AN- I forgot to mention in the last chapter, the side characters will be a mix of characters from TWD, FTWD and original characters. Chapter title from 'Hotel California' by the Eagles.
XxX
The door opens and for a moment Beth is startled to find it dark outside. She always entered a stadium in the day time and no matter how many times she left knowing the hours had passed and it would be well into the night somehow it never failed to surprise her.
Her ears are still ringing with the echoes of the screams in the stadium and when she flexes her hand, she swears that she can still feel Abby's hand clutching hers while those things tore her apart. Shivering from the memory Beth forces herself to block it out and focus on Daryl's back in front of her as they step fully out of the door and softly shut it so that nothing can sneak up behind them. Beth hears the lock click and meets Daryl's eyes, startled. He nods to her unspoken realization.
There is no going back now.
She has no idea what is happening but all Beth can think about is the fire and brimstone preachers that used to rant about the end of the world and all the sinners suffering and the good ones being brought up to Heaven in the Rapture. Beth has never believed in the Rapture before but she kind of hopes it is true now because she is sure that Daddy and Maggie will have been brought up to Heaven and spared this horror. Beth thinks she is a good person too but she knows why she has been left behind.
Moans draw her mind from the dark path it is taking and Beth turns to see a group of three of what used to be people stumbling towards them. Beth tightens her grip and raises the bar in her hands higher but Daryl shakes his head no at her, motioning for her to speed up and follow him. It is almost a relief to be running again, from the moment the crowd first started surging onto the stage all she'd wanted to do was run.
If only they had believed the news stories of the last few days but everyone kept going on about how it was all a prank or some kind of performance art. As if there is anything artistic about people being ripped apart by fingers and teeth. Beth fights the urge to be sick as the sight of Abby's face being ripped open comes back to the forefront of her mind. Beth knows that even if she lives to be a hundred like her grandma, that memory will be as crystal clear then as it is now.
She doubts very much that she will live to be a hundred. Hell, Beth is beginning to doubt that she'll live to see the sunrise.
As if to prove her right Daryl and her finally reach the parking lot where the bus is in sight, also in sight is the crowd of twenty or so things stumbling around. Daryl doesn't even falter as the group turns like one to face them.
Beth follows him blindly even though every part of her is screaming to turn around and go back the other way. She stays where she is, her heart threatening to burst out of her chest. For all his faults Daryl hasn't steered her wrong yet. One of them reaches for him and Beth bites back a scream as he swings, bashing its head in with a sickening crunch. His steps barely even falter, if there wasn't such a cacophony of madness in her head Beth might even be impressed.
"Get the door open!" Daryl cries as he kicks and shoves the things away from them, clearing her a path to the door. The keys are already gripped tightly in her fist, Daryl had nodded when she had done this, probably thinking it was so it would be faster for her to unlock the door but really, she had carried them this way for him. If she got caught by one of the monsters, she didn't want him to have to search for where she put the keys, she was going to throw them at him.
Thankfully it didn't come to that and she gets the door unlocked. Beth swings the door open and doesn't even have time to scream before Vida, her driver, was falling on her.
For a moment Beth panics certain that she is a monster before she realizes it isn't moans coming out of Vida's mouths but words.
"What's happening? I can't get anyone on the radio! What are those?" her voice is shrill with hysterics and Beth puts her hands on her arms to comfort her.
"Get back inside, we'll talk in there." Beth fights to keep her voice as calm as she can while shoving the older woman backwards towards the open door. The sounds of Daryl's weapon meeting with flesh are loud in her ears and she is terrified at any second it will be replaced with the sound of his screams.
"He's killing those people!" Vida shrieks as she catches sight of Daryl. Her eyes are so wide Beth can see whites all around the irises.
Beth shakes her hand frantically, tightening her grip. "No, he's-"
Vida shoves her backwards and Beth goes down hard, losing her grip on the rod as she hits the asphalt.
"Beth!" Daryl yells and she moves without thinking, rolling up and onto her feet as a creature falls upon where she'd been moments before.
She can't see the rod anymore so Beth turns towards the door, ducking under the outstretched arms of another monster. She can't see Vida either but the sudden screams make it clear there is no use looking for her. Dry sobs tear her throat as she stumbles against the driver seat. Beth turns to look for a weapon and watches as Daryl kicks a creature back before swinging the door shut. One of the things catches the doorjamb and Daryl grunts, pulling the door shut harder. Beth watches in horrified silence as the fingers in the doorway slice off and the door locks into place.
Her stomach roils again but she doesn't have time to get sick. Daryl motions her to go away from the door and Beth hurries into the kitchenette area, sliding open the drawer where the utensils are kept. She pulls the sharpest knife out and clutches it in both hands in front of her, her eyes never leaving the door.
The only sounds in the bus are Daryl and her panting for breath and the fading screams of the woman dying outside.
XxX
Beth was trying to make a point by largely ignoring Daryl but he seemed to be so comfortable with silence that her point was falling flat.
It had been three days since her Daddy had forced a bodyguard on her and Beth was still feeling the sting of humiliation that he thought she couldn't take care of herself. She'd taken self-defense classes with Maggie her first summer in the city and she carried pepper spray. She could handle herself; she didn't need some man to watch over her shoulder.
Beth knew that Daddy was just upset about the fact that someone had made it into her dressing room but Beth was sure that had been a onetime thing. She wasn't worried, the girl hadn't hurt her at all. She'd just wanted to meet her. She'd certainly gone about it the wrong way but her being in Beth's dressing room didn't bother her nearly as much as the fact that she had brought Beth her favorite drink from her favorite coffee shop. She didn't post things like that on her social media, that meant the girl had found out some other way.
Beth had left that detail out when telling Daddy about it. If she'd told him, he would never let her out of his sight again. It was bad enough he was saddling her with a babysitter, because that was what he was no matter how much Daryl wanted to pretend otherwise.
"You ever been a bodyguard before?" Beth asked as she brushed her hair up into a ponytail. Daryl might be immune to the silence but it was starting to get to her.
He looked away from the door he'd been staring at to meet her eyes. For some reason whenever he looked at her Beth always had to fight the ridiculous urge to blush. Sometimes that made her even madder than his presence.
Daryl shook his head no and went back to looking at the door. Beth sighed and turned back to the vanity.
It was the last week of rehearsals before the tour began and Beth was so nervous, she could barely sleep. It was her first headlining tour and it was hard to believe that she was here, that this was really her life now. When she had started playing her songs at the open mic nights at Lou's Diner, she had never thought it would go anywhere. It was just a fun way to break up the monotony of her days. A welcome break from farm chores and high school. Never in her wildest daydreams did she imagine a music producer would be passing through one night and hear her.
That was three years ago and Beth still felt groggy for a moment when she woke up, certain that it was all just a dream.
"What'd you do before this?" Beth asked curiously, turning around to look at Daryl. He didn't look at her as he shrugged. Beth sighed loudly and resisted the urge to throw a makeup brush at him just to see if he'd jump. "You expect danger to come through the door? Really?"
Daryl shrugged again and Beth shook her head and turned around thinking that would be the end of it. "Hired to protect you." he mumbled making her pause for a moment.
Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from going off on a rant that was really more for her father, Beth rolled her eyes and focused on tightening her ponytail. She was so sick of being treated like she was fragile, like she was glass. She had picked herself up from darker days than this man had any idea of. She wasn't about to let anyone take her away from this life she had worked so hard and fought so long to get. That was what her Daddy didn't seem to understand. She doubted Daryl would get it either but she needed to say it, even if she was the only one who believed her.
Daryl turned away from the door and locked eyes with her in the mirror. Beth sat up straighter as she promised, more to herself than him, "I can take care of myself."
XxX
It doesn't take them long to decide that it isn't safe to drive at night, the headlights will only draw more attention. They alternate keeping watch on the door and the windshield while they wait for the creatures to lose interest in the bus and amble away.
With Daryl on watch Beth knows that she should be trying to get some sleep but every time she closes her eyes all she can see is the horror of the stadium and the thought of her family meeting similar ends. She keeps calling Maggie and Daddy's phones but it is no use. The phones don't even ring, they just go straight to voicemail. Beth tries to tell herself that maybe their phones have just died so she begins to work her way through her contact list calling every single person in it.
Not a single phone rings.
"Damn it!" Beth whisper yells as soft as she can, throwing the useless phone across the bunk from her and pulling her knees up to her chest. Blinking back tears she drops her head onto her knees and doesn't look up when she hears Daryl's footsteps approach her.
"I'd tell you to use my phone and call your people but it's useless. Won't even ring." after taking a few deep breaths Beth is more confident her pain isn't as apparent on her face and she looks up at Daryl who ignores her phone and holds a map out to her.
Beth's brows furrow as she reaches up to take it.
"We gotta get out of the city." Daryl grunts, kneeling down beside her. This close Beth can see the blood splattered across his cheek, the red flaking as it dries into a dark brown. For a wild moment Beth wants to reach up and brush it away.
Deciding that the trauma is catching up to her Beth looks down at the map in her lap. "Won't there be like refuge centers or something?" she asks, thinking about every natural disaster she can remember hearing about. The Red Cross always comes to help, there is always somewhere for survivors to go.
"You wanna be around a bunch of people?" Daryl leaves it at that but Beth shudders, aware of what he really means. Does she really want to be around a bunch of people after what they just saw?
Biting her lip Beth pretends to inspect the map but all she can see is the yellow eyes of what all those people had become.
"What do you think happened?" she whispers. She wants to ask if he thinks this is the Rapture but she knows that Daryl isn't a religious man and she really can't handle getting scoffed at or judged right now.
Daryl is quiet for so long she thinks he isn't going to answer. Beth looks up at him slowly to see him staring at the map in her hands and she sighs. It seems they are back to ignoring each other.
"Don't matter what happened." Daryl finally whispers after so long has passed Beth was beginning to wonder if he was just going to ignore her from now on. Slowly she turns her head to look at him and his eyes don't waver when they meet hers. "Matters what we do now. And we gotta get the hell out of the city."
XxX
It became a game to Beth; how little could she say to Daryl in a single day. On Wednesday they were together from eight am until eleven pm and she spoke a total of five sentences to him. Three of them were asking him if he wanted food. He'd said yes every single time and now Beth was confident she didn't even need to ask anymore, she could just give him food and he would take it. Good, that meant less words they needed to exchange.
"Sure is a lot of glitter." Maggie remarked holding up the sparkly blue dress that was Beth's costume for the opening songs of the tour.
Rolling her eyes Beth flopped onto the couch. "What can I say? I shine." she threw her arms out wide and giggled as Maggie rolled her eyes and threw the dress at her.
Carefully straightening the dress (she may not like it but she did have to wear it), Beth chewed on a piece of apple and watched her sister picking through her tour wardrobe. "You're gonna come tomorrow, right?"
"Course I am." Maggie said in surprise, coming over to drop onto the couch beside her. She wrapped her arm around Beth's shoulders and Beth let her pull her against her side like she was a kid again. "I ever miss one of your shows?"
"Big step up from Lou's huh?" Beth asked, passing Maggie an apple slice as she nodded in agreement.
"I'm bringing a date tomorrow." Maggie whispered into her hair.
Beth pushed away from her sister to sit up straight and stare at her. "Really?" Maggie hadn't dated anyone since Randall trampled all over her heart. "Who is it? What's he like? Where'd you meet him?"
Maggie held her hands up to ward off her onslaught of questions. Beth huffed but held her questions back, waiting anxiously for her answers.
"His name is Glenn. We met at the pharmacy." Maggie laughed at the way Beth's face wrinkled up in surprise. She could think of few places less romantic than the pharmacy.
Still, she was happy for her sister and Beth didn't bother to hide her squeals or her questions, pretending that it was just her and Maggie in the room and that Daryl wasn't lurking in the corner watching the door like a hungry ghost.
XxX
They leave with the sun.
Daryl doesn't trust any of the bridges so they are going to go south down the 280. Once they get out of the city and have more time to plan, they will figure out where they are going to go from there. Beth already knows it's a pointless conversation. She knows where she's going, Daryl can either come with her or not.
The roar of the bus engine gets the attention of the shambling corpses wandering around the lot. They really needed to come up with a name for them because Beth was already tired of thinking of them as monsters, even if that is what they are. They had more pressing issues to deal with at the moment for her to bring it up.
"Buckle up." she says, moving one hand from the wheel to tug on her seatbelt and make sure its tight. In the passenger seat beside her she watches Daryl pull the belt tight over his lap and place the metal pipe in his hands on the floor behind him. Forcing herself not to clench her jaw or tighten her muscles Beth presses her foot down on the pedal and speeds them straight into the chain link fence. With a loud crash and a rattle that is sure to draw anything in earshot their way the bus ricochets through.
A delighted laugh bubbles out of her as they speed onto the street but it is short lived as she catches sight of all of the walking dead pushing around the parked cars to head in their direction.
"Oh my god." Beth whispers, her knuckles going white on the steering wheel.
Daryl doesn't look at her as he picks the pipe up off the floor. "Drive."
Her first instinct is to argue, to remind him that she doesn't take orders from him. But it's not like she has a whole lot of other options and Beth wants to get out of the city as badly as he does so she swallows her fear and keeps inching their way through the ruined streets.
Most of the roads are blocked and they have to backtrack more than once. There are small fires burning throughout the city and as the sky lightens to a clear blue the gray pockets of smoke become more noticeable. Daryl directs her so they never get too close to any of them but her hands are still shaking by the time they get onto the highway.
They are not the only people fleeing the city and while Daryl cusses at the sight of all the cars inching along the road Beth feels something in her chest lighten at the sight. She had been beginning to fear that they were the only survivors. This was proof that others could survive this, this means she can hold onto hope for Maggie and Daddy. They're smart and resourceful. They'll be okay. She'll get back to them. Beth repeats this like a mantra as they creep along the highway.
"Need to get some weapons." Daryl grumbles as he studies the map. It's the California page of the atlas Vida kept in the glovebox. They don't have a map of the city or any neighboring areas so Beth doesn't have the first idea of where to begin looking for weapons.
"What about the military?" Beth asks suddenly, tapping on the brakes yet again as the sedan in front of her stops.
"What about 'em?" Daryl grunts pulling the map closer to his face like he can block out her voice if he can't see her. It's a move he does often enough that Beth sometimes calls him 'ostrich' in her head.
"Maybe they're still around." Beth says hopefully. "Maybe they'll save us."
Daryl drops the map into his lap to stare at her and after so long of him avoiding looking at her for more than a moment at a time Beth feels hot under his gaze. She tugs at the neck of her t-shirt as he shakes his head at her.
"Thought you didn't need anyone to save you." his voice is bitter and Beth flushes recalling all the times she's thrown similar sentiments into his face. This is different though.
"I don't, I'm saying that-" Beth gasps as the sedan slams on their brakes again and she barely manages to stop in time. Peering over the edge of the dashboard Beth is pretty sure there is less than four inches between their bumpers.
"Gotta be a better way outta here. We're sittin' ducks." Daryl complains inspecting the map again with desperation.
Beth sighs and pushes a stray lock of hair back from her eyes, scanning the area. All she can see is desperate and angry drivers, the sound of people laying on their horns has become background noise at this point. Still the sound will only draw those things after them and they are not moving at all. Beth eyes track a bird fly over the median dividing the sides of the highway and she sits up straighter as an idea comes to her.
Nearly an hour later Daryl is making a list of where they might be able to find weapons when the bus finally drives past the cement medias and the only thing separating the two sides of the highways is a strip of dying grass. The bus bumps as she drives across it and Daryl looks up from his map, his eyes wide like a bloodhound searching for danger.
Beth doesn't look over at him long but she doesn't bother to hide her smile as she picks up speed, driving down the wrong side of the highway. Daryl grunts and she is tuned in to him enough to know it's a sign of appreciation.
She feels weird driving on the wrong side of the road but it's not like anyone will be trying to get into the city, probably for a long time. And if there is someone going this way, she can flag them down and warn them of what they'll find. The thought makes Beth sit up straighter and she almost wants to see a car before her. She wants to be able to help people.
Movement in the rearview mirror catches her eye and some tension leaves her shoulders for the first time since the screams started last night.
"Started a trend." Beth remarks, nodding towards the mirrors when Daryl looks over at her curiously. A stream of cars has followed her onto the road and as she watches more cars begin to cross the median in front of her. She is surprised no one has done it yet but she supposes it is human nature. We spend so long being told to do things one way and no one wants to admit to themselves that there might not be a reason to follow those rules anymore.
Beth shakes the thought from her head and instead focuses on the road. She can't bring herself to look over at Daryl as she announces the decision she'd made the moment they made it onto the bus. "I'm going home." Flexing her fingers on the wheel Beth adds, "I'm going back to Georgia, to the farm. My family will be there and-"
"Alright."
Turning to him quickly Beth feels her mouth drop open in shock. Daryl is looking out the window counting the cars behind them and Beth snaps her mouth closed and watches the road.
"You're from Georgia too." she muses nervously. Beth has spent so long resenting Daryl's presence in her life that she can't believe the words coming out of her own mouth, "Do you want to stick together?"
Beth tries to keep her eyes on the road but she can't resist taking a peek over at Daryl who turns to meet her eyes. Blue locks onto blue as he shrugs carelessly, as if this isn't one of the biggest decisions they're going to make in the upcoming future.
"Safety in numbers, right?"
Letting out a shaky breath Beth fights back a laugh. "Safety in numbers." she agrees wondering what's causing the ache in her chest at his words. She is just happy that he doesn't see her as a burden, someone who will need to be protected. Maybe she's been wrong all this time and Daryl actually sees her as an equal. Beth casts a side-eye look at him before shaking her head at herself. It doesn't matter how Daryl sees her, they have much more important things to deal with.