Hey all! I hope you're still into this despite the long wait.
"That's…that's what you got?" Daryl could feel his ire raising. What the hell was he supposed to do with this girl? "Run? Where to exactly?"
Merle shrugged and offered no suggestions except a half-hearted mention of Martinez. Daryl scrubbed his hand over his face, exasperated. Okay great. Now what?
"Times up." The officer announced. Merle got out of his seat and followed the officer without another word.
Beth struggled to keep up with him as he descended the building steps. A thousand questions were on the tip of her tongue, yet she lacked the courage to say anything.
Daryl leaned his elbows against the hood of the truck, and buried his face in his hands. Of all the god damn ridiculous things in his life he had to put up with…Damn his brother, damn this girl, damn her brother.
"So…" Beth began hesitantly, "so, like what do we do? I mean, do we leave town? I don't even know how that works. I don't know what I'm gonna tell my dad…Maggie…" she trailed off not knowing what else to say.
He looked at her warily. "Just…. Let's go."
Caesar Martinez sighed while lifting a chair back onto its legs. He wouldn't even be here so early in the day, but his wife insisted they open up before noon. He tried to tell her nobody came in that early unless it was a few alcoholics that demanded a drink and maybe trouble when most people were on their way to work. After the ruckus this morning, he'd be sure to tell her 'I told you so' when he got home.
After righting the chair, he grabbed a towel to clean up the broken glass Merle's girlfriend had thrown at him. If it weren't for some long-held loyalty to his Army buddy, he would have thrown that guy out long ago.
But he didn't, which is why Hatlin's had become the de facto meeting place for Merle and his drug buddies. Now he was privy to all sorts of shit that was going down, despite his desire to steer clear of it all, but the extra cash they'd slid to him to keep his mouth shut helped ease his conscience.
Martinez squinted at the daylight when the door opened. Of course it was another Dixon.
"Daryl." Martinez said, leaning against the bar. He lifted an eyebrow at a tiny, young thing that trailed behind him. What made chicks flock to these two redneck brothers was totally lost on him.
"Hey, man." Daryl crossed his arms over his chest. "Merle's locked up." Martinez knew it would come down this.
"Yeah. I'm the one who called."
Daryl narrowed his eyes at him, but before he could ask why, Martinez volunteered. "You know him and that skanky bitch he brings in here. I can't have them throwing shit and fighting in here, man. This is a business."
Daryl sat down at the bar. "I know. Look, I need some help. I know you know all about Merle's trouble right now." Martinez had rounded the bar and began absently wiping glasses with his back turned to them. "Thing is, I got Tomas lookin' around and since we aint gonna be able to pay off the motherfucker, I need-"
"Yeah," Martinez interrupted. "Tomas s' been by right after he left your place. Wait," he darted around and nodded at Beth who was standing uncomfortably behind Daryl, "are you Daryl's crossbow girl?"
"What?" She blushed, "I…yeah, I guess I am." She looked to Daryl for an explanation, but he just shrugged.
Caesar smiled, "Yeah…oh shit!" He put the glass down and leaned over the bar. "Girl, you had them shaking in their boots. You want something to drink? On the house."
Beth stammered. Why not? She could have a drink in an actual bar. "I-"
"No, she don't," Daryl answered gruffly. She turned to glare at him. When he had decided to be her chaperone, she wasn't sure. Instead of saying anything smart back she huffed onto the stool next to him.
Martinez chuckled. "Oh man. You know that asshole Allen? He was so worked up. You shoulda seen him. Stomping around here, cursing your name." He shook his head, clearly still amused.
"Yeah, well that's the problem," Daryl lit a cigarette. "He's gonna be after my ass and hers too. Look, Merle told us we need to hide out. Think we should? Hell, you know more'n me about this. "
"Man, I don't know shit."
Daryl squashed his cigarette into the clean ashtray in front of him. "C'mon. I just need to know if we gotta bail is all."
"Wait." Beth sat up straighter and directed her attention to Daryl. "What about my brother? Aren't they gonna be after him, too?"
"Who's your brother?" Martinez asked. The girl in front of him seemed clean and polite. Not usually the sort to be mixed up in this business. But, family is family and you don't get to choose whom you're related to.
"Shawn. Shawn Greene. You know him?" Her blue eyes got big, but he still didn't know who she was talking about. "He…um…mighta come in here looking for Merle."
He's thinking of all the people that come looking for Merle, but none stood out. A housewife occasionally, but other than that it's pock-marked tweakers…except- "Oh, wait. College aged kid, yeah? I know who he is."
Beth knew it was bad, but picturing the boy who once taught her how to fire a slingshot at trees and made her giggle at his impersonations of their pastor wasn't the same man who wandered into bars looking for drugs.
"Nah. They aint gonna bother him. Not high enough on the food chain," Martinez offered. "Now, his brother," he said pointing to Daryl, "yeah. You? If you were seen with him? Yeah."
There was an odd ringing in her ears. To her, time slowed and the weight of everything compounded all at once. She would have to leave. Shawn and everybody else would be fine, but she really did have to leave everything behind for however long.
This is as real as it gets.
Beth was vaguely aware the two men were talking to each other, but she couldn't focus on what they were saying. The enormity of it all had somehow failed to register with her.
The stool next to hear screeched a bit as Daryl got up, mumbling something about "takin' a piss."
"Hey" Beth looked up to see Martinez staring at her. "I'm not going to tell you what to do, or whatever but just be careful, okay? I know you girls love yourselves a little bad boy action-"
"Oh! It's, um. It's not like that." She could feel the burning in her cheeks and tried to find the words to say what it was like.
Martinez shrugged. "Whatever it is. Be careful. 'S all I'm saying."
"Beth. C'mon." She turned to find Daryl standing with the door open, waiting for her. She smiled at Martinez before hopping off the stool.
They hadn't said much to each other on the way back to his house, but Beth had plenty to think about as she drove home. There was a constant undercurrent of fear and panic and all sorts of things she didn't know how to handle, but reality gave her little sympathy.
After tossing Maggie's phone onto her bed, Beth made her way to her own room. She sat on the edge shuffling her feet, trying to come up with excuses as to why she had leave home for a while. The actual truth was tempting, but not enough to say it.
She sighed and looked at the clock on her dresser. Her father would be home soon for lunch. She stood up to make her way down to the kitchen when something caught her eye.
$300. Not too bad, huh?
She picked up the note and found a stack of money ranging from a few crisp twenty-dollar bills to grubby, crumpled five-dollar bills. Maggie and Shawn must have already come back from the pawnshop.
The bills were clutched in her hand as she made her way down to the first landing. "Maggie? Shawn?" There was nothing but silence. She wandered into the kitchen, but still didn't find anybody.
Beth stood and looked down at the money and a plan hit her like a ton of bricks.
I won't need to explain, if there's no one to explain to.
She darted back upstairs and threw a few belongings in a backpack. Hastily writing a couple notes left on the pillows of her family, she crammed the money in her back pocket, and slung the backpack onto her shoulders. Thinking better than to take the Bronco, she decided to walk to Daryl's. The sooner they left, the sooner they could come back. And the sooner she could put all this behind her.
Without any preamble, the door to the trailer was flung open.
"I figured if we leave now, we'll have a week head start." She smiled up at him. "Can I come in? I walked all the way here."