Chapter Seven
"A motorcycle mechanic," Beth said suddenly, as they walked through the forest.
"Huh?" Daryl had no idea what she was talking about. She wasn't crying anymore, though, which was good. She kept that up, he'd have to go kill something.
"That's my guess," she replied, "for what you were doing before the turn. Did Zach ever guess that one?"
"Don't matter. Hasn't mattered for a long time." He didn't really want to talk about his past right now.
"It's just what people talk about, y'know? To feel normal."
"Yeah, well, that never felt normal to me," he said, as he led her to a cabin in the woods. "Found this place with Michonne." he said, changing the subject.
"I was expecting a liquor store."
"Naw. This is better," he told her, walking more purposefully now that they'd reached their destination. He went straight to a nearby shed and picked up the moonshine. This would be a good antiseptic. It also might cause a more squeamish person to swear off drinking alcohol forever. Handing her the crate filled with jars of moonshine, he picked up his crossbow and headed into the cabin. He did a quick sweep of the place, but there wasn't much space for any walkers to hide, so it was clear.
"All right," Daryl said, as he blew the dust off of the top of the moonshine jar. Beth sat down at the table as Daryl poured some moonshine into a glass for her. "Now that's a real first drink, right there," he told her. Beth hesitated, taking a deep breath. "What's the matter?" Daryl asked.
"Nothin'...it's just...my dad always said bad moonshine could make you go blind."
"Ain't nothin' worth seein' out there anymore, anyway," Daryl replied sadly, trying not to think of a certain woman that he'd never see again.
Beth shrugged and took her first sip—and promptly spewed it back out, all over the table. "That's the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted," she choked out, eyes watering. Seeing Daryl's smirk, though, she squared her shoulders as her pride kicked in, and she took another swallow. This time she was showing off—that wasn't just a sip. She actually finished what was in the glass. And, as Daryl knew she would, she immediately started choking. "It burns! Oh God..." she gasped. All pride gone now, tears streamed from her eyes as she doubled over, coughing. Hell yeah it burns, Daryl thought, unable to keep himself from chuckling. Beth was too preoccupied with the liquid trail of fire blazing a path down her throat to even give him a dirty look for his laughter.
After a while, Beth's coughing subsided. Lesson number one had been a success, and Daryl decided this was as good a time as any for the second lesson he thought she needed to learn. "Got that out of your system now?" he asked Beth, who nodded weakly, looking miserable. "Good," he stated, "then we can get back to thinkin' about survival. Moonshine's a good antiseptic," he told her, taking his red rag out of his back pocket and pouring out some moonshine onto it. He hissed as he applied it to the cut on his hand, rubbing it hard to clean out the dirt. The wound had started to scab over, but it was still infected and dirty, so he was going to have to open it up again.
"When did you do that?" Beth asked.
"When I was skinnin' the snake," he replied, still focused on cleaning his wound.
"Oh," Beth said in a small voice, looking down. She seemed bemused that she hadn't noticed, and he thought it was starting to hit her, how selfish she'd been. This would probably be a good time to reason with her.
"Beth, now that you've got the drinkin' out of your system, I need your help," he began. "I know you're young and you've been protected all this time, but now that it's just the two of us, we have to work together if we're going to survive." He had her full attention now, he saw, as she stared at him earnestly, so he continued, "And I need some sleep. I haven't slept since we left the prison. So I need you to keep watch, so's I can get some rest. Think you can do that?"
"NO!" A panicked look flashed across her face, and she started to fret. "What if something happens? What if one of those...things...gets in? What if there's a herd!?"
"Then you wake me up, and I'll take care of it. But I can't keep going like this, Beth. I won't be any good to either of us if I don't get some sleep soon. We're isolated here, and we'll be quiet, so I doubt that a herd will come by. If there's one or two of 'em stumbling by outside, I don't think you need to worry about it. But you can wake me up if you need to, all right?"
She still looked worried, but she nodded. What choice did she have, really?
