Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. I haven't gotten a whole lot of reviews on this and I did get some "hate mail". So if more of you guys want me to continue please let me know. I've decided that I'm going to switch off every other chapter with the girls story and Beth and Daryl's story. So next chapter after this will be focused completely on Georgette and Candice. The pictures of the girls are up on my profile.

Beth woke up to the sunlight pouring in on her face. Last night came flooding back to her. She sat up and saw that the couch was empty. Feeling nervous she called out

"Daryl?" When he didn't answer her she slid off the bed. The floorboards were cold under her bare feet. "Daryl," she called out again. She looked down the hallway wand was relieved to see him coming up the stairs. On his back he had what looked like three cooked squirrels strung up on rope. "Wow," she said "You work fast."

"Well we needa eat," he said, standing in the doorway. She went back over and sat on the bed as he took one of the squirrels off of the rope and passed it to her. She had to admit, they had been pampered when it came to food back at the prison, she hadn't had to eat a squirrel in awhile, especially for breakfast. But she dug in anyway, she was starving, they hadn't eaten since leaving the prison.

"Sorry again for last night," she said, feeling awkward.

"Don't worry about it," he said, taking a bite of his squirrel.

"I just feel pathetic about it,"

"Don't, you should let it out, I'm here for you." She smiled at him. She and Daryl had never been extremely close. But over the past month things had seemed to change. She'd always watched him from afar, wondering what kind of person he was under his hard exterior. Carol had seemed to make a connection with him but she was gone. Suddenly he had started noticing her, coming to visit her a Judith, coming to tell her Zach was dead, it had all seemed odd to her. It wasn't that she didn't like it, in fact she couldn't help but feel an admiration towards him, maybe even something a little further than that. But they were stuck in a terrible situation and she couldn't let her feelings get in the way of things.

"After we're done eating we can go out onto the road and see if we can find anyone."

"That'd be great," she said smiling.

They left the house a half hour later.

"I checked out most of the land 'round here," he said. "There's another house up that way," he pointed off to the north. "And a river that leads into good sized pond further back into the woods." Good, they would have fresh water and a place to bathe. They got into the car and Daryl turned it around, heading back towards the main road. Beth rolled down the window, enjoying the summer breeze.

"I know a good amount of people got away on the bus but I didn't see where anyone else went," she said.

"Maybe we'll find 'em all together," he said, "Maybe we were the only one's to get separated." She knew it was a lie.

The sun was high in the sky, and it was blazing hot out. They saw several more cars along the way. They checked them, looking to see if they knew anyone inside. Beth's thoughts wandered off again into a dark place. Seeing the dead people in their cars made her think of the whole world and all of the suffering and pain. She quickly stopped herself from deepening her thoughts, knowing it would distract her from the present. She had to think of what was going on now, not of the past nor of the future. Daryl spotted another car and pulled off onto the side of the road.

"Almost outa fuel," he said, "Gotta siphon some more." She watched as he checked the car for any walkers and then went around the other side to get the fuel. Beth kept her eyes on the road, hoping that at any second a car would come over the hill and she'd see Maggie behind the wheel. The heat was terrible, making her feel like she was suffocating. She saw Daryl come back from around the car and start to pour the fuel into their own. As he was doing so Beth started to notice a few walkers coming out of the forest on the other side of the road.

"Hey," she said, catching his attention, "We should get out of here." He looked up at her, annoyed at her rushing him. She gestured towards the walkers and he understood, quickly pouring the rest of the fuel in. He got back in the car and sped away as the walkers approached the car. The continued up the road and found a small town.

"We needa stock up on stuff," he said, "Look for a bag." She leaned over into the back seat and spotted some plastic bags. They found a pharmacy and got out. "Stay behind me," he said, grabbing his crossbow. He kicked the doors of the pharmacy open. There didn't seem to be any walkers inside and they went in. The shelves still had things on them. While Daryl shoveled bottles into his bag she went off to the feminine section. She quickly put a box of tampons into her bag along with shampoo, conditioner and soup. Moving down the shelves she took whatever seemed useful. She blushed when she came across the condoms. Looking away, she continued down the aisle. She heard him call out

"Ready to go?"

"Yup, coming!" she said back. She ran back to the front of the store. "Where else should we go?"

"There's gotta be a food store around here," he said. They walked outside and got back into the car. Sure enough further down the street they found a supermarket. "Perfect," he said, jumping out. He quickly took down the few walkers lurking around the parking lot. When they got inside they grabbed baskets. "Be careful in here," he said, "They could be anywhere." She took cans of soup and bags of rice. She heard the moaning of a walker at the other end of the aisle. She took out the knife on her belt and quickly slashed it head. Daryl ran down the aisle and grabbed onto her arm. "Time to go!" he said pulling her towards the door. She looked back to see a crowd of walkers following them. When they got back to the car they went back to main road. "We're better off catchin' our own food." he said.

When they got clear of the town Daryl stopped the car and turned to her.

"Do you have your license?" Surprised at his question she shoke her head no.

"Didn't get that far before the end of the world," she said joking around, "But my daddy let me drive the truck around the farm." The thought of her dad spiked her emotions but she held it in, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"Well it's about time you learned," he said. "If something ever happens to me you need to know how to get away." He got out of the drivers seat and came around to her side of the car. "Come on out," he said smiling. She hesitantly opened the door and hopped out.

"Are you serious?" she said.

"Ya," he said laughing, "Just cause the world ended don't mean you shouldn't learn how to drive a car." She got out and went around to the drivers seat. "Put it in drive," he said. The car started moving forward and she put her foot lightly on the gas. They moved smoothly down the road and she saw the surprised look on his face

"I told you I knew what I was doing," she said. They continued down the road, passing through more small towns. Beth kept her eyes out for anything that indicated someone had also recently passed through or was taking shelter. "We should leave some kind of message," said Beth.

"Whadya mean?" he asked.

"Like on the side of a building we could write something telling them to go back down the road and look for the house we're in. We could even put a sign up at the entrance of the road that leads to the house so they know where it is. She could see the apprehension on his face.

"That could also bring in unwelcome guests," he said.

"Please," she said, "If they're out there they could drive right through here and they won't even know we're nearby." He looked like he was thinking about it.

"Fine," he said, "But we need spray paint."

"There's a hardware store over there, I'll go check it," He grabbed her wrist and said

"Not without me you ain't." She felt annoyed and pulled her arm away.

"I can handle myself," she said.

"I'm not letting you go in there alone," he said. She gave him another annoyed look, crossing her arms over her chest. He smiled and said "Look I'll teach you how to use the crossbow sometime, but for now I'm not letting you go alone."

Daryl stood still, Beth sat on his shoulders, writing on the brick wall of a building.

"You almost done?" he said.

"Just hold on," she said, "The letters have to big so they can see them from the road." He grumbled grumpily. "Move over a little," she said. He walked sideways so she had a new space to write. It wasn't her weight bothering him, she was as light as a feather but the heat was starting to get to him. He had his hands on her upper legs, keeping her in place so she wouldn't fall backwards. He couldn't help but notice how soft the skin on the inside of her legs were. He took a deep breath and tried to push the thought from his mind. The past month had been weird for him. Beth was not a kid anymore and he had started noticing shortly after her eighteenth birthday. It hadn't been a huge deal, one of the days he had stopped in to visit her and Judith she had briefly mentioned that she had turned eighteen. He had gone back the next day and left her a little present, a gold bracelet he had taken out of a store they had gone too on a run. He had never gotten any jewelry for a woman before and he had felt so awkward doing it but the next day when she came up to him with a huge grin and pulled him into a tight hug he knew she'd liked it. She was wearing it on her wrist now and never seemed to take it off. It was during that hug that he noticed her in a different light. She had grown taller, her body had filled out into new curves, he had been afraid of the feelings. Sure Carol had always flirted with him but it was different, to him they were just close friends.

He knew she was forbidden, she was Hershel's youngest daughter and nobody in the prison would accept a relationship between them. But things got worse (or maybe better?) as time went on. He had been the one to deliver the news about Zach's death to her. Again she had hugged him. He had been afraid to put his hands on her, afraid of what he would do. And here they were together, alone, her on his shoulders, pressing her chest into his head as she leaned over and spray painted on the wall. Why would a young girl like her want an old redneck like him?

"Done," she said.

"Thank god," he said, getting onto his knees so she could slide off. She stood back and looked at her work. In bright red letters it read: Prison group, go back to house on road, look for sign on left side.

"That'll do," she said.

"Let's hope know one else besides the group sees it," he said.

They headed back to the house. They had been out all day. Daryl went out into the kitchen and dumped all of the things he'd gotten at the pharmacy onto the table. They had also managed to find a case of water left at the market. He took a bottle and kicked it back, the fresh water tasted amazing. He dumped Beth's bag out and felt a rush of embarrassment when he picked up a box of tampons that had fallen out of her bag. He couldn't turn the other way when it came to things like this. If they were gonna live together he had to get used to it. He found the shampoo, conditioner and soap and put those aside as he looked at the different medicine they'd gotten. He almost choked on the water when he saw a box of condoms. What the hell was she thinking?! What did she need condoms for? He went out to the living room where she was eating a can of chicken noodle soup.

"What'd you get these for?" he said, holding up the box. He saw her eyes go wide with shock, and her face turned completely red.

"I didn't- those aren't-I have no idea where those came from," she said. "They must of fallen into my bag when I was getting something else off the shelf." He laughed to himself and saw her get angry. "I swear I had no idea, why the hell would I need condoms?!" And with that she got up and stormed off upstairs. He hadn't mean't to upset her, he was just joking around. He followed her up the stairs. She had already closed and locked the door by the time he got there.

"Just open the damn door." He didn't get any response. He wasn't exactly the kind of guy that had a way with words but he'd give it a shot. "M'sorry Beth, I didn't mean to upset you. I was just messin' around." He heard the door unlock and he opened to see her standing there, an upset look still on her face. He smiled but she didn't smile back.

"No worries, we can just use 'em as water balloons." That got her to smile a little bit. "We shouldn't be fightin'," he said. "We need to focus on survivin' until we find the group again."

"I know," she said, sighing as she took a seat on the bed.

"So am I forgiven?" he asked with a laugh. She smirked at him and said

"As long as you teach me how to use the crossbow tomorrow." Daryl was surprised at how spicy her attitude was. He had brought the sweet, shy Beth that everyone had known back at the prison out of her shell. He smiled and said

"It's a deal."