The attic of the police station proved a good place to stay. There were two windows on each end of the room and the staircase went down to the second floor where the offices were. It was empty except for a few boxes full of old paperwork. They found some blankets to set up beds with. As Daryl cooked over the fire in the center of the room, Tyreese and Beth sat back against the wall.

"You know it seems weird that only a few years ago I was getting ready to start classes and move forward with my life."

"You were starting college?"

"Ya," he said, "I took a bunch of years off after high school to work. I was planning on starting classes but then the world fell apart."

"What'd you wanna do?" She watched him shyly look down at his feet and say

"Something in criminal justice."

"You could've been a cop like Rick."

"Ya," he said, "But it's all in the past now." Daryl looked back at them and said

"Dinner's ready." They got up and went to join him around the fire. Seeing the cooked food made Beth realize how hungry she really was. She almost forgot they were on the road now as she shoved the meat into her mouth. It was then that she remembered they didn't have a steady source of food anymore. She couldn't stuff her face and satisfy her cravings like she had before. She slowed down and ate smaller pieces. When she was done she still felt slightly hungry but she knew not to complain. Daryl looked at her and said

"You want anymore?"

"No I'm good." It was then that her stomach let out a loud growl. Daryl grabbed another piece for her and handed it over. "You needa eat," he said, "You can't afford to skip meals anymore sweetheart."

"I can't," she said, "We only have so much food."

"Don' you worry about that," he said, "I'll take care of it." She reluctantly picked her plate up and started to eat again. She tried to swallow her guilt, Daryl was telling the truth. She was eating for two now but they still couldn't be as careless as they had become back at the town. When she was done she crawled over to she and Daryl's nest of blankets. Once under the covers she felt ten times warmer. Another thing to worry about was the weather. Winter was quickly approaching. Food would be scarce and the cold would be rough to travel in. She heard Daryl putting out the fire as Tyreese got into his makeshift bed. Once all of the flames were out Daryl came and joined her. He pulled her against him and kissed her.

"Everythin's gonna be alright Beth, I'll make sure of it."

Beth was abruptly shaken awake. She opened her eyes to find Daryl above her, his face a mask of intensity and concern.

"What's-" She was cut off by him placing his hand over her mouth.

"Shhhh." He removed his hand and she whispered

"What's going on?"

"There's some people walkin' around down on the street." Tyreese was over by the open window watching. She quietly got to her feet and went over, followed by Daryl. There were in fact men outside. She desperately searched their faces, hoping to recognize someone, but they were all unfamiliar. They started to talk.

"Search everything," said one, "Take whatever supplies you can find. If you see anyone, grab them." As they continued down the street another one of them pointed out the car that she, Daryl and Tyreese had come in.

"That car wasn't here yesterday."

"You sure?"

"Ya definitely." They approached the car. "There ain't no dust on it."

"Alright men, search every building. With any luck we'll have our plates full tonight." Beth didn't have time to interpret what the man was suggesting. Daryl pulled her backwards and said

"C'mon we gotta go!" They hurried down the stairs and they stopped in their tracks when they heard the door downstairs bust open. Daryl looked frantically around the room. He spotted the air vent up above one of the office desks. "Up there," he said, pointing it out.

"Are you crazy?!"

"I ain't gonna let anythin' get past those doors, but just in case, you needa hide." He helped her up onto the desk. She reached up and unlatched the vent. He gave her a boost and she managed to crawl inside. It was a tight fit; thank god she wasn't huge yet. She heard Daryl re-latch the vent and she crawled over to the next one which looked down on the staircase so she had a clear view of where Daryl and Tyreese were standing. They both stood on either side of the staircase, hidden slightly behind the wall on each side so they could see what was coming before they saw them.

Daryl seemed to hold his breath as he listened to the people move around downstairs. He heard them moving closer to the stairwell. He started to be able to hear what they were saying.

"They gotta be around here somewhere."

"It'll make Gareth happy if we bring some people back, running short on meat these days." Daryl didn't have time to put two and two together. They were coming up the stairs, two of them from the sound of the footsteps. All he could think about was Beth and his unborn child. He'd do anything for them. He looked across at Tyreese and nodded at him. As the men reached the top of the stairs they attacked. They obviously were up to no good and Daryl didn't feel any regret as he drove an arrow through one of their heads. Tyreese took care of the other, bashing his head in with his hammer.

"Four more to go." They slowly made their way down the stairs. Daryl looked outside the window and they slowly walked outside when they saw the coast was clear. They stayed close to the wall. He had been almost sure that they were alone until a man came out of the alleyway, holding up a gun. The others appeared, also holding their weapons up.

"Drop the crossbow!" Daryl remembered the small dagger he still had hidden on the inside of his belt. "Drop it!" He did so, watching Tyreese drop his hammer. There were three of them, one was missing.

"Look what we got here," said one, circling him slowly. Daryl could feel the knife against his hip bone and he knew he'd have to be fast. The man grew closer and once he was in his reaching distance Daryl grabbed onto the knife and pulled it out, quickly slamming into the man, knocking the gun out of his hands. He put him in a headlock and held the dagger to his throat.

"Don't shot or I'll kill him." The men froze. As if they could read each other's minds, Tyreese picked up the discarded gun that the man had let go of. He quickly shot down both men as Daryl stabbed the man he had in his arm. He had no mercy for any of them. To kill them meant Beth's safety.

Beth waited until all was quiet. She opened up the vent and slowly slipped out. The two dead men that Daryl and Tyreese had gotten were still on the floor, bleeding out. She knew Daryl had told her to stay put but she wanted to watch over them from the window and if they needed any help, she could pick off the attackers from above. She moved over to the window and looked down. To her horror, she saw Daryl and Tyreese being surrounded by three men. As she was about to open the window she felt a pair of hands grab her from behind. She tried to scream and she felt the man press a knife to her throat.

"Scream and I'll kill you." He dragged her backwards. He turned her around roughly and slammed her face first into the wall. Holding the knife against her back.

"What do you want!?"

"Looks like we'll be walking away with a meal after all. But first-" She felt him dip the knife into the collar of her sweater and rip it downwards so it was a tattered mess. She struggled as he tried to reach around and undo her jeans. She wasn't going to let it happen. She wanted to show Daryl she could handle herself. She slammed her foot down onto him and he let out a yell of pain but didn't release her like she wanted. Instead he slammed her against the wall again. "Little bitch!" He brought her back and slammed her again. She tried to sink to the floor but he held her up. She wildly tried to get away, kicking and screaming. The man dug the knife into her collar bone, cutting it only superficially. He slammed her head into the wall, cracking the plaster and giving her a splitting headache. She let out a sob. She was sure Daryl was dead along with Tyreese. He turned her around to face him and she saw her opportunity and brought her leg up into his groin. He let go of her then, and she ran, nearly falling down the stairs. She reached the lobby and heard the man coming down after her. She heard the door burst open and Daryl and Tyreese walked in just as the man reached the bottom of the stairs. Daryl saw her bruised face and ripped shirt and then spotted the man standing at the staircase. She saw the anger flare up in his eyes. It was pure hatred. He strode forward, and pulled out his gun. The man put his hands up and Daryl grabbed him by the throat, tightening his grip.

"You fuckin' touched my girl?" His voice was low and scary. The man looked horrified now as Daryl held the gun to his temple and slowly began to cut off his oxygen.

"I'm sorry!" The man clawed at Daryl's hand, trying to get it off. "Please!" Daryl let go and threw the man to the ground. He coughed and continued to cower on the floor. Something about Daryl's appearance scared Beth. His eyes were dark, his pupils completely dilated; his face was twisted into a look of pure hatred and evil. He started to viciously kick the man in the ribs. She could hear the man's bones splintering. He stopped and slowly the circled the man like prey.

"Think you can go 'round havin' any woman you want?" The man screamed as Daryl stomped his face, his nose exploding into a bloody mess. He took out his hunting knife and knelt down. He stuck the tip into the man's collar bone and slowly began to cut downwards, not deep enough to kill him just yet but enough for him to slowly bleed out within the next hour. The man continued to yell out in extreme pain. She couldn't stand it anymore. Defending her was one thing but this was pure torture.

"Just stop Daryl! You've done enough!"

He heard her call his name and it brought him back. He had seen red. He had completely lost his shit and he knew it. Something deep inside of him that he hadn't known was there had snapped and released the beast. He felt an intense rage coursing through his body as he looked down at the man on the floor. He'd touched Beth and he was going to pay for it. He looked up at her. There was a look of pure horror on her face. He came down from whatever had come over him. He realized that the front of him was covered in the man's blood. His fists were clenched, one still holding the knife he'd used to cut the man open.

The look on Beth's face told him everything. She was scared of him, and for good reason. What the hell had he done? Feeling hurt he quickly stuffed the knife back into its sheath. He walked past Beth and Tyreese and said

"Let's get outta here."

Beth lay in the back again, facing the back of the seat and pretending to be asleep. Daryl was driving and she could hear Tyreese snoring in the front seat. They'd been on the road for the entire day now, only stopping to eat. She hadn't spoken a word to Daryl since what had happened back at the police station. She'd never seem him like that, even when he went after Steve. She wasn't sure what to say to him. Should she try and comfort him? Or pretend it never happened?

The silence seemed to torture her and she finally sat up and looked at him in the rearview mirror.

"We need to talk." He continued to look at her with a blank face. "What happened today?"

"He was gonna hurt you," he said, "Had to stop him."

"You did more than stop him." He didn't reply and went back to staring straight ahead. "Will you please talk about it with me?" He slowed the car down and they pulled over to the side of the road. Daryl got out of the car and Beth followed him. She found him leaning against the front of the car, looking down at his feet.

"I scared you didn' I?" She had to be honest with him.

"You did," she said, "But I'm not scared anymore, I just wanna know what happened."

"Just got angry," he said, "I lost it. Wasn't really sure what I had done until I was finished." He looked like he had more to say but kept his mouth shut. She tried to coax it out of him. Gently rubbing his back comfortingly she said

"You can tell me Daryl."

"I'm afraid I'm gonna be like my dad," He sounded deeply upset. "I'm gonna be a sick, sadistic fuck like him. Today was proofa that." She pulled him into a hug and said

"You aren't gonna end up like that Daryl. Don't think that for a second. Just because you lost your self control doesn't mean anything." He continued to look down at his feet. She placed herself in front of him and looked up into his eyes. "You're a great person Daryl and I love you, nothing else matters but getting somewhere safe and sticking together." She gently kissed him and she felt him wrap his arms around her. She heard him whisper into her ear

"I'm sorry."

The town remained silent for about twenty minutes after they'd left until another group of people arrived. It was ten men, all armed. They came out of the woods. The lead man looked around and said

"See any sign of 'em?" They came to find the men from their town. They were supposed to have been back awhile ago. Maybe they needed extra backup or they'd run into some trouble? They split up and searched the town. The lead man had hoped they'd find the group struggling with a few hostages too bring back but instead he found their bodies. The majority of them were out in the street but one was missing. Gareth wouldn't be happy. He went into the police station and found the last man lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. He thought he was dead until he coughed, sending up another clot of blood. He knelt down next to him and said

"What the hell happened?!"

"Found some people," he said with a struggle, "They attacked."

"Who were they?"

"Three of them, two men, one woman, she was pregnant." He watched as the last bit of life the man had slipped away. They couldn't waste time anymore, they had to tell Gareth. Maybe there was still a chance they could catch the attackers.

Thanks carld178, DarylDixon'sLover, K. Lynn Perks, daywalker28, stateofgrace-xo, Caitiann, diana and all the guests for reviewing :) Sorry for taking so long with this one. I've been busy with school work.

My website is now up, I'll be deleting everything from my profile except for cover photos and the maps of the girls journey. The website also has info about my other fanfictions but for now it's mainly about The Walking Dead. the link is in my profile for those of you interested :)

Thanks for reading,

Wanderlustt