Ch.5

Beth paused by the edge of the river. She felt uncomfortable stripping all the way down with Daryl just a few yards away. Even though he was turned away, she still wished she could put a curtain up for more privacy. She looked down and saw that her clothes were drenched with blood and she could feel the sticky substance weighing heavy on her face and hair. Daryl, on-the-other-hand, barely had a drop on him; if she didn't know it, she would have thought that Daryl hadn't killed any walkers and had let her do all of the work.

With an uneasy shrug she kicked off her boots and socks, and then lifted her shirt over her head, throwing it to the side. She took one last peek at Daryl, making sure he wasn't watching, before unbuttoning her jeans and tossing them by her shirt. She refused to take her underwear and bra off.

She tiptoed into the water and bit back a shriek when the freezing cold temperatures sent a shudder up her spine, goose bumps forming on her skin. She hurriedly made it all the way in, ducking underwater in hopes that she would adjust to the temperature faster. She could feel as the dirt and grime, sweat and blood, washed off of her body. She scraped at her skin, trying to get the blood that had dried off. Her hair was much harder to clean. The blood had pretty much died her blond hair red, and she spent a good 15 minutes painstakingly rubbing her hair between her palms, the red slowly fading. When she was satisfied that she was clean she went back and retrieved her clothes, knowing that the blood would leave permanent stains.

She went to get out of the river, almost certain that her lips were blue, when she noticed something. Her eyes scoured the beach, looking for the item she needed. She backed further into the river, letting the water come up around her neck, when she realized it wasn't there.

"Daryl, I have a problem." Her cheeks were already growing red.

"What? "

"I left the blanket in the backpack. Can-can you bring it to me?"

"You scared to get out an' get it yourself?" He laughed, knowing that she was embarrassed. He got up regardless and grabbed the blanket from the backpack.

"Don't look! Just, toss it." She knew that he wasn't looking, and was happy when he did as she said and tossed it in her direction before taking his place by the fire.

She rushed to grab the blanket, quickly wrapping it around her body, and then put her socks and boots back on. Daryl had cooked the squirrel he had killed earlier and had already filled the empty bottles with water boiled from the river. Even though she had her underwear and bra on and a blanket wrapped around her, she still felt too exposed and vulnerable sitting across from Daryl. She had a feeling that the blush that had risen in her cheeks earlier hadn't gone away.

He passed her some of the squirrel, and this time she wasn't going to decline eating. After her battle with the walkers and her brief lapse of nausea, hunger had settled in, and she was ready to eat. Beth could see the pleasure in Daryl's eyes when he saw her take a couple of bites; after all, he had been trying to get her to eat something since they left the prison.

"Do you think anyone else made it?" Her voice was hushed, but her eyes looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah. Someone was driving that bus, and a bus is a lot safer than being out in the open."

This was the first time they had talked about the possibility, or lack thereof, of anybody else surviving. "You didn't see Maggie, did you? The last I saw of her she was running to get Glenn."

He shook his head no and her heart sank. She wanted to hear that he had seen her flee the prison, that she was with someone else, and that she would make it. But neither of them had seen her, and for all she knew, she could still be back at the prison or she could be a back on the road they had come from.

Daryl looked at her a little longer before saying anything else; it was like he was debating whether or not to tell her something. "We heard a message on the radio?"

Beth looked up from the food in her hands. "What?" She thought that he was lying. There was no way he had heard anything other than static on the radio.

"Back when me, Tyreese, Michonne, and Bob went to get the medicine. I turned on the radio, was about to put in a CD but then we heard a message."

"What did it say?" She had stopped eating, her eyes trained on him, wanting to know more.

"' Sanctuary…those who arrive…survive.' Didn't hear anything else, we ran into a herd."

"Does anyone else know?"

"Nope, just us who were in the car," he paused, "and you."

"What do you think it means?"

"Don't know. Could just be something left over for one of the safety shelters they had when the outbreak first happened, an emergency alert. Or it could be for something new, haven't had much time to look into it."

They fell quiet as they finished eating. Beth's mind had gone from thoughts about Maggie to thoughts about this mysterious radio message Daryl had heard. Who could be on the radio? Where could this sanctuary be?"

The sun had already set, and he kept looking at Beth from across the fire. He could hear her teeth chattering and her lips looked blue. He had made a makeshift rack to hang her clothes on by the fire, but they were still damp. She was wearing her underwear, which he knew hadn't had the chance to dry since they were covered in the blanket and not exposed to the air.

"You cold?"

"No." She was quick to answer, but he knew she was lying. He gave her a look, and she immediately changed her answer. "Maybe a little."

Daryl moved closer to her and was shocked when she didn't inch further away. He pulled her closer to him, hoping his body heat would warm her up a little. The temperature was only going to drop more. Before he knew it she was curled into his body, wrapping the blanket tighter around, her eyes closed tight in sleep. It didn't take long for his eyes to grow heavy and for him to eventually drift off.

He woke up to a rising sun, Beth's head resting gently on his chest. He thought about waking her up, but decided against it when he realized that this was the first night she had slept without nightmares. Plus, he had things he wanted to do before she woke up.

Lightly lifting her head off of him and placing it back on the ground, he got up. He checked around their temporary camp to make sure no walkers were near before grabbing his crossbow and trudging in the direction they had come from yesterday. He was on a mission, but he didn't want Beth to know about it.

He walked a little ways from Beth, but made sure he was close enough to get to her in time if he heard any screams. He wasn't far from where he had heard the twig break, and he could already see tracks. He could vaguely make out where dirt had been brushed away, leaving a slight impression of a shoe. It was large, maybe a size bigger than his, and definitely a man's. He was dismayed when he began to see more, a lot more. A snapped twig there, too big to be broken by an animal; large patches of grass pushed down from the weight of someone sitting there; they were all around him.

He hurriedly made his way back to Beth. He didn't want her to be alone anymore with his newfound evidence; she wouldn't be leaving his sight anytime soon. She was still sleeping, and as much as he wanted to let her catch up on the sleep she had missed, he knew he had to wake her. He lightly shook her until her eyes opened. He waited until her grogginess had passed before speaking.

"We're being followed."

Author's Note: Uh oh! Daryl and Beth are being followed! Who do you think they are? Are they good or bad? Would love to hear your theories and suspicions.

Also, I just realized that in my excitement for "Ruined" I have sort of put my other story, "A Fighting Chance," on the back burner. I plan to update "A Fighting Chance" later this week. I'm going to need to get used to writing two stories at once.