The Rising Dead

Chapter One: "Protect yer self."

A year has passed and Beth officially married Jimmy and he's moved in, a separate room of course. One of Hershel's wishes, so they agreed. Beth was relieved somewhat to hear they wouldn't be sharing a bed together. That seemed very personal for her to do and she couldn't with Jimmy. They have yet to consummate the marriage, and Jimmy is waiting patiently for Beth out of respect. But that's the thing Beth hated about Jimmy, he was so easy going, happy go lucky person, she was as well however, sometimes people who are the same tend to deflect from each other like magnets rubbing against the same end. All Beth knew was she had her family and she felt content.

Haystacks filled in the red building, horses straggling along, Beth was in the barn writing her song while humming to herself. Jimmy approached her from behind and shook her by her shoulders gently. "Hey, what are you always writing in there?" Beth jumped out of her skin, looking behind her back. She quickly closed her notebook. "Uhm, It's my journal." She spoke to soon, she cursed herself after saying that. Beth knew she was going to be questioned. He raised a brow and his grin widened. "Oh? Anything good about me?" He said before scooting closer to her. Beth held her ground standing there, she felt very uneasy. "It's personal." She stated looking down at her hands. His hot breath on her neck, she shivered. "Are you feeling what I'm feeling Bethy?" He whispered rubbing her shoulders with his mouth on her earlobes. And Beth had to admit, Jimmy was a good looking boy. Any girl would be lucky to have him. She'd be lying to say if she wasn't a little aroused by the situation. She reached a hand out and put it on the back of his head and groaned softly. His hands traveled lower and that's when Beth realized what was happening. She scooted up away from him and saw her effect him clearly from his pants. "Did I do something wrong?" He almost pleaded. Beth backed up farther away and panted. "I can't. I can't, I'm sorry." She said with obvious regret in her voice. "You can't what Beth?!" He snapped at her. Beth's eyes grew wide, she had never heard him get angry. "How long are you planning on waiting? Till we're dead?!" He shouted at her moving closer with each word. Beth was losing her nerve, but that wasn't going to stop her. "I'm not ready yet! It's my body and I can do as I please with it. Just because we're married, doesn't give you any right over my body." She hissed through her teeth while her eyes grew darker. He could tell he pushed her to far. She bumped into him before leaving him alone in the barn without another word.

Jimmy sat there thinking to himself on how to fix things. He felt like he couldn't get close to Beth. She wouldn't drop those walls for him. He always felt like this, but he truly did love her from the moment he laid eyes on her. And he wasn't letting go so easily.

The door slammed in the front of the farm house as an angry blonde girl went stomping up into her room. Beth sat down onto her bed with a thud and picked up her phone to clear her mind of what occurred. She unlocked the screen and found she had a text message from Maggie saying she was driving home from Virginia with Glenn. Beth smiled at the thought of having her sister around again. She sincerely missed her.

Later on that night it was dinner time. Beth, Jimmy, Hershel, and Annette sat at the table together watching the TV that was in the living room. The news was on and it was showing anything but good. More people were dying, getting infected, eating each other, and crime rates were at a high. The military has attempted to take action worldwide. The virus was spread quickly. Beth thanked god that she lived in the backwoods of Georgia.

A car door slams and it echos throughout the woods. You could see the heat waves in the air it was so hot. Their cabin wasn't around any neighbors. It was run down without any power to it. Two men walked through the thin wooden door and plopped on the green, burnt up couch. It had too many cigarette holes to count. But it didn't stop them both from lighting one at the same time. They were sitting there in silence until the older one started to dig in his backpack. The younger one eye'd his brother. "Whatch'ya doin now?" He said warily. The Grey hair'd man smirked at his younger brother with the lit cigarette in his mouth. "m'just gettin me some goodies is all." He said as he pulled out the bottle of pills. The younger brother rolled his eyes. "Dammit Merle, stop using." He snatched the pills out of Merle's grasp. Merle's eyes went wide, he was angry. "You best give that back baby brother." He shook his head no, even though he felt the hint of fear rising within him. Merle grabbed his shoulders and they both flew to the ground. The younger brother quickly put it in his vest pocket before hitting the ground. Merle put his weight on his brother's shoulder making it crack. He groaned in pain before punching his brother in the jaw sending him flying into the half broken kitchen table. It was now it pieces. Merle slowly got up rubbing his jaw. "Damn Daryl, I'll jus' go steal me some more." He said before walking out the door. Daryl cursed himself and his brother.

Beth had hopped on her horse around twelve in the afternoon and headed out on the trails in the woods. She loved getting out on her own on her favorite horse while she could. She enjoyed the fresh air and the scenery of the trees. The brush was thick into the woods, she felt all the little bumps of riding. The wind ran through her hair as she took a deep breath of Georgia air.

Beth rode on up the trail another ten minutes and saw a young kid. It appeared to be a little boy in tattered clothing. She took notice of the way he was dragging his feet. "Hold up girl!" She said to the horse tugging on the reins slightly. The horse came to a halt and Beth tied her to a nearby tree. She walked up slowly and silently trying to go unnoticed. She saw blood ran down his mouth, he was groaning. And then it hit Beth, what if he was infected? She didn't want to hurt him. As she got closer he started to move into the woods. She trailed after him while keeping an eye on the horse and what was around her. She would always be cautious of her surroundings. They got deeper into the brush and she noticed a cabin they were stumbling upon. It struck her as odd, she has come down this trail a million times before and never noticed this small little cabin, or any people for a matter of fact. She followed the boy up closer to the cabin. Beth got a better look at it now, it was very run down. She doubted anyone lived there now. But she couldn't have been more wrong.

As she came closer she noticed a man under a motorcycle. Her eyes widened, the little boy was closing in on the man. Beth knew she had to do something. Tears started to swell in her eyes but she resisted to urge thinking about it. Right now she needed to act. She took the hunting knife out of her boot and sprinted to the little boy. The little boy started to groan louder, a snarling like noise. She was closing in, and the man and the little boy noticed her. But Before the man could do anything the little boy grabbed him. Beth cursed, grabbing the boy's arm and flinging him about two feet away from her and the man he was trying to eat. The man was a brunette with the bluest eyes she'd had ever seen. He had a vest on with wings on the back, he didn't look over thirty to her, but then again, she could be wrong. She quickly rose to action by taking a defensive stance in front of the man in the vest. The boy slowly rose to his feet snarling louder than ever. Blood gushing from its eyes and mouth.

Daryl was taken back by the situation, never in his life as a hunter has he been caught like a deer in the headlights. He wanted to punch himself in this moment for having this young girl coming to his rescue. He scoffed a bit at the idea. But then his attention came to the boy's snarling. Daryl knew his guns were inside, but if he did that the girl might get hurt. 'Some shit like that.' Daryl thought to himself with a scowl across his face.

The boy hastily made his way over to Beth as she took her knife out of it's sheath and stabbed him in the chest. Daryl's eyes widened, he never would have thought she would have the guts to do it. But her efforts were in vain. The little boy was started to get closer to her snapping in her face. But she only showed determination. Daryl decided to take action, he pulled the boy by his hair jerking him off of the knife causing blood to gush all over the both of them. Beth gagged a bit. So Daryl decided to grab her hand gaining control over her movement and the knife and held the boy by his other hand. He brought the knife down crashing through his skull causing the brain to die. The movements from the boy ceased.

Beth and Daryl sat on the ground with no sudden movements. They were both breathing heavily. Daryl was so shook up so much that he didn't notice his hand was still around hers on the bloodied knife. Beth started to come back a bit taking in her surroundings. She had killed someone with the infection. She was sure of that now, and what she did learn is it will take over the entire world. There was no hiding, there would only be surviving.

Beth took a deep breath and let it out moving her body a little. That's what snapped Daryl back to what was really happening, he let go of her hand like someone burned him and grabbed her roughly to get her on her feet. She grunted a bit at the pain. She faced him for the first time, looking him straight in his eyes. She had to say he was just a bit intimidating. "Who are you? Why are you here?" He demanded to know. Beth stepped back a bit and replied, "My name's Beth and I followed that boy." She left it at that, but that didn't seem to satisfy him. He got angry and started to walk closer to her, "Have you lost yer mind?! A small girl like you, coming out here by yer self?" Daryl could not figure out why he was so mad at this girl in the first place. Probably because she risked her life to help him made mad. Nobody ever really tried to help him before. Beth got a little angry on how ungrateful he was that she was trying to help him. "I was tryin to save you! Sorry I'm not perfect." Her voice lowered at the end of the sentence.

Beth decided she needed to get home, so without a word she walked off back to her horse, which wasn't to far away. But halfway there she seemed to notice Daryl following a little ways away behind her. She stopped for a brief moment and turned her head. "What?" She said to the person tailing her. She noticed he was on his bike. "Yer right, you saved me so the least I can do is make sure you get home to yer folks okay." He said quietly not looking her right in the eye. He wasn't the type of person to go out of his way to help people. But he figured he could return the favor. Beth didn't respond, she walked on over to her horse and hopped up on it before riding away with Daryl riding his motorcycle behind her. She was kind of relieved that he came with her. After what she went through, if she had been alone at this moment, she would have been a mess.

Another ten minutes passed, Beth and Daryl were heading on up to the farm. Dust flew everywhere including in their face. They arrived at the horse barn and stopped. Beth got off of the horse and led it in the barn guiding her the way there. She gave her a reassuring rub before heading back out to Daryl. He saw her come out of the barn and was getting more anxious by the minute. He stood with his hands by his sides and two guns in his vest he picked up from the cabin before he took off after Beth. He should have figured she was a farm girl. Now that he knew that he figured she handled herself okay. However, as far as Beth and Daryl knew they had two pairs of eyes on them. A worried father and an angry husband.

She slowly approached Daryl nervously not knowing what to say. But by surprise he broke the silence in a not so good way. He pulled a gun out of his vest and Beth tensed up. He eye'd her a little because he noticed her fear. He held it up to her with the barrel facing his way showing her he wouldn't use it on her. She didn't seem to move. "I don't thi-" But before she finished she looked up at him once again. And she didn't have to wait for him to say what he was going to say, somehow she knew. She grabbed the gun before putting it back down by her side. "Thanks for saving me." It was the only thing she could think of to say. He scoffed a bit. "No need." He said before sitting back down on his motorcycle, and Beth wasn't moving from her spot. She just stared at him for a while. He revved the engine and before taking off he said, "Protect yer self."


A/N: Hey there readers! This is the first official chapter where Daryl appears. Of course they will not be brought together immediately. They will face hardships and build a bond that cannot be broken. Trust is the biggest thing in this story between them. And it will take time to build.

I mentioned Maggie and Glenn coming from Virginia because I am currently living in Virginia.

Any questions, comment, or concerns let me know!

Thanks for reading!

-Your Author Bree