I know some of you are not a fan of the new plot development with Cara, but realistically, it can't be all sunshine and rainbows in the ZA (as much as I would like it to be!). Don't worry too much, though. I won't put you through too much grief. :)

Carrying Cara into the cabin proved to be somewhat difficult. Daryl had to lift her body high over the spikes to slide through the gap in them, which was difficult for him and painful for the girl. As soon as he carried her inside, he gently laid her on one of the couches in the living room while Beth hurried into the bedroom to get some clothes to cover her naked body. She returned with one of the oversized flannels that she liked to sleep in, thinking it would be the easiest thing for her to put on.

"Can you grab some first aid supplies?" she asked Daryl as she draped the flannel over Cara's body as a temporary cover. "Once we clean her up, I'll get her dressed."

Daryl nodded and went into the bathroom to fetch the bag of first aid supplies they had gotten from the pharmacies on their recent runs. They had bandages and gauze, antiseptics, and pain killers, but he wasn't sure any of their supplies would be able to help the girl. She didn't have many open wounds, and judging from the severity of her bruising, internal injuries were quite probable. He grabbed a washcloth and wet it under the faucet so they could clean some of the dirt off of her, but Daryl couldn't help feeling as though she was already doomed.

He returned to the living room with the supplies and handed them to Beth. It was clear that Cara was skittish around him, and after what she had been through, he couldn't blame her. It was better to let Beth help her. Her goodness and kind heart were palpable even to strangers, and if anyone could make the girl feel more at ease, it was Beth. Daryl leaned against the wall out of the girl's sight and let Beth take care of her.

Beth used the washcloth to clean some of the grime from the girl's face, and she disinfected and bandaged up an open wound above her eye. Beth took in the sight of her extensive bruising and she noticed with a chill that the purple rings around her wrists meant that she had been tightly bound with some sort of rope at some point. She couldn't bring herself to clean the blood from between Cara's thighs and sat back on her heels with tears in her eyes. She blinked them away and tried to stay strong for the poor battered girl in front of her.

"What happened to you?" she asked Cara softly. The girl didn't answer, and tears began to spill down her cheeks. Beth sighed and delicately took one of Cara's hands in her own. "I know it's hard to talk about, but we need to know who did this . . . we want to keep you safe, and while it's unlikely that anyone will find us here, we need to know more about what happened so we can make sure."

Cara nodded and tried to take a deep breath, wincing and coughing when her injuries prevented her from doing so. She met Beth's gaze.

"I was traveling with my dad and my uncle. We were trying to head south, toward the coast, 'cause we thought it'd be safer, you know? We stopped in Luthersville for a night and stayed in a house there. These guys found us and wanted our supplies. My uncle put up a fight, and they shot him right in front of me and my dad. There were five or six of them . . . too many to fight off, so my dad told them to take whatever they wanted. Apparently they wanted me, and they made my dad watch while they . . ."

Beth gave Cara's hand a squeeze as she started crying harder, which brought about another fit of coughing. She glanced at Daryl and noticed that he was tightly clenching his fists and jaw as he listened to Cara's story.

"After they were done with me, they killed my dad, too. They tied me up and said they were gonna take me back to their camp with them. They were taunting me . . . they said they had about twenty people at the camp and that I was gonna be a lot of fun for some of the men. They said they wouldn't hurt me as long as I let them have me whenever they wanted and didn't tell anyone. When they fell asleep that night I tried to run away, but I tripped and the sound woke them up. When they realized I was trying to escape, they beat me and left me to die. I don't know how long I was there before you found me. At least a day. I thought I was dead until you came."

Beth couldn't stop her own tears from spilling down her cheeks as Cara cried. She quickly wiped them away and tried to smile at the girl.

"They can't hurt you anymore. We will do everything we can to keep you safe. Just rest a bit and we'll make you something to eat."

Cara gave a weak nod and closed her one open eye, succumbing to her exhaustion. Beth rose from where she was crouched next to the couch and made her way toward Daryl. His tension was obvious, and he jerked his head toward the bedroom. Beth followed him and quietly closed the door behind them.

"Her story is familiar," Daryl hissed as soon as the door was closed.

"Familiar?"

"Remember that kid back at the farm? Randall?"

Beth frowned as she remembered the debates that had ensued over whether to let Randall go or to execute him, and her eyes widened as she remembered the reason for the debate over his execution. The group he had belonged to.

"You think Randall's group was the one who did this to Cara?"

"It adds up," Daryl said. "When I questioned Randall, he admitted that his group had done some shit like this. Talked about a man and his two daughters . . . makin' the dad watch and all that. The story's too similar. And the numbers, too. Cara said they told her they had about twenty people in their camp, and Randall said they had thirty. Maybe some of 'em died since then, or maybe they ain't even the same group, but the problem is the same. They're a threat, and they're nearby."

"What do you want to do?" Beth asked, fearing his response. "Do you want to leave the cabin?"

Daryl sighed and shook his head, filling Beth with relief. "No, I don't think runnin' from place to place would be any safer than stayin' put here. We're far enough out here that hopefully we won't run into them, but it still puts me on edge."

"Maybe we can find some way to make the cabin safer? From people, I mean?"

"If they've got twenty people in their group, nothin' will stop them if they want in this cabin, Beth. You know that."

Beth bit her lip and nodded, knowing he was right. She suddenly found herself wishing that it wasn't just her and Daryl in the cabin. She loved living with him alone and who he was when they were alone together, but against human threats, safety was in numbers. She stepped closer to Daryl and wrapped her arms around his middle, more for her own comfort than for Daryl's. He circled his arms around her as well and placed his chin on top of her head.

"Ain't gonna let anything happen to you," he said quietly. "I'd die before I let someone hurt you."

"Don't say that."

"Why not? It's true. You're too important to me, Beth."

Despite everything, Beth smiled at his comment. Daryl was always closed off when it came to talking about his feelings, and even a small admission like that meant a lot coming from him. She pulled away from his embrace and looked up at him with hope shining in her eyes.

"We'll protect each other," she said resolutely. "Because you're too important to me to lose, too."

Daryl gave her a half smile, her words warming him and affecting him more than he would admit. Even though there could be danger lurking nearby, he liked knowing that he and Beth still had each other and that she was willing to fight for him just as he was willing to fight for her.

"We should go see if we can get Cara to eat something," Daryl said after a moment. "Maybe heat up a can of soup or somethin."

Beth nodded. "Do you want to try to hunt something before the sun sets?"

Daryl immediately shook his head. "Nah. I'm not lettin' you out of my sight, girl."

The corners of Beth's mouth threatened to tug upward in a smile, but she knew he was being completely serious.

"So I'm gonna have to come with you every time you go out on a hunt?" she asked.

"Yeah," Daryl nodded. "Seriously, Beth. I'm not leavin' you alone. I'm not riskin' anything happening to you. Besides, you can keep up with your tracking lessons. Soon I'll have you doing all the tracking and I'll just be there to help you kill whatever we track down."

Beth couldn't help smiling at that. She loved to learn new skills, and she was gradually getting better at tracking with Daryl's help.

"What about Cara?" she asked suddenly. "She can't walk, are you gonna leave her alone in the cabin while we go out and hunt? Doesn't seem fair or safe for her."

Daryl sighed impatiently and ran a hand over his face. "We'll figure something out. For now, let's just stick to canned stuff we've got in the cabin."

"Okay," Beth sighed. She opened the bedroom door and made her way into the kitchen to get the wood stove going.

"I'll go get the soup from the truck," Daryl said quietly and Beth nodded in reply. He went outside and came back in a few moments later with most of their bags of loot from that day. He set them on the kitchen counter and went back outside to retrieve the rest of their goodies. Beth dug through the bags until she found the one that contained the cans of soup they had found in the gas station. She chose a can of chicken noodle soup and quickly heated it over the stove, pouring it into three bowls so that they could all get something to eat.

She made her way over to where Cara was asleep on the couch and gently shook her awake.

"Hey, made you some soup," she said. "Let's see if we can get you to sit up a little."

Beth delicately helped Cara until she was leaning against the arm of the couch so that she could eat. She gently helped her into the flannel shirt and buttoned it up, hiding her battered body from view. She situated herself on her knees next to Cara and began feeding her the soup slowly.

"Thank you," Cara said quietly. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes I do," Beth said firmly. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't?"

"You'd be like most other people, I think," Cara said. "So many bad people are out there now. I think you might be one of the only good ones left."

The girl's statement made Beth's heart ache, but she couldn't blame her for feeling that way after what she had been through. Still, she shook her head and forced a smile.

"You'd be surprised," she said. "Daryl's a good person, too. And the group we used to be with, they're good people. Not everyone out there is bad."

"You were with a group?"

Beth nodded. "Yeah. We were living in a prison for a while. I know, it doesn't sound like a good place to be, but we made it our home. The fences kept the walkers out, and we were growing crops and building a life there."

"What happened? How come you're not there anymore?"

"Some other people tried to take it from us. It fell and we had to run. I got out with Daryl and it's just been us ever since."

"The people who tried to take it . . . they're bad people, right? It's like I said, there are so many bad people out there."

Beth sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I guess I can't deny that there are bad people out there. But there are good people, too. You have to remember that. I know you might not want to believe it after what happened to you, and I understand that. But I don't think you should dismiss your hope in humanity yet. We can't lose faith in the goodness of people."

Cara studied her with her one open eye for a moment, looking lost. "How are you able to be so positive?"

Beth shrugged. "It's just the way I am, and I believe in people." She suddenly an epiphany. "Did you ever read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank?"

Cara frowned a little. "Sure, in middle school I think, but I don't really remember much about it. Why?"

"She has a really great quote in that book. She says, 'in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.' I think I believe the same thing. This world changes you, and we have to do things sometimes that we wouldn't have done before, but it doesn't mean most people are bad. I think this world just forces some people to get out of touch with the goodness inside themselves. I try to remember that everyone has the potential to be a good person, and I think there are still people out there who try to be."

"You're definitely one of them," Cara mumbled, and Beth smiled.

"I know. You're in good hands."

Daryl ground out the cigarette he had been smoking on the porch with the toe of his boot and took a deep breath. He had overheard Beth and Cara's conversation, and it only made his admiration of Beth grow. He couldn't believe that she could see what people were capable of doing to a girl like Cara and still believe there was good in them.

He felt that he was already losing his faith in humanity that Beth had been able to restore all those weeks ago. It had started with her kidnapping, but Cara's fate only made it worse. He couldn't tell Beth that, however. He'd never forget her wide-eyed expression when she figured out that she had been the one to change his mind about the possibility of good people, and he knew it would kill her to know that he wasn't so easy to believe in good people anymore. Cara was right; there were so many bad people in this world, and Beth was one of the only good ones left. It just increased his need to protect her and to keep her safe.

This world can't afford to lose a bright soul like you, Beth, he thought. The world would be too dark without you in it.

Thanks for reading! Please review! :)