In the heat of the afternoon,
Oh afternoon
We were never welcome here
We were never welcome here at all
Imagine Dragons- Who we are
...
"These fields are so beautiful in August, daddy" I point out to him, as he hands me a glass of lemonade. A smile creeps over his face as he takes a swig of his lemonade.
"They sure are, Beth. When you and Maggie were young, I couldn't keep you two out of them." He chuckled slightly.
They are a dandelion yellow, wheat over takes the field. Harvest time is my favorite season, we get so much fresh bread out of these fields. in the field, a lark flies around, such a peaceful bird.. I wish I were a bird sometimes, able to fly to where ever I want to, able to see whatever comes along my path. Feel the wind rushing through my feathers as I soar on high.
My day dream is awoken when Maggie comes storming along the porch, a scowl written on her face. Daddy and I look at each other strangely, then back to Maggie.
"What's the matter Maggie, my dear?" My father calls out to her. As she storms in the house, she yells:
"Damn chickens took a shit on my boots!"
We look at each other humorously, trying not to burst into inevitable laughter.
We failed. Smiles creep over our faces, and we burst into laughter. I nearly spill my lemonade all over the porch before I decide to rest it along the railing. I feel so peaceful, the summer breeze tickles my arm, and the aroma of roast chicken, being cooked by Patricia percolates my mind.
"Beth wake up!"
The sun is setting now, causing a red tinge along the horizon. My father and I finish our lemonade in silence, enjoying our surroundings. I turn to him:
"Why can't the whole world be this peaceful?" I ask him, he turns to me and says:
"If the whole world was this peaceful, how would we be able to enjoy such an evening like this?"
A smile creeps over my face, he is right, if everyone had what we had, it would no longer be special. I look up to him, and my smile turns to a frown. He looks back at me with foggy eyes, and a bloody neck, and gives me a eery smile. I can't scream. I can't speak. I am frozen in this terrifying moment.
"Would you hand me my handkerchief Beth, my neck is sweating again" He asks me. I am frozen. My daddy, he is gone. He was taken away by a monster.
...
"BETH WAKE UP!" a yell startles me. I dart forward, gasping for air, and flailing my head around to see my new surroundings. All I see is Daryl, trying to force me on my feet.
"Go up stairs and hide in the washroom! I will get ya when I find the damn kritter in 'ere" He scolds me, whilst shoving me towards the stairs. I scurry over to the stairs, and before I climb them, I see Daryl in the corner of my eye. A door flies open in the living room, and a walker dashes towards him. Fumbling to get his crossbow ready he dances around the room, dodging the walker. He is going to die, I need to act quickly. I leap from the stairs and grab a vase off the kitchen counter. With every inch of bravery in me, I hurl myself back into the living room, scaring the hell out of Daryl, and I smash the vase over the walker's head, knocking it to the ground. I feel empowered, I just knocked it down, but it's still alive. It scrambles towards me.
My leg. I can't get away from its grip. A heart attack is over taking me as I get ripped out from under my feet and smash onto the ground. The whole room gets dizzy as the whip lash sets in.
"BETH!" Daryl screams as the walker is about to take a bite of my calf. In a quick movement, I barrel roll, and the walking comes with me. It climbs on top of me, hissing in my face. I am powerless. I can't move.
I look into the misty eyes of the once lively, and young man, as he bares his savage teeth at me. Right as his teeth slightly touch my neck, I am surprised by an arrow flying straight through it's head, and missing my neck by an inch. I gasp for air, and tears begin to roll.
"Help. Help me. HELP. " I call out to Daryl with a grief stricken huff. He rips the body from off me, and fumbles down to his knees next to me. I am covered in walker blood and bile, giving me such an attractive smell. He helps me sit up.
"Are ya bitten?" He asks me with a worrisome tone. His eyes scan my whole body, as he checks for bite marks.
"I'm fine Daryl, he almost got me. I am just covered in his blood." I reassure him. His eyes dart up to mine and narrow at the sight of me.
"What the damn hell is yer problem? Got a problem followin' orders?" He hisses at me angrily. I try to recover myself, and defend my position.
"I was a afraid you would get attacked, you were dancing with the devil in here!" I whimper with terror in my voice.
"I can handle myself, Greene. Ya almost got yerself killed. Don't ya ever go after a walker like that again, ya hear me?" He orders me, without breaking his gaze at me. He sounds like my father. It reminds me of my daddy. My daddy getting mad at me for breaking the chicken eggs. Or trying to milk the cow without supervision. Or when I picked poison berries, thinking they were blue berries.
I am trying not to cry. I can't cry, I must not be weak.
The image of my father haunts my mind.
My mother pops in.
Maggie.
Otis and Patricia.
I can't handle this. I bite my lip so hard I send a shriek of pain through me.
"I'll train ya how to kill walkers when ya are a little stronger." he says whilst getting up. He reaches his hand down, to help me off the ground. I pull myself up, and look at my dirtied pjs. Damn, they were so clean before.
"There is a river outside the house, bring some clothes. Wash yerself up and wash those too." He says while gesturing in the general direction of me in my pjs. He isn't looking at me, he is staring at the corpse on the floor. He bends over, and pulls a name tag off the corpse's flannel shirt. It reads 'Thomas'.
He sighs, and gets up. Then looks me in the eye, and gestures his head forward. I walk towards the door and grab the red t shirt and shorts he found me, then we walk out of the house.
...
I keep her in my sight as we walk through the large open yard, towards the river. She could have been killed.. Why would she do such a damn stupid thing?
She keeps her head down low, staring at the grass she is walking on. Step one, teach her to be aware of surroundings.
We finally get to the river, where she begins to take her boots off. I keep my cross bow in my arms, ready for a possible attack. There are no walkers in sight, just the peaceful river. She looks at me.
"Would you turn around? I need to wash myself." She asks my politely. I obey her wishes, and turn my back to her. I hear her fumbling with her clothing. Then splashes the water on her. After a few minutes of splashing, I hear her putting on her change of clothes.
"You can turn around now" She says to me. I turn to see her in a over-sized red tea shirt, and stone washed shorts, at least the clothing fits her alright. She bends down, and begins scrubbing her pjs against a rock in the stream. She furiously scrubs, I can see that she has lost concentration on her scrubbing... She has a disturbed blank expression. She is breathing heavily with each scrub.
"Here, lemme do it for ya" I tell her as I bend down to her. She hands me the pjs, and returns to the shore of the river bank. A few minutes pass, and I am able to get the blood off the pjs. As I straighten out, I notice that is has gotten eerily quiet.
This kind of quiet reminds me of the nights I was lost in the forest. Scrambling to find food, wiping my ass with poison oak. Oh how the times have changed. I cannot imagine living in a house again, having things back to normal. Going to the store and buying a beer. None of that seems real anymore, I'm not sure if I would be able to handle being settled again if things did go back to normal. Not having anywhere to travel too, no more running, eatin' full meals each night. Microwave dinners. A shutter overcomes me as I think of it. At least if the world does go back to normal, I won't have my father to deal with anymore. I hate him. I hate every inch of him. Part of me is glad that the world went to shit, because now I don't have to deal with him anymore.
Snapping back to reality, I look at the river bank and Beth is no where to be found.
...
Ou, where did Beth go?
I got one review on my last chapter. Made my whole day!
I hope you enjoy this chapter!
