Beth hadn't opened her eyes yet, but she could tell the sun was streaming in through the window next to the bed.
She sighed contentedly, clutching the wad of sheets held between her hands and stretched out her legs, letting her lids slowly blink open. Still curled on her side, the first thing she saw was Daryl, who was fully dressed and propped up on an elbow, watching her.
"Hey." She rubbed her eyes and looked around the room, noticing the sun was up higher than she thought. "What time is it?"
Daryl glanced over at the little clock. "Eight thirty nine."
Beth sank back into her pillow until what he'd said registered a couple seconds later, and she bolted upright. "Eight thirty nine? We gotta be at the wall in twenty minutes for watch!"
He nodded calmly. "I know. We got time. Go take a quick shower and get dressed." He held up a granola bar. "Got your breakfast right here."
She smiled and kissed him on the lips, throwing back the sheet and scooting over to the edge.
Dropping her feet down and standing, though, she couldn't hide her grimace as she bent to pick up her clothes and boots off the floor. She was definitely sore.
They'd had sex once more last night, the kind where you're both still half asleep. She'd woken sometime in the early hours with Daryl spooned behind her, his hand fondling her breast and warm mouth nibbling on her ear. Feeling his erection pressing against her backside, she was ready for him almost immediately, and just awake enough to hear the telltale sound of a wrapper being torn before he entered her slowly from behind. Her left leg resting on his, they'd rocked together quietly while he held her, until Daryl heard Beth's muffled cry and he followed behind seconds later.
Thinking back on it, Beth thought that it had seemed like a dream, but she couldn't ever remember feeling as safe and loved as she did right then in Daryl's arms.
Daryl had been watching her carefully, and seeing the brief hesitation in her movements confirmed his worry that the events of last night may have been too much too soon. They really should have paced themselves, but he'd be damned if he could get enough of her now that she was really his.
As she stood up she let out a quiet 'oooh', and he asked her, "You alright?"
Beth nodded and laughed. "Oh, yeah. I'll be fine. What's that expression? Rode hard and put away wet?" She raised a teasing eyebrow at Daryl and he couldn't keep from smirking.
"You give me the bastard's name and number. I'll talk to him." Daryl watched her throw on one of his t-shirts to cover up for her dash down the hall to the bathroom.
Beth paused before she closed the door behind her and grinned, saying, "Okay. Go easy on him, though, would you? 'Cause he's definitely a keeper."
She didn't see it, but Daryl broke into the widest grin as he sat by himself on the bed.
He was still waiting in the bedroom for her when she returned ten minutes later, pulling her hair into a ponytail. Her knife was lying next to the clock and she grabbed it, but as she snapped the sheath to her belt she eyed the dresser, confused. It was slightly crooked, and had been slid along the wall a few feet further away from the bed.
She called over her shoulder as she finished tying the laces on each boot. "Did you move the bureau?"
Beth looked across the bed at him and saw him shake his head, but as her gaze swept the room she realized all the furniture, except the bed, was slightly off kilter from their original positions.
Daryl was making his way to the door, though, waving the granola bar and saying, "Come on. We got five minutes."
So she nodded and hurried after him, deciding to worry about it later.
Beth scarfed down her breakfast on the short walk to the wall, and they made it there with a few minutes to spare. Carlos and another man they hadn't met yet started descending the ladder when they saw the next shift approaching.
They each passed their automatic rifles to Daryl and Beth, and Carlos nodded at the weapons, saying, "They both have a full clip, "he passed over two more, "and here's an extra for each one, just in case."
Carlos pulled a strap over his head and passed the binoculars to Beth. "Here you go. The next shift will be here to relieve you in two hours, and there's no residents outside the walls right now, so if you see someone, they're a stranger."
Daryl nodded and started climbing up the ladder, watching at the top to make sure Beth got up safely.
The height of the wall gave them a broad sweeping view of the fields directly in front of the safe zone, as well as the forest beyond. They both looked around, taking in the new scenery. It looked like it was going to be a perfect day. The sky was clear, and the air was still crisp enough to give the first sense of fall approaching.
Beth looked out around them and marvelled at the beauty. There wasn't a breath of wind, and the mile of long grass ahead of them lay undisturbed by any breeze.
They talked for a minute about going hunting after their shift was over, but eventually their conversation tapered off. Everything was so quiet. Too quiet, even.
Beth and Daryl looked at each other. Normally the woods would be buzzing with the sounds of different insects, but even they had fallen silent.
It was probably what made the sudden flight of more than a dozen birds from the tree tops just beyond the fields stand out so harshly from the peace and quiet around them.
Daryl strained his eyes for any sign of movement at the edge of the long grass, and Beth raised her binoculars, pausing before bringing them to her eyes to see the hair on her arms standing on end.
Daryl stood next to her and asked in a low voice. "See anythin'?"
Beth looked through the lenses and adjusted the focus, sweeping slowly over the treeline, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't until her view passed over the road that dissected the forest that her blood ran cold.
In the distance, just barely visible where the road turned and disappeared, was a herd of walkers. She couldn't tell how many, some of them were only just stumbling up onto the pavement, others she could see moving through the trees. Regardless, they were all headed in their direction.
Beth had just lowered the binoculars to tell Daryl, when she heard him swear beside her. Lowering her hands, she followed his gaze.
There was no doubt now as to just how big the herd was. Walkers were emerging from the treeline by the dozens on either side of the road, and they kept coming.
Daryl spun around, wanting to yell out an alarm, but afraid to make any noise. He spotted Erin pulling out of a driveway nearby in a little golf cart, and she just happened to glance up and see him frantically waving his arm. She drove up to the base of the wall and looked up, asking, "What's wrong?"
He crouched down and spit out the words harsher than he probably should have. "There's a herd comin' our way. More than we can handle. Go get Rick and Aaron. They're at the far end of the street unloadin' the truck."
Her mouth hung open and she hesitated too long before Daryl's temper took over. He yelled down at her, "You wanna die, or somethin'? Go. Now!"
It seemed to snap her into action and she spun her wheel around, driving the cart up over someone's lawn before taking off at full speed up the street.
There was no one else in sight, and Daryl turned to find Beth staring ahead at the oncoming herd. A soft breeze was blowing wisps of hair around her face, and he put a hand on her arm as they waited for help to come.
The undead were still filing out of the woods in an endless stream, lurching through the long grass that wasn't laying still any longer, but rippled around their putrid legs, every blade parting to allow death closer to the living with each step.
Daryl's mind was in overdrive, trying to think of a way of diverting them away before they reached the community. There had to be a thousand or more walkers in the open now, and the gate would never stand up to that many, let alone the walls themselves. Deanna had to have a plan for a worst case scenario like this.
Beth hadn't said a word. She was frozen in place and her eyes were glassy as she watched the herd advancing. Daryl squeezed her arm and said, "Don't worry. We'll figure somethin' out. There's gotta be a way."
She nodded her head but didn't look at Daryl, and her voice cracked when she answered him. "Yeah."
Daryl turned around, hearing movement behind him.
Word must have spread fast because not only was Erin returning with Rick and Aaron, but a pickup truck overloaded with men holding guns pulled up to the gate. The other residents weren't far behind, among them, Deanna and Reg. Many adults jogged closer holding crude weapons taken hastily from their homes, while other families with children lingered in the background, not fully understanding what was going on.
Rick scaled the ladder quickly, followed by every other member of their family except Maggie and Glenn, who were still at the doctor's. Deanna climbed up behind them clumsily in her heels while Reg waited below, and several other lookouts came after her.
The wind was picking up now, and Rick's focus had switched from the herd to Deanna, who he was yelling a steady stream of words at. "What the hell do you mean you don't have a plan for this? These people put their safety in your hands and you never thought this could happen?"
Deanna tried to stammer a reply but he cut her off. "Do you have any ATV's or vehicles that could handle being driven over those fields to draw some of them away?"
"No. We don't. We only have the one truck and a handful of cars." She looked up at him, her eyes wide with the knowledge that people would die today because of their lack of preparation.
Rick's hand went up to his mouth and he spun, taking in all the lives around him that hung in the balance, and shouted over a new gust of wind. "Alright, we have to start loading everyone into any vehicle available and abandon this place, head out the back service exit…"
His orders were cut off by a woman's scream. "What the hell is she doing?"
Erin pointed her finger at the figure running away from the front gate toward the oncoming herd.
It was Beth.
Daryl's heart might as well have stopped in his chest for the sheer terror that flooded his system as he watched her. He screamed her name into the wind that he now realized was probably of her own making, knowing the word would be carried away and never reach her. He looked over at the trees that were bending and swaying as she passed by them, their trunks groaning under the pressure.
The last time he'd seen trees do that was back at the church when he'd returned to find Beth having a panic attack. She was paralyzed by her fear and guilt back then, trembling on the ground and unable to move, whatever craziness that was in her system somehow expressing the chaos inside by lashing out at the environment around her.
Watching her sprint away now, he could only choke out a sob, knowing the exact emotions she was fighting through without him by her side, and at the same time, marvel at how fucking strong she was to be running when it would cripple a normal person.
He turned and headed for the top railing, prepared to go after her but Rick grabbed him first, and yelled at him, "What the hell is she doing, Daryl? Has she lost her damn mind?"
Daryl yanked back from the man's grip, but all eyes were on him now, waiting for an explanation, only he didn't know how to give one. Didn't know how to explain any of it. He knew exactly what she was going to do, but describing it would make him sound even crazier, and he didn't want to waste the time when the woman he loved was going to her certain death.
Beth's side was starting to cramp, but she needed to get far enough away so no one would try dragging her back. Half turning for a brief glimpse over her shoulder, she saw the gate remained shut and everyone seemed to still be up on the wall. Guilt weighed heavy on her shoulders in leaving Daryl behind, but she wouldn't allow herself to try and spot him during her one backward glance.
She drew in a long shaky breath as her legs carried her further away, tears running down over her lips and into her mouth as she sobbed the words, "I'm so sorry, Daryl."
Regret burned deep within her that she hadn't told him she loved him before crawling down the ladder amidst all the confusion, but she didn't think she could get the words out without him reading her intentions.
Beth slowed her pace, realizing she was roughly at the halfway point, where she could now smell the cloying scent of death in the air. The herd was no more than a quarter mile away from where she stood in the road with her chest heaving, her lungs greedy for air after running all that way.
She knew she needed to get angry. The problem was, the only emotion coursing through her body at the moment, watching the herd come closer, was absolute terror. She was sure it must be dripping from her pores and that the walkers could smell it, that it would draw them to her that much faster.
So Beth did the only thing she could think of to shut down her fear and get to where she needed to be mentally if her sacrifice was going to make any difference.
She squeezed her eyes shut and let her thoughts drift to the memory of something far more terrifying.
"What the hell is she doing, Daryl?" Rick was twisting the leather of the man's vest to keep him from escaping down the ladder.
Daryl clutched Rick's arms in frustration, his breaths coming in short panicked bursts, and he looked over his friend's shoulder where he could see Beth in the distance, standing alone in the road, facing the oncoming herd.
He shook his head angrily, he should be out there with her. If he could just get out to her with that pickup truck and get her in it, maybe they could get away. He shouldn't have started to believe in this place, that it could be safe. He'd give it up in a heartbeat. He'd give everyone and everything up if it meant keeping her alive.
He felt himself being shaken again, and he yelled back, pushing Rick away from him. "She thinks she can save this place! Thinks she can save all of you. But she's gonna die doin' it, and I can't let that happen!"
He started moving toward the ladder but felt huge arms wrapping around him, pinning his own to his side, and he struggled to escape from it.
Abraham huffed against Daryl's efforts but his grip held like a vise. "You're not goin' anywhere, chief. Blondie's made her choice. No reason you gotta die, too."
Daryl flew into a rage at being held against his will, and he made Abraham stumble backward once, close to the edge, but Rick grabbed hold of them and pulled them back. He leaned down to look into Daryl's face.
The man's hair was in his eyes and he looked like a wild animal. Rick put a hand on his shoulder and spoke in a soothing voice, "Just tell us what's goin' on, Daryl. Maybe we can help."
"You can't help nothin'." Daryl saw everyone staring at him like he was the crazy one, and it pissed him off even more. "She got bit."
Rick pulled back, surprised. "When? Is that was this is? She's killin' herself?"
"No." Daryl spit the word out with contempt. "She got bit way back when those cops at the hospital took her, and they cured her, but whatever they did changed her."
"Like what?" Rick still looked utterly confused.
Daryl flexed his arms and tried to jerk away from Abe again, shooting a spiteful look up at the man. "Let go of me you fuckin' ape!"
Rick looked up at Abraham and nodded, and the big man released him.
Daryl rubbed his arms and shrugged at Rick's question. "Don't know how to fuckin' explain it, but she can move shit without even touchin' it, and once she levelled a goddamm forest without realizin' what she was doin."
Abe and a few others snorted but Daryl shook his head at their derision. "Yeah, go ahead, laugh. But you're all morons 'cause I've fuckin' seen it."
Rick was one of the only ones still looking at him like he was sane. He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at Daryl again. "You've seen it?"
Daryl nodded his head at his friend. "I never would've fuckin' believed it if I hadn't."
His words seemed to hang in the air, though, spoken loud enough to be heard over the gusting wind that died as suddenly as it started. The branches of the trees outside the wall were slowing their frenzied movements and coming to a rest, and everyone turned to look at the lone figure standing half a mile away.
Daryl cursed under his breath, knowing he was too late.
Beth could still feel Maggie's hand in hers as they stood side by side in the prison courtyard, watching Rick standing behind the outer fence, negotiating with Him, and then the cool steel of the rifle that Daryl gave to her. Only, in her memory, instead of watching helplessly from a distance, she let the gun slip through her fingers and fall to the ground.
She slid open the gate and walked down the path, beyond Rick, hooking her fingers in the fence and staring longingly at her Daddy, forced to kneel in the grass like some criminal.
She could hear the conversation going on, although the details were muffled, but when He appeared beside her father, the sunlight glinting off the blade of Michonne's katana, she gripped the fence and pleaded with the man to stop. The blade swung back, and the smile on her Daddy's face that had been aimed at Rick fell, and his eyes moved to her. She watched him mouth her name as the steel came down, leaving his head hanging at an unnatural angle.
Beth shook the fence violently with both hands and screamed at the man with the eyepatch as her father started to fall…
Beth came back to the present making a blood curdling inhuman sound. It pierced the air just as a wall of energy was released from her body, mowing down the first wave of the undead.
They toppled backward onto the ground, bodies and skulls crushed, and Beth dropped to one knee, black spots fading and reappearing in front of her eyes as she struggled to keep from falling over.
The air wheezed in and out of her lungs as she knelt there, feeling drained, and she lifted her head, hoping it had been enough.
It wasn't.
They were still coming.
"Mother of God." Rick whispered the words as he watched hundreds of the walkers fall.
Every other person on the wall was frozen in place over what they'd all just witnessed. Some rubbed their eyes, not trusting their own vision, others made the sign of the cross, and for once, Abraham was speechless.
Daryl pushed his way around the big man to see Beth. She was crouched down on one knee, and he breathed a sigh of relief that she was still okay.
No one was going to stop him from getting to her this time, and he fought through the crowd of stunned people, but stopped short in his escape. Glenn was just helping Maggie up off the ladder, and they looked around, wondering why everyone was so quiet.
Glenn wove through the people, holding Maggie's hand, until he stood beside Rick. His breath sucked in when he saw the herd. "Rick, what the hell is going on? We gotta get out of here."
But then his eyes drifted to the lone figure hunched over on the road. "Who is that out there?"
Rick turned his head, looking at Glenn first, and then at Maggie, who was shielding her eyes trying to make out who it was. He said quietly, "It's Beth."
"Beth!" Maggie face was stricken with panic, and she clutched Glenn's arm, yelling. "Why is she out there? We've gotta go get her!"
Daryl heard Rick say Maggie's name but he was already climbing down the ladder. Somebody else would have to explain the shit to her.
He was just stepping off the bottom rung of the ladder when a voice cried out above him.
"She's getting up again!"
It took every ounce of her will, but Beth forced herself to her feet. She swayed for a moment before taking a feeble step forward, trying to shake off the fatigue. She'd just have to do it again. She could do that, right? For the people she loved?
Beth thought of everyone behind her, their lives in mortal danger if she couldn't do what she'd set out to do.
Watching the rotting corpses stumbling forward, she welcomed the spark of fury growing inside her, not at the people these once were, but for them. Fury at this horrible virus. The billions of lives it had taken since the beginning of the turn. All the needless pain in the world now, the starvation. How it had turned people who were once good into monsters capable of anything.
Sweat was running in streams down her face, stinging her eyes as she struggled not to fight against the darkness taking over her. And when the rage kept building and building inside until it nearly felt like there wasn't enough room for her anymore, she raised her arms out by her sides, setting it loose when she simply couldn't bear having it inside her any longer.
It ripped from her body with an audible crack, sucking all the air out of her lungs with it, and she fell into a heap on the asphalt.
She cowered there, shaking, feeling like whatever good that was once inside her might be gone forever. Tears fell down onto the hot pavement, and over her ragged breaths she heard the unmistakable sound of another chorus of moans in the distance.
Beth shook her head slowly, feeling so frail that it was one of the only movements she could manage. It was then that she tasted something metallic in her mouth.
Raising a shaky finger to touch above her lip, she brought it up in front of her hooded eyes and saw her bright red fingertip. She was bleeding from her nose.
"Please, "she sobbed in a whisper. "Please, help me."
Beth didn't know who she was talking to, or if she even believed in God anymore, but no one answered, and her vision faded to black.
"Oh!" Maggie's hand rose to her mouth as she watched half of the remaining herd being pulverized by whatever force was coming out of her little sister, and then Beth collapsed.
She cried out to her husband," Glenn, she's gonna die out there!"
Rick had just ran after Daryl, and Glenn's face was a mask of grief. He looked at the others around him who were still struck speechless by what was unfolding before them.
There had to be more they could do than just stand here and watch, so he turned to them to get their attention, saying, "Hey."
None of them acknowledged him, so he yelled it this time. "Hey!"
Everyone jumped this time, temporarily brought out of their stupor.
Glenn pointed his arm out at the fields and said, "Beth is out their putting her life on the line to try and save us…to save what you've built here. I don't believe in miracles much, but if by some slim chance she's got it in her to take one more shot at that herd then we need to be ready to take out any stragglers while they get her help. Who's with me?"
It was a given that the rest of their family would gladly volunteer, but seven of the men from earlier, still holding their rifles, stepped forward.
Glenn nodded, relieved, but shook his head at their weapons, saying, "No guns. Anyone who's no good with a knife or shovel, or whatever, needs to stay behind. We can't risk the gunfire attracting any more to us."
Maggie listened to him finish and turned back around to face the fields again, wiping the tears falling freely down her cheeks and focused on the tiny form of her sister sprawled on the road in the distance. Her only remaining blood.
Eyes closed, she wrapped her arms around her middle and did something she hadn't done in ages.
She prayed.
I've had this entire scene playing out in my head for months. It was kind of a relief to finally get it down into words. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter.