Warning on this chapter: FEELS!
Chapter 7
Beth
As I step out of the mall, crossbow in hand, I'm determined to find some food today. My kidnappers only gave me a glass of water and a piece of bread twice a day. I'm going to starve if I don't search for food and find some. That's really the last thing I want to do.
As I walk back into the woods I came from, I'm careful to move very quietly. I keep my crossbow loaded and slowly walk around, looking for any signs of life. I almost laugh when I remember how I wouldn't hurt a fly. That was before all of this happened.
I stop walking when I see a small rabbit out of the corner of my eye. I smile, then take aim with my crossbow. When I pull the trigger, the bolt goes right through the rabbit's side. I smile in satisfactory.
I rip the bolt out and reload it, then snatch the rabbit off of the ground. Then, I start to head back to my mall to cook it inside. I've made a fire in there in one of the stores that I use when it gets colder. The winter will probably be coming soon.
As I'm walking back to my mall, I hear grunts and snarls coming from right out of the woods. My first instinct is to run in that direction. As soon as I'm out of the woods, see a man with a crossbow like mine and a knife in his hand, swinging at walkers all around him.
I drop my stuff to help him, lifting my crossbow at one behind him that's coming towards him. The bolt flies through his decayed eye socket and I fight back the urge to smile. We're not done yet. I whip out my pocket knife and jump onto the back of one closest to me. I aggravatingly growl as I shove the knife through the walker's temple, then jump off of him, ripping out my knife, before he falls and takes me down with him.
I grip the handle of the knife and grab the next walker's collar to hold him in place as I rammed the knife up it's jaw and through head, grunting as I pulled it out. I watch the walker drop to the ground as another one grabs my shoulder. I quickly spin around and kick it's gut. It stumbles back and falls onto the ground and I kneel down next to it, thrusting the knife once more through his hair and into his skull.
After that last walker, it's quiet. I take time to catch my breath before I look walk over to grab my crossbow off of the ground, wiping the blade of my knife on my pants. Blood smears on the tan jeans. After my crossbow is off of the ground, I walk over to the walker with my bolt in it's head, and grunt as I pull it out, once again reloading my crossbow. I clear my throat. "Don't mention it." I say. I don't want their thanks for helping them.
"Beth?" I freeze. I would know that voice anywhere. I jerk my head up after the shock and come face to face with Daryl Dixon. "Holy crap," I say under my breath. "Daryl?" I ask. My face must have disbelief written all over it. Surprising me, Daryl basically runs up to me and throws my crossbow aside, wrapping his arms around me in a hug. I hug him back without hesitation. He pulls back after a while and puts his hands on my face. My cheeks feel hot and tingle.
He studies my face with his eyes, checking for injuries. I'm sure I have a few bruises on my face. His face contorts into an angry expression. "Who did this?" His voice sounds strained." I shake my head. "I really don't want to talk about that right now." I still remember the expression of Baldie when his face turned blue and his eyes looked dead. Because they were. "I was just heading back to my… place. Ya' wanna come?" I ask him. He moves his hands. "Yeah. I don't have anywhere to go."
I feel the urge to grab his hand while we walk the short distance, but I restrain myself. Our knuckles brush against each other occasionally. When we get to my mall, I look at the surroundings around us to make sure no one was following us. After I saw that everything was clear, I opened the doors to the mall. When we stepped inside, Daryl helped me block the doors again. "Thanks," I say after we're done.
We step out of the hallway and into the center of the mall as I walk to my store with all of my stuff. After checking my inventory, I looks back at Daryl and open my arms wide. "This is my place. I've only been here about a day. I was… somewhere else for about a week." I wince as I rest my back against the wall behind me. He gives me a concerned look. "What's wrong with 'yer back?" I shrug as if it was no big deal. "Nothing. Just tired," I lie. "Lemme see it, then." he says, once again surprising me.
My eyes widen. I slowly turn around and lift up my shirt off of my back so you can't see the scars. Before he can look too closely, I drop the shirt and turn back around. He gives me a scowl. "Beth, you barely lifted it."
I know his intentions were of concern, but my cheeks still heated up. I turned around again and lifted my shirt up to my shoulder blades. "What the he-" "I'm fine, Daryl." I interrupt him. I put my shirt down and turn back around to face Daryl. He touches my arm. "They branded you, Beth. They burned you. That's not okay." I held his gaze until I was certain I was going to break. I hadn't shed a tear since the incident. I allowed one tear to fall onto my cheek
Suddenly, I heard footsteps. I reached for my crossbow. Then, I heard a gunshot and I felt one of the worst pains in my shoulder as I heard a chuckle and fell to the ground.
A/N: Yay! Bethyl is together again! Woo hoo! Please favorite, follow, review this story because I love to hear your feedback! Thx so much for reading, and tomorrow, there will be a brand new Daryl chapter up! Thx! :)