A/N: Consider this a part II to chapter one. You guys deserve it.
The air smelled of damp pine and the warm late evening sun just before it has been chased away by the night chill. Sapphire blue eyes turned to the sky, watching as heavy gray clouds moved in to chase away the fleeting clear blue that had only just settled in after a storm that same morning.
A shift in the wind stole her attention, the sickly smell of death that never seemed to leave her nose completely. It was almost overwhelming which meant it was close and it was time to move on. She glanced towards the sun slowly beginning its decent into night. If the setting sun was the west, the smell was coming from the north and she didn't need anyone telling her that she should be moving in the opposite direction.
She stood in the center of her makeshift camp and fit what she could carry or wouldn't be easy to replace back into her bag and left the rest behind. She'd find more supplies if she needed them when she got where she was going. She always did. Slinging her backpack over her back, she clutched her knife tightly in her hand. Her footfalls were silent, practiced. Her eyes scanned the ground for tracks, an itch in the back of her mind of a memory that didn't seem to want to jump start. She didn't stop to try and decipher the feeling. She had in the past and it only left her frustrated and vulnerable.
It was hard to remember anything before the hospital. If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought her entire life began there. She shuddered against the thought, willing it away, focusing only on making it to the next place alive. She wouldn't make it without a clear head and thinking about the hospital was the exact opposite way to accomplish that.
She looked towards the sky once more. She had about two hours left of sunlight (if she was lucky) and a whole lot of walking to do before she felt safe enough to set up a camp for the night. She clutched her bag tighter around her shoulders, eyes scanning the floor and ears alert and listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. Both human and walker alike, they were not welcome sounds.
The sweat beaded on her forehead despite the crisp chill in the air. She hadn't stopped moving at a quick and steady pace since she'd started and though she'd managed to push the fatigue to the back of her mind, the rest of her wasn't getting the message. She palmed at her sticky, salty skin and looked to the sky. It looked as though someone had taken a paintbrush to it; a melting pot of subdued pinks and blues and purples and grays. She had only a moment to see that her daylight was waning quickly before the hissing sounded behind her. She could tell just by the careless shuffle of their feet that there were three and she spun, hand gripping her knife tight and poised to attack. A rush of adrenaline pumped through her, the tiredness in her body forgotten.
It only took a few long legged strides until she was grabbing a fistful of walker hair and shoving it into the one shuffling at her and they both went tumbling down. Shifting to her right, she swung her weaponed hand hard, shoving the blade deep into the skull of the walker, it's black blood coloring her lips and the collar of her shirt. She watched as the light went out in its eyes, falling to the ground in a lifeless heap and she yanked her blade free as the other two were busy righting themselves from the fall, arms outstretched and reaching for her. With a flick of her wrist, the blood of her blade fell like a red rain storm on the ground where she stood and in the next moment, her blade was deep in the walker closest to her. It fell to the ground with a thud and the third quickly joined it, her blade sunken deep into the jugular and at the last second jerked up and twisted. There was a snarl on her lips, a guttural primitive growl in the back of her throat. She waited, her chest rising and falling in excitement and adrenaline. When none came, she wiped the blood of her knife off on the shirt of the walker at her feet and stuck it back in the sheath at her belt. She righted the pack on her shoulders and continued forward, wiping the blood from her face with her sleeve. She'd have to find a place to rinse off in the morning.
A sound pricked at her ears and her head whipped around as her feet carried her lithely and near-silently to duck behind the nearest tree. Her blood was coursing hot through her veins again, her heart beating loudly and wildly in her chest. She was almost certain that he had seen her. She held her breath as she listened, waiting for the sounds of footfalls coming her way, but they didn't come. She chanced a look around the other side of the tree, moving silently around it. Peeking around the opposite side, she seized the opportunity to side-step behind the trunk of the tree to her left, it's branches low and thick enough to hide her. She could see them and in the last remnants of daylight, she doubted they could see her. With the sun at her back, she had the advantage. She crept down into a stalking stance, moving swiftly, keeping to the cover of the trees. From what she could see, there was only two of them – a man and a woman – and they were looking wildly around their surroundings. They hadn't seen her. She pressed her back flat against a tree and pulled her knife from its sheath and held it at the ready.
Focusing on slowing her breathing, she craned her neck to listen. She held her breath, back pressed so firmly against the tree she could feel the bark cutting into her skin. The woods were quiet. Absolutely quiet and she paused only a few more beats before she peeked her head around the corner. All the air left her lungs as an arrow whizzed just past her head as she ducked back behind the tree only a fraction of a moment before. He was onto her now. She spun back in the direction she'd come, using the thick brush as cover. She could only just see their outlines through the leafy curtain, but she was almost certain he was still looking at where she had just been and he hadn't seen her slip away.
Her chest rose and fell heavily, hot tears welling in her eyes. She was going to have to kill these people. It wasn't like it was a shocking revelation, but it was a somber one. She'd killed two people (that she could remember) in her life and it wasn't like it ever got any easier. She was aware she was taking a life but it was true that it was kill or be killed and it just wasn't worth it to take the chance. She couldn't think about that, though. Taking in a deep breath, she willed it all away. It was survival. In the end... that was all it was. After her moment to compose herself, she peeked around the tree again where she could just barely see the outline of them. They hadn't moved much, both still looking in the wrong direction, but poised and ready at all angles. She'd lost her element of surprise. She did a quick survey of her surroundings, spotting the arrow he'd shot at her lodged just behind the tree to her left. She dropped to the ground, crawling silently within the thick forest brush that she hoped hid her well enough. Moving slowly and quietly to the tree with the arrow. She stood slowly, not breathing as if just the tiniest breath would give her away. She positioned herself and tugged at the arrow. It came loose after a few tugs, straining her arms so she wouldn't make a sound and then tossed the arrow into the forest back the way she had just come. It landed with the sounds of crunching leaves and forest and floor and she clutched the handle of her knife so tightly her knuckles turned white. It was his split second of distraction that she used to launch herself at him, knife raised and aimed for his throat.
He was faster than she was, though, dropping his crossbow as his hands grabbed hers so tightly she knew they would bruise. The force of his grasp shocked her and she lost her grip on the knife as it went spiraling to the ground below. She was weaponless and and vulnerable and they both knew it. She writhed desperately, trying to free herself from his grip. But when she looked at him again, his face had changed, distorted so drastically that it knocked her off kilter. His hands gripped her wrists so tightly she cried out in pain.
It was like he couldn't hear her. His face was so heartbreakingly confusing that she felt powerless in his grip, powerless to fight back or even move. It felt like an eternity that he held her there like that, but soon he was uttering one word that sucker punched her right in the stomach.
Bewildered, he cried, "Beth?"