I promise that all of your questions will be answered by the last chapter. There are going to be 11 chapters, because the story doesn't end when the numbers run out. That's all I'm gonna tell you.
This takes place in 5x15 when Daryl and Aaron find that blonde woman tied to the tree.
"Are you just gonna leave her there?"
The sick feeling that had been twisting and churning in his gut only got worse at the sound of her voice. He hadn't taken three steps away from the tree before she spoke, a layer of steel buried beneath the soft melody. Daryl was glad that Aaron had split off to sweep the area for any other people who may have survived whatever the hell happened here. He was supposed to be doing the same, but her words stopped him in place.
"Don't matter," Daryl muttered beneath his breath, hoisting his crossbow up higher.
"It does matter," she said, those eyes of hers wide and pleading.
History repeated.
They had been through it all before.
"What if it was me?" she demanded.
"If someone found my dad-"
"Don't! That ain't remotely the same!"
"That's it, right?" she said, and somehow he knew she was getting closer even if he couldn't hear her moving. "You look at her and you see me."
"I know you look at me and you just see another dead girl."
"She ain't you."
He barely managed another step before she stumbled right into his path, her hair gleaming bright gold in the sun.
"We burn the dead," Beth said, her hands curled into determined fists as she stared him down, just as righteously infuriated as she had been by that moonshine shack. "You can't just leave her behind like that. We burn the dead and we bury the living."
"Not anymore," Daryl said, something hot simmering in his chest as he started around her.
"She deserves better!" Beth cried out, flinging her arm towards the dead woman.
"And you didn't?" he all but shouted, spinning around to face her again.
Her lips trembled as she looked him in the eye, color high in her cheeks as her chest rose and fell quickly with each impossible breath she took. A cruel mockery of life, standing in front of him like she wasn't rotting in the trunk where he left her.
"Sure as hell didn't bury you!"
He kicked at a nearby branch, sending it flying into a tree where it broke in two. It wasn't enough but it'd have to do since there was nothing around for him to kill. Daryl knew if he yelled loud enough, he'd bring some walkers down on him. But Aaron would come right along with him and he'd have to explain why he was shouting at nothing but air. Her hand lifted from her side, unfurling from the tight fist as if she might reach out to touch him. He didn't get a chance to see what'd happen if she tried before it dropped back down to her side.
"That wasn't your fault," Beth said quietly.
His eyes stung as he turned his back on her, dropping his chin to his chest and squeezing his eyes shut as a shudder ran through him.
"Shoulda done somethin'," he choked on the words as if they were poison on his tongue.
"You did the best you could," Beth said, her voice even closer than before.
Two skinny arms, surprisingly strong as they wrapped around him. Holding him close. Pulling him into the light. Letting him cry without letting go.
"She was someone's light too."
His heart seized in his chest as he let the crossbow slip from shaking fingers. Pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes, he willed away the lump that rose in his throat and the tears that threatened to fall.
"You're one of the good ones, Daryl," Beth said, her voice barely above a whisper now. "Don't you let yourself start forgettin' that just cause I'm not around to remind you."
"You can't depend on anybody for anythin', right?"
His hard swallow clicked in his ears as he lifted his head, breathing in deep and pulling the knife from his belt. Turning back around, he didn't spare her a glance as he made his way back to that tree. Her eyes were a heavy weight on him as he sawed at the ropes, freeing them one at a time until the body of the woman tumbled to the ground.
"You ever gonna tell me about those numbers?" Daryl mumbled, clinging to the distraction of her presence as he gathered wood for the fire.
His eyes lifted when she answered with nothing but silence, falling on her as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.
"I don't have much time," Beth finally said.
"That what happens when they run out? You stop comin'?"
She turned to look at him, a sad smile pulling at her lips.
"You won't need me anymore then," she said with a shrug.
Daryl bit down on his tongue, stopping the words that clawed their way up his throat. They wouldn't do him any good now. Not when this wasn't really Beth. Just like Merle hadn't been Merle when Daryl shot himself with his own crossbow.
"How many we at?"
He asked as if he didn't already know.
He asked as if the answer didn't feel like a bolt to the chest.
"Six," Beth answered, blood suddenly trickling down her forehead.
And in the blink of an eye, she was gone.
I would love to hear what you think!