I know this part wasn't in the TV series, but I think it's necessary. After every night of drinking, there is a hangover, and after every moment of happiness, there is a brush with reality.
They walked on- by daybreak, Jamie was coming out of her drunken stupor, feeling the full-body aches and stomach churning nausea if a hangover setting in. Daryl didn't carry her anymore, instead letting her stumble as she tried to keep pace with Beth. She needed to learn her limits, and if this was the way to teach her not to overindulge in the joys of booze, then so be it.
Eventually, they stumbled upon what looked to be the remains of a cabin- they were in the deep woods, now, so it wasn't really a surprise.
"You two check around that side of the place- see if you can see anybody through the windows." Daryl ordered. He had a headache, but he knew he didn't feel nearly as bad as the girls. Still, once they were sure their wasn't a horde around this place, they could settle in for a good rest.
They each quietly nodded before stumbling around the corner, Daryl heading to check the other side.
Beth was nursing a splitting headache as well, keeping her head down and walking slightly ahead of Jamie. She barely noticed the walker was coming until it'd fallen right ontop of her, an awful gurgling sound escaping it as it seized her shoulders, about to take a bite out of her neck...
Jamie actually tripped over it, since she was only a few inches behind Beth, but the action managed to get the walker to roll off of Beth and go tumbling into the dirt with it herself.
Beth scrambled backwards in her backside, shocked, and Jamie rolled onto her back in time to see the walker, a man in a plaid shirt, lunging at her.
She kicked off the ground, flying backwards, ending up on her back as the walker dragged inself towards her, again lunging. Her hands were up defending her, then, she'd managed to seize its wrists. It was still fighting forward, though, it was almost in her face, teeth nearly finding purchase on her skin...
She released one wrist of the walker, shifting the hand onto it's chest, before letting the other wrist go. It was now precariously balanced, clawing at the air, her palm on its chest the only thing keeping it from biting her...
She fumbled behind herself with her free hand, finding the pistol she kept in her waistband and drawing it, leveling the barrel with the creature's forehead before she fired...
The sound was deafening, and instantly, the walker went limp. Without it supporting its own weight she couldn't hold it, and the body fell ontop of her...
Daryl sprinted around the corner, where he'd been coming around the other side, to find Beth shaking and Jamie lying beneath a walker. He said nothing, dropping his crossbow and running to her. She was already desperately squriming, trying to lift the heavy body off of her, and, adrenalin pumping, her threw it off her like it was nothing.
She staggered to her feet, falling to her knees a few feet away and gagging, vomiting onto the carpet of dead leaves and dying grass. Adrenalin and a hangiver did NOT mix. Daryl was actually surprised she'd managed to nail the walker, considering the condition she was in currently, and he realized grimly the loud shot would attract unwanted attention from nearby walkers. Both girls looked like shit, and there was no way they could stay out here...
He nodded towards the back door as Jamie shakily wiped her mouth and stood. "Jamie, take the back." he ordered as he fumbled with his knife, begining to pick the lock. Even like she was, Jamie was better with a gun than Beth, and Jamie shakily nodded, standing protectively behind Beth and facing the woods, glassy eyes still watching for danger...
Daryl managed to jimmy the lock enough, and the door swung open, revealing the dim interior if the cabin.
Daryl lifted his crossbow to proceede quietly inside, hearing Beth's quiet footsteps behind him and the door swinging shut behind Jamie.
The inside of the place was dingy, empty bags of food and cans on the floor of the kitchen and flies buzzing around...
Jamie swallowed, thankful her stomach was empty. She felt like total shit right now, she'd keep it together. She had to.
There was the sound of something falling, them,mand from the stairs above them a walker stumbled down the stairs, though the railing was in the way of a clear shot.
Daryl focused the crossbow, though, preparing for when it'd stumble around the staircase into view...
At that precise moment, however, a walker stumbled through the doorway leading off into the kitchen, seizing Daryl by the shoulders, about to sink it's teeth into him...
Jamie reacted, whirling with her gun raised, not even looking through the sights, but rather, instinctively pulling the trigger...
The shot echoed and she somehow ended up on the ground, dizzy and gasping, staring at the ceiling.
Daryl relaxed when he felt the walker go limp and slide off him, turning back to the walker on the stairwell. There was the familiar sound of an arrow leaving the crossbow before sinking through the walker's skull, pinning it to the wall by its head.
Daryl switched his crossbow into one hand, throwing Jamie into a fireman's carry with th other and nodding to Beth before heading upstairs, motioning with his head for her to follow.
The first room them came to was closed, door shut, and Daryl nodded to Beth, quietly srtting Jamie against the banister and lofting his crossbow towards the door. Beth forced the door open, and Daryl searched it thouroughly, finding only a queen bed and blue curtains. There was a bookshelf, as well as a nightstand, and Daryl deemed it safe, motioning for Beth to enter.
He grabbed Jamie from the hallway, quietly carrying her into the room. Her eyes were screwed shut, a sure sign of a pounding headache, and Daryl couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor kid. She'd only wanted a breif escape from the perpetual hell she was living in... She deserved so much better than this- both his girls did, really. They deserved somewhere safe, somewhere better than scrounging around and going to bed hungry...
" 'M sorry, Dad. 'M fucking useless..." Jamie muttered, voice quiet.
"Hey." Daryl said firmly, reaching out to brush the hair from her face. "Don't you ever say that. Just get some rest." he watched her, concerned, for a moment, before focusing on Beth. "Both of you."
The blonde nodded tiredly, brushing a lock of grimy blonde hair from her face tiredly and settling down on the bed beside Jamie.
Daryl quietly took the gun from Jamie's hand- she had a white-knuckled grip on it, and the last thing he needed was her starting awake and shooting him when he came back in the room. He instead set the pistol on the night table, grabbing his crossbow. He had to scour the place for any lingering walkers before he cluld settle down, but he cadt one more glance over his shoulder at the girls before slipping out into the hall, closing the door behind him.
Beth sighed tiredly. looking over at Jamie. The girl she'd come to think of as a sister was in no shape to do anything, now, as she drifted off into an achy sleep...
It unsettled her. She hadn't realized how important Jamie's prowness had been to their little trio until it was gone. When she'd walked right into the walker- Jamie normally would've spotted it. But she hadn't, and they'd both almost died from it.
When that walker had stumbled into the room and grabbed Daryl- she wouldn't have been able to do a damn thing about it. It was Jamie who'd saved them, probably saved them all with that well placed shot. She suddenly felt exposed and disgusted with herself- she hadn't realized how much weight had been falling to the girl.
Which was why she planned on not needing Jamie anymore. Not that she was going to grt rid of Jamie- it was the opposite, really. She thought of the girl like a sister and loved her more than anything- but she needed to grow a pair, as Jamie would've no doubt said, had she felt like talking now, and learn how to do something useful like shoot better.
Wordlessly, Beth reached into her waistband, pulling out her own pistol. It was empty, of course, had been for ages, though she expected Jamie had been looking for an oppertune moment to sneak some of her bullets into the gun, despite Beth's claim she didn't want to take from the few bullets the girl had left.
She leveled the gun with an ugly stain on the wallpaper, lining up the sight and oulling the trigger. The gun simply clicksd, being empty, but Beth smiled. "Bam." She said quietly, deciding she could make her own sound effects.
As soon as she got rid of this damn headache, she'd start asking Daryl to teach her to shoot the crossbow. If Jamie could do so much even though she was so little, than so couod she. She fell asleep with a much better attitude, arm slung protectively over Jamie. They were together- they'd make it through this.
Daryl ransacked the cupboards in the kitchen- he'd deemed the cabin safe after checking every closet and crevice and finding nothing, and he'd headed doen to the kitchen to look for some food, trying not to reflect on how badly he was failing his girls.
The cupboards were nearly bare. A bottle of Coors Light was all he'd fiund so far, and the thought of more alchol actually made him cringe and his stomach clench alittle toghter. He aas hungover, too- but he was the oldest. He had to quit being a pussy and just suck it up- besides, he had those two girls sleeping uostairs to think about.
His thoughts calmed slightly at the thought of his girls, before the disappointment that they probably wouldn't wake up to a decent meal made him feel like a failure again. Beth was already small for sixteen, and Jamie- the kid was tiny. It always amazed him that both girls could do what they did, treck on despite the circumstances, like being incredibly hung over.
The thought of them made him search even harder fir food, however, and he scanned the cupboards eith a critical eye, finding a can of beans and what looked to be a box of powdered pudding mix. Not really a meal, but better than nothing. It would take the edge off, at least.
He failed at finding a can-opener, instead opting to use his knife. He slopped the beans into a relatively clean looking pan, lighting the stove and thanking god this place ran on gas.
A few minutes later he was heading upstairs with a bowl of slightly overcooked beans and some watery pudding- it wasn't much, but it was what they had. They wrre together, he reminded himself, setting the food on the nightstand. They could share the meal once the girls woke up, and he settled himself in a chair by the window to keep watch for any incoming walkers.
They were together. That was all that mattered.