Chapter 7

I groaned in frustration as Daryl slowed the bike down once again as we came to a cluster of cars abandoned in the middle of the road. "Is it like this every time you go on a run?" I asked as I climbed off the bike.

He chuckled as he fisted my tiny arms in his hand. "Yeah, are your tiny little arms getting sore from all the pushing?" He asked me with a smirk on his face as Glenn rolled to a stop behind us.

"No. I just never dreamed it would take us two days just to get to these 'magical' cabins Jill goes on and on about every time we stop." I told him with a frown.

"We've never been down these roads before and it's taking so long because the route we mapped out avoids most of the towns, even the tiny ones, along the way." He explained as he squeezed my arm gently one more time. "Why don't you keep watch this time, huh?"

Pulling my Barnett from my back I nodded. "Okay."

Thankfully this time, one of the two cars that we needed to move actually had the keys in the ignition and cranked so the guys only had to physically move one of them before Jill began the process of quickly tossing the cars to look for food, weapons, and medicine. Clothes were scavenged too but the other stuff was more important. Spotting two walkers rambling out of the woods I quickly lined my arrow up with ones eye socket and pulled the trigger, dropping it in its spot while the other kept coming for me slowly but surely.

Sticking my foot in the hold I struggled to pull the bow back because my arms were tired from pushing vehicles all day. Biting my lip, I laid my crossbow down an plucked the knife from my thigh leather sheath and with a kick to the walker's knee I knocked it down to the ground before quickly plunging my knife into his skull. Blowing my hair out of my face I pulled the knife from the walker's head spraying blood all over my boots before reaching for my crossbow and reloading it now that I didn't have walkers coming at me. When I stood back up, the four other people in our scouting party were all smiling and clapping softly at me. Rolling my eyes at them I once again resumed my scan of the area around us. We really were in the middle of nowhere but I could already feel the temperature dropping slightly so I figured we were getting higher in elevation. "Where are we?" I asked Glenn as I handed out the bottles of water from the crate in the back of the truck once they were finished scavenging through the last car.

"We just skirted around Cleveland so if there are no more road blocks we should get to the spot where these cabins are tonight." He told me as he pointed out the spot on the map where the route was drawn out with several X's marked along the route line.

Pointing to the markings I asked the question because my momma always told me that you don't learn the right things if you don't ask the right questions. "What are the X's for?" I asked him once he had swallowed the last drop of his water bottle.

"Spots that could be good for supplies. We are going to try to stop at all of them on the way home because it will be a straight shot back since all the hard work is in the getting there." He told me as he pointed to one of the X's on the map. "They've all got numbers and in the travel notebook we jot down the name of the town it's near and the name of the place if there happens to be any signage."

"That's pretty smart." I told him as I looked around at the group to see if they were ready to get back on the road, I was anxious just standing out in the middle of the open road. "Are we about ready to go?"

"Maggie is the one that came up with the idea, by the way." He told me as he whistled low to get the attention of the others where had been milling around checking the area out while stretching their legs from the long drive. I knew the clock on the dash of the truck wasn't right but almost five hours had passed since we had left this morning and I was ready to just get somewhere for the night. My back and legs let me know that I had been on the motorcycle with Daryl too long for my first time ever being on it. "We ready? Little Miss Archer here is ready to get back on the road." He said nudging me with his elbow causing everybody to chuckle when I stumbled to the side and had to grab the truck to keep myself off my ass.

At Daryl's nod I shoved Glenn in his shoulder and made my way over to him. He surprised me when he cupped my face and pulled me to him for a bruising kiss. Groaning against his lips I clutched the lapels of his vest in my hands as I raised up on my tiptoes to return his surprise kiss. When we broke apart to hoots and hollers of our fellow scout party we couldn't help but smile at each other. "I thought we weren't doing any of that in front of the others? What about being a distraction?" I breathed out as I lowered myself back down to my feet.

He smirked at me before bending down to give me one last peck on the lips. "Couldn't resist after your shit earlier. Who knew that watching your woman conquer two walkers would be so damn sexy?" He said quietly before undoing the jacket around my hips and pulling it up onto my shoulders because it was getting later in the day and we were gaining elevation. "Wrap up."

"Yes sir." I told him as I slid my arms into the sleeves, quickly zipping it up. "Maybe that's why Glenn and Maggie have so much sex everywhere." I mused as we climbed back onto the motorcycle to continue on our journey.

Unfortunately we ran into a helluva mess near a place that held a sign that said 'Mountain View Campground. There was an extended cab truck and a camper that had crashed into a big truck and it was all blocking the road up the mountain. Not to mention the multiple walkers roaming around the area. "Shit." I heard Daryl mutter as he hit the brakes on the bike. "Hold on tight and lean with me." He told me and I closed my eyes and did as he asked as he quickly turned the motorcycle around and sped off to catch Glenn before he got too close to get the truck out of the small hoard of walkers safely.

When Glenn saw Daryl and I racing back towards them he quickly slammed on his breaks and began backing down the road until he spotted an overgrown driveway he could back into to turn around. We headed several miles back down the way we had came before pulling to a stop. "Is there another way around all of that?" Daryl asked Jill and Michonne who knew the area and was manning the map.

Jill was the one to answer with a quick shake of her head. "This is the only road up there unless we backtrack damn near all the way back to Cleveland and come in from the other direction but it's likely we'll find similar things that way."

"Great." Glenn and Daryl both said. "Let's go a few more miles down the road and find a house to hole up in tonight. It needs to be sturdy built just in case that small hoard follows us but the yard and driveway needs to look way overgrown. Okay?" Daryl asked all of us.

I nodded as I squeezed his waist while the three in the truck all nodded. We finally found a house that sat a little bit up the side of the mountain which would make it harder for the walkers to get to us. "Stay behind me." Daryl told me as we approached the house with our crossbows loaded and aimed in front of us. Glenn and Jill both had their knives pulled and ready for use while Michonne pulled her katana from it's sheath on her back.

"We'll clear the yard and check for weal points." Michonne said with a nod to the others and started around the side of the house.

Taking a deep breath I stepped up onto the porch that had seen better days. "Are the houses normally full of walkers?" I asked Daryl softly as we approached the door with alert eyes and ears.

He shook his head as he tested the doorknob and found it unlocked. "It's unlocked so at least we'll have a secure door between us and them." He mumbled softly as he lifted his hand to rap his knuckles against and lifted his ear towards the house. "The noise gets the walkers stirred up inside if there's any in there." He told me in explanation.

"Okay."

"Do NOT leave my side once we go inside." He told me as we finally heard a low growl on the other side of the door. I went to look in the window to see how many there were but he halted me with a hand to my elbow. "They'll see you and bust out the window." He explained with a shake of his head.

"Okay." I said as I nodded and took my place behind him once again. "I'm ready when you are." I told him softly.

I watched his shoulders heave with a deep breath before he turned to look at me. "I'm going to open the door and step to the side. I want you to shoot the first one that comes out and I'll get the next one."

Firming my feet on the porch beneath my feet I nodded for him to go ahead as I got my eye lined up with the sights of my bow. "Go." I told him.

When he yanked open the door the walker stumbled out towards me and I didn't hesitate a single second to put my arrow through the elderly looking walker. Quickly slinging my crossbow onto my back I pulled my knife from it's sheath on my leg as Daryl shot the second walker that followed quickly after the first one. "Leave 'em for now." He told me as he nodded towards the open doorway.

Once we made sure the open living spaces were free of walkers we stood at the entrance to the hallway that was lined with closed doors. "Reload." He told me motioning to my crossbow I had slung onto my back thanks to the strap he had made me this morning.

Quickly reloading my second arrow I nodded at him to start down the hallway. Instead of knocking on the doors he just slung them open as I stood in the doorway. We cleared each room together and finally breathed a sigh of relief as we walked back through the now empty house. "You've done fantastic today, Beth. Your Dad and sister will be so proud when Glenn goes back bragging about you." Daryl told me as we found the back door to the yard and opened it to reveal a blood soaked Glenn and a laughing Michonne. "What's so funny?" Daryl asked her as she sheathed her katana once again.

"She spilled a dead walker over me." Glenn grumped as he headed towards the truck. "There is a surprise in the barn for you though." He called over his shoulder as he pulled his bloody shirt over his head.