The Twisting Knife of Loving You
Chapter 2
Rick stole a glance at Beth as he drove them towards their destination. She looked anxious and was fidgeting with her hair. He wasn't sure about the wisdom of what he was undertaking, but their options had been limited by circumstances. He knew Carl could handle himself, and that he was a good shot. But Beth was untested in these situations and he hoped she wouldn't prove to be a liability. He did know that he would rather have her sat beside him, instead of Karen. Because he could handle a lot of things, but dealing with predatory women was not his forte.
"Why couldn't we have brought Daryl with us?" Carl questioned from the backseat.
He wasn't impressed with his father's choice of Beth to accompany them, and shot her a withering look.
"If I'm not at the prison, then Daryl needs to be. If any of the sick folks get worse, well, he's gonna need to take care of things," Rick made his point without being too explicit.
He had spoken with Daryl privately, before setting out, because he knew that his second-in-command also had concerns about his choices for the supply run team. But Rick explained why they had to do things that way, and his lieutenant had reluctantly accepted it. He wasn't sure why he had faith in Beth to come through for him; he only knew that she was the one he'd instinctively wanted there. Her presence calmed him somehow, and he had begun to look forward to the moments they spent in each other's company when she was caring for his daughter. Rick wasn't willing to attach any deeper significance to his feelings, he was just happy to think of her as a friend. If there was more to it than that, then he refused to let himself acknowledge it. He was determined to keep that particular door to his heart shut tight.
"Daddy told me the kinds of things to look out for if we find a pharmacy, and we could do with anything we can use for keeping warm," Beth said.
"Yeah, we need to focus on food, medicine, blankets and warm clothing," he agreed.
They eventually pulled up close to the main street of the town that Rick had previously scouted. It seemed pretty quiet on the surface, and they couldn't see too many walkers around the place.
"You two got everything you need?" He questioned his accomplices; they checked their weaponry and affirmed their readiness.
"We stick close together, okay? No gunfire, unless you can't avoid it, we don't want to draw any more walkers in," Rick said.
They exited the car and made their way along the short distance to Main Street. Beth spotted a drugstore and she alerted her companions to it. They went to check it out and the coast appeared to be clear. There was a food store not too far away, and Rick indicated that he was going to scout it out. He found only one walker behind the counter, which he quickly dispatched.
"You go load up on medicines, Carl and I will take the grocery store," he instructed Beth.
"If you run into any trouble, just holler, and I'll come running," he assured her.
She nodded, although she was still filled with anxiety, but was determined not to let it show.
Rick watched her go with a mix of concern and something else that he couldn't quite identify. He didn't have time to dwell on it anyway, and he ushered Carl off to load up on groceries.
Beth made her way around the shelves of the drugstore and filled up a few hand baskets with medicines. There were also baby supplies and a few toys, which she was determined to take back for Judith. She carried the baskets to the doorway and checked that the way ahead was still clear. It looked calm enough outside, and so she began the task of transporting the merchandise back to the car. There was no sign of Rick or Carl, and so she wondered if she should go and make sure they were alright. She was just about to set off for the grocery store when the sound of an approaching car made her dive for cover.
A beat up black Chevy roared into view, and Beth hid herself as far out of sight as she could. She prayed that it would just keep on going, but her hopes soon faded as she heard the brakes screech, and it came to a halt close by. She edged along, using parked cars for cover, and observed that two men were stepping out onto the sidewalk. The older man had long straggly grey hair, and he was tall, thin and mean looking. The other one was much younger with slicked back black hair, but he was otherwise similar in appearance to the older man. Beth assumed they were related in some way, and she could see that they were both carrying shotguns. She didn't know what to do, but hoped Rick had seen the men arriving from his position in the store. She knew she wouldn't be able to get to him, without alerting the outsiders to her presence.
The two men stalked down Main Street and seemed to be headed for the bar at the opposite end. The young one then abruptly turned around, and started to head back in Beth's direction. She panicked and tried to skitter around the parked cars to stay out of sight, but the old man saw and met her on the other side.
"Well now, Bud, will ya looky at what we got here," he drawled.
"What's a pretty little thing like you doing out here all alone, huh?" He asked as he gave her a long leering look.
Beth didn't reply, and instead tried to look over the man's shoulder for any sign of Rick or Carl. But she didn't want to give them away, because the men were armed and almost certainly, dangerous.
"Cat got your tongue, darlin'?" The younger man, Bud, asked as he stepped closer to her.
"How long's it been, pa, since we last seen a livin' breathin' female?" He asked.
"Too long, son, too long," the old man was almost salivating.
Bud reached out to offer her his hand to help pull her up from the floor, but she declined it. He wasn't to be so easily rebuffed; he grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to her feet.
"Let's go get us some liquor and have us a party, looks like we found our entertainment," the old man cackled.
"Best keep an eye out, son, in case she ain't alone," he instructed and Bud removed her knife and gun.
Both men looked up and down the street until they were satisfied no one else was there. The young man then dragged her along to where their Chevy was parked up, and he pressed her back against the hood.
"I'm gonna have me some fun with you," he drawled in her ear.
Beth was terrified and opened her mouth to scream, but looking over the man's shoulder she caught sight of Rick, signalling to her through the grocery store window.
"Warm her up, son, while I go get us some whiskey," the older man said as he headed into the bar.
Bud opened the door to the back seat and forcefully pushed a protesting Beth down on it. He started to unbutton his pants as he moved to get on top of her. She struggled and writhed as he tried to hold her still. He ripped open her shirt and began to pull at her jeans as he exposed himself in readiness. There was a sound from the bar like a bottle being broken, which caused Bud to pause for a moment.
"Hey, pa, don't waste the booze," he yelled to his father.
Beth managed to pull herself up slightly, while the younger man was distracted, and she saw Rick through the saloon bar window. She surmised that he had killed the older guy, and now intended to rescue her. Bud turned his attention back to her and she stopped struggling for a second to adjust her position. She reached down and took a vice like grip on him where he was vulnerable, until he began yelping. There was a sudden popping sound and the car window cracked as blood spurted over her from a bullet wound on the side of Bud's head. Beth finally let out a scream as Rick rushed over and hauled the man's lifeless body off of her.
"You alright?" He asked with deep concern as he helped her out of the Chevy.
She nodded, but her whole body was shaking with the shock and terror of what had just happened. Carl was the one who fired the shot that killed Bud, and he kept a vigilant eye out down the street for any further threats. Rick noticed that Beth's shirt was torn and her bra was visible. He moved to pull her jacket around her, but she flinched away from him and closed it herself. He wanted to comfort her, but she was already hugging herself in a protective way, and so he decided to let her be.
"Let's go get the car loaded up, and get the hell outta here," he said.
Beth went on autopilot as she helped Rick and Carl to collect up all of the food, medicine and other essentials. They were soon on the road again, and she couldn't wait to get back to the relative safety of the prison.
"Please, don't tell daddy about what happened today," Beth appealed to her two companions.
Hershel was already unhappy about her going out on the supply run, and she didn't want him having to think about what might have been. It was going to haunt her enough as it was, she was sure about that, without her father fussing over her at every turn. Beth had seen how protective he'd been about Maggie, after her brush with the Governor, and she didn't want to be regarded as a victim.
Rick gave her his word.
"If that's what you want," he said as he snuck a glance at her.
He felt a rush of protectiveness towards Beth, and guilt for not being able to prevent her ordeal at the hands of those men. Although, he took some comfort from the fact that he had managed to get the situation under control before things got any worse. His mind began to wander, as they travelled along in silence, and he found himself contemplating what experience Beth had of men. He saw that she was close to Jimmy, when they were back at the farm. But whether things were ever serious between them, he didn't know. A wave of shame washed over him, as he wondered why he was thinking about such matters, and why he should even care.