"You're alive and there's a reason for that." As Jesus repeated the words for a second time he could tell that they deeply affected the girl in front of him. He had got to her and he could see that as she began to let her guard down. Within seconds he realized that she was not only emotionally letting her guard down but physically as well. As she started to sway unsteadily and the crossbow began to fall from her arms he rushed forward to catch her as she passed out.
Jesus gently picked up the girl lying in his arms. She couldn't have weighed much more than 80 pounds. He wasn't sure how she survived as long as she had. With the lack of food these days and her thin frame would not have been a good combination. He carried her over to the bed on the other side of the room and slowly laid her down on it. He picked up a blanket from the foot of the bed and covered her with it.
He quickly gathered the weapons and returned his sheath to his hip. He looked over the crossbow and was surprised at how heavy it was. He had no idea how a girl her size could have carried that let alone keep it up in the air and aimed it at him for a few minutes. She must have been stronger then she looked. He took the crossbow and placed it outside the door. While he wasn't too concerned about her getting out of the bed and getting to it before him he still wasn't about to take any chances.
As the sun started to set Jesus took out his pack of matches and lit a couple of candles he found on the nightstand. He wasn't sure how long the girl would be out but didn't plan on leaving her side and knew he'd need to see her if it was dark when she woke up. Jesus spotted a bottle of water that must have belonged to the girl over by the window. He picked it up and moved the arm chair over by the bed placing the water on the nightstand.
Jesus sat down. It was getting late and he was getting tired. He had no idea how long she would be out. It could be anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of days. As he got comfortable in the chair he stared at the young woman lying peacefully in the bed and wondered what her story entailed. How had she got the scar on her forehead? Who was she and where had she came from? Who had she loved and who had she lost in order to survive? He hoped she would trust him at least long enough to get her back to the Hilltop so she could see for herself that there were still some good people left in this world.
He stared at her for a while longer lost in his own thoughts when she started to stir. Her eye lids flickered and her body began to tense as she became aware of her surroundings. She started to sit up but must have been dizzy and immediately laid back down. He heard a frustrated sigh escape from her lips.
"What happened?" the young woman asked.
"You fainted and I caught you before you hit the floor. I picked you up and put you in the bed." The girl turned her head so she was looking right at him as he spoke.
She sighed again. He could have just left her there. He could have killed her or done something worse to her. "Why?" she asked. "Why would you do that for me? I could have killed you."
Jesus picked up the bottle of the water from the nightstand and handed it to her. "Here, drink some water." She sat up and took the bottle from his hand and looked at it for a moment before obliging and taking a sip.
"They say actions speak louder than words. I'm one of the good ones, well as good as you can be these days I suppose. Now I just need to prove it to you."
This made Beth wonder if maybe she could trust him. He hadn't done anything to her yet. And to be honest she was tired of being alone. She felt worn out and it would be nice to have some company. She had a few questions for him though before she would leave this room with him. "You have a group?" she asked.
"I belong to a small community called the Hilltop" Jesus started. "There's about sixty of us in total. We grow most of our own food and supply the rest from runs we take. We have fortified walls. We are able to keep the dead out easily. It's the living that you have to be most cautious of these days."
Beth could tell by the way Jesus talked about his community that he was proud of his people and what they had accomplished. It sounded nice but almost sounded to good to be true. She wasn't finished with her questions just yet. "How many walkers have you killed?"
"Walkers?" Jesus said. "Too many to count. Definitely more than 100." He thought he was making progress if she was still talking. Her body was a little less tense then when she had first woken up and she seemed to be relaxing as he talked.
"How many people have you killed?" Beth asked. This was the second most important question.
"I don't like killing. I've taken four lives." he answered. His eyes turned away from hers for a moment as images flashed through his head. Even if he had done it out of necessity it still didn't make it easier.
"One more question. Why'd you kill them?" Beth asked. This was the most important question of all. His answer would determine her decision on whether or not she should trust him.
"Because I had no other choice. I needed to protect myself and my group or they would have killed us." She nodded. She understood that. She didn't like killing either but she knew sometimes in this world it had to be done.
Jesus got up out of the chair and started to leave the room but turned as he got to the door. "I'm going to go rest in the bedroom next door. I secured the house from walkers when I came in earlier. We should be good for tonight. I'm going to leave for the Hilltop at dawn. You can either come with me or you can stay here. It's your choice."
"Don't you have any questions for me?" Beth asked surprised that he would invite her to come with him after not knowing her for that long.
"Just one." Jesus replied.
"What is it?" Beth asked.
"What's your name?" Jesus asked with a hint of a smile playing on his lips. He knew it seemed to easy for her that he didn't need to know more. He didn't know her story yet but he could already tell that she was a good person. Her story would come out later on.
"My name is Elizabeth Greene but my friends used to call me Beth." Beth replied copying his introduction from earlier. "Your pick."
Jesus chuckled. "Goodnight Beth. Get some rest." And with that Jesus walked out the door closing it behind him.
Beth half smiled. Maybe there was hope. Maybe just maybe she had came across one of the last good people left on earth whose name ironically happened to be Jesus.