Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Walking Dead'.
Author notes: I may publish the chapters with a two or three days gap, because I've been very busy organizing a wedding, and I'm also re watching lots of episodes so I can portray the characters' personalities better. But don't worry, I'll keep them comin'!
Chapter 2: Days to Come
Beth is concentrating on her breath. Concentrating on what might come up. She looks around.
'So quiet.' She thinks to herself. 'Too good to be true'.
She closes her eyes, breathes in deep and feels the breeze gently caressing her cheeks, going through her hair and kindly tickling her skin. The moment felt so good she almost forgot about everything. All the problems, the worries, the pang in her heart. For a brief moment, it's all gone. It's only the breeze, and…
Beth opens her eyes quickly after hearing a strange noise.
'Whatever it is, I can handle it.' She takes the crossbow, and looks around again. She looks at Daryl. Still asleep.
'No. I don't need him. I'm fine.' Her heart starts pounding a little faster when she finally catches sight of a couple of walkers coming from their left.
She positions the crossbow and begins to aim at one of them, but soon realizes it's still too far away to shoot.
'I'll never get it this far'. She waits until they get closer, and starts aiming again. Her hands are shaky and her breath is out of control.
'Why so nervous, Beth?' She says to herself. Even though deep inside she knows. She doesn't want to disappoint Daryl by missing a shot. She breathes out one more time, and shoots.
The arrow barely hits its neck, and they keep getting closer. She looks at Daryl again.
'I can do this.' She thinks as she arms the crossbow once more, and tries another shot.
Right on the head.
"Yay!" shouts Beth with enthusiasm. Daryl wakes up in a jump. She looks at him.
"Rise and shine." She says with a grin.
"What's all this yelling 'bout?"
"Well, take a look." She tilts her head on their direction. Daryl sees the walker coming.
"What, ya happy to see him?"
"No. On the ground. I did it." Daryl sees the dead walker afar.
"Mmm." Beth gives him a little slap on the chest.
"And the other one we'll invite for breakfast?" He says as he takes the crossbow from her hands and quickly shoots it in the head. "Yay." He says, unenthusiastic.
Beth looks at him with disappointment written all over her face.
"What?" He says to her, as she continues to stare at him.
"Nothing." She lowers her head, gets up and goes to where the blankets are. He follows her with his eyes.
"The yelling. Don't do that again."
"Sorry." She started folding the blankets and putting them back in the bag. Daryl goes to the walkers to get the arrows.
After finishing with the blankets, she puts her backpack on and sits there, waiting for Daryl.
"Let's get our shit and go." He says as he gets back.
Beth stands up and they leave.
The sun is now bright enough to hurt their eyes, but the weather is still chilly. They go on for two hours without saying a word.
"I'm thirsty." Beth says and then looks at Daryl.
Daryl stops to grab a bottle of water from the backpack and give it to her. She takes a sip and passes it to him. He takes another sip and then puts it back in the bag.
"Daryl." Beth says. He just stares at her.
"What if…What if we never see them again? For real." With her head down, the expression on her face is plain and emotionless.
Daryl wasn't expecting such question. He looks down, searching for an appropriate answer.
"We go on." The tone in his voice is strong and reliable.
Beth sets her eyes on his. And by then, she knows. She knows they now have to face the fate they've been given, together. And that thought has never scared her as much as it does now.
"I don't know… I don't know if I'm…" She stops to think for a few seconds. Her expression changes. "I just lost my father… Now my sister. And everyone else. I just keep losing everyone." A tear starts running from her eye.
"I've never felt this... lonely before." She wipes the tears of her face with her right hand.
Daryl touches her on the left arm.
"I tell ya how ya gonna do it. Ya gonna be strong. And ya gonna survive." Beth looks at him deep in the eyes. Still wiping off more tears that come. "We weren't able to do anything. Anything. Now we fight for ourselves. Or you'll be next one to go. Then I'll be the next one to go."
He walks back and forth as he talks. "And ya gonna swallow those tears, and act like the woman y'are now." She is still staring him in the eyes.
They go silent for a few seconds.
This has been just as hard for Daryl. He may seem tough on the outside, but losing everyone he cared about, in the way it happened, so fast, got to him. He tries to maintain his hard shell and not break out in tears.
"If… If we don't find 'em. Ever again. We do what we gotta do. We keep going."
Beth takes a breath, and gives him a big hug. Daryl even takes a step behind from the impact.
"I know I might be… a burden or something. But thanks. I don't know how I would've turned out… If it wasn't for you." Daryl isn't much of a hugger, so he feels a bit awkward and doesn't quite know what to do. Still, he softly lays his hand on her back.
"Probably, a walker." He says. She moves back, and smiles at him.
"C'mon."
They keep on track, and eventually find a road.
"Should we keep on it?" Beth asks.
"Let's see where this leads to."
Walking down the road, they bump into an abandoned car. It appears to have been just left there, three doors are open. Daryl decides to go check it.
"Stay back." He tells Beth.
He checks the front sit, nothing. On the back seat there's a bunch of garbage, nothing very useful. It stinks terribly. He covers his nose with his arm to avoid the smell.
"It's safe."
Beth then comes closer and takes a second look. Daryl is checking to see if there's still gasoline in the tank. Beth opens up the trunk to find a bunch of dead, rotten small animals. A dog, two cats and squirrels.
"Yup. That's where the smell is coming from." She whispers to herself.
"It has a bit o' gas but, it ain't worth it."
"There are a bunch of dead animals in the trunk." She tells him, still disgusted by the image and the stench. Daryl scratches his chin as he thinks.
"Hm." He says quietly to himself. Then he takes a look around. "Keep your eyes open." Beth doesn't understand what he means, but she takes the advice.
They hear a small horde of walkers coming from the woods.
"Let's go." He says.
They end up at a fork. They look at each other, waiting for the first one to point the right direction. Beth still struggles with a dilemma. The possibility of finding someone of the group if they pick the right way. But at this point, what would be the right way? Right now, they could be the last ones standing. Days away from the prison's surroundings, the chances of bumping into a known face is getting smaller and smaller.
Daryl is looking at Beth, knowing she's got something to say. She gets her head straight.
"Doesn't really matter anymore, huh?" She says. "Which way we go."
"Nah." Daryl answers.
Beth takes a deep breath. "I'm feeling right today."
"Right it is."
And right she was. Not far on the road, a little into the forest, they found a cabin. Not too visible, not too shattered. Just perfect to settle down for a few days. Daryl checks the surroundings, just a couple of dead walkers apparently from a long time ago, and nothing else.
They go inside. It's a rather small cabin. One tiny room that used to be a bathroom, one small bedroom with lots of garbage in it, and a living room with what was once an improvised kitchen. Nothing inside the cabinets but dust, in the drawers some dirty spoons and knives.
"It's all clear."
Beth starts putting out the garbage from the bedroom while Daryl keeps checking out the outside for walkers or other people.
"I think it looks good now." Beth is trying to make the best out of the scenario.
She takes the blankets out again and lays them on the floor.
"Feels like home already." She says to herself playfully.
Daryl is now hunting something to eat. He comes back with two squirrels fifteen minutes later.
"Food." He throws the squirrels on the kitchen stand.
"I light the fire."
While Daryl prepares the squirrels, Beth lights the fire just in front of the cabin's door. The weather's gotten a lot colder by now.
They eat their meal quietly. Enjoying every bit of the meat.
After they finish, they go inside to rest. It's dark and cold now, and the only source of light comes through some cracks on the roof, some rays of light from the full moon.
Both put on their jackets and, luckily, it doesn't feel that cold on the inside. Daryl takes back all the trash Beth got out of the bedroom, and places it on the door for some reinforcement. Those were some heavy junk.
They are both just sitting in the middle of the room.
"We found a good place after all." Beth says.
"Yeah."
Not much to say now, they stop to listen to the noises of the night, some crickets, an animal running in the woods from time to time. It's not like the apocalypse would be all fun and entertainment. And in the middle of all that silence, suddenly, four words warm up the room.
"Ya ain't a burden." Daryl says.
Beth doesn't know what to say. Actually, she feels no need to say a word.
After so much pain, so much suffering, right there, at that moment, she is happy.
Their eyes meet in between that zig-zag of light and darkness. And the silence goes on, but now there's a feeling of comfort in the air.
They feel it's okay.
Being with each other, surviving, being the last ones remaining.
Maybe not a bad thing after all.