Daryl and Beth reached out simultaneously to grab at the people in front of them. Daryl's arm found its way around Carol's waist and Beth's hands plucked Judith out of Carol's failing arms. A backpack dropped to the floor of the porch, but neither Beth nor Daryl really seemed to notice it. Beth kicked the door shut and quickly followed closely behind Daryl to the living room where he deposited Carol on the couch and ran for towels.

Beth shifted Judith to her left hip so that her dominant hand would be free. She knelt down next to the bleeding woman and began removing her shirt to find the wound. Daryl stumbled back into the room, towel in hand, when he froze.

Beth was looking up at him from the floor, tears streaming down her face. It was then that Daryl noticed the almost too round wound; the almost too perfect chunk of skin missing from her side.

It was a bite.

He knew it, Beth knew it, and Carol sure as hell knew it, too. There was nothing they could do.

Daryl sunk down to his knees as well, towel falling to the floor, his hands reaching for Carol's. Tears were beginning to gather in the hunter's eyes, like he didn't want to let them fall, yet didn't know how to stop them.

Beth stood up, muttered something about giving them some time alone to talk, kissed Carol's forehead and squeezed her hand, silent tears still rolling, before walking into the kitchen with Baby Judith. Beth rocked her little princess back and forth, trying to get her to stop crying. And then she remembered the backpack on the front porch.

Beth peaked out the window of the kitchen and spotted the bag; she also spotted a couple walkers that must've follow Carol and Judith milling around the steps of the porch. There was no way she could open the front door and get the bag without them noticing her and crowding the house.

Daryl's crossbow had been thrown on the table when he'd come to find towels. As the idea formulated in Beth's mind, she began laying the four kitchen chairs that had been surrounding the table on their sides to make a pen for Judith. Placing the girl inside the grouping of chairs, she whispered, "stay here, sweetheart," grabbed the crossbow off the table, and headed to the front door.

Making sure the bow was loaded, Beth wrenched the door open, quickly lined up her first shot, and let the arrow fly. It sunk right into the closest walker's right eye socket. She skirted out to grab the bag and slung it over her shoulder, but she just barely had enough time to reload the bow and line up the next shot. She let the second arrow fly…

And it missed by an inch.

By this time, she really didn't have time to reload, and she'd left her knife sitting by the couch Carol was lying on. The walker was nearly on top of her when she tried to swing the crossbow up to its head like she'd seen Daryl do countless times, but she wasn't quite strong enough. Its grimy hands went for her neck and she kicked hard. She heard a bone break, but that only sent the walker falling into her faster.

And then Daryl was there, catching her as she fell and slamming the knife she'd left next to Carol into the walker's head. Daryl pulled her back inside and nearly slammed the door shut before hammering one board across it, knowing that they would need to reopen it as soon as Carol…moved on.

Daryl and Beth looked at each other and held a conversation with their eyes. Daryl nodded and went back to Carol. Beth figured he would be angry, for multiple reasons, but he seemed to understand. That, or he was just drained. Probably the latter, she decided.

She walked back to the kitchen and opened the backpack, finding plenty of formula, two baby bottles, a small blanket, some almost-empty bottles of tylenol, ibuprofen, and antibiotics, multiple band-aids, and a few granola bars. Carol seemed to have been doing well for herself and Judith. Mixing up a bottle of formula for Judith and gathering the girl up into her arms, Beth made her way back into the living room to say her goodbyes to the best woman and mother she had met since her own had died.


Only need 14 more reviews to reach 100! And here's my shout out to Caitiann! Bet you didn't think this was how I would incorporate the word Fall! Hope y'all enjoyed :) Next chapter title ideas?