closed window. People were running on the streets, jumping into cars, carrying bags and back packs. Some of the people seemed so aimless in panic.
Beth and Daryl watched in horror at what happened next. A group of 4 of those creature people Daryl had seen in the convenience store lot had stumbled on to the street. They began to head toward a group of people who were trying to readjust a box they were shoving into the back seat of their car. Suddenly the creatures were upon them—growling and biting. One bit viciously into the neck of a woman and even from their 4 floors above Daryl and Beth could see the blood spurt out as her jugular tore. Another man tried to run only to find his leg caught by the creature and parts of the muscle torn away. The remaining man they couldn't see anymore as he was suddenly swarmed over by other creatures as he fell to the ground. They heard his screams though, sounds that would be trapped in their brains for a long time to come.
Beth buried her head in his shoulder and turned away. Daryl could tear his eyes off the sight though, his mind racing. His trance was broken only by the tiny cry that erupted from their bedroom.
In unison the couple turned and rushed to the bedroom. Daryl made it there first and scooped up his daughter close to his heart. Beth pushed herself against both of them, worried hands touching at the little girl's face. He closed his eyes and for just a moment stopped to breath against the downy head.
Beth looked up at him "News says it's a virus that's spreading—says we're to stay calm—but things are happening so fast. Then the power went out and I couldn't get anymore details. Mrs. Henderson across the hall said the police told her it's all over the city and to stay in her house."
Daryl frowned "Beth I've seen those things close up, I don't think it's safe to stay. We gotta get out while we still can, while we still have gas—hell, the way things look down there I'd say we won't have the truck any more come morning. We gotta go Beth, we gotta go." He handed her the baby and began digging under the bed for some duffle bags he kept there.
Beth cuddled the baby too her and stared "What? What do you mean? Where we gonna go?"
"Outta the city" he began tossing things into the bags—flashlight, matches—he pulled open the back closet to find a sleeping bag.
"Daryl?" she stood still staring at him.
Daryl stopped and took her face in his hands "We gotta get out of the city Beth, get what you need for the baby and yourself—here" he handed her a second bag.
"But she's so little she ain't even 2 months old yet…"
"That's why we gotta leave now. Beth, I'll take care of you—I'd die for both of you—but we have to leave the city—NOW." His instincts were on fire.
Something in his expression snapped Beth to life. With one hand on the baby she began tossing items into the duffle bag trying to imagine what they would need until they could come back home again.
Within 15 minutes Daryl had both bags and a back pack waiting at the front door as Beth strapped the baby into a sling against her body and zipped her coat overtop. The little face and head peaked out but the rest of her was securely pressed against her mother's warm body. The closeness soothed the baby who amazingly began to drift back to sleep in spite of her parents franticness and her mother's quick heartbeat.
Daryl took one last look around and spied the pink elephant on the floor beside the sofa. Impulsively he grabbed it and shoved it inside his jacket. Reaching into the hall closet he pulled out the pistol and handed it to Beth who took it with a shaky hand. Then he reached into the back of the closet and pulled out an old friend he hadn't had time for since the before the baby had been born. The black metal of the crossbow stood out bleakly against the white paint of the hallway. He grabbed the extra bolts and strapped it all onto his back. Beth took the backpack and he grabbed the duffle bags.
"Ready?" he asked. She nodded. He unbolted the door and shoved it open with is shoulder, looking both ways down the hallway as he motioned to her it was safe to go out. There were loud voices coming from the other end of the hall. He ushered her into the stairway, checking it was clear. As they hurried down as fast as their burdons would let them, several other people pushed past heading both down and up. Daryl breathed a sigh of relief when they made it to the ground floor.
He peered out the steel door that led to the parking lot. He could see his truck about 100 yards away, parked in the half hazard way he had left it in his rush to get to Beth and the baby. "Be ready to run" he said as he switched the crossbow over to his front and held it in front of him. Beth rested her hand on her daughter's head and waited for his signal. "Go!" he shouted when all seemed clear. She ran with all her might, Daryl right on her heals.
As they neared the truck she could hear the growling and saw two of the creatures moving toward them between them and the safety of the truck. Daryl aimed the crossbow. He hit one of the things directly in the chest but it kept coming. He aimed and shot again, hitting again in a certain kill shot in the neck. The creature kept moving just as swiftly.
"Beth run!" he threw her the keys as he made up his mind to try to distract the creatures away from his wife and daughter. One last try—one more shot—this time it hit the thing square between the eyes—it stumbled for a moment and then collapsed not moving. Wasting no time Daryl aimed at the second creature—also hitting it directly in the head and it dropped much like the first one. By this time Beth had made it to the truck and was holding the door open for him to dive in and shut the door with a resounding thud.
He crawled over her to the driver's seat careful to avoid bumping the baby. He tossed the bags into the back and the crossbow onto the floor at Beth's feet. "Are you okay" he breathed.
Beth's hands were shaking as she unzipped the top of her jacket and looked down at the little girl. She was sobbing now but then so was her mother. Beth buried her head in the baby and cried.
Daryl had no time to stop himself, he quickly swung the truck out onto the street and began to drive weaving from side street to side street to avoid police cars and things blocking the road. The power was gone the street and traffic lights were out, creating even more confusion although Daryl doubted anyone was waiting at red lights anymore….
"Daryl, where we going?" Beth sniffed as she tried to pull herself together.
"Outta the city."
"Where though, where is safe?"
"My brother has a cabin about 3 hours outside the city. We can go there—Merle will help us." Daryl hopped his tone of voice sounded more confident about that than he felt.