A/N: Back again! Thank you to everyone who reads and favorites and follows! Particularly those who have suck with me through my hiatus.

Note: I did NOT edit this so I apologize for any spelling/grammar errors. I just wanted to get it out to y'all as fast as possible.

Companion song: "Shelter from the Storm" by Bob Dylan

Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to the characters/plot of TWD series. I am just a fan exploring the marvelous, macabre world Robert Kirkman created.

/

Chapter 27: Storm

The living room was silent.

Everyone was clearly thinking; although Beth wasn't sure which direction it would swing.

Rick sat the family down and they were all agreed about one thing. It was obvious that the attacks were not a coincidence. Some one was orchestrating these attacks on Alexandria and their people. Deanna said it was jealousy, Glenn said it was about resources and Carol seemed to think it was just bad people being bad for the sheer sake of violence. However, the motivations didn't really matter.

What was important was what they were going to do about it.

The question was simple: should they hunt these people down or prepare to fight on their own turf when these people inevitably showed up outside their gates?

One major problem with both plans was that they had no idea what they were up against. It was clear that their attackers were organized, that they knew the surrounding area and that they didn't care how many people died. Most importantly, these strangers were watching them.

They'd had this discussion once before, after Rosita's funeral, and they'd decided to stay put and wait for the strangers to make their move. It turned out that this move had been to direct hundreds of walkers to their front gates. It had ended up okay this time but that was lucky. It could have just as easily ended with the walls being overrun and their people scattered. They didn't have more gas to throw on the next herd of walkers. And since they hadn't gone on a supply run in weeks for fear of being cornered by these psychos again, they were nearly out of all the items that they couldn't grow or make themselves.

"I think Carol was right the first time. We can't sit around and wait for them to come at us again," Rick said when he finally stopped pacing in front of the fireplace. Carol looked satisfied, and simultaneously prepared to set something on fire.

"But we need to know more about them. Can't go into this thing blind," the leader instructed, trying to squash Carol's fury before it got out of hand.

"How are we going to do that? We don't know where they are and none of us have ever seen any of them," Spencer asked.

"We find them." Daryl stood up and Rick nodded his approval. If anyone could track these people down it would be Daryl. Even after all these years, Michonne was the only other person that had picked up any tracking skills and even she could only see the obvious signs. If these people were trying to stay hidden, Daryl was the one who could find them.

Beth stood up too, "I'm going with you." Then she looked down at Lucky, who whimpered at her side, and revised her statement, "We're going with you."

Daryl knew her skills; he'd seen her fighting walkers and watched her get out of some impossible circumstances. Plus, as much as he hated admitting it, having someone out there to have your back could save your life. So he nodded at her, silently approving of his companions. He tried to look neutral but he was suddenly pleased that Beth would be coming with him.

Beth and Daryl, both eternally prepared for disasters, moved to grab their already packed bags but Morgan stopped them.

"You can't leave now. We know they're watching us so you'll need a distraction before sneaking out," Morgan explained.

"We'll go on a run. We need to find more ammo anyway so we'll lead them away," Glenn supplied.

Tara started to protest, "But what if they follow us again? Spencer barely got away and Rosita was killed, we can't do that again."

"This time we know they're out there and we'll be on the look out for them."

"No, Tara's right. This isn't safe," Maggie spoke while jumping up from the reclining chair. Her belly was bigger now; a shirt that he'd seen her wear many times before was now stretched to the seams around her stomach. Daryl could see the fierce look in her eyes and was happy that he wasn't Glenn at that moment.

"We have to do something, Maggie. This was too close of a call. We need to take back the power, or we'll end up losing this place too," Michonne was calm and while everyone else was getting to their feet in argument, she remained perched on the couch. "I'll go with you Glenn, and anyone else who is willing."

"I'll come too. Saw some places we can check for weapons a few towns over," said Morgan.

"I'm coming. Need to get out of this hell hole and start fighting these dicks," Abraham said from where he stood at the window. Daryl was happy to see the man taking action, the last few weeks of Abe being quiet and restrained had been too weird.

Glenn nodded at Abe and Morgan but no one else said anything.

Carl sometimes managed to talk his way onto the teams but he knew better than to try this time. When it was this dangerous Rick would never let him go. Daryl was most surprised that Carol didn't speak up. And he felt certain that she was plotting something of her own. He would make sure to talk to Rick about that before he left.

/

They waited until the next morning before heading out. It was still dark outside when they opened the main gate to Alexandria. They made a big deal at the front gates, opening them and saying their goodbyes outside of the gate, they even wasted several bullets shooting down walkers that they should have taken down with knives. But Rick told them to be loud in order to draw the attention to the front gate so that Daryl and Beth could sneak out of the small gate in the back. There were three ways to get into Alexandria. Most of the citizens only knew of two entrances, both of which were big enough to fit a car through. However, the third, unknown gate was a tiny piece of metal that blended in perfectly with the metal of the walls and was covered by bushes on both sides.

Daryl and Rick were talking in whispers in front of Beth while they walked towards the fence. It didn't bother her, she felt certain that they weren't trying to keep her out of something but rather they didn't want any Alexandrians to overhear them as they went through town.

When they got to the wall they waited until they heard the shots and then gave it a few seconds, waiting for any of their scouts to move around to the front. Rick opened the small gate and Beth sent Lucky through first.

Before Beth bent down to crawl out, Rick put his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I know you've been out there for a long time, you know how to take care of yourself. But be careful. We'll need all three of you for this fight," he stared at her intently, for a minute she felt like a little kid under his penetrating gaze. Rick was strong but also acknowledged how much he needed the others and in moments like this, it was easy to see why people followed him.

The man pulled her into a side hug, and she tried to not stiffen at the unusual contact. However, after only a moment he let go.

"We'll be back," she said because she wasn't sure what else to say. And then she got on her stomach in the grass behind the bush.

Lucky was a perfect look out while she shimmied through the hole.

She searched the tree line for people watching them but stayed under the cover of the bushes while she waited for Daryl to follow behind her. It took a few minutes, Beth guessed that Rick was having a similar talk to the one she'd just shared with the man, but soon she heard a shuffling behind her. She tried to keep her eyes forward but she couldn't resist. Glancing over her shoulder, she tried hard to stifle the small laugh that escaped her lips when she saw Daryl struggling to fit through the hole.

"I ain't a damn comedian, Greene. Stop laughing and help," he grumbled at her. Even though his head was half-stuck in the dirt, he had obviously heard her.

She reached down, moved his weapons and backpack out of the way, before grabbing his armpits and helping to yank his hips through the wall. When he came lose, she fell in the dirt from the force of her pull.

"You're heavier than you look," she said with a laugh.

He froze, still on his knees in the dirt behind the bush. Daryl's blue eyes bore into hers, searching for something in what was now almost a familiar way. It was the same look he'd given her many times—like he was looking for something. But he seemed disappointed… another look she'd seen on his face many times. The smile fell off her face at his scrutiny.

"Sorry," she mumbled because it was clear that he was upset and she couldn't help but think that she had inadvertently insulted him.

"Nah, it's alright," Daryl shrugged as he began pulling on his pack.

She changed the subject to try to smooth over the awkward moment.

"Looks clear, but I think we should head around a little ways so we don't come out right by this entrance… just in case," said Beth going back into business mode.

The hunter nodded in agreement, and motioned for her to go ahead. The pair stayed crouched down and shuffled along the wall behind the bushes.

Two hours later they were on the outskirts of a tiny town. It had taken a long time, but they had been walking slowly in order to pay close attention to any signs that they were being followed by the strangers. There wasn't much in the town, but Daryl led her to a small sedan outside a shed.

"Wait here and keep your eyes open," Daryl said before hopping the small fence and pushing open the door to the neighbor's house.

Beth didn't question him. The blonde stood by the car with Lucky and tried not to shiver. It was mid morning now but it was still cold outside. Even in a long sleeve shirt, the icy breeze caused goose bumps to prickle on her neck.

Winter was already here it seemed.

After a few minutes Daryl came back out with a handful of car parts. He grabbed a few tools from his bag and began reassembling the car's engine. Beth kept her eyes on the surrounding area. It only took Daryl three minutes to put the car back together. Beth and Lucky got into the car beside Daryl and they started driving towards the city where they'd been attacked in the hospital.

"So how long have you had this car waiting out there?" Beth asked him.

"About a year," Daryl replied with a glance at Beth out of the corner of his eye.

"It was really smart to take it apart and hide the pieces like that. Was it your idea?"

He didn't respond, which Beth took to mean yes. She'd come to realize that he was terrible at taking compliments.

They fell back into silence—same as they'd spent the entire time walking here—which was fine with her.

The highway flicked by and Beth again thought of how stupid this plan was. She couldn't believe that they were going back to the place where Rosita had been attacked. The others thought it was the best location to start tracking from but she doubted this would work. It had been so long that all signs of their attackers had undoubtedly been removed. However, Daryl had agreed so she went along with the plan.

As they drove, the sky got darker even though it wasn't even noon. Beth wanted to turn on the heater but when she looked at Daryl, in his cut off sleeves even in the cold, she didn't want him to be uncomfortable if she turned on the heat.

"Packed you a jacket if you want it," Daryl said without looking at her.

She smiled as she grabbed his bag out of the backseat and pulled on the jacket that was sitting on top. It was too big on her but there was a fluffy lining inside which was incredibly warm.

How does he always know? She wondered to herself.

/

When they got to the road, the van was still upturned but the belt with the nails was gone. Daryl opened the trunk of the van and noticed that the large he'd pack was missing. He always made sure that the cars had rope before going on a run because there were so many uses for it.

Someone had clearly come back here to clean up.

Beth motioned to Lucky and the large dog took off into the forest with his nose to the ground.

"Nothing to find around here, they're smart enough to stay on the pavement to avoid leaving tracks. You wanna go to the cabin and see if they went from there?" Beth asked after scouring the surrounding area for any signs of humans.

He'd been looking around on the opposite side of the highway for a trail but he glanced over at Beth now. When he saw her, blonde, braided hair still slightly damp from the shower and long legs bending over to examine the ground, he briefly forgot her question. The clouds were obscuring the sun, but he could still see her perfectly. A loud rumble from the clouds overhead shook him out of this trance.

"Yeah," he finally replied. "Don't we need to wait for Lucky?"

"No, he can always find me," Beth said climbing back into the car.

"Is he alright out there alone?" Daryl asked skeptically.

She laughed at this, and the sound was absolutely musical, "This world is all he's ever known. Luck knows how to survive."

They arrived at the small cabin a while later and even though Daryl knew it was only midday it continuously became darker. It was so cold that Daryl even grabbed a long sleeve shirt out of his bag. It was black and had snaps all the way up and there were several spots that had been ripped and patched back up again. Carol always took care of that for him, it was the one thing she still did that was inherently motherly.

Last time they hadn't had time to really look around the cabin. However, this time Daryl and Beth opened all the cabinets, checking for any clues about who stayed here.

The cabin was no longer in disarray.

The bloody sheets had been removed and the glass from the window that Beth had broken into was cleaned up. Kitchen cupboards were stocked with some cans of food and there was a two-gallon bottle of water as well.

However the biggest change was the complete lack of walker bodies outside. Daryl had been fighting outside, and he knew he'd taken out at least thirty of them close to the front door.

"What the hell is this place?" Beth whispered.

"Someone must've had a car to clean it up, wouldn't have been able to clear away all those corpses without a truck," Daryl said in answer.

"Probably a team," Beth muttered. "But it doesn't look like they are actually staying here." She ran her finger over the countertop, which was already covered in a thin layer of dust and dirt that must have filtered in through the small, broken window.

"If they're not staying here why would they bother to come back and clean it up?" Daryl grunted in frustration.

The pair remained silent for a few seconds, both lost in their own thoughts.

"It's a trap." Beth whispered. "They clean it up enough but still make it look abandoned. Anyone who comes along needing shelter would find it and hole up here."

He flashed back on the funeral home they'd stayed in three years ago. Daryl's initial thought then had been that it was a trap. She had believed in the good and wanted to make a new family with the person who lived there. But after what happened to Beth, getting kidnapped, he felt that his gut had been right.

"That means they're probably watching us right now," Daryl confirmed.

"So what do you want to do? Play into their trap and let them take us right to their leader or take our chances out there?" Beth asked.

Daryl threw the canned food into his bag and grabbed a blanket out of the closet. He left the water, not trusting that these people wouldn't have drugged it.

"I'm not gonna sit around waiting to get captured," he said as he closed up his backpack. "Call Lucky and let's get the hell out of here."

However, when he opened the front door, he saw there was trouble brewing. The sky turned black and the wind was shaking the trees violently.

"Shit," Daryl muttered.

Beth pulled out a string that had been hidden inside her shirt. He flashed briefly on the little heart necklace she used to wear all the time, but he could feel that still sitting in his own pocket even now. It was a dog whistle that she had attached to the strong.

While she was waiting for Lucky to show up, she started walking around the cabin. She waved Daryl over and pointed to the remnants of a footprint. The wind was howling now and she had to lean in close to talk to him.

"Do you want to follow it or should we go back?" she asked in his ear.

He debated this. There was no way to tell how intense this storm would get, so they really should go somewhere to get shelter. However, the wind and rain would ruin what little of the tracks was left behind. On the plus side, if they did follow now, their own trail would be destroyed too so there would be a chance the strangers wouldn't have a clue that Beth and Daryl had followed them.

"Let's follow it… but only for a while. We need shelter before this hits," he said with a surly look up at the black clouds.

Beth took the lead on the trail, keeping her eyes on the ground and leading them in the right direction. Daryl stayed behind her but constantly scanned the forest for signs of people. Lucky caught up to them quickly and the three of them followed the trail for about an hour before the rain started.

Instantly they were soaked.

Beth tried to continue along the tracks but after only a few minutes, the ground had turned to mud under their feet and the wind was so strong that branches were being ripped off of the trees above their heads.

Daryl grabbed Beth's arm, not wanting to yell over the storm.

He bent down to shout in her ear, "We need to find somewhere to hold up!"

She nodded and his face was so close to Beth that he could feel her wet hair tickle the side of his neck.

"Did we pass anything good?" Beth asked. He could feel her warm breath on his ear, contrasting with the freezing cold rain falling around them.

Daryl suddenly couldn't remember what he'd seen. The sweet smell of her mixed with the rain was intoxicating. He felt like he was suddenly drunk and had to stop himself from running his hands along the soft skin of her delicate neck.

"Uh… yeah. We should be close to a place that I know."

She nodded at him and he took it as a cue to lead the way. So they started running away from where the trail had been leading them and headed towards the little diner he'd seen once before. It was in the middle of nowhere, not even easily accessible from the highway and he had no idea how this place would have stayed in business.

They cleared the space together, working seamlessly as partners. They locked everything up securely, and closed all the blinds before falling on the linoleum from exhaustion. Running for five miles was hard enough but going against the wind and though the mud made it nearly impossible for Daryl. He looked over to Beth, who was tired but not coughing haggardly like Daryl was. Not for the first time he berated himself for not staying in better shape. He'd told Hershel years ago that being outside the walls always meant running, but he never took this seriously enough himself.

Beth started to strip off her wet clothes and hang them on the chairs.

Daryl tried to avert his eyes. He didn't want to stare at her.

She was barefoot in her jeans and only a wet undershirt. Her hair was still in the braid but all the little strands that had fallen out were sticking to her skin. Daryl tried to count the ceiling tiles in order to keep his gaze off of Beth as she peeled off her black jeans behind him. He kept counting to 3 before losing track and needing to start over. But it did prevent him from looking at the blonde because Beth walked back into view a minute later fully clothed in dry workout pants and a t-shirt.

"You need to get out of those wet clothes or you'll be too cold," she said to him.

The blonde had grabbed a towel from somewhere in the kitchen. It looked clean and Daryl thought it must have been the only clean rag he'd ever seen in a diner. She used it to dry off Lucky as much as she could.

Daryl just grunted in response because he wasn't going to strip down in front of her.

"It'll get close to freezing temperatures tonight Daryl, don't be stubborn," Beth scolded.

When he still didn't move, she began digging out food and water from her backpack and worked on opening the can of soup she had brought from Alexandria.

"Want it cold or should I make a fire?" she asked.

"Don't want any light in here on the off chance that those fuckers are close by and can see it," he said. Already starting to get cold, he stood and began rifling through his own bag for dry clothes.

He changed in the kitchen, keeping an eye on Beth through the small window but his body was hidden from view. After he changed he checked the kitchen for any salvageable food but everything was either taken or had rotted a long time ago.

When he came back out to the dinning area of the restaurant he found Beth stretched out in a booth under the window. Daryl thought this was stupid because of the violence of the wind still howling outside but he didn't say anything as he plopped down in the seat opposite from her. She handed him the can of food, which already had a good amount missing, but he saw that it was sitting on a restaurant plate on the floor. Daryl realized that it must be for Lucky. However, Lucky was sitting, facing the door as if he was on watch, so he hadn't touched the food Beth had laid out for him.

She noticed him looking at the plate and suddenly looked guilty.

"Sorry, I know I shouldn't take our food to give to a dog… but I can't stand the thought of eating without sharing with Luck," she explained.

Daryl thought of his own father who chose to buy beer instead of feeding his own children. But she would go hungry to share with a dog. He was overwhelmed by moments like this with Beth. Moments where this woman proved that she was still good on the inside even if she looked and acted very different at times.

Daryl couldn't tell her all of this though so instead he just said, "Nah, he needs food too."

They sat in silence, passing the can of food back and forth while they listened to the storm rage on outside. It was peaceful with Beth by his side but he could tell that she wanted to ask him something.

However, before she got the chance, the window above her exploded.

/

A/N: Thanks for reading. PLEASE review let me know what you thought!

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