"Have you seen Beth around?" Daryl turned to look at the boy. Carl squinted up at him his hair falling messily over his eyes.
"Do I look like her keeper?"
"Just thought maybe you'd know." Carl's tone wasn't apologetic like other people's would have been. Carl wasn't afraid of much and he definitely wasn't afraid of him anymore. He didn't like that at all.
"I don't." Daryl's eyes focused on the girl behind Carl now. Lizzie stood in the sun casually regarding the conversation with a carelessness that suggested disinterest. Carl made a point to lean in conspiratorially towards Daryl. He humored the boy and craned his neck to hear his low tone.
"I wanted to know if I could take Lizzie out to the fence. To kill walkers. Maybe if she sees them real close she'll start thinking about them different?" Daryl regarded the girl. She was scrawny, but he knew how hateful she could be. Maybe it would be good for her, but he would rather someone be watching just in case.
"Ain't going alone." Daryl told him. "Come on then." Carl's face broke out into a smile. He turned and caught Lizzie's hand in his whispering something in her ear that made her smile tightly. Daryl saw the way her arm tensed at the touch before slowly relaxing into Carl. He wondered exactly what had messed her up.
"Daryl, do you have an extra knife? Lizzie doesn't have one anymore." Carl was asking politely, but Daryl couldn't help but be a little frustrated with the question.
"She earns a knife back. Ain't something she just gets." He replied and Carl immediately shut up about it.
There were a nice amount of walkers on the fence, manageable but still overwhelming for a kid that viewed them as living things. He looked over at Lizzie whose face was twisted into a grimace as a walker reached for her through the fence. He took his time pulling a cigarette out and lighting it. In that time a couple more walkers had come to their section pressing up against the first who was still reaching out for Lizzie. He watched as its cheeks started to split and tear against the chain link.
"You're hurting them. If you're going to kill them at least do it nicely." The girl whispered and Carl looked up sheepishly at Daryl. Carl knew better than to push him in these situations.
"It look like it's hurting to you?"
"If my face was getting cut up by chain link I know it would hurt." She glared up at him. There was that vindictive little girl again. Something had to be done about that.
"Yeah, and you'd probably be trying to get off the fence to go get it all cleaned up. It doesn't care. All it cares about is eating you." He was being cold on purpose. He needed to know how far it went. How polluted by the confusing state of the world was she? He could only find out by pushing her.
"He's just hungry. We could feed him." She was getting bold now. The way her legs were beginning to spread and the way her eyes were turning cold reminded him of Beth. This girl was a fighter. She was just on the wrong side of the fight.
"We could. Why don't you go and volunteer?" He was going to break her. She didn't need all the patience. She needed someone to push her.
Lizzie's face dropped.
"What?"
"You wanna feed them? They want human flesh. I don't see anyone else around here volunteering." He kept his voice deceptively calm.
"We could feed them something else." Daryl almost laughed. Her voice had changed from hard to soft in a matter of moments.
"Nah, you know what, let's do it right now." He grabbed her arm and started to drag her towards the gates. The girl was struggling to pull away from him and Carl was looking increasingly uncomfortable. "They'll recognize you as their friend. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."
"They're sick!" She yelled at him but he continued on their way.
"Maybe you can help cure them girl." He was pushing her. He needed her to say something, to give him something to work with. She was sobbing hysterically beside him as they quickly made it up to the gate. "Carl open it."
"Daryl, I don't think-"
"Open it!"
"NO!" Lizzie cried out. "No, Don't!"
Daryl leaned down to meet her eyes. Tears were flowing down her face and snot was pouring from her nose. She was scared. Scared just like he had been as a child.
"Give me a reason why." He demanded. Her lips tightened into a frown.
"Please." She was shaking. Her body was vibrating with fear.
"Give me a reason Lizzie." He let his voice take a gentler tone. He was going to coax it out of her. There was a pause where all he could hear was her rapid breathing and constant sniffing.
"Because... they aren't like us." She whispered. He watched as her eyes closed tightly and she shook her head. Daryl grabbed her hand and turned it face up. He handed her his hunting knife. It was awkward in her little hand but she tightened her grip on it. Daryl brought her close to the nearest walker on the fence line.
He kneeled then, next to her still out stretched hand and brought the knife up to his throat. He looked up and saw the girl didn't look pleased. She looked frightened.
"Make your choice." He challenged. Her sad eyes flashed between the walker behind him and the knife at his neck. He only focused on her eyes. He gave her his complete attention. Not only was he sure he could get out of this if she tried to kill him instead of the walker, he was also sure she wasn't going to kill him.
He watched the small and deliberate way she moved her body then. She removed the knife from his throat and watched up to the fence. She was hyperventilating as she watched the walker. Her fingers tightened over the handle of his knife. She pressed herself up as high as she could get on her tip toes and stabbed the walker with a shuddery breath. When it fell with a groan she turned to Daryl. She let the knife drop onto the grass. Carl was at her side in an instant, hugging her close. He picked up the knife and placed it back on his belt.
That was it. That was all he needed. He wasn't going to push her anymore and the way Carl was regarding him told him he wouldn't be allowed to anyway.
"Let's go find Beth." Daryl said to them both. Carl nodded and steered Lizzie up to the prison again.
When they found her she was sitting outside in the courtyard with Mika next to her. She was laughing about something and Mika was drawing on a piece of paper. Judith was grasping Beth's hands, standing on her own.
He saw the moment she recognized the situation. Her back straightened and she grabbed Judith up and placed her on her hip. Patting Mika on the head she headed to meet them halfway. Her free arm gesturing for Lizzie to come to her. The little girl flew into Beth's outstretched arm and grasped her tightly around the middle.
"What happened?" Her voice was gentle but her eyes were focused on Daryl. She was all business. She didn't want anyone hurting these children.
"Daryl made her decide between killing him or killing a walker or being walker food." Carl stated anger clear in his voice. Beth's mouth tightened into a thin line.
"Carl, I'd really appreciate it if you took Lizzie and Mika back to the room. Could you do that for me?" Beth's voice had none of the sweetness that it usually had. She was glaring at him.
Carl pried Lizzie from Beth's side and started inside with Mika following closely.
"What the hell Daryl!" She demanded her free arm gesturing wildly. Judith was getting jostled, but he knew better than to reach out and demand the child.
"You know all the trouble we've been having with someone feeding the walkers rats?" He asked her. She paused and considered him before nodding. "It's been her. She told me we should be feeding them. So that they will be less hungry."
"So you decide to scare her? Daryl she's really sensitive right now."
"You're underestimating what she can handle." He didn't like the look she was giving him. He wasn't going to be scolded by her like some child.
"Daryl, I think you're overestimating her. I'm the one with her most of the day. I'm pretty sure before all of this she used to be on medication. Now she doesn't have that. We have to be careful with how we handle the situation."
"The world isn't going to handle her gently Beth. She needs to learn how to deal with it." Her face fell slightly when he spoke those words.
"We need to try to bring her some normalcy."
"Normal ain't the same anymore. Things have changed." He wasn't going to admit fault in this. All of the people here needed to realize that the world had changed. They couldn't act like normal was the same as before, they were going to have to build a new normal.
Beth seemed to consider that. Her eyes looking down towards the fences. in a little bit, after lunch, the crew would come out and start in on the walkers at the fences. Then it wouldn't look so bad, but for now he knew that the fences looked like they were swarmed.
"I know." She sighed at last. She looked at him and smiled a small smile. "Easy isn't exactly an option anymore. I just wish it was." He wished it was too. It would be so much simpler if life was still the way it was before. Maybe then all these kids wouldn't have to be so messed up and maybe the adults here wouldn't have such darkness inside of them.
The apocalypse had been good for Daryl, but people like Beth deserved a little bit more than surviving. If he was going to keep them safe a good way to make sure no one from the inside was threatening them and that's what the girl was doing by being soft on the walkers.
"Maybe next time you can come find me before teaching he a hard lesson?" Beth asked gently trying to untangle Judith's sticky hands from her hair. The baby held on tighter, giggling at Beth's attempts.
Daryl walked closer to her and slapped Beth's hand away to make his own attempt. Judith looked up at him and he took the opportunity to gently brush the strains away from her immediate reach. He only fumbled slightly when Beth's eyes met his. She really was beautiful. She had grown up right before his eyes.
"Thank you," Her voice made him think that maybe he hadn't done something as simple as saving a few strands of her hair from a baby's hand. She always had a way of thanking him that made it seem like he had performed some grand task.
"It's nothing," Daryl replied before moving away. "I'll be around tonight. Going on a run today if I can get some people together." He really had no reason to tell her anything about it. He felt compelled to for some reason. It wasn't as if she would miss his presence for a few hours. He was gone for most of the day a majority of times anyway.
"Be safe," Her smile was wide. He couldn't help but crack a smile as well.