Chapter Seven – Beth

Beth felt faint. She swayed in her chair, slamming her arms down on the table in front of her to steady herself. Annie and Noah both recognised the name Rick Grimes from her tale and their eyes flew to her, wide and disbelieving. Morgan jumped slightly as Beth hit the table and stopped talking, eyeing the blonde suspiciously.

"Do you know him?" Morgan asked slowly. Beth could only nod. She thought if she opened her mouth to try reply she'd throw up everywhere. She wasn't entirely sure why.

"Yes." She whispered finally.

"What's his Son's name?" Morgan asked, eyes narrowed and his hand's tightening on his staff. He didn't believe the girl, he didn't know why she would lie about it either but really what were the chances of being rescued by someone who knew the very people he was trying to find?

"Carl." Beth sobbed, eyes still wide and trained on Morgan.

"Holy shit." The older man said lowly, drawing a half crazed laugh from the younger blonde.

"Yeah." Her face split into a grin. "This is insane!"

Morgan then began to fire question after question at her and her smile quickly died. What had happened at the prison? Did Rick get out? Did she know where he could find him? It was a long while later by the time Beth had recounted the whole tale to Morgan, Annie and Noah interrupting once she'd began speaking about Grady and their escape.

"I know that Rick saw you again when we were still at the prison but, well he mentioned that you… Weren't feeling quite yourself?" Beth finished her sentence as an awkward sort of question, trying her best to tactfully ask if the man sat in front of her was still crazy.

"I'm feeling much better now." Morgan said with a chuckle and Beth smiled cautiously. She liked to give people the benefit of the doubt but Michonne had said the man was completely insane and Beth didn't want to let her guard down.

"That's good to hear." Beth said. Her eyes flicked to Noah's and she tried to silently ask him a question but couldn't quite manage it. Morgan seemed to realise this and cleared his throat.

"I think I'll just go use the bathroom." Beth blushed again as she realised the other man had picked up on the fact she wanted to discuss him with the others.

"What do you think?" She asked quietly once the bathroom door had closed.

"You've not mentioned Rick at all while he's been here so we know he's telling the truth." Annie contributed and the others nodded. There was no question the man was genuine.

"What were you saying about him not being himself?" Noah asked.

"Well Rick and Michonne came across him in a town close to the prison, it was where Rick had first met him. I don't really know much, but I know he was completely off his rocker back then. I think he seems ok now. I mean, a little strange sure but I don't think he's going to loose it." Beth said in what she hoped was a reassuring voice.

"If he's looking for Rick as well then it seems stupid to look separately." Annie said. Beth nodded and ran a hand through her hair.

"I don't even know if he got out." She said quietly. "The only person I know for sure is alive is Daryl and Morgan's never met him."

"Why don't we talk to Morgan a bit more and see what he says?" Annie suggested and Beth decided that sounded reasonable.

Morgan emerged from the bathroom a few moments after they stopped talking, conveniently. Once he was settled at the table once more it was Beth's turn to ask some quick fire questions. Have you been to the prison? What did it look like? What were you doing in Hartside?

Over the course of the next hour Morgan recounted the rest of his tale. He had found the prison in ruins, quickly worked out what had happened and tried to track possible survivors. It broke Beth's heart a little to hear he'd found no sign of survivors.

"I stumbled across some railway tracks and just followed them, I found signs for a place called Terminus. It advertised 'Sanctuary for all' and I thought maybe survivors from the prison would have been desperate enough to go there. Close to Terminus itself I saw one of the signs had been crossed out and there was a warning. I went to Terminus anyway, just to see what was left. There had definitely been a fight there, my guess some of the poor bastards who were held there had escaped, with a little help from someone on the outside. Looks like it was a bad place."

"What do you mean?" Beth asked curiously.

"They were… Well it just wasn't a good place." Morgan tried to skirt around the truth and Beth let him.

"Did you find anything?" Beth asked.

"A whole lot of walkers." Morgan answered simply. "I backtracked to the sign I found, looked like a fair sized group, not walkers, had passed that way and I followed their trail. Found some dead walkers so I know they were human but I don't know if it was anyone from your group."

"How were they killed?" Beth asked, heart hammering.

"What?"

"The walkers," Beth clarified impatiently. "How were they killed?"

"One was killed with an arrow to the head, the others I don't know." Morgan answered. Beth could have cried with relief.

"Can you remember the colour of the feathers?" She asked, needing to be sure before she got her hopes up.

"I'm not sure." Morgan said dismissively.

"Think harder." Beth suggested in a low voice that made Morgan shift in his chair.

"Green maybe?" He answered with a question.

That was enough for Beth, ever the optimist she took that to be proof that Daryl had been at Terminus and more importantly, he had gotten out. A tiny voice said that maybe she was getting ahead of herself but her faith was uncontrollable.

"I think that's." She paused. "My family, it sounds like it could be my family." She stumbled over her words, unsure why she didn't just say it sounded like one of Daryl's crossbow bolts.

"We don't know for sure." Annie said gently. She hated the look of hope on Beth's face, or rather; she knew she'd hate it if that hope was quashed.

"Then what happened?" Beth pressed, disregarding what Annie said.

"I lost the trail, got turned around in the woods and ended up on some other train tracks. I found a message written in blood but it was just directing someone to Terminus so I left the tracks again and tried to make my way back onto their trail. That didn't work out so well and I had to give up to go find some food, found myself in Hartside and then found you." Beth had stopped listening when she heard about the message.

"What did the message say? The one written in blood?" Beth asked, heart once again beating along like a freight train.

"Glenn, go to Terminus, Maggie. At least I think that's what it." Morgan was cut off by a barking laugh from Beth.

"Holy shit! She made it!" Beth laughed, happy tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. "She made it out." Just as quickly as her laughter had started, it stopped.

Noah and Annie shared a look and as Beth's smile fell from her face Noah took her hand, Annie looked somewhere between devastated and furious.

"Did it say anything about a Beth?" She asked in a small voice.

"No, I don't think so… Do you know Maggie?" Morgan asked after no one else spoke.

"She's my sister." Beth replied. The pity that crossed Morgan's face angered her almost as much as Maggie's exclusion from the message. "Whatever. Guess she figured I was dead." Beth pushed herself away from the table with more force than necessary and her chair toppled to the floor.

"Beth come on, just calm down." Noah tried to reach out for her but she shook him off, too angry and embarrassed to be reasoned with.

"No it's fine. I mean who would think that I could have ever made it out? Weak, stupid, useless little Beth. I'm not even worth hoping for, clearly." She spat her last word before storming to the door and grabbing her bow that rested beside it. "I'm going out."

"Beth it's late." Annie tried desperately.

"I'll be fine. If I don't come back don't bother looking, I'm clearly not worth the effort." With that she took off into the night, at least having the presence of mind to check the area for walkers that might have been drawn towards her dramatics.

Beth knew she was being stupid, to run off into the night with no direction and very little protection was a stupid thing to do even before the world went to shit. Now? Well now she was being beyond stupid but Beth just didn't have it in her to care.

How could Maggie do that? Had she thought about her sister even once? Did she really think so little of her? Had she really been written off as just another dead girl so easily?

It burned. God it burned so deep to know that Maggie wasn't even looking for her. Or maybe she was now; if Daryl had met up with the family again then maybe they were all looking for her. Or maybe they'd all given up, maybe Daryl assumed she was dead too and now her family were out there somewhere not even looking for her. She tried to shake that thought away; she should give at least Daryl more credit.

She was also embarrassed, all that time she'd hoped that Maggie had made it out. She'd bullied Daryl into searching for tracks, going on at him about her sister out there somewhere looking for her. She'd been wrong. Maggie hadn't been looking for her, just Glenn. Suppose if you have a husband you don't have need for a sister. Had she even been given a passing thought?

Somewhere close to the overturned car on the dirt track Beth stopped, finding the urge to run had dissipated somewhat. She didn't really want to go back just yet but she'd finally realised that taking off like she had wasn't going to help.

Her eyes darted around her and Beth was pleased to see there were no walkers in view. She picked out a decent sized boulder and perched on top of it, burying her head in her hands. Her body wanted to cry; she wanted to weep for the betrayal because that's exactly how she felt. Betrayed and hurt and sure she felt angry but that was drowned in the heart breaking truth that the only person left on Earth who shared her blood had forgotten her. But Beth Greene didn't cry. She refused to shed tears over this, she was strong god dammit and one day her family would see that, when she found them she'd show- Her inner ramblings were cut short when she heard a faint sound down the track a ways. Her heart stopped as she registered that it was the one noise that scared her more than any walker's growl ever could. Voices.

She slid from the boulder as silently as she could and crawled into the ditch by the side of the track. She pressed herself into the wall of the ditch, trying to cover herself in the shadows. These people could be good people. I'm sure as fuck not risking it. Beth thought to herself bitterly.

The voices grew closer, closer to Beth and closer to the little house her and the others were calling home and Beth felt the urge to panic. She tried desperately to keep calm and not breathe too loud.

"Nothing." She heard a man's voice say, the breeze carrying away the rest of his sentence.

"Again… Tomorrow." Beth heard another snippet from a different man.

"We best… Something. Not enough food to make it another two days." A third voice said. They were now very close and she could hear everything they said.

"We'd best get back. We'll head back out first thing tomorrow and finish off this track." The first voice said.

"What if we don't find anything tomorrow?" The second voice asked nervously.

Silence.

"Then we're desperate." The first voice said grimly.

"Ah Fuck." The third voice swore, as if they'd been desperate before and he hadn't much liked what that had meant.

Beth felt a horrid, sickly shiver travel down her spine. Something about the way they were talking was making her stomach turn and she made the decision there and then that when the three men made it to the house at the end of the track tomorrow, they would find it empty.

Beth stayed crouched in the shadows for a further ten minutes after she's heard the voices disappear into the darkness. She stood up cautiously, stretching out the muscles in her legs and back before beginning a very nerve-wracking trip home.

Upon seeing the house Beth was pleased to see that the place still looked deserted. She did a thorough scout round before dashing to the door, remembering to tap three times to let them know it was her.

"Beth." Annie said nervously as she stood from her place at the table.

"We have a problem." Beth greeted them. "There are people close by and they're desperate."

"How close?" Morgan asked.

"Don't know where their camp is but it sounded like they hadn't been down this track before so they can't be too close. I overheard them say they'd finish the track tomorrow and then walked off to the east. There were three of them but I'm pretty sure there's more at their camp. We'll be leaving before dawn tomorrow, I want to put some miles between us and them." Beth declared decisively.

"Everything ok?" Noah asked, picking up on Beth's tone.

"Yeah, something just sounded off about them. I can't explain it but my gut says to leave and avoid a confrontation." Beth answered, already making her way to the kitchen to start packing up their meagre provisions.

"Maybe it wouldn't come to a confrontation." Morgan suggested calmly. Beth levelled a stone cold look at him.

"Well we'll not be sticking around to find out."

"They could have some information."

"Not happening. That message you saw and that arrow you found, I'm pretty sure at least some of my family has re-united. Now I'm going to go find them, you're welcome to come with us but I am telling you, we will not be waiting around for those strangers to come find us." Beth said simply.

"What do the others think?" Morgan asked, appealing to Annie and Noah. He was asking the wrong people.

"I'd rather not take the risk." Annie answered honestly. Noah's eyes narrowed on the older man.

"I trust Beth. If she says we leave, then we leave." He said firmly. Morgan was quiet a few moments before sighing.

"I guess that means we're leaving."

The next morning, true to her word, Beth woke the others an hour before sunrise and the sleepy quartet set out as the suns first rays broke the horizon.

"I have an idea." Beth said after ten minutes of silent driving.

"The funeral home?" Noah asked and Beth nodded.

"It was my plan before we met you Morgan, I hoped that Daryl would still be there or maybe he'd left a note for me or something. Now I'm fairly sure that he's with the others, whoever is left, and hopefully he'll have taken them back there to try find me." Beth explained. "I think it's our best bet, the tracks you found are probably gone now so we don't have anything else to follow."

"Ok. I think that sounds like a good bet. Do you know where it is?" He asked.

"Not exactly, but I think I could find it." Beth tried to sound confident but she'd had a look at a few different maps and she'd found a dozen possible locations.

"That seems like the best option." Annie inputted with a smile for Beth, she knew how anxious her younger friend was to find her family.

"We should try scavenging some supplies as we go." Morgan stated and Beth nodded.

"I know. I think that the funeral home must be on the other side of Atlanta and we don't want to go through the city, I found a spot in the forest where we can camp tonight, I should have better luck hunting there."

Ten minutes later and they were gone, leaving only a few tire tracks and truly dead walkers as a sign they had ever been there. Beth was pleased to be leaving, Morgan was reserving judgement for later on but Noah and Annie, they stared at the small shack as it shrank in the rear-view mirror. It was the closest they'd come to being home in a long time and it hurt to be leaving.

They made good progress through the day, they didn't manage to find much in the way of food but they didn't come across any large groups of walkers either so Beth decided the day had been a success. Not five minutes after she'd finished her thought she realised her mistake, she'd jinxed it. Sure the sun was just about to disappear below the horizon but the day was far from over and plenty could go wrong in that time. There was no warning light that flickered on, no little alarm to tell them disaster was imminent. The car just started to shudder, then smoke billowed from underneath the hood and Beth barley had time to yell at the others to get out before something under the hood exploded.

The four of them stood on the side of the road and watched the car burn, taking the time to grab their supplies from the trunk.

"So what do we do now?" Morgan asked making Beth fume silently. She felt like he was testing her. She was about to make a sarcastic comment but then she heard moans in the distance.

"Into the trees, now." She barked, her tone clearly taking Morgan by surprise. They quickly pulled on backpacks, Beth knocked an arrow and the others pulled out blades and a wooden staff.

"What do we do?" Annie asked nervously.

"We run. We fight if we have to. It's going to be ok." Beth tried to be reassuring. "We have to put some distance between us and the car, it's attracting the walkers. Shit." She swore under her breath.

"What?" Asked Noah, not seeing how their situation could possibly get worse.

"The walkers will walk into the fire then the fire will spread and then we're going to be in the middle of a forest fire. We won't be getting any sleep tonight guys." Beth apologised then set off at a run. God she was sick of running.

True to her word they didn't get any sleep that night, Beth pushed, bullied, encouraged and coaxed the weary group through the dark, not stopping until the first rays of sunlight broke over the tree tops.

Well at least we're on our way. Beth thought to herself as the four travelling companions collapsed on the forest floor, all of them out or breath, eyes barely open. Still, Beth thought it was quite nice to be back in the woods, patches of warm sunlight flitting across her face.

x-x-x-x

Run.

Just run.

Keep running.

Beth repeated the mantra in her head for mile after mile, hour after hour, day after day until she couldn't even remember life before the chase. A strangled sob from a few feet behind her triggered another set of words that had haunted her for the past two weeks.

Failure.

Fucking failure.

Worthless. Useless. Fucking failure.

Beth stopped to allow the others to catch their breaths, her bow in her hand, arrow knocked like there had been ever since this twisted hunt had begun, she stared intently through the trees.

"We're ok." She declared shortly. Seeing Annie quickly look at the ground at her brusqueness Beth's stomach dropped and she tried to force a smile onto her face. "We've lost them for now, we'll stop for ten minutes then head off and try to find somewhere for the night."

"Sounds like a plan." Noah agreed, his voice flat, not even bothering to look up from his own spot of forest floor he'd been staring at.

They were all exhausted, running on no food, little water and a few moments sleep. Beth's shoulders were heavy with the knowledge that if she allowed it, she was fairly certain the others would quite happily lay down and wait there in the dirt for something wicked to stumble upon them. The only reason Beth could keep pushing forward and protect them was the burning shame in her heart. Somewhere along the way she had concluded that this was all her fault, probably sometime after they'd witnessed the flaying.

No. She couldn't let herself think about that day. That wasn't going to happen to them, they were going to get out.

Two hours later and they were wedged tightly in a narrow creek, barely enough room for them to sit, never mind lay down to sleep. Still, sandwiched between the creek wall and a cluster of huge boulders they felt safer than they had since they had happened upon the Savages. Noah had come up with the name.

"Jesus Christ." Noah gasped as the tallest man ripped the head off a struggling rabbit, laughing as he sprayed his enthralled audience with the animal's life-blood. The small crowd went wild, howling and screaming with no apparent worry for walkers.

The tall man threw the carcass into the mass of people and they desperately fought for the flesh, resembling so strongly a pack of hungry walkers more than one of the onlookers stomachs turned.

"What the hell is this?" Annie moaned under her breath.

Beth stayed silent. She was in the process of realising they were up shit creek with no paddle, boat or life vest. Her mind raced with plans, all the while trying to push down the desire to panic and flee blindly away from the strange, dangerous people.

"It's like they've gone feral, reverted back to fucking cave people. They've gone savage." Noah answered.

Noah had Annie wrapped up in his arms as they slept, both of them looking horribly pale, shivering up against the damp rocks. Beth was at the mouth of the small ravine, an arrow knocked and her eyes sharp, she could hear Morgan taking deep, controlled breaths behind her and spoke quietly without turning around.

"How's the knee?" She asked.

"Not good. If it comes to it, you're just going to have to leave me, I'll only slow you down." He replied.

"Morgan?" Beth said softly.

"Hmm?"

"Shut the fuck up." She advised with a sigh. He let out a breathy chuckle and shook his head, settling down to sleep a few minutes later.

The night was a quiet one, if bitterly cold and damp. Still, it had given Beth time to think, for the first time in two weeks she'd been able to stop long enough to actually think instead of just reacting to the most recent crisis. Beth had made a decision and she'd had some thoughts. It didn't occur to her to ask the others for their opinion, somewhere along the way she'd transitioned from a leader into a dictator. She couldn't pinpoint the exact moment it had happened but Morgan had stopped undermining her and even Noah had stopped offering his advice. Annie had stopped talking almost entirely, sharing just a few whispered words with Noah. Beth was worried about her.

When the others woke early the next morning Beth was ready to share her plan. She told her three companions she had something to say and took a deep breath before addressing them.

"We're not running anymore." She started simply. Silence greeted her words.

"You might want to elaborate on that." Morgan suggested after a few minutes.

"We're going to fight back, go on the offensive." Morgan started to shake his head but Beth went on quickly before he could protest. "We've been running through these woods for weeks, every time we get close to the edge they manage to heard us back to the middle. We've tried the whole defensive thing but it's not working. It's time to fight back."

"But they're human." Morgan whispered. "We can't kill them."

"Are they?" Beth asked. "Are they really still human? And even if we say they are human, so freaking what? Humans are capable of terrible, terrible things. In fact the humans that go bad are worse than fucking walkers because they chose to be that way. I've killed people before Morgan and I don't regret it. It was them or me and I'll choose me every time. And guess what, if it came down to it I'd choose you too."

"I don't know what to tell you Beth, I won't kill humans." Morgan replied.

"Fine." Beth replied just as calmly. "Then I will kill each and every one of them myself."

"No you won't." Noah interrupted. "I'll fight with you."

"Me too." Annie confirmed from Noah's side. "I just want to get out of this forest."

"We will." Beth assured her. "I have a plan."

x-x-x-x-x

"This is crazy." Noah said for what felt like the fiftieth time.

"Again. Noted." Beth deadpanned.

"Look let's just get this over with." Annie hissed. Beth flinched at the tone but had to admit she preferred snappy Annie to silent Annie any day.

The three of them were crouched in some bushes painfully close to one of the Savages camps, there were a few little clusters of tents spread all through the woods as well as one large village in wide gorge in the centre of the forest.

They had stumbled across them in their time in the forest and they weren't something easily forgotten. The ramshackle little camp reminded Beth of the old Mad Max films Shawn had enjoyed, piles of scrap metal and bones lying haphazardly on the forest floor, feral looking humans lounging around fires burning in old barrels.

"Right. I've got to ask, last time, are we all sure about this because once we start that's it, we're committed to see it thorough. We get one shot at this so we have to be sure." Beth whispered lowly.

"Still think it's crazy but I'm sure." Noah sighed.

"I'm sure." Annie said simply, her fear of the Savages being replaced with anger at them for the atrocities they had witnessed them performing.

"Then you two better get out of here. I'll meet you back at the gully, if you can't make it back there just keep whistling the signal and I swear I will find you. Be careful." Beth practically begged.

"Beth you're the one going solo behind enemy lines, you be careful." Annie instructed, making full eye contact with the blonde so she knew she was serious.

"Promise."

Beth watched as Noah and Annie faded into the shadows and settled in to wait. Alone with her thoughts she desperately tried to shut up the guilty voice in her mind, repeating over and over that what she was about to do was wrong. A whole new level of killing, this would be murder. She had spent days agonising over this decision and it all came down to one inescapable fact. They had to die. Beth could not, in good conscience, leave these monsters alive in this forest. They had seen what they were capable of, had watched as innocent people who simply wanted to pass through the forest had been brutally killed, suffering agonisingly slow deaths at the Savages hands.

But still, poison? This would not be a desperate fight for her life but a cold and calculated slaughter. She would have no physical blood on her hands but the figurative blood would be enough to drown her ten times over.

Thankfully Beth didn't have to spend too long alone with her traitorous thoughts and after only twenty minutes a high-pitched scream echoed through the trees. The reaction from the Savages was immediate. Like a pack of animals they moved almost as one, rising from various spots on the forest floor and howling into the night sky. Dirty figures emerged from the ramshackle shelters to join the hunt and in under a minute the camp was quiet. Beth waited a few minutes more, ensuring no one had been left behind.

Finally she stepped into the camp, all of her senses on high alert. The slight nudge to her hip from the five canteens she carried both comforted and repulsed her. They carried what they were sure was a deadly concoction that had taken three whole days to make. Belladonna. That was their poison of choice. Beth had been taught from a very young age to eat no berries she found unless her Daddy had said they were safe, but the Belladonna plant, also known as deadly nightshade, had warranted a warning all of it's very own.

"Bethy come here sweetheart." Hershel had instructed a six year old Beth one day as they walked through the woods.

"Yes Daddy?"

"You see this plant here?" He asked.

"Mm-hmm." Beth nodded, paying close attention.

"This is Belladonna and I want you to take a real good look at it."

"It's got pretty flowers Daddy."

"That it does my little doodlebug, the berries look nice and juicy too don't they."

"Like giant black currents!" Beth observed.

"They do look like black currents. They taste very sweet too. Of course I don't know for myself, as I've never eaten one. And you're never to eat one either." Her Daddy got incredibly serious. "For a little girl like you to eat just one or two of these do you know what it will do?"

Beth thought she knew the answer to this question, her Daddy had told her all about wild berries and how they could make her awful sick. "Make me real sick?"

"No Beth, two of these little berries will kill you dead." Little six-year-old Beth gasped. "That's right so I need you to promise me right now that you'll be careful of these pretty little plants ok?"

"I promise Daddy."

She had all but forgotten about that little lesson, knowing well enough to stay away from all wild berries unless properly identified, until her and the others had been flicking through the edible plants book. There was a section of plants that were most definitely not edible, a warning for foragers to stay away from some of the most deadly plants and mushrooms growing across America. There had been a little picture and the name Belladonna and instantly Beth knew. If they could find it, that's what they would use.

Most poisonous plants have a bitter taste that humans naturally shy away from and were distrustful of. As her Daddy had told her Belladonna was sweet tasting and from her history classes in high school she knew that in olden times it had been the poison of choice as when slipped into a King's wine it was almost unnoticeable. In fact it was where the saying 'sweet taste of death' had come from.

It hadn't taken long at all to find a couple of the deadly plants. They took every single berry, upwards of eighty of the plump purple berries as well as a handful of the roots, Annie had read it was actually in the roots where the toxins were most concentrated.

In silence they had sat in a circle by their gully and mashed the berries and roots into a pulp, mixing in small amounts of water. They hadn't expected Morgan to take part in the preparation, knowing his feelings on the whole situation. His quiet involvement had actually reassured Beth they were doing the right thing, it was like he was giving his silent approval even if he still refused to watch their plan unfold.

With shaking hands Beth poured the poison into the Savages water supply. It was stored in a rusting oil drum and clearly hadn't been filtered or boiled, it's a wonder they haven't poisoned themselves already.

Five minutes later and she was safely tucked back into her hiding spot near to the Savages camp, waiting impatiently for them to return. It took a long time for the first figures to come stalking back into camp, clearly angry. Their hunt had been unsuccessful and Beth breathed a sigh of relief.

A heady mix of nausea and thrilling victory overcame her as they all went straight to the water drum, thirsty after their run through the forest. As the first of them began to take long gulping drinks Beth held her breath, but nothing happened, they had no idea their water supply had been tampered with.

For a short time the camp was full of quiet, morose people drinking and resting after their disappointing hunt through the forest, but it didn't stay that way for long. Delirium set in first, some people started to shout at things that weren't there, one woman started scratching at her arms furiously, screaming hysterically. Not long after that one of the larger men completely lost his mind. Drawing a large hunting knife he turned on his companions and began butchering them in a frenzy. With the job done Beth quietly withdrew into the shadows, knowing she needed to put some space between her and the now incredibly loud camp.

As Beth made her way back to the gully she began to feel sick, disgusted in herself. The death she had sentenced those people to was messy, terrifying and for some of them drawn out and painful. She could feel the guilt chewing away at her gut and more than once she had to stop to calm herself. To combat the guilt Beth made herself think upon the memories of those people and the horrific things she had watched them do, made herself relive the fear of being hunted through the dense trees with the wild cries of those people slowly getting closer and closer.

"I was two minutes from coming out to find you." Was the furious whisper that greeted her as Beth quietly slipped into the little gully they were calling home. Beth didn't doubt Noah's sincerity and hugged him tight to reassure him she was ok.

"Just wanted to make sure it worked." She replied softly, being pulled by Annie for a firm hug too, followed by Morgan much to her surprise.

"And did it?" The older man asked. Beth nodded, eyes downcast.

"Brutally." Silence fell until Beth sighed. "Tomorrow will be worse."

"I'm coming with you." Morgan informed them and Beth looked at him questioningly. "I should have been there today. I spent the whole day sat here wishing I was there with you, I shouldn't have let you all dirty your hands for me. I was worried, worried that it would drag me back to what I was before." They stayed quiet, knowing there was more and curious to see how much Morgan would share with them. "I lost myself, after I lost my son. Then I was saved by a man who had faith that I wasn't too far gone and I guess I hoped that these people could be saved too but I spent all day thinking about it today and realised that they made their choice. It's not about surviving for them, not anymore, they take joy in the violence. Tomorrow I'll be with you."

"We're different from them." Beth assured the others. "If we could we all know that we'd have just kept on walking, wouldn't have even stopped in these woods if we could have helped it. We don't kill people for fun. I felt sick, sick to my stomach as I left that camp today. I doubt any of these people have felt like that over spilling blood in a long, long time."

"You should all eat something and get some rest, it's going to be another long day tomorrow. I'll take first watch." Morgan ordered, Beth nodded and settled in for another night on the damp creek floor.

x-x-x-x-x

"I won't ask if we're sure. I know we are. I'll just say be careful and I'll see you all back here." Beth stated. It wasn't much of pep talk but they all knew what they were heading out to do and Beth wasn't feeling particularly peppy about the whole thing.

Another day, another slaughter. She thought tiredly as she looked at the grim faces of her cohorts.

"Good luck, be careful, and for fuck sake don't get bit." Noah advised.

Today's plan was much more dangerous than the day before. Deciding that the old lure and poison trick would only work the once they'd come up with a different tactic. Instead of luring the people away, they would lure the walkers to the people.

The plan was to hit the only other outlying camp they had located, that would leave the main camp but their hope was that the massacres of the two smaller ones would make the remaining Savages cautious, giving them a chance to escape the woods and put some distance between them.

Noah and Annie headed off together while Morgan and Beth headed the other way, for once looking for walkers instead of trying to avoid them.

An hour later and they had a group of twenty odd walkers on their tail. It was a delicate game they played. Avoiding being seen so as not to rile the walkers up before the right time but making sure they didn't wander off was a tough balancing act but they did it well enough.

A few hundred feet from the camp Beth spotted another group of walkers ambling along, being led by Annie and Noah. She caught Annie's gaze and held up a fist, which Annie answered with a fist of her own. Beth then brought hers down fast and Annie nodded. The four of them broke cover and ran towards the camp, hearing the growls of the walkers following them pick up.

Fifty feet from the camp, barely out of sight of the sentries placed on watch the group stopped and pulled their freshly cleaned knives. With a nod from Beth they each slashed their forearms and let the blood drip to the forest floor, smearing it onto trees and then hurriedly wrapping the wounds in strips of fabric donated by Noah from his T-shirt.

"Now?" Beth asked Morgan.

"Give it a minute, when we can hear them, that's when." He advised and Beth nodded.

The next few moments were tense as they waited for the noise of the walkers to reach them, all concerned they'd be spotted by the savages. Finally the first walkers could be spotted through the trees, the noise from the rest of the pack reaching them and Morgan gave Beth the nod. With bow in hands she stepped out from her hiding place and let her arrows fly. The sentries went down with barely a sound. Then they ran, skirting the camp they fled into the woods, not stopping to look back as the screaming started.

"Jesus." Noah cursed as the screaming grew louder. They could see more walkers through the trees being drawn to the sounds and for the next hour they dodged the dead as they made their escape.

Beth didn't allow herself to hope it was over. She'd learnt, very recently, that it was best to just expect the worse, at least then you didn't end up disappointed. Annie however allowed herself the luxury of thinking that they were done. The end of the woods and the nightmare that they had endured underneath its boughs would soon be over.

She was wrong.

x-x-x-x

"You stand before me awaiting judgement."

Beth's heart pounded in her ears, sweat pouring out of her as her lungs burned. She had no idea how they were going to get out of this, in fact she was beginning to think that they simply wouldn't.

Just giving up Greene? That ain't like you. Daryl's drawl came unbidden but not unwanted.

"You've murdered my people. For that you'll all die, we will bathe in your blood as payment for the blood of my people you spilled. First though you must pay for something else. You trespassed into our lands and we cannot let that slide. Who leads you?" Beth's stomach dropped at the man's words. She had seen what they, this man in particular, did to trespassers. It was a day she could never forget but forbade herself to think of. The flaying.

Morgan started to speak and Beth felt cold acceptance settle over her. Standing up straighter she met the Chief's eyes head on.

"Me." She said simply, over Morgan's protests. "You know it's me." Her voice sounded like that of a strangers to her ears and it was as if Beth was watching on in a trance. She had elected herself leader and now it was time to put her money where her mouth was.

"Beth no." Morgan hissed. "Let me."

"Shut up." She dismissed coldly, not breaking eye contact with the towering Chief. "We would never have come here if we had known and as soon as we found out we would have left if you had let us. Don't stand there and act as if this is our fault. This whole forest is just one big fucking trap."

"You have spirit. Don't worry, I will break it for you before you die." He promised.

The two men holding her began to drag her through the clearing to a blood stained tree stump and Beth didn't even bother to struggle. The beginnings of a plan had started to form in her mind and she knew she had to pick her moment.

She was numb as they bent her over the stained surface, could hear the cries from Morgan, Annie and Noah behind her. Having no idea how to mentally prepare herself instead she focused on breathing and trying not be sick as they roughly lifted her tank top to expose her back. The Chief cracked the whip behind her and Beth desperately tried to stop herself from flinching.

Oh God please if you're listening just give me strength, please just get me through this and then I'll get them out of here. I haven't asked for anything in a really long fucking time and I think you owe me this one thing-

Beth's prayer was cut short by the violent swish of the whip and then the world was lost to a blinding pain that Beth, for just a few moments, thought she could surely not live through. With gritted teeth she panted to try and catch her breath. Tears gathered in her eyes and she was powerless to stop them from falling. They can take my tears but they'll never hear me scream. Beth promised herself and she kept that promise to herself for the next few minutes, the longest in her entire life. The Chief was preaching behind her as he brought the whip down repeatedly on her back. He was demanding something from her, an admission of guilt, a plea for mercy, she wasn't sure but she sensed her chance had come. Beth had to make her move, it was now or never.

With her back on fire Beth let out a pitiful moan and muttered some nonsense under her breath. The rabble fell silent and Beth heard the Chief come closer. She moaned again and slumped further into the log, the men who had held her down let go completely and backed off as their leader approached.

"Do you have something to say?" He asked mockingly.

"I can't… Please…" Beth begged in a broken whisper and the Chief leaned in close to hear her.

Beth struck like lightning. She grabbed the whip and was on him, wrapping the bloodied leather around the Chief's neck and pulled tight, leaping onto his back as he desperately tried to pull her off. Distantly she heard the other spring into action. She couldn't give them more than a glance but what she saw spurred her on. They were fighting hard and already two savages had fallen. The on looking crowd was frozen in shock. Their fearsome, immortal leader was being brought down by a slight blonde devil with dirty blonde hair and death in her eyes.

Once the deed was done panic erupted. Women and men fell to their knees screaming, some of them burst forward in their fury and then Noah and Morgan were beside her, brandishing large knives, they killed those that got close to her while Annie heaved Beth to her feet and dragged her back. Then the dead were there and Beth was lost to the agony.

She dazedly watched as Annie scooped up her backpack and Beth's bow, she could do nothing but hang her head, watching the forest floor pass beneath her, all of her focus on putting one foot in front of the other. As the sounds of fighting faded behind them Beth heard Noah asking frantically if she was ok. Beth wanted to reply with a sarcastic comment but didn't have the energy, instead she shook her head truthfully. She had no idea pain could be this intense and all encompassing.

Finally they stopped, Annie buckling under Beth's now almost dead weight. They both landed hard and Beth narrowly avoided screaming out loud. For a minute she just lay on her front, shuddering on the cold floor. Waves of pain spread across her skin and once again Beth was sure that she was not going to survive through this.

"Beth, God Beth please talk to us." Noah was begging in front of her and Beth tried, taking deep breaths.

"I'm ok." She managed to get out through parched lips. "Just fucking hurts." Tears still escaped her eyes and she couldn't even be bothered wiping them away.

"We need to keep moving. Once we find a stream we have to clean those wounds Beth." Annie said softly, gently helping Beth right her top. She hadn't even realised she was still so exposed. At another time she might have been embarrassed but in that moment she didn't have it in her to care.

"Thank you." She said quietly to the other woman, grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

"Do you think you can make it further?" Morgan asked her.

"I have to, we can't stay here." Beth faltered as she got up but Noah was there to take her weight. Annie took out her knife and replaced Noah as a second guard and once again the quartet set off.

For hours they staggered through the trees until they were in a silent, seemingly untouched bit of forest next to a deep stream. Annie sat Beth on a rock and instructed the men to turn away and keep watch.

She helped Beth remove her ruined top and remnants of her bra, the back strap had been destroyed by the harsh lick of the whip. With a rag ripped from her own top Annie gently set about cleaning the criss-crossed slashes on Beth's back and even through the new pain Beth didn't think anyone had treated her with such care since her unsuccessful suicide attempt. Annie muttered softly spoken platitudes all the while and Beth lost herself in the soothing sound of her friends voice. Once she was done Annie pulled out a new shirt from her bag and helped Beth put it on. The pain had subsided to a persistent and particularly sharp ache which was not helped by the fabric rubbing on her back. Still, Beth would take it, happy to be covered again.

"Ok." Annie declared to the men. "We're ready, we should fill the bottles and keep moving. We need to get Beth some antibiotics or anti septic cream. Won't find that in here."

This time Morgan acted as Beth's support. Her body needed sleep to recover but they simply couldn't stop. As they walked Morgan tried to speak to her, guilt laying heavily on him.

"You should have let me take it Beth." He said under his breath.

"No, I shouldn't. I'm grateful you wanted to save me from it but Morgan, I declared myself leader and it was time to stand up and earn it. We got away, things went down the way they needed to. The savages, they won't recover from this. We did a good thing, hopefully what we've done in this forest has saved some people from dying at their hands. I can't regret that." Beth's meaningful speech was somewhat dimmed with her slurring and harsh breathing but Morgan nodded none the less.

After a couple of days, catching a few hours sleep still in the forest and Beth was walking on her own again. Still weak and hurting she was managing as best as could be expected when finally the trees ended and the exhausted group stepped out onto asphalt.

"Well thank fuck." Beth cursed with a sigh.

"Not a second too soon. I'm never going into the woods ever again." Noah commented.

"Good luck with that, this is Georgia, the whole state is covered in woodland." Annie sassed with a smile, one of the first since entering the forest in the first place.

"Come on, let's see where this road leads." Morgan spurred them on.

Not long after they came across a gas station. A little one pump kind of place which was easily cleared by Morgan and Noah. Every movement of her arms left Beth breathless with pain so she was deemed out of commission until further notice.

The place had been pretty well ransacked but Annie managed to find a busted open first aid kit with bandages and antiseptic wipes. With a no nonsense look on her face she marched Beth into the bathroom and had her strip her shirt off.

"This is going to hurt like a bitch isn't it." Beth said, arms crossed over her chest.

"It is." Annie admitted, setting about arranging her workstation. "But I'll go as easy as I can ok?"

"I know you will. I trust you." Beth said with a smile.

"I've sent Noah to find you a clean top and bra." Annie informed. "I guessed out of the two you'd rather Noah go looking."

"I would." Beth laughed. "But I aint wearing a bra, I think it might kill me right about now."

"Fair enough."

"I just hope it doesn't get too cold." Beth joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Annie laughed in surprise and rolled her eyes. "Stop stalling, let me see."

Beth turned with a sigh. Annie winced. Beth saw her in the mirror but was grateful Annie didn't say anything out loud.

"How's it looking?" She asked with morbid curiosity.

"About how you'd expect." Annie answered, not giving much away. Meeting Beth's gaze in the mirror she must have realised she wasn't going to let this go. "They're still raw, but most of them have closed. It all looks pretty red and it's warm which isn't good but I kind of expected that. We'll clean it properly now and cover your whole back in this cream. Bandage you up and see how we go. Hopefully we can avoid needing antibiotics because I have no idea where we'd find some. You'll need to rest, get some proper sleep. Maybe we can stay here a couple of days. You'll have to let us handle everything and hopefully you'll be fighting fit in no time."

"Ok." Beth replied simply. She wouldn't argue Annie on this. She knew the recovery for an injury like this was going to take time.

Annie got to work and Beth tried to keep silent until Annie laid her hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok. It's just me in here and I won't tell." It was Annie's words more than the pain that made Beth cry. Annie just had such a huge capacity for kindness and Beth once again thanked the lord for placing this extraordinary woman in her life.

When Beth emerged from the bathroom she was clean, bandaged, a little worse for wear but feeling like a new woman. She was escorted directly to the tiny office where the desk had ben removed, replaced with a collection of cushions and blankets which would serve as her bed for the next few days. Beth fell onto her front with no argument and let Annie gently lay the covers over her.

"Sleep now, I'll wake you to eat something in a couple of hours and then guess what?" Annie asked brightly.

"I get to stay here and sleep some more?" Beth commented dryly.

"You're a smart cookie Beth Greene." Annie laughed, bopping her on the nose gently. Her eyes softened and she kissed the blonde on her forehead. "Rest, we'll watch over you."

"Annie." Beth called softly as the older woman walked to the door.

"Hmm?"

"I love you." Annie's smile lit up her face.

"I love you too Beth. I never thought I'd get the chance to be a sister again."

x-x-x-x-x-x

Three days later and true to Annie's word Beth had spent the entire time in bed, eating, drinking plenty of water and sleeping. Finally Beth felt sufficiently healed and insisted she be allowed to leave the room.

"Is it clear out there?" She asked and Morgan nodded. "Annie? Can I have my bow please? I need to test my back."

"Fine, but I'm coming to watch, you so much as flinch and I'll drag you back inside myself."

"Sir yes sir." Beth sassed and grabbed the offered bow.

For the last day or so Beth had been stretching out slowly, testing her range and pushing her limits. It hurt, the skin on her back feeling tight, two sizes too small in fact but she could handle it. After the burning of the whipping Beth felt that she could handle any other pain this world could throw at her. So she knew what to expect as she drew the string back, with no arrow knocked. It wasn't as bad as she feared and she felt confident enough to try some target practise.

Annie allowed her to train for an hour before calling it to an end. "If you open those wounds again so help me God." She threatened when Beth tried to argue.

That night the four of them huddled in the small office around a little gas lamp they found. They needed to plan their next move.

"Any idea where we are?" Beth asked hopefully.

"No idea. Haven't found any maps in this place and the sign outside just says 'Gas' so no clues there." Noah said.

"Well, we'll just have to keep going along this road." Beth decided. "If there's any of those Savages left they might be following so we really need to get moving again. Find out where we are, get back on track to the funeral home. I doubt Daryl's still there but I'm pretty sure he'll have gone back there to leave some kind of clue for me. I don't think he'll have given up on me. I know that he thought I was weak once but I'm sure he has a little faith in me now." Beth didn't know if she was defending Daryl or just voicing her insecurities. Either way the others were good enough not to comment on it.

"Then we'll head out tomorrow?" Morgan asked.

"Sounds good." Beth confirmed.

Later that night Beth locked herself in the bathroom and slowly removed the bandages on her back. She stood with her back to the mirror and a little hand mirror clutched tight in her grip. Her first look was just a little glimpse. What she saw left her shaking and nauseous, her eyes snapping shut of their own accord. Her back was a mess, a horrifying mess. There was no other way to describe it. Once she had steeled herself again she lifted the little mirror once more. Prepared for what she was about to see she examined her wounds closer. The flesh around the wounds was still red but not the angry red that Annie had described. She was healing and that was a good thing. Still the scars would remain forever. Yet another set to add to her growing collection.

They were ugly. Beth allowed the thought to linger in her mind. It was the truth, undeniable and absolute but when she looked at them now the shock had waned she wasn't struck with revulsion but pride. If the whipping was the price she had to pay for her and her friend's survival then the scars it would leave on her back were proof of purchase. She could let vanity turn them into a weakness or she could embrace them and wear them like a badge of honour. After all the person who had made those marks was now dead at her hand and she was still breathing. Yes there was anger at the injustice; grief for yet another small part of her that had been stripped away but Beth wouldn't dwell on that. Some things you just have to leave behind. I need to burn something down again. She thought to herself, smiling at the memory.

x-x-x-x

The next morning they set out along the road again. For three days they trudged on, stopping to scavenge when the opportunity presented itself, Beth even managed to shoot a rabbit and the first fresh meat in weeks was a welcome treat.

After a while, a few days, no more than a week they came across a building that was shot full of holes. There were bodies on the ground and something had clearly happened there. The group's first instinct was to retreat into the trees, give the place a wide berth and carry on. Something made Beth stop though. A wrenching in her gut made her step away from her friends and towards the milling walkers. There were only a few and Beth took them all out with her bow before the others caught up with her.

"It's not worth it." Morgan whispered.

"I've just got a feeling." Beth muttered, approaching cautiously.

Her heart rate shot up as they got closer. There, sticking from the head of one of the corpses was bolt. Not sure if she wanted to laugh, cry or throw up Beth surged forward.

"Is that one of his?" Asked Annie, noticing the colour drain from Beth's face.

"Yeah." Beth croaked.

The others could only watch as Beth sprinted into the building with no care for her safety. When they found her she was on her knees with a small hoard of what looked like junk in front of her. The bolt was clutched in one hand, a pacifier in the other and there were tears on Beth's face.

"They were here. He did it, he found them and they were here." Beth pleaded with them, she needed to hear someone agree with her. "This has to be Judith's, I bet Carl was reading that before shit went down." Beth gestured to a discarded comic book and Morgan stepped forward, examining the room.

"There was definitely a group here." He agreed. "Beth, if you say it's them I believe you. We're on their trail."

"I can track them." She said confidently. She knew that was possibly a lie, if they left this place in a vehicle like the tracks outside suggested then they could be miles away and there was no way she could track a vehicle. No one argued with her.

Back outside Beth could at least tell which way they'd turned onto the main road and off she went, setting a punishing pace that the other's could hardly keep up with. Under an hour later and Beth stopped at a road sign, there was a tiny little B painted in the middle of it and this time she did cry. She was so close, she could feel it in her bones.

"We're on their trail." Annie comforted her, a gentle arm around her shoulder, careful to avoid her injuries.

"I can't believe it." Beth whispered. "Come on, we're so close."

If possible Beth now moved even faster, a woman possessed, a single thought driving her forward. When they came to the house it was clear to see what had happened, the sheer number of tracks all leading in one direction could be nothing other than a large herd of walkers.

In the house itself, the only one that looked like it had been lived in after the turn Beth found more clues, including some half finished bolts in the loft. She shoved them in her pack.

As they set off North, once again following the direction of tire tracks Beth had one thought in her mind, Ain't nothing stopping me now.

x-x-x-x

A/N – I'll not bother with excuses. I just really struggled with the Savages bit in this chapter and it takes all the fun out of writing. Anyway it's finally finished, I've only given it a full once over but the first half of the chapter has been read through many, MANY times! Quick question, feel free to ignore it, but how do you like my writing style? Is it too description heavy? Not enough dialogue? Is it boring? You can be honest with me! Anyway, a quick note on the recent season… Kind of loving the Connie and Daryl vibes. I'm still a little delusional (as in Team Delusional), just because so much doesn't make sense! But yeah I think Connie is awesome and won't take Daryl's crap. Whatever, just some ramblings I've been thinking about! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'm going to really try to not keep you waiting for the next one.