RUNNING BLIND
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"Stop fidgeting, you little bitch."
Lilly peered up through the brown knots of hair that hung in her face and struggled in her restraints, the man who'd been responsible for her capture standing towering above her and staring down.
She spat a shot of blood out onto her knees from when he'd knocked her with his gun, and passed a glance over at the two men—Abraham and Aaron—who were also knelt tied up and gagged. Biting the strip of cloth wound around her head and clogging her mouth, she gestured the most frightened expression she could possibly make and gazed up at the Savior with huge, teary eyes.
His brows furrowed and his lips curved into a sadistic smile, and he lowered himself down to get a proper look at her.
"You sure are a pretty thing," he remarked with a perverse grin, "Especially with that helpless an' scared look on your face."
Lilly swallowed a shot of hot acid that built in her throat.
"Maybe I'll just trade the two fuckers over there and keep you for myself."
"No, Jake." one of the others who'd attacked them spoke up from tightening Aaron's bindings, "You know Negan doesn't condone that kind of behaviour back at the camp. He'd cut off your ear if he found out what you were doin'. Or spread an iron across your face."
"Well, what Negan don't know . . . can't hurt him."
Suppressing her frown, Lilly bit down on the gag again and tried to speak against it, vocals growling out in muffled breaths against the cloth.
Jake tilted his head to the side and smirked again. "Looks like the lady wants to say somethin'," he remarked, "And who am I to deny the right of speech?"
Reaching his hand over cautiously, he tugged the cloth out of her mouth and let it fall against her collarbones, and she swallowed harshly before opening her mouth to speak.
"You're making a mistake here," she said, voice timid and deliberately shaky.
His brow quirked.
"Oh we are, are we? And why's that?"
"Because our leader . . . is going to kill you."
He burst out laughing at that, along with his other companions, and Abraham and Aaron flashed her questioning looks.
Lilly kept her composure.
Beth wasn't their leader. She wasn't anything of the sort really. She was just a girl. A girl with a bruised and battered face, hair of blinding melted gold, and an iron will. But along with Dwight and the rest of their party, she was definitely capable of killing people like Jake and his men.
Once the Savior stopped laughing, he folded his arms and looked at her with a mocking expression.
"And which one of ya would that be?" he asked.
She straightened up.
"Beth."
Abraham's expression flooded with confusion at that, but the gag prevented him from saying anything, and Lilly flashed him a quick look that made him still.
"Beth. . ." Jake tapped his finger against his lip, "Which one would that be? The blonde one? The girl?"
He snorted again at her confirming expression.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" he cried, "She's just a fuckin' little girl!"
Lilly bit the inside of her cheek and withdrew some of the fear from her expression, and instead focused a somber, more severe one, before opening her mouth to speak a low, sinister sentence.
"That's right," she said, "The little girl . . . And doesn't that scare you to death?"
He didn't have anything to say to that, so he just leaned forward and put the gag back into her mouth, then stood up. He stared at her for a moment, before addressing his companions, his eyes never leaving hers.
"New trade plan, guys," he said, "Instead of gettin' just Daryl Dixon and whoever else they were willing to trade like we originally planned . . . We're gettin' this Beth too."
Lilly's heart sank.
Shit.
That hadn't been her intention upon having Beth act in the role of their leader, that hadn't been her intention at all. But now . . . Now. Things were going to screw up really bad if she couldn't think of something. And fast.
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Edwards jumped when Daryl's eyes shot open and his body produced a harsh, violent jolt. The bed he was sat on gave a firm shake in sync with the man, and Edwards sucked in a deep breath to compose himself from the shock. Rosita was sat on the opposite side of the bed and passed him a brief glance before turning her attention to the awakening individual beneath the covers.
Daryl let off a low scratchy groan and squeezed his eyes shut tightly to blink the haziness out of them. When he re-opened them, he studied his surroundings with a perplexed expression and glanced at Rosita questioningly.
"It's okay," she reassured him, "We're in Edwards's group's RV. You collapsed on the way here, but we're alright here for the time being. Just rest."
Daryl groaned again and rose his uninjured arm up to press a clammy palm against his face.
Rosita looked at Edwards again, and there was a bizarre sense of excitement gleaming in her dark eyes that caught the doctor off guard. Her expression was twinkling with a quiet giddiness that didn't quite fit the scenario . . .
But then Edwards remembered.
"There's something you should know, Daryl." she said, causing him to pull his hand down from his face and scowl, unimpressed at the ambiguity.
"What?" he grunted, his voice scratchy and worn, sounding frighteningly similar to a walker's shrill cry, Edwards thought worriedly.
"It's . . . It's about Beth. Beth Greene."
That caught his attention.
Edwards watched the attentiveness flicker away within Daryl's eyes, and saw his brow creasing at the name.
Her name.
Beth.
". . . What about her?" he asked, tone dripping with venom and eyes holding a poisonous warning.
Rosita managed a half smile, and Edwards felt his pulse thrumming with anticipation at how the man would react.
Beth.
"She's—"
The RV jolted to a hard stop and sent Edwards and Rosita hurting sideward just a little before they recovered, and sent Daryl's head knocking against the hard frame of the wood at the top of the bed. They all looked at each other quizzically before Effy slid open the door and peered in worriedly.
"What happened?" Edwards asked, standing up.
"At the front," Effy said, visibly panicked, "Some people showed up. The Saviors, we think. They've got Lilly and two other men . . . They want to do a trade."
Edwards's expression mirrored Effy's worried one.
They were no strangers to hostage exchanges, and they were also no strangers to what happened when they went wrong.
"What's everyone doing?"
"Mark and Matty went out to try to talk to them. Negotiate, or at least try to. Beth went as well. They're out there now."
Daryl was sat up now, the mention of Beth's name prompting a confused frown to blossom across his features, but Edwards remained questioning Effy.
"What do they want to trade for?"
She bit her lip and passed a glance at Rosita and Daryl, then back at Edwards, and he knew instantly what they wanted.
"Wait . . ." he said, "Why would they want to trade for these two when they've already got more of them in their possession right now? What makes them want these two more?"
"I might know the answer to that," Rosita spoke up.
Edwards turned to look at her and waited for her to explain, whilst Daryl still wore that perplexed scowl on his sickly features.
"We've had run-ins with the Saviors before," she explained, "Daryl especially. He blew up a whole group of them on the road, some more on the way down here, and we all snuck into one of their compounds at night and slit all their throats whilst they were sleeping. But Negan's got it out for Daryl and Rick more than any of us here, but since Rick's back home, and Daryl's down here with us . . . He's the one he wants the most. And he'll trade practically anything to get him, and anyone."
Upon hearing that, Edwards knew there was no way in hell that Beth would ever let that happen, and if she was out there at the front right now . . .
He pushed past Effy and left the three of them in the room, ordering Effy and Rosita to keep Daryl there under any circumstances, and made his way to the front of the RV.
Lisa was sat in the driver compartment with Thomas at the wheel, and he peered out through the front window to see the spectacle unfolding in front on the road.
Beth was walking down the dusty highway with Mark and Matty behind her, her hands risen passively, but Molly's pickaxe was still strapped to her back. The blonde braid in her hair swung with her steps and stopped as she did, just before the human barricade of people that stood several feet down the road.
They had bikes and cars, the path in no way clear, and their weapons were drawn unlike theirs.
Edwards swallowed.
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Beth swallowed the nerves that were rising in her throat and walked down the road with her hands held skyward in flaccid signaling. She passed a glance back at Mark and Matty briefly, and nodded for them to stay, then continued forward a few more steps until she came within speaking range with the man at the front of the Savior gang.
He eyed her carefully, gaze flicking from her face down to her toes, then back up to her face again. Lilly was shooting her a practically distraught look from her stance beside Abraham and Aaron, gnawing at her gag harshly, and the hairs on the back of Beth's neck stood up with the wave of suspense that washed over her.
"Beth, right?" the man at the front spoke, and Beth was surprised that he knew her name.
"Yeah," she said, "And you are . . . ?"
"I'm Jake. You can put your hands down, we ain't gonna shoot ya . . . Unless you try anything stupid, that is."
Lowering her hands to her sides, she sucked in a deep breath and steadied herself.
"You said just now that you wanted a trade. What do you want?"
He shoved his gun back into its holster and walked towards her, making her tense up as he drew closer and stopped within one small meter of touching her.
"Daryl Dixon." he said, "And the woman with him. We want them. Three o' your guys for two of them. Good deal, don't you think?"
"Why do you want them?"
"That's not a story for now, we got big fish to fry with them, but truth be told that ain't actually all we want."
Her brow creased. "What else do you want?"
He eyed her up and down again, before a tiny smirk tugged at his lips and he answered.
"You. We want you as well."
Her eyes widened and she heard Mark and Matty move in protest behind, but they stopped when some of the Saviors pointed their guns at them.
Beth stared at Jake, confused, and blinked slowly.
". . . Why?"
His grin stretched wider. "You'll see once we get back to camp, darlin'. But don't worry, your treatment'll be a lot better than Daryl's, so you're fine."
She bit her tongue.
What do I do?
Keep talking, Rick's voice said firmly. Strike up another deal, a better deal, turn the tables and make it your game.
Like that worked out so well for you.
The ocean of gunfire after The Governor uttered his fatal Liar and swung Michonne's katana down on her daddy's neck rung in Beth's ears, and she knew a tactic like that wasn't going to work.
There was no talking her way out of this, that had never been her skill, not even now.
There was only one thing she could think of that would give them a tiny sliver of a chance, and that was only if the people in the RV understood her orders.
Won't know unless you try, Rick piped up, and she balled her fists in resolve.
"Fine." she agreed, keeping her expression as masked as possible, "I'll get them to come out."
"That won't be necessary," Jake said, "One of us'll go in and get them. We can't have you warning them and hightailin' outta here. Thanks for your cooperation."
Oh no.
As a few of the Saviors stepped forward to make their way over to the RV, Beth turned and looked over her shoulder at the people in the front window of the vehicle, and locked eyes with Edwards, desperately trying to convey her message and pray that he understood.
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Edwards breathed harshly at Beth's look.
"She wants us to drive," he said, seeing the Saviors that were walking past her, Mark and Matty, and coming towards the RV. Her eyes were wide and desperate, pleading him to make them get out of there, and Edwards nodded to show that he understood.
Trust me.
Because he trusted her, and if she was telling them something was wrong, he was going to play his part in keeping them alive for as long as possible.
"Drive, drive!" he yelled, and Thomas put his foot down on the reverse pedal harshly before the Saviors could reach the door, sending them flying back down the road and smashing into the empty car at the rear.
Pulling away from the crunched up car, Thomas performed a sharp U-turn and sent them driving fiercely down the empty stretch of road and away from the barricade. Leaving him to drive, Edwards darted down to the back of the RV and looked out through the back window where bullets were battering against the sides of the glass, and saw the look of relief in Beth's distant eyes as she grew smaller and smaller because of the distance. Eventually, the bullets stopped, and the glass stopped falling at his feet.
Daryl stormed out of the bedroom then with a hand on his bandaged shoulder and came up beside Edwards. Catching one final sight of Beth's silhouette on the horizon, his breath hitched and his shoulders filled out with a new sense of tenacity, and he strode up to the front of the vehicle with a slight limp.
Rosita and Effy came out of the bedroom compartment and followed Edwards after the sickly archer, and stopped behind him at the front.
"Turn this thing around," he snapped at Thomas, who glanced at him worriedly and bit his lip.
"I'm sorry," Thomas mumbled, "I can't—"
"Turn this fuckin' thing around! Hit the brakes! We gotta go back!"
"Daryl, calm down!" Rosita cried, and he turned to look at her with venom simmering in his eyes.
"Calm down?" he spat, "She's back there, she's alive, and we just fuckin' left her behind! Again!"
"Daryl," Edwards reached out to put his hands on his shoulders, "You're going to reopen your wound, you need to stop this, Beth will be fine, she's—"
He smacked the doctor's hands away and glared at him like a furious animal, and let off a sound that sounded like a shrill growl. "Don't you fuckin' touch me," he spat, "She's back there with them, we left her with 'em, we gotta go back, we gotta go back for her, we gotta—"
"She told us to go," Edwards tried to calm him down, "We're doing what she wanted. We're doing—"
"I CAN'T LEAVE HER THERE!"
The RV went silent at his violent cry, and Daryl began to breathe heavily with sweat dripping down his face. He stared at them with a horrified expression of desperation and rage, and shook his head slowly.
"I can't leave her . . ." he breathed, quieter, "Not again."
Edwards looked at him through cracked glass lenses and sighed quietly, before leaning his head to the side and giving him a slight smile.
"We're not leaving her," he said, "We'll figure something out, I promise, but we can't do it like this. You'll end up getting yourself killed this time."
Daryl's lips trembled.
The RV filled with a tense silence.
". . . Do you know what the word 'ameliorate' means, Daryl?" Edwards asked.
His eyebrow crease and unfriendly frown confirmed that he did not, so Edwards allowed his smile to widen just a little before he provided the definition.
Running away sometimes doesn't make you a coward.
"It means to make something that went wrong before . . . better. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to do it right this time. We're going to save her, and nobody has to die this time. Not her, you, not anyone. We're going to do it better."
It makes you smart, an' not willin' to die in some stupid way.
"We're all survivors here, like Beth told us right at the start, and we have to fight if we want to keep on living. Because your life is measured by how much you're willing to fight for it, and it's also measured by how much you're willing to fight for other people's lives. And are we willing to fight for Beth Greene's life? After everything she's done for us? After all the times she's saved us?"
Effy wore a bright smile too now, and Daryl was staring and listening to Edwards's words with practically glittering eyes and an assumedly clogged up throat.
"I think we owe her at least that," Edwards nodded, "And not just because of some dumb selfish debt. Because she's our friend, and we care about her, because I know I sure as hell do."
Beth Greene said she was a lot of things. A daughter. A sister. A friend. A killer . . .
A survivor.
But she remained, at the end of it all, the most important thing to ever cross Dr. Steven Edwards's path, just like she was the greatest miracle to grace Daryl Dixon's eyes.
A murmur of hope. A flame in the darkness. A song in the nothing.
"Beth Greene is everything to me, and I won't abandon her either."
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