Chapter Two

When her eyes open, the first things she sees are a slanted roof, and a cross looming above her.

It is dark, wherever she is, a small amount of light filtering in through stained glass windows. Beth can't help thinking that heaven isn't all her Daddy promised her, isn't at all like she used to imagine it from her Sunday school lessons.

But who's to say that this is heaven at all, that she's gotten there, after all that she's done? She can't believe that she would be condemned to hell for her sins, but she's taken lives and taken them knowingly. Maybe this is her own version of Purgatory, an old boarded up church, where she can think on all she's done until her penance is completed.

Because Beth must be dead, she has to be, she remembers stabbing Dawn and then - nothing. Why did she do it? That one stupid, impetuous moment when Beth had sworn that she wouldn't let Dawn ruin someone else's life, when she'd sworn that she would stand up for what was right rather than take it lying down.

But at what cost? She'd heard from Carol before the exchange about the miracle that was her family's reunion. She'll never see her sister again now, never get to see Judith- that precious, beautiful baby girl - and Daryl... how many moments did she have with him before she died? Too few to even hold in her hand. She had wanted to hug him to her the moment she saw him again - alive and well and a burning purpose in his eyes as he kept them fixed upon her. She'd wanted to hold him to her and never let him go. She had thought there would be time for that.

But she made that choice, and she is dead, and all that might have been must remain undone.

She will regret it for the rest of her... But she's dead after all, isn't she? So Beth supposes she will regret her choice for the rest of her afterlife, a very long time indeed.

Her head aches, the worst pain she's ever felt in her life, and bright spots appear before her eyes despite the gloom as she tries to focus on the features around her. Beth forces herself to roll over and push herself into a sitting position with one hand, a wilted bunch of flowers falling to the floor as she does so.

She has been lying in front of the alter, almost like a sacrificial offering, and as Beth's vision clears she raises herself to see the words written on the top of the alter in black marker.

'Beloved daughter, sister and friend - Beth Greene. Rest in Peace.'

It's then that she gets it.

This is no afterlife - no purgatory, heaven or hell. This is her life - interrupted, continued. She wonders how close to death she was for her family to assume that she had left them behind. Where did Dawn shoot her, and how is it that she survived?

Bringing a hand up to her head she gingerly feels first the front and then the back, grimacing at the small hole that she finds, the sudden shooting pain as she probes it that almost causes her to black out. She will need to bind it and pray it doesn't become infected, there is no way she can stitch her own head.

Her family left her here, a nicer tomb than most, a funeral conducted for her before they left. Her heart clenches as she thinks about what they must have felt - Maggie will now believe her last family member to be dead and Daryl... Carol had said he had searched for her with singleminded purpose, and now he believes that he has lost her again, this time forever.

Through the haze in her mind, Beth is not sure whether she should laugh or cry. She's alive, but everyone that she loves believes her to be dead. She has been laid out here to rest in peace, but it seems that there is to be no rest for her, not if she wishes to find them again. How long has it been since they left her here, how far away are they from her now?

She half stumbles, half crawls towards the doors, wanting to know where she is and to take stock of her surroundings, but when she tries to open them she finds that they have been nailed shut.

Hysterical laughter bubbles up inside her at a sudden thought. On the third day she rose... But there is nobody here to roll back the stone from her tomb.

Beth thinks that it would be a terrible irony if she was to survive a gunshot wound to the head only to die of thirst and starvation because she can't escape from an old church.

She is weak, and the pain is overwhelming, but Beth is not going to give up, not when she's been given this impossible second chance. She's a survivor, she's made it when she shouldn't have, again and again and this time won't be any different.

In the small office at the back of the church she finds a can of peaches under the desk, rolled towards the back. It must have been forgotten there, and Beth offers a prayer of thanks that something has been left for her, however inadvertently. She bashes the lid with a stapler until it gives way, making herself eat only half the can, saving the rest for the next day. She is alone here - with no food, no water, no weapon. As much as she knows her survival is a miracle she wonders exactly how long it can last in such conditions.

Although she would like to follow her family immediately, she knows she's in no condition to do so. She needs to rest and regain her strength, gather resources and make a plan.

But all of that will need to wait for tomorrow, because even through the boarded up windows she can tell that the shadows are lengthening outside.

Instead she explores her tomb, the church as once was.

There are floorboards pried up in the office, a route to the outside at least and an unobtrusive one at that. In one of the desk drawers she finds a pewter letter opener - not as sharp as she could wish, but it's a weapon at least, she is no longer entirely defenceless. Left on the desk she sees a map, forgotten in their exodus - a route to Washington DC outlined in pen. Beth is glad for this small mercy, that she knows the route her family will hopefully take.

Her body exhausted after such a brief exploration, she lies down and prays that she won't dream, that she might be able to forget for some time at least.

Instead images come to her - Gorman stepping towards her, the sucker in his hand; Dawn, telling her that she was weak; Noah, disappearing through the fence. Beth dreams that her family is killed in a storm of bullets in the hospital corridor, all due to her actions, and wakes up with a scream on her lips, sweat dripping down her forehead.

She knows they can't all have died, not when they left her here, but what if one of them had been injured, what if someone had been killed in taking retribution for her? Daryl wouldn't have let it pass without revenge and if he... But no, Beth realises if any of them had been killed they would have been lying beside her when she awoke and she breathes a sigh of relief.

The sun is rising outside, and Beth forces herself to rise as well and put these thoughts behind her, she has a lot to accomplish today.

She has shelter, what she needs is food, water and better weapons.

Beth Greene is a survivor after all, and if there is one thing she knows, it is that she will live to see her family again.