Beth knew something was wrong when she woke up. She was no longer in a soft bed but on the hard, cold floor. She opened her eyes and couldn't see anything but darkness. When she lifted her arms she was suddenly aware that there were shackles on each wrist. The chains went behind her and attached to the wall. She started to panic and pulled at the chains, trying to get away. She tried to stand and felt shackles on her ankles as well. The room started to materialize around her. She could now see that she was in a basement of some sort. There were no windows and the walls and floor were concrete. There wasn't much of anything else in the room.
She looked down at her hands and quickly started to try and slip them through the cuffs. They were far too small. When she looked back up she jumped in surprise. There were now several other people surrounding her. They were all staring at her with dead eyes, but they weren't walkers. Some of them were missing legs or arms. Their cold stares seemed to cut into her, scaring the hell out of her. She felt an intense fear; it reminded her of how she felt when the walkers had started taking over. When it had first happened and she'd realized that the world as they knew it was coming to an end. Now she felt that same sense of dread. She knew her life was in grave danger but she didn't know why and that made it ten times worse. She started frantically pulling at the chains again. They continued to watch her.
"Help me! Please!" her cries for help turned into screams. She felt two strong hands grab onto her and gently shake her.
That was when she opened her eyes for real. Daryl was over her. Sweating and still feeling the dread from her nightmare she sat up. She heard him say
"You were screamin'." She ran her hand through her hair. Although it was late fall she felt extremely hot and quickly jumped out of bed before Daryl could grab her. She went and sat in the wooden rocking chair in the corner of the room, instantly feeling cooler and calmer. He followed her over and knelt down in front of her. "Wanna tell me about it?"
"I don't know where I was," she said, "In some dark room. I was all chained up and all these people were around me. They looked dead but they weren't. They wouldn't help me." She could see the concern and worry in his deep blue gaze. He reached out to her and she took his hand. Just his touch made her feel safer. In a matter of seconds she was in his arms, being carried back to the bed.
"I ain't gonna let nuthin' happen to you or the baby Beth." He lay her back out on the bed and got in next to her. Her eyes already drooping as he pulled her against him. She was afraid that she'd go back to sleep and find herself back in that terrible room, but with Daryl's hand lightly rubbing her belly and cradling her against his chest she slipped into a peaceful sleep.
When Tyreese woke Daryl up he was happy to see that Beth was still asleep.
"Hey," he said, "How is she? I heard her screaming."
"She's alright," he said, "Do you mind sittin' up here with her? You can sleep but if she wakes up I don't want her to be alone." Tyreese nodded and went and sat down on the couch near the window. "Thanks."
"No problem." Daryl had never gotten to know Tyreese very well back at the prison. It was becoming obvious that he did have a big heart. With the way he took care of Lizze and Mika and how he was looking out for Beth, Daryl was enjoying having him there. He couldn't always be around. He needed to hunt and having Tyreese meant that Beth would never be left alone.
He went outside and sat on the porch. He took a cigarette and started to smoke. It was dark and silent. He kept his ears and eyes open, the smallest sounds making him jump to his feet and grab his crossbow. They often turned out to be nothing, small animals moving through the forest or the wind rustling the leaves but when he heard footsteps he crouched down to the floor, holding his crossbow between the bars and waiting.
A walker stumbled out into the driveway. It was soon followed by at least five or six more. They weren't headed up towards the house but continued to walk across the driveway. Daryl let them pass, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Once they had disappeared into the woods on the other side, he sat back up. The fire must have attracted a ton of them. Richard probably had his hands full in getting rid of them. If he didn't they'd eventually knock a wall down. He remembered what Carol said about him. He didn't like sending corrupt people back out into the world. Would he be coming after him? It seemed strange that he would spend his energy on tracking them down, but he didn't want to take any risks.
When he heard more rustling he ducked down again. They were footsteps but they didn't belong to a walker. He shrank back into the shadows and waited again. Two men appeared this time. He could hear them talking in low voices.
"Does Richard really think we'll find them?"
"Guess so. He's taking it seriously. He called Steve, Carol, the little girl and started that fire. On top of that it's gonna take us a week to clear out all the walker bodies that the fire brought in." He felt his blood start to boil. He had been labelled as a murderer. He heard them stop walking. The man looked at the house and said "Think they could be in there?" Daryl gripped his crossbow, ready to fire at the moment they started walking towards the house.
"Nah," said the other, "We'd be better going back and doing a thorough check of that neighborhood we found. They probably are somewhere in there." Daryl knew where he was talking about. After hunting in these woods he knew his way around. The neighborhood was further east. "After that we should head home, continue the search in the morning." Once the men had left Daryl was back on his feet. They had to get out of here as soon as possible. He ran back inside and went upstairs. He found Tyreese still awake on the couch.
"We gotta get ready to go."
"Why?"
"Some men just passed by, said they were lookin' for us. They didn't see me or come near the house but it's only a matter atime." Tyreese got up and said
"How are we gonna leave now?"
"We're gonna have to go find a car."
"You're still weak from being sick."
"I know," he said, "The road's not too far from here, if we keep walkin' we'll find one eventually." Tyreese went downstairs to gather their things while Daryl went to wake Beth up. He sat down on the bed and gently stroked her cheek with his hand. Her eyes fluttered open a moment later.
"Hey." She looked around for a moment and said "It's not morning." He smiled and said
"No it ain't, but you gotta get up now. We're leavin'."
Beth still wasn't completely processing what he was saying to her.
"Where are we going?"
"Away."
"Why? I thought we were gonna stay here and recover. You're still not in top shape."
"I know," he said, "I just heard some men pass by; they think I'm a killer and they're lookin' for me. If we stay here they're gonna find us." Beth felt a twinge of fear. If they were found they'd forcefully be taken back to the town and Daryl would be put behind bars. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and was helped to her feet by Daryl. She followed him downstairs.
It didn't take long to get everything together. They hadn't taken much out of the bags and had only been there for a couple of hours. They stood out on the porch.
"The road is up that way." Daryl pointed north. "Try 'n keep quiet we got more than walkers to worry about." They walked in single file through the woods. Daryl at the front, Tyreese at the rear and Beth in the middle. It was cold out and Beth's jeans and long sleeved shirt didn't give her much warmth. Daryl must have seen her shivering and he stopped, took off of his long sleeved leather and jacket along with his vest and handed it to her. She took it and zippered it up. It smelled like him and she loved it. It was a mix of cigarettes, gasoline and the outdoors. Before it would have hung down past her hips but with her stomach growing it was still lose but fit her a bit better.
They stayed close together, moving through the darkness. Everything was going smoothly until they heard the familiar hissing. There was a figure lying in the path up ahead. It was clearly a walker and when they approached it they noticed that it had been sliced in half. Its lower end lay a little further ahead. It was clear someone had cut it. She could see that Daryl instantly tensed up.
"We'll keep goin'," he said, "But stay closeta me." He held onto her hand now as they continued on. They kept moving without incident and soon they found the road. The bodies of the walkers that had been fresh months ago that Rick had slain were now piles of rotted flesh and bones. Daryl turned to them and said
"There can't be a car far from here." The woods had been creeping Beth out but being out on the open road was a bit better. They went off to the left where they had seen the tire tracks. Not far up the road they found an old gas station. There were two cars sitting in the parking lot and Beth prayed that one of them would work. Tyreese and Daryl went inside to look for supplies while she hung back and tried the cars. She made sure there were no walkers inside before pulling open the door on the car. It was a typical four door car and it would hold them and their supplies. She searched around on the floor for a key but didn't find it. She stepped out of the car and saw Daryl and Tyreese coming back out.
"Find anything?"
"Nuthin' of much use," said Daryl, "Did find this for you though." He tossed her a pack of mint gum. She smiled and pocketed it.
"Couldn't find the key to the car." The next car in the lot was a small truck. It would be hard to fit them all inside of it.
"I'll hot wire this one." They put all of the bags in the back and Beth sat down on the ground, leaning against it as Daryl got to work. Tyreese stood on watch. Beth wrapped her arms around her stomach and leaned in. It was starting to hit her now. Her chances of not having issues during birth were lessened significantly by living in the town and having trained doctors and nurses. Out on the road a ton of things could go wrong. Neither Tyreese nor Daryl had any medical training and she only knew a bit of what her father had told her, not enough to know what she was doing. She didn't want to jump to conclusions yet, with any luck they'd either find a new, accepting group or find someone from the prison.
She heard the car start up and Daryl slid into the driver's seat. She slid into the back seat while Tyreese got in the front with Daryl. She set up the bags so that she could lay comfortably on them. Daryl turned around in his seat and said
"You get some rest darlin' and don't worry about a thing."
When Beth woke up the sun was shining through the window at her. Shielding her eyes she sat up. Tyreese was driving now and Daryl was asleep in the passenger seat. He saw her sit up in the mirror and said
"Hey, get a good sleep?"
"Ya," she said, "How long has it been?"
"A couple hours," he said, "Daryl and I switched out when the sun came up. From what I can tell it's about noon now."
"Are we gonna stop soon?"
"Hopefully, if I see a town coming up." Beth rubbed the sleep from her eyes and took a deep breath. She might as well pass the time. She pulled out on the baby books and flipped it open. She was on week fifteen now. She couldn't wait to feel the baby move, but according to the book she'd have to wait a bit longer. She went to flip the page and a piece of paper fell out. It was the list of names she and Daryl had put together. She didn't particularly like any of the names on the list and had yet to come up with something she loved. As she was reading about what to expect in the coming weeks she heard Tyreese say
"We can stop there!" She looked up to see an exit. They got off and came into a typical small town square. It had everything, grocery store, a clothes store, a police station, she couldn't wait to go in there and see if they still had running showers. "This is perfect," he said, pulling to the side of the road. Eager to stretch her legs, Beth flung the door open and hopped out. A few walkers lurked down the road and were slowly making their way towards them but they were nothing to worry about at the moment. She made a beeline for the police station
"Wait hold on, where are you going?"
"They could have showers," she said tugging on the locked door.
"Well hold up," he said, "I'm gonna wake up Daryl." Tyreese opened the passenger door. Beth went over gently shoke him. He woke with a start, as if he was expecting danger.
"What's goin' on?"
"Nothing," said Beth, grinning from ear to ear, "We've stopped in a town!" Daryl was up on his feet in a minute. She tugged at him, dragging him towards the police station.
"What's the rush?"
"They could have showers!" She was desperate and sick of repeating herself. The hormones had made her impatient. Daryl kicked in the door, his crossbow raised. Beth looked around his shoulder. The lobby was empty and they moved forward. They cleared most of the rooms and when they came to the shower rooms, Beth almost ran past him. But he stopped her and went from stall to stall, making sure it was all clear before letting her walk in. They both left to get back into the lobby and keep watch. She would have loved to have Daryl in there with her but they couldn't afford to focus on their sex life anymore. Until they found a safe place to be, their survival was the most significant thing on their minds. She went into one of the stalls and quickly stripped down. When she turned on the shower and the clean water washed over her she let out a sigh of pleasure. It was cold but clean and refreshing.
She could spend days in there but she knew Daryl and Tyreese needed to shower to so she took about five minutes soaping up before getting out and drying off. After getting dressed, she went back upstairs and let Tyreese go to shower. She and Daryl sat out on a bench in front of the station.
"We can stay here a couple of days," he said, "We're far enough away from the town."
"Do you think we'll find anyone?"
"I don' know." He was silent for a moment and then he let out a sigh. "It'd be nice, but I'm thinkin' we don' need it as much as we did before." He took her hand in his and looked over at her with his striking eyes and said "All I need is you." She felt her heart swell up and she couldn't help but lean in, wrap her arms around his neck and pull him in for a kiss. His lips were soft and their kisses were gentle. When they broke apart she rested her forehead against his and said
"I love you Daryl Dixon."
"I love you too Beth." They heard the door open and Tyreese reappeared now freshly showered. He had a smile on his face when he saw them close. He tossed Daryl a clean towel and said
"It's your turn."
Thanks FiveFiveGenie, K. Lynn Perks, stateofgrace-xo, daywalker28, diana, eliza and all the guests for commenting :) This was a bit of a filler chapter but next chapter with them will be different ;)
I've been working on a website where I will be posting information about all of my work. I will be posting all character pictures there once I get it up and running which could be anytime between the end of this week or the next depending on my schedule. When I do I'll let you all know :)
Thanks for reading,
Wanderlustt