Last Ones Standing
Chapter 10
Daryl gently set Beth down and pulled his arm across his forehead, removing the sweat that clung to his body. He'd managed to get them as far away from Terminus as he could, they were in front of what he was hoping was an empty building. He sighed and looked at Beth. "I'm gonna go clear it out," he told her, checking her over to make sure she was okay. She nodded her head and smiled a bit. Daryl grabbed the knife he'd gotten from her and slowly walked inside, looking around. He didn't want to make a whole lot of noise and attract anything outside, not when Beth couldn't defend herself. Maybe he shouldn't have left her out there. As soon as he was sure there weren't any walkers inside he went back and picked up Beth, carrying her inside.
He quickly found some wood and built a fire. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Need my bow," he muttered looking around. "I'm gonna go see if I can find somethin' to eat." Beth nodded her head and moved a little closer to the fire, holding her hands out to warm up. Daryl sighed and stood up, kissing her head before walking back out, making sure he left the gun for her if she needed it, that, and he'd be able to hear a gun go off.
He slowly started to move through the woods. He was going to have to be careful, quiet, and when he actually managed to find something he was going to have to make sure his aim was right on. He watched a squirrel run across his path and held the knife carefully in his hand, tracking it with his eyes. He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and threw the knife, pinning the now dead animal to the tree. He managed to get three squirrels before he headed back to Beth.
"What are we going to do?" she asked as he started to clean the squirrels.
He sighed and looked at her. "I don't know. What do you want to do?"
She shrugged her shoulders, adding a few more sticks to the fire. "Winter's coming, we need to either prepare for it…or go south." She took one of the squirrels he handed her and skewered it before putting it over the fire. "Whatever we do, we can't stay here forever."
Daryl moved closer to her once he had the other two squirrels on the fire and pulled her onto his lap. "I'll think of something," he told her, kissing her hair. He had her back; he was going to keep her safe. South might not be a bad idea. They'd stay warm for most of the winter, hell, they might even be able to find a boat and hang out in the ocean for a while.
They were picking apart their dinner when the door opened. Daryl jumped up, grabbing the gun and holding it on the three people who walked in. "Told you it was people," he girl muttered, looking at the tall man.
"Who are you?" Daryl asked. He didn't trust people, not anymore. Beth stood up slowly and put her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm Abraham; this here's Rosita and Eugene." He put his gun down; trying to show Daryl they didn't mean any harm. "We smelt the fire and thought maybe we could bunker down here for the night."
"And hoping you had some food," Rosita added.
Daryl sighed a little as Beth put pressure on his arm to lower his gun. He didn't understand how she could still be so damn trusting. After everything that had happened to them, it just didn't make any sense to him. "There's one squirrel left," he told them, walking over to the fire, pulling Beth with him. He sat back down and pulled her back into his lap as the others joined them at the fire.
"Who are you?" Rosita asked.
"I'm Beth, this is Daryl," Beth answered, adding some wood to the fire to make it bigger for their guests.
"Where ya'll headed?" Abraham asked as he pulled the squirrel out of the fire and handed it to Eugene who ripped a good piece off and handed it to Rosita.
"Dunno yet," Daryl answered. "We were thinkin' south for the winter."
Abraham laughed. "Like a couple of love birds?" He shook his head. "If ya'll don't have anywhere to go you could come to D.C. with us, we could use the extra man power."
"What's in D.C.?"
Abraham smirked a little. "Eugene here knows how to cure all of those godless sons of bitches walkin' this good earth." Beth and Daryl both turned their heads, staring at the man who was picking apart a squirrel, eyes wide and mouth open. "He's sort of a genius."
Beth shook her head. "You mean they can be cured?"
Eugene sighed. "Well, cure is one way to put it. They'll go back to being human, but most of 'em got wounds too great to keep 'em livin' they'll most likely all die."
"Could it cure our blood?" Daryl asked.
Eugene nodded his head. "It should."
Beth looked up at him, hope renewed in both of their eyes, something they hadn't felt in a long time. She nodded her head slowly. Daryl looked up at Abraham. "We're in."