Beth sat at Carol's bedside with intense focus despite the fact that she was tired as hell. She hadn't slept well in the hospital, but she had both Carol's safety and Trevitt's death on her mind. She was not about to allow someone to come in and "deal with" Carol the way other patients had been handled. Patients like the man Beth had accidentally killed earlier in the day.
Well, it was an accident on her part. Just when she thought that maybe Dr. Edwards wasn't as bad as the rest of them, he tricked her into ending someone's life out of his own fear. Coward.
She knew that she was likely responsible for the death of others. They didn't fire at nothing on the day the prison fell, and even though her aim wasn't close to perfect there were plenty of targets to hit that day. And she didn't regret that, any of it.
But this was different. Up close and personal, and she knew that it wasn't her fault, but she still felt responsible. She'd still drawn the needle, injected it into his IV. Stood there confused and scared out of her mind as he seized up and died because of her actions, her hands. She knew it was inevitable: having to kill someone still living. It was a fact of life in this new world, to protect yourself or the ones you loved. Her daddy had even, known that God would forgive him if it meant his daughters would be safe. But this…Beth killing Trevitt hadn't served any greater purpose. Just one man's anxiety.
She sat up all night wondering if God would forgive her for this. She hoped so.
NowBeth wasn't exactly sure how long she'd been holed up in that room, first talking to Daryl and then taking her time getting cleaned up, but by the time she emerged she was starving. She hadn't planned on this tangent when she'd gotten up that morning, so she reluctantly redressed in her dirty clothes from before. She'd swing by to grab some new things from the dresser Isablle pointed out after getting something to eat.
She left her hair down to dry, and to hopefully relieve some of the pressure that'd built up in her head from all the crying earlier. She could feel the beginning of a migraine and wanted to make sure it didn't escalate like it did the day before.
She was a couple of hallways away from the dining room when she heard raised voices. Curiosity won out over her grumbling stomach as she turned in the opposite direction to follow the sounds. They led her to a partially open door of a large office library. She could see Daryl through the opening leaning against a bookshelf on the other side of the room, watching whatever it was that was going on that she couldn't see. He must have sensed her as he turned his head to look straight at her. Their eyes met and he gave her a slight nod before turning back to the argument ahead of him.
Beth slipped inside the open doorway and looked around to see Isabelle arguing with a younger woman, and an older Asian man, all in French. Rick and Michonne were also in attendance, standing just behind the door and watching intently. She walked over to the pair quietly and whispered when she was close enough. "What's going on?"
Both of them had turned at her entrance, but Michonne was focused back on the argument in front of them before she reached them. "Don't know. Something's happening though," Rick explained to her. He nodded in Daryl's direction before asking, "You think he can understand them?"
Beth glanced at the man to see him still watching the exchange with his signature intense glare. "I wouldn't put it past him," she shrugged.
"Shhh!" Michonne chastised. "I'm trying to listen." They both went silent and turned to the trio speaking French, as Beth tried to decipher what was going on just from their body language. She didn't get much. "Something about 'the living'…Power of the Living. Genet. They spotted Genet. Looking for this place, The Nest," Michonne rattled off to them as she tried to translate as they spoke rapidly.. "Genet is looking for Laurent and Daryl."
They traded looks as Rick asked, "That's who Isabelle was talking about yesterday?"
She nodded. "Yeah." Michonne shushed them again and she watched Rick barely hold back an eye roll. He jerked his chin towards the far corner of the room and touched her elbow to have her lead their move away from his concentrating wife.
Once they were tucked into the corner away from everyone else he fixed his eyes on her. Though she couldn't see for sure, she didn't think he was the only one either. "Seems like you've changed your mind since yesterday."
Beth just blinked at him and tried not to react too much. "I had the night to think about it," she replied cooly. "Talked to Daryl, too."
He huffed out half a laugh. "I didn't hear any fighting?" When she just stared back at him he let his smirk fall. "You seem different." Her brows furrowed as she gave him a questioning look. "From last time we saw you," he explained. "Not counting the last week or so, but I'm guessing that had more to do with the company and than anything." He examined her face again looking for any cracks in her surface. "Finding him mean that much to you?"
She let some uncertainty show on her face as her eyes fell to his shoulder before meeting his again. "It doesn't–it means something. He's the only one who never gave up on me." She paused. "I've had a lot to think about over the last year."
"And?" he asked evenly, not giving anything away what he thought about it one way or the other.
Beth considered her words before deciding to be honest with him. "And I—I don't know," she admitted. "I might've been wrong about some things. Some people." She left it open-ended so he could take what he wanted out of it.
"Beale."
She nodded. "I trusted until that last day. You did too."
Rick disagreed. "I trusted Okafor. I believed him when he told me what was what." He squinted at her. "But now I wonder how much of that was you."
Beth swallowed and shook her head. "I don't know if I know where his thoughts and mine end. He was the one who took me out of Grady. Got me to the council. Protected me from this," she said, lifting her bitten arm slightly. "He was my family. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him."
He dropped his eyes and nodded. "Me either."
Neither one of them knew what exactly to say next, and they each waited a few beats for the other to speak first. They were saved from the awkward silence by Michonne calling them back. "Hey! They're speaking English again."
The pair turned back as all the small groups spread throughout the room merged. They moved closer to Michonne as Daryl joined those that had been arguing in French. They watched as he spoke with them briefly before sauntering over to them. "I'm going out with a group. You comin?"
"Who's Genet?" Michonne didn't hesitate to ask now that the main conversation ended.
The archer scoffed. "A self-righteous bitch."
Michonne smirked and turned to her husband, lifting an eyebrow to silently say see . It shouldn't be a surprise to any of them that he'd made enemies wherever he went.
"She's the leader of Pouvoir des Vivants, the group I mentioned before that's looking for Laurent and Daryl?" Isabelle explained as she took a few steps closer. "Some of our people still in Paris saw her leaving the city. She's not the type to drive around aimlessly–she's going somewhere with a purpose."
The group took in her words and the possibilities when Michonne asked, "What kind of name is 'Power of the Living'?"
Beth's eyes widened and as she sharply turned her head to the woman. "What did you say?"
The others looked at her in question as Isabelle answered for her. "Pouvoir des Vivants, Power of the Living, in English." Beth's mind whirled as she sorted through her thoughts. "Do you know the phrase?"
She didn't answer. "Do they use a sigil, a flame or a torch?" The French woman nodded. "You know the name Kublek?"
"What's going on, Beth?" Rick asked.
She hesitated before looking around at them, realizing that despite everything she'd ingrained in herself over the years about trusting people, that wasn't the case here. "That lab I told you about," she said looking at Rick. "The notes written in French–everything except the words 'Power of the Living'. And they had watermarks of a torch in the center."
"Lab?" Daryl asked, sharing a look with Isabelle. "Experimenting on walkers?"
Beth looked at him, curious as to how he guessed that. "We're supposed to be, but yeah. How'd you know?"
"Genet is doing the same," the French woman told her. "We saw, when we were there. Brûleurs, burners, but worse. Stronger, faster."
"Inject them with something, make them go after each other," Daryl added.
The other American went slack with shock. "Walkers attacking…walkers?" Rick asked for clarity looking at his brother. When he affirmed it, he shared a concerned look with his wife. "How many?"
Daryl shook his head and shrugged. "Dunno. Killed a bunch but they can make more." He turned his head to look at Isabelle. "Sometimes when they shot that shit at them, they'd explode instead." He scrunched up his face in disgust. "Fucking nasty." They all shared a look. Him considering something nasty was really saying something. "Who's Klubeck?"
They all looked to Beth to answer. "The place I've been, she was a part of the Army's high command. I never trusted her. Disappeared about a year ago after an uprising," she said looking meaningfully at Rick and Michonne. "She's English. Wouldn't be too big of a stretch to assume she headed out this way after she ran."
They let the words sit as the possibility of their worlds colliding even further came to light, and Daryl cleared his throat before lifting his eyes to meet Beth's. "She know?"
"Yeah." She didn't need to ask what he meant; there could really only be one thing.
The young French girl looked between the two of them. "Know what?" Isabelle batted at her arm and tsk'ed at her the way an older sister would. "What?" she asked. "Is it a secret?"
The French woman fought back a smile and apologized. "You'll have to forgive Sylvie. She is young and very curious." She glanced towards Daryl. "You'll stay, yes?"
"Nah," he shook his head. "I'd rather know what she's doing." He addressed the remaining man in the room who hadn't spoken in English yet. "Gunna see if anyone wants to join. Get some hands-on experience."
Beth was surprised to hear the Asian man speak with an American accent. "If you think it's best," he allowed, sounding sullen about it. "Volunteers only. And no one under age," he tacked on at the end. She wasn't sure if any of else saw Sylvie roll her eyes, but she fought back a smirk at the motion.
"Course," Daryl agreed. "You coming?" he asked the rest of them.
The husband and wife shared a look and carried on a silent conversation with only their eyes and Isabelle replied in the negative. Beth only thought about it for a few seconds. "I'll go. Just gotta change my clothes first."
The archer flicked his eyes over her frame but nodded. "We'll leave in half an hour. Meet us by the front gate." He looked towards the unnamed man. "I'll go see who wants to join.
With his dismissal she glanced over at the couple who were still having an internal argument, and decided to head to the dorm to get changed. She quickly found her way to the room she'd slept in the night before and the wardrobe that had been pointed out to her with spare clothes. She pulled out a pair of jeans that were only a size too big, and an oversized long sleeve. The top drawer had all different types of underwear and she chose a pair that looked like they'd fit before stripping out of everything dirty and redressing. She looked longingly at the sweater she'd become attached to, but decided to leave it behind to be washed later.
She scooped up the offending garments and dropped them in a basket near the door that held other dirty clothes, and set off for the dining room for a quick bite to eat. She flowed quickly through the line that formed in front of the buffet grabbing a few things both for now and for later on the road. She thinks about how she should have grabbed a bag from somewhere as she juggled the items around in her hands so that she could eat the slice of bread that was her breakfast.
She swerved through people going about their day as she made her way to where she entered the compound the day before. Daryl was already there with a few others, and she looked behind her to see Rick approaching with loud footsteps. He must have won whatever argument he and Michonne were having earlier. Or lost it, she supposed. He took one look at the food in her arms and smirked, swinging the backpack off his back so she could dump in her findings as they walked along the path. With her hands free she inconspicuously patted the gun and knife on her belt to make sure they were still where she holstered them.
Daryl gave them both a once-over and a nod as they approached, tossing a small bit of plastic at her when she was close enough. She caught it with both hands and looked down to see a small pouch with pills inside. "For your head," he informed her. She blinked at him in surprise before nodding her thanks and slipping the gift into the front pocket of her jeans. She shouldn't have been so shocked that he'd thought ahead, but she couldn't believe that she hadn't.
He swept his hand as he started walking to the sand as she explained the plan. "Contacts in Paris said she headed out with a convoy on 11. Runs from Paris to the coast, south of here. Gunna take the car," he said pointing at it, "and drive straight south to Nantes, then backtrack towards Paris. Hopefully cross paths at some point and find out what she's up to."
She didn't know enough about the geography or the women to question it, so she simply followed as they all piled into the truck with Daryl behind the wheel and Rick in the passenger seat. They drove for a few hours with some conversations, both in English and French, but Beth chose to ignore all of it in order to watch the countryside. There were hardly any walkers milling about, just the rolling landscape with occasional dilapidated buildings.
They made a brief stop on the outskirts of Nantes to check for signs that someone had driven through recently, but they packed back into the truck shortly after to head east. Daryl drove this stretch much slower with his head on a swivel, as the others ceased speaking to do the same.
She was sitting in the trunk of the vehicle so she was last to see the reason why they were pulling to a stop in the midafternoon sun. She leaned her body well over the back of the seats ahead of her, past the French couple sitting in them, to peer through the windshield. On the ground ahead of them were dozens of bodies, twice dead corpses that were freshly put down. Genet and her people had come through here.
Beth watched as Daryl stepped out of the truck to inspect the scene closer. Rick also opened his door and stepped outside but stayed close, keeping an eye on the surroundings while the hunter kept his on the ground.
He must have not seen anything indicating an immediate threat as he glanced around before walking back to the truck. Once they were both seated inside Rick asked, "Coming or going?"
"Going. There's no tracks running them over a second time. I'd say they're behind us." He turned in his seat to address all of them. "I say we backtrack to that toll booth and wait for them to pass–"
"That's too obvious," she cut in. "That's the first stop I'd expect trouble. We should go further," she suggested. "See if there's a better spot."
Rick shook his head as she spoke. "It's a highway, every place on it's going to look suspicious," he told her. "But you're right," he sighed. "We should turn around, go back to that city we passed and wait for them to come back through. More places to hide and get the drop on them."
Daryl looked around at her and the other two in the car. When no one disagreed with the idea he nodded. "Alright, we'll post up and try to catch them off guard." He maneuvered the truck around and they shot off back the way they came, getting off the highway just outside of a city called Angers. Appropriate, she thought.
They were barely unloaded from the when the sounds of running vehicles echoed around them, and the group of five split onto either side of the street to hide with their weapons cocked and ready.
She was cooped up with the French man who's name she hadn't bothered to ask behind a crumbling wall. Beth could see Daryl and the other man across from them, musket pointed up and ready to fire whenever they needed to. Rick was nowhere to be seen, from her point of view at least. She could see Daryl mouthing something to him, wherever he was. Suddenly his eyes widened and he yelled out just as a gun fired and tires squealed.
Beth didn't waste time coming out from her hiding spot, gun raised and immediately fired at the cab of the military truck in her view. Other shots rang out around her, and she moved on from the cab to the men who seemed to come out of nowhere. From the corner of her eye she saw a jeep try to flee before it crashed into another long-abandoned car, blood painting the windshield.
It was over in minutes, much faster than she'd expected with just the five of them, and she scanned the scene for Daryl and Rick. A noise behind her pulled her attention away, as the French woman they'd traveled with ran over to her hiding partner, who'd taken a shot to the leg. She was sure it was painful, but it wasn't her focus as she looked around for Daryl, starting to panic until she heard his gruff voice from around the back of the military truck. "The fuck?"
She didn't waste any time sprinting towards the sound, but froze in her steps as she came around the corner and saw what he was looking at. Or who.
The disheveled man unfolded himself and stood from where he cowered on the beach seat, looking just as plain and weak as he always had. Her eyes narrowed and she gripped the metal in her hand harder as she realized she wasn't seeing things. She growled.
"Edwards."
She lifted her gun and fired.