*Daryl's P.O.V."
It was different being out here with just Beth. I didn't even know why she stuck around after what I did back at that damn shack. But she did stick around, and I was happy that I wasn't alone. I kept think about Mel and how Beth reminded me of her. They were both annoyingly cheerful and some how Beth started getting a mouth on her a little.
We were walking through the forest and I was showing Beth how to track. She already knew how to use the crossbow. The thing was heavy but Beth was swinging it around like she'd been doing it her whole life.
"The pattern's zigzag." Beth commented looking down at the ground. "It's a walker." She turned to look at me with a big smile on her face.
"Or a drunk." I replied. She rolled her eyes.
"Why can't you just say I'm getting good at this?" Beth asked turning around and holding up the crossbow. "Soon enough I'm not gonna need you anymore Daryl Dixon." She continued following the trail. I watched her for a second then picked up the pace. It was things like that one comment that made me... I don't know, sad? I don't know. I wasn't good at the feelings thing. All I knew is that if Beth left, I'd miss her, but I wasn't sure if I'd miss her, or the fact that if she's here I'm not alone, or that she reminds me of Mel.
We came up to a small clearing and in the middle of it was a walker. Beth looked at me.
"That one?" She asked. I nodded.
"Careful." I warned. She nodded and stepped silently into the clearing. After a few step I heard the clank of a trap and Beth fell sideways. The walker heard and turned around. Beth held up the crossbow and pulled the trigger. The bolt lodged itself into the walker's cheek. I rushed forward, pulled out my knife, and stabbed the bastard in the head. I rushed over to Beth and unclasped the trap from her ankle.
"Can you move it?" I asked. Beth wiggled her ankle around.
"Yeah." She replied but I could tell that it hurt.
"Can you walk?"
"Mmhmm." Beth nodded. I stood up and helped her to her feet. When she was standing, I went over and pulled the bolt out of the walker's face. I didn't have too many and I had to save the ones I did. Beth and I started walking again. Soon enough, we made it to a funeral home, thing with tombstones out front. I carried Beth to the house because her ankle was hurting too bad to walk. It felt awkward carrying her, luckily I had to put her down to get inside the house. No way was I carrying her inside. We made sure the house was clear then went looking for something to wrap Beth's ankle in.
We went downstairs and found a couple of corpses on metal tables.
I wrinkled my nose. "Someone ran outta dolls." I turned and started rummaging through the cabinets.
"I think it's beautiful." Beth commented. "Someone cared enough about them to do right by them. It's nice." Beth stressed the last sentence like trying to make sure it got through my thick skull. I found wrap and motioned for Beth to get up on the counter. I wrapped her ankle without a word then we moved upstairs to look for supplies. We looked through the cabinets in the kitchen and found food.
"There's not a speck of dust on this." I said holding a can up to look at it. "It's clean. The whole house is."
"Maybe someone lives here." Beth said.
I looked at her. "Okay, we'll take some of it and leave the rest." I said. She was gonna insist that we not take it all, I just beat her to the punch.
"I knew it." Beth said smiling.
"Knew what?" I asked taking a jar of jelly off the shelf and opening it up.
"You're a good guy underneath all that." Beth kept smiling. I stuck my fingers into the jar and pulled out a lump of jelly and ate it.
"You're also really gross." Beth wrinkled her nose and grabbed a jar of peanut butter.
"I call the pigs feet." I told her.
"Whatever you want, I ain't eating them." Beth laughed.
Later that night, Beth was sitting at the piano in the wake room. There was still a casket on a table at the front of the room. I made my way over to it and hopped inside.
"Gross!" Beth said.
"What?" I said. "It's the most comfortable bed I've had in years." I made myself comfortable and looked at her. "Don't stop." She'd been singing before I walked in.
"I thought my singing annoyed you." Beth retorted.
"It ain't no jukebox." I admitted. "But it's better than nothing."
I lay in silence while she played a couple of songs and sang, then Beth turned to me.
"Mel sings, too, does her singing annoy you, too?" She asked. I glared at her. "Oh c'mon, Daryl, I'm not blind. You two like each other. Everyone else thinks you hate each other 'cause she annoys you most out of everyone. It's 'cause you two are so different, but that's what I think makes it good."
I paused, then said, "She's probably dead."
"Don't say that." Beth scolded. "We don't know if anyone's dead."
"We don't know if they're alive, neither." I replied quietly.
"If Mel was dead, would you be sad? Sadder than if it was anyone else?"
I paused again. "Yeah, I guess." I admitted. Again, I wasn't good at the feelings thing. "Can we stop talkin' 'bout this?"
"Yeah." Beth turned back to the piano. "She's not dead. I don't think anyone's dead. We'll see them again."
"Whatever you say, blondie." I settled back in the casket and looked up at the ceiling.
I severely hoped Beth was right about Mel and everyone else being alive still. I really, truly hoped. And that scared me.
Author's Note: Okay, so here's a P.O.V. and I think I got Daryl's voice right but I'm not sure. Anyway, I like it. There may be a couple more before I continue Mel's story just because I'm not 100% sure what I want to happen to her next. Please leave a review and have a nice day!
