*Hey guys! I hope you liked the first chapter, this is my first attempt at writing a fanfic so any comments or constructive criticism is welcomed! This will be a slow burning story but we'll get their I promise. I'm playing with some ideas in my head right now. So let's see how this chapter turns out!*

I do not own any of the characters seen in this story; if I did I don't think the show would be as awesome as it is haha

Chapter 2

Black.

Silence.

Nothing.

"BETH!"

BANG BANG BOM

"BETH! BETH WAKE UP!"

"Grab her! We need to go, NOW!"

BANG BANG BANG CRASH

"Down these stairs, second door to the left will lead us back outside!"

"Cover me man my hands are kinda full"

"Let's GO"

"Beth…Beth if you can hear me, please. Please don't leave me…"

More nothing.

The small group emerged into the waning sunlight. Everyone was in a full sprint, even Daryl who was carrying the small blonde in his arms.

"GLENN! GLENN! GET THE TRUCK GOING, WE GOTTA GO." Rick shouted to the group ahead of them. Glenn jumped into action and the others followed, all except Maggie. Her eyes scanned the group running towards them. They needed to see her, they needed to know they had gotten her out. She found Daryl and saw that he carried a small blonde figure in his arms.

"Beth?" She said. "BETH?" She started running towards the girl. Rick reached her first and began to drag her back towards the vehicles. "Not here, not now Maggie. We don't have the time."

They reached the car, opening the back up Rick allowed Daryl to place the unconscious girl on a spread out sleeping bag. Maggie went to get in with her sister but Daryl threw his arm out. Maggie looked at him with a wild expression burning in her eyes. "What are yo-" she started. "No, I'm sitting with her."

Daryl didn't even wait for a response; he climbed in the back and shut the door. Glenn grabbed Maggie's hand and directed her to the back seat. "Get in, we'll be close to her right here."

"Alright let's go, we're bound to have some company coming." Rick hit the gas and the car shot off.

'This feels weird. It feels like I'm moving? Uhmp yep that was definitely a bump, I must be in a car. Uh my head hurts like crazy, what happened? Everything seems kind of foggy.' Beth's mind was slowing coming back to the now. 'Wait, is someone talking?'

"We need to find a place to pull over and look at her!"

'Maggie? Wait when did she get here?'

"Up ahead, look, it looks like an old strip mall. Let's pull over behind the building."

'Rick? Ok what's going on?' Beth opened her eyes.

"Hey take it easy, you're safe. You're safe and you're going to be ok." Beth was looking up into the face of Daryl. He had his arms around her and his fingers were drawing small soft circles on her arms.

"Daryl….what…what happened?" Beth sat up slightly.

"You…you were shot…"

"Oh shit."

Beth was jolted back to the present. She watched Daryl stand next to her. She followed his gaze into the dark trees and saw what cause his outburst.

Walkers. A dozen or so began to emerge from the forest.

Beth shot to her feet, her hand going to her leg were her knife was strapped to her pants. Daryl moved in front of her protectively.

"Go get Rick an' the others, we'll need some help out here." Daryl shoved her towards the cabin.

Beth took off, throwing open the door the group looked up at her clearly startled.

"Wa-Walk-Walkers" She huffed.

The group sprang to action. People grabbed their guns and ran out the door. Beth, catching her breath, ran back outside only one thought on her mind.

'Protect what's yours, protect what you love.'

A walker came at her, she shoved the blade into its skull deep. Pulling the knife out she searched for him. She needed to see he was ok.

She found him, about 30 feet from her, handling a pair of walkers. She ran for the one on his left and knocked to the ground driving her knife in the skull again. She felt a hand on her shoulder and spun around knife at the ready.

He was in front of her. Daryl had his hands raised defensively. Beth lowered the knife. They looked around; the group had handled this small herd. Beth heaved a sigh of relief. Everyone seemed to be ok.

"Are you ok?" Daryl's hand found Beth's arm, he spun her around and was looking her over. His eyes full of concern. Those same eyes found hers.

"I'm good, I'm ok. No bites not scratches. All ok"

They stood like that, looking into each other's eyes. His hand still on her arm. Beth felt the stirring in her stomach, the butterflies.

"ahem" Rick approached the two and gave a Beth an odd look. "You guys ok?"

"Yeah s'all good here." Daryl's hand dropped to his side.

"We seem to have made it through this one." Rick said looking around. "The herd was small, wonder if something drew them in or they were just passing through?"

"Beth, are you alright?" Maggie and Glenn joined them, hugging the blonde. "I'm good I promise." Beth said, pushing out of the hug.

"Looks like the watch was a good call Rick." Glenn said. Turning to Daryl, "Maggie and I can watch for a bit, go on inside it's getting cold out."

"Ok, thanks." Daryl said as he started for the house. Beth followed close behind and caught him as he hit the porch. She looked back, Carl was handing two blankets and a riffle to Glenn as Maggie picked a tree to sit under.

Beth caught Daryl's arm. "Wanna go for a walk?" Daryl raised an eyebrow at her. "Girl, we just dealt wit'a group of walkers and you want to take a stroll?" Beth shrugged, "Guess I'm still a little wound up, I wanted to walk it off and do a sweep. I can find someone else if you don't want to." Daryl looked her in the eye and sighed, "c'omon, let's go."

Walking with Daryl alone in the woods felt natural. They had done it for a while back before Beth ended up at the hospital. She shuddered.

"You cold?" Daryl asked looking at her sideways. They kept pace with each other and neither made a sound as they moved about.

"A bit, but I'm ok." She lied. She was actually freezing, but this had been her idea and she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of admitting she hadn't thought it through totally.

Without a word Daryl took his flannel shirt off, leaving him in a dirty t-shirt. He handed it to Beth. "Really I'm ok." She protested. "Just take it." Beth took the shirt and slipped it onto her slim figure. She sure had lost a lot of weight she thought to herself.

She focused her thoughts, she had a reason for dragging them out here. She wanted to talk to him, really talk to him, like they had on the run months ago. She needed to know why he was keeping her at a distance, was it something she did? Or said? Or was he still feeling guilty? These thoughts had been bothering her ever sense that night she woke up in his arms.

"Daryl, I-" She was cut off. He grabbed her arm to stop her. They knelt in the brush, eyes darting everywhere trying to find the noise. Beth spotted it, a lone walker was making his way parallel to them. Daryl raised his crossbow and fired. The arrow hit its target and the walker fell.

Never one to waste an arrow, Daryl quietly walked over to the walker. As he bent down to pull it out Beth gasped.

"Behind you!" Daryl spun and saw what she was seeing. A herd of walkers. Coming right their way.

"Run!"

They were running again, god how she wished they could not run for just one day. But they were running again and running as hard as they could.

"Wait!" Beth breathed as she stopped and bent over. "We can't run back to the cabin, that'll bring the herd straight to them" Daryl was looking around madly, trying to stay one step ahead of the walkers.

"Then wha'do we do?" He asked.

"They were heading parallel to the camp, if the herd is close together it could miss them completely. Let keep them going in that direction" Beth pointed ahead.

"You're crazy, we can't just run all night?" Daryl looked at the panting girl next to him. He knew she wouldn't make it more than a mile or two.

"We'll run as far as we can, keep them going this way, then find some place to lay low for the night and go back at sunrise." Daryl didn't have time to argue with her, the herd was closing in, they could hear their moans and growls.

"Fine, let's move. You gotta tell me when you can't run no more though, understand me?" Beth nodded.

They took off. Making sure the walkers were following them but always staying far enough ahead. They had no idea how big the herd was or if they would be able to find shelter, but they kept going.

It felt like they had been running for at least an hour, Beth's sides burned and her legs felt numb. They needed to find a place and soon.

"Daryl….we need….to find…a place…." She panted, He nodded at her and they began searching the area for some place to hide out.

'Run. Hide. Run. Hide. The cycle never ends.' Beth thought. Then she spotted it. It looked like an old tree stand someone must have once used for hunting. It was nestled in a tree about 50 feet from them.

"There" she breather, Daryl followed her gaze. "It's worth a shot." He said. They heard the walkers gaining on them again.

They reached the tree and looked up. It seemed sturdy but they didn't have a lot of time to test it out. Someone had nailed planks of wood to the tree to create a very rough ladder. "Climb girl." Daryl said throwing a hasty glance over his shoulder.

It took all the strength Beth had left to make the climb. She entered the small room and collapsed on the floor. Daryl's head popped into view moments later and she moved over so he could shut the wood door. He collapsed next to her and they laid in darkness panting and shivering.

Beth spoke first, "We should look out and see just what's passing under us." She sat up and scooted to the window. "Oh my god" Her hand flew to her mouth. Daryl sat up and looked out. This herd was large and spread out. They wee moving slower because of the cold but they must have been able to smell them because they seemed all riled up.

Beth started to shake, "Do you think the groups alright?" She felt her eyes well up. If anything happened she'd be to blame. They should have been there, they should have been there to help. Instead she was off in the woods because she wanted to talk about her feelings? Her hands fisted.

"Hey, hey come here." Daryl drew her away from the window to the corner of the room not being blasted with cold wind. "Shh…now don't cry. It'll be ok. Like you said, we lead the herd this way. The group'll be fine. We'll go back first thing."

Beth fell into Darly's chest; she let the tears fall for just a few moments. Daryl hesitated, unsure what to do, but finally wrapped his arms around the shivering girl. He gently stroked her back and began to draw lazy soft circles on her arm again.

Beth looked up from his chest. "I remember." She said. "Hmm?" Daryl said looking down at the blonde in his lap. "I remember waking up like this. In the car, after the hospital. You were holding me just like this…" She trailed off.

They were staring into each other's eyes. Beth's darted from his blue eyes to his lips and back again. They were leaning closer Beth was not confused anymore. She knew want she wanted. What they both wanted.

Daryl cleared his throat. "Let's try to sleep, ok? We have no idea how far we ran and it might be a long walk back tomorrow." Beth nodded. She took off his flannel shirt and gave it to him. Daryl raised an eyebrow at her. "Cover us up, we need to stay warm."

She leaned back into him, wrapping her arms around his body. She nestled her head onto his chest and shut her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her small body. He used the shirt to cover them both.

She shivered. He squeezed her closer to him. He didn't want to admit it but he loved the way she felt in his arms. So small and soft, yet strong. He held her tight, afraid if he didn't he'd lose her.

When he thought she was asleep he planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head and sighed. 'What are you doing Dixon?' He thought. 'This will only end badly' He shut his eyes and tried to enjoy the feeling of her in his arms while he had her.

Little did he know, she was still awake too.

What did you think? Let me know! I hope you like it as much as I'm liking it!