Daryl started by first but showing her the parts on her bow. He held the curved part of the bow just below the centre, "This part I'm holding onto is called the 'grip', above the grip is called the 'arrow rest', these curved parts on either side of the grip is called the 'limbs'" Beth smiled remembering him explaining yesterday about the interchangeable parts, Daryl smiled as he saw her recognition, he was now pointing to the white mark on the centre of the bow string, "this is called the 'knocking point'" Beth nodded. He put down the bow for a moment and lifted a bolt, pointing to the tip that looked like a sharpened pencil, "this is the point", His hand moved down the length on the bolt, "this is the shaft" Beth could not help a blush creeping to her cheeks, Daryl realised her train of thought, he had a bashful smile and his free hand rubbed his chin, Beth turned even redder and Daryl could not help but chuckle at her before continuing, "um.. Yeah, well these things on the ends are called 'fletching', each individual piece is called a 'fletch'." Beth nodded, relieved that he had continued on, she asked him quickly, "Why is one of the fletch a different colour?" Daryl gave her a nodding smile. "Ahh, you noticed that, it's called the 'index feather' or 'index vane', its helps a marker to place your bolt in the correct way, so in the case you point it toward your bow arm. This 'V' shape thing on the end of the bolt is called a 'knock', the 'knock' fits around the 'knocking point.' Daryl could not help the smirk twisting his lip and the teasing wink he gave her, Beth rolled her eyes, she was inwardly teasing him, "Seriously Daryl! you are so immature!", He retorted "pot calling the kettle black!"

Daryl laughed, dropped the bolt and lunged for her, Beth's quick reflex had her sidestepping him, along with a surprised squeal escaping her throat, she took off towards door, but Daryl was quicker and had longer arms, he grabbed her from behind and around the waist, pulling her giggling frame against his stomach, till her feet lifted off the ground and swinging her around in a 360 spin, her feet found the ground again and he started to tickle her, she was gasping for breath amidst fits of laughter, it was music to his ears, she tried to evade his fingers and turned to face him. He stilled his hands on her waist, Beth was staring up at Daryl breathing hard, his expression darkened, the tip of his tongue darted along his bottom lip, her sight followed the movement and the intake of her breath suddenly hitched. They stood there for a few moments and Beth started to whisper in a huskier voice, "Daryl, if you don't Kis-"

Daryl cut her off, his hands already cupping her face and swiftly bringing their lips together in an earthshattering kiss, Beth moaned into his mouth as her lips parted for him invitingly, Daryl was groaning like a starving man, he backed her up till he had her pinned between him and a wall, a sigh of satisfaction escaping as she felt the extra support behind her, she thought her knees would give out, she clutched the side of his shirt, maybe even part of his torso too, she was not sure, but her knuckles had turned white from clinging to him, so she moved her arms to around his neck, Daryl moaned loudly, his hands moved in to grope her perfect little ass, Beth was whimpering while he assaulted her mouth, passionately meeting his kisses. It was not long till Beth had her long legs wrapped around Daryl hips, Daryl growled like a feral animal, his hands having found better access to her ass as he continued to grope and squeeze and even better his hips were grinding into her throbbing moist crotch, he could feel the heat radiating off her, he had his cock shaft almost perfectly positioned against her slit and was grinding against her clit rhythmically, he could tell he was right on spot by the way she was moaning his name in between kisses, this had his insides melting and him grinding harder and faster through his jeans against her, It could not have been more than a minute and Beth tightened her grip and was shuddering hard against him, letting out a loud guttural moan of his name on her lips, it was the most beautiful thing Daryl had ever heard, it dawned on him she had just reached her apex.

Daryl stilled and was hissing, "Shiiit!", he was breathing hard and erratic and frustrated from the lack of release, but it melted away when he stared into Beth's flushed face, her eyes were a mix of shock and amazement. His hands released her bum and curled around her body to hold her closer, he spoke in a hoarse voice, pressing his forehead to hers, "Beth, I won't be able to stop myself next time… next time there won't be clothes between us, I will tear them off you!" Beth nodded and swallowed, still shuddering from what just happened, slowly unwrapping her stiff legs from his hips, her toes touching the floor, he still held her, her arm shifted around his torso, not wanting to be apart from him, he placed his lips on hers in a gentle kiss this time and broke away a short while later, breaking his hold he spoke while he settled for tucking her into his side, keeping his arm around her, "I think I need a drink" Beth grinned and moved with him toward the backpack, still linked.

Where the bow and bolt laid, Beth stood there relaxed and Daryl serious teacher, "So now I'll show you how to stand properly, You are right handed, so you will stand with your left shoulder pointing to the target, place your feet together, move your left foot about two inches back, with your left foot take a step sideways towards the target, lastly take you left foot and I want you to twist and point it in the direction of the target, to make it easy for you to understand, think of your foot as the pointer on a clock, it is pointing first at twelve, let it point towards now ten, Perfect that's your footing stance" He smiled at her and she did exactly what he instructed.

Daryl demonstrated with his left hand how to hold the bow and Beth watched intently, "You want to hold the grip so that it fits on that fleshy part just under your thumb, a common mistake that is made is to have the thumb come round and run parallel with your right foot, rather try keep it forward or even in line with your ten o'clock foot, if you don't hold the bow proper your aim will go all over the place. When you hold the bow don't over extend your arm, cause if the string might end up hitting the inside of your arm when you shoot." Daryl placed three fingers just below the knocking point, his index to middle, "when you draw, you have to have what is called an 'anchor', this can be the your jaw, the corner of your mouth, lower part of your cheek, I use the corner of my mouth for this sort of bow, makes aiming easier, you gonna have to be consistent, I say this cause you have to get used to aiming you should not go changing the whole time cause then you'll be off with your aim the whole time, so I suggest you try a couple positions at first, whatever feels more natural. When you draw, you want your back muscles to do most the work, don't let your elbow sag below your shoulder and don't lift it to high neither, everything should be all nicely inline, a 'T' shape." Daryl slowly brought the string back into place and placed the bow down. "I'll show you the release", Daryl took his stance again with his imaginary bow, pre drew, then drew, took aim and released the string, the release finger's tip touching the earlobe after, keeping his stance after he pretended to shoot, "I was taught, you need to gently release the string, somebody told me to release as if I was carrying a pale of water with my three finger and release like I would placing a pale of water on the ground without spilling it." Daryl showed her the movement a few more times. Beth nodded. "for aiming, that comes after you anchor your draw, you look down the end of you bolt, down the shaft of your bolt to the point and the point should be aiming on the target."

Beth was watching him raptly, "you make it seem so easy, but I'm sure it's completely different and not so easy once the bow is in your hand, will you show me an actual shot?" Daryl nodded and picked up the bow and bolt, pointing the bow downwards on a forty-five degree angle, he place the knock on the knocking point and letting the shaft rest on the arrow rest, followed the step, stance, pre-draw, then draw to anchor aim and release, then the follow-through, the bolt was almost on the centre of the target, Beth smiled and Daryl not satisfied picked up another bolt and repeated the steps again the bolt found the target perfectly now. He turned to her, "Now your turn Blondie, for reals"

Beth took the bow from Daryl into her Left hand, taking the stance like her showed, she balanced her weight back and forth at first, getting a feel. Then practicing her grip, lifting the bow up and down a little getting used to the weight and feel, she shifted her grip till she felt for what Daryl had meant about that juicy spot under her thumb it sat nicely in just into the crease, nodding to herself, now she was testing the her arm extension and understood what he meant about the string not hitting her arm, but it was only a slight adjustment, next she tested her draw arm, testing the weight of the pull, Beth nodded and drew her arm in the draw movement back and forth keeping hold of the string, replacing the string and preparing to draw thin air in practice, she moved to the release, again practicing the movement with repetition.

Daryl watched her, as all things he had seen Beth do, she was calculating and methodical, she was a quick study and retained the knowledge he had giving her, he figured if she was going to have any problems it would be getting used to drawing with her back, and the release, the release is what threw most people off their aim. Daryl continued to silently watch her and she nodded at him, he picked up a bolt for her, she put the knock to knocking point, Beth followed the steps again, stance, check, the excitement started to build with each step she followed through, grip, check, pre-draw, check, draw, check, her heart beat faster, Beth had to gently ease the string back into its original position, Daryl was confused and Beth started to laugh uncontrollable, cupping her right hand over her mouth, "Beth what's wrong?" Beth raised her right hand for him to stop talking, she took a few deep breaths and regained control, "I'm sorry Daryl, I just needed to compose myself, I got a little too excited running through the steps, the excitement became a little too much for me, I'll be fine after the first shot, I used to get like this for exams, anytime I put a lot of pressure on myself, I've been known to giggle in the most inappropriate times", Daryl nodded, "Would it help if I turned around the first time", Beth shook her head, "Nah, it's not serious like that I'm more like a pressure cooker that needs to blow of a lil steam, I'm fine really, but that was sweet of you to offer, I'm ready now"

Beth followed the steps quickly, she drew, anchored to the corner of her mouth, she tried a few other places, but Daryl was right the corner of her mouth felt more natural and helped her keep her elbow level. She aimed, following down the bolt, the tip aimed at the centre of the target, she released, the bolt flew and hit just outside the round target landing still on the square target itself, but not inside the target she wanted, Beth grunted in disappointment and Daryl whistled "good stuff" She looked at him in disbelief and Daryl laughed at her, "Oh Blondie, did you actually think you would hit the target your first time?" Daryl was actually clapping his hands and laughing at her, "You're fucking adorable sometimes" He pointed at the target not giving her a chance to sass him "Get to it Blondie" Handing her another bolt "Your release needs to be better, also relax on the grip on the bow, you don't got to hold it so tight, you will find it helps with your aim, you form is good, you're a natural. Now again!"

Beth set up shot, after shot, after shot, and Daryl kept barking 'again!' at her till they ran out of bolts on the floor, He then ran to the end of the target and collected the bolts, and so the drill restarted, after a while she made it inside the outer circle of the target, Daryl barking "Nice, now again!", they then kept repeating the process, then he was jogging down to the target again collecting bolts. Daryl instructed her to roll her shoulders and neck while he played fetch and so they repeated the process over and over again, after over an hour he instructed her to stop, Beth frowned, and Daryl said it was time to eat, they went outside for fresh air, there was a stray walker but Daryl took care of it with his crossbow quickly. They sat on the steps of the building enjoying the sun and eating the food Daryl had pack for them, it was nice to just sit outside and enjoy the heat, but after sitting there for half an hour they went inside as Beth felt her skin starting to tingle in the direct sunlight.

They laid on the floor of the target room staring up at the ceiling talking more about archery, she asked him about when he was learning, how he got into it, him mentioning something about needing to be alone in his teens and Merle dumping him off at an archery club when he wanted some time alone with ladies, the guy that owned the club owed Merle for some dodgy jobs he did for him. Merle also thought it would be a good manly hobby for him. Beth smiled and they continued chatting, after an hour Daryl helped her up and the continued the practice, Beth joked calling him 'Drill sergeant Dixon', they continued for another hour till Daryl called it quits, Beth gave an 'Awwe' not ready to end and Daryl offered her one more round and told her that her back and arms would be tender tomorrow, on the way out he grabbed all the bows he could find in the store and behind the counter as well as another target for Beth, this time a square target, he looped and tied it to his the back of bike, only part of the point fitted in the saddle bag then rest had to be secured, the stand part he attached to the back of Beth's bike and then they set off home and a relaxing pace which was far too quick for walkers to catch them, they zigzagged through street like they did earlier that morning to throw the walkers off, did not wanting them turning up at their doorstep.

They reached home without minor incident, the target on Daryl's bike had to be re-attached and Beth stabbed a female walker in the eye, Daryl seemed confident that she was capable, he only aimed his crossbow as merely a precaution, he was not taking any chances, he had wanted her to practice taking down walkers without a fence between her and her target. When they had got home, he packed away the bikes placed both bows and bolts on the table downstairs and Beth started to take down the jerky and unhook the paperclips, she was collecting the dried meat in the scoop of her t-shirt and Daryl brought out a container for her to place the pieces in, it did not take long to remove it all and Daryl started unhook the string lines and roll them up for re-used, "You know Beth, I seen a retractable washing line a few streets away in one of the places I picked, I could unscrew it and replace it back here if you wanted." Beth smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek, "You're my hero Mr Dixon". Daryl followed her inside and watched her cute ass sway in front of him, she carried the container upstairs and placed it on the counter, grabbing a piece of jerky for them each to try. "What you think Daryl?" Daryl smiled and nodded, "I like it better without the sweet taste that jerky normally has, it tastes good, what you think?" She nodded back, "Yeah I like it, I know it has good proteins, but I'm thinking you could get thirsty from the all salt, so something to keep in mind, also I'm curious how the shelf life will pan out, I think it's an important factor".

It was still mid-afternoon when Beth peeled of her shoes and flopped on top of the bed covers lying sideways, the bottom half of her legs dangling over, Daryl followed. They lay side by side staring at the ceiling silently for a while then Daryl asked her about where she had found the box of condoms, Beth blushed, "At the store when we first came into Woodbury" Daryl was surprised, "On day one? Seriously?" Beth nodded, "I recall Maggie saying how hard it was to find them and figured it was valuable", "But why keep them next to the bed Beth, you could have stored them in the pantry?" Beth turned her face towards him, "I like 'like' you Daryl, a girl can hope and I rather be prepared" He turned to face her too, "I was not kidding earlier Beth, I won't be able to stop next time, so think about that before you poke the bear." She turned to stare at the ceiling again, "Don't worry about that Daryl Dixon, I thought about it plenty" Daryl starred at her profile for a few moments and saw she was being serious, then turned to stare at the ceiling, he reached for her hand and clasped her fingers softly. Half an hour later they were both breathing deeper, Beth was now laying on her side with her knees curled up and Daryl curled up behind her, with a possessive arm draped over her.

-To be continued in Chapter Eleven-