The Last of Us

AN- Hey everyone! Thank you all for the positive feedback. The first chapter was an introduction to the story so yes, there are a lot of things to learn about the characters. It may happen in the middle of the story since we have to learn how the characters act around each other. I'm actually changing the timeframe though. The turn happened when Daryl was twenty and Beth was ten. So the turn happened in 2004 so now Beth's twenty and Daryl's 30. Anyway, happy reading!

"Daryl, Daryl- we've been walkin'for hours…ain't we gonna stop?" Beth asked in the most gentle tone she could muster. They have walked all day and Daryl had shut her out. "I know we're almost out of the city and that's great, but we can't fight walkers if we're tired." Beth balled her fists up in frustration when it became obvious that he was still ignore her, but she let out a sigh. She knew that if she blew up on him, that she'd bring the rage of Daryl and by the looks of the guy? He had a lot of it in him. So she licked her lips. "Daryl," She stepped up and touched his shoulder, almost regretting it when she felt him go rigid. "You look like shit, we need to stop before you crash."

He gave her a grunt in response, stopping in his tracks to look around. He seemed to pin point somewhere because he started walking again and Beth followed after him. After a few flights of stairs, he had found them a safe apartment where they could get some sleep. Beth watched him board up the door, tie a belt on the knob, then something on the wall. Finally, he pushed a couch over to the door and laid down on it, putting one hand behind his head and closed his eyes. Beth had curled herself up on a chair and looked at the man in front of her. He was really a mystery, but the one thing she knew was that woman and him were close, and who was Sophia? "Girl, yer the one that wanted to sleep, so shut yer damn eyes 'nd stop starrin' at me."

She sent a glare his way and turned her body away from his. "Your watch is broken, by the way." She snipped, referring to the shattered watch on his wrist. He opened one eye, looked at his wrist and muttered a 'yeah' before falling into yet another restless sleep.

XxX

It was another nightmare that drove him from his sleep. His eyes shot open and he looked across to find that Beth was not in the chair. Panic began to rise in his throat, he couldn't have lost her too. "You talk in your sleep." Daryl sat up and saw that Beth was sitting on the window sill, looking out at the city below. "Nightmares?" She asked and Daryl wordlessly nodded his head as he joined her at the window, lighting another cigarette. "I have them a lot too." Beth licked her lips when she felt Daryl's intense eyes on her, she wondered what he thought about her or if he thought she was helpless, or even blamed her for Carol's death. "I've never been this close to the outside before. It's beautiful."

"S'dangerous." Daryl corrected her with his smoke between his lips. "Ya gotta know how to handle yerself out there, screwed if ya don't."

It was the first time he spoke in hours, Beth felt the overwhelming urge to apologize for Carol, but she remembered how she was after her daddy died. It was the last thing she wanted to hear. "I know how to survive, Daryl." She assured him before turning back to window. It wasn't long before something caught her eye and Daryl's. "Is that an RV driving down the road?"

Daryl leaned back and chuckled. "That'd be Dale." He opened the window and yelled out. "Hey Dale!" The RV stopped and then backed up. Beth squinted to make out an old man in a fishing cap. "Obey the fuckin traffic laws and hold up a sec!" Dale yelled back something that Beth couldn't understand, but Daryl did. He shut the window and went over to the door and moved the sofa along with the nails on the boards. "Grab your shit, we getting ourselves a car."

They took care some of the lingering walkers as they made their way to the outside. Of course some would come wandering after hearing Daryl's and Dale's exchange. Beth didn't mind them, but a part of her worried about Daryl. Even though he was more than capable with handling them, she had never seen someone kill them with such wrath as Daryl had. As soon as they got out into the street, they were greeted by the man wearing the fishing hat. "Dixon, still survin' I see." Dale looked over at Beth and then chuckled at Daryl. "Carol know that you're runnin' away with some youngin'?"

"We just need a car." Daryl snapped, not bothering with Dale's question. "I gotta get this girl outta Georgia and to Rick's. Can you find us a car?"

Dale looked between the pretty blonde woman and Daryl. The blonde woman looked guilty as sin about something and Daryl looked as if he'd seen better days. "Fine." He said and then pointed to Beth. "But you don't touch anything."

Beth raised in her hands in defeat and climbed into the RV with Daryl behind her. She plopped herself down onto a sofa and Daryl sat in the passenger side. They sat in silence for a while and Daryl knew that Dale was going to be full of questions, so he just gave a sigh and looked over at him. "You wanna know why Carol ain't here and why I'm stuck with that girl, dontcha?"

Dale looked back at the girl who was sound asleep on the couch and then nodded. "Just weird seein' ya with her and with someone knew. I know you, Daryl, and I know you ain't a fan of change."

"The girl, Beth- she's important. We got this mission, me and Carol. Dawn wanted us to smuggle Beth outta the city." Dale scoffed at the mention of Dawn's name and Daryl knew all too well that he hated the rebel group. Their bombs killed his wife and their two adopted sons, so there weren't any warm feelings when it came to the fireflies. "It was supposed to be an easy mission, a simple drop off, but it went bad. The army caught up with us, Walkers chased us into city hall and the men that were supposed to take Beth were already dead." Daryl paused and looked back at Beth. "Carol's dead."

"Cause of her?" Dale asked and Daryl shook his head no. "What's so important about this girl? Why they want her out of the city?"

Daryl dragged his hands over his face. "She's different, and that's all I can really tell ya right now. If I get her to Rick then he can get her to where she needs to go."

"She's a pretty thing, you better not get yourself too attached." Dale commented and saw Daryl's unreadable expression. "Anyway, I have a car stored over in the school. We can get it, stock you up with some food and water and you'll both be outta my hair."

XxX

"Beth, c'mon. Dale's gonna give us a car." Beth's eyes fluttered open and she turned a light shade of pink when she realized that Daryl was nearly a few inches away from her face. His steel blue eyes bore into hers and she quickly nodded her head as she got up from the couch. "Say's we gotta be careful. He has all the walkers in the gym, but a few might still be wandering the halls. Do ya got yer gun?" She nodded her head and Daryl stepped back. "Just keep yer eyes open."

She followed closely behind Daryl as they maneuvered through the hallways of the decaying school. "How do you know him?" Beth whispered. "Dale is someone we can trust, right?"

Daryl turned his head and looked at her. "He was in a group that I was a part of." He explained. "I told 'em what happened with the soldiers and Carol, but he doesn't know about yer…condition." Beth narrowed her eyes at him. "Just don't go tellin' no one about it, okay? They'll either think yer crazy or shoot you on spot. I promised Carol I'd finish this, and I don't want you go dyin' on me before we can finish this, walkers might not be able to kill ya, but a bullet sure can."

He hadn't spoke about Carol to her before and the rest of it, she wasn't sure if he was keeping her alive out of the goodness of his heart or if this was just another job. "Daryl, about Carol, I-"

"Don't say her name," He harshly bit out. "Just don't talk about her." And there it was. She gave him a sigh and just like that, he was ignoring her again. Not many people cared about her, only her family did but they've been gone for years now. Right now, it was just her and this redneck against this fucked up world.

"Hey!" She looked up quickly when she heard Dale call out. "Cars in here!"

XxX

"S'not startin'."

"I know that, I ain't car jesus, what do you want me to do!"

Beth sat in the driver seat of the car as she listened to the two men argue. They had been going at this for fifteen minutes and she was getting a little tired of hearing it. The truck was filled with gas, but it refused to start. "Maybe if you two push it, we can get it going. Think about it, the engine hasn't been used in ten years, it just needs a little push."

The two men looked at each other and Dale gave her a thumbs up. "I don't know why I didn't think about that." He muttered. "She's a keeper, Dixon." Dale went to the bed of the truck and showed him that he had the whole thing stocked. "Everything's in there that you'll need." He put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. "Just be careful, Daryl.

Daryl nodded as he opened up the driver side door and watched as Beth moved over to the passenger's side. "I'm always careful, old man."

Dale gave a hearty laugh. "Of course you are, now get the fuck outta my town."

The engine of the truck roared to life and Beth looked up at Daryl. "Where to next, Mr. Dixon?" She asked him in a small voice.

"I'm taking you are far as West Virginia I got someone there that'll take care of ya." He took a deep breath. "Now it's just about stayin' alive till we get there.