Chapter 11
Beth stared up at the blue house, her stomach rolling, her guilt eating her alive like the undead just beyond the walls. She caught her lip between her teeth, a thin layer of sweat forming over her skin. Daryl reached out and took her hand firmly, his thumb slowly sliding over the back of her hand, "'S okay, Beth. They won' be mad."
She looked at him, not completely convinced, but he made no move to let go of her hand as he stepped forward, more or less dragging Beth along with him. He moved in precise and calculated steps, giving Beth as much time as possible to prepare herself and calm her nerves. She tried to tell herself that they were probably laughing it off, that maybe they thought it was funny in some way? But there was no humor in how last night had gone down, and she couldn't find any humor in the tense moment she walked into.
Her head spun a little, like déjà vu; her entire family and the strangers included all sat in the same layout they had been in last night, and they all fell just as silent, eyes burning into her. The only difference Beth found in the scene before her was the white bandage over Rick's puffy nose. She dropped her eyes with shame, eyebrows drawn together in her guilt.
"I am so sorry, Rick. I panicked, and I hurt you. I wasn't thinking clearly, please, know that I would never deliberat-"
"Beth, Beth, stop." Rick stood up, holding his hand up to politely silence her. She looked up at him, the color draining from her face, her heart dropping into that numb place. She started to turn, attempting to keep her head high and shoulders squared, "I'll get my things and I'll just get out of her-"
"Beth," Daryl started exasperatedly, tugging her by her hand back to face the room, "Shut the hell up."
Rick tried to cover a rueful grin as Beth settled back next to him, a blush burning up her neck and over her ears now. He gave up trying to hide it and let it turn into a full blown grin, "Beth Greene I am the one that needs to apologize," Rick said shaking his head at her, "We could see how tired you were last night, and we all seemed to have forgotten what it was like when we first got here. And we never gave you space or a chance to breathe. Aaron had a lengthy conversation with us after you left. He brought to our attention that we aren't very good at paying attention to you. So, we are all sorry. We hope you will forgive us."
Beth's eyes glittered with unshed tears, turning to each person in the room. They all looked at her sympathetically and Beth couldn't tell which was worse, receiving pity or fear from her family.
"Look," she started, feeling more confident now that she had her rock beside her, feeling like she can finally express to her family what she needs to, "I love all of you, you are my family, even you guys that I don't really know, and I will do anything to keep you safe and to fight my way back to you. But I'm dealing with things now, things I'm not always going to deal with in the most graceful way. I'm trying to get through this and I know I will, I just need time. And patience. And a little bit of space." She fidgeted a little with her hands, chewing on her lip she looked around to each person before she started speaking again, "But I am not weak." She looked at Daryl, she needed to see him fully to say the final part of her speech, "I have survived all on my own, I was captured, but here I am standing before you still able to smell their blood on my skin. I can hunt, skin, and cook my kill. And I can disappear completely in the woods. I am not just a babysitter, or just a pretty voice. I am a vital member of this family, of this community, and I will be treated like one." She looked again, pointedly into each pair of eyes before coming back to Daryl's. He smiled proudly at her, holding his hand back out for her to join him at his side. Everyone remained silent, eyeing the scarred blonde and the quiet hunter with mild shock and confusion. Carol opened her mouth but the scream they all heard was detached and came from somewhere outside the house.
The color drained from Beth yet again, she turned to Daryl and whispered coldly, "The wolves. They're here."
Daryl turned to everyone else as Beth lunged for her things in the foyer, "Buckle up, s'gonna get bumpy out there." He turned to Beth as she drew her crossbow up, loaded and ready, nodding to him. The rest of their family quietly donned their weapons, still watching the pair with somewhat odd expressions. Daryl opened the door and the two of them slipped so silently from the house that the others only knew the two had left if they happened to see it.
Daryl moved down the porch, aim held high, glancing in both directions. At the end of the street, a woman wailed for help as a man repeatedly swung his axe down into her body. Daryl shot the maniac through the skull as Beth trotted down the steps to clear the opposite direction; taking out a wolf running towards Daryl's turned back. They both moved without speaking, barely even looking at each other. They fell into their familiar routine easily, able to predict each other's movements and act accordingly. Beth turned between two houses, creeping along beside it with Daryl moving behind her. She came around to the front of the house, whipping back around to take out the she-wolf that had lunged for Daryl from the porch. Daryl's eyes focused on a point just beyond Beth's head and she instinctively ducked and spun, both taking aim and shooting at the group of wolves that moved around in the area just ahead of the duo. Rick, Maggie, and Glenn came running up from behind them, watching as the pair moved out further.
"Is anyone else starting to feel useless?" Glenn asked as they followed behind them and took in their skills.
Meggie clicked her tongue and Rick chuckled under his breath, eyes darting over the horizon smoothly. Beth's name rushed breathlessly from Maggie's lips when a pair of arms snatched her up from the bushes her and Daryl had crouched down behind. The wolf's arms clamped down over hers tightly, pinning them to her sides. Beth wiggled to get her knife free while Daryl was distracted by another wolf. Maggie, Rick, and Glenn were fighting their way closer, two other wolves taunting them ruthlessly. She finally got her knife free and slammed it down into his leg, ripping it from the muscle as soon as he released her. Beth spun around and brought her fist as hard as she could to the side of his head repeatedly until he fell backwards. She lunged forward and sent her blade into his eye, pulling it back up and trying not to gag at the spurt of blood and ooze that sprayed over her. She stood, panting, and turned to see everyone staring at her. She couldn't decipher their expressions, but it didn't matter, someone had started howling through a megaphone.
Beth felt a ripple move through her, instantly breaking into a run in the direction of the leader. She didn't want to look too deeply into how she knew it was him, but every fiber of her being hummed with electricity and she could feel the wolves in her head howling back. She couldn't tell if Daryl and the others were behind her or not, but she couldn't bring herself to look. She had a plan, and it was likely to get her killed. And if Beth looked at Daryl too long, he would figure it out and try to stop her, and he would get killed.
Beth pumped her legs harder and faster, now deliberately trying to shake her family in case they were on her tail. She came rushing out from between two houses and turned sharply, ducking down and waiting for her family to lose her. She could hear them, calling out for her and moving further away. Beth crawled along the ground to the body a few feet from her. She didn't know who the woman had been, but she prayed to God that he bless her and grant her peace as she began wiping the woman's blood onto her face and clothes, marking a 'w' on her forehead. Beth pulled the scarf from around the woman's neck and draped it over her head and face and pulled her hood up. She pushed her crossbow under the bush and stood, running back towards the howling and gathering wolf pack.
She turned into the designated town center and found the gathering wolves, all howling and still torturing the people of Alexandria. Beth scanned the pulsing crowd of animals, chest heaving as her vision began to blur on the edges. Her fingers felt tingly and numb when she found the man holding the megaphone. He stood in a gazebo, smiling cruelly at his surroundings. Beth ducked low and moved through the crowd swiftly, dodging blades and fists, her heart wrenching in her chest at the sight of all the dead bodies literally being stomped all over, her stomach churning when she realized not all of the bodies were dead.
She moved under the gazebo, crawling to the other side. She slowly looked over the floorboard at the leader and his body guards. Beth pulled out the gun she still had from Grady, aimed, pulled the trigger, and watched the guard to his left drop. Both men turned instantly and Beth pulled the trigger again, taking out the second guard. The leader turned to see her, a snarl vibrating through to her. She dropped the gun and jumped up, pulling herself up and over the railing. He lunged for Beth as she dropped low and rolled to the other side, she came back up with a bounce, fists raised in her defensive stance. They circled each other, eyes locked tightly. She lashed out with her knife, slicing his abdomen as his fingers closed over the scarf and he ripped it from her. Beth slid back from him and then pushed off the railing, using the momentum to slide along the floor pass him and run her blade against his thigh. He reached out and grabbed her by the back of her jacket, swinging her against a support beam as hard as he could and then sending her to the ground. Beth gritted her teeth against the impact and kept her grip tight on her knife. She rolled as he approached, slashing out with her blade again and catching his fingers. He howled as they bounced away from him, Beth hopping up onto her feet again. She vaguely registered the scene of her people fighting back against the wolves behind the leader, but then he was lunging for her again and she had to dodge him to the side. She brought her knife down into his back and dragged it down before pulling it from his back. He turned to face her, narrowing his eyes at her. She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head at him, lowering herself and moving at him yet again, but he dodged her and grabbed her by the back of her neck. He shoved her against the railing of the gazebo, using his body to pin her there and pushing on her neck to bend her over it.
Beth could feel his hardness against her, her breaths coming in shallow as she tried desperately to push Gorman's hands from her. She tried to shove back with all her strength and slip away from him, but he was too strong. He chuckled, tightening his grip to the point of bruising her neck. Beth could hear Daryl screaming her name over and over again, but she couldn't see him. The man holding her tightly said something she couldn't hear before he was dragging her into a new position on her knees in front of him facing away from him towards the battling crowd. The Wolf held Beth's face firmly, his fingers digging into her cheek bones, until she finally saw him. Daryl was fighting with his back to Rick and Glenn, all three trying to take on what remained of the wolf pack, Maggie unconscious at their feet.
Beth jerked and struggled against his grip as he growled into her ear, "I'm going to make you watch them die. All of them. And then I'm going to make you mine," he licked the side of her face and she turned to spit in his. He gripped her hair at the base of her scalp and jerked her to her feet and turning her to force her to face the fight unfolding before her. Beth watched the wolves taunt her family with fire in her eyes, lava churning in her soul. She could feel the wolves in her own head howling, but their tempo was changing, their howls morphing into something whimsical and musical in her mind. A surge of energy erupting from her spine the louder her inner howling grew. She slowly inched her feet into a new stance, her fingers gripping the handle of the knife hidden in her waist band.
Beth yanked forward with her head, pulling her hair precious few centimeters from his tight grip that she used to twist her hair in his hand, turning and slicing her knife deeply across his abdomen just beneath where his diaphragm sat. She felt his fingers twitch in her hair before his hand fell from the top of her head. He stared at her, blinking a few times before he dropped to his knees before her. She reached out and gripped his beard tightly in her fist, pulling his face closer to hers, feeling his hot sick breath wash slowly over her senses. She brought her knife up, pointing the tip at the bottom of the 'w' on his forehead, and pushed harder and harder until it slowly broke through the skull and slid like silk into the meat of his brain. His eyes fluttered darkly before rolling upwards, his body falling limp and his beard slipping from her grip. She watched his body crumble in on itself, her chest falling and rising rapidly. She reached down and pulled her knife from his head, wiping the blood off on his clothes. She turned to look out of the gazebo, the last wolf falling at Rick's hands, Glenn helping Maggie to her feet as they both gaped at Beth, mouths hanging from their hinges. And Daryl walked slowly towards her, eyes focused solely on hers as he moved through the bodies between them. Beth stepped down from the gazeebo, her knees wobbling slightly beneath her as she gripped the railing. She moved towards him and tried to keep her throat from tightening up, the edges of her vision pulsing and blurring again. She felt her chest getting tighter and was on the verge of passing out, and then she was in his arms, tucked against his chest. She couldn't tell if she had passed out or not, but she didn't care, because she finally made it home.