**WARNINGS: Animal death, blood and gore.
For some people adrenaline made everything turn into a fast and frantic blur once but for Daryl it was the opposite. For him, everything seemed to slow. His focus became even tighter, his vision sharper; sometimes it was like he could almost feel himself moving in slow motion as he picked apart the scene, just as he was doing right now.
Glenn was on the ground with the largest of the red wolves pinning him down, paws on either of his shoulders and jaws snapping at his mouth. The man was alive, he knew that much because despite the blood staining the wolf's muzzle, Glenn was moving beneath it and fighting to hold the creature back. But just past him the other two wolves were coming slowly forward with their ears back and their teeth bared, snarling and snapping, occasionally making lunging motions at Michonne and Maggie as if to try and get them to bolt, or move back from where they stood on either side of Glenn. He knew in a flash what they were doing; trying to separate the weak and injured person from the group so they could take him down together. Neither of the women drew back, though; he could see Michonne raising her blade and Maggie pointing her gun at the wolf that had pinned down Glenn as she cried out for him to try and hold it still.
Daryl saw it all in only a few seconds and then his focus shifted; first to Beth, holding her crossbow steady next to him and then, with a dropping sensation in his gut, to the growls coming from behind them. He turned around, but his attempt to move slowly and not draw attention only meant that he was halfway turned when he saw the bunching muscles and sharp teeth and fur, flying through the air-
-but not at him. At Beth. The wolf's paws slammed into her back and drove her to her knees and then to the ground with a 'crack' of her head to the pavement. Her crossbow went tumbling away from her as the wolf pinned her down, paws at her shoulders, breathing out a low growl against the back of her neck. Despite the clarity with which he saw everything- or perhaps because of it- Daryl felt like he was moving through soup. The creature bared its teeth, ready to bite- to bite into his Beth, to tear her flesh and make her bleed- and a growl rumbled in Daryl's chest to rival the beast's own as he lifted his food and slammed it hard into the wolf's back.
The creature yelped as it toppled off her but recovered quickly, whirling around with a snarl and a flash of teeth just in time for Daryl to raise his crossbow and shoot it right through the eye, sending it tumbling to the ground. He barely spared the wolf another glance; his eyes were on Beth lying on the ground beneath him. All he wanted to do was drop to his knees and pull her into his arms to make sure she was okay, but some part of him was still aware of the growls around him, mingling with the cries of Maggie and Glenn. He knew it wasn't save, he knew that, but it took almost all of his self control not to reach for her.
He tore his gaze away from Beth just in time to see Michonne mimic his own movements, striding forward and slamming her foot into the side of the wolf currently pinning down Glenn. This one was quicker; it whirled in a blur of fur and snapping teeth, very nearly getting Michonne's leg before she leapt gracefully back and then spun around, a flash of steel singing through the air followed by a bright splash of blood as she scored her blade along the side of the wolf's lean frame.
With a sharp yelp the wolf turned tail and ran, blood splattering in it's trail. Outnumbered, their leader fleeing, the remaining two wolves gave one last frantic snarl and took off running after their wounded pack leader. In seconds Daryl was dropping to his knees beside Beth, who still lay face down on the ground. Blood pounded so hard in his veins that he could hear it, roaring in his ears. Adrenaline and fear made his hands shake as he reached for her, afraid to touch her, afraid to find out she was hurt, or worse (dead gone, lost her, lost her again, it's all your fault, you let her get hurt taken violated killed gone gone gone), and he was practically praying: please let her be okay.
And then just as his fingers brushed hesitantly over her back, she groaned and shifted beneath him. His 'fucking god' and 'Beth' were all exhaled in a rush as he reached for her, running one hand gingerly over the back of her head. "Beth, you hear me? Don't try an' move too fast, okay? Hit your head and-" She turned slowly to look at him, one cheek pressed on the pavement. There was blood on her forehead and dripping slightly down her cheek and the sight of it had his stomach lurching again.
But she fixed her hazy eyes on him and of course her first damn thought was to reassure him, "M'okay. M'okay Daryl. Just… check Glenn. Check on Glenn." The thought unfurled in his mind again, as it had so many times before: she was too damn good for this shitty world.
He looked up, but Michonne was already there on her knees with Maggie next to Glenn, who he could faintly see stirring. "I got 'em," Michonne murmured, worry heavy in her dark eyes. "You check your girl."
His girl. His girl laying there on the ground all splayed out, blood on her hair again because he hadn't been fast enough, hadn't protected her. Again. In his mind he saw that car, flying away from him with her in it. He saw her standing in the middle of that damn hallway, slamming scissors into the cop's neck. He saw the red flash of her blood as she crumbled to the floor just like she was now, splayed there like a broken doll. No. Not a doll, not broken, not his Beth. She cut into his thoughts by reaching for him, hands scrambling across his knee and brushing across the hole in his jeans before curling against his thigh. "Daryl-"
Her choked voice had his focus instantly on her again, right there in the present. "S'okay," he murmured back, determined to be the one to reassureher again. "I got you, Beth. C'mere, let's go nice and careful-like, alright?" His hands were more gentle than they'd ever been, except maybe for those days in the hospital when he'd touched her like she was porcelain, like if he gripped her hand too hard she might shatter, might drift back into that coma and float away from him forever.
Daryl reached down and helped her up slowly, only enough to pull her into his lap. Despite the care he took to go slow and be gentle, Beth whimpered as her head lolled a bit, and he bit back a curse at himself as he shifted his hand instead to cradle her against his chest. "There, I got ya. Better?"
"Mhm." She spoke carefully but her eyes seemed focused, despite the blood running down her cheek and the scrap on the opposite side. "Head hurts, though…"
"I know, I know. You hit your head on the ground, when it pounced on you." He brushed his hand through her hair where it had come loose from her ponytail, and gently cupped the back of her head. "But you hurt anywhere else? Did it get you, did it bite you?"
It wasn't the first time any of them'd had to ask that, but he'd never expected it to be like this. Daryl couldn't help but imagine the far worse scenario, the panic and pain and desperation he'd feel right now if it had been a walker, instead of a wolf. Funny how he could almost be relieved that it has just been a wolf.
"No…" Her voice was slow but not slurred, and he knew that was good. "Just my head. It didn't… didn't get me anywhere else, but… but Glenn."
Her insistence on focusing on someone other than her was both endearing and frustrating. It reminded him of how damn much he loved her (and why), but it made him want to curse because he just wanted to take her away somewhere so he could take care of her and help her heal without him needed to worry about everyone else. But he knew she was right. He knew he couldn't just ignore Glenn, or Maggie and Michonne either.
With Beth still cradled in his arms he turned to look over at them again, frowning when Michonne gave a slow, worried shake of her head. "He's got a bad bite on his forearm. Pretty deep. Gonna need some supplies to treat it, antibiotics for the risk of infection…"
"Rabies." Beth spoke up in a rasp from Daryl's arms, but licked her lips and focused more clearly as she repeated, "Rabies. Wild wolves, they might have… rabies. He needs a shot, they have one… can't remember what it's called but Daddy had to give Otis one, once, after some rabid coyote got into the chicken coop and… you're supposed to do it right away if you can... Maggie knows. Maggie."
Beth's older sister was kneeling beside her husband much like Daryl had knelt beside Beth, only she had his head in her lap and was running her fingers through his hair. He could see the panic on her face, the same desperate worry he felt running through his own veins, but when Maggie looked up and met her sister's eyes he saw her struggling to get control.
"He needs rabies medicine. That shot Daddy gave… Otis…" Beth paused to swallow, but as far as he could tell she wasn't drifting at all and her voice still wasn't slurring, so he didn't think she was concussed. That was good. After a moment she went on, "You gotta find it. There has to be a doctor's office in this town, maybe even a vet might have it just in case…"
Beside them, Michonne was looking around worriedly. "First we need to get out of the street. They might come back, or worse…"
He knew she was right, and the thought chilled him. The blood on the street might attract the wolves back, or worse, walkers. "Gonna lift you up," he murmured to Beth, who nodded slowly and shifted to wrap her arms around his neck. She leaned her head against him as he gripped her carefully and rose slowly to his feet with her cradled in his arms. "Feelin' okay?" He asked again, worry saturating his voice as he looked down at the precious burden in his arms until her blue eyes met his and she slowly nodded again. "M'alright," she breathed out, "Feelin' a little dizzy but only a little. My head hurts a lot."
"You ain't queasy? Hear any, uh… ringin' in your ears or like you're confused or nothin?" When she shook her head immediately, Daryl sighed. "Might not be a concussion, then…"
"How do you know so much about concussions?" Michonne asked as she and Maggie carefully helped Glenn sit up, and slid their arms under his to help him stand.
"Merle," Daryl remarked lowly, tearing his gaze away from Beth but only for a moment. "Was always gettin' into fights, gettin' himself punched in the head."
"Hm." Michonne flashed him a look. "Explains a lot about Merle…"
To his surprise the levity was just what he needed to ease a hint of his tension, though he was still on edge and filled with concern for Beth cradled in his arms, blood running down her cheek again so similar to the way it had before, back at the hospital. Carrying her like this was all too similar and he could feel that same sense of panic deep inside that he had then, terrified that he was about to lose her. He had to get her to safety, had to clean her up and find her pain pills.. and Glenn's medicine too, of course, but there was no denying who he was most concerned for.
He turned around slowly with Beth in his arms, gaze sweeping over the nearby houses and buildings. Anything with open doors he discarded, too worried that walkers or wild creatures may have gotten inside and made it unsafe. One caught his eye; the first floor looked to be a small Mom and Pop type grocery store with the door and windows boarded up, but judging by the glimpse of curtains he could see on the second floor windows there was possibly a residence up there.
Beside him, Maggie and Michonne were standing up now with Glenn slung between them, and when Michonne met his gaze Daryl nodded with his chin towards a building across the street. "Look good to you?" He could see Michonne's gaze taking in the same things his had, from the boarded up windows to the closed door, to the second floor, and when she turned to him and nodded back they headed right for it.
It took longer than he'd have liked for the women to get Glenn across the street, half-dragging him between them as he struggled to keep upright. For Daryl, carrying Beth in his arms was easy; even with her holding her crossbow she weighed almost nothing. (Almost, he reminded himself, because Beth was far from nothing. She was light but she had a weight in his arms, a warm weight, an alive weight.)
His thoughts had him instinctively cradling her closer as they reached the door to the little shop. With Maggie helping to prop Glenn against the wall, Michonne slipped free to check the door. Daryl watched, his fingers curling nervously into Beth's side as Michonne gently rattled the doorknob. "Locked," she muttered, before turning her katana around to line up the butt of it with one of the square glass panels set into the door. With a swift sharp movement she broke the glass and knocked it out with the handle of her blade. They all paused, ears tuned for the sound of movement inside or around them, for walkers- or anything else- drawn to the sound of the shattered glass.
Each one of them had an internal clock in their mind, ticking down the seconds until they deemed it was probably safe: 5 seconds, 10, 15, 20… Though each of them knew just as well that these days you could never be assured of safety, they still did it anyway, still listened to the slow ticking instinct in their mind, some remnant instinct of humanity's past that was suddenly relevant once again. After a few moments Michonne reached through the hole in the door and quickly curved her hand down until she found the lock, turned it, and pulled back to open the door.
They straddled the line of caution and worry; all of them wanting to get inside as quickly as they could but none of them wanting to risk another attack. Michonne went in first, and despite his desire to find safety within, Daryl didn't follow until he heard her softly call out from inside, "Clear."
Only then did he step through with Beth in his arms, held close as they moved into the dark shop that was only dimly lit by the sunlight that filtered in through the cracks between the boards covering the dusty windows. Dust motes glinted in the faint streaks of sunlight and he peered through them, trying to make shapes in the gloom beyond. Dimly he could see a few small half-aisles covered in shadowy shapes, and to the right he saw the solid structure of a counter, with what looked like an old-fashioned cash register on top.
"We can check for supplies later," Michonne remarked as Maggie came in behind them with Glenn supported against her side. "We need to get them upstairs first. I'll go ahead. Don't wanna get stuck on the stairs with them injured."
He felt bad, letting Michonne go alone, but he knew the woman could handle herself better than anyone and besides, too many people in a small space would probably make things worse. Still, it was a tense five minutes or so, the four of them huddled down below, Daryl holding Beth and Maggie leaning against the counter with Glenn, while they listened to the creaks of Michonne's footsteps above and tried not to anticipate the sound of anything worse.
"Found the couple who must have owned this place," Michonne said softly as she came back down the stairs. "They… didn't turn." He knew instantly what that meant; knew that the couple had ended their lives presumably with a bullet to the head before they could get ended by something else. Michonne cast a quick glance at Beth, but didn't say anything else except to briefly add, "Closed the door to the room they were in, but there's another room we can use. Living room, has two couches. You go first, I'll help Maggie with Glenn."
Somehow Maggie and Michonne managed to get Glenn up the stairs, though it was slow going. Daryl had a much easier time of it though he went slowly, cradling Beth gently and safely in his arms. She'd been so quiet since they'd gotten inside but he knew she was still awake at least because she blinked up at him when he settled her gently on the small, dusty sofa. "You feelin' okay still?"
"Yeah." Beth's voice was soft, and he studied her intently, making sure she still wasn't slurring her words as she went on, "I'm okay, promise. Just hurts, that's all. I feel better now that I'm laying down, though."
Her eyes held his for a moment and then her gaze flicked to Glenn, but when he saw her open her mouth to speak Daryl cut her off with a low murmur, "Don't tell me I need to go check on Glenn."
"But you do," Beth said with a soft, understanding smile, "And you know you do." She reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair, drawing him down until his forehead rested against hers. "I'm okay. I'll be right here. Besides, checking on him will make me feel better, see? It's a win/win."
A win/win would be if none of them had been injured, a win/win would have been if he hadn't lead them into a town full of wolves, but he couldn't change that now and Daryl knew she was right. Still it took him a moment to pull back from her, to draw away from her side and cross reluctantly to the other couch where Glenn was laid out, Maggie on her knees in front of him ripping his shirt to get better access to the wolf bite on his arm.
The one thing that kept him from turning right back to Beth's side was her voice, calling out instructions, "You need to clean the wound. Water, for now, but if they've got soap that'll help, too. And gauze, anything to press down and slow the bleeding."
"I'll go check their bathroom." Michonne turned and left, leaving Daryl and Maggie face to face with the gory wound on Glenn's arm where the wolf had bit down and, if the flashes he'd seen were right, probably begun to shake and whip his head roughly too, which only would have torn Glenn's flesh even more.
For his part Glenn was holding up well, breathing in and out raggedly but holding onto consciousness. Somehow in the face of it all he even managed to joke, "Can't stop nursing even when you're injured too, huh Beth?"
"You shush," she teased right back from her couch.
"Nah, I know it's just cause you love me now," Glenn said weakly as his head tipped back against the couch pillow.
"Well you're annoying, but you're my brother, so…" The sound of Beth shifting to sit up a bit on the couch had Daryl instantly turning to give her a warning look. She matched it with an eyebrow raise of her own, a silent 'what?' to his 'be careful!' that lasted until he sighed, shook his head and turned back to Glenn.
By the time they'd used some of their water to clean Glenn's wound, Michonne was back with a an unopened box of soap, a hand-towel, and a half-empty box of gauze pads. "We're in luck," she remarked, though there was a quirk to the corner of her lips that they all understood. So many odd things were considered luck these days.
Daryl helped Maggie to clean Glenn's wound as best they could with the soap, water, and towel, but his gaze strayed in between to Beth whenever it could. Each time she made sure to hold his eyes and give him a reassuring smile, and he knew rationally that she was right there, safe and okay, but as soon as Maggie was pressing the gauze down on his wound Daryl was up and moving back to her side.
Brushing aside her protests, he used the other end of the towel and the rest of the soapy water to gently clean away the blood from her wound. Each time she winced he stilled, only going on when he was sure she was okay. His touch was gentle, almost tender, never looking away from her as for a few moments, the entire world faded down to the woman lying beneath him as he gently brushed away the blood that stained her pale skin. He worked intently, as if by wiping away the blood he could wash away not only the signs, but her actual injury and the guilt he felt deep inside that it was his fault.
"How does it look?" Her whispered words broke into his concentration, making him frown for a moment before he shifted focus.
"S'okay. Not too bad, anyway."
"Be honest, should I count on adding another scar to my collection?"
He knew she was joking, but that furrow deepened in his brow as Daryl shifted his hand, allowing his thumb to graze the scar on her cheek for a moment. "Don't think so," he murmured softly. He swallowed hard, pushing away thoughts of how she'd gotten her previous wounds, trying to ignore the whispering doubtful voices that claimed all of them were his fault for not being there when she needed him. Trying to focus on her lighter voice, he forced himself to joke, "Not that you couldn't pull off another scar if you had to."
"Daryl…" Beth nudged his hand out of the way for a moment and reached up to cup his cheek. "I know that look in your eyes. This isn't your fault, okay? Don't start feeling guilty on me. Don't blame yourself for this. You didn't hurt me." She was so close he could feel her exhaled sigh, even as he felt her thumb caress his cheek as she whispered again, "This isn't your fault, Daryl Dixon."
He opened his mouth to reply, but whether he was going to protest or agree, it was cut off when Michonne broke in behind them. "Don't mean to interrupt, but Beth was right before. We need to try and find that medication as soon as possible. Antibiotics, but especially the rabies shot. And we need to find it as fast as possible."
"Maggie needs to go." Beth's words, though soft-spoken, instantly had Maggie looking up at her as if to protest. "I'm sorry Maggie, but it has to be you. You're the only one beside me who would know the right medicine when you see it, and-" She broke off for a moment and Daryl had just enough time to wonder why she was so hesitant before she was going on, "And Daryl should go with you."
"No." His reply was low, rough, and immediate as he looked down into her big blue eyes and shook his head. "No. I ain't leavin' you, Beth."
"You gotta," she breathed out, a hint of plaintiveness seeping into her voice before she slowly lifted her hand to cup his cheek again. "Someone has to go with Maggie, and it should be you. You're the best spotter, and with your bow you can take out any walkers or wolves from a distance, if you need to. Plus you've got that gut instinct of yours, I dunno how it works so well, but if anyone can find what we need quick, it'll be you. It's never let us down before, has it?"
He wanted to protest that it had, that his gut had lost him her once already, almost, but even he knew that wasn't true. It was his distraction that had lost her, in the end, his gut had lead him right back to her again, even if it had seemed to take forever. Still, he couldn't help protesting, "Beth-" Again his focus narrowed down just to her, as the thought of being separated from her at all, let alone when she was injured, made his stomach wrench. It wasn't like they hadn't been apart since being reunited at the hospital, but it had been rare and never like this, and the thought of leaving her here hurt, knowing something could happen to either of them while they were separated…
"Do it for me," she murmured as her thumb brushed over the rough stubble of his cheek. "Go get me the pain pills I need, go get my brother-in-law the medicine he needs, too. Please, Daryl? I promise, I'll be here waiting for you. And I know you'll come back to me." She drew him in again till their foreheads pressed together, and when he inhaled it was almost like he was drawing her breath and her words into his chest, "We always come back to each other, remember?"
He remembered. He just hoped this wouldn't be the one time it failed them. But the memory of all the times they'd found their way back to each other- the hospital, the Hunters, Richmond, the campsite cliff- flashed through his mind, and that was what had him nodding in agreement in the end, albeit reluctantly.
"I'm not gonna even say goodbye," she whispered, but despite the people behind them Beth took the moment to brush her lips against his, and thankfully the warmth of her mouth chased away the lingering whispered memory of once-spoken words- I hate goodbyes.
When he rose to his feet, he didn't even have to look at Michonne before she was already saying, "Don't worry. I'll keep them both safe."
"And hey," Beth murmured, dragging her crossbow into her arms on the couch. "I'm not helpless, see?"
Daryl waited for Maggie to extricate herself from Glenn's side, before the both of them made their way to the door. "We'll try to be back within an hour, okay?"
"Yeah yeah, okay." Glenn's raspy voice cut in from the couch where he attempted to add some levity to the situation again by teasing, "Get me some McDonalds while you're out, okay?"
"I could go for a burger, myself," Michonne added with a smile as she leaned against Beth's couch and slid her katana into it's sheath, before pointedly going on, "Pickles, don't forget."
"Large fries for me! And a coke, please." That was Beth, her joking words actually putting a faint hint of a smile on his lips before he shook his head and followed Maggie out of the living room and back down the stairs with only one last lingering look over his shoulder. It was the smile she gave him that he knew would drive him to get back to her as quickly as possible.
...
Despite how calm she had been with Daryl, Beth was more anxious than she let on about the two of them separating. It must have showed on her face the moment he left, because only a few seconds after the door closed Michonne had pushed off the side of the couch and rounded it to sit carefully down on the coffee table instead.
"You okay?"
Beth ran her fingers lightly near her cleaned wound and gave a faint smile. "Everyone keeps asking me that. Glenn's the one that got bit by a wolf..."
"Yeah," Glenn remarked, sighing as he settled back against the couch with a faint wince. "But you've got those big blue doe eyes, a guy like me just can't compete."
Though Michonne snorted faintly, when she looked back down at Beth she murmured, "You know I didn't mean like that, right?"
"I know." Beth was quiet for a moment as she shifted a bit, sitting up against a pillow on the couch and settling the weight of her crossbow into her lap. "I uh… I just hate the thought of him out there without me, that's all. I know he can take care of himself, heck, if there's anyone I thought who could make it through a herd of walkers on his own and find his way back, it'd be Daryl, it's just…"
"If it had to happen, you'd rather you were at his side?" Michonne ventured the question thoughtfully, and their eyes met for a moment before Beth nodded her agreement.
"Yeah, exactly." She kept her eyes open, tried not to imagine him out there without her, tried not to think about how every door he opened might have a walker behind it, that she wouldn't be at his side to help him, to be the partner she was so used to being. "It's not that I don't think he's strong. I just think we're stronger together. I think we all are." Beth added that last emphatically. Despite the anxiety she got sometimes when the confines of the group got too small, despite how sometimes she had wished she and Daryl could just walk off into the woods and be alone, just the two of them… she knew that their group was stronger together, stronger when they were working together to keep each other safe.
"We are," Michonne agreed as her hands settled on her lap. "It's part of why you were right, to push for us to come back here, to find a place to settle. It's what we need. Not just some place to run to, to try to fit ourselves into… some place to make our own." Hearing so many words come from the often-quiet woman put a soft smile on Beth's lips, though she resisted the urge to reach out and squeeze Michonne's hand. Sometimes, she could be just as private about touch as Daryl was.
"I guess we can add wolves to the list of things to plan for, once we find a place." Beth shook her head. "I feel stupid for not even considering things like wild animals, you know?"
"Don't be, none of us thought of it." Michonne settled back slightly, stretching out her legs as she went on, "Maybe in some ways, we're still thinking too much like we used to. We're still thinking about that old food-chain, with us at the very top and everything else below us. It's hard to remember that it might have changed. That we might not be the top, anymore."
"It's scary to think about," Beth admitted in a murmur.
"You're tellin' me," Glenn chimed in from opposite her, where he was gently holding onto his arm. The sight of him had Beth's brow furrowing; she could see the blood beginning to stain through his gauze. "We'd better get something else to put pressure on that and stop the bleeding…"
Michonne went and fetched another towel, folding it up and pressing it down against Glenn's wound until he hissed. "Shit. Sorry." He groaned. "I don't know if I should ask you what the symptoms of rabies are or not, Beth."
"Probably not the best idea," Beth remarked with a faint, if worried smile.
"Is it gonna terrify me or something?"
"No. But you know, I don't wanna put it into your head. That way, if you show any of the symptoms I'll know it's real and not just you thinking you have it because I told you what to expect."
"Gee, thanks…" He frowned, and then chuckled. "I think."
"Don't worry," Michonne said softly as she kept pressure on the wound. "They'll be back soon."
Beth's gaze drifted to the window, as if she could stare hard enough to see right through the wall around it and find them, wherever they were. Though she was mostly there on the couch focusing on the window, in a small part of her mind she was back on the farm, sitting on her father's desk in his study, listening to him talk about coyotes and rabies, and how you could tell if an animal or a human was infected. While she kept watch and distantly listened to Michonne and Glenn talking behind her, Beth ran over the symptoms of rabies, hearing her Daddy's words vaguely whispering through her mind: Tingling sensation around the wound, dizziness, nausea, fever, headache...
The symptoms wouldn't show for a day or so, but they needed to get to it before them. If they weren't quick enough, they wouldn't be able to stop it spreading… and if Glenn had rabies, that would be it. There was no cure once the infection took hold. Just thinking that sounded so much like the walker bites that Beth felt a tendril of fear uncoil within her. She turned slowly to look at Glenn, and felt worry for him twine through her just as her worry for Daryl did, too. He had to be okay, he just had to. For all of their sakes, sure, but for Maggie's, especially. Now that she had Daryl, Beth could imagine just what it would feel like for Maggie to lose her husband. The pain of that was something Beth didn't even want to imagine, let alone experience. Beth would do just about anything to stop that from happening and she knew Daryl would, too.
Dimly she heard Michonne murmur again that they'd be back soon, and though she stopped herself from saying it out loud, in her mind all she could think was: I hope so.
Just like she hoped they'd come back with the medicine Glenn needed, because otherwise… No, she wouldn't think about that. Daryl was out there looking, with Maggie at his side sure, but if there was anyone she trusted to save the day it was Daryl Dixon.
**A/N: I hope this was as exciting as I wanted it to be! Though I know it won't be as thrilling as the Hunters chapter. Still kind of ended on another cliffhanger, didn't I? WHOOPS! I almost ended it on the part where Daryl left, but I wanted to include a section with Beth and Michonne, so there we go. Next update should hopefully be within the week!