Don't Own TWD
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing guys. I know it takes me forever to update each of my Bethyl fics but I'm trying to update all three as much as possible. Also, thank you all for your kind reviews and your love for this little world I made up inside of TWD. I wanted to update this new chapter asap so enjoy!
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TWENTY-ONE
Remaining Light
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Daryl didn't stop until his knees gave out from beneath him and he buckled to the ground right before the fork in the road. He panted heavily, catching his breath. His skin hot and sweaty against the early morning cold. It was almost impossible to guess which way the car had taken Beth; even if he followed the correct path, who knows what others they took.
Daryl inclined his head, his emotions ravaging inside of him. He felt a mixture of anger and desperation mingled with fear. His light at the end of the tunnel had been snatched and now there was nothing but darkness.
Daryl felt the little body stir against his chest and looked down into his arms to see Charlotte rousing from her sleep. She had managed to doze off after crying for what seemed like hours. Then again, Charlotte always found ways to sleep in the most uncomfortable situations.
Before she fully woke, Daryl looked around his surroundings trying to quickly think of what he was going to do. Charlotte was bound to wake up hungry and demand to be fed but all Daryl could think about was Beth's loss. He felt the lump in his throat and the tears that threatened to break. How could she be gone just like that?
"Fuck!" Daryl slammed his fist into the pavement.
Charlotte gave a little startle and started to cry.
"Shit…" He muttered and calmed her, "Ya stop that. Yer fine." He rubbed her back.
Charlotte gave two more cries followed by angry grunts until she silenced.
The sun was barely rising from behind the trees and the pines but remained hidden behind dark, gray clouds. Daryl listened to the crowing of a raven hidden between the greenery. He continued to listen for the sounds of incoming walkers but heard nothing, just the beating of his broken heart in his ears.
It took him another moment to gather himself. A part of him wanted to choose a road and keep running down it in hopes of finding Beth and getting her back but there was so much unknown down those two paths. Was she still alive? Was she unharmed? Was she somewhere safe? How many had taken her? Were they armed? Daryl felt hopeless to answer those questions.
The other part of him put the baby girl in his arms first. She was sure to start crying to be fed and Beth had only packed a bit of back up formula in her pack. Charlotte had only been breast fed in her entire six months of life; the formula had just been there in case of anything. Well, anything had happened and Daryl needed to act fast.
He placed the baby in her basket and calmed her until she remained calm. He stood to his sore feet and looked down one road and then the other.
He heard Charlotte coo and glanced down to the basket where she lay grabbing her feet.
Daryl leaned down and picked up the basket, "Looks like it's just you and me, kid."
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Charlotte's cries echoed through the woods, bouncing off trees in each and every direction, alarming anything close by. She kicked her legs inside the basket and balled her tiny hands into fists, frustrated that her cries were being ignored by her father who was trying his best to think amongst all the crying.
Finally, he set the basket down under a tree and rummaged through Beth's pack. "Gotta be here somewhere…" he muttered and rummaged until he found the empty bottle they had kept for any emergency. After, Daryl searched for the small tub of formula.
When he found the tub, he found it practically empty. It was then Daryl remembered that it had spilled out of Beth's pack when she had been taken.
"Fuck. That's just great…" He looked at the baby who looked back at him with a pout, "Gon' have to get ya more but till then yer just gonna have to make do."
Daryl mixed the formula in the bottle with the bit of water he had left. He vaguely remembered how Beth would do it for Judith back at the prison. Once the bottle was done, Daryl swooped Charlotte out of her basket and cradled her on his arm while he held the bottle with the other.
"Ain't what yer used to but it's all we got." He tried to insert the bottle in Charlotte's mouth but she wouldn't have it.
She moved her head in denial and whined. Daryl was sure that if she could talk she would be asking for Beth. Hell, he was asking for her too.
"Stop that. We ain't got all day." He scolded little Charlotte until she finally accepted the bottle.
She made a face at the taste of the formula but after a moment calmed down and glanced up at Daryl. Daryl sighed, "Better?"
Charlotte only continued to suckle the bottle but was not truly content. Daryl knew it wasn't the same for her. He had seen the close bond Beth had with her during her feedings and how content Charlotte seemed to be so close to her mother. A cold bottle wouldn't replace that. Needless to say, there was no use in being picky now. Charlotte had to get used to being without Beth. They both did.
When she finished the bottle, Charlotte fell asleep. Daryl laid her back in the basket and continued the journey through the woods. His main priority was to find more baby formula. Without it, Charlotte would soon starve.
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He knew taking her would be dangerous but he knew that leaving her would be also. Still, the risk to take her was too much. Daryl had scoped multiple roamers lingering around the street of the small town they had come upon. At the edge of the street was a gas station with a convenience store. There had to be some formula there. There just had to. So, he dug a rope out of his pack and swung it over one of the high branches of a sturdy tree. He then tied one end of the rope to the basket where Charlotte still slept in.
He looked down at the baby wrapped in his jacket and hated himself for abandoning her for a few moments. Taking her to raid the convenience store was too much of a risk. If she cried the walkers would be on them like flies on a carcass.
"Gonna be right back." He told her, "Ain't gon' leave ya. I promise." He stood up and pulled the other end of the rope carefully. The basket slowly lifted off the ground with every tug until it was out of reach. Daryl tied the loose end around the tree with a secure knot and glanced up to see the dangling basket.
He would be in and out of the store before she would wake.
Or so he hoped.
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Daryl emerged from behind the tree line with his crossbow in hand. The town was silent except for a few faint moans down the street. He aimed his weapon and moved forward. A sign that read "NO GAS" was plastered over the gas prices on the sign out front. Weeds had begun to grow out of the cracks on the pavement and dead leaves covered the ground.
Daryl made his way around back of the convenience store and jiggled the handle. It was locked shut. He tried the window and it was miraculously unlocked. He forced it open, poked his head to make sure the room was clear and climbed in.
He kept his crossbow aimed in front of him and made his way through the dusty back office. The room was covered in a thick layer of dust. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling and adorned the corners. The place had a funky smell, as if not even a single survivor had opened the door and come through. Daryl noted the high chair at the table and mumbled to himself.
Daryl whistled soft enough for the walkers outside to miss it but high enough so anything inside would appear. Nothing did.
"Where the hell are ya…" he whispered in search of the baby formula.
The shelves had mostly been picked clean but Daryl managed to grab a few lingering cans of food. He wasn't picky about any of them and took what he could. He then came upon the baby isle at the corner of the convenience store by the women's toiletries and condoms.
Daryl picked up a small pack of condoms and scoffed, "Coulda come in handy…" He joked to himself about that night, tossing the condoms aside. Of course he didn't regret having Charlotte but it was ironic in a way.
The baby shelves had been rummaged by not everything had been picked clean. Daryl found two remaining tubs of formula and stuffed them into Beth's pack where he would continue to keep Charlotte's things. Daryl also grabbed a pacifier, a small pack of diapers and talcum powder. He couldn't live through another one of Charlotte's diaper rashes.
Finally, he was all set. All he needed was to get back to his baby girl.
Suddenly, a heavy hand fell upon his shoulder. Daryl reacted quickly and elbowed whatever it was in the face. The roamer stumbled backwards, crashing against one of the shelves, sending bottles and boxes to the floor. It then stood itself back up and reached its hands out for Daryl.
Daryl kicked the corpse away a second time and pulled up his crossbow, shooting a single bolt through the walker's head. It fell limp to the ground. Drawn by the slightest sound, walkers began to make their way to the store; Daryl could hear their moans and raspy sounds approaching. He waited no longer and escaped out the window.
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Daryl quickly made his way through the woods but stopped when he heard crying in this distance.
"Shit!"
Charlotte's cries echoed through the forest alerting every living thing in the perimeter of her tiny existence. Walkers turned their heads and were immediately drawn to the sound like moths to a flame.
Daryl raced through the trees approaching the spot where he had left Charlotte dangling from the basket. The closer he got, the more walkers appeared. He held his crossbow in his hands, dodging walkers from left to right. He knew he shouldn't have left her alone. He knew it was a bad idea. But he had to risk it. Her life depended on the formula in convenience store.
Rotting hands reached out for him, snarling teeth snapped at his skin. Daryl pulled out his knife and stabbed at walkers when they got too close for his comfort. He stabbed a male walker in the head, its skull cracked when Daryl pulled out the knife. Rotten blood squirted out, spilling on the leaves below.
The closer he came to Charlotte's basket, the louder her cries became and more moans of the dead gathered.
Daryl took down a few more approaching walkers until he reached the perimeter. The basket was still dangling from the high branch but below it was a small hoard of walkers. There were at least a dozen of them, all reaching up towards the basket, trying in vain to reach the crying baby. Her hiding spot wasn't the best but at least it had been out of reach.
As soon as Daryl saw those biters surrounding his baby girl, he saw red. He put up his crossbow as he charged towards them. Bolts flew quickly through the air taking down the first few walkers in the crowd. When he was out of bolts, Daryl threw his crossbow to the ground and pulled out his knife, throwing it. It flew through the air crashing into the back of a biter's head. It went tumbling down without a beat.
A few of the dead turned at the commotion and darted towards him. Daryl reached behind him, pulling out his machete. He swung as the first walker with full force. The hit sliced right through the walker's face and its knees buckled beneath it.
The second walker tackled Daryl to the grunted; the weight of the dead pinned him against the forest ground. Daryl reached his hand out, his fingers searched desperately for a weapon, for anything. The walker tried desperately to bite a chunk out of Daryl's face with its yellow teeth. Its nose had fallen off as well as its lips and half of its face. Its remaining clumps of hair were grey and matted. It reeked something awful and Daryl felt the need to vomit but fought against it.
Another walker gave up on the infant's cries and took interest in the living archer struggling on the ground. Charlotte's cries escalated and became more desperate.
Daryl was able to grab hold of a rock and smashed it against the walker's face,
"Ya ugly sum'bitch."
The walker fell over letting Daryl reached into his boot where he pulled out a switchblade and threw it, striking the incoming walker between the eyes. He then jumped up to his feet and smashed the first walker's head in to the ground. Chunks of brain spilled on the forest ground.
Daryl wasted no time and retrieved his switchblade from the skull of a dead biter. With no hesitation he grabbed the closest walker by the shoulder, spinning it around and stabbing it from under the neck.
One by one the walkers dropped like flies around him and by the time Daryl was done, he was out of breath, panting.
He untied the rope and gently lowered the basket until it touched the ground. Charlotte lay inside, still wrapped in his jacket and unharmed. She looked positively peeved and Daryl felt guilty for leaving her.
"Shh, there, there, sweetheart. I got ya. I got ya now." He swooped her out of the basket and into the safety of his arms, "I ain't gon let nothin' happen to ya."
Charlotte complained and fussed, angry that she had been ignored for so long. She wouldn't stand for it and she was letting Daryl know.
"Already getting' attitude?" He asked, lifting her up in his arms and standing to his feet, "I said I was sorry."
Charlotte gave out a little sound that sounded much like a growl and looked around to the dead bodies on the ground. She then looked up and moved her head from one side to the other as if looking for someone else.
Daryl knew who she was looking for.
Beth.
A heavy feeling fell to the pit of his stomach. How could he have forgotten for a single moment that Beth was gone?
"Ain't no use…" He muttered to the baby, "S'just us."
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The first night without Beth, Daryl found refuge in a small trailer park. He boarded up the windows and blocked the front door. Charlotte was once again fed and changed and finally fast asleep on the blankets upon the living room floor. But getting her to sleep hadn't been easy.
She had cried and fussed and looked to one way and then the other as if in search for Beth. Daryl knew she must have been wondering where her mother was and cried for her until she finally fell asleep.
Daryl sat against the wall next to the blanket and watched her sleep. He was exhausted from hearing her holler in his ear all night. She had fought going to sleep for about thirty minutes until she finally succumbed to it. Daryl couldn't imagine every single night being like that. He'd go insane.
It was then he remembered something that Beth said a few days after Charlotte was born in the small cabin in the woods. She held the baby in her arms, smiling down upon her.
"It's like I finally know what my life's about, ya know?"
Daryl still remembered the happiness in her eyes when she glanced up at him from their child. And even though Charlotte had been an absolute nightmare that night, Daryl knew too.
He laid down next to Charlotte and let himself rest. After a moment, Daryl turned his head to see her sleeping little face. Not all the light had been stolen from the end of his black tunnel. There was still some waiting for him.