It had been early morning and Daryl couldn't sleep anymore. He had tossed and turned all through the night so he stopped waiting to fall asleep again. No one was awake yet, except for whoever was on watch, and he is certain that was Rick. It resulted in him studying the arrows that he had by this bed, even though he had looked at them time and time again. There was nothing new about them. They were the same old arrows that had been using for some time now. It reminded him that he should be on the lookout for some backup ones.
When he held one of the arrows up into the light that came through the windows from the hall, he saw that Beth stood in the cell entry way. He hadn't heard her come down the hallway like he usually would, which was odd for him. He normally heard everything.
Beth came into the cell after checking back down the row of cells that she had come from. She crossed the room and bended down so she could have her knees on the floor right by his bed. She faintly ducked her head underneath to his level so she could speak quietly.
"I need your help," she whispered.
The trace of worry on her face strongly alarmed him. Daryl sat up and swung his legs around his bed so they were planted on the floor. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong but I need to get something. From somewhere outside of the prison."
"What do you need?"
Beth shifted and rested her hands onto the edge of the bed, looking up at him. "I can't tell you. I promised someone that I wouldn't. But it's really important. Urgent, actually. Please? I hate to put this on you but you're the only one I can think of that can help and would be willing to help."
He felt more than inclined to help her. It was Beth.
"I'll find Rick and tell him."
Daryl got up off his bed and snatched up his crossbow in one fluid motion, causing Beth to rush to his side before he could take another step.
"No one can know," Beth urged, grabbing onto his arm so that it stopped him from moving.
Daryl sighed because he was caught between a rock and a hard place. "I gotta tell Rick," he explained, hoping that she would understand. "Trust me."
Beth nodded after a moment of consideration and let her hand go so Daryl could get by and go find Rick. "Okay. Tell him it's important."
"Get ready to go. Meet me outside in five minutes."
Daryl's head swirled with ideas of what Beth could possibly need so badly as he stepped down multiple hallways and turned the corner so he could get outside. He hoped that he was correct about Rick being the one to be on watch.
He figured the most likely place for Rick to be this early would be near the garden, which had turned into one of his most treasured accomplishments. He spent a good chunk of his time out there. It seemed to almost border on the line of some kind of obsession but no one was going to say anything. They might have to eventually, but not today.
Once he was outside in the dewy morning air, Daryl saw that he had been right and the garden was exactly where he found Rick.
"Need to talk to ya," Daryl said, notifying Rick of his presence.
Rick moved out from the garden to converse with Daryl. "Thought I was the only one awake at this hour. What is it?"
Daryl pleaded his case. "I need to go on a run. Beth needs somethin' but she can't say what so she has to come with me. Somethin' about a promise to someone. I need you to trust me on this. She wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important."
The words came out so fast that even Daryl is shocked by the speed in which they came out of his own mouth. Rick gave him this look like he was highly unsure about this.
"You sure her goin' out there is safe?"
"She can handle herself," Daryl affirmed. He didn't have any doubt about that. He would be there by her side if anything were to happen so he isn't too concerned about it. "And she's with me. What could go wrong?"
He shouldn't have said that last part. Daryl is in no way superstitious but he wished there was some wood to knock on. No need to tempt fate.
Rick looked undecided in the matter until the door of the prison opened. They both turned and saw Beth standing there looking over at them, waiting to go. Rick threw his hand into his hair to run his fingers through it and looked down to the ground before he glanced back up. "Alright, alright. I'll get the gate for you."
Both Rick and Daryl departed from the place they stood at. Daryl walked past Beth who kept close once he gave her a nod to indicate that they got the green light from Rick.
Daryl swiped the set of keys that were tucked into a container on a nearby table. He followed the prison wall down to where his motorcycle was resting in its place. After a quick assessment, he kicked the bike stand out from underneath and pulled the bike upwards so that it was center. He threw his leg over while he kept the bike straight and put the key into the ignition, the bike roaring to life.
"We're taking that?"
"No, I'm just gonna ride around the block and come back for ya," he sarcastically joked.
Beth let out a half-laugh. "Right. I guess that was a dumb question."
Daryl nodded back to the seat that was awaiting her. "Hop on."
Beth hesitated before she moved towards the bike. She swung her leg over and got situated on the back of the bike, moving around a lot to get comfortable.
"Hold on,' he instructed.
Beth immediately wrapped her arms around his waist, hanging on tight. She inched closer to him so that her knees where bent inwards, resting against his hips and upper thighs. He could feel how she pressed her legs into him and how her grasp around his waist tightened as he hit the gas and moved them forward down the path to the gate.
"Have I mentioned that I've never been on a motorcycle before?"
"Kinda figured that by the way you're tryin' to suffocate me by squeezing me like a snake tryin' to kill its prey," he said, turning his head to that she could hear him.
Beth loosened her grip on his waist. "Oops. Sorry. I didn't realize."
Rick got the first gate open for them and Daryl slowly drove through, placing his feet on the ground to hold up the bike until Rick opened the second one. "Be careful out there," he said to Daryl, keeping his words slow to emphasize the importance.
"Will do."
Daryl started to drive the bike down the dirt path so that they were not swarmed by any walkers once they got past the second gate. The noise of the engine had alerted all of them that something yummy was moving around. They had all turned towards Daryl and Beth, moving in their direction despite not being fast enough to catch up.
"You never told me where we needed to go."
"Hmmm. Something like a Walgreens type of store. Something similar to that," Beth shouted over the sound of the loud engine.
That didn't get him any close to an answer. He decided that he would mind his own business for the time being and get Beth to where she needed to go without pressing her to give up clues.
An internal map came up in his mind and he located where the nearest spot would be that matched her description. "I know a place."
Daryl pushed down on the gas pedal and they sped off down the path that was surrounded by trees. There were a number of walkers that were on the sides of the road who were heading in the direction of the prison that turned their attention to them as they went by. There were none of them that were directly in the path that they were taking to get to a paved road, so there was no need for Daryl to swerve out of the way to avoid any.
Once he got onto the paved road that would led them to their destination, there were less walkers roaming around. There were some way off in the distance, some that were hanging out by the tree line, but none that were close. It relaxed him to know that there was no immediate danger lurking close to them.
When the threat of the walkers had diminished, Daryl instantaneously became very aware of how Beth was hanging onto him, for what seemed like dear life.
Focus on the road. Focus on the road.
There was no such luck.
Once again, the world liked to fuck around with him.
The warmth that came off of Beth made it hard for him to listen to himself and focus on the road ahead. As he had picked up speed, Beth had pressed her chest into his back and had inched up the furthest that she possibly could. Her entire torso was lined up perfectly against his back. He could even feel the breaths that she inhaled and exhaled, the movements of her chest as it rose and fell.
She had resumed tightening her grasp around his waist, her hands moving so they were just under his ribs, pressing firmly against his abdominal muscles. It felt like her palms were burning through his shirt. Beth's head was rested to the side and against his back, occasionally moving it from side to side to look around.
The worst and best part was that her thighs were clenched around either side of his hips, pushing into him. He tried not to think about it, tried not to allow himself to even let his thoughts go anywhere near the place they wanted to so desperately go. The complication was that he literally could not stop it; his body wouldn't let him. It felt like every nerve in his body was standing on edge the more Beth innocently pressed against him.
He'd be lying if he said he didn't like how it felt.
He was going to hell for this. No doubt about it.
Daryl gripped the handles of the motorcycle so hard that the white of his knuckles showed. Why did he take the motorcycle in the first place? What a bad idea that had turned into. Now he would have to deal with the dirty thoughts and the images that came to mind from having Beth pressed up against him the way she was. Maybe it was punishment.
Get it together.
The rest of the ride went by in the same way, which consisted of Daryl shouting at himself internally about how he should not be feeling the way he did about Beth's body pressed into his.
Damn it. She was eighteen. Eighteen. As in still a fucking teenager.
She's too young. Stop thinking those things.
No matter how many times he tried to eradicate the thoughts, they stayed put, torturing him until they pulled into a vacant lot with a store that had sold multiple types of merchandise before the world belonged to the walkers. As far as he could tell, the place was a ghost town.
"Will this do?"
"It should," Beth confirmed.
He put the bike in park and put his feet down onto the ground to support the bike while he let Beth swing her leg back over and get off, pulling her backpack strap back over her shoulder. He tried not to miss the feeling of her, but he did. There was no escape from that. The physical contact was something that he wanted back again, even though his head told him that he shouldn't want that, shouldn't want to have Beth against him. He could only imagine what skin on skin contact would feel like.
Heavenly, he chose to believe.
He scratched his head and attempted to focus his attention elsewhere.
Daryl turned off the engine and grabbed his crossbow off the back of the bike. He realized that Beth was weaponless so he reached down and took out the large hunting knife that he had on him. "Just in case," he said, handing it over to Beth. "You remember how to use it?"
Beth glanced down at the knife that was now in her hand. "You showed a few days ago, Daryl. How could I forget?"
"Wanted to make sure before we go in there," he murmured.
They crossed the parking lot towards the store. Daryl did a three-sixty once they got closer to the building to make that there were no walkers coming in their direction. More than likely, it would not stay this quiet. The noise of the motorcycle engine had probably alerted more than a few walkers of Daryl and Beth's exact location. He figured they had some time to get in and out without any of the walkers rearing their faces because it was time for lunch.
The store was not in bad shape from the outside. No windows were broken and there were minimal amounts of damage done. The store was attached to a bunch of other smaller stores that did not look like they belonged together. Whoever decided to put a Weight Watchers center and a pizzeria right smack dab next to each other must have had a wicked sense of humor.
Daryl tested the front doors, the first on being locked, but the second on opened with ease. It was kind of a shame; he was sort of looking forward to smashing in the glass to get in.
Daryl peered inside and listened for any sign of movement. When there was none, Daryl motioned for Beth to go inside first while he held the door open. He took one last look outside before he followed her in.
It was darker on the inside, the only light coming through being from the big windows in the front of the store. There were various items strewn across the gray tiled floor. Some of the shelving down the aisles had fallen and knocked down other shelves, littering the floor with more products. It wasn't too bad. Daryl hoped that Beth would be able to find what she needed here because it was the most untouched place he had found in a while.
He glanced down all of the aisles with his crossbow ready to shoot if needed with Beth behind him. No walkers, no people. It was just the two of them there as far as he could tell.
"I'll be quick," Beth claimed as she went out in search of what she needed.
Daryl gave Beth some space as she went down the aisles to try and find whatever it was she was looking for. He kept closer to her as she perused the shelves. He stood at the end of the aisle waiting for her as she bent down and examined different items that were on the shelves.
Daryl quietly ventured into the opposite side of the adjacent aisle to show that he wasn't going to be looking over her shoulder the whole time, but was still keeping her in his peripheral vision.
He inspected some products that were on the shelves, not finding anything particularly interesting. Some of it had been picked over already, but it's not like the place was completely trashed. Most of what was left was tossed around, on its side or half opened. He quickly glanced back over at Beth, expecting to see her, but she was not in the aisle that he had left her in.
He traveled out into the middle section where the walkway was, dividing up the aisles. He heard a bit of rustling and went towards the noise. Beth was crouched down close to the ground at the end of one of the aisles further to the back, holding something in her hand. He couldn't tell what it was because most of her body was blocking the view.
He crossed into the other aisle and traveled along the side wall until he reached the other adjacent aisle from where she was, and once again pretended to be fascinated by another object that had a ton of dust on it. Daryl leaned in and blew the dust away to make the print more legible, which only made the particles fly back at him and forced him to breathe in the dirt, causing him to cough the dust out of his lungs.
Smooth move.
There was a moderate creaking sound that came from in the back corner of the store. Daryl froze and listened closely to hear what it was, ready to act if necessary.
Right then two walkers came out of nowhere. Daryl heard the sound of their menacing growls before he could process what was about to go down. His head snapped up and to the left, his hands automatically dropping what was in it.
Beth, who had moved further away from him to the other end of her aisle, jerked backwards as two walkers came at her, gasping as she fell to the ground with the first walker who was trying to grab at her. The second one was closely following behind its partner.
"Beth!"
Daryl swung up his crossbow into an aiming position, trying to maneuver himself into the perfect distance to shoot. He couldn't get a clean shot with his crossbow without the possibility of injuring Beth in the process of a shot.
He swore it all happened so fast.
Beth's hand flailed out onto the floor as she held the walker back with her feet, attempting to get it away from her. Daryl could only watch as she grabbed the knife that had fallen to the floor with her and brought her body up to stab the walker in the eye, sinking it into its brain. Blood splattered out from its head as Beth pushed it back into the other walker that was coming for her, knocking that one down to the ground with the first walker body.
By then Daryl had rushed over to Beth's side, avoiding the random pieces of trash on the floor, and shot the other walker in the head while it tried to get the other body off of him. The arrow went in clean and the walker went back onto the floor, lifeless. He yanked the arrow out of the head and wiped off the excess blood onto his pants.
He turned his attention back to Beth, who was still on the floor in a sitting position. Her palms were flat on the floor, her legs out in front of her, and her feet caving in towards each other. The look on her face was enough to tell him that she was terrified.
"You okay?"
What a stupid fucking question that was. Of course she wasn't okay. She nearly just escaped death.
Daryl cursed at himself for having wandered so far away. He should have stayed closer to her. He would have never forgiven himself if something were to have happened to Beth.
Daryl leaned his crossbow up against the shelves. He took three steps closer to Beth and reached out his arms so she could take his hands to help her up. Beth grabbed on and Daryl helped pull her up onto her feet. When she didn't let go of her grasp on him, it prompted him to say, "It's over."
She was shaken up, and to be honest, he was too.
"It's a lot different when there's no fence between them and us." Beth's words came out in a tremulous manner.
"I know."
It was all he could say, all he could think to say.
Beth dropped her hands from his, and they found their way around him. She closed the distance between them as she put herself into an embrace with him. Another hug. It was different than the one the shared before when he had given her the journal. This time it was not out of thanks, it was out of the need to feel better about what had just happened. To feel like everything was indeed all right. To feel like she was alive.
It didn't feel uncomfortable like it had the last time; this time Daryl felt the need to respond to her action. Daryl placed one hand against the back of her head, below where her high ponytail was. The other he let press into her back.
There is a small part of him that dreaded letting go even though that was inevitable. A little longer, he thought. Beth seemed to have read his mind because she ended up squeezing around his waist harder, letting out a sigh.
When it was over and she pulled away, for some reason he couldn't look her in the eyes. If he did, he ran the risk of her seeing how much he wanted her to stay put and not let go.
How childish of him.
Why did something as simple as a hug, a basic human action between two people, have the ability to have such an effect on him?
"We should go now," she whispered.
Beth took a few steps backwards and leaned back over to pick up the bloody knife that was flat on the ground. She picked up her backpack from the side, forcing some of the contents to come out of it and spill onto the ground. It looked like Beth had picked up a collection of things that she had found that could be useful while they were here—a box of band aids, batteries, a bottle of hand sanitizer, a few bars of soap, and a bottle of Ibuprofen. It was nothing out of the ordinary.
Beth hastily began to throw the contents back into her bag. He was about to question her on whether she had found what she needed when she reached out for something that was by his boots that he hadn't realized was there. She stopped midway. That's when he saw what she came here for.
The both of them froze.
A/N: So, I'm going to leave you with a bit of a cliffhanger (an evil thing to do?) and make you wait and see what it was the Beth needed to get. Any guesses? And FYI, I didn't get to edit this chapter much since my summer class is getting very demanding as the summer term is coming to its last two weeks. Then after that I get three full weeks in August before I go back for the fall term. Three whole weeks of writing! I'm excited. So excuse the fact that my updates for this story might not be as frequent or scheduled as I would like them to be through the end of July.