Chapter 4

Beth barged into the kitchen with her head held high. Daryl and Merle both turned simultaneously to face her.

"Took you long en- -began Merle, but she quickly cut him off-

"What do you want from me?" -She was practically shouting-

"I want you to go back into that room" Merle pointed towards the white door across the kitchen. "And behave like a good little girl."

Beth slammed her hands against the counter in frustration.

"I know you took me because I saw the dead body. I-I know you're going to have to kill me." –she took a deep breath to gather her courage before she continued. "But why make me wait? If you're going to do it, then just do it!"

Both men looked shocked from her outburst. Even Merle had lost his horrible grin. The room fell into a deathly silence.

"I would kill you." –said Merle "Believe me I want to."

Her heartbeat sped up at his words; her hands were shaking at her sides.

"But…"-he continued- "Daryl here won't let me, its cause of him you're here and alive."

He was now standing directly in front of her.

"If it were up to me, you'd be long dead." -with that said he turned on his heels and left the apartment, slamming the door behind him as he went.


Daryl and Beth stood in silence after Merle's departure. Beth eventually had to press a hand against the wall to keep herself from falling, she felt as if she was going to faint. Her ears were ringing and black dots were dancing across her vision.

She closed her eyes, took a few soothing deep breaths in and out, and stood up straight as she felt a little more stable. Slowly, her eyes opened and she locked gazes with Daryl, who was standing quietly near the counter.

Merle had made it quite clear that her fate was literally in this man's hands. Not a soul should ever possess the kind of control over a person's life as Daryl had upon her own. Whenever the mood would strike him, she would be dead.

That thought alone forced her to once again, lean against the wall for support.

"Beth?" -She distantly heard Daryl murmur-

"Please don't."-She whispered- "don't say anything."

Beth had reached her limit for the day. She could no longer process the terrible things that had happened to her in the past few hours. If she thought about it all now, she was sure she was going to have a nervous breakdown.

She walked towards her cage, shut the door and slowly slid down its length. She felt as if the final ounces of strength, of courage, and of hope she possessed had just evaporated before her very eyes.

It had only been a few hours since she had woken up in this hell, and already she was falling to pieces. She leaned her head against the door, and began to think about her loved ones, wondering if they realized she had went missing yet. Surely someone would come looking for her eventually.

For that very reason Beth wasn't going to allow herself to fully give up, she needed to keep fighting so that when someone found her, they wouldn't find a dead body.

She let out a shuddering breath and sank down lower against the door; her mind was racing, trying to plan possible ways of escape. Her body however seemed to have reached its limits, because in the next short minutes her eyes began to flutter shut. Her adrenaline died down, and she drifted into unconsciousness, hoping that when she would wake up,

This nightmare would be over.


Daryl leaned against the counter in the kitchen; his eyes were focused on the white wooden door across the room.

He had never been one to worry for others, in his mind, everyone had to take care of themselves and if they were too weak to survive, it was on them, not him.

He cared for no one but his brother, and he was not one to show any signs of compassion. Even if he wanted to better himself, that had never changed.

Now, however, for the first time in his life, he was worrying for someone other than Merle. He was downright nervous for her, for the small frail women, who hardly even seemed to be a grown woman yet.

What scared him above all was that he was responsible for her life. At the snap of his fingers he could decide to end her life. It would be so easy, it would make things a hell lot easier, but he did not want to see her hurt.

He had taken lives before without giving it much thought but he had never saved anyone other than his brother, he had never wanted to.

Until now.

His thoughts drifted back to the moment when he had first laid eyes on her.

A flash of blonde hair flew across the sidewalk nearest to the alleyway, and stopped short. A young woman leaned her hands against her knees and tried to catch her breath. After a few moments, she stood up straight and began to scan her surroundings, he saw her body stiffen in fear when she realized that she was lost, he knew that girls like her didn't venture into places like this without being lost.

In the mist of his thoughts, he heard her cry out as Merle shoved her into the alleyway; he walked towards his brother in anger.

"What the hell are you doing? Let the girl go."

"And have her run along to the police?" -came his brother's reply.

The girl whimpered against Merle's hand and squeezed her eyes shut.

She was small, frail, and afraid. He couldn't help but immediately associated her as being weak, undeserving.

He knew she had no doubt seen the dead body by now which meant she had to die, or else Merle would die. Even then when he had decided that he didn't want anything to do with his brother anymore, when he was trying to be a "good" person, he knew he wouldn't stop his brother from killing her.

In the end, if he had the choice, he would always choose Merle.

Just when he was about to tell Merle to just get it over with, two blue eyes locked with his, and his mouth clamped shut.

Through the years of his life, he had never seen eyes such as the ones who regarded him now. They were eyes that were pure, eyes that were soft, eyes that were innocent. She was a complete stranger to him, but in that very moment, he knew that she was a person who was good in every sense of the word.

He didn't think people like that still existed in the world. His life that had always been filled with violence, darkness, and the evil that lurked in men, but now for the first time in his life he saw a human being who didn't possess an ounce of bad, of corruption.

She was good.

It was strange but he began to feel something he hadn't felt in a very long time, he felt hope.

How could he possibly stand by and watch her die? How could he watch the first thing to give him hope in nearly 3 decades be destroyed?

Merle pushed the gun harder against her head, which caused her eyes to squeeze shut in response. This action caused him to quickly speak up.

"She's innocent." -he tried to reason with Merle-

"She'll get us both killed."

After the words left his brothers mouth, the girl was thrown onto the ground. Her sobbing grew louder as Merle raised the gun to her head.

Catching his brother off guard, he took the gun from the barrel and raised it to the girl's head, her eyes widened first in shock, than in fear. He looked away from her piercing gaze and swung hard enough to knock her out.

"What the hell?" -Came Merle's incredulous tone -

He knelled down beside her, ignoring his brother who was all but screaming in fury, and brushed his fingers against the gash on her forehead that was beginning to swell.

He wanted to be a good person, but deep down he knew that he was past the point of being saved; in fact he did not know how to be good. The next best thing would be to save someone who already was.

In that very instant, he swore to himself that he was going to keep her alive and safe.

Merle's entrance in the apartment broke Daryl free from his thoughts. He locked gazes with Merle, and then sighed, his brother was furious.

"Control yourself, Merle."

His brother was all but shaking in anger as he approached Daryl. Drops of sweat beamed down his forehead.

"We gotta get rid of her."

Daryl rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"We've been over th-

"No, Daryl! -he cut in- this ain't gonna work, she has to go."

"You're not gonna lay a finger on her." he all but growled.

Merle rubbed his temples in exasperation.

"I know you wanna be the big hero, but I don't have a choice anymore."

His dark eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Why?"

Merle's features creased in worry.

"Some bastard from another gang saw us take her, he must have seen the symbol on my jacket, because he knew the kidnapping was related to my gang."-Merle paused to wipe away sweat from his face- "The police are now hot on our asses, everyone in my gang is suspicion of each other. They might come snooping around." -his hand slightly traced the gun on his belt- "I ain't gonna risk my life for her."

Daryl's eyes were once again focused on the white door. The facts that Merle was closest to the door, to her, made him feel a pang of nervousness. Merle was always one to act upon his instinct, and his instinct in this situation was to go for the kill.

Daryl slowly advanced upon his brother, approaching him as one approached a dangerous wild animal on the brink of attack.

"I'll leave for a while; I'll take her with me."

Merle laughed and shook his head. "You couldn't handle her alone. You'd get yourself caught in no time."

"No." -Daryl continued- "I'll be careful"

His brother shook his head once. "Let me deal with this."

With that said, Merle quickly spun around so that he was facing the door. His fingers were gripped around the guns handle, but before he could reach the door, Daryl pounced on him, dragging him to the floor.

Merle immediately retaliated and punched Daryl in the face, which lead his younger brother to return the favour. Both men struggled for a few short moments, knocking over furniture as they went until Merle grew motionless. Daryl also ceased his struggles as he felt his brother, who was pinned beneath him, go still.

"You're not gonna be able to guard her forever, I'll get her eventually."

Both men grew silent, breathing heavily and simply starred at each other until Daryl slowly lifted his weight for Merle, and got to his feet.

He reluctantly moved away from the door, so that Merle was nearest once again, but before Merle could take a step towards it, Daryl clamped a hand on his shoulder.

"This is my only chance of doing something right, something that can make up for some of the bad I've done." He lifted his gaze to meet Merle's- "I can't let someone who has done no wrong get hurt, I wouldn't be able to live with myself anymore."

He slowly removed his hand from his brother's shoulder and stepped away.

"If you kill her, you'll be killing me." He left Merle standing alone in the apartment.


Beth was woken up by the sound of crashing coming from the other room. She jumped up to her feet fast enough to make her head spin, and quickly distanced herself from the door.

What was happening out there?

It sounded as if someone was being attacked; perhaps Merle and Daryl were in trouble.

Serves those bastards, right. Was the first thought to cross her mind but what happened if the one attacking them was in fact worst then they were?

She knew she was in a terrible awful situation, but she knew realistically things could be must worst. Her captors had never in fact physically hurt her, touched her in any way.

There were such things that were in fact worse than death.

Maybe behind that door, was someone who would do such things? Maybe it was someone who was evil in every sense of the word.

The crashing ceased, and the only thing Beth could hear was her rapid breathing.

Her heart felt as if it sank as she saw the handle of the door slowly twist.

She hurriedly grabbed a chair, the only weapon she could think of, and watched as the door slowly opened.

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