Chapter 4

Disoriented, Daryl stared at his wrecked truck and he briefly considered if the crazy blonde had steered the vehicle into the tree as another delay tactic to keep them from getting to the farm.

"Aye, what the hell was that?!" He could barely contain his anger as he stomped over to where Beth leaned forward on a tree.

Daryl wrinkled his nose in disgust when he saw that her breakfast now covered the shrubbery near her bare feet.

"Hey?!" He yelled grabbing on to her arm, angrily, pulling her around. She was silent, her blue

eyes wide and glazed over in shock.

"Are you goin' to leave me here?" The question came out of the blue but the crossbow-yielding man wasn't paying any attention. All he could think of was their now-lack of transportation.

"I have half the mind to! Hell, is that your damn racin' tree?" Daryl bit out angrily, "What the hell you crash us for?"

"Daryl," her voice was small as she looked up at him, "I know you don't like me but you can't leave me. Not here. Not at the farm, okay?"

Daryl realized then that he was still holding onto her arm, and gripping it rather tightly. He dropped it like it was on fire and clenched his hand at his side.

Who the hell was this girl and what the hell was she talking about?

Beth rubbed her arm where his hand had been before she walked back over to passenger side of the wrecked truck. It was totaled. Luckily the chopper looked fine.

Daryl looked around, sure that the crash had attracted some sort of attention, but it was quiet. Too quiet.

He heard her small footsteps coming towards him and he turned around. Her steps were noisier than usual. She had finally pulled on her cowgirl boots and her bag was resting on her back. She was still rubbing her arm where he had grabbed her. He noticed that her hair had come out of it's braid due to all of the commotion and it was barely being contained by the hair tie that she had in place, making her appear frazzled.

"Promise me and I'll tell you why I grabbed the wheel," Beth said, her tone strong. She started wringing her hands together, betraying her portrayal of calmness, but Daryl's eyes zeroed in on the bruises that were starting to form on her left arm as a direct result of his anger.

"Yeah, whatever," Daryl mumbled, his eyes still focused on her arm. Beth seemed to figure out what had his mind occupied then as she followed his gaze down to the blue marks he'd left on her arm.

"It was an accident. I'm fine. I just bruise really easily," Beth paused when she realized just how frozen in the moment Daryl was. He wore a deep frown, his hawk-like eyes still focused on her arm.

She stepped closer to the man, her own nervousness forgotten.

"Daryl, I'm fine. You wanted to know why I turned the wheel?" Beth walked towards the road, somehow knowing that her movement would give him cause to pay attention. His head turned as she moved.

"There's a pile-up on the highway. You couldn't see the cars around the bend in the road up ahead because you were bein'…careless," Beth quipped, turning back around from the road, still walking, but backwards.

A small grin was on her lips when she noticed him rolling his eyes, finally breaking out of whatever thoughts plaguing his mind.

"Smart ass," Daryl muttered following her. So she wasn't completely out of her mind. There were quite a bit of vehicles clogging up the highway system and he'd almost driven straight into one of the semi-trucks that was at the back of the line-up. It was stopped just around the band of the road so he wouldn't have seen it until it was too late.

Daryl considered the speed in which he had been driving and how much the small woman had occupied his mind prior to the crash. His carelessness was certainly ironic.

"Hold on. We'll take the bike," Daryl spoke turning back to the truck.

"I've never been on a motorcycle before. We had four-wheelers growin' up but it ain't the same," Beth said pensively. Daryl chanced a glance and saw another dumb smile on her face. She was always smiling. Always sunny.

"Come 'ere and hold this so I can grab it." He nodded his head towards his crossbow that he now held out in her direction. Beth took an awkward hold of the angular piece of equipment, careful not to drop it. She hadn't seen anyone else hold his crossbow. Not even Merle.

She watched as he lowered the old rusty tailgate of his truck and hopped up. She couldn't help but stare at his arms as he did these movements and she felt her face heating up when she realized just what she was doing.

Daryl reached down for his bag that rested next to the bike's back tire before tossing it to the ground. It was heavier than it had been before because he added the items that Dale had given them and it made a sort of clunk when it landed. While he stood on the truck he took a look around to be sure that things were still good. They were.

Daryl started to roll the bike off of the truck until he got to a point where he could hop off and lift it down. Beth's eyes were on him the entire time.

"A'ight," Daryl muttered. He'd secured his bag onto the motorcycle and he was holding out his hand for his bow, surprised that the girl was being so quiet. She stepped closer to hand him his most prized possession. He took it quickly, careful not to touch her.

Beth watched as he lowered his narrow eyes, clearly thinking to himself, before he lifted his pale blue eyes and locked gaze with her own.

"If anybody touches you like that again, sock 'em worse than you did with Walsh. I don't give a fuck if it's me either. A'ight?"

Beth cocked her head, a small curious frown gracing her brow line. He didn't give her a chance to respond and Daryl threw his leg over the bike and sat down.

"Let's go."

XXXX

Beth sat behind Daryl on the slow-moving motorcycle, her legs locked outside of his and her hands wrapped tightly around his lower belly. He had stiffened when she had initially climbed up behind him but he had relaxed considerably. She wanted to bury her head between his shoulder blades to further soak up his warmth but though they moved slow, it was exhilarating having the wind in her face as they navigated through the now-junkyard on the highway with the noisy vehicle.

"Daryl," Beth leaned up to the hunter's ear, "There's somethin' up ahead. We should stop."

The hunter nearly stilled at the young woman's breath at his ear but he was able to control himself. Daryl saw what she meant and he coasted to a stop, switching off the motorcycle.

Beth climbed off of the bike and grabbed her knife out of the side of her bag.

"Daryl, those are people," Beth paused and lifted her hand over her eyes, "DARYL! That's the RV!"

Daryl still sat on the motorcycle, his blue eyes narrowed in his usual frown. One of the blurry figures ahead on the road started walking towards them.

What the hell was the RV doing there? Did someone ambush the group on the way to the CDC? Did they change routes and just not even bother going to the CDC?

The archer lifted his crossbow towards the approaching figure.

"It's Glenn!" Beth exclaimed. She started running in the direction of the RV.

"Stupid!" Daryl huffed starting the bike again. He could see that it was their group but that was no excuse for her to go running off towards them before fully recognizing them.

"Beth?! Daryl?!" the young Korean man exclaimed as he met up with Beth. He had been moving at a faster pace than the others who followed him. Daryl sped past them to the RV, not interested in a warm and fuzzy reunion.

"What're y'all doin' here?" Beth questioned, a small smile on her lips as she reached her arms around the man, giving him a welcoming hug. They'd only been separated for a day but damn it if it didn't seem like weeks in this new world. The two walked towards the RV.

"Shoot. The CDC was a bust. We'll explain that later but, oh God," Glenn's surprise at seeing Beth and Daryl quickly wore off and it was replaced with a panic-stricken look on his face. He had reached up to lift his ball cap, rubbing his forehead anxiously.

"What happened?"

"There was a huge herd of walkers, about a hundreds We couldn't fight 'em all off so we hid under the cars. Long story short; Sophia went missing.. Rick, Shane, and Carl went to find her and apparently Carl got shot while they were in the woods," at this Beth gasped, "Some hot brunette on a horse came out of nowhere and took Lori. Said something about a farm up the road where Rick and Carl were."

By the time Glenn finished his tale, he and Beth had reached the RV. Daryl was regarding her with his normal, careful stare. He had heard the last part of their conversation with that impeccable hearing of his. Or they had just been loud. All of the color that normally tinged Beth's pale cheeks had disappeared at Glenn's news.

Both Dale and Andrea were on top of the RV keeping watch but Dale climbed down from his perch, his arms outstretched for a hug from the younger blonde woman. Andrea stayed where she was.

"You're a sight for sore eyes," Dale exclaimed releasing her from the hug. Daryl was still staring at Beth, who welcomed Dale's hug with warmth but she could not hide her nervous eyes from the hunter.

"So that little girl is missin' and y'all are just sittin' out here sightseein'?" Daryl finally spoke up.

"We JUST got back," Glenn exclaimed, "We've been looking!"

"Mmhmm. Where's her mama at?"

"Carol's in the RV tending to T-Dog's arm. He got a nasty cut on his arm trying to avoid those walkers. An infection is starting to take hold. We were getting ready to head to that farm to see about him getting some care," spoke Dale.

"Well, shit," Daryl grumbled. He started digging around in the bag attached to the motorcycle before pulling out a bottle of pills and tossing it to Dale.

"Merle got the clap on occasion. See if that helps," Daryl shrugged from his position straddling the motorcycle. Dale nodded with a quirked brow before climbing the few short steps leading into the RV.

"Did the girl on the horse give y'all directions?" Beth asked Glenn, her voice small, the confidence she usually held, gone.

"Yeah. You can ride in the RV," Glenn offered, "When we get there we can regroup and get back on the search for Sophia."

Beth moved quickly then, throwing her leg over the back of Daryl's motorcycle, causing him to visibly start. She made him uncomfortable yet she still intrigued him. She could've easily climbed up into that RV but she chose to ride with him.

"We know where to go. Y'all can follow us." Her confidence had returned, if only for the moment.


Note: I can't thank you all enough for your kind words. Do you prefer notes at the beginning of the chapter or after? I'm going to push for Beth's POV more in chapter 6 so that'll be fun. The group finally reaches the farm in the next chapter (5) and my crazy Beth ignites a fire. I might post it tonight after the episode if I get enough feedback. ;)