Broken Halo

Chapter 10

Daryl was pissed. She was either having a panic attack or attempting to get herself killed. He wasn't stupid enough to get into it with her while they were on the run. No, he waited until they'd stopped, until they were far enough away from the walkers before he spun on her, his eyes dark and serious as he glared at her. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" he demanded.

She looked at him, glaring right back, not appreciating being yelled at. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

He rolled his eyes. "The hell you don't. You tryin' to get yourself killed?"

She crossed her arms, raising her chin defiantly. "I was killing walkers, maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought that's what we did now." Her eyes narrowed and he knew she was going to deliver a low blow. "Or would you rather shoot one up against a tree and use it for target practice again?"

He growled and stepped up closer, glaring down at her. "That was one walker, not a whole damn herd."

She glared right back at him, not baking down. He didn't like this new Beth, not one bit. "You all wanted me to get over my shit, guess what? I'm fuckin' over it."

He stared down at her, clenching his fists. He wanted to punch something. Mainly Rick, this was his fault. If he hadn't sent her out with Michonne this wouldn't have happened. "You're actin like a dumb bitch. Get your head outta your ass and see that you can't fuckin' do shit like that."

"Okay, that's enough," Rick interjected as they watched Beth's hand fly back to slap him. Glenn grabbed her wrist and around the waist, hauling her back and away from Daryl. Rick glared at Daryl and pushed on his chest, making him step back. "We need to talk, now." Daryl let him lead him away as Glenn tried to calm Beth down. "You can't yell at her like that."

"The fuck I can't. You saw her, she's gonna get herself killed," Daryl snapped.

Rick nodded his head. "I know that, but you gotta take it easy. You're gonna make her shut down again." Daryl huffed and started pacing. "Look, I'm not saying she's right, going crazy like that, but you gotta understand, she's still working through some shit."

Daryl turned and glared at him. Rick might be his best friend but he was pushing it. "This is your fault. You realize that right?" When Rick gave him that confused, pissed off look Daryl nodded his head. "If you would have let me take her hunting instead of sending her off with Michonne, she wouldn't be going all Kill Bill on the walkers."

Rick glared at him, getting in his face. Yeah, they were best friends, but even best friends threw punches sometimes. "I couldn't risk your life by sending her out there with you. What if she had a freak out and you all got bit? I can't lose you and Maggie would never forgive me if she got bit." He backed off a bit with a sigh. "Sending her with Michonne was the best choice."

Oh, now that was the wrong fucking thing to say. Daryl hauled back and punched him. "Yeah, that's the right call. Now instead of freaking out and just needing me to calm her down she needs to kill walkers and doesn't think about getting bit." Daryl grabbed his crossbow and stalked off. "Goin' huntin'."

…

Beth was glaring at his back as he stalked off. She was pissed him for yelling at her, pissed at him for punching Rick. She knew Rick was coming to talk to her next, Glenn was already trying to but she was ignoring him. What did they want from her? Did they want her to go back to being like she was at the prison? That wasn't going to happen. That couldn't happen. Not after what had happened. They could either have her with panic attacks, or they could have her killing walkers. There was no in between, not anymore.

Rick walked over and sighed. "I got this, Glenn." Glenn nodded and kissed her head before walking off. Rick sat down beside her and sighed, wiping blood from his lip. "He's got one hell of a right hook." Beth rolled her eyes. "Beth, what happened?" Rick asked.

"I see them, in the walker's faces. I don't see walkers, I see those men." She looked at him, stared right into his eyes. "Every walker I see is just one of them." She swallowed down the sob and fought back the tears. She couldn't be weak, not anymore; she wouldn't live if she was still weak. "I know he's pissed off, and I know it sounds stupid, but this is what you get. You're either going to get me freaking out, or you're going to get me killing walkers."

Rick sighed and nodded his head. "You can't go off like that though. That wasn't just dangerous, but it could have gotten us all in trouble." He looked at her, giving her his stern father look. "You've got to be careful."

Beth nodded her head, staring down at the ground. She couldn't do anything right, could she? She heard Rick get up and leave as people started to set up camp for the night. She just sat there, staring at the ground. When Daryl came back he didn't say anything to her, didn't come to her. She knew he was pissed off at her, but she thought after he'd gotten back from hunting he'd be in a better mood, at least enough to talk to her. When he laid down on the other side of camp she knew she'd really fucked up. She felt her emotions leaving her as she surrendered to the darkness that was taking over. She curled up, not caring that she was cold, not caring that the fire was so far away, not caring that everyone was whispering about her. Not caring that Daryl was mad enough at her to not want to even look at her. She shut her eyes and fell asleep, tears slipping from her eyes.

…

"Do you think we can trust it?" Daryl asked, looking at the building behind the fence. They'd seen the signs for Terminus and thought it was the best idea at the moment. They promised safety, and right now, that's what they needed. They needed somewhere safe so he and Beth could work through their bullshit.

Rick sighed. "I don't know, but we don't have much of a choice." He glanced over his shoulder at Beth who was leaning against a tree. She'd been throwing up lately. He figured it was because she wasn't eating, wasn't sleeping. Her body was yelling at her. "We gotta get somewhere safe enough to get her out of whatever's going on."

Daryl nodded his head and sighed. "Well, let's go." They made their way into the small station slowly, looking around. For a place that promised safety there weren't many people around. Rick led them until they found an older looking woman standing over a grill, cooking meat. There were a few people sitting around at tables eating.

"Welcome to Terminus," she greeted, smiling at them. "Big group, have you been traveling long?" she asked as she started to line up plates.

Rick nodded his head. "Yeah, we have."

She smiled. "Well I'm Mary, this is Gareth, he's in charge." She smiled as Gareth shook Rick's hand.

"Welcome to Terminus."

Rick nodded. "Thanks. I'm Rick; this is my son Carl, Daryl, Beth, her sister Maggie, Maggie's husband Glenn, Sasha, Bob, Tara, Rosita, Abraham, Eugene, and Michonne."

Gareth nodded and greeted them all. "Well, go ahead and eat, there are rooms anywhere. If they're empty, they're yours." He smiled before whispering something to Mary. He smiled at them again and walked off.

Daryl followed Rick to a table and they all sat down to eat. He noticed Beth hadn't taken a plate. It was starting to worry him. He regretted yelling at her, but he couldn't bring himself to apologize, he couldn't even bring himself to talk to her. She'd shut down again and he knew it was his fault. He turned his eyes away from her and sighed, picking at his food. After they ate they were showed to the apartment style rooms. Daryl watched Beth walk into one and close the door behind her. He sighed, going into his own room and closed the door.

…

Beth crept around Terminus. She couldn't find Maggie, Glenn, Abraham, no one but Rick, Carl, Michonne, and Daryl who were sitting outside. Something wasn't right. She'd had a bad feeling ever since they'd walked through the gate. Something was going on and she was determined to find out what it was. They'd been through enough shit already, if something was going on, they needed to get out before the shit hit the fan. She crept around a building, trying to keep as quiet as possible, trying to go unnoticed. She saw a cadge with what looked like carcasses inside of it. Slowly she walked over and looked inside. She stared in horror as she realized it wasn't deer carcasses lying on the ground surrounded by flies. They were human bodies that had been disemboweled and had the flesh cut away. Her stomach churned as she emptied what acid and water she had onto the ground.

She gripped the fence as she realized what they'd been serving on the grill yesterday, what they had all eaten. This place was sick. She needed to find Rick, needed to tell him what was going on. They needed to find the rest of their group and get out. Now. She stood up and screamed when a hand clamped over her mouth and an arm encircled her waist, pinning her arms against her sides. She struggled as she was dragged away.

…

Daryl eyed everyone closely. Something wasn't right. They hadn't seen anyone else since the night before when they'd gone to bed. Beth was missing and she wasn't in her room, he'd checked that morning. He'd wanted to talk to her, he missed her. He looked around closely. That was when he noticed it. One of the men who was sitting a few tables away had Hershel's watch, the one he'd given to Glenn. He tapped Rick on the shoulder, nodded over. Everything went to shit from there. Rick grabbed him around the neck and demanded where they're people were.

They were chased by bullets until they were cornered. Daryl glared up at Gareth as he ordered them into a train car. He followed Rick and slowly walked inside the dimly lit container. As the door slammed shut he started to worry about Beth and where she was, what had happened to her. "Rick?" Glenn and the others walked into the light from the other side of the container. Daryl's eyes searched for her, but she wasn't there.

"Beth?" Maggie asked. Daryl shook his head. They didn't know where she was and he didn't like not knowing. Maggie hugged Glenn tightly as they all assumed the worst. Daryl growled and punched the wall. He'd waited too long. If he would have gotten over his fucking pride a day ago she'd at least be with him, trapped, but at least he would know where she was.

…

Beth glared as Gareth walked in. She'd been locked into a room, away from the others. She'd seen them getting chased around by gunfire, seen them get locked in the train car. "What are you going to do to them?" she demanded. "Why am I here?" she didn't understand why she was the only one who hadn't been locked away with the others.

Gareth smirked and walked over to her, pinning her to the wall. "I kept you here because you're very pretty, or you will be once you get cleaned up." He smirked, his eyes running up and down the length of her body. Beth shivered and tried to shrink back into the wall. She'd seen that look on a man's face before. She could feel her walls closing in around her, could feel the air being choked from her lungs as her throat tightened up. Fear and panic started to race through her and she started shaking. She was going to freak out again. She could feel it coming. She tried to push her emotions away, tried to close everything up, tried to shut down. "I'm going to kill your friends, I'm going to eat them, and then I'm going to make you mine." He smirked and pushed off the wall, leaving her there as she gasped for air, she couldn't get enough in.

He walked out, closing the door behind him and she thought through the panic attack, forced herself to look around. She had to find a way out of here. She had to get them all out. They couldn't stay here. She couldn't let her family, her friends, couldn't let Daryl die. She couldn't let him do to her what Joe and his men had done. She wouldn't survive it this time. She started looking around for anything, anything that could help her get out. She looked out the window. It wasn't that far of a drop, she could break the glass, slip out, she could get them out. She just had to wait for the right moment. It would help if she had a weapon. She started to put her plan into action as she fought off the panic attack with sheer will power. She wasn't going to be weak, not anymore. This time, she was going to save them.