Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead
Chapter 3: New Member
Days went by uneventful, and Carol had gained some weight back and she started moving around more often. Now the group seems whole again, nobody is missing or hurt. Beth notices that sometimes someone would tell a story about before the apocalypse, the most recent one was told by Hershel and his days as a veterinarian.
"I had a client coming in with her pet parrot at about 10:30, and it was around 10 so I figured I had time to go to the closest store and pick up a hot coffee. I was able to get there and back in about 15 minutes, and when I came back the client was waiting in one of those plastic chairs having an interesting conversation with her parrot. I called her into my office and closed the door behind her; I allowed the parrot to fly freely for a minute while I talked to the woman. Not even a minute later I felt something dripping down the side of my face, I looked up and noticed my client looked horrified. She had started apologizing like crazy, how she felt bad that her bird pooped on my head. I just started laughing saying it wasn't the first and won't be the last. That comment made her feel better and chuckle a little but she apologized again anyway. I continued the check up and once they left I was able to scrub my head better. Being a veterinarian you tend to get bit, scratched, pooped on, peed on, and everything in between, but it's worth it."
Beth is laughing silently to herself, it wasn't the first time she heard that story. She was looking at the different people currently sitting around the table, most of them are laughing too. Daryl too has a smile on his face; he then looks over at Carol to see her smiling. This gesture gets Beth thinking, what if she needs to move on from Daryl? Yeah so he was a bit older, but it's not an unusual difference. Plenty of Hollywood stars and parents of friends of hers were 20-25 years apart.
Later that day Beth rocks Judith to sleep because Rick has disappeared again somewhere in the prison. She looks around for someone who made need help with something; everyone looks as though they are also trying to find something to occupy their time. Beth happens to look up when she notices people talking in the next cell over. It was Rick, Daryl and some women Beth doesn't recognize. She looks beat up and a bit frightened. Beth wonders what happened.
"You have to stay in this cell." Beth hears Rick say to the mysterious woman. Beth strains to listen as the woman pleads with Rick. He won't give in and he walks away from her. Beth knows that Rick won't take any chances with random people, especially since he now has a baby girl to look out for.
After everyone disperses into their own cell, Beth walks over to where Daryl stands by the next cell watching over the new member. He looks up and gives Beth a small smile; he hasn't talked to her all that much since Carol was found.
"Hey" Daryl says quietly as Beth walks up to him.
"Uh, hey. So who is this woman?"
"Blunt much?" Beth just cracks a smile as Daryl starts to explain the situation.
"She was bein' attacked by walkers outside the gates. If it wasn' for us she woulda been as good as dead. " He turns around and notices the woman staring back in which she responds.
"You know I am sitting right here and can hear you." The woman glares at the two. Daryl just gives the same look right back.
Beth hears yelling and it sounds like it is coming from outside. Everyone else seems to hear it too, so they all go outside to see Rick and Glenn attempting to hold up a falling fence. Walkers are pushing forward, tripping and stumbling over themselves and each other. The battle between the living and dead is not looking too good. Daryl, Maggie, and Beth run to help push the fence back into place; Rick and Glenn then go and grab large stakes and they drag them to the fence. The two men stick three of them in the ground and the five of them push up in order to stabilize the fence. Sweat currently dripping down Rick and Glenn's face.
Once the fence is stabilized the group just looks at each other and the silent message of we are not even safe here is passed around. Everyone had believed that the prison was finally a safe haven; the same thing had been a thought at the farm. The group knew now that even though they felt safe it doesn't mean they are. The group trickles back into the prison, and once inside everyone separates and they walk to their own cell. Beth looks up at the sun shining through the window and takes in the warmth.
Daryl comes up behind Beth and stands beside her. They stand there for a few minutes just looking through the window. If anyone saw them on a non-apocalypse day then the two would be receiving weird looks from others. To them it was a moment of peace and silence as if the world didn't go to hell, but of course someone had to go and ruin the moment.
"Daryl you're needed in an emergency meeting we are having," Rick looks tired and worn out but he doesn't let his voice show it. Daryl just grunts and follows Rick into the so called 'meeting room'. Beth watches as the two men walk away, not a moment later did she hear a bang coming from the room where the woman is being held. Beth slowly walks over praying she doesn't get hit with some flying object.
"What do you want?" The woman looks up at Beth.
"I heard a loud crash and wanted to make sure you were alright," So that is a lie on Beth's part but the woman doesn't need to know that.
"Yeah I'm fine," She responds quickly "Except for the part where I'm being held in here against my will."
"It's just because we have let others in and they quickly turn around and try to kill us and now a days you can't be too careful," Beth watches the woman's shoulders sink down and she turns around.
"Michonne,"
"What?"
"My name is Michonne,"
"Uh... My name is Beth," Beth is confused on why Michonne would just out of the blue say her name.
"You're probably wondering why I would give my name; so far you're the only person that has voluntarily come to talk to me. "
"It's nice to talk to you," Beth responds sincerely. She hears people talking and its getting closer so she backs away from Michonne and goes toward the group that she sees as family. Beth knows that if she asks what they talk about then she will get the response of "don't worry about it." She wants to be involved in the talks they have frequently. She is 18 and does not want to be treated like a child, even Carl gets more information.
They gather around the stairs and enjoy a semi cooked meal, and there is small talk about things such as favorite foods or least favorite animal. Tonight its Beth's turn to wash the few dishes they have. She gathers them up and walks outside to the back of the building. She grabs the soap and a bucket of water, and starts washing the plates. Someone walks up to her and puts their hand on her back, which scares her and makes her jump.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Beth yells as she stands up.
"You jus' need to listen better," Daryl replies, Beth starts laughing. Daryl gets down on the ground and starts cleaning the dirty plates.
"You don't have to help, I can handle it." Daryl just does his usual grunt.
"Whatever," Beth smiles to herself as she picks up the dishes and retreats back inside. She can hear Daryl walking behind her, and then he turns left towards Carol. Beth puts the plates away, checks on Judith, and heads to bed early.
Authors Note: Sorry for the month wait! My lame excuse is I got hooked on Supernatural 9 years after it started... Also I had a crap load of projects for school. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and hopefully the next chapter will be ready sooner.