Follow Me, Beth
Chapter 3

_…Then…_

"Daryl!"

He turned when he heard Carol call his name. He ran over to her, noticing the blood on her clothes. "Walkers?"

She nodded.

"You find her?"

Carol just seemed to stand there, unresponsive for a moment, studying him with some hesitance in her eyes. Finally, she nodded again, a little less zealously.

"What?" he asked, able to see it. Something wasn't right. "What is it?"

She took a breath and reached behind her, pulling something free from her pocket. She held out the knife to him and Daryl just stood there, feeling like his lungs were going to explode and his heart would shatter into such tiny pieces that it'd be completely irreparable.

"That's… That's Beth's knife," he said, taking a step back, struggling to find the breath to say those haunting words. "Where?"

"You don't want to see," she said.

Daryl's eyes narrowed as he lifted his head and looked at her, his jaw set squarely, teeth clenched. "Where?"

Carol turned and reluctantly gestured. "Last room… on the right," she said. "But, Daryl, you shouldn't—" Before she could stop him, he was already on the move, running past her and down the dark hall.

A walker stumbled out from one of the boiler rooms under the hospital and Daryl threw it aside, snapping its neck like it was the delicate stem of a wine glass. Nothing stood between him and getting to that room. When he reached the doorway, he stopped and collapsed against the doorframe. His features contorted into a mix of pain and despair. "…No… No."

The floor was completely red, blood everywhere. Walkers all twisted up in a heap around a girl's body. Carol had put them all down, including the young woman in the middle… what was left of her. She was torn apart, completely unrecognizable. Even her blond hair was impossible to make out, it was so saturated with the sanguine hues.

"I'm so sorry, Daryl…" Carol said as she stepped up behind him, watching him lean forwards where he stood, his breathing wheezing slightly as he appeared to be on the verge of hyperventilating. She'd never seen him like this before, and it left her shaken in a way she didn't realize she could feel anymore. She reached out to touch his arm. "Come on… we can't stay."

He tore himself free, throwing his arm back and making her step away. He moved into the room and dropped to his knees in the pool of blood, looking over the body, feeling utterly sick… not just from the sight of it, imagining this was Beth… but his heart, the way it hurt — it was a pain he'd never felt before — and it was nauseating. He finally let out a sob and hung his head, pressing his hands into the blood around his knees, hanging over the body.

"Daryl…" Carol tried again, but he didn't respond. She could hear moans down the hall, gunfire outside. It was clear that Rick and the others were still facing opposition from the people here. "Daryl!"

"Just go," he said.

"No. Not without—"

"I'm not… gonna… not gonna leave her!" he growled, anger fizzling up to the surface before he felt himself sink back into inconsolable anguish. "Go, Carol."

Carol just stared at him for a moment before she nodded and walked away. He listened to her go, her footfalls hurrying into the distance, echoes of her steps growing fainter and fainter. It felt like an eternity of sitting there, mourning Beth, before he heard someone enter the room with him. He opened his eyes and looked up to see Carol standing there with a blue sheet.

"What're you doin'?" he asked weakly.

"We're taking her with us. We're going to get out of here. We're going to bury her like she deserves. You deserve to get to say goodbye to her the right way. So you going to help me or just sit there?" she asked, opening the sheet and laying it over the body.

Daryl looked down and watched it flutter over the bloody mess, the blue quickly being inundated by the red stains spreading through the fabric. He moved to tuck her arms under the sheet when he paused.

"Stop," he said as Carol moved to help lift the body.

"What?"

"Just wait," he said, picking up the girl's left hand and pulling his red handkerchief out of his back pocket, his breathing rapid and shallow, as though he felt like he was chasing her all over again. He wiped the blood away from her wrist.

"Daryl—"

"It's not her," he said, nearly choking on a laugh of relief.

Carol, however, couldn't shake the feeling that he was in denial. Seeing how broken Beth's death had made him, it made sense that he wouldn't want to believe it. "Daryl, it's Beth. It's Beth and she's dead."

"You ain't listenin'," he said, pointedly, as he looked at her and held up the girls hand. "No scar. She slit her wrist. She had a scar."

Carol's eyes widened as her own heart fluttered. She looked at Daryl as he leaned in, his eyes wild with renewed hope.

"It's not Beth," he said. "She's alive."

_…Now…_

Beth learned quickly that the group had been crammed into three houses. Maggie, Glenn, Rick, Carl, Judith, Michonne and Daryl were all under a single roof and she couldn't have been happier. She would sleep knowing the people who meant the most in this world to her were all around her. Despite the fact that Glenn offered to take the downstairs sofa and let Beth sleep in the bedroom with Maggie, she refused in favor of taking the couch herself.

When Maggie said goodnight and headed upstairs, Beth went about finishing making herself a bed. Daryl came out from his room and into the living room. He watched her quietly from the doorway for a few moments, until he heard her sigh and drop herself down onto the couch.

"I get it," he said, causing her to turn and look back at him.

"Oh, Daryl… I didn't know you were there."

"Sorry, didn't mean to surprise you," he said, holding up a pillow. "Thought you could use one of these," he said, bringing it over and handing it to her.

She smiled. "Thanks." Beth placed the pillow against the armrest and then looked up at him. "What did you mean?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"You said, 'I get it,'" she said. "What did you mean?"

He shrugged a bit. "We all went through it. Sleepin' out here, in the living room. If there's trouble, you have ten ways out in a hurry. You're not in a room, trapped or cornered. I get it."

Beth looked down and nodded a bit. "I can't… I can't help it."

He shook his head and moved to sit down in the chair across from her. "You don't have to. Give yourself time, Beth. You'll adapt. You just got here."

She nodded, but he could see that something was on her mind. Something bothered her.

"You okay?" he asked.

Beth looked at him and, after a moment, she licked her lips and swallowed to wet her throat. "I'm scared, Daryl."

"Of what?"

"Of this place," she said, looking around the room and back at him. "That they'll… be something less than I hope they'll be."

"I know. We've been there," he said, recalling the disappointment that Terminus had turned out to be, and that was grave understatement. "But this place… these people.. They're good people. The ones that you always believed were still out there."

She smiled weakly and nodded, glancing over at him again. "You still believe that?"

"Don't you?" he asked.

"Maybe."

He cleared his throat and got up, moving to sit down beside her on the couch. "Beth… if it was dangerous, I wouldn't let you stay here. I'd never put you in harm's way… ever. I'd keep you as far from it as I could."

Beth looked at him and studied the intensity and sincerity of his eyes. "You're scared, too, then?"

Daryl studied her for quiet a while in silence before nodding and looking away. "Of some things. Yeah…" he said. He couldn't say what he really meant. His biggest fear, now that she was back, seemed to only come from the thought of losing her again.

"At least I'm not alone in that, then," she noted with a smile.

"None of us are," he said.

She nodded and looked around, sighing a bit to herself. She looked back at him, leaning in and bumping shoulders with the man. "We should probably get some sleep, huh?"

"Yeah." He moved to stand up, walking around the sofa and pausing behind it. "I'll be just down the hall… if you need anythin'."

Beth nodded and smiled.

"I'm glad you're back," he said, his head cocking a bit to one side, like a little boy who was trying to discretely convey the magnitude of his adoration. He turned out the lights and crept around the corner to his room.

Beth found herself in a dark, open room with only the dim light pouring through the closed curtains of the windows to see by. Immediately, her anxiety rose. Her pulse races, her heart began to pound. She felt instantly edgy, nervous… afraid. She looked towards the windows, swearing she could see shadows moving on the other side of the drapes. Slowly, she rose to her feet and moved, step by step, balancing silently on the balls of her bare feet, making her way to the edge of the window.

Cautiously she drew back the edge of the curtain, just a sliver, peeking outside. It was pitch black, except for the occasional floodlight here and there, shining down on the streets from the roofs of some of the houses. There was nothing moving out there, and yet she couldn't shake this sense being watched.

"What're you doin?" Daryl asked, making her jump.

She clutched the pale pink t-shirt she was wearing for bed, swearing her heart was now permanently lodged in her throat. "Daryl… you scared me."

"Yeah, I can see that," he said. "Everything okay?"

Beth turned and looked at the closed drapes, then shook her head. She gestured to them, still catching her breath from the startle. "I thought… I don't know why, but I thought someone was out there."

"Ain't no one out there, Beth," he assured her. "But… do you want me to go take a look?"

"No," she said. "No, you're right. It's nothin'."

He just watched her in the dark, trying to gauge what she was feeling right now. It seemed to come easier, the more open and honest he was with himself about his own feelings. "You sure you're okay out here alone?"

Beth wavered slightly and folded her arms, hugging herself a bit. "… I don't know."

"What would make you feel safe?" he asked.

Her throat felt parched when she tried to tell him. She swallowed to wet it, but it did little good. "… You."

Daryl nodded, "Alright." If Beth needed him, then she had him. He walked over to the sofa, drawing nearer to her, and she could finally see what he was holding in his hands. A blanket and another pillow, which he laid out on the floor just beside the couch.

Beth walked over as he was getting his bed ready. "You… you were already coming out to stay with me…" she said, taken aback for a moment.

"Of course," he said, looking up at her. "Think I'm letting' you out of my sights again? Not even in my sleep. Come on. Get up on this couch so I can lay down," he said.

She smiled and moved past him, dropping down onto the sofa and getting comfy. She shifted to lay on the side, facing him, watching him get situated on the floor. "You gonna be okay down there?"

"This? This is one of the comfier places I've slept," Daryl said with a smirk. "Get some sleep. I'll be right here."

Beth hugged the pillow under her head a bit more, nestling her cheek against it. "Good night, Daryl…"

"Night, Beth."

It was around 2 AM when Maggie woke, unable to settle knowing that Beth was spending her first night in a new place, downstairs, alone… Despite Glenn's unconscious efforts to keep his wife in bed, she pulled free and rolled over the edge, finding her footing. She snuck down the hall and to the stairs, turning on her small flashlight as she came down to check on Beth.

She only made it halfway down the staircase when she saw them. Beth was sound asleep on the sofa with Daryl on the floor right beside her. What caught her the most, though, was that, by the dim light of her flashlight, Maggie could see that their hands were clasped, fingers intertwined, even as they slept.

Slowly, she retreated back upstairs and to her room. Setting the flashlight aside, she was still trying to make sense of what she'd just happened upon. Innocent as it was, it seemed to be a glaringly large insight into just how close Beth and Daryl had gotten in their time together. There were feelings there that seemed to emerge in the cover of night.

"She okay?" Glenn asked, groggily, aware that Maggie was back in the room. He knew her well enough to know where she'd been, checking on Beth.

Maggie snapped out of her thoughts and smiled, moving to crawl back into bed with him and under the covers. "Mmmhmm. She's fine. She's asleep."

"I half thought you would've stayed down there with her," Glenn said.

"Yeah, I was goin' to, but…"

"But what?" he asked.

"Daryl's with her…," she said, almost laughing as the words tumbled out of her mouth. "She… she needs someone and he's… he's there. He's with her," she said, looking at Glenn as he ran his fingers through her hair. "I know she's safe if he's there."

Glenn moved closer. "You good with all that?"

"I think I am," she said with a smile. "He never gave up on her, Glenn. You and I… we don't wanna admit it, but… we did."

"Maggie…"

"No, I'm not beating myself up or anythin', Glenn. She said it was okay… I know it's okay," she said, bringing a hand up to cup his cheek. "What I meant was… he never stopped lookin'. Even when there was nothin' to go on, he never gave up hope. That's… when has that ever been like Daryl?"

Glenn just shook his head a bit, unsure how to answer that.

"That's the kind of love she deserves," Maggie said. "And I'll always be good with that."

Glenn smiled and nodded. "So she's with Daryl."

"She's with Daryl." Maggie smiled.

He moved in and kissing Maggie softly. "Then how about we get some sleep?"

"Okay…" Maggie agreed, snuggling in against Glenn and closing her eyes.

"She went back up," Beth whispered, revealing she hadn't been asleep at all.

"I know," Daryl said, threading his fingers between her delicate, slender ones over and over again. It was almost in a mindless, hypnotic manner. He was hardly aware he was doing it. It was just nice to feel that she was really here. He was still struggling, now and then, especially while lying here in the dark, to believe this was real.

Maybe it was because he was half-asleep. Maybe it was all of the emotions from the day just leaving him raw and vulnerable. Maybe it was the fact that with Beth he could be honest and feel safe doing it. Whatever it was, he hoped that he wouldn't regret the words he was about to say.

"I don't want to miss you again…" he said.

She shifted on the sofa and rested her head on the pillow as she looked down at him, furrowing her brow curiously. "You don't have to."

Daryl turned on his side, propping himself up on his arm, looking up at her. "…What happened, Beth? Out there? At the hospital?" He worried that maybe, whatever she went through, she'd stop talking to him. Close herself off, like Carol had. He couldn't stand that. He'd come to depend on her to be open with him. To have that special trust that he only had with her.

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore—"

"I does matter." He sat up more and closed his hand around hers. "You matter. They hurt you—"

"Yeah, they did," she said, her voice a bit steely at being forced to reflect on that. "They hurt me, Daryl…" She took another breath and let it out slowly, closing her eyes as she let the tension melt away again. She opened her eyes and looked at him. "They didn't break me."

He stared at her in the darkness for what felt like an eternity before he nodded. "You survived."

"I did."

"…You made it," he whispered.

She smiled and moved around to hug him, half-falling off the couch to do so. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"I know the feeling," he said quietly. He closed his eyes and sighed, breathing in the smell of shampoo and soap that had replaced the stench of road-weary traveler that she'd previously been cloaked in. In a weird sort of way, he missed that scent. Everything would be different now, different from being alone in the woods with Beth, but if they were together again, at least he knew things would still be good.

"One day.. I'll tell you everything," she said, honestly. "But not yet."

"Alright," Daryl said. She needed time. He knew that. The promise was enough for him. She'd talk when she was ready. He'd respect that. "You really should get some sleep."

"I don't want to," she whispered, still holding on.

"You're exhausted… you need it," he said.

"I don't want to let go," she admitted. "What if this isn't real?"

Daryl paused. It appeared she shared his fear. He slowly reached up, taking her arms and guiding her back from him, supporting her so she wouldn't tumble completely off the sofa. Whatever loosened his tongue tonight seemed to embolden him, even if he was terrified at the same time. He kissed her cheek. Brief, quick, timid.

She felt the light grazing of his whiskers against her skin, his lips thinly pressed in an awkwardly chaste manner, as though this was his first time making such a gesture. She drew back and looked at him, bright blue eyes searching in the darkness.

"It's real…" he assured her, clearing his throat. He promptly let go of her, sitting back on the floor. He felt like he was awaiting the first bullet of a firing squad.

A heated blush flooded her cheeks. She knew the only reason he could do that was because of the dark. She figured it gave him courage to be half in shadow, unaware that a lot of it simply came from not wanting to waste his second chance to take a leap of faith with the only woman who ever gave him a flutter. She could feel his hands tense around her arms and she knew he'd made himself just as nervous from that kiss as he'd made her.

"Go back to sleep. I'll be right here when you wake up," he said.

She nodded and smiled again, "Okay." She laid back down on her stomach and hugged the pillow under her head. Daryl gave the blanket that was over her a small tug, bringing it up higher before he laid back down on the floor. He looked up at the ceiling and draped his arm across his forehead. His heart was racing. He couldn't believe what just happened. He'd kissed her — granted, it'd only been on the cheek — but he'd never done that before… not that. She didn't spurn him or question him or recoil from it. In a way, that made him even more nervous, but… incredibly happy.

He felt her hand bat against his elbow and shifted a bit to look at her wiggling fingers in the dark. He smirked to himself, the back of his neck tingling a bit at the thought that she wanted to be touching. Daryl moved his arm down and intertwined his fingers with hers once more, letting her know he was there and he wasn't going anywhere.

_…Then…_

The gunfire had died out as Daryl and Carol emerged from the hospital. Rick and the others rushed to greet them outside, only to be struck by the sight of the bloody, sheet-wrapped body in Daryl's arms.

Rick holstered his gun and brought his hands up, snaking his fingers into his hair in disbelief as his own face reddened and contorted with the threat of tears. "No."

Maggie was frozen in her place as she looked at the sheet, her mouth agape in a horrified expression. "Beth?" She looked at Daryl, needing confirmation for the fears already running rampant through her.

He looked her straight in the eyes and shook his head. "No."

Maggie practically collapsed where she stood, Glenn grabbing her arm to keep her standing. "Oh God… how do you know?" she said. "How?"

"I just do," Daryl said. "It's not Beth. She's not here, but she's alive."

"Okay, but… Daryl… how do you know?" Glenn asked.

"Because I saw her," Carol said. "I talked to her. She was close to getting out. Beth survived this long in this place. If Daryl says it's not her, then it's not her. She got out."

Daryl looked at Carol, gratefully, then nodded.

"Then, who's that?" Rick asked, gesturing to the body.

"Someone who didn't get out," Daryl said, looking down at the sheet. "We're gonna bury her, because it could've been Beth. 'Cause maybe she meant somethin' to someone, the way Beth does to us," he said.

"If she's out there, alone, we don't have time," Sasha said.

"We make time," Daryl said. "It's what we do." He looked over at Rick, who nodded. "It's who we still are," he added, looking over at Glenn, who clearly felt the echo of his own words and nodded.

"Alright. We'll bury her," Glenn said. "Then we'll look for Beth."

Maggie didn't seem as enthused as may have been expected, mostly because it was clear she was scared to get her hopes up. She couldn't shake this feeling that maybe, just maybe, Daryl was holding Beth right now. That she was dead. She was afraid to believe he was right… that this wasn't Beth.

"No. We don't know where she's goin'. We don't know the first place to start lookin'. We don't know if she's alive," Abraham said. "We came back for all of you, to go as a group to D.C., not to get sidetracked here."

Rick looked down and then around at the others and reluctantly nodded. "We'll look for her as we go. Right now, let's bury this girl and get out of here. We don't know if there are any of them left around," he said.

Daryl knew it was pointless to be angry or to argue. He didn't want to be out here alone and yet he didn't want to leave Beth out here alone either. She'd been alone this whole time and they were so close. She was like sand just racing through his fingers and he couldn't catch her fast enough.

The thought of walking away from her killed him inside, but as long as he could hold onto the hope that she was alive out there, there was a chance. Already he was formulating it in his head. If he couldn't follow her, then he'd make sure she could follow him.