I can't believe we're up to chapter 12 already! Thank you to everyone who continues to read and support this story!

There is more smut in this chapter. I've been feeling extra smutty lately. Enjoy!

Beth was flooded with memories as they drove into the city limits of Hogansville. The last time she had been here, she had been fourteen years old and she had been attending the Hogansville Hummingbird Festival. She remembered the rides, vendors, and live music that had filled the streets of downtown Hogansville that weekend. She also recalled that she and her friend had not-so-stealthily followed around a boy she had been crushing on, and how she had made up some lame excuse when he had turned around and accused them of stalking him all afternoon. As she stole a glance at the gorgeous man next to her, she was struck by how much things had changed in the past five years. Rather than giggling about a crush and imagining what it would be like to hold his hand, she was now sleeping with a grown man who gave her such intense orgasms she hadn't even thought were possible. She smirked a little at the thought.

Daryl pulled into the parking lot of a small strip mall that contained a Piggly Wiggly and a Family Dollar store. He killed the engine and waited a moment before exiting the truck. The parking lot, aside from some long-abandoned cars, seemed deserted, and he gave Beth a nod before exiting the truck with Beth following behind him. They made their way up to the Piggly Wiggly first. Daryl knocked loudly on the front window and waited. Soon after, several decaying bodies had pressed themselves against the glass. Daryl narrowed his eyes as he watched more of them slumping against the glass. There appeared to be at least ten of them, and Daryl sighed.

"Not worth it," he muttered, jerking his head toward the Family Dollar store. "Maybe there'll be less of 'em in here."

Beth followed behind him while Daryl repeated their usual tactic of knocking and waiting. This time, only three walkers made themselves known. Daryl shared a glance with Beth, who nodded. She flipped open her Swiss army knife and pulled open the door, and Daryl took down the first walker with his crossbow. Beth lunged forward at another biter and thrust her blade through its skull. As she tugged the blade free, she saw that Daryl had already put down the third walker and was retrieving his arrow from the first. He loaded his bow and went into the store first with his crossbow aimed and ready.

After whistling a few times and drawing no more walkers, he lowered the bow and looked around. The place had been looted already once or twice, but there was still a decent amount of merchandise on the shelves. He grabbed a few plastic bags from the check-out lane and handed some of them to Beth. The pair of them quickly ransacked the store, taking anything from cleaning products to toiletries to batteries to cold medicine. Beth also managed to find more laundry soap, which she was especially excited about. They exited the store and dumped their loot in the truck bed, and Beth glanced over to the Piggly Wiggly where the dead were still pawing at the glass trying to get out.

"We better go before they break the glass," she sighed, and Daryl nodded in agreement. They jumped in the truck and continued down the road they had come into town on, and they soon came to an intersection with a Ride Aid on the corner. Daryl pulled into the parking lot and they repeated their routine, this time surprised to find no dead waiting inside.

Beth took one side of the store and Daryl took the other, both of them taking necessities and luxury items alike. As Beth made her way toward the center of the store, she noticed Daryl in the family planning aisle shoving more boxes of condoms into a bag. She giggled and he looked up at her with a sheepish grin.

"What? Just wanna be prepared," he said defensively, and Beth laughed again.

"Fine by me. I'm flattered that you think we'll need all those."

Daryl's neck and ears flushed red, and Beth smirked in satisfaction from making him blush. Suddenly an idea struck her, and she made her way back to the actual pharmacy and hopped over the counter.

"What're you lookin' for back there?" Daryl called to her.

Beth didn't answer, and it didn't take her long to find what she was looking for. She stared at the stack of Plan B pills before grabbing several of the boxes and shoving them into a bag. Daryl suddenly appeared next to her and frowned as he picked up one of the boxes.

"Emergency contraceptive?" he asked as he read the box.

"Just in case," Beth shrugged. "A friend of mine took it once when she and her boyfriend forgot to use a condom . . . it made her feel kinda shitty for a day or two, but it prevents pregnancy if you take it within 72 hours."

Daryl had an odd expression on his face.

"What?"

"We didn't use a condom the first time," he muttered. "So stupid. I didn't even think . . . we gotta be more careful. Gettin' pregnant is practically a death sentence nowadays. Can't believe I didn't—"

"Daryl, relax. You didn't even know I had the condoms the first time. And that's why I'm taking these. Just in case we get caught up in the moment or whatever. It's a backup plan. That's why they call it Plan B."

Daryl nodded. "Okay. But seriously, we gotta try to remember to use a condom every time."

"I agree. But it doesn't hurt to be prepared."

Daryl nodded, his expression still looking strained. Beth slid back over the counter with her bags in hand, and Daryl followed, grabbing the full bags he had set down on the other side of the counter. They made their way out of the store and tossed the bags in back. Daryl started the truck and turned down the street that led into downtown. There were a few walkers shambling about, but nothing they wouldn't be able to handle. He parked the truck near an old, quaint-looking hotel called the Grand Hotel.

"Let's be quick about this," he said as they climbed out of the truck. "It looks safe now, but that could change."

Beth nodded, and the pair of them began systematically exploring the shops of note on the main street. They grabbed some more first aid supplies from a mom-and-pop pharmacy, and Beth managed to convince Daryl to loot a dry cleaners store so that he had something that would fit him better whenever she washed his one set of clothing. Unfortunately, most of the shops in downtown Hogansville were antique stores, which offered nothing of use for them. They soon returned to the truck with a few things, but nothing like they were hoping for.

"Wanna head to Luthersville now?" Daryl asked as he started the truck and began to drive down the main street. "That sign says it's 15 miles away."

"Library!" Beth said suddenly. "We can't leave until we go to the library."

Daryl rolled his eyes at Beth's fervent need to visit the library, but she did have a point. Not only would they have more entertainment, despite Daryl's disdain for reading, but they would also be able to acquire resources to learn more about edible plants in their region and other survival techniques.

"Any idea where this library is?" Daryl asked.

Beth shrugged. "No idea. But it's probably somewhere around here. It's gotta be close to downtown, right?"

"Why are you askin' me? I ain't set foot in a library since I dropped outta school."

Beth gave him a look. "Just keep driving. We'll find it."

It didn't take long at all to locate the library. It was only a few blocks from downtown, as Beth had expected it would be. Daryl pulled into a parking spot out front and eyed the single-story building warily. The library was small with a quaint little gazebo porch out front, but he was wary of potential dangers within.

"You know how many biters could be hidin' in the bookshelves outta sight?"

"Same as the aisles in the stores we just looted," Beth sighed. "We'll just knock on the door like we usually do and see what comes out."

She opened the passenger door and hopped out before Daryl could argue further. He followed her up the steps and to the white double doors at the front of the library. He wished the doors had windows so they could see how many dead were inside, but that wasn't the case. Daryl sighed and banged heavily on the doors. After waiting several moments, he heard two distinct thuds as bodies pressed themselves against the doors. He listened carefully, but he couldn't detect more walkers than the two that were throwing themselves against the barrier between them. He gave Beth a nod and she quickly wrenched the door open. The two ghouls that had been pressed up against it came toppling out, and Beth and Daryl each dispatched one with their knives.

The lighting in the library was dim, as the windows that circled the building were narrow and high up on the walls. Daryl banged loudly on the doorframe, but no other ghouls came toward the sound. He carefully entered the shadowed library with his crossbow drawn, closing the door behind them when he was sure that no more dead were inside.

"How do we find what we're lookin' for?" he asked. "There's tons of books in this place."

"If the world had gone to shit twenty years ago, I bet the card catalog would still be a hard copy," Beth sighed. "But now, I bet it was in the computer system. We'll just have to search stuff out."

She made her way into the library and pointed to a section of shelving.

"That's nonfiction. You look there. Look for anything related to survival or wilderness."

"What're you gonna look for?"

"Entertainment," Beth grinned. Daryl rolled his eyes and walked over to the section she had pointed out to him, and Beth made her way to the fiction section. She started with the A's, grabbing several classics by Jane Austen that she already knew she liked. She then made her way to the R's and grabbed several of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles. Maggie had read them before the turn, but she had always insisted Beth was too young to read them. She secretly couldn't wait to find out what exactly had made Maggie believe she had been too immature to read the novels. She carried her large stack of books over to the door and set them down before going to find Daryl.

"Find anything?" she asked.

"Yeah, a couple of books about plants," Daryl nodded his head toward a small stack on the ground. "Lookin' for other stuff, but haven't found much yet."

Beth watched him reading the spines of the books before him, and she felt a throbbing between her legs as she realized how sexy he looked in the dim lighting with his face furrowed in concentration as he read. The shadows made him look sultry and mysterious. She bit her lip and leaned against the bookshelf behind her, and Daryl frowned at her.

"You ain't gonna help me look?"

An idea dawned on her suddenly, and she tried to hold back a mischievous smile. Daryl arched an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"What're you smirkin' at?"

"Ever had sex in a library before?" she asked.

Daryl chuckled and shook his head. "You serious?"

Beth sauntered closer to him and hooked her fingers through his belt loops, pulling his body against hers and grinding against him slightly.

"What do you think?"

Daryl's eyes began to darken, and he laced his fingers through her hair and took hold of her ponytail, giving it a firm jerk to angle her face toward his. Beth gasped and pressed herself harder against him. Daryl's pupils were dilated, and the predatory look he was giving her was making her wet.

"You're naughty," Daryl smirked down at her, his voice low.

"I know what I want," Beth replied breathlessly.

"You gonna be able to keep quiet if I give you what you want?" Daryl asked. "Your moans could get us into trouble out here."

Beth smirked at him. "We're in a library, Daryl. Being loud is against the rules."

Daryl laughed quietly, the sound vibrating in his chest that was pressed against hers.

"You better follow the rules then," he murmured, and brought his lips to hers in a hard kiss. Beth returned the kiss with equal passion, unable to contain a small moan when his tongue entered her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and Daryl removed his grasp from her hair and ran his hands down her body. He gave her ass a firm squeeze before sliding his hands beneath it and hoisting her up. Beth wrapped her legs around him and Daryl pushed her back against the bookshelf behind her, pinning her there with his hips. She could feel that he was already hard, which just made her want him more. She ground her lower body into his and cursed the layers of clothing that separated them. She removed one hand from around his neck and went to unfasten his pants. Daryl broke away from her lips and stilled her wandering hand.

"Hold that thought," he muttered, setting her back down on the floor.

"Huh?" Beth questioned in confusion as Daryl hurried away toward the door.

"Condom," he grunted as he opened the door and ran outside.

Beth giggled to herself, thankful he had be sensible enough to go grab a condom from the many they had stashed in the truck. While she waited for him to return, she quickly made her way over to one of the reading tables in the center of the library and tugged her jeans down her legs, kicking them to the side. She hopped up on the tabletop and laid back on her elbows. Daryl came running back inside moments later, closing and locking the door behind him. He spotted her lounging on the reading table and approached her slowly, looking at her as though he was stalking his prey.

Daryl ran his calloused hands along Beth's smooth, pale legs as he reached her. She bit her lip and watched him from under her lashes, feeling more aroused by the second. He pulled aside her panties and ran his fingers along her slit, and he slowly pushed a finger inside her with ease. Beth's breathing quickened, and Daryl added a second finger.

"You're so fuckin' wet," he growled.

His low voice made Beth even more impatient to have him, and she hurriedly made quick work of unfastening his pants. She seized his erection and gave him a firm squeeze.

"Fuck me, please," she whimpered.

Daryl wasted no time in pulling the condom he had retrieved out of his pocket. He tore open the packet and slid the condom over his shaft while Beth quickly discarded her panties. Daryl roughly tugged Beth's hips toward him on the table, bringing her center to the edge. She wrapped her legs around his waist and let out a moan as he slid inside her.

"Shh," Daryl hushed her, pressing a finger to her lips. "You said you'd be quiet."

Beth grinned and bit her lip. Being quiet was going to be harder than she thought. Her breath caught in her throat as Daryl withdrew and thrust into her again, and she pressed her hands over her mouth to muffle herself. He began a slow, but forceful, rhythm, each thrust hitting a sweet spot deep inside her. The way she was sprawled across the table gave him a full view of her lithe young body. He reached down to her center and began rubbing her clit with his thumb while he continued to thrust into her. She let out a whimper as she felt the added pleasure and grew even wetter, and Daryl began to move faster, his thrusts still hard and deep. The sight of her trying to keep herself quiet as he fucked and played with her was almost too much for him, and he suddenly withdrew from her and roughly tugged her off the table. He flipped her around and pushed her front against the tabletop. Beth arched her back to give him better access, and he quickly sheathed himself inside her again.

Daryl didn't know how it was possible for her to feel even tighter, but fucking her from behind definitely made it feel that way for him. He knew he wouldn't last much longer, and he wet his fingers with his saliva and reached an arm around her and found her clit again. Beth couldn't contain her moan of pleasure as Daryl's slick fingers furiously rubbed her clit. She arched her back further, allowing Daryl to penetrate her even deeper still. He pounded into her mercilessly, and Beth was soon on the brink of orgasm. Daryl could tell she was close, and he knew he would soon reach his own climax.

"Cum for me, girl," he demanded gruffly.

Hearing him speak that way was all Beth needed. After a few more thrusts, she reached her peak and came hard, her vision going spotty as she did. The feeling of her muscles clamping around his cock sent Daryl over the edge as well, and he let out a primal groan as he reached his climax.

Daryl leaned over her body on the table, his spent cock still inside her, for several moments as he caught his breath. Finally he pulled out of her, leaving Beth feeling empty. She turned around on the table and stumbled a bit, and Daryl caught her.

"That was so good that I'm dizzy," Beth giggled.

Daryl laughed and shook his head. He couldn't believe that this gorgeous, sexy young woman wanted him, and that she enjoyed being intimate with him so much. As she put her panties and jeans back on, Daryl disposed of the condom in a nearby trashcan and went back to the section he had been searching before Beth had distracted his attentions elsewhere. She appeared beside him and knelt down to continue looking, acting as though everything were perfectly normal and as though they hadn't just fucked shamelessly on a reading table. Daryl reached over and pulled her to him, causing her to topple into his chest with a surprised yelp. He pressed a deep kiss to her lips before releasing her from his grasp. She smiled at him, and Daryl found her smile contagious. They turned their attention back to the books in front of them, both of them grinning helplessly as they did.

Thanks for reading and please review! :)