It was a three days later, Beth and Daryl had left the safety of their new home and cycled to the prison first, there were less walkers around, but still too risky to venture too close. There was no sign of anybody, Beth waited as Daryl snuck off his bike towards one of the walls and started to use a can of orange spray paint " Hershel's Murderer's place", Beth frowned reading her father's name, when he was climbing back onto his back a couple stray walkers had started to walk toward them, so they quickly set off again, both continued down the road which the bus would have supposedly taken. Beth asked, "why ' Hershel's murderer's place' ?", Daryl replied, "Can't give up our location in case unfriendlies find it and come looking for us, needed something only our group would know", Beth nodded satisfied with his answer.
The guess to finding the bus paid off, but what they found was anything but rewarding, they approached carefully on foot, the back door was ajar and Beth knocked on the door and Daryl had his crossbow ready to shoot, there was no sound. Beth pulled the door open wider and a corpse dropped out, Beth recognised one of the Woodbury folk, she climbed into the bus and Daryl followed quickly behind, they checked the dead bodies, some were dead walkers some were just people that had gotten killed before turning. Beth stumbled out the bus a few minutes later, bending over for air, Daryl was at her side, his hand on her back, she straightened, Daryl was sure she would have been crying, but she had no tears in her eyes, she pressed herself to him for a hug and he held her close while she whispered in his ear, "I'm feel so guilty, cause I feel is relief, they were part of the prison, but they were not 'our' people, Daryl", He squeezed her tighter to him in understanding, she breathed in his smell and sighed her body relaxing against him.
They were back on the road for a couple more hours till they entered into a small suburban area, Daryl suggested that they should stop there for the night if it was relatively safe, so they decided on a quick walk around the neighbourhood, hiding their bikes behind a garage in a back yard, they continued from there on foot. They passed about nine houses when Beth spotted Michonne's shirt hanging on the washing line, "Pssst!", she pointed and they quietly moved towards it, Beth whispered, "Daryl, its Michonne's, I recognise it." Daryl looked at the house and move suspiciously towards the back porch, through the glass panel on the top half of the door, there he saw a dead body, it was down the hall lying face down at what looked to be the bottom of a staircase. He slowly slipped in, and Beth was surprised he did not tap, she knew something was different.
The house was quiet, and Beth followed him silently with her knife ready in hand, they cleared the bottom floor, looked like a few people had been there, there was all sorts of mixed prints, Daryl came back around to the bottom of the stairs and checked the body, it had recently become a walker, Daryl saw no bite marks, he went up the stairs and had a look around, Beth still following closely, they got to the bathroom and Daryl noted the open window with a man's boot prints on the sill leading out onto the roof, he recognised it almost instantly, Daryl pointed Beth to it and whispered, "it's Ricks", Beth looked excited, she noted the mess of the bathroom, clearly a struggle had taken place in there, slowly a picture formed and Beth voiced it, "You think Rick killed that guy down there and snuck out the window?" Daryl nodded, "I think so, let's check outside for tracks".
They were outside and Daryl saw where the tracks started, the shuffling sideways prints and the little further a fresh cigarette butt, Rick did not smoke, he must have been hiding, then the prints seemed to leap forward into deep indentation indicating a jog or run, they met up with two smaller sets, they all set off in a run, Daryl pointed the direction, close by Daryl noted, five more large prints following into the same direction. Beth broke his concentration, "What do you see Daryl?", he explained pointing what he saw to Beth, she was in admiration of him, it really was clever how he could see that, and now that he was explaining it to her, it made more sense and she saw what he meant, she looked up curiously in question, "the smaller sets with Ricks, Michonne's and another women?" Daryl shook his head , "Nah, it Carl's, I know that cocky footprints anywhere.", Beth became excited "Oh my god Daryl, that's three of our people that has made it out." Daryl had a pensive look on his face and Beth stilled watching, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, "what is it Daryl?" "There's five sets following them, you can tell they are being tracked, here and by this set here, I recognise it, it's how I sit on my haunches for closer look, not placing my heels on the ground." She was worried "oh jeez!, now what? Daryl we can't set up camp tonight we got to keep moving and catch up with them". He nodded in agreement. They made there way back to their bikes quickly, Daryl laying out a plan how they were going to track them on the bikes. The direction of all the tracks were following the rail line, that's when they saw the sign for a sanctuary called terminus, it gave Beth a bad feeling in her stomach. If rick's group were only a couple days ahead they could catch up quickly, Daryl figured they were heading to the sanctuary.
Beth and Daryl were grateful for the full moon, it gave them some light to cycle along the path that ran next to the rail tracks, Daryl had attached a small light to the front of his bike, to make sure they did not ride into any potholes. They stopped after a few hours and moved to the top of the rails, climbing the rail embankment, they would hear walkers if that tried to climb up as stones made a bit of noise. They rested for a short nap for roughly three hours, Daryl assumed was about five am, they had a quick bite and were on the track again, Beth asked him the question, "It's obvious we will reach the five men first Daryl, what's the plan?" Daryl slowed his speed and stopped till she was next him, "I thought about this a bit, but I don't have a solution, I can't say what they will be like, but I'll guess Rick killed their friend and they are pretty pissed wanting revenge, that tracker knows a women is with rick, that won't bode well, if groups are all male most the time the women is passed around like a piece of meat, I'm assuming the worst and so should you, those sorts usually prey on weak and would usually only accept liked minded sorts, I want you to imagine rough lots, worse than Merle, there are more bad people out there than good, when the time comes Beth you make sure to aim well with the bow, I don't wanna put you in danger, but I know as it is our family you would push me do something, we are gonna have to play it by ear." Beth nodded in agreement, she was with him all the way. she placed her hand on his cheek "You're a good man Daryl Dixon, I care about you, we all care about you" Beth leaned up and kissed him affectionately, Daryl had ever been kissed that way before, it was a sweet kiss, something else, this was definitely different and it made his chest tighten, when they broke the kiss, Beth smiled up with sparkling eyes Daryl whispered, "I care about you too… and everybody else too" Beth let out a cheerful chuckle. "You better and no heroics either Mr Dixon, I got some plans and can't have you messing them up." He raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah, that so?" She smirked, "Yeah, you promised me a retractable washing line and as well as some other things that need taking care of." Daryl chuckled and started onwards again. "Well, yes mam!"
It was mid-morning when Beth asked to stop she was wanting to hop into the bushes to relieve herself, she was buttoning her pants when a rough pairs arms snaked around her, one hand with dirty fingers covered her mouth and foul breath could be smelt over her shoulder, it turned her stomach, the other hand started groping her breasts and cupping her crotch, a sinister voice laughed into her ears. "Your Len's little pet now, I'm gonna fuck you six ways from Sunday", Beth did the only thing she could and bit down on the Len's hand and headbutted his face hard with the back of her head, she was sure she heard the bone in his nose break, he cried out in pain breaking his hold and this gave her the chance to run. Beth was fast and when she tore out of the treeline, Daryl knew something was wrong, he already had his crossbow in hand and hers ready to grab when she was next to him.
-To be continued in Chapter Twelve-