Two steps forward and his hand was on her cheek. It was warm and soft. Real. All the air left his lungs.
"You… How.." he tried to form the words that his brain was screaming '-you're dead- -you're dead-'
Beth bit down hard on her bottom lip, fighting back tears. She won't cry. Not now. Not after everything she had been through. She will not let the sight of the one person in this entire fucked up world that had haunted her dreams and her every waking thought, bring her to tears. She had walked through hell all by herself. She was strong.
But when he cupped her face in his hands, that wall she had built around herself began to crumble, because he was looking at her, into her, like only he ever could.
"Dr. Edwards found me. In the trunk of that car. The one you left me in." This wasn't an accusation. She's just stating the facts.
But her words are like a knife to his heart. His hands dropped to his sides. He tilted his head and looked at her and she saw the dawning realization of what those words implied.
"I left you behind. You weren't dead. And I, I just left you… Behind." he said flatly.
~ Suddenly they were surrounded by walkers. Daryl couldn't keep going with her body in his arms. The others were fighting and he saw the open trunk. He laid her body in it. It wouldn't close, the latch was broken. On the ground beside the car was a yellow ribbon. He grabbed it and tied the trunk shut. Leaving the ribbon dangling, he looked back at the hospital, hoping that someone had seen, that someone will notice.~
Beth saw his agitation slowly beginning to turn into rage. Daryl was never very good at expressing his feelings. She lunged at him. Her small body made contact with his and she grabbed his leather vest yanking and pulling him away from where his anger wanted to take him.
"No! If you didn't do what you did, I'd be dead. The trunk protected me from the walkers! The yellow ribbon, Dr. Edwards saw it. And he found me…" she was breathing heavy from screaming and his leather vest was still twisted in her fists.
She was strong. But he was stronger. Because when he broke, she broke too. His hands were on her face. His fingers traced, bruises and scars and tears. And he reached up to wipe his own wet face with the back of his hand.
"Who hurt you Beth? Who did this?" his eyes searched hers.
"The Saviors, Negan sent the Saviors to the hospital. They took a bunch of us. Forced us to go." Beth's voice was barely a whisper. The adrenaline rush from earlier had worn off and the pain was back making it almost impossible to breathe. She looked down at where she held her side and her hand was covered in blood.
"You're bleeding!" Daryl reached for her jacket and pulled it open. Her t-shirt was soaked in blood. Beth reached for the hem and pulled it up revealing a small gash low on her side.
"They had knives. It happened when I was trying to get out." she took a deep breath.
Glenn came running up behind Daryl. His eyes wide. He had been watching from the tree. He assumed Daryl was taking down a walker. But it was taking too long.
"Daryl what's going on? You need to get out of this meadow.. Beth?!" he looked at his sister in law and then at Daryl a confused expression on his face.
"We have to get her to the truck. She's hurt." Daryl reached down and effortlessly picked Beth up in his arms. The familiarity of this simple gesture was like a memory of a bad dream.
Without hesitating Glenn ran ahead and met Carol at the tree line.
"I'm gonna do a sweep of the meadow and make sure she wasn't followed. He's gonna need your help with her injury." Glenn called over his shoulder.
"Her? Who is it?" Carol looked over at Daryl. He was carrying someone across the meadow.
"Beth, it's Beth." Glenn said.