"**" Skip the paragraph if needed x
Daryl POV. That is all :)
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"Put down your weapons and give us everything you have."
Daryl could feel Beth's presence behind him, her warmth tickling his shoulder they were standing so close. When the office door burst open he had moved quickly from his spot and stood protectively in front of her.
"Why would we do that?" He answered darkly.
He had his crossbow raised and eyes trained on the tall brunette in the middle. He seamed to be the leader of the group, holding a rifle directly at him.
Daryl could tell by the familiar look in their eyes the group had done this sort of thing before. Maybe this was how they were surviving... Killing, stealing, running.
Standing still as stone, his eyes did a quick sweep of the three of them. Baseball cap with shot gun. Creep with a knife. The young one trying not to act as terrified as he looked.
Easy.
"I said, put down your weapons and give us everything you have!" Baseball cap tried again. "Or your little girlfriend over there gets it."
Daryl bristled and his neck tensed, trying to keep his cool. "Not if I kill you first."
"Oooo sensitive."
This had all escalated pretty quickly but it was a relief to know what he was dealing with. He felt Beth move from behind him and prayed she wouldn't do anything irrational.
"We don't have anything, we're just passin through." she said firmly.
Keeping his eyes steady, he tried not to be affected by her soft sweet voice, so close to his ear, but he was impressed at how calm she sounded from behind him. He noticed how the creep to his left kept smiling at her and he inched back a little to be closer.
"We don't have time for this shit! Give us your stuff!"
"Nothing we got you can't find elsewhere boys." Daryl argued, shifting his gaze between knife boy and shotgun idiot. "Leave now and we'll be on our way."
He noticed the one to his left was dragging his weapon along the shelf as he walked, and Daryl gripped the base of his weapon tighter.
Prick.
Baseball cap reloaded the shotgun. "We want your bow. And your knife, and any food you have in your bags, alright? Or blondie gets a bullet right between the eyes."
"Don't make promises you can't keep." Daryl warned, taking a step forward, Beth following.
"Might have to teach them a lesson or two about manners. Ain't that right Jake?"
He felt Beth touch his arm again and he instantly made up his mind.
Fuck this.
As baseball cap sent a smug look to his right, his eyes momentarily off him, Daryl turned to the youngest boy and released an arrow right into his shoulder. There was only half a second of stunned silence as everyone reacted to the sudden screaming bloodied heap that collapsed in front of them.
Judging things would happen quickly, Daryl reached back and shoved a startled Beth towards ground.
"Stay down!" He warned her.
"Fuck! Jamie!"
The leader ran to the youngest boy just as Daryl lunged and grabbed the rifle. The two of them grappled with it for a moment but Daryl was stronger by miles. He pulled at it and tilted it upwards in one swift motion, and sent a single bullet straight towards the ceiling with a loud boom.
The man's tone then changed exponentially once he realised who he was dealing with.
"Please this is my brother, don't kill him!" He begged.
Ignoring him, Daryl grabbed the shotgun easily out of the mans hands and sent the end straight to the side of his temple, sending him unconscious to the ground. The kid beside him was still screaming bloody murder and clutching at his bleeding shoulder.
Perfect.
"Shut up!" Daryl warned him. "Pull it out or I will!"
The kid just rolled around on the floor and cried louder. Daryl kicked at him with his boot and retrieved the arrow. "You'll survive."
"GET OFF ME!" **
Daryl saw red and grabbed the shot gun, running down the aisle towards Beth's voice. He came to a stop around the corner to find her struggling on the ground, clawing and kicking at the dipshit with the knife. He had he planted himself on her waist, holding her down by her wrists. Fighting the urge to kill him with his bare hands, Daryl walked purposefully over to him and swung his arm back, landing a punch right into his face. He heard a satisfied crack and a pathetic scream but it wasn't enough. He threw another punch, then another, then a few more for good measure until his hand started to ache. He drew back his arm and saw his knuckles had blistered and were drawing blood, but he didn't care.
Rubbing the blood off his face, he stood up and grabbed fistfuls of the mans shirt and pulled him lifelessly along the ground behind him.
"Piece of shit." he spat out.
Daryl heard a growl escape his lips as he threw the disoriented slob back against an empty shelf. It instantly collapsed on top of him from the weight, with the rest soon falling like a line of white dominos.
He didn't have time to wonder if this was the best way to handle the situation, but he also felt like they had no other choice
When he turned around he saw Beth was still crouched on the ground and shaking like a leaf. Her knife was still in her hand ready to aim, and her bright blue eyes were alight with fire as she stared unseeingly at the man who just assaulted her.
Daryl caught her look with his own and shook his head, bending down to her level, he folded his hands around her shaking fingers, gripping them tightly.
"Not worth it, Beth." he said simply.
Thinking fast, Daryl did a quick scan of the area to find both men out cold, the youngest still whimpering in pain. It was as good of an ending as they were going to get.
"Come on, we're leavin."
He lent down and scooped her up, his arm firmly around her waist as he lifted her to stand. They walked unevenly for a moment before finding their footing, and he swung his bow over his other shoulder for less resistance.
Daryl noticed she was staring back at the scene as they ran through the front door and entered the street. Her hair was stained with blood she was still clutching at her knife.
"The kid'll be fine. Keep runin." he told her.
Beth nodded and kept going.
He noticed after a few seconds that she was limping slightly as they parted, and Daryl put his hand out for her to grab. Without hesitation, she accepted it.
As they headed deeper into the woods, Daryl could feel his chest tighten from all the adrenaline cursing through his veins and he took some steady deep breaths to calm himself. He looked around for Walkers every few seconds, but didn't want to think about how many. He just hoped Beth wasn't too affected by what that animal was trying to do to her, or freaked out at what he had just done to get them out. It was guaranteed they'd both be shaken up for a few hours regardless. You never really got used to things like that, just adapted to it.
"We can't go back to the Cabin. To easy to find." Daryl said over his shoulder.
"Ok." Beth agreed, her tone was high pitched and breathless.
He shook his head and kept going, bashing at low hanging branches so he could keep up his momentum with a struggling Beth close behind him. Fighting the urge to check if she had any bruises or other injuries from the attack, knowing they'd have time later. He just wanted to put as much distance between them and those assholes as possible.
Beth was quiet as they ran, and as much as he preferred it, hell, prayed for it even, it was starting to worry him.
"You ok?"
He didn't stop to look for fear it would slow them down, but he swore she squeezed his hand when she replied.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's keep moving."
If there was anything stopping him from going back into that store and pummelling the man who touched her into a bloodied pulp, it was her tiny hand in his. Anchoring him to her in such a way that he never wanted to let go.
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Daryl had run with Beth for what felt like an eternity again. Thankfully without any shadows. Not passing any cars, or ones they could siphon fuel from, they were once again met with miles and miles of forest ground beneath their feet. A dozen or so Walkers found their trail, but they fought them off easily and kept going. Beth took out the last three that Daryl had missed, creeping up behind him, but the exertion looked more like a release for her own personal reasons than anything else.
He didn't blame her. He'd done the same thing himself a number of times since the turn.
Night had fallen now, and they both sat in front of a small fire, miles away from the cabin. The orange and yellow flames were cracking and hissing near their feet, and a tin can of beans that was their dinner, sat empty and pathetically beside them.
Daryl stared into the fire, thinking of something to say but not knowing what. Reading women was not his specialty, but Beth hadn't said anything to him for over an hour and it was unnerving. A relief for him since he wasn't much of a talker, but now he was starting to feel concerned. He didn't want a repeat of the other night when they had held onto their emotions for far too long, only to explode at each other when it had gotten too much. He had no idea if she had been manhandled like that before, but he wasn't going to assume she'd get over it quickly if she had. He sill felt like saying nothing or not acknowledging it wasn't the appropriate thing to do, and all of a sudden he wished Maggie were here to deal with it.
Despite the fact they had never really gotten close, she'd probably know the right thing to say.
Beth was lying in front of him, curled up on her side as he sat behind her, his arms wrapped around his legs. He spent a lot of time reading people, getting a gage of someone's authenticity before he decided whether or not they were going to waste his time. Then after Beth came into his life, he noticed she had always wore her heart on her sleeve. Her innocent eyes being a clear indication of what type of person she was. He'd rarely bother with such flattering words, but she really was as patient and kind as they come. She may have screamed at him and called him out on his bullshit back at the cabin, but that whole situation had only escalated because of his own wrong doings than anything else.
Tonight however, he could tell there was something on her mind.
"Are you ok?" He asked gruffly.
The simple words felt inadequate, but it was better than nothing.
Beth was silent for a few long moments he thought she hadn't heard him. Finally she sighed and rolled over to face him.
"I know what you want to hear, and I'm ok." She said, giving him a half smile. "I know what he was trying to do."
Daryl stared at her, the light of the fire reflecting in his dark blue eyes. "Still shouldn't have happened." He murmured bitterly.
To his surprise, she gave him a blank look and shot up to standing, going over to her pile of things on the opposite side of the fire. Silently, she crouched down and retrieved her dark grey t-shirt, looking over her shoulder as she spoke.
"I hate what they did." She stated darkly, "But I can't say I wouldn't have stabbed them if you weren't there. I think...I think I wanted to."
His stomach tightened at her words. "Are you sure?" He asked slowly.
She looked around for a moment, mulling something over in her brain. When she stood up and looked at him, there was a glint in her eyes that was unsettling because it was Beth, but Daryl recognised it immediately. He knew the pain and fury there. More than she would ever know.
"I'm sure." She stared at him stonily, her voice horse.
Daryl looked down and nodded. He wasn't going to push her. She wasn't beating around the bush, and it was a relief that she wasn't crying, even though it was obvious she was heavily affected.
When he looked back up, she had turned around again and was taking off that yellow t-shirt she had found at the golf club.
He averted his eyes instinctively, because she only wearing a bra and her jeans, but there was a sudden thrill that pulled inside him from the image. Without knowing exactly why and unable to stop himself, he slowly found himself staring back. It wasn't like he wanted anything from her in this moment, he was more than happy to just take it in. At this point, he was lost for anything to say. He wondered if she could sense his eyes on her, but she gave no indication that she cared.
Daryl cleared his throat when his mind started to wander into dangerous territory, mentally slapping himself into next week. He had always been comforted and calmed by the silence of the woods, despite the opposite reaction his body was currently having to the girl...no woman, in front of him. She was still Maggie's little sister, he reprimanded himself, regardless of whatever brand new thoughts or feelings that had just entered his stupid brain. Turning his heart into a thumping mass of anxiety in his chest.
Wordlessly Beth put on the grey t-shirt, and seeing how it bellowed around her tummy, tied it into a knot above her stomach. Daryl noticed her black jeans were hanging loose on her hips and he worried absently that she had lost too much weight. All this running and no eating had caught up with them both, and he made a mental note that first thing tomorrow they should find water and a decent meal.
Turning to the fire she held out the yellow shirt by its collar, letting the bottom of its edges turn black and brown. She just stood there silently, waiting for the rest of the material to catch alight, her eyes glistening in the light of the fire.
It felt symbolic to him that as soon as she was taken advantage of in such a way, she would burn the shirt she had worn.
Daryl's eyes caught hers over the floating embers, and there was a silent acknowledgment between them that they understood exactly what she was doing and why.
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They sat silently next to each other for the next hour as Beth wrote in her journal and Daryl poked idly at the fire with a stick. He finally gave into sleep as the rush of the day caught up with him, barely able to keep his eyes open a second longer. He wasn't one for not keeping watch, but before night at fallen, Beth had surprised him by tying strings around their small permitter of forest. Cans and bottle tops she had found attached every few inches to warn them of any intruders.
He suspected he wouldn't sleep much anyway, but with a tired sigh, he fell back onto the ground and stretched out. Sliding a folded arm under his head to use as a pillow.
A few minutes later, Daryl heard Beth stirring beside him and felt her tiny cold hands tug gently at his free arm. He glanced down and saw that she was pulling it under the nape her neck, her back flush against his chest. He was too hesitant and awkward at first to respond quickly, overthinking it all again, but if this made her feel better, then so be it.
Maybe he was sleep deprived or hallucinating the entire thing, but he slowly turned and rested his hand over her hip. Beth shifted closer to him and held onto his hand, threading his fingers through hers. She sighed sleepily after a few moments, and he rested his face in the cook of her neck, her blonde curls tickling his nose.
For some reason their argument back at the cabin flashed back into his mind and he tried not to groan at the memory. Crying like some forlorn depressed puppy was not something he did willingly, but Beth hadn't thrown it back in his face the next morning like he had expected. She hadn't run away after what she saw him do today either and he was surprised because anyone else would have just run and left him there. Taking him as just another raging lunatic, barreling around a grocery store, clearly from the wrong side of the tracks. He wandered why all of this wasn't making her leave his side. Honestly he wouldn't have blamed her if she had. Yet here she was, hugging him again as if the action itself was like a gesture of a thank you. Daryl supposed he understood that part, but he guessed there was still so much more of Beth to discover than he initially thought. She was surprising him now that they weren't separated by their jobs at the prison, only really keeping to their own areas and personal duties, not having much to do with each other outside the group's dynamics.
Until now.
As much as Daryl was still confused and curious about her, the fact she was still here despite everything said more than words ever could. He felt grateful to her that she trusted him as much as she did and wondered absently if this is what it was like to feel safe with someone. He had never really felt safe around anyone before and he wasn't sure how to feel about that notion just yet, but hugging her like this wasn't exactly an unpleasant feeling.
The fire was still burning in front of them as they drifted off, but it was less orange now and turning to smoke.
Beth had initiated the contact, and he could only assume from everything that happened, that maybe he was making her feel safe too?
Even if it were only for few moments...
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