Disclaimer: Do not own TWD

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing, everyone! Writing these two before Charlie is so much fun. Please accept this tiny little chapter to hold you guys over until I have time to write an even better one lol

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FOUR

Were Here

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Beth was the first to climb into the tree house. She reached down, took Daryl's crossbow and then helped him up. The tree house was roughly eight by eight and was cluttered with old toys and a small rug. There was a black board easel crammed in the corner; a metal box lay beneath it. Daryl and Beth lodged themselves against the back wall, huddled close together. The sounds of the dead lingered into the backyard and roamed about causing them to fall silent.

Beth hugged her knees to her chest, staying as still as possible as if the dead down below could hear the smallest of movements. Daryl too remained still, without a word. Beth continued to listen to the sounds of the dead until they wandered out of the yard. It must have been an hour until the silence was definite.

"Might as well settle for the night." Daryl whispered, setting his crossbow in front of him, within reach.

The tree house was far better than sleeping in a shed or in the trunk of a car. It was high off the ground so they didn't have to worry much about the dead. Beth was glad at least for that.

Beth slumped her shoulders and exhaled, leaning her arm against Daryl's and then gradually, her entire body. It was often in the silence of the night that Beth remembered her father and sister and missed them greatly. She needed someone to rely on and Daryl's presence was often comforting enough to ease her sorrows. He didn't push her away or question her. He just let her rest against him and collect herself until she was ready.

Daryl seldom opened up about anything. Beth had learned a lot about him but still so little.

Daryl felt Beth relax against them and grew a bit worried about her. "Ya good?" he asked, feeling as if she would burst into tears at any moment. She had done so days before when they came upon a house and Beth found a hand towel in the kitchen with a cow knitted on the front. She said her mother had one before. It was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

"I'm good." Beth said and closed her eyes, letting herself find that solace in Daryl's warmth.

He was all she had left. The thought alone didn't seem so bad.

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In the morning, Daryl woke to find Beth huddled under his arm. He took a moment to wake fully, careful that he didn't wake her in the process. He had tried to stay up and keep watch but the exhaustion had been too much.

He slowly unwrapped his arm from around Beth and stood to peer out of the tree house and check the perimeter. The back yard was empty and now that it was daylight, he could see everything ever clearer. The yard was medium-sized, the grass was dead, and a rusted swing set sat a few yards from tree house. Daryl spotted a kitty pool sat on the right of the swings; it was filled with murky, green water that overflowed to the top.

Beth roused herself awake when she didn't feel the warmth or support of Daryl's body and opened her eyes to greet him.

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Daryl roamed the backyard while Beth looked through the tree house. She looked through the toys until she came upon the small blackboard jammed in the corner. She picked up a broken piece of chalk and wrote on it.

D.D

B.G

Were Here

She set the chalk back down and smiled at her little message. No one would see if but incase someone did, they would know a couple of strangers had been there. Beth was about to leave when the metal box caught her attention. She knelt down and picked it up, bringing it upon her lap. The latch was shut tight by a tiny little lock with a combination. Beth shook the box and it rattled. She couldn't have begun to guess what was inside.

She reached into her back pocket and took out her knife. With the butt end, she smashed the tiny lock until it burst open. Beth set her knife aside and opened the box.

Inside, she found a stack of baseball cards tied with a rubber band, an empty lighter, a rubber ball, an army man, a scout badge, a switchblade and a photograph of a young teenage boy with a Golden retriever. Beth studied the photograph of the smiling boy and his dog and wondered how long ago the photo must have been taken. She studied his clothes and guessed probably the late nineties. That boy must have been a man by the time the world came to an end. She placed the photo back into the box and took the switchblade and opened it. It looked like a decent weapon so Beth pocketed it.

"Beth!" Daryl called from down below when a walker came wandering into the yard, "Les' go! Don't got all day!"

Beth sighed at Daryl's orders and closed the box back up, placing it back under the little backboard.

When Beth climbed down, Daryl was yanking a bolt from the walkers head and another was wandering in from behind the fence. Daryl raised his crossbow, aimed and shot. The bolt flew through the air and straight through the walker's head. He turned to Beth. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She said with a soft sigh and took her pack from him and swung it around her shoulder, ready to move on.

Daryl looked at Beth. She stopped, noticed him staring and frowned, "What?"

Daryl huffed, "Nothin'. Les' go." He turned and began to walk in the direction of the second walker to retrieve his bolt. Beth slumped her shoulders but followed after him.

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They hurried out of the neighborhood just as walkers emerged from behind fences and yards and dove into the wilderness once more.

The air was fresh out and they could smell the incoming fall in the air. There was a feeling that lingered and unsettled Daryl. He muttered about finding a safe place for the winter. It seemed as if that was all on his mind.

Along the road, Daryl stopped, holding his arm up in front of Beth to stop her as well. Up ahead were three walkers crouched down upon the body of a woman, eating her insides. Her stomach had been ripped open and her organs had been yanked out and were now being feasted upon.

Beth became rigid when she noticed the woman's light brown hair. She looked to Daryl. He met her glance, "Don't."

Beth took her hatchet in her hand, "I have to."

Daryl nodded once. "I'm behind ya." He raised his crossbow and followed after her.

Beth approached the walkers feasting upon the body. One walker had its back to her. Its scalp had strands of rigid, white hair and its gray skin was slowly melting off its skull. Beth raised her hatchet high in the air and brought it down upon the walker's head. She placed her foot on its back and shoved it off her hatchet. The two other walkers noticed and dropped their hands from their mouths to stand. Daryl shot a bolt through one walker's head while Beth took care of the last one.

When they had been taken care of. Beth kicked them aside and studied the body of the woman. Her cold, dead eyes open, staring back up at her. Beth closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

It wasn't Maggie.

It wasn't anyone they knew.

Daryl walked up to the body and studied it. The woman looked awfully thin and somewhat rugged from surviving out in the wilderness. She could have been anyone but Maggie. He then looked to Beth and placed his hand upon her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. Beth turned to him and buried herself against his chest. Daryl became rigid for a moment but then held her to him. How he wished she would stop hurting herself that way.

"It ain't her." He reassured her for what must have been the hundredth time. "Les' keep movin'."

Beth nodded and sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "Can you?" She lifted her hand, handing him her knife.

"Yeah…" He took it and used it to stab the woman in the head. After, they kept moving.

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Beth walked with her eyes upon the pavement, wandering behind Daryl, wallowing in her own sour mood. She was relieved that it hadn't been Maggie but she was starting to lose hope of ever seeing her again.

Daryl disliked having Beth out of sight and looked over his shoulder, "Catch up." He ordered her as if she were a child. "And watch where yer goin'."

Beth rolled her eyes at him.

"I saw that." He kept his eyes ahead on the road.

Daryl often treated her like a child and she disliked it. She could fend for herself—or so Beth thought. She didn't feel like arguing to she caught up with Daryl and walked at his side.

The two spent their days eluding walkers, hunting, and finding shelter. Living on the road wasn't bad for the most part. Beth was exhausted of moving from one place to another but some days, she just couldn't stop moving. The dead made it hard to hunker down and Daryl grew paranoid of being in a single place for far too long. Beth knew she would follow Daryl wherever he lead her. She trusted him.

Georgia gradually fell into a world of orange and red when fall finally dawned upon them. The weather grew colder and the nights grew longer. Beth and Daryl went from shelter to shelter, constantly moving, constantly going forward. The dead never ceased to keep emerging from every nook and cranny, just pushing them further and further out into Georgia's wilderness.

Beth walked behind Daryl like she knew he didn't like and hummed a soft tune to herself. The day had been awfully calm but a harsh cold took over the morning, chilling Beth to the bone. She continued in a good mood despite the fact and continued with her song.

Daryl listened to her partially because as long as she kept on humming, he knew she was okay out of his sight.

They pushed out of the foliage and made their way onto a clearing. Beth stopped humming and once the silence hit him, he turned around to make sure she was alright. Beth had stopped a few feet behind him, her big blues set out before them.

"What?" Daryl asked,

"Look." She said and walked past him and up the tiny hill in the middle of the long clearing.

Daryl's heart almost skipped when Beth went ahead of him; nonetheless he followed in close range. Beth found a set of train tracks and stood upon them. "Where do you think they lead?"

Daryl stood upon them too and shrugged, "Dunno."

Beth looked down to the left of the tracks and then to the right. "I guess either way is good enough…"

"North is that way." Daryl pointed one way down the tracks, "South is that."

"So, south or north?"

"Mhm."

Beth inhaled and exhaled, "Guess it wouldn't make a difference which way we go…"

Daryl caught on to her downcast expression and softly chucked her chin, "C'mon." He lead her down south, "Les' go."

Beth smiled softly and followed after him. They had walked half a mile down the tracks when Daryl suddenly stopped her. Beth became alarmed, "Daryl what is it?"

Daryl knelt down and took a hold of Beth's untied shoelaces. "This is a death trap waitin' to happen." He mumbled.

Beth shook her head at him, "You worry too much, did ya know that?"

Daryl stood back up, "Someone's gotta."

Beth became perplexed by his response but didn't question it. Daryl on the other hand had been talking about Beth herself. She had once been so preoccupied with taking care of others that she had never worried about herself. Daryl knew that he was the one to do so.

He had to make sure the light never went out.