AN: So, things will be a bit different now. The usual day/night separations seem unrealistic, considering, so I'm going to try something different for the time being. Thank you for the reviews, by the way, they keep me going.

Six, Light I

Daryl came to in silence, the house sounded totally empty. He heard nothing of Beth. He tried to lift his head but failed. He resigned himself to studying the ceiling, noting the stretched yellow light. Late afternoon, he assumed. Pain cocooned and wrapped him tightly, almost reassuring him now with its consistency. The pain now had company, a coldness he felt throughout his body. After what could have been minutes or hours for all he knew, he head a rattling as the door opened.

Shuffling sounds of movement and the rustling of things moving within a bag roused him more fully. Beth sighed somewhere near him and put things down. Footsteps became louder until Beth was bent over him, looking down at him. She held his wrists, checking his pulse. She put a hand to his chest, then her head to his chest, and then looked down at his legs before looking back up at him.

"Hey. I'm back" she said, softly. "While you were out I tried some blood on you, and everything seemed okay. I had some epinephrine in case though. Now we'll get more in you"

Nodding slightly, she disappeared and walked away, leaving the hall. Daryl used all his might to lull his head to the side. He watched Beth sit down on a loveseat in the viewing room adjoining the hall where he lay. She preoccupied herself with digging through a large paper bag. She took another IV-like bag out, dropping it to the floor and holding on to the tubing. She leaned back and laid halfway down. He wondered what she was up to, but knew as soon as he saw her uncap a large needle and study it.

Jesus, why would she do this? He opened his mouth to protest but it wouldn't comply. Beth looped a belt around her upper arm, extended it out over the arm of the loveseat, and doused it with what he assumed was rubbing alcohol. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and winced as she pushed the needle into her forearm.

"Oh" she sighed. Dark red fluid rushed the tubing to flow into the bag on the floor. She closed her eyes and let it drain, anchoring the tubing to her arm with her other hand. He could do nothing as she finished one bag, and proceeded to fill three more. He was freezing and he was paralyzed.

How much blood could one give in one sitting? He couldn't remember. He wasn't sure he even knew to begin with. She was draining herself of blood to help him and he didn't understand why. What she was doing was dangerous. He didn't know when it happened but he was unconscious again.

Six, Dark I

Behind his eyes, he felt warmth rushing into him. He couldn't make out what it was but he felt like he was being filled up again. He hadn't really grasped how cavernous and empty his body had felt until he felt this warmth entering him. It felt like something vital, something necessary, fleshing him back out and warming his bones.

Crickets and cicadas sang outside the funeral home walls. He saw everything of the house, every room and every window, dimly lit with candles. Beth was curled up on the loveseat, now pushed up against a window in the viewing room with her back to Daryl. She hunched over a book. She felt weak, her eyes heavy with sleep. She glanced up occasionally to look out into the yard, then went back to the book.

..and in the days that followed, she grew desperate with her fear, she read for probably the tenth time. Some poorly-written murder mystery, she'd found it in a bedside nightstand. She curled her toes and stretched. Maybe she'd take a brief nap soon, then go back to her watch. She wasn't naïve, she knew she did them no good if she was delirious with exhaustion.

Outside of himself he watched as he rose from the table. He didn't feel right rising though, his movements felt as though they were happening through mud. His muscles didn't seem to initiate his actions. He sat up and became aware that he wasn't breathing.

She ran numbers and scenarios through her head as she rested it on the arm of the loveseat. The blood transfusions were almost done, he'd had no reaction, but she'd been vigilant with the Tylenol and Benadryl too. Not to mention, epi stayed within reach. She would read the drug book she'd found at the nearby nursing home more thoroughly in the morning, see which of the several bottle of antibiotics she'd grabbed seemed best. Once she could spare the IV, she'd also give him some morphine. She wished she knew if he had allergies. She scoffed lightly, she doubted he knew even if she could manage to ask him.

Daryl silently left the table, standing somehow. How did his leg allow this? He felt as though he were standing on half a leg, his gait spastic and uneven. She must have been too tired to hear him, there was no way the sick sound of his leg crunching as he stepped forward wasn't audible.

It surprised her, really, that she'd been so lucky to find drugs. Beth knew from doing runs out on the road that pharmacies, doctors' offices, and hospitals were totally ransacked. But the isolated nursing home in the woods she'd happened upon remained reasonably stocked. It occurred to her then that the dark patient rooms she passed contained dead elderly people. She'd wondered why there was no sign of walkers. Even if they died in their beds, they'd have become walkers and crawlers. They were shot, but they didn't look as though they'd ever been undead. Her answer came when she got to the storage room where several people in scrubs laid in a circle, gunshots through their skulls. A chill had run though her, she realized the staff had killed the patients and after, they had killed themselves. Beth hugged herself at the memory.

Lost in her reverie, she never noticed Daryl behind her. And he felt no control as he leaned in to grab her and sink his teeth into the back of her neck. She screamed in surprise and turned towards him, he let go and bit down on her throat, he fell onto her. Hot blood pooled in his mouth, her throat vibrated and pulsed in his mouth. Beth's scream turned to a gurgle and then to silence.

Six, Light II

Daryl felt unbearably hot, but his skin felt as though it were glazed with frost. His eyes snapped open and he was awake with a racing heart and a feeling of unbearable dread. His voice caught and rasped in his throat, he felt the need to cough and did so. Each weak cough racked through his body with blinding-light shocks of pain.

Rapid footsteps and Beth was over him, her hair brushed across his face. Her bright eyes were inquisitive and concerned. She watched his face intently, her hands were all over him, checking him.

"Do you hurt more? Is it hard to breathe? What are you feeling, Daryl?" she asked rapidly. She put a hand to his neck, taking his pulse and trying to gauge the effort inside his throat. Her other hand laid its back on his forehead. She brought both hands up and stroked his face. Her hands felt so cool and soothing. She was okay, his breathing slowed and he relaxed visibly.

"You're so hot. You're sweating and burning up" she mused. She turned and knelt down to rummage through a bag on the floor. She came back up and produced three large brightly colored capsules. She brought them to his mouth.

"Open up, take these. They're some antibiotics, the least likely to cause a reaction that I have" she told him. He complied and she followed the pills with a jug of water. He drank thirstily. He fought the giant pills down. She took a plastic vial of clear water and busied herself with transferring something from a small, dark vial into the water of the plastic vial. He felt as she messed with the IV, and then he felt cool liquid enter his arm followed by an overall feeling of weightlessness and softness. His pain suddenly seemed like a strange, distant visitor off in the corner of his awareness, speaking some language he didn't understand now. He just didn't seem to comprehend his pain as being painful anymore. Beth sat up and looked in his eyes.

She smiled, "Some pain medicine too. I'm going to change your leg dressing now"

Beth disappeared and he was dimly aware of her unwrapping his leg. She paused and looked at the leg. She prepared something else and he felt a distant pinch as she injected something into his leg muscle. After she'd cleaned his leg, Beth slowly and dutifully repacked and rewrapped his leg. He also noticed that she was cleaning and changing him also. He felt ashamed that she was having to treat him like a total invalid. But, the morphine dampened the horror he would normally feel. He could do nothing but be cared for and lie there.

Inside his opioid stupor he found himself overwhelmed by his love for her. His eyes drifted past her and watched as daylight played with shadows cast by windows. Absentmindedly, he considered how she was such a pure and incredible thing. How something like her had lived this long in such an ugly world was amazing. But, he thought, at the same time it was completely understandable. The world would have burned to the ground weeks after the dead had started coming back if things like her didn't exist. She was the embodiment of what was worth fighting for; something that existed, stark and unapologetic, to insist that people fight back and reclaim the world.

"Can we though..?" he croaked out, asking his answerless question to the room. Beth sat back in surprise. Expectantly watching him like a hawk. She held her breath.

"Daryl?" she asked meekly.

"If I turn" he said with a raspy, ill-formed voice, "I need you to kill me"

Beth frowned at him. She repositioned herself until she hovered directly over his face. She was inches from him, she looked into his eyes hard. "It isn't going to come to that" she stated. There was no hesitance, not even any hopefulness, she simply spoke with an air of irrefutable fact.

He wasn't much of an optimist but something in her voice and the singing in his veins told him that it would, in fact, not come to that. He half-smiled and his eyelids dropped, he slipped backwards into sleep.

Six, Dark II

Daryl felt himself permeate throughout the walls of a house he hardly recognized. An older woman cut the lights out in a kitchen and walked to a bedroom down a hall on the first floor. An even older man put down a newspaper and cut lights out throughout the living room and den, he double-checked the lock on the front and back door of the house before joining his wife in the bedroom. The entire first floor of the country farmhouse was now dark, but a sole light remained on upstairs. He noted that it was the Greenes' house.

Within the room with the sole light, Beth went into the bathroom adjoining her bedroom and washed her face. Daryl noted the layout of the room, decorated for a teenage girl. Beth lifted the top of her pajamas and studied a series of linear scratches down her rib cage. She cut herself, on occasion. Not terribly deep, she told herself, she just liked the shock of the sting and the bright red beads of blood that welled up. She took a tube of ointment from the bathroom vanity and rubbed some over the wounds before putting her shirt down.

Beth returned to her bedroom and sat down cross-legged on the floor. At a low volume, music played from a stereo on her dresser. She held a bottle on nail polish and a human physiology textbook. She sat the heavy book down beside her and opened it to her bookmark: osteogenesis. Not her favorite topic but she committed to scanning through it. Beth liked to review at least one body system or one physiological process a day when she had downtime. She opened her nail polish as she reviewed the difference between osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Singing softly, Beth began painting her toenails.

She was a rising junior in high school. Summer break had recently started. Currently, she was lazing through a few weeks of break before she started up her summer job in a diner a town over. A stack of novels she'd been saving up to read sat on her bedside table, she planned to get through them slowly. Honestly, she'd really like to go outside and read tonight, her window was open and the night air felt amazing. But, Beth knew, if her dad caught her out there he may just pull the plug on letting her even have her summer job. The idea of being completely stuck on the farm all summer was enough to keep her in line.

She frowned down at her nails, she'd made a mistake. She licked a finger and rubbed compulsively around the nails, removing the excess. Maggie would be home for a week in a few days before she went to study abroad for the summer. Beth had to stifle her jealousy over that once Maggie arrived. Not only was her older sister leaving her alone for a whole summer at the farm, she was getting to go to Europe too. Beth would kill to get that chance.

Luckily, she had her job at least. She'd add to her savings and dream of college and trips abroad. Her time was coming, she just had to be patient. And then, hopefully, once she left the farm and her tiny high school, she'd start to feel some excitement over being alive. Life could begin for her just like it had for Maggie. Beth wanted to be an overseas medic, she wanted to explore the world.

Beth sat back and studied her nails, she studied her work, considering a second coat. Beth wasn't miserable or anything. She had a good group of friends, she ranked on the high side of average in the social hierarchy. She did AP classes, she was on the swim team, she cheered, played tennis, and tutored middle schoolers. No one disliked Beth, and she disliked no one. She'd never felt particularly depressed or bullied or distressed. Just bored, really. She decided against the second coat and stood up, stretching her arms.

Beth looked across the room, near the open window. Her eyes widened and quickly narrowed. She furrowed her brown in mild anger as she looked directly at Daryl. He became aware that he was standing in her bedroom, by her window.

"Seriously? What are you doing here?" she hissed and slid across the room, she grabbed him by his hands.

"I wanted to see you again before I leave" he answered. He wasn't aware he was going to say that, and he had no idea where he was supposed to be going. She rolled her eyes and smiled mockingly.

Beth led him over to sit on the bed with her. "Okay. But be quiet. If my dad had any idea you were here we'd both be dead, Mike" she said, her eyes sparkling.

Daryl scoffed internally at this. Yeah, no shit, that was an understatement. Herschel would have his throat slit and have him hung up by his feet if he knew Daryl was sitting on his sixteen year old daughter's bed. He felt weird, and glanced down at his body. He was himself physically, but he didn't feel like himself at all. He guessed he was Mike.

Unexpected to himself, he spoke again, "I won't be back for two whole months. I'm going to miss you, it was a chance worth taking"

Beth cupped his hands in her and rubbed them, "Aw. It'll fly by, we'll both be busy"

"Eh, maybe" he answered, suddenly remembering something, "Which reminds me"

Daryl unshouldered a backpack he didn't know he had and dug in it. He produced from it a bottle of Boone Farms and two solo cups. In his mind, he recoiled. What utterly trash alcohol.

"Oh no, I don't want any" Beth said quickly. She put her hands up to further her point. Daryl shrugged and unscrewed the bottle cap. He took a long drink of the godawful fruity malt liquor. He recapped it.

Without warning, Beth leaned forward and kissed him deeply. Daryl let go of the bottle and it rolled across the bed. He felt his palms grow warm and sweaty. The back of his neck prickled. His face flushed. He kissed her back, but didn't feel quite right. He wondered idly if he was a good kisser. He was a nervous seventeen year old boy in a forty year old man's body. He laid back across her bed and pulled her halfway on top of him, not breaking their kiss. Daryl felt acutely aware of the dimensions of her body against his. He took a chance and put a hand to her chest, she didn't stop him. His mind wandered briefly to the fact that he had condoms in the bag. His heart sped up, excited. Maybe this time. He moved his hand, attempting to move it underneath the fabric of her tank top.

Beth pulled away and sat up. She looked away for several moments before glancing back at him. "I'm, uh, still just not ready… I'm sorry"

Daryl felt chagrined, but recovered quickly. He hadn't really expected anything to happen anyhow. He sat up too and regained his composure. His eyes darted around the room. The subject needed to change.

"Rob a library?" he asked sarcastically, eyeing her nightstand. She smiled and shot him a dirty look.

"Farm life, you know. It's either read or go crazy" she giggled.

As much as he didn't want to, he knew he needed to leave soon. He'd gotten out the house under the guise that he needed to return some stuff to a friend before his family left town in the morning. "Well, a trip to and from Alan's will start seeming less plausible soon. They'll be looking for me too before too long" he said. He stood reluctantly.

"I'm happy you came by" she said softly. He smiled and leaned to kiss her softly.

When he withdrew, he reached out and touched her cheek. "Don't get sick while I'm gone" he joked.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, not big on cable. It's nothing much. Some flu or something is going around. Said on the news it's killed a few old people already" he replied.

Beth curled up on her bed and smirked at him. "I think it's you that should worry about not getting sick, cross-country traveler. I won't be around enough people anytime soon to get sick with anything" she retorted.

He nodded at this and kissed her once more. They said small pathetic goodbyes and said they'd call each other. Beth promised letters once he could give her an address, she insisted it'd give her something to do. Daryl left her room by the window, creeping down the side of the house just like he'd entered it. Beth picked a book up from her pile, something suggested to her from her guidance counselor at school called Nine Hills to Nambonkahaa. She read for a few hours and fell asleep with her light still on, feeling especially warm and happy. She dreamed of red hard dirt beneath her feet and people that spoke in musical languages she couldn't understand yet.

They exchanged a few phone calls over the next week and a half, but Beth never got to write a letter. Two days after Maggie arrived, the calls stopped. All contact from life beyond the farm became patchy and terrifying. Unreal news drifted in over the radio. Beth sat wide-eyed and sleepless alongside her family. They sat watching the edges of the fields, afraid of leaving the farm. A few miles away, skirting ominously around them, people had started getting sick and eating others, and they refused to die. Beth never finished the book she had been reading, nor did she start any of her others.

Six, Light III

Birds announced early morning and Daryl awoke to unchecked pain. He shivered as it occurred to him that he was freezing and hot, yet again. He took mental inventory of his body; he felt his fingers and toes. Of course, he also felt the dull cavity of his leg also. Wiggling his toes gave him an extra blunt reminder that his leg was wounded as a wave of nerve spasms shot up his back. He made a small sound and heard Beth shuffle up from the kitchen table.

Beth leaned over him a smiled warmly. "Good morning" she said. He noticed she seemed tired and thin. Her skin was pale, she seemed anemic to Daryl. She brought with her another round of pills and another liquid syringe of diluted morphine. This time, she held his head up and gave him something thick and mealy tasting to drink behind the antibiotics.

Quietly, she set about her routine of cleaning him and changing his bandages. He lulled with eyes half-opened as the morphine set him on air again. In the back of his mind he wondered how long this would be their existence. He wondered how long he'd been on the table, wondered how many days had passed.

Daryl heard her singing softly over him as she finished up her care. He considered the dream he'd had about Beth, he wondered if she thought about being a medic while she cared for him. Not quite as noble and fulfilling, surely. She was putting so much effort into him, and he still didn't get why. He wondered too about Mike. He knew of Jimmy. And Zach.

"Did you love Mike?" Daryl asked breathily, his eyes half-closed.

Beth stopped singing abruptly. A silence filled the room. Beth leaned back. Daryl turned his head slightly, trying to open his eyes to see her better. He couldn't, he was too drugged. But he could see even with his dim half-vision that there was a look of shock on her face.

"How do you know about Mike?" she asked quietly. He started to float off to sleep. Beth put a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently, "Daryl?"

Enveloped in warmth and comfort, he hummed slightly. He considered how to answer her. Daryl reached around in his mind for coherence and logic but it alluded him. In theory, he could get how odd his question sounded but he had no explanation to offer. He also couldn't seem to care that it was odd, he just knew it was a question he had, so he'd asked it. Seemed simple.

"You like to keep up with human body stuff and you want to see Africa. You want to do medic stuff" he stated, smiling gently.

Beth watched him with breathless curiosity. Minutes passed before she breathed, "Yeah. I do"

He laid back, his head spinning with morphine. "You'd be very good at it" he said. He drifted off to sleep.