Author's note: Heeeey! Here's a new chapter for you all, full of angst and anger. It was a tough chapter for me; I just couldn't get it to the way I wanted, so I wrote it and erased it a million times. But now it's ready, so, without further ado, I present to you: Not like you.

As always, a special thank you to all the pretty people who follow and review this story.

Disclaimer: I want Daryl and Merle to belong to me, but they don't. I know, it's very sad.

In the first hour, she was too numb; in the second hour, she was too scared; in the third hour, she was too tired; in the fourth hour, she was too ashamed; but in the fifth hour she couldn't hold back any longer.

"Where are we going?" The car had been so silent that even her whisper sounded louder than a scream.

"Away from that," Merle pointed his thumb back. By now they couldn't see the farm even if they tried, but it was evident that it was the farm he meant.

Daryl snorted at the phrasing.

"I got that. But when are we stopping?" There was no doubt in her mind that they were stopping. "We can't look for the rest if we go too far away."

The brothers looked at each other in the same way parents look at each other when they have to explain to their children that Santa Claus ain't real.

"We ain't stopping," Daryl's words were dry.

"What?" She looked at him, incredulous. "We have to stop."

"We can't."

Were they kidding?

"Look, are you guys insane? I have to go back to my family. They are certainly looking for me."

"Wake up, you stupid kid; there's no guaranty they are even alive." Daryl seemed to take some obscure pleasure in causing her pain.

But this wouldn't shake her. No. They were alive, of course they were. They had to be.

"They're alive." She shook her head. "How can you be so quick to give up on your friends?"

"Ain't giving up on anybody, but if they are alive — and that's a big if — then they are going to have to fend for themselves for a while." Merle was trying to be reasonable. Beth didn't like it.

"Fend for themselves? While we fend for ourselves?" No. "That makes no sense. And it doesn't matter. My family is out there! We need to go after them." She was basically screaming now.

"Look, kiddo, you wanted me to teach you how to protect yourself remember? So shut up and listen." Merle was looking at her in the review mirror. "In order to look for anybody, we need a secure place to be our base. We need to have a place to bring people if they are hurt and to put our stuff in case it rains."

Base? Rain? None of this things should matter. Maggie could be dying, there was no time.

"Our gas won't last much longer, so instead of freaking out why don't you keep your eyes open and search for a good place to camp?"

There it was, the child's voice. The annoying voice people used to talk to her when they saw her as an inconvenient kid. Beth hated that.

She closed her eyes and tried to breathe as deeply as she could. She wouldn't let this make her lose control. There was nothing she could so right now. It's not as if she could track her family on her own; she needed them. 'Not only for tracking,' a terrible little voice rang in her head. Beth wouldn't survive outside.

So she kept her eyes open and looked as hard as could for someplace to crash. Because, if she was incredibly honest with herself, a few hours of sleep were quickly becoming a priority.

XxxXxXxXxxXx

"There!" She said as she pointed to a cabin she could barely see in the distance. In fact, Beth was sure she only saw it because she had been very concentrated in finding somewhere to stop.

In the last two hours, it had become unbearable to be in the car; they had been going non-stop for seven hours now. She needed to pee desperately but didn't know how to say it without stuttering ridiculously.

The car stopped abruptly as soon as she said it.

Daryl leaned over her to see the place she was talking about, and the proximity was unnerving. Beth kept expecting him to mock her for everything and anything she did, which was ridiculous really, but she couldn't seem to control herself.

"Seems good but the fact that is visible from the road worries me," Daryl was cautious, it became evident at that moment, and it was something Beth promised herself to remember.

"Look, it doesn't need to be a perfect place. It's not like it will fit everybody inside anyway." Why were they insisting on this? "Once we find our people we'll look for a more suitable place, maybe even go back to the farm."

That was the wrong thing to say apparently because Daryl face twisted into a grimace almost instantly.

"Go back?" And there it was, the same voice he had used the other night. The voice that made it clear what he thought of her intelligence. "To the burned down farm that's infested with walkers? Are we playing the 'who says the most stupid thing' game?"

But that night wasn't Beth's best night. She was tired and needed to pee, and he was giving her the perfect outlet for her anger.

"Yes Daryl, the farm. The farm you were living in not even ten hours ago, you ungrateful bastard."

And then she hit him.

The slap was meant to be some dramatic moment, like those you saw in the movies. But the reality was so far from it that it was pathetic. Beth didn't know how to hit someone; she had no technique and no upper body strength. So the slap just served to make Daryl super angry and Merle incredulous.

Daryl grabbed the hand that second ago was on his face and squeezed it tightly.

"Do you have a death wish? Because I can surely comply with this twisted murder request." His face was dark and different from anything she had ever seen. He really looked like someone who could and would kill another human being. That human being happened to be Beth at the moment.

"Daryl," Merle's voice was a warning. He appeared to be worried about what Daryl was about to do. That only served to send crazy alarms inside Beth's mind.

"No, Merle, this has gone too far. If you want to treat her like some kind of royalty, fine, that's your fucking problem, but I won't. She needs to hear the truth." He then turned to her, his eyes shining with pleasure. "Want to know the truth, little suicide girl?" He said, finally saying out loud the cruel nickname he gave her. "Your dad is probably dead; your sister is also dead. Everybody who was on the farm is most likely dead. And even if they made it, I doubt they have what it takes to live on their own for two days. They are all like you in some way, all clinging to the way things were before, all waiting for this mess to end so they can go back to their normal life. Well, tough luck. This probably won't end for a long time, and when it does, you'll be long dead."

"Stop!" Beth screamed, covering her ears with her hands. "Shut up!"

She wasn't going to die. Nobody was dead. No more death, she just couldn't deal with any more death.

"My family is alive!" Her screams were making her throat hurt, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered if her family were dead. They were all she knew, all of her life. A life without Maggie and her Dad shouldn't be possible. "They may not be as awesome as you," The sarcasm was rolling out of her. "but they aren't weak. They'll make it." They had to.

"Not weak? Like you?" He was full of derision for her. He hated her, that much was obvious. But Beth didn't understand why he didn't even care about the others, the people he had been living with for God knows how long. Maybe he didn't have any human feelings within him any longer.

"Yes, pathetic like Beth." She was gesturing to herself in broad movements. "You've made it very clear what you think about me. It's getting old already. Why did you save me then? Why not let me die?" She didn't know why she was asking this; she didn't want to know the answer. In fact, she wasn't even aware that she had been wondering why subconsciously. But the question was legit. Why had he? He obviously didn't care.

"Because I told him to." Merle had an inexpressive stare. A face that could be confounded with a calm face if you had no context. But Beth — despite what Daryl thought — was not stupid, she knew Merle didn't do calm. The moment he would blow up and lose it was surely approaching. "Because I fuckin' told him, is that enough for you?"

She didn't know if that was a rhetorical question, but since he was still looking at her, Beth thought it might be safe to answer. However, the second she opened her mouth to talk, to answer something she didn't know how the answer to, she saw Daryl shaking his head discretely in her peripherical vision. Almost as if he was giving her an advice to not speak. She would be a fool not to listen to him, even if she had every reason to believe he actually wanted to throw her to the metaphorical wolves. Or maybe not so metaphorical. Whatever.

So she lowered her head and looked at the floor.

She didn't understand Daryl. Was he giving her tips now? Was he crazy? Bipolar?

The silence reigned for several minutes, so many in fact that her neck started to hurt and she wondered if they planned to spend the night right where they were.

She gazed up and met Merle's gaze exactly where it had been before. She blushed in embarrassment. At that moment, she felt like a child who had disappointed her parents.

"Look, can't you both just try and act like adults for five minutes? We are in the middle of nowhere with walkers everywhere and you think is okay to fight because of something like this? For fuck's sake." He rubbed his forehead the same way her father did when he was tired and felt a headache coming. "Let's go see if this cabin is doable and try to get some fricking sleep. Can you do this?"

She nodded even if her opinion didn't seem to hold much weight there.

They drove for five more minutes before leaving the car in the woods, hidden from unwanted eyes. They wouldn't be using the truck anymore, as it had no more gas, but it wasn't wise to leave something that might tip others that they were there. At least that she understood.

With backpacks on their backs, they made their way back to the cabin. Beth walked in the middle, which might save her life, yes, but it made her feel Daryl's judgmental glare all the way, and she thought for a moment if maybe he wouldn't take the opportunity to kill her himself. She shivered. Living with him was going to be unbearable.

When two walkers emerged from the trees, Beth couldn't hold back a little scream. Daryl's bolts took care of them in seconds. When she turned back, she could see his unchanged expression, as if that was something he did every day. As if he wasn't killing someone, even if that someone was already dead.

"Don't be so fucking loud next time," He ordered, already walking again.

God, what had her life become?

Within minutes, they were at the cabin's door. The whole thing looked abandoned and empty, there was absolutely no sound coming from the inside, but still, the brothers did a checkup that made it seem like the house was full of criminals.

When they deemed it clear she walked inside. It was unimpressive. The house had two rooms: An empty space with two sofas and a sink, and a bathroom. That's all. Nothing else.

She slid to the floor, letting all the exhaustion of the day take over her.

She would cry, yes. But not now, not in front of Daryl and Merle. She wouldn't allow it to happen. When she cried, it would be on her own. Beth was already perceived as the weak link.

XxxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

They sat on the floor of the 'living room/bedroom/anything else.'

Beth took two cans of food out of her backpack. God, cold canned food. She sincerely hoped that wouldn't become an everyday thing.

They would find somewhere safe; they would find her family and everybody else. She knew they would, no matter what Daryl said. He was an awful person who hated her because he thought she was weak.

What he said didn't matter.

When she looked up, her eyes met his. Both sets of blue eyes shining with unspoken anger.

Beth felt her stomach turn uncomfortably, and she felt something she had never felt before.

It was hate. Yes, that's what it was. She hated him.

AN2: I need you guys to tell me your opinions on this. I'm crazy about this chapter and can't wait to hear what you all have to say about it.