The Last of Us

There were a few things that Daryl as really good at. Hunting and tracking were things that he was taught at a young age, learning how to fend for himself and fight he learned in grade school, killing the undead in his early adulthood, killing a human being in his late twenties and finally, learning how to read people. That last one came along later in life. People were liars, even more so when the end times struck, so he learned how to read people. Right now, he could tell Beth was scared shitless, but she was sticking with him and his crazy plan. He looked over at her as they hid behind a bar, two hunters were looking for them and Daryl put a finger to his lips as one of them came over to them. Daryl jumped up, slit the guy's throat and the others started shooting. Daryl was sure he was shot, but Beth surprised him again, firing off her gun and shooting the other man. "C'mon." He grunted, "This way." He pulled at the chained up door and Beth slipped out and holding the doors open from him.

Daryl could have sworn he saw a brief smile of Beth's face when they came face to face with the bridge. "We made it." Her soft voice spoke out. "We did it." But the celebration was cut short when the tank came barreling through another gate. Beth noticed how Daryl's jaw clenched when he saw the war machine and he made her duck when the first shot went off, making her ears ring something fierce. Daryl's voice was muffled, but she could understand he was telling her to run. She watched him in horror as he ran over to the tank and pulled a small object from his belt. He chucked it into the cannon of the tank and the men inside quickly jumped from it.

"We gotta go, Beth." He yelled as he came running back, the ringing in her ears going away. "C'mon!" The guns kept going off and bullets flew by them. She could have sworn she heard Daryl scream in pain and he clutched his arm as they ran past cars and buses that were full of rust and plants.

They came to a stop at the edge of the bridge and looked down at the rushing water below them. Beth looked at Daryl, a pleading look on her face, but the men were closing in. "Do you trust me?" Daryl asked her and Beth slowly nodded her head. Daryl swallowed hard and he grabbed her hand. "Don't let go."

And they jumped right into the rushing water below.

XxX

The last thing Beth remembered was jumping into the river of cold water and Daryl wrapped his arms securely around her. She remembered how he pulled her close to his chest as the currents pulled them down stream and how for first time in years, she felt safe, even in a situation like that.

But now, as she awoke, she felt those strong arms around her still and as she opened her eyes she saw Daryl looking down at her. A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Hey, blondie, you're back."

Beth rubbed her head as she sat up- in his lap. She looked around and noticed that they were on a river bank and behind Daryl stood Noah and Duane. Beth's eyes narrowed and she glared at them. "Why are they here?" She practically growled. It was then and there that Daryl saw a different side to Beth. She clenched onto his leather vest and narrowed her eyes at Noah. "They left you to die!" Beth added in a shrill voice.

"They pulled us from the water," Daryl explained, giving her a reassuring look. "They saved us, okay." Beth's face remained stone cold, he could tell that she was still very upset with what happened. "What he did was shitty, okay? But he's got someone to look after, I'd do the same thing if I was him."

"No, no you wouldn't." Beth deadpanned, the look in her eye was something of determination and she glanced back over at Noah and Duane. "You slip up again, and that's it." Noah nodded his head quickly and Beth stood up on wobbly legs. Her clothes were drenched and her long blond hair was stuck to her neck. At least the river dive could have counted for a bath. She squeezed the excess water from her hair and reached a hand out to help Daryl up.

"The light house is right up there," Noah spoke up for the first time since they were reunited. "It's safe there and the rest of my group should be there."

Daryl nodded as he picked up his cross bow. "M'kay, you lead the way."

Noah gave them both a nervous look, they both knew that he was a little more fearful then themselves. But he seemed to swallow his fear and nodded to them. "Okay, follow me then."

XxX

The walk to the lighthouse was quiet to say the least, they only encountered a few walkers that Daryl took out easily with his cross bow. This time, however, Beth stayed close to Daryl's side and every once and a while he'd catch her glance and her ears would turn a light pink color before she turned away. "Think I gotta teach ya how to swim." Beth glanced over at him with a confused look on her face. "Don't know how you made it this far without knowing, I'll teach ya though, s'important that ya learn." Beth smiled brightly at him and Daryl's lip twitched. "Gotta find a shallow pool or something cause-"

"Daryl! Beth!"

It was Noah, his quick whisper made them both look in the direction he was pointing and what they saw made their face pale. It looked like walkers, but there was something…off about the three that were tearing into the flesh of some fallen people that Daryl guess where once a part of Noah's group. The walkers seemed to sense that they were there because one of them looked up and made an ear ringing screech before actually running toward them. "Since when do they run!" Beth yelled as she pulled her gun from the back of her jeans, cursing when it didn't shoot.

"I have no fucking idea." Daryl said as he shot the one that was barreling toward them. "So much for your light house, run!"

The two other walkers were right on their trail as they took off into the woods. They had to find shelter- and fast. Daryl aimed his crossbow and took a quick shot and looked up ahead. "A cabin, right there. Beth, take Noah and Duane and lock yourselves in, I'll be right there, I just gotta…"

"Duane!" Beth and Daryl both whirled around to see that the last walker had Duane pinned to the ground, it's teeth chomping as he tried to bite the younger boy. Daryl didn't even take a minute to think before he rushed over and imbedded his knife into it's skull. He helped the shaking boy up.

"Did it git ya?" Daryl roared. "Did it bite ya?" Duane shook his head no and Daryl sighed. "c'mon then, let's get to that cabin then, we all need the rest."

Beth walked over to Daryl and put a hand on his shoulder as she watched Noah help Duane into the house. "You think he's telling the truth? 'Bout not getting bit?"

Daryl shrugged his shoulders. "Just gotta live on honesty these days, if the boy was bit, we'd see a mark. Now c'mon, I know what's in these types of shacks, we are gonna have ourselves a good night."

XxX

A/N- Short chapter, I know but I already have six in the mix. I decided to introduce a new kind of zombie, that our heroes will call a runner. Just like the last of us has their types of infected, I wanted to add different types of the undead. Who knows, the virus could have morphed and I already have an idea on how the virus broke out and that will be introduced in the next chapter.