Chapter 6 Second Chances
The ceremony took place that afternoon outdoors. By dusk, the dinner plates were mostly eaten. Maggie looked stunningly beautiful in her dress, with Glenn glowing at her side. Every single person was having the time of their lives. Beth drank back a few glasses of wine and was incredibly cheerful throughout the day.
Beth applauded both of them, gave her speech when they were ready, and then disappeared behind the stack of desserts. It was the perfect fairytale barnyard wedding. She'd always hoped that she would get married like this.
A couple of Glenn's friends that Beth didn't know asked her to dance a few times. She accepted each time, to be nice. After a few dances, she was getting tired and sleepy.
"That must be your thousandth glass of wine," Michonne said as Beth poured herself another glass at their table. The two of them sat together, with Michonne's son in her lap. "Damn, girl, you're really knocking them back."
"Why does everyone want to dance?" Beth complained a little, feeling exhausted.
"Probably because they all think you're real cute. You and your sister look fine tonight. Bet none of these guys can picture you killing a walker."
"I only killed a couple." Daryl had been teaching me how to shoot a crossbow, Beth thought to herself. "Do you still think about them? The walkers?"
Michonne cuddled her son closely, who was being fussy. "I try not to, every single day. There are more important things for me to worry about. They don't haunt me anymore."
Beth took a sip of her wine.
Almost on cue, Jimmy appeared before her. He held out his hand and asked her to dance. Beth sighed silently but accepted. The song playing was extra slow, much to Beth's thrill.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for barging in like that unannounced. It wasn't cool," Jimmy said as they moved along the dance floor.
"Oh, that's alright." She didn't feel like talking. She didn't feel good at all.
"You look really pretty tonight."
"Thanks Jimmy."
A couple of beats. A few steps left and right.
"I mean it. You're the most gorgeous person here." He clasped his fingers into hers as they danced.
Beth unclasped them. "You're going to find someone better than me, Jimmy. I'm sorry we couldn't work out. We can still be friends, right?"
"I don't know if you'll find someone better than me, to be honest, Beth. We're supposed to end up married one day."
"No, we're not. It was just a school thing."
Jimmy held her wrists with both hands. "I think you know how I feel about you. After everything we've been through, we're definitely going to end up together. You'll see."
Beth was getting annoyed, but trying hard to still be nice about it. "Well sorry to disappoint you, Jimmy."
"I've already asked your mom, and your aunt. Maggie also thinks we'd be good together. I am gonna do whatever I can to earn your love."
Feeling a little sick to her stomach, she shook her hands out of his grasp. "Yeah, I'm gonna go now."
The whole night had been going well up until that point. She walked off the dance floor and sulked behind a bonfire that was set up near the party. It was one of the perks of having an outdoor barnyard wedding.
I refuse to just marry someone and have kids, and have that be my entire life, Beth thought to herself. She wanted to do more than that. "Jimmy's a jerk," she muttered. Beth was also a little offended that Maggie would encourage her and Jimmy still, knowing that Beth refused to talk to the guy. But she'll give her the benefit of the doubt for now, since it was possible Jimmy was making stuff up.
"Hey, let's have another toast to Maggie and Glenn," Beth said, cheerfully raising a bottle of beer up to the other campfire occupants. Everyone enthusiastically cheered and chugged their beers. Beth finished her bottle and reached out for another one, but her dad appeared behind her.
"How about some dessert?" he suggested, eyeing her empty bottle suspiciously. Herschel then passed around a basket of freshly baked beignets. "Annette and Carol were teaching Daryl how to bake these in the kitchen. Don't tell him I told you." He winked at Beth.
The pastry melted in her mouth, and the powdered sugar complimented it well. They were the best beignets she'd ever had. "Daryl helped make these?" she said incredulously.
"Caught him in the act."
When her dad wasn't looking, Beth let out a smile. Then her jaw nearly dropped when a thought ran through her mind.
No way. I cannot be interested in Daryl, right? Her eyes widened when Beth realized just how much the older man had been on her mind. He's one of my friends. I can trust him with my life, that's all. I don't like him in that way, she tried to convince herself.
It didn't matter though. Now that it was in her head, she couldn't shake it for the rest of the night.
Break
Carl Grimes couldn't relate to many other kids his own age. That's because most people weren't actually mentally aged 15 years stuck in a 12 year old body. To make matters worse, his last three years had been challenging, letting him grow up and mature much sooner than everyone else. The only person who could kind of relate to Carl at the wedding was Beth, since all the other kids present had died early on. However, Carl considered Beth's age difference less of a struggle than his.
That's why when he first woke up back at his house with his mom, the pair struggled for a few months. Carl wanted the privileges of a 15 year old, including cell phones, freedom to do what he wanted outside the house, and freedom to contact whoever he wanted. Lori was less understanding. To be fair, Lori was struggling with her husband's coma state in the hospital while maintaining the household. They both held hope that Rick would wake up naturally soon, just as he did before.
One factor of their lives they'd forgotten about appeared after school, when Carl was just leaving soccer practice. He was about to walk home with his friend when a police car pulled up. He was taken down to the police station by an officer, who insisted that CPS needed to come investigate possible child abuse at home.
This led to the next several months of their lives living in constant battle with the law. When Rick woke up, he immediately had to fight against them. They all three had to testify their stories from their apocalypse and prove that they did whatever was necessary for Carl's survival and safety.
To this day, there were several cases across the country that were brought to trial from people's days in the apocalypse. Carl thought this was ridiculous. There wasn't a specific reason why Lori and Rick were being investigated, other than an "anonymous tip".
The case had nearly been wrapped up before Carl's nightmare continued. One day while out at the mall, Shane found him. Last the family had heard, Shane had left the state to work someplace else. It turns out that Shane was the one to file the report.
"I'm just looking out for you, Carl. You need to be away from your dad. That's all." Shane left him shortly after, and Carl hadn't had the opportunity to tell his parents yet. It was only going to throw more fuel into the fire at home.
When the trio took the trip to the Greene farm, Carl wanted to come prepared with a weapon. Unfortunately, Rick kept all of his firearms locked up. Carl was resourceful, though, and brought along stuff he could use.
"That's smart, kid. A boomerang can still be useful, and it's legal."
Carl and Daryl sat by the barn that evening while the reception for the wedding raged on. They were both also snacking on beignets.
"These are good. Where'd you get them?"
"I dunno, they were on some table." Daryl wore some borrowed clothes from Hershel and Rick, but they suited him well. A white dress shirt with black pants was the cleanest look he'd ever worn, minus some subtle flour stains on his hips where he'd wiped his hands.
"Do you still carry your crossbow around?"
"Everywhere."
"I sometimes get nightmares about walkers. Afraid they'll come back." Carl gave his boomerang a whirl into the air. "If they do, I gotta protect everyone."
"They won't." Something in Daryl's voice sounded like he was convinced this was true.
"Then why do you have your crossbow still?"
Daryl's voice was low. "There have always been worse things than walkers out there. People were, are, and always will be assholes."
"Can't shoot people with arrows anymore," Carl remarked.
"Yeah, definitely won't get away with it anymore."
"Some people aren't getting away with it from before either. Be careful, Daryl," Carl warned. "You outlived all of us. What if someone comes along to sue you for something you did?"
"They ain't gonna sue me cuz they'll have another thing comin'," Daryl said darkly. "Why, what's the matter at home, kid?" If Rick was in trouble, Daryl had no idea at this point.
Carl decided to trust Daryl and tell him about Shane. "You ain't tell your parents?!"
"I was planning to, on the car ride home maybe," Carl defended.
"Listen, kid. There's gonna be a massive shitstorm heading all of our way soon. We need to be prepared for it, united for it."
"Why, what's going on?"
Daryl was good at treating everyone what their actual age was. "Remember the Governor? Guy that killed Hershel and destroyed the prison."
"Yeah?"
"He's been going 'round trying to find any information he can on Rick. Wants him gone, didn't say how. Merle's got friends that found out, and I spent the better part of my last half year leaving false trails for him to find."
"What! Does my dad know?"
"He knows about it. I'd keep it to myself for now," Daryl instructed. "We've got it under control at the moment."
"Life sucks," Carl complained. "It's never really gonna be the same as it was before the apocalypse. There's too much bad blood between everyone."
"Don't say that. Some good came out of it."
"The only couple of good things that happened were things like my siblings, who aren't here anymore. Now we're stuck living a life where people are continually hunting us down. I'm sick of it!"
"Well life ain't fair, Carl. We all got jobs to do, we all gotta keep doing what we can."
The night air was cool and still, with the farmyard illuminated by moonlight and fairy lights. There was also a big bonfire burning near the dancefloor and music blasting in the background. They could see their friends drinking and laughing in the distance.
Carl looked over at Daryl. "I gotta ask… how old are you?"
"What?"
"I could never tell how old you were back then, everybody looked like a mess after a couple of months. I just wanna know," he said curiously.
"My driver's license says 41. That's all yeh need to know."
"You're not that much older than my dad."
"That's what you think."
The pair did not want to be part of the group of people dancing, that's why they had secluded themselves to the darker area. Daryl was drinking alcohol and had snuck Carl exactly one bottle of beer.
"I guess this is my second chance, I can mend my relationship with my mom and my dad. It's nice, in a way."
"You're forgetting 'bout other things you get a second chance at, like having a career or having a real life that came with waking up to this world," Daryl growled. "A family is something you've always had, after the world went to shit."
"Do you have a family, Daryl? I mean, I know you've got your brother."
"Merle's the only blood relative I've got. But your dad is pretty much my brother in all other ways that count."
"If I have to start calling you Uncle Daryl, I'm protesting."
"I see no other choice for you." Daryl snatched Carl's boomerang out of his hands and held it up, smirking.
"Hey! Carl! We're going home now. Go get your things."
"What? Mom, what's going on?"
"I'm not sure exactly, but there's been some bombings in New York and along the east coast. The news people are telling everyone to get home and stay safe," Lori explained, worry spread along her face.
"Hang on, try to keep calm," Daryl said, everyone getting to their feet. "It's all over the news? Did they mention walkers?"
"Not a hundred percent sure."
"We'll get everyone up to speed first, and let Rick and Hershel know. If it's walkers, it might not be better to leave in the middle of the night," Daryl said. Lori nodded, knowing what he was saying to be true. "First thing we gotta do is not panic. Keep everyone calm and keep an eye on everyone."
"Let's go make sure dad's safe," Carl said, grabbing his mom's arm.
"No matter what, stay together!" Daryl said, the biggest worried look on his face.