Author's Note: You all waited, and now the wait is over. Chapter ten is right here, warm and ready. Exactly as I wished Daryl was in my bed, but it isn't meant to be. Sadly.

As always I profoundly thank each and everyone who reviewed and followed this lovely story I'm trying to write. It's an indescribable feeling hearing your kind words of support.

Disclaimer: I. DO. NOT. OWN. TWD.

God, it felt so good to get that out there. The thought that someone might have thought otherwise was eating my insides.

Daryl's Pov

Daryl still wasn't sure why he had voted yes to this freaking crazy idea. The truth was that, although the cabin hadn't been ideal by any stretch of the imagination, it also wasn't the worst place they've been. He had successfully hunted around it every time they've needed it, there was water nearby and enough space around it that they would hardly get surrounded by possible enemies.

The cabin had been fine.

So why had he voted to abandon it to chase lost family members of a girl he wasn't even sure he liked? It was the million dollar question. Albeit, maybe the saying needed a little changing. Dollar bills were worse than useless in this new world, so perhaps it would be better to say something like 'The million bullet question.'

God, the fact that he thought that was even a little bit funny was the saddest thing ever.

He sighed quietly. He was so tired.

His life hadn't been great before all this, not at all, but the whole 'dead people trying to kill you' thing was seriously fucked up. He never got more than a few hours of sleep, always worrying about anything and everything. That he couldn't seem to decide if this life was better or worse than the one he had before was a testament to the crappy childhood he had.

Fuck Will. The day he died was one of the best in his life, even if he hadn't killed him himself.

He rubbed his forehead.

Daryl hated that he had become the type of person who enjoys someone else's death. But he couldn't muster a single drop of tear for Will, not even a ghost of sadness. And that only proved the damage he had left in Daryl.

If he ever had kids, Daryl would never treat them like that.

He shook his head, where the fuck had that come from? Kids? In this fucked up world? With him? Not a single woman in her right mind would agree to that.

Not that he wanted to be a father — no — of course not. Fatherhood would never agree with him. It would just be another thing he would fail in his life.

No, definitely no kids.

Not like Merle hadn't gone and adopted a kid for them anyway, he thought darkly, looking at the blond girl in front of him.

He didn't know what to think of her. She was weak and a weight for both him and his brother, but at the same time her strong will to learn was something he could relate to quite strongly. She shared the food she had with absolutely no protest and tried to help whenever she could. The fact that she was trying to learn how to track made all of his insides turn, and he hadn't decided why yet.

Daryl sometimes wanted to teach her all sorts of things, but seconds later she would do something so incredibly childish that it made him want to strangle her with his bare hands.

How could a single person be so insufferable?

That's not even to mention the whole 'No one in my family is dead' talk. To think that he was walking in the middle of a proverbial sea of walkers to search for the little princess' boyfriend was insulting and disgusting.

Why had he agreed to this?

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Beth's Pov

Beth considered herself a realistic person. She hadn't expected a peaceful journey full of love and discovery, but she also couldn't have imagined that three hours after they left the cabin, she would be running for her life.

Honestly, was her whole life's karma finally catching up with her?

Her boots hitting the ground every second was the only sound breaking the otherwise silent forest. She was starting to run out of breath and the backpack she was carrying was getting heavier by the minute. Soon she would have no choice but to stop — if she didn't fall and break her neck first.

To be quite honest, though, she should've stopped a long time ago. There was no one chasing her — at least not any walkers; she damn hoped the boys were after her.

This situation was absurd, really; it shouldn't have happened. She had left the brothers for only a few minutes to pee, that's all. Beth had been trying to save some of her dignity and chose a spot further away than strictly needed so that they couldn't hear her going. It was still embarrassing for her, no matter how much she tried to be reasonable.

She had been holding it back for an hour, so the pee wasn't as fast as she would've liked it to be. It was loud and long, everything it mustn't be in the freaking apocalypse. So what came next shouldn't have surprised her.

Beth had heard them before she saw 'em. The grunts and the moaning. But what was she suppose to do? Run while peeing? And trip on the pants not long after? No. There was nothing to do but wait and try to get it done as fast as possible.

Only, it hadn't been fast enough. By the time Beth was pulling her pants up the walkers were almost falling over her, so, with no other option, she did what she had to do. She screamed. She screamed for Merle and ran at the same time, pushing the walkers away as hard as she could.

If she had one ounce of courage in her, Beth would've fought. Done as much damage as she could so Merle had an easy job. Or, at least, she should've run to the woods quietly, lost the walkers and found the brothers after it. But no, she did it all wrong. She put both Daryl and Merle in danger and didn't even stay to help.

God, they really would leave her after that. She was sure of it.

To top it off, her feet wouldn't obey her. She was tired of running and thirsty as hell.

Stop. Stop. Stop. STOP.

Fuck, finally.

The air rushed into her lungs, burning all the way down. Her legs were barely holding her up, and the sole of her feet was killing her.

Maybe leaving the cabin hadn't been her best idea. She hadn't been ready; Merle had it right.

She let herself fall to the floor and leaned her whole weight into the tree behind her. Worst Monday of her life.

Awesome. Just awesome.

She was lost in the middle of god-knows-where, all alone. She didn't even know in which direction she had run.

The tears were rushing down her face; the air was getting stuck in the middle of her throat. All she could see were the trees around her, and that made her hate green a little bit. Couldn't this awful place have a damn river so she could lie down and let herself be carried?

No. She wiped her tears and forced herself to stop crying. She had decided to live, and nothing would make that change, not even walkers. Beth would try to follow the footsteps she left on the ground and hope to run into Daryl tracking her down.

Yes, that's what she would do.

She heard a noise, probably a walker stepping on a branch. She needed to leave, got up and started to walk back, following the tracks she had made.

If she hadn't been so nervous about finding her way back to the brothers, she would've followed the advice Daryl had given her about looking at the whole forest instead of only looking at the ground in front of her.

Unfortunately for her, the mistake would cost her dearly. The apocalypse wasn't a very forgiving time after all.

She didn't realize she was being surrounded. In fact, she didn't see the man right in front of her path until she ran right into him.

Said man grabbed her by the waist. "Well, what do we have here, fellows. A beautiful girl all by herself. Now, that just won't do," He said darkly, tracing the features of her face with his dirty fingers.

AN2: Little princess Beth is about to be introduced to the real world very quickly. The world has become very cruel Beth. Run, run and don't ever let them catch you.