Ch. 6
Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! This one is a little shorter, but it's setting up for the next section of the story. I hope you like it!
The next morning, Beth woke up to bright sunlight streaming through the windows.
She had made her pallet underneath the overhanging desk while Daryl had just slept on top of the hatch. Beth glanced to his space and saw everything had been moved away. She rolled from her blankets and walked to the windows.
A fog was over the yard, but she could see Daryl down below, steadily killing walkers that had accumulated on the fence overnight. Beth shook her head and grabbed her knife before going downstairs to join him.
"Ya should've woken me up," she told him when he looked over at her.
Daryl shrugged. "Had to piss then saw 'em all piled up like that, so I just went to work."
"Where'd ya pee?" She asked quietly and looked around.
He snorted and said, "I just whipped it out and pissed against the fence. You can go around behind the tower, though, so I cain't see ya."
"Just peein' outside now," she mumbled.
"And shittin' when tha time comes, I imagine. Ain't like ya haven't done it before."
"I know. I was by myself then, though." She said and went to take care of business.
When she was finished, Daryl had cleared the fence of the newest walkers and was looking toward the back of the yard, into the actual prison.
"Ya see 'em in that back corner?" He asked and moved her in front of him and pointed over her shoulder.
There was a large mass of walkers crashing up against the fence to the inner area of the prison. She took a step back without really meaning to, and Daryl wrapped the arm that had been pointing around her upper chest to rest a hand on her opposite shoulder.
"S'okay," he whispered. "I bet that fence has got a bit more life in it."
"What happens when it dies?" She asked and stood steady against him.
"I's wonderin' that myself."
Beth shook her head. "This fence can't handle that many on at once. Hell, it was squeakin' when we got here."
"Yeah," he said and leaned his head against hers.
She wondered if it was strange that they were taking comfort in each other's presence but threw that thought away. There wasn't a single thing wrong with it. They were both tired of being alone in the world, and the truth was, she liked Daryl.
Beth reached her hand up to lay over his on her shoulder. "Wouldn't it be cool if we just sorta left the gates open, and they walked right out?"
Daryl snorted out a laughed, and she could feel him smiled against her hair.
"That's what we're gonna do, sugar." He let go of her, and she leaned with him so she wouldn't lose his touch. "They break that fence, we're just gonna go in tha tower and let 'em walk free. Been pardoned by the great state of Georgia."
"That's really not nice," she said after an involuntary bark of laughter.
"Don't matter. They're dead."
"It matters," she whispered and looked up at him. "Even if they're dead, we still gotta make it matter. If we don't, I think we'll lose what we were."
"I wasn't all that great to begin with, baby doll," he muttered and turned for his bike.
"Since I've known ya, ya've been great."
"Ya've known me for four days."
Beth shook her head and went to stand beside him. "Today makes five." When she caught his eyes again, she said, "Maybe ya can be the nice guy I've known from now on. Ya know? Since ya ain't gotta pretend around anybody anymore."
"What tha hell are ya talkin' about?" He snapped up and started backing away.
She held up her hands. "I wasn't meanin' anythin' bad. I'm just sayin', it's only us. We can be who we really are."
Daryl pinned her with his stare. "And who are you to everyone else?"
"The farmer's daughter that's weak, suicidal, and needs to be treated like a china doll."
He looked her up and down then asked, "How do ya think I see ya?"
Her heart picked up a little, and she felt a rush of nervousness through her chest. "I hope ya see me as a partner, someone strong that you can trust, and that ain't weak."
Daryl held her stare for several seconds then asked, "Now, how do ya see me?"
The space between them felt like a thousand miles, but Beth just gave him a slow smile. "You're silly and crude." Daryl's brow pulled together, and she walked toward him a few steps. "I like it. It makes me happy. You're also strong and brave. I trust ya with my life." She thought about the day before and shrugged. "Most of tha time."
He shook his head as if he knew what she was thinking of. "I ain't never been taught no different." He pushed his hands deep into his pockets. "My old man wasn't a great teacher. It was all trial by fire, ya know?"
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Daryl just looked away.
"How do you see me?" She asked.
Immediately, Daryl looked up at her. "I think you're pretty." He smirked a little. "I think you're braver than me, and I really hope ya sleep next to me on the floor tonight 'cause I missed ya last night."
She knew her face was completely flushed by the time he finished, and she said, "Add shameless flirt to your list, too."
Through his laughter, he started moving the bike to the side of the tower with the door.
"What're ya doin'?"
"Puttin' this inside. Don't want those nasty bastards trippin' over my baby."
Beth shook her head and helped him hold open the door. "At least it opens out. They can bang on it all they want and can't get in."
"That's a plus," he said and looked over at her as he eased the bike back on its kickstand. "Think I should go set some snares maybe."
"I don't know," she said and looked over her shoulder at the prison. "What if the fence breaks before ya get back?"
Daryl walked out the door and turned toward the prison. "I won't go far. Just the treeline. If it busts, holler and I'll come runnin'."
Beth nodded and Daryl picked up his bow that had been laying against the tower. "One day soon, I'll teach ya how to do this."
"I'll keep an eye out from tha tower, okay?"
He nodded and opened the gate up before pulling it closed. Beth went inside and up to the tower, watching as he walked across the open grass. She admired the view, but when he stopped suddenly, she went on alert, looking for signs that something was wrong.
Daryl turned and strode across the distance he had made and motioned for Beth. She walked out on the ledge and he yelled, "I'ma need that rope."
Beth laughed and went to dig in their bags then downstairs. Neither one of them said a single word as she passed it through the fence to him. Before he could pull away, she grabbed the tips of his fingers. "Be careful, all right?"
He chewed on his lip and nodded.
This time when he left, she got to watch him walk all the way to the trees and disappear among them.
That night they laid in the tower, side-by-side over the hatch.
It was pitch black and smelled like rain. She wasn't really sure if that would be a good thing or not. The last few days had been nice weather considering how cold it had been a couple of weeks ago.
That's how winter came to the south, though. In little increments, usually heralded by a thunderstorm that brought down a cold front. The cycle would repeat until one day, the cold just stuck around for two or three months.
"One of these days, we're gonna need to build a fire," she said as the first bolt of lightening flashed.
"Yeah, need to build us a little fire pit and crack open a window."
"Will that really work?" Beth asked and rolled to her side to face him. She couldn't really make him out there and he was right beside her.
"Sure it will," he answered, and she felt him roll onto his side, too.
"I really like the tower," she admitted quietly. "I didn't think I would, but I like bein' so high up. It's safe."
"Umhm. Sorta feels like livin' in a deer stand."
"No, it's like a tree house."
"Tree house. Deer stand. It's about the same thang."
Beth curled in closer to him, and she felt him stiffen a little before he wrapped an arm around her.
"Now's about the time ya should be thankin' me for stuffin' my pillows in the bag," she whispered against his chest.
"That sure is the best part of this situation right now." He smarted off and pulled her a little closer.
They laid in the silence for a long time, so long that Beth thought he might be asleep, and she was close to going that way herself when a loud crack of thunder caused her to jump.
"Good lord," she muttered as her heart started to settle down again.
Daryl grunted as Beth rolled over putting her back to his chest. "Damn, stay put."
"Just gettin' comfortable."
"Is sleepin' with someone always like this?" He asked and brought his arm tighter around her to make her stop wiggling.
"I don't know," she said with a laugh. "You're the only guy I've slept with. You tell me."
"I ain't never spent the night with a woman before you," he muttered. "Go to bed."
"This makes me irrationally happy," she whispered before she could control herself, but Daryl just shook his head against her shoulder.
The bottom dropped out then, and Beth listened for a bit before she turned her head a little and said, "I never got to ask ya earlier. How do ya see yourself?"
"I's nothin' before all this. Don't think I'm much better now." She opened her mouth to argue, but he beat her to it. "Don't tell me I ain't. Just let it lie."
Against everything inside herself, she kept her mouth shut and watched the storm outside the windows. She wasn't sure which one of them fell asleep first, the only thing she knew was that it was a very long time before either one of them gave in.