A/N Thank you all so much.
Let's see what Daryl and Beth are up to...

Scavenging

An hour or two ago this world was all new to him, and it sure as hell isn't anything he could have seen coming, much less been prepared for. Daryl's a quick study though, and as he navigates the highway he's already figured one thing out, there won't be any easy traveling.

They're headed eight miles east of Rosewood, that's where the vehicle and the things he wants are located. In the old world the drive would have been no big deal, with things the way they are now the trip will be dicey, but he's determined to get them there so he can get the things he believes they'll need.

Beth's just riding along quietly, as if she knows he needs to keep his attention on the road and their surroundings. He's grateful to her for that because right now, he feels a lot like the running back in a football game. He finds himself having to juke the rig to the left, then juke it to the right, while moving as fast as he can to try and get through all the walking dead people, not to mention the broken down and wrecked cars that seem to be scattered across the highway.

It doesn't take a genius to see people were so desperate to get the hell out of town they were running into each other on the way. Now it looks like they were playing bumper cars. Some probably ran out of gas, and maybe some even decided to just give up. Who knows? He sees the dead people inside a few of the cars. They obviously turned into whatever they are now after their journey began, and now they're left to claw at the car windows, trying to get free. Shit, and poor Jack, he senses danger everywhere and his low steady growl is constant.

By far the toughest obstacle to get by are the living.

There are small bands of people, plenty of individuals too, all calling out, all trying to chase after the pickup, all wanting help, or maybe they're just wanting whatever him and Beth have. Daryl's not stopping for them, he can't. He has no way of knowing if they're good people. He'd be putting Beth, Jack and himself at risk.

Finally, after what has been a pain in the ass for him, and a harrowing experience for Beth, they turn off the main highway and go two miles up a gravel road. This area is blessedly stark and empty, and soon they arrive at Damon Construction and Well Drilling. Before the world went to hell Damon was the biggest deal in the state for all types of construction work, you can see that as you approach the place. It's at least two acres of ground. There's big equipment parked on the far side of the lot, like excavators, backhoes, bobcats, and everything in between. None of that is what Daryl's looking for.

There's also a huge lumberyard off to the right, and that's a big part of why he's here.

He'd been hopeful that, if what Beth told him about the world now was true, a place like Damon wouldn't be among the first businesses where desperate survivors would go looking for the things they'd need to get by. No, they'd be cleaning out the grocery stores, big box stores, sporting goods stores, the clinics, doctors' offices, even restaurants and bars. Those places would be the first to get hit, then the private homes, like Beth's place.

It makes perfect sense, people are desperate for food, medicine and weapons. Who the hell would think to go to a construction outfit to get what they need. Hell, that won't happen for a long time, not until people try to start rebuilding. If that's ever possible.

The good news is, Daryl was right. There's no one out this way except them, and a few of those dead people milling around inside the fence, growling and shuffling. It hits him, shit, these are guys who worked here at Damon, they're people he knew. Another realization hits him, probably most of the people he ever knew have turned like this, and he'll never go anywhere again without running into dead people walking.

Shit, he's got to get to Merle.

For now, his number one job is to take care of business here. Daryl knows about all the tools, equipment and supplies they have, and he intends to help himself, but the first thing they have to do is get inside. The property is surrounded by a ten foot high chain link fence, the top of which is trimmed in razor wire. The two big entry / exit gates are bolted and wired. Daryl was prepared for all that, and just in case they're on a generator or something, he doesn't want to be tripping wires.

He gets Jack out of the backseat and tells the dog to sit up front with Beth, "You ain't gonna hate sittin' with her, are ya boy?" And to her he says, "I'ma be busy for a while tryin' ta get us in. You keep the gun cocked and don't hesitate to shoot any comers." Beth simply nods in agreement.

Once the dog is out of his way, Daryl lifts the seat portion of the back seat to reveal where he stores a metal toolbox, and lying next to it is a large pair of bolt cutters.

Beth and Jack are vigilant as Daryl gets to work clipping the links, and after 20 minutes or so, he has a nice square hole cut out of the fencing, and he's moved the chain-link aside like he opened a big doorway. He gets back in the pickup and they drive through the opening and into the construction yard, where they're immediately met by walking dead.

Beth's heart pounds as Jack growls and Daryl leans to grab his crossbow off the back seat, barking at her and Jack, "You two stay here," as he jumps from the pickup to take on the small group of five undead.

He lets a bolt fly and hits the one closest to him, then he's startled by the sound of pistol fire as Beth puts another down. Dammit, why won't she just stay put? But he can't give her hell, he's too busy stabbing a third one in the head when he hears her fire again. He gets the last one by jumping up and stabbing it through the top of its head, muttering, "Shit, you're a tall sumbitch." Then he turns to her and scolds, "I told ya ta wait."

"I know, but I'm not going to just sit back while you fight the world off all alone."

He squints and nods, and then moves on, "Okay, stick with me then."

All this time he thought he knew just which vehicle he wanted, one of those big flatbed truck and trailer outfits. He knew he could load everything they'd ever need and then some on the back of one of those things. Now that he's seen how things are though, he's thought better of that plan. Driving that thing would make them a target . There'd be people who would try and follow something like that just to see where it was going. Yeah, they'd probably think it would lead them to a safe haven. Either that, or a random gang of assholes would see something like that and decide they deserved to have the truck and everything on it.

He might be willing to take a chance on all that bullshit if he were on his own, but with Beth and Jack, it's just too much of a risk. So, he's got a new plan now and he leads her there.

It's a big one-ton utility van with ladders mounted on the sides and a utility rack on top. It'll hold plenty for now, but first, he's got to clear the driver out. The guy must've turned just as he was getting back to the yard after a day's work. Shit, he can't let himself think about stuff like that. He can't be trying to imagine what it was like, or think about who these things were back when they were still people. He has to keep reminding himself, they're not people anymore.

With the knife firmly gripped in his right hand, he throws the driver's side door open and as the dead thing lunges toward him he stabs it in the forehead. It's when he's pulling it from the van he sees the guy wasn't alone. Someone was in the back and that dead someone is coming after him. There are enough obstacles in the way of this second dead thing to slow it down, giving Daryl time to load a bolt, aim and fire.

He walks quickly to the back of the van and throws open the big double doors, prepared to find more dead, but the two he killed were it. He grabs the second dead one by its ankles and yanks it out the back. There. Done. It's Daryl's van now.

There's all kinds of good shit in the back of the van they can use, and a lot of other shit that would just be taking up the space he needs. He quickly decides he'll keep the tools hanging neatly from the inside walls of the van. They're not taking up valuable floor space and he's not going to take the time to sort through all that shit right now.

When the floor of the van is cleared out, Beth gets in the front with him and Daryl drives it over to the lumberyard. With her help he loads up the back with enough lumber to build that small greenhouse they've talked about. He also includes a few boxes of asphalt shingles, he needs a proper roof on that outdoor kitchen. The van is already filling up, but there's a bit more space, including on those racks up top.

He's also going to need plenty of nails, screws, bolts, sealers, and other supplies and he knows they keep those things inside the building. He hurries over to the pickup and grabs the gunnysacks from the back, and he and Beth walk quickly to the building. He takes out a pocketknife and manages to pick the lock on the door without any trouble at all, while a wide-eyed Beth quietly watches Daryl put skills to use she's never seen anywhere except on some TV crime show.

He motions her, "C'mon, what they call central inventory is over this way." It's like a great big wire cage full of shelves filled with supplies, and everything is so neat and organized. Daryl pops the lock on that too, rolls a steel utility cart in and quickly picks out what they'll need, setting it all on the cart.

Beth is looking around as she waits for him to decide what else he might need, then she spots them, "Look Daryl, in the corner across from the office, vending machines."

"Oh hey, yeah." When he's done loading the supplies Daryl rolls the cart that way and quickly picks the locks on both machines. They help themselves to the packages of crackers, cookies, chips, candy bars and the peanuts. The soda machine is full of coke, Fanta, root beer and water, and they take it all. Stuffing everything in the gunnysacks and adding it to their loot. Daryl's decided all the items they scavenged in the building are destined for the back of the pickup.

Shit, where's his head at? As they're loading their supplies in the truck bed, Daryl remembers something else he needs for the greenhouse. He tells Beth, "They got that really nice farm grade plastic sheeting around here too. It's clear as any glass, that'll work for the greenhouse."

They go back in the big cinder block building and start looking around for where that might be kept, and he finds it in the warehouse. They have several huge metal rollers filled with rolls of different types of sheeting, but he's just after that good, heavyweight clear stuff. Daryl pulls as much off the big industrial dispenser as he thinks he'll need, and together he and Beth roll it up like carpet. Daryl's just binding the roll when they hear the tell-tale growling, "Fuck."

The lone walker is dressed in bib overalls and work boots, and again, they both try not to think about who he once was, as Daryl shoots a bolt through the dead man's head.

Even with her help, getting the heavy role of sheeting out of the building isn't easy, but it's a lot easier than getting it on top of the van. After several unsuccessful attempts, Daryl gets some heavy duty nylon rope and ties one end around the plastic. He goes back in the building and gets the area rug from the bookkeepers office and secures the rug to the ladder on the back of the van, and up to where the racks are. His idea is to stand atop the van, pulling the sheeting up with the rope, while Beth pushes it. He hopes the soft rug will make the sheeting slide a little easier. It takes them three tries to hoist it up there, but they get it done and Daryl straps it down.

"One more thing Beth, around the far side over there, there's a couple of fuel tanks. One's got diesel fuel for the heavy equipment, but the other is gas. Somebody's probably already drained the tank, but let's go see for sure."

"Yeah, okay, let's."

"So whaddya think you'd rather drive, the van or the pickup?"

"Oh the pickup for sure."

"A'ight, let's get ya situated." She gets in the driver's seat and Jack makes it clear he's glad to have her back. She gives the dog a good head scratching, then follows Daryl around the building to the tanks.

The big gravity fed tank isn't full, but it's got all the gas they can use. He fills the van, plus all the gas cans he brought, and tops off the pickup, then suddenly he begins to feel melancholy. He's mumbling to himself when he says, "Dammit, these were good people. They were always willin' ta give me work and they ran a real good outfit. They didn't deserve ta have this shit happen ta them."

She reaches for his hand, clasps it lightly and says, "I know, no one deserved this, and I'm sorry too. I'm also very grateful to them for helping us with all these things. I'll keep them in my prayers."

"Prayers? pfft…"

Obviously, Daryl Dixon is not much of a believer. She won't pursue that with him right now.

He lets Jack out to do his business and have a drink of water, never letting the dog stray far and keeping the big crossbow cocked and ready in case he has to defend the animal.

Once Jack is loaded back in the pickup Daryl tells her, "I wanna make a couple more stops. First, I wanna go to the library. I know ya know a lot about greenhouses n whatnot, but I'd like ta get a book on that, they might have actual drawings of plans and shit I can follow. Maybe they'll have a book on high elevation farming too."

"Okay, sure. I love the library. Maybe I'll check out a few books myself."

He looks at her and quips, "I don't think ya gotta worry about checkin' em out, ya don't even need a library card these days."

"Oh. Yeah, right okay," then she thinks of it, "You know Daryl, off the main street, about two blocks from the library, there's a vet clinic. We should stop there too."

"A vet clinic? Why?"

"I was thinking that every other kind of medical facility has probably been raided already, but there are a lot of pet medicines that aren't much different than what they give people, and we might need them. Jack might too. That stuff won't take up too much room."

"Good thinkin' Nurse Beth." Man, she's proven herself today. She's a much better partner than he thought she'd be.

He tells her, "You lead the way; I'll stay tight on your bumper. Remember how we moved ta get through all the cars n whatnot? Gonna be doin' that same thing on the way back. So, you do what you think you gotta do ta get through it all, and I'll be right behind ya." Something else occurs to him, "And don't forget, keep the pistol right where you can reach it, and shoot to kill."

"Yes, I'll remember."

He was right of course, on the highway back to Rosewood everything is just awful. Dead people are roaming around aimlessly, attracted to every sound they hear. The live people are just plain heartbreaking, but while they were still at the construction business, Daryl explained to her why they couldn't stop to help, and as difficult as it is for Beth, she understands. All she can do is pray for them.

Oh no! Up ahead there's a huge swarm of dead people, like a herd. Now what? She looks in her rear view mirror and Daryl's motioning her to stop. She does and he pulls up next to her.

Shit, he needs to distract them. What the fuck, he's going to have to take a chance. All they need is enough time to drive by these assholes.

He noticed the large stand of trees when they were on their way to the construction yard and it pissed him off. The trees were all half dead and rotting, and he knows why. Those fucking Southern Pine Beetles have decimated them. But maybe there's a way to use that to their advantage. If he can make this work it will be the only time those little beetle bastards ever did anything worthwhile.

He quickly pops open the pickup canopy and grabs a small can of gas, and just as quickly pulls off his jacket, then his shirt. He throws his coat in the back of the pickup, takes a bolt from the quiver, loads and cocks the crossbow. He uses his knife to cut a good size hunk of fabric from the shirt, ties it to the business end of the bolt, and douses it with gas. He returns the gas can to the truck, secures it all, and quickly walks over and stands in front of the van.

He only has a split second between lighting the shirt on fire and pulling the trigger on the bow, and he realizes the shirt means his aim won't be quite true, but he just has to hit one of those bone dry trees for this to work. He lights the shirt, holds the bow up and pulls the trigger, hoping that fiery bolt will hit one of those trees. If it does, he's pretty damn sure it will ignite.

He doesn't wait to see, as soon as the bolt flies he's back in the van and now he's in the lead, with Beth close behind him. The tree has crackled, popped and burst into flames, setting all the surrounding trees ablaze, and the fire is attracting the dead ones who've begun to shuffle that way.

Beth never took her eyes off of him the whole time. While he was behind the pickup, she was watching him in her side mirror, and then he walked in front of the van and that's when she saw them. As he stood there shirtless with the big crossbow in his hands, his back was in full view and her horror at what she saw instantly turned to tears. She can't focus on that now though; she has to get herself and Jack safely out of here.

They pull into the alley behind the library, there's no reason to make themselves obvious. That's when Daryl seems to realize he's exposing a part of himself that he prefers to keep hidden. He hurries to the back of the pickup to put his coat on, then gets in the vehicle and drives it so that it's parallel to the back wall of the building, and so close that nothing could get in on the passenger side. He rolls down those windows so Jack has air while their inside the library.

While Daryl's looking for books on building backyard greenhouses and high elevation farming, Beth is grabbing an armload of classic novels, and some sheet music too. They're just loading their latest treasures into the little bit of space left in the back of the pickup when they hear a familiar voice say, "Hey, Bill, Beth I thought you two were headed to Valdosta. Whaddya have here? What's in the van?"

Daryl had just been setting a book on greenhouses on the van's passenger seat, but when he steps away he has the bow in his hands and he answers, "Get the fuck away from us or I'll shoot ya right now." That's all it takes for Beth to cock her pistol and aim it at Dwight and his group.

The fellow named Simon holds his hands up, palms out, "Hey now, c'mon, we're hungry. We just wondered if you might have found some food you'd be willing to share." Beth knows he's lying, Dwight has two candy bars peeking out of the top of his shirt pocket, and one of the women is munching on a big bag of chips. She knows now, Daryl was right about not trusting them. Then she sees Dwight reach for his pistol.

It all happens so quickly, Daryl was already walking toward the pickup and now he quickly pulls the driver side door open and hollers, "Get em Jack!" Jack runs toward Dwight, leaping onto his chest and knocking the man to the ground. The dog is standing on Dwight's chest and snarling threateningly into his face when, in one seamless move Daryl sends a bolt into Simon's leg, grabs his pistol from the holster, points it at Dwight and asks, "Ya wanna just drive off now, or do I gotta take all of ya down?"

Sherry is screaming but Dwight says, "Enough, we're going," and quickly rounds everyone up and they quickly load themselves into the old hippie van, including the wounded and snarling Simon. Just before Dwight drives away, a bloody Simon flips Daryl off, yelling, "Til we meet again asshole."

Daryl tilts his chin up and snarls back, "That's right muther fucker, next time I'ma tell the dog ta bite your nuts off," and he keeps the bow cocked and pointed at the group as they drive down the alley.

When Dwight and his friends are out of sight Daryl tells her, "Let's get ta the vets," and Beth just nods. She's pretty sure she's in a state of shock, and positive she can't speak.

This time Beth's in the lead and she drives to the rear of the vets' office, Daryl's right behind her and they're in luck, the vet's office hasn't been hit. They take Jack in with them and it doesn't take long to do what they have to do. For now they don't take time to read the labels, Beth can do that when they get to the cabin. They grab an empty box from the storage room and scoop up all the medications, along with bandages, syringes, and everything else they think they might need. They're in and out of there in 10 minutes.

From the vet's office they drive to Dale and Erma's place, and Daryl pulls into the driveway. He walks to her window and says, "Hang tight here, lemme clear it. Keep the gun up n stay ready ta shoot, k?"

"I will." She's seen enough today to know she can never let her guard down.

Daryl walks in the house where he spent so many hours, and heaves a sigh, fuck, someone's gone through it. They didn't make too big a mess, but Miz Erma would be mighty upset to think anyone would treat her things this way, and leave her living room any way but spotless. Daryl shakes his head and reluctantly walks toward the kitchen, and shit, it's a mess. Assholes. They could have just taken what they needed, they didn't have to damage a bunch of stuff.

He checks out the other rooms, finds nothing and nobody, and they mostly look untouched. It's clear. Good. Then he's back in the kitchen and opening the pantry. There's nothing left on the pantry shelves, but he didn't expect there to be.

He knows a little something about this pantry though. Dale did a hell of a job with it, and Daryl smiles as he presses a button at the back of one of the shelves then pulls the whole panel open, revealing it's actually a door. He remembers when Dale first showed it to him and he said to the man, "Shit, if I'd had sumthin' like this when I was a kid I coulda hid from my Dad for days." Right now though, he's going to check out what's left in the root cellar. He remembers that Dale and Erma didn't just use it for food stores, they also kept their important paperwork and her heirloom jewelry down her. No one would ever suspect the thing was here.

Of course, the electric won't work, but Dale thought of that too. There's a battery powered Coleman lamp hanging just inside the door. Daryl flips it on and makes his way down the stairs.

The shelves are almost empty. Once Erma got sick they went through most of what they had stored down here, but Daryl smiles when he sees four jars of Miz Erma's peach and raspberry jam on the shelf, that was always a favorite of his. There's a note on top of the jars secured with an old-fashioned paperweight. That makes him smile a second time. Dale knew he'd be coming.

He reads the note, "Daryl, If you find this then you've made it through the beginning of the end of the world. God save us all. I came back to get a few things, but I could only stay a couple of hours. There's nothing left for me here but memories. I've joined up with a small group from out of King County. We're trying to find someplace safe to set up a permanent camp. You're welcome to take whatever you might want that I've left behind. If you look over on the opposite shelf, you'll see Erma's seed boxes. You know my Erma, she's got flower seeds in one box, another box for her kitchen garden seeds, and even a box of spices, you can grow more spice from those. Please take them and put them to use, that would make my Erma happy, and it'll help you get a start on that garden we all talked about. Thanks for the happiness and the purpose you brought to our home, and good luck Son, we're all going to need plenty of that in this new world. Dale."

Daryl wipes away a tear, grabs the wooden seed boxes, the four jars of jam and heads back out to Beth.

"I'ma put these seed boxes on the front seat of the van. They got everythin' we need for the greenhouse and more. I wanna get a couple other things inside, and then we head back up the mountain. You just keep hangin' tight, gun up."

He's not gone long, and when he returns he's carrying a floral occasional chair, "I think we got enough room for me ta wedge this in the back of the van." Sure enough, he manages to work it in, then he comes very close to smiling when he tells her, "That little chair was the first thing I ever sat on at Dale and Erma's, and now you're gonna have your chair n I got mine."

"Oh that'll be nice." Gosh, they really are going to be living together and he's so sweet to think of getting her a chair of her own.

"Just one more thing."

"Okay."

This time when he comes out, Beth's standing next to the pickup waiting for him. She's surprised to see he's carrying a mattress. He sets it down, leaning it against the pickup, "There's rope in the garage, I can tie this on top of the pickup." She doesn't say a thing, not yet.

He gets the mattress secured, goes back in the house and returns with the bedding for it, and as he stuffs it in the back of the van he says, "I ain't gonna take all the box spring and rail crap, I'll just build a box frame for it." He smiles then, "No offense ta Jack, but damn I'll be glad not ta hafta sleep on the floor."

Wait, what? Was she crazy for assuming they'd be sharing his bed?

00

A/N Hmm...Please leave a comment. The chapter photo is on my tumblr blogs gneebee and bethylmethbrick, I hope you'll have a look. There will be a new chapter next week, but I'll be out of the country so it may not post on the usual date and time. I appreciate you all and I hope to see you back here. Until then remember, I love ya large! xo gneebee