Waking Up to a New World
The world went back to normal, somehow. People woke up as if the apocalypse had never happened. For Beth Greene, her purpose in life becomes unclear. For Daryl Dixon, he was the last man standing and came back to a world where he wasn't better off, or so he thought.
I'll be honest, I didn't continue watching TWD after Glenn died. I stopped when episodes were still coming out. Over the years, I've had my fair share of spoilers of what happened next. Recently, I've tried to rewatch all of it, but I couldn't even get that far. So yes, there may be some inconsistencies.
Chapter 1 Waking Up
Beth Greene opened her eyes to a white ceiling. She felt healthy, rested, and clean, which instantly terrified her. It had been over a year since she woke up this way. Glancing around, she started panicking. Where on earth was she?
Getting up, she realized she was in a bed. It was her bed, so familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. This was Beth's bed in her old bedroom. The walls were clean and organized, her desk was the same, and there was calm sunlight streaming through the windows. She couldn't remember what was going on. Why was she here? Where was everyone else? A million thoughts raced through her head as she stumbled out of bed.
"Hello?" she called out, hearing noises from outside the hall. Beth was scared. Memories of her days at the hospital resurfaced, causing her to immediately go on alert. The last thing she remembered was stabbing that woman, Dawn, and then hearing a gun go off. Then there had been darkness for what seemed like an eternity.
"Beth?"
Beth's mother, Annette, opened her door still dressed in her nightgown and engulfed her in a hug. Suddenly, all her troubles washed away, and Beth started crying tears of joy.
"You're alive," Beth whispered, holding on tight.
"I know, I'm so happy. I don't know how this happened. Come on, dear."
Beth followed her mother down the stairs to the kitchen, where a bigger surprise waited for her. Her father, Hershel, was squeezing the life out of her sister Maggie. Beside them were Otis, Patricia, her brother Shawn, and Jimmy.
"What's going on?" she asked, feeling lightheaded. "Are we all dead?"
"What do you mean, sweetheart?" Annette inquired. "It was just your brother and I that died at the start."
"No," Hershel spoke, shaking his head lightly. "From what I can piece together, we all died."
If this was heaven, Beth wouldn't have it any other way. Her family was here, all-together in one place. She never thought she would see them again. "Oh Maggie!" she cried out and hugged her dear sister.
Maggie was the most distraught out of all of them. "Beth, I can't believe it. You're here. You're all here." She was red-faced and tear-streaked, appearing as if she would faint at any minute. "It's been so long."
"You survived the longest," Beth whispered, wiping away her snot and tears on her sleeve. "I knew you could."
"What does this mean now? Are we all alive?" Maggie asked out loud, glancing at everyone else. "Everyone died at different times, but we all woke up this morning like nothing's changed. Like the apocalypse never happened."
At this cue, Beth and Maggie dashed for the TV. There were channels running, but most of them were commercials or TV series, nothing on the news at the moment. "If the entire world is just waking up from this, I doubt there would be a news segment right now," Hershel commented.
After celebrating a heartfelt breakfast together, the family decided to search the area to see if there were walkers. Every single moment, Beth wondered if this was a dream that she was going to wake up from. Even while doing the dishes and accidentally stabbing herself with a fork, she had to wonder if the pain was real.
"No way," she whispered to herself, suddenly feeling up her wrists. The scars had disappeared, like those terrible days had never happened. Come to think of it, her father wasn't even walking with a limp. Was his leg normal? She hadn't bothered to look.
Beth was just about to go check up on him when her boyfriend Jimmy appeared. "I am so happy, you have no idea," he said, pulling her into a hug. "That was a nightmare, that's all it was."
"Yeah, it truly was a terrible dream," Beth replied. Or this was the dream? She couldn't be sure.
"I called my parents. They actually picked up the phone, Beth. This is amazing, I didn't know if they had made it…" The conversation was awkward. Beth didn't know what really to say to Jimmy. The two of them had only been dating for three months when the apocalypse started, and after that it was pretty much on hold. He felt the uncomfortableness too. Ultimately, Beth's parents decided they would drop Jimmy back off at his parents place, and then go into town to see if everything was normal.
Although Beth would rather she never split apart from her family members again, there was something different about Jimmy that kept her from opening up to him. Maybe it was something different in herself. She had spent several months living in the chaotic nightmare than most of her family. She glanced over at Maggie in the car as their dad drove. Beth wondered what kinds of things Maggie had done since Beth herself had "died" in that hospital.
To each person, it seemed like events transpired as recently as yesterday. However, the specific memories took some time to resurface. Beth started to wonder more about everyone else she had met and where they were at this moment. Could it be that they were alive and alright too? Was the whole world like this?
"I found Glenn." Maggie looked at Beth with tears in her eyes. She held up her phone and showed Beth a Facebook profile of a young asian man wearing a familiar cap. "Beth, I can't believe I can look up my husband on the internet. This is too wild."
Beth reached over and clasped onto Maggie's arm. Maggie herself looked several years younger than Beth last remembered. She hadn't had a chance to stare at herself in the mirror, but expected she probably appeared 16 again.
"Are you going to message him?"
"What if I do, and he doesn't answer? Or he doesn't remember me or…" Maggie trailed off, appearing conflicted with a mix of emotions. She bit her lip. "Beth… I had a son. He's just gone now…?"
Beth took the phone out of Maggie's hand. "I'll message him for you." She had no other words. What could you say to someone whose child just no longer exists?
"Thank you, Beth."
Glenn Rhee must have been anxious to find Maggie, because he immediately messaged Beth back. Beth quickly typed up their cell phone number and gave the phone back to Maggie.
"He's going to call."
Maggie couldn't have been more excited and filled with emotion. She picked up the call and started crying onto it, more so than speaking.
Beth and the rest of her family got out of the car to give her some privacy while they surveyed city hall. It seems like a lot of people were also gathered in the city, excited, hugging, and crying. Otis and Patricia fared them goodbye for the time being, as they spotted Patricia's sister at the square. Beth felt disconnected from reality as she watched the scenes unfold around her. Every single person they encountered was facing the exact same; they woke up today after dying in the apocalypse. Some people had horrible, vivid memories of their deaths. Most people seemed to have lived through anywhere between a few days to a couple months of the apocalypse.
Beth glanced at her dad. "I wonder if the others are okay," she commented. She missed the others, like Rick, Carl, the entire group from the prison. They had become her family too. As grateful as she was to be with her blood family, including her mother and brother, she mourned for the sudden loss of all the people she'd met.
"We can find them with time," Hershel assured her. "As far back as I can remember right now, Rick is most likely still in a coma in the hospital."
"There's probably a lot of undealt business people will need to get through with," Annette added. "I think I heard dear Otis say he wants revenge. Oh you poor souls, you've had to go through so much after I was gone, didn't you?"
Beth watched Maggie climb out of the car, a big smile on her tearstained face. "I don't think this world will ever be the same… again."