Chapter 4
It was the middle of the night when Daryl regained consciousness again. Part of his shirt was still covering the wound from the crowbar on his arm. Red liquid coated it all over. One of his eyes were swollen shut due to the black eye that Joe had given him, though he could still see alright. It wasn't as good as his normal vision, but it was fine.
Daryl looked to the side to see Beth asleep. Her knees were still drawn up to her chest, but her head was resting on her arms. Her breaths were steady, signaling that she was asleep. He slowly sat up, ignoring the ache in his stomach, and stood. It lighter in the room than it was the night before; someone had put a lantern in the corner. He didn't intend on using it as a weapon. Not at that time, at least.
He clutched his arm to his chest as he silently walked around Beth and to the windows. He craned his neck to look through the small cracks in between the boards and could barely make out a walker in the darkness. Then another. The snarls were barely audible, but they were all over the place. He went as quickly as he could to the window across the room. He spotted dozens of figures hobbling in the direction of the warehouse.
Daryl cursed under his breath as he crouched down beside Beth. He gently tried to shake her shoulder and she flinched in her sleep. "Beth. Beth, wake up." She gasped as she lifted her head up. She rapidly turned her head in every direction, then seemed to relax when she realized that it was Daryl waking her up, not Joe's group.
"What's wrong?" she asked him. She stood up next to him and the snarling got a little louder. "Walkers. A big herd of 'em." Beth's eyes widened. It was never good when there were herds like that. Her mind thought back to the farm. Her old home, ruined by those monsters. "Well, what are we gonna do?" Daryl shrugged. "I don't know." The snarls were now hard to ignore.
Beth went over to the door and her ankle automatically gave out under her. She let out a strangled scream as she hit the concrete. Daryl quickly rushed to her side and pulled off her shoe and sock to look at her ankle. It looked worse than ever. It was purple and swollen and undoubtedly dangerous to walk on. That just made the situation a whole lot less complicated.
A bang on the window was heard. The two looked up and heard another bang. It was from the window. "The must have heard your scream." Daryl explained. There was a bigger gap in between the boards on the window the walker was at, so they could clearly see them. It didn't help that the lantern was still on, attracting more attention. The light leaked through the window and could easily be seen from outside.
Daryl cursed again when another pair of fists starting pounding on the window. Yelling was suddenly heard from outside the room. There was lots of moving around and shouting. Daryl helped Beth up off of the ground, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her arm around his shoulders. The duo made their way to the door and jiggled the doorknob. Unfortunately, it was locked. And it certainly didn't help that more banging was heard. The window was starting to crack.
They were stuck. They couldn't escape from the windows: they were boarded up and walkers were surrounding them. And the door was locked. Another crack was heard from the end of the room. The window collapsed into shattered pieces of glass. Beth's eyes widened as they started banging on the wooden boards.
Desperately, Daryl kicked the door. He and Beth almost flew back from the force of it. It clearly wasn't going to open with just a kick. It was a metal door. The door suddenly opened and Beth and Daryl stepped back Joe held his shotgun in his hands. "Come on," he said. Beth was surprised. Daryl, too. Was Joe… helping them? No.
"Y'all are gonna be bait so my group can get outta' here." Panic arose in Beth. This was the worst way possible to die in this world. That was how Otis went. Shane shot him in the leg and left him there while the other walkers fed off him. She didn't want to be Otis. Neither did Daryl. "No. We're gettin' outta' here." Joe stepped forward. "Listen, boy." He had to shout over the highly audible growls and snarls. "You two are still the prisoners. Therefore, we get to do what we want with ya'."
Beth's jaw clenched. "No, ya' don't. It ain't like that anymore." She said. Despite himself, Daryl was a little proud of her. But, they were in a tight situation. Nobody had time for anything like that. Joe's fist came flying from his side and connected with Beth's cheek. She gasped and fell against Daryl. He held her up before she could fall, then he pulled her to her feet.
Then he attacked. He gently and hastily let Beth go, then practically dove at Joe. The door had closed behind him, so no one could come in and save him. His knuckles went right into Joe's ribs. Beth limped to the side as Joe struck back. He threw Daryl to the ground and straddled him while delivering many other blows to his face.
"Daryl!" Beth screamed. They had to get going soon. More windows were being damaged and the herd wasn't even close to passing through yet. It was only the beginning. Daryl had reached his hands up and grabbed Joe's throat. He flipped them and squeezed Joe's throat with all of the strength that he had in him.
Joe's face was quickly turning purple. He had no air to breathe in. His hands clawed at Daryl's arms uselessly as he tried to get free. Beth had to turn away. She knew this was what they had to do, but that didn't mean she doesn't hate doing it. After a few more seconds, Joe stopped moving. Daryl was still grabbing his neck. Beth hobbled over to him and grabbed his good arm.
"Daryl. Daryl, come on! We have to go!" she yelled. Daryl seemed to relax under her touch. He slowly removed his hands from Joe, who was now dead. Like Len. He stood, still looking down at the body in disgust. He tore his eyes away from the sight and wrapped an arm around Beth's waist, carrying half of her weight. They would be moving a whole lot slower if he didn't help.
Beth reached out to the doorknob to discover that it was unlocked. Joe didn't lock it when he came out. She slowly pulled the door open and craned her neck to see what was happening. The rest of the group was in a circle with their voices overlapping each other. They were all panicked. And oblivious to the fact that their leader was just killed.
Beth and Daryl quickly exited the room and hid behind one of the cars, doing their best to crouch and stay together. Daryl spotted his crossbow and dagger across the room lying on a shelf. He signaled to Beth where it was and she nodded. They silently stood and made their way across the room. When Beth's foot hit the side of a car, she winced and whimpered through her tight lips.
The group thankfully didn't notice. The two continued their way to the weapons on the wall. Walker's fists started pounding on the wooden door at the front of the room. It didn't seem to make sense to Beth that there was a metal door separating the two rooms, but a wooden door as the front one.
As soon as Daryl reached the shelf on the wall, he snatched his crossbow and dagger. He automatically loaded a bolt in the bow and gave Beth the knife. She gripped it tightly in her hands. Daryl took aim at Dan. Right after he lifted his crossbow, someone noticed. Daryl had never learned his name, yet he always seemed unbelievably loyal to Joe.
He pointed out Daryl and Beth as soon as he saw them. "Hey! You!" This time, it was Beth to give out a vulgar curse. Daryl pulled the trigger before ducking behind a car with Beth. The bolt landed right in Dan's skull.
The other men also went behind cars and held their rifles to the chests. One shot fired before the sound was overpowered by the front door slamming on the cement ground. They were really stuck, now.
A/N: Hey guys! So, how do you think Beth/Daryl are going to get out of this situation?! I know! But, I'm not telling you! You'll have to read the next update! Please favorite, follow, and review this story! Feel free to give me your feedback! I still have the poll up for whether Terminus is going to be in the story or not! So far, it's not! Thanks for reading! :)