After the darkness, the light of the room dazzled Beth, leaving her blinking stars from her eyes. Before she could process what was happening fingers were twisted into her hair, wrenching her up and out of the trunk. Knees that had been jammed against her chest gave out as soon as she hit the ground. She could hear laughter and beneath the confusion she could feel that newfound fury stewing.

She'd been in the dark for hours now. Maybe a day. Her mouth was sore and swollen from the strip of material they'd wound tight around her lower face. Her ribcage was killing her from the kicking she'd gotten when they shoved her into the car.

As Beth shook the light out of her eyes, Beth remembered that her Daddy had always told her to forgive, to let things go, but the rest of the prison group must have been rubbing off on her: she blamed Daryl. Instead of forgiveness and enlightenment, Beth could feel a molten and frighteningly animalistic rage bubbling up in her chest.

Beth managed to push herself up to her feet. If she was going to meet her God, she was going to meet him on her feet, not on her knees in front of these beasts. A grey man loomed over her, laughing at her. He reached for her and she tried to pull away. She was rewarded for her defiance by being pushed into the the car, head snapping off bumper and knees crunching against the hard ground. Her head was thumping now.

The Grey Man was speaking but Beth couldn't seem to make out the words, the roaring in her ears was too loud and the lights too bright. He gestured and smirked and twisted her head around in a way that reminded her of the livestock shows she'd been to with her Daddy when she was young. Before all this.

Her vision wheeled around. She was surrounded by menacing shapes, menacing men. It looked as though she was in a warehouse of some kind. Her normal response to shelter had to be tamped down. This was definitely not the welcoming sort.

Beth was in the nightmare scenario, she knew that now. She had tried to convince herself into hopefulness while she'd been in the trunk of the car, a feat in itself, but the time for optimism had passed. She tried to recall everything Maggie, Rick and Daryl had taught her. She was going to go down kicking and screaming in the least.

Her hearing started to clear up. She wasn't far off with her original thought: she was going to be treated as nothing better than cattle. She heard the Grey Man taunting someone, telling him to prove that he was a "real man" before he threw Beth down to the floor, again. Her jaw clicked shut with a clack as she hit the ground and she could taste the iron in her blood. She got her hands under her chest to push herself up once more again. She looked up from underneath the curtain of blonde at her would be rapist. What she saw nearly collapsed her. Disbelief followed by relief followed by hopelessness all over again: Daryl.

Her one consolation had been that Daryl had gotten away, but here he was, looking even worse than she could have imagined. He seemed to have aged years in what could only have been a day. There were purple smudges under his eyes and his clothes were dark with sweat. It never occurred to Beth to think how she must look.

Daryl's eyes were as wide as she had ever seen them, wider than even Never Have I Ever had set them. He took a step toward her before hesitating. His eyes flicked up to the Grey Man behind her. She understood, kept her face blank, just like she had always done when her father had caught her doing something red handed. Daryl stepped toward her again, more purposefully this time.

"What the fuck is this?" He said, hoarse. She cringed as he bent down to seize her by the arm. He pulled her to her feet, more harshly than either of them would like.

"Consider it your welcome gift," the Grey Man sneered, "Now," he paused for a theatrical leer as Daryl pulled Beth flush against him, "Why don't you show us what you're made of?"

Beth could feel Daryl's muscles tensed and ready to go as she steadied herself against him. He was staring down the Grey Man. After a beat he pulled her against him completely and she let out a squeal behind the gag. She could see the feral men over his shoulder. With one hand he pulled her head back by her hair and for a split second Beth wondered just how well she knew Daryl Dixon.

Even as Beth's eyes flicked nervously to Daryl's mouth his other hand guided her hand to his hip. Her eyes widened even further before her hand closed around the handle of the bowie knife. She understood.

AN: So glad people are following! I'm a couple of chapters ahead, and this won't be terribly long, so fingers crossed should be finished by beginning of next week. As always, the thing that motivates best is of course: feedback! Thank you!