Take Me as I Am
Chapter 4
[Grace of God]

'… Save me… save me please…'

She spun on her heels to come be greeted by the decomposing body of the dead Father Gabriel.

'You turned your back on me…'

She shook her head vehemently, unable to voice her words at this given moment. She took a step back, her arms groping the air around her hoping to find something of use. Nothing. Darkness surrounded her, as dark as the night with no moon. Yet, the dead Father's face had light shining upon him—as if the sun was directly above them.

His decaying face inched closer and closer, but where can she run to? Where can she hide? There was nothing around that could help her. She shrieked frightfully as his face zipped right in front of her, their nose only a couple of inches apart. Frozen in shock and fear, she could do nothing but whimper and stare at his dead, soulless dark eyes.

'You're going to Hell, Bethany Greene…'

"No!" she cried, her voice was etched with doubt. "I ain't going to die… I'm not going to... No!"

'Oh… but you're so wrong! You're already dead!'

His face began to bounce around her, taunting her. His sinister laughter filled her ears, and her soul with doubt and fear. She crouched down onto the ground, her hands covering her ears hoping to drown out his jeering words.

'No one can save you now… you're going to Hell, Bethany Greene!'

In the darkness, she felt the ground beneath her feet give and suddenly, the sensation of falling overtook her body. She screeched in fear, unconsciously screaming his name before she felt the cold hands of death gripping around her neck as she fell.

"DARYL!"

-0-

"BETH!" He knew she was having some sort of nightmare, but that didn't stop him from getting irritated at her thrashing and whimpering while he was carrying her on his back. Like some sort of pack ass. In the past few minutes, her thrashing had gone from little cottontail kicks to full-blown kangaroo crazy.

Because obviously, having a huge crossbow hanging across his chest wasn't strenuous enough. Or an over-hundred pound girl on his back, but that said girl was kicking the hell out of his thighs. And he has had enough.

He jerked to a stop in midstride, his mind made up on dropping her flat on her ass—that is until he heard her soft sob for help and suddenly went still.

"… Daryl… please… save…"

He felt her hot tears drip onto the bare skin of his neck where her head rested, instantly regretting his would-be hasty decision in harming her. It alarmed him that she had grown limp so suddenly after nearly half an hour of thrashing about. "Beth?"

He turned his head and tried to catch a glimpse of her face from the corner of his eyes. All he saw was the mess of blond hair on his shoulders. "Beth!" he tried again, this time he jostled her on his back in attempts to rouse a response from her. He started to panic, swearing loudly when he realized she was hardly breathing.

Daryl didn't care to, nor want to, explain what was going on when he got several curious glances his way when he raced to a nearby tree, gently setting Beth onto the foliage covered ground. "Beth?" he called out her name with a sense of urgency—almost a plea. He gripped the sides of her shoulders, and like earlier in the tunnel, he shook her.

Her head bobbed with the action, but she remained unconscious. He saw her grimace in her sleep, and almost immediately a series of choking sounds emitted from her throat. Her lips seemingly looked paler by the second.

"FUCK!" Daryl bellowed in frustration. He desperately looked around when the men gathered around him—they weren't going to do anything for him. Frantic, his eyes darted to the trees, to Beth's pale face, and to the sky, hoping to find an answer. When he looked at Beth the fourth time, he thought he saw blue in her lips. "God damnit, Beth!"

His first instant thought was to slap her back into their world, as he did in the tunnel. But what good would brute force do for something that seemed to be suffocating from nothing, and he immediately decided against hurting her further. There was only one way he knew of that could save her. Without wasting another second, he settled her onto her back, quickly pressing his ear against her chest to listen for her heart beat. It was fast, rapid—almost frantic.

One hand pinched her nose closed between his thumb and index finger; the other tilted her chin up towards the sky. He sucked in a gust of air before bending over and roughly covered her mouth with his. He breathed for her. Once… twice… three times… Yet she remained choking in her state of unconsciousness. He tried again, inhaling deeply; he once again covered her lips with his.

After the sixth breath, he heard Joe speak.

"That's enough son… I don't think she's gonna make it. It's best we just put her out of her misery."

"Any of you son-a-bitches touch her, I'm gonna skin you alive," Daryl snarled, his focus still on Beth. "She ain't gone here yet! I ain't done with her!" In his final desperation, Daryl pulled her up by her arms and rested her back against the tree once more. He pinched off her nose with one hand, the other wrapped around her neck, gently squeezing it. He took in several deep gusts of air, and readied himself to try and resuscitate her. He knew this position wasn't the optimal position, but it allowed him better access to her mouth in the long term. And he was willing to do this for hours, if need be. He wasn't going to give up on her.

He dived in again, covering her mouth with his and began pushing air into her lungs. Once, twice, and a third. He pulled back gasping for his own air only for a few seconds before breathing for her again. The world felt as if it was at a standstill around him. Nothing mattered more to him than saving her life. By his fourth attempt, he was growing increasingly lightheaded—his own body starved for oxygen.

Grown men don't cry.

Grown Dixon men certainly won't cry.

But damn did his heart ache when the doubt of her reviving struck a nerve. Both his hands fell onto her shoulders, his head slumped forward in defeat. He hung his head low, touching his forehead to hers. For as long as he remembered, he never did pray or had any faith in God. But at this moment, Daryl clenched his eyes shut and prayed.

Listen, God… J. C… Jesus Christ… If you're listening up there… you ain't gonna take her from me. You can't. She's the only person closest to a family I have left. I don't even know if the others are alive… but if by your Grace that they're not… the least you can do is spare her. Please… damnit… I'm begging you. Please…

Dixon men don't cry… but that thought didn't stop the sparse tears that slipped from the corner of his eyes despite his self-control. He felt Beth go silent altogether—her gasping and choking had stopped. A part of him wondered if she died, and that she will be turning into one of the walkers and wake up to eat his flesh. God, how much he would hate to put a knife through her skull. He didn't know if he could it to her. Killing Merle, walker Merle, was the hardest thing he ever did in his life. He didn't know if he had the strength to put an end to Beth as well.

Muddled by his thoughts, he nearly missed the gasp of air and the sudden shake of her body— a low groan emitted from her throat. His hands instinctively released her and sank backwards onto his heels. He found the handle of his knife, ready to defend. A sickening thought of removing her jaw and arms and putting a collar around her popped through his head. If it came to that, he would do it… For all he knew, she was the last piece of what was family from the prison.

His steel blue eyes flew up to her face, expecting to see the clouded, dull grey eyes of a dead walker. Instead, red teary crystal blue eyes stared right back at him.

"Daryl…" he heard her hoarse, alive voice pass through her lips.

He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding, "What… what the hell?!" A wave of relief rushed over him, by the grace of God, he supposed, Beth lived. He released the grip to his knife and reached out in front of him and pulled her flushed into his chest. His arms encircled around her shoulders and laid his chin atop the crown of her head. "What the hell was that Beth?" he scolded, the anger missing from his voice.

"I… I couldn't wake up… I knew I was dreaming but," she sobbed, her arms gripped the back of his vest in a tight fist. "But I couldn't wake up… it felt like someone was choking me… he was telling me that I was going to Hell… and for a moment there…" she pulled away from his embrace and looked into his eyes. "… I believed him. I almost gave up. I almost…"

Daryl shushed her, brushing her tears off with the back of his hand. He brushed back her unbound blond hair from her face, thanking the Lord silently. He handed her his container of water and motioned for her to drink. "Yeah, for a second there I thought you were gonna come back and try 'nd bite me," he cracked a watery grin on his face, trying to lighten her mood.

He supposed it worked when a small tinkling laugh, almost inaudible, escaped her lips. "Good thing too," she began; her eyes twinkled with mild mirth, and handed the bottle back to him. "I don't think you will taste very appetizing."

For a moment there, everything felt normal. Almost… good.

That is, until he heard the men behind him snicker and whisper snide comments amongst themselves. "I bet she knows what she's talking about there, huh?"

Daryl saw Beth's disposition change from relaxed to uncertain, alert and almost frightened. She had every mind to be scared. She was the only female for possible miles around, amongst a group of men who undoubtingly know the taste of a woman. He looked straight into her eyes, his gaze firm and unyielding. He hoped she would get his message that he was going to protect her without having him to say it. He saw the light bob of her head, and the small reassuring smile on her face.

She was just too damn trusting sometimes, he couldn't help but think.

"Hey now folks, we don't use that kind of language around the presence of a lady," Joe spoke up, taking a step closer to Daryl and Beth.

Daryl immediately tensed, and positioned himself for a fight.

"Whoa, now there, Daryl. Easy does it. I ain't gonna hurt you or the girl. I don't go that way," he tilted his chin upwards, with pride and dignity. "I'm suggesting we make camp around here somewhere since the little lady had such an adventure. I'm getting beat too. Is she up for some walking?" he nodded at Beth.

Daryl nodded, and gruffly answered him, "Yeah, she is."

"Well, alright then. Let's move out then folks," Joe turned his back to Daryl and began heading back towards direction of the railroad tracks.

Daryl didn't bother to wait for the men to follow. He didn't want to be behind the group. In order to protect her from the dangers of men, he had to make a statement. He turned around and crouched in front of Beth, looking into her eyes. "Can you walk?" he whispered in his deep baritone husk.

He saw her put her injured foot on the ground and tried to push herself up, but was only partially successful.

"It's sore, but I think I can manage," she whispered to him.

Daryl nodded, stepped beside her and slipped an arm around her slim waist and had her wrap her arm around his shoulder. He hauled her up on her feet, his body supporting her injured ankle. He felt her knees give slightly from the sudden increase of weight around his shoulders. "Are you sure you can walk? I can carry you on my back."

She flashed him a tired grin, "I think I'm done with sleeping for the next few days… let's get going."

"Hm," he nodded. With him supporting most of her weight from her injured ankle, they made their way to the middle of the group; behind Joe but in front of the other guys. As they got onto the tracks, Daryl lowered his hand from her waist to the swell of her hips and pulled her closer to him. "Play along," he whispered low enough for her to hear only, keeping his gaze forward.

"'Kay," she whispered. "I trust you, Daryl."

/

JR- It was a bit slow in the beginning, but at least they're together now!

I'm going to amend my first chapter Author note about Beth's age. I'll go in and fix it later. The first chapter she'll be 19, and 18 from the second. Sorry folks, I got my ages all confused.

Thanks for the reviews so far everyone, and thanks for reading this story of mine. I don't personally answer reviews through PM but if there are questions or concerns expressed in reviews, I will post them up with the following chapters in my end Author Notes. But feel free to PM me if you like!

I kinda-secretly-dream-wish for more reviews at night!

Please review and thanks for reading!