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Chapter 2: Too Good To Be True

Beth continued to feign sleep. Daryl still knew, though, regardless of her pretence, that she was indeed awake. The way she was unnaturally still and didn't blink the way a sleeping person does gave it all away. He continued speaking to let her know he knew the truth.

"I'm.. I'm sorry about your daddy. He was a great man, a tough son-of-a-bitch and I'll...I'll miss him too, you know." He stuttered out, as if it pained him to be heartfelt. At the mention of her father, Beth's ears pricked up and she flickered open her eyes. "I know how it feels to be alone. How it feels when you think yer family is all gone and yer all tha's left."

Beth started sitting up, tears brimming as she absorbed the first real words of consolation Daryl Dixon had ever given her. "When Merle died, I was lost at first 'cause, like, that was it, my family was gone, until I realised all y'all were my family really, my blood, and without even knowing it y'all pulled me through." She was now staring fixedly at Daryl; as he opened up to her she could see him for the first time, properly. He always held this facade of a harsh, contemptible redneck, but all she could see right now was a down-trodden, sensitive man, whose hard-heartedness was misjudged. Daryl cared about the group, he loved Judith and she knew he was going to do everything to protect her. He made her feel safe.

"I..." She started but couldn't seem to get her words out. "I'm sorry," she muttered at last. Disregarding her words he carried on, as though if interrupted he wouldn't be able to express this level of emotion again. "Except yer not alone, Beth. It's shitty I know but yer still got, er, me... But I guess that's not much reassurance..." he said, a defeated look spreading across his dirty face.

She giggled to stop herself from crying. "Daryl, you're not that bad," she smiled. For the first time today he made her feel better and she genuinely seemed amused for a moment. She also became suddenly aware that this was the most she had ever heard him say at once.

"I'm honoured that you think I'm 'not that bad'," he smirked. " You've got Maggie, too. And I know you have, she's out there somewhere fer sure. She's a tough son-of-a-bitch an' all."

"I hope you're right," she sighed, returning to her position on her improvised bed. She turned on her side away from Daryl so that he could not see the heartbroken, glazed look upon her face, and the single tear that rolled down her cheek.

...

The next day was spent walking through trees and fields to no end- until they happened upon a vast plot of land: It was clearly an old farm, not as expansive as Beth's, more like a smallholding. There was a quaint farmhouse at the top of a winding mud track, surrounded on both sides by wooden picket fences and overgrown trees. On the other side of a small field stood a big, red barn which looked so dilapidated it might fall down at any moment. The place appeared suitably abandoned, with no walkers, or people, in sight.

Beth gasped at the site of the lot, "surely this is too good to be true...".

"Looks damn near perfect to me, then again, that's what we thought about the farm and you know how that turned out," Daryl retorted. They crept their way up the dirty path to the house, Daryl in front with crossbow at the ready, and Beth behind with her carbine. When they reached the house they began planning a strategy to sweep the building, but formations were difficult and almost useless with only two people. Daryl half expected Rick to be standing to the right of him, ready for the signal. His heart sunk when realisation hit him.

"Okay, kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

"Whatever. You cover me, we'll take downstairs first, when that's clear we'll make our way up. Don't be afraid to shoot. Okay?"

"Okay," Beth grunted back. Daryl quietly pushed open the door, stepping inside with his crossbow at eye level. The floorboard creaked as he traipsed past the threshold, alerting a walker in the next room to his arrival. Seemingly from nowhere, a tall, blonde-haired, walker woman wearing dungarees lunged at Daryl, snapping its jaws at his arm before he put it down with an arrow to the forehead. Beth was trembling.

"Fuckin' skanky farmer's wife! I'll bet the whole friggin' family's in 'ere an' all." Daryl hissed. He was right. The sound of the farmer's wife falling to the floor brought in the farmer himself, which Daryl shot before it even got close. "Finger's crossed they didn't have any farmer kids an' all," he jested. As soon as Daryl finished his sentence he heard a squeal. A young female walker had Beth pinned against the wall as she desperately tried to reach for her gun which she had dropped in surprise, all whilst holding the walker back. It was hastily put down by Daryl's knife. The young girl launched herself into Daryl's arms, shaking and quietly crying "thank you, thank you." As he held her he looked down at the walker collapsed at their feet, noticing blood and a trace of human flesh between its teeth. Daryl felt sick to his stomach at the sight, and he roughly checked Beth for bites to see if it was her skin the walker had chewed.

"What is it?" Beth asked, panicked.

"Were you bit?"

"What? No!" Daryl ran his hands over her body to make sure, but thankfully she was unharmed.

"Sorry. It's got blood on its mouth, it fed recently," the tracker explained. They exchanged worried looks and continued.

"Be careful from now on, girl. Yer gonna get yerself killed. Or both of us," Daryl growled, eliciting a scowl from Beth. The downstairs was now clear, so the pair made their way up the stairs to be pleasantly surprised by an outwardly empty floor. Until they heard faint sobs coming from a wardrobe in the smallest bedroom. Straining to listen, Daryl put his hand to his ears and detected the unexpected noise. He turned to indicate to Beth to follow him, and slowly pushed open the creaky door to the room. The cries were louder now, yes, definitely coming from the wardrobe. Beth bravely went forward to the side of the closet, hand on the doorknob, glancing at Daryl to wait for his signal.

He nodded. She tugged the door open and watched Daryl as he released a gasp, his eyes widening in astonishment...

Authors Note: This is about to get a whole lot more exciting, hope my constant cliffhangers aren't winding you up! ;)