My muse is really with this story right now.

…

Chapter Eleven. Storm.

Daryl stood in the backyard, staring up at the sky, not moving. He had been out there for some time now, taking note of the wind and the direction it was blowing from and the near-eerie yellowish shade of the sky. Anna had seen him standing there when she had woken up and had come outside to use the outside and when she came back out again, she saw him still standing there. She went to go stand at his side. She looked up at him and then followed his eyes to the sky.

"It looks weird," Anna commented, referring to the sky. The yellow looked as if it was slowly taking on a green hue now.

"Yeah," Daryl answered, softly and shortly, his eyes never moving away from it. "Do me a favor. Go back inside and tell everyone we're havin' a meetin'."

Anna didn't ask any questions. If Daryl was calling a meeting, it was not to be questioned. He gave her a job to do and the little girl ran off to go do what he wanted. Daryl stood out for a few minutes more, his frown growing deeper as he smelled the change in the air. This was going to be a bad one.

He turned and went inside to see that Anna had gathered everyone and they were all now in the family room, waiting for him. They all looked at him as he came in and remained silent.

"Beth and Aaron, get those buckets from the garage and start transplantin' some of the plants from the garden we need," he said. "The corn and tomatoes and potatoes and anythin' else. Your lavender, too."

Beth and Aaron nodded.

"Spencer, get the chickens and goats down in the basement, but, uh, make sure the goats go to the bathroom first."

Spencer nodded.

"Anna, start carryin' everythin' in the pantry and cabinets down to the basement," Daryl continued. "And everyone else, when you finish what you're doin', you help her. We gotta make sure our kitchen is clear."

Everyone nodded.

"Rosita, I wan' you to get the herbs in the livin' room and all of your sewin' stuff and the books, quilts and candles from the rooms and records and take it all in the basement and then make sure that anythin' that can be ruined in water is up off the floor."

Rosita nodded.

"You think we're going to get flooded?" Beth asked, her voice quiet and her eyes slightly widened with worry.

Daryl didn't answer right away. His eyes drifted out the window for a second – seeing the tone of the sky – before looking back to the others. "I think we're not goin' to have a good day," was all he said.

They all got to work after that. They all began seeing to their tasks that Daryl had assigned to them and Daryl went out to the garage to collect the gas cans and the tools they had found and collected over the years. He didn't know how much time they had or when the storm was going to hit, but he did know that it was going to be a bad one. They had had a few storms over the past few years, but there was something in the air about this one. Daryl wanted them to be as prepared as possible and save as much as they could because they had built this house to what it was today and if anything happened, he didn't know if they would be able to rebuild, replace and repair everything that was ruined.

In the back of his mind, he doubted it.

After he cleared everything out of the garage and Spencer had gotten their animals down into the basement, they carried the corn sheller and corn grinder down the steps into the basement as carefully as they could. Rosita was down there, making room for everything because with all of their supplies from the kitchen being brought down and Beth and Aaron bringing buckets with their plants down with everything else, it was becoming nearly packed to the brim.

The rain began falling just as they were finishing – light, but cold and growing heavier with each passing second, and with it, it brought rolls of thunder and crashes of lightning. The goats let out nervous bleats and Aiden began to cry. It sounded so loud; as if the storm had broken out directly over their house. Boards had already been nailed over all of their windows yeas earlier so once everything they wanted in the basement was down there, they went downstairs as well and Daryl closed the door firmly behind him before following them down the stairs.

The wind howled and it felt as if the house was actually shaking. Rosita had kept the bed clear so they could all sit on it since there was no room anywhere else for them, and they all piled onto the bed now, except for Daryl, who stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at the door.

He didn't know how long this would last and he would often look over to his family. The other adults were trying not to appear nervous or scared – especially because Aiden was still crying, Rosita doing her best to comfort him, and Anna was whimpering every time a crash of lightning exploded over their heads. Beth wrapped her arms around the little girl and held her close and was murmuring words in her ear while wiping at her wet cheeks.

Daryl didn't know how long the storm lasted. To be honest, to him, it felt like it lasted forever. He stood, still and stiff, at the bottom of the stairs, staring up at the door, his fingers clenching the crossbow in his hands. They had never had a storm this bad. This sounded like a fucking mixture of a hurricane and a tornado and Daryl could only imagine what damage the storm was doing up there.

The goats were pacing nervously, bleating, anxious and scared, and Aaron leaned into Anna, whispering something in her ear. The girl sniffled and nodded and Daryl watched as she got off the bed, going to their two goats – their female, Lucky, and their male, George, which they had gotten from the mountain-man, Mulligan, and which Anna had named. Anna loved the goats and the goats seemed to love her and she went to them now. She did her best to calm them down now and also, it was hoped that the task would distract her as well from the storm outside.

"Sounds like it might be getting worse," Beth said, suddenly standing beside him.

Daryl moved his eyes from the door to look at her. She looked worried and sad and Daryl gave her a nod because there was no reason to deny it when they could all hear. She looked up at him, waiting for him to say something, but honestly, Daryl had no idea what to say right now. What could be said? It wasn't as if he could do anything about the storm. And it wasn't as if he could do anything while it was storming. All he could to was rub a hand on her back.

And then, as if someone had hit a mute button, everything went completely silent.

Well, at least outside, it was silent. Aiden was still crying and Rosita was still trying to shush him, but then, as he registered that the storm had stopped, the baby's cries began to subside as well. They all went still as they listened, but there was nothing to hear. Daryl then looked to Beth and the rest of them.

"Stay down here," he ordered them. "Stay," he then said in a softer voice to her and she took his place at the bottom of the stairs as he slowly ascended. He felt her eyes on his back and he was very aware of his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

Slowly, he opened the basement door, listening to the quiet creak the hinges made. He looked out the back patio door that they had shoved the kitchen table against. His stomach dropped to his feet when he saw the cherry tree in the corner of the yard and the back fence had been both knocked down. The rain had stopped, but the sky still had that greenish hue and everything was still so still and silent.

He closed the door behind him once again and headed back down the stairs, everyone looking at him for an answer. He just shook his head.

"Think 's the eye or somethin'," he said, remember having heard about eyes of hurricanes on the weather channel once and he figured that this is what this storm was. "Gotta keep stayin' down here." He looked to Beth and swallowed a sudden dryness in his throat. "Fence is down," he said.

Beth gasped and a hand flew to her mouth.

Aaron stood up from the bed. "How bad?" He asked.

Daryl shook his head. "Couldn' get a good look at it, but it's down. Other sides will prob'ly follow."

It wasn't something he could keep to himself, he knew that, but he still wished he could have kept it from them. Without a fence, they had absolutely no protection. He didn't know if it would be able to be rebuilt, but his mind was already racing with where they could go once the storm was gone. He didn't know if they could stay here anymore and he lowered his eyes, studying the floor so he wouldn't have to look at any of them right then. With the fence down, they were sitting there with their asses hanging out and having a fence these days was the most important thing to have.

The wind and rain began – pounding and howling – and Aiden's cries began again.

Daryl lifted his eyes enough to look at Beth. She was pregnant. They were having a baby. And the reason they had been somewhat alright with that happening – almost happy about that – was because they both had thought that as long as they were here, they were safe. But now, Daryl had no idea if they could keep being here. The storm wasn't done yet and who knew how much more damage it would bring down.

And it seemed as if someone decided to answer his question for him because just minutes later, there was a deafening crash from above their heads and Anna screamed. Daryl didn't have to see to know that the storm had just ripped the house's roof off.

…

The rain had stopped sometime in the late afternoon though the sun didn't come out. They could only guess the time. They were silent as they went up the stairs to look at the damage. Daryl had been right. Half of their roof was gone and the entire fence surrounding their backyard was in shards. The moats were flooded with water, beginning to slowly flood the grass. A couple of walkers were stumbling nearby and Daryl shot them with arrows before they could get close.

Beth looked at the damage. Gone. It was all gone. The outhouse had been ripped apart and the bucket within had been picked up and flung somewhere else. Inside the house, a tree branch had fallen through the back door and glass and rain soaked the table and floor. Everyone was quiet as they looked and took it all in.

Beth felt tears stinging her eyes. She and Daryl had found this house three years before and for three years, it had been their home. And it had been such a good home and they hadn't lost it to walkers or to other humans. But to Mother Nature. Beth knew there was nothing they could have done differently. They couldn't stop the weather and she knew that they had done everything they could have done.

But she had woken up this morning in hers and Daryl's bedroom, in their bed, beneath a quilt with a roof over her head and she had gone into kitchen to make breakfast, but Anna had come in then and said that Daryl wanted to have a meeting.

Her stomach let out a little grumble at the thought and Beth realized that none of them – except Aiden – had eaten since dinner the night before.

"Anna," Beth said the girl's name quietly. "Come and help me."

Anna didn't ask what the task was. She just nodded and walked from her bedroom, everything soaked with rain; nothing salvageable; nearly everything she needed being in the basement anyway.

Downstairs, the goats were gone, having taken outside, but the chickens remained. Beth went to plastic container where they kept the cracked corn for the chickens and without having to be told, Anna took it from her and went to go feed the animals. Beth then looked to the shelves that held all of their food. She didn't know if anyone was hungry, but they needed to eat. There was no reason to starve if they didn't have to. But since she didn't have a taste for anything, she couldn't decide what they should eat.

In the end, she grabbed a container of cinnamon tree bark that she had prepared and granola bars from one of the boxes they had taken from the extreme couponer's stash when they had found it.

Anna followed Beth up the stairs and they found the others in the backyard, surveying the damage. Her garden was flooded and destroyed, the fence was destroyed and there were random bits and pieces from one thing or another that had been whipped up in the wind and had been carried and dropped here.

Just like that, after three years here, it was all gone.

They stood there, eating granola bars and barks, all too lost in their own thoughts to say anything. There really wasn't anything to eat.

"Start packin'," Daryl then said and everyone looked at him and he looked back at them. "We can't stay here and we ain't goin' to. Start packin' up the truck and the Buick. This is how I wan' it to go. Aaron, Anna and Beth in the Buick with the goats in the back. Fill every inch of that trunk up with the food. We'll fill the bins up, too, and tie 'em to the roof.

"In the truck, 's me, Spencer, Rosita and Aiden. We're gonna pack the chickens in the bed first and then the grinder and sheller and then every single other thing we can."

Thank God for Daryl, Beth thought. Her mind wasn't thinking enough to even register the taste of what she was eating, let alone figure out an entire plan for them.

"Where are we going to go?" Spencer was the one to ask.

Beth wasn't at all surprised with Daryl's answer.

"Blue Ridge Mountains."

…

Thank God their vehicles had escaped the storm, undamaged. Beth had no idea what they would do if they hadn't.

It took them another hour to pack everything up, taking every single thing with them that they could. Spencer and Daryl tightly tied bins to the roof of the Buick with rope from their supplies and Beth had a lingering thought of going to cut down a Christmas tree and daddy and Shawn tying it to the roof of their car. She hadn't thought of anything like that in so long, it nearly startled her.

"No matter what happens," Daryl was saying to Aaron. "You stay behind me." Daryl then said something to him, too low for Beth to hear, but she knew that Daryl was probably saying something to Aaron about her.

Beth stood in the driveway, looking to the house. Their home. And she wasn't even going to blame the baby hormones on the tears that filled her eyes. She had already had so many daydreams of their baby, tucked against her chest as she gardened, and walking barefoot with the baby as they learned to walk in the grass and teaching them everything she knew about plants and flowers and the woods. She had been so happy – more happy than scared – on having a baby because she had stupidly thought that as long as they had a baby here, they would all be safe.

She felt Daryl's lips in her hair and she closed her eyes, exhaling a shaky breath. She leaned into him, her arms slipping around his waist, and she hugged him tightly.

"We gotta get goin'," he murmured to her and she nodded though she didn't move.

She wasn't ready to go yet and never see this house again. She closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest, but she didn't cry. She was honestly surprised she didn't. She thought of their baby slowly growing inside of her. What were they going to do? They couldn't be on the move like Lori had been while pregnant with Judith. They couldn't. They had to find another place. Going towards the mountains was as good a place as any. They could go see those from their first family, but in her mind, Spencer, Rosita and Aaron had left for a very good reason and Beth felt that maybe, going back to their first family was putting themselves in even more danger.

"We're gonna go talk with Mulligan," Daryl said, reading her mind. "We'll figure it out, Beth. You and me, we always do."

Beth nodded. She couldn't argue with fact.

Anna shared the front passenger seat with Beth and Aaron drove. Lucky and George seemed fine with being in a car, both laying down in the back seat and going to sleep after having a just-as-stressful day as the rest of them. Rosita was sitting between Daryl and Spencer on the bench seat of the pickup truck, Aiden sitting in her lap. Daryl and Aaron looked at one another and Aaron gave him a nod. Daryl then looked at Beth and she tried so hard to give him a little smile, but she didn't know if she succeeded in forming one or not.

Daryl pulled from the cul-de-sac and Aaron followed behind. Beth used all of her strength to not look at the house behind them one more time. As they drove past the St. George sign at the subdivision's entrance, Beth felt tears building in her eyes and she closed them so she wouldn't cry in front of Aaron and Anna and she rested her head against the window.

She didn't expect to, but within minutes, she fell asleep.

…

The drive North took much longer, evidence of the storm following with them the entire way. At one point, they had to stop and with Anna holding Aiden, the rest pushed a fallen tree from off the road. When they finally reached the base of the mountain, next to the general store that Daryl and Aaron had first come across, Beth couldn't help but sigh with relief. They weren't there yet, but for the moment, they had made it far enough.

Parking in front of the what once had been a general store, everyone got out to stretch their legs and George and Lucky were let out to do the same. They didn't wander too far to go to the bathroom. Beth found the bin with the toilet paper for the girls and they took turns, going behind a tree.

By now, it was completely dark and judging by the position of the moon, Daryl figured it was probably around one.

"I'm gonna go up and talk with Mulligan. See if he minds if we crash with 'im for a couple of days 'fore we head out and find a new place," Daryl said. "If he don't wan' us to, we're just gonna stay here, in the store. Should be good enough for how long we're stayin' here."

Everyone was too tired to say anything, but they all nodded their heads.

"I'll come with you," Beth spoke up.

"Nah, Beth," Daryl immediately shot down – not to her surprise. "You're gonna stay here and rest up."

Beth ignored him and found her pack in the back of the pickup and went to the Buick, beginning to fill it with some food to take with them and a bottle of water.

"Be careful," Rosita said to her, handing her a sweater to take with her, and Beth nodded before they embraced in a quick, tight hug. She then hugged, Anna, Aaron and Spencer, gave Aiden, sleeping in his basket, a kiss on his head and she then swung the pack onto her back.

She looked to Daryl, silently daring him to argue with her, and he stared back for a moment before he made the wise decision in just sighing heavily, but saying nothing. With his crossbow, he handed her the solar-charged lantern and with one more look over her shoulder at their family, she followed Daryl into the trees.

They didn't talk with one another for a while. Daryl, every so often, would look over his shoulder, back at her, but she was keeping pace fine. She was tired, yes, but he was out of his mind if he thought she would let him go up this mountain without her. She had already done that once and though, now she knew Mulligan was harmless, she hadn't known that at the time. All she had known was that some crazy mountain man had her husband hostage and was demanding a peach pie for his release.

"What are we going to do, Daryl?" She asked, breaking the silence, surprising him.

He stopped and turned to look at her. The lantern created a haunting blue light around them. He didn't say anything; just waited for her to continue.

"All of our crops… we've saved some, but it's too late in the season to plant again and I don't know how the soil is around here and what if we don't have enough food?"

Daryl was quiet. He had spent the entire day, telling them plans and what to do, and she waited, letting him think it over before giving her a response.

"We'll figure it out, Beth," he finally said.

And she needed more. She needed to know exactly how they would be fine, but she knew Daryl couldn't give her that answer. He didn't know any more than she did.

She swallowed and nodded and Daryl slipped a hand to the back of her neck and pressed his lips to her forehead in a kiss.

"What you two doin' out here?"

Beth jumped and Daryl turned to see Mulligan, standing in the shadows, his shotgun in his hands, Mulligan's wolf-dog, Mick, at his side, his tail wagging upon seeing that the intruders on their mountain that night was them.

"Stop doing that, Mulligan," Beth frowned at him.

The man paused a moment and then broke into a smile.

Daryl turned towards him. "We need a favor. Was hopin' you could help us out."

"There was such an awful storm-" Beth began.

"Yep. Had a bit of rain and wind, but figured it was worse down below," Mulligan said. He looked them over and then looked behind them to see if there was anyone else. He looked back to him. "Where are your others?" He asked.

"Kept 'em down at the base. Didn' know if you would let us up," Daryl said.

"We won't stay long," Beth was quick to add. "We just need a safe place for a couple of days so we can think of what to do next."

"How many of you are there?" Mulligan asked.

"Five adults, one kid and a baby," Daryl answered. "Then we got our goats and chickens. If you don't wan' us, we're gonna stay in that general store."

That made Mulligan frown. He then looked to Beth.

"You got the stuff to make corn cakes?" He asked her.

Beth nodded. "I'll make you some honey ones tomorrow," she promised.

Mulligan didn't even think about it for a second after that. "Le's go get your cars, your people and get you up here and settled for the night."

…

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