A/N: A note about this chapter...I have no idea if it's actually possible to make homemade bolts for a crossbow. Obviously, you can make homemade arrows, and according to my research, Georgia has plenty of arrowheads buried here and there from Native Americans. Bolts are another story, though, and I know next to nothing about crossbows. Please just do me a favor and suspend your disbelief.
The following morning, Rick's knock came on their door bright and early. Beth was expecting it – despite Carol's assurances that she wasn't being ostracized, of course Rick would still want to address the unresolved issue.
"Hi, Rick," Beth said softly, letting him slip past her.
"You know why I'm here," Rick blurted, dispensing with the pleasantries. Beth nodded, gesturing for him to take a seat. He refused and she immediately felt uneasy. Sitting made it seem less threatening, somehow. "Where's Daryl?"
"He left earlier. Said he was going to work on his aim."
Rick nodded. "Michonne told me ya'll were trying." Beth let the slight betrayal slide by her – Michonne hadn't meant any harm, and she'd never said it was a secret. "Well, I think that's great," Rick continued, to Beth's surprise. "Anything that brings us happiness and a little bit of hope is good in my book." He shifted, crossing his arms. "It'll be a risk, of course, I mean, you saw how hard it was for Lori." He winced involuntarily as he said his wife's name. He would always miss her, Beth knew, just like she would always miss her parents. "Now, Carol told me what happened yesterday." She braced herself. "You were lucky Daryl happened to get back right at that time. We mighta lost you. And nobody wants that. Especially if you're already…" He trailed into silence, awkwardly gesturing toward Beth's midsection.
Beth shook her head, her ponytail swaying back and forth. "I don't think I am yet," she assured him.
Rick sighed and nodded, and finally took a seat, to Beth's relief. She sat too. "Carol said you were worried we were gonna let you go," he said. "If I saw you as a real threat to the group, yeah, I'd probably have a tough decision to make. And it does concern me that you weren't able to kill that walker in the garden. But you're a part of this group, Beth. You have been since nearly the beginning. And Maggie…" Rick shook his head slightly. "I can't even imagine what she'd do if I made you leave. Probably try to kill me." He chuckled. "She's back, by the way."
Beth perked up. "Really?"
"Yeah, let's go see 'er." They stood and headed toward the northernmost corner of the cul-de-sac, where Maggie and Glen lived. Beth started walking fast, then running, once her sister was within her sights. She was always relieved to see her safe.
"Maggie!" Beth exclaimed, throwing her arms around the older girl. She then turned to Glenn and hugged him too. "How did it go?"
"We only found a few stragglers," Maggie explained, setting down her knapsack. "Looks like this area's almost clear, at least for the time being." Rick exchanged a brief look with Beth.
"A couple were here yesterday," he said. "One of 'em almost got Beth."
"Where did it come from?" Glenn asked as Maggie pulled her sister to her again, a look of shock on her face.
"There was one behind Rick's house," Beth revealed. "And one buried underneath the garden."
"What? Underneath it? How did we not find it till now?" Maggie asked. Beth and Rick shrugged. "And where could the other have come from? I thought…I thought we had the immediate area all clear." Her face started to crumple.
"Maggie, it isn't your fault!"
"Yes it is! My sister almost got killed and I could have stopped it!" Maggie lifted a distraught hand to her face and Glenn put an arm around her.
"It was alone, so chances are it heard a noise or smelled somethin', strayed from the rest of the herd, and you just…missed it," Rick said, shrugging. "It's the world we live in, Maggie. We're probably never going to be able to get every single one. They're like locusts."
Locusts, Beth repeated silently. Why did that resonate with her? She shrugged it off, nodding in agreement with what Rick had said. Glenn took Maggie inside to comfort her, promising that they could all have lunch together in a few hours. Beth gathered the vegetables she'd picked the day before and gave them an extra good scrubbing. They couldn't afford to let food go to waste, and there was no evidence so far that the garden had been negatively affected by the walker buried beneath it.
Daryl popped his head in the door, crossbow in hand. "Hey, you wanna practice a little while we got good light?"
"Yeah, okay," Beth said, wiping her hands off and clearing her throat. She followed Daryl outside to a tree with a crude target painted on it. When he'd started to run out of bolts, he and Beth taught themselves how to make their own out of sharpened sticks, glue made by mixing flour and water, feathers, and string. It took some trial and error, but they were experts at it by now, and Daryl was comforted by the fact that he didn't have to worry about running out. He pulled one out now, cocked the heavy crossbow for her, and handed it over.
"All right, now you know what to do…" Daryl muttered. "Hold it steady…aim for the target…squeeze the trigger, and…" Beth released and the arrow landed left of the bullseye.
"Damn!"
"Naw, that was really good," Daryl assured her.
"Not good enough if I'm aiming for the head and it flies right past it," Beth pointed out.
"You just need practice. C'mon, try again." He stood behind her and helped her steady the bow. She hit the target square in the center "See?" Daryl smiled. "Just have a little faith. It's a leap every time you let go of the trigger. You just gotta keep going." Beth tried to put aside her frustration – she knew she'd never be as good as he was. It didn't help that she hadn't killed that walker and that the record, as sweet a gift as it was, had turned out to contain no hint of the lyrics. Her confidence was shaken. She let loose another arrow.
They continued to practice until Glenn called them over for lunch. "How's target practice?" he asked.
"She's gettin' real good," Daryl nodded, chucking Beth gently under the chin. "She'll be able to teach Judith before you know it."
"Or your own kid?" Glenn asked, a mischievous smile crossing his face.
"Does everyone know?" Beth threw her hands up in the air and sighed, but she wasn't really angry. Gossip couldn't help but spread like wildfire through a community as small as theirs.
"No, it's good, it's a good thing," Glenn assured them, holding open the door as they entered his and Maggie's house. "She's still upset over what happened earlier," he informed them in a low tone.
"I made your favorite, Beth!" Maggie herself announced from the kitchen. They had a camp stove set up too. "Spaghetti!"
"Thanks, Maggie, that's real sweet. We could have made do with something simpler. You didn't have to go through the trouble," Beth said.
"Of course I did. We're celebrating!"
Beth exchanged a look with Daryl. "We are?"
"Because you guys are, you know, trying!" Maggie smiled big, a little too big for Beth's taste.
"Are you okay?" she asked cautiously. "You know it – it wasn't your fault, right?" Beth's eyes darted from Glenn, who shrugged, back to her sister.
"Oh, yeah, I mean, I wish I could've stopped that from happening to you, but…it's not like we're not used to it by now, right?" Maggie laughed, the sound ringing false in Beth's ears. Daryl nudged her.
"Maggie, you wanna talk upstairs?" Beth asked quietly. "The spaghetti will keep."
"Okay. Glenn, Daryl, you get started, all right? Wouldn't want anyone to go hungry." Maggie turned abruptly and led the way up the stairs, Beth trailing behind.
"What's upsetting you?" She sat down on the bed next to Maggie.
"Nothing," her sister replied, but her voice broke a little. Beth waited. "I just – I'm never jealous, you know I'm not a jealous person, but – you're probably gonna get pregnant real soon and – Glenn and I keep trying, but…" Maggie's words hitched on a sob. "What if there's something wrong with me, or wrong with Glenn, that means we can't have a baby? We don't even have a doctor around anymore to help…"
Beth took Maggie's hands in hers and rubbed them comfortingly. "No, we don't, but Carol's pretty good with that stuff. She knows first aid, and that's better than nothing…maybe she could help." Not for the first time, Beth wished there was a hospital they could go to. If there had to be walkers around, couldn't there at least be a place to go when you got injured or needed help? "Why don't we go ask her about it after spaghetti?" she suggested. "It smells good, and I'm hungry."
Maggie nodded, sniffled, and wiped her face. "Okay," she agreed, and they went back down the stairs together.
A/N: So how do we all feel about last night's episode? I won't give anything away in case someone hasn't watched it yet, but wow. Just wow. The last two episodes are going to be crazy, I'm sure!