This chapter didn't take me long at all to write, actually. Hopefully you enjoy it, and don't forget to review!
Daryl stood looking at the bathroom floor, fist clenching and unclenching. He knew Carl was staring at him, but that was the least of his concerns right now. He had hurt Beth; the last thing he wanted to was to hurt her. "Are you gonna go after her?" Carl asked quietly. He had the least clue what was going on between Daryl and Beth, but it seemed bad.
Carl could only imagine the issues she was going through from seeing her father slaughtered like that. Daryl raised his eyes to look at Carl. His wrists were still stained bloody. He would have to ask him about all that blood and worry about if he was infected later. Beth needed him, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
She might not be safe in this state. Daryl knew there were still walkers around the mall and with her crying her eyes out she was vulnerable. Daryl nodded once to Carl and turn and ran out of the bathroom. Beth was harder to track. She was not tracking around bloody footprints and there was no natural signs to go off of.
He was going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. He stopped for a moment to listen to see if he could hear her cries. He heard her soft sobs radiating from somewhere. She couldn't have got far, but he knew she was still on this floor and still in the mall. It was a start. Daryl darted forward, scanning the area around him as he ran. "Beth?" He called out.
Upon hearing him call out her name, Beth's cries intensified. It only tipped off Daryl to her location. She was leaning against the opposite side of the mall's map, curled up in a ball, head still in her hands. He stood and watched only for a moment; his heart breaking even more in two.
He leaned against the map, alerting Beth of his presence. He slid down the length of it, sitting down beside her. He didn't touch her, not yet. "Beth, we need to talk," he said.
She lifted her face out of her hands, tears streaking down her face. Beth knew she was an ugly crier. She's seen herself cry before. Her face scrunches up, wrinkled chin and the bags under her eyes get puffy – a sight for sore eyes. "I don't know if I can forgive you right now," she said, getting right into it. "You left me here."
"Yah know I woulda came back," he started.
"You coulda got bit. Where would that have left me? Yah know I can't survive this world by myself, I would have been left waiting for you to just not return," she said, wallowing. A stray tear rolled down her cheek as she talked. Daryl reached out and wiped it away with his thumb.
He sighed. "You know that ain't true, Beth. Yah saved me today. All by yerself." He was trying to turn the situation around, make her stop crying. He couldn't stand to see her cry. Beth was shaking her head, still not believing him.
She wiped away at her tears again, staring at him. She couldn't resist herself. She fell forward into his arms, head resting against his chest so she could hear his heartbeat. "Daryl, those signs…" she started. "They could attract other people rather than just Carl. Have yah thought about that?" She asked.
She wanted to see his face, but she didn't dare pull back from him. She knew this was hurting him as much as it was hurting her. He tightened his arms around her. He had thought about it. He thought about the group from the rest stop. There had to be more of them. "I was hoping that Carl would arrive first," Daryl said, kissing her hair.
"We can't stay here," Beth said. She was scared. After what happened within the last week, she was shocked to the core. She almost lost Daryl, she had lost Maggie, Glenn, her father and now Rick. She couldn't stand to lose either Carl or Daryl. "We have to leave."
She started to get up, but Daryl held her close still. "Not so fast. We still have stuff to talk about. Like about Carl being here," he started. Beth pulled back only a little to look at him. Her brow furrowed. "He's not going to get between us… is he?" Daryl asked.
Beth shook her head, raising a hand to cup his cheek. He closed his eyes for a moment, reveling in her touch. "We can't tell him," she said. He nodded, understanding. He knew that Carl had developed a little crush on Beth at the time they were at the prison. He might not take kindly to Daryl feeling up Beth all this time.
"I still want you," he said, leaning forward to kiss her, but paused against her lips; giving her the slightest touch. "Am I forgiven?" He asked.
Beth nodded. "But don't do it again. Please," she begged. Daryl only answered by kissing her passionately, fingers winding in her hair. It might be the last kiss they could share for awhile. One that they wouldn't have to hide.
Beth crumbled in his arms. She knew she couldn't stay mad at him forever. He knew he had to be honest from now on. He should have told Beth his intentions and they would never had to go through this small hiccup. They broke apart upon hearing Carl approach. Daryl stood, helping Beth to her feet. "Is everything good now?" Carl asked, taking in the scene before him.
Daryl nodded. Beth wrapped her arms around her chest and nodded as well. "What about you?" Daryl asked. "Yah came in here looking like yah showered in blood. Yah bit?" He asked, hoping he didn't sound too gruff.
He lowered his head, but shook it then. "Nah, I'm fine. I just had a hell of a time getting here. I had a car, but it ran out of gas just as I was passing by a herd on the highway," Carl explained to Beth and Daryl. They shared a glance.
"We came by that horde, too," Beth told Carl. She shivered at the time spent living on the side of the highway. "They got Glenn. He's dead. So is Maggie. We don't know about anybody else." Carl looked as if he had seen a ghost. He was sure that everyone had survived. The group was strong.
He lowered his head again, the brim of the hat shielding his face. He could have saved Glenn if he just stopped and helped. He would carry that burden on his shoulders forever; he couldn't forgive himself. He looked back up, Beth and Daryl both staring at him. "Have you got lots of supplies?" He asked. "I'm kinda hungry. I don't mean to be rude," he said.
Beth waved her hand at him, cutting him off. "Carl, don't talk like that. Our supplies is your supplies," Beth said. Together, all three of them made their way back upstairs into the Bass Pro. Carl's eyes almost glazed over at the sight of the stuff Beth and Daryl had acquired.
They were doing well for being on their own, he wasn't going to deny it. He was almost jealous, but he had no reason to be – this was his stuff now, too. Beth opened a can of beans for him, handing him a fork. Carl let the hunger get to him and he downed it in minutes. "Let's hope that doesn't come back up," Daryl said. Carl nodded, hoping too.
Next time, he would remember to ration it slowly. His stomach wasn't used to having food in it for a few days. He would have to slowly accustom to having food again. He scraped the insides of the can out with the fork, licking off the juices. "Where did you go after the prison collapsed?" Carl asked, sitting down on the floor across from Beth and Daryl.
"Well first we found this development, stayed there for a day and then moved on. We didn't wanna stay in one place for too long, we wanted to keep looking. We went back to the prison, where we found Maggie turned," Beth said, her voice turning grave.
Carl shivered at their story. He wondered if Beth had to put her down like Carl had to do to his parents. Beth was stuck in her thoughts after uttering Maggie's name again. She hugged her knees. Daryl continued on for her. "We then came across a rest stop, tourist stop kinda thing. Ran into some trouble there with another group. Stayed there for awhile until we came across the bus. That's where we found Glenn, he hadn't turned yet but he was infected."
Carl closed his eyes as he listened to him retell their tale. Daryl finished telling him how they ended up at the mall and about Dillon. Beth thought Carl would have liked Dillon. Carl thought his story was bad, but Beth and Daryl had been through a hell of a lot more than he had. He could only think about the rest of the group and what they were going through. He shivered again. "Beth and I decided we're going to move on. Those signs are going to attract a lot of attention, other people were bound to see them," Daryl said.
"We'll leave in the morning? Before anything else can happen?" Carl asked and Daryl nodded.
"I saw this place has a travel agency. There's bound to be a whole slew of information on the places around here. Maps and other possibilities of where we can go," Beth chimed in, her silence short lived. Daryl looked at her approvingly.
They stood, agreeing to ransack the travel agency. It was only a few doors down past the liquor store where Beth had gotten drunk. Before heading in, everyone situated their weapons. Daryl loaded his crossbow and swung open the door to the travel agency.
Everyone waited a few moments before Daryl instructed Carl and Beth to start looking while he stood watch for a few moments. Beth tucked her revolver into her waistband as she moved to the closest desk to root through it. Carl did the same. On top of the desk Beth was investigating was a map already laid out, black circles drawn over it along with crosses.
One of the circled areas was labeled "Alexandria Safe Zone." Beth grasped the map in her hand. "Guys, I think I found something," she called out softly. She didn't want to draw more attention to them than they needed if there were walkers in the store. Carl was instantly at her side, looking over her side. Beth pointed to the designated area for the Alexandria Safe Zone. "We could make it there," she said.
Though, from the looks of it, the safe zone looked as if it were several states away. It would take awhile to get there and the promise of safety wasn't even guaranteed. But it was the only lead they had. Beth knew how the map had gotten there. It was from Dillon and his mother. Beth wandered if she had gotten bit in this room.
Beth sidled up to Daryl, map in hand and showed him, brushing up against his shoulder. The little touches were what mattered now. "Washington D.C. is far off, Beth," he said looking to her eyes.
She nodded. "I know. We've made it far enough as it is, I think we can do it," she said. Daryl nodded, turning back to keeping watch. Just then, he heard the telltale sound of a hiss – a walker. It rounded a bookshelf and shambled towards them. It had a shaved head and empty eye sockets with blood cascading from the hollow spaces. Beth turned away as Daryl put it down.
He retrieved his arrow, wiping the blood off on his pants. "Let me see that map," he said, slinging the crossbow across his back. Beth held out the map to him and he studied it closely. Carl and Beth shared a glance. "We could do it. Straight shot from the Appalachian Trail. It starts not too far from here. We could go along it until we hit Maryland and break off from it," he said, folding the map along the creases. "We'll leave in the morning."
"Sounds like a plan," Carl said, raising his brows. Things were starting to look up for him despite the fact that he had lost his father. He would have loved to have gotten his father to the safe zone. But now that he thought about it, Rick was in a far more safe place than Carl could ever find in this world.
Now, I hope you don't think I'm letting them off the hook that easy! (;