In Hope Of Falling In Love (A Walking Dead Fanfic)

Chapter 31: The Things Left Behind

Beth let out a heavy sigh as Daryl pulled his crossbow over his shoulder.

With a glance, he asked, "What are you so mad about?"

Beth scoffed, pulling her knees closer to her chest and burying her head into the blanket draped over her legs. "I'm not mad," she argued, her voice muffled;  he could hear the anger in her voice as she talked.

Not understanding, he said, "I think ya are. If it's about the thing with the Governor-"

"It's not about that!" she yelled, pulling her head from the blanket.

"Then why are you so mad?" he asked back. "Why can't you just tell me?"

With a slow withdrawal of air, she said softly, "You can't just leave. Not now, not ever. We just... We just got back together and you're leaving? I don't want you to go."

"If this is about yu', ya being selfish."

Beth grabbed the pillow by her side and threw it roughly at him with a loud war cry. "I'm not being selfish!" she yelled back, obviously mad at him. "I'm not being selfish," she repeated loudly.

Daryl sighed then with a step towards the door, he heard her shuffle behind him. Turning, he saw her looking up at him.

"I'm not being selfish," she said through her teeth.

He nodded, then with a shrug, asked, "Then what is it about?"

Beth sighed again, then, hanging her head to look at the floor, she whispered gently, "I'm afraid of losing you. I know death's inevitable and I know I agreed that it was because we've had this talk before but... I'm worried about you, okay? I'm afraid you're not coming back and I know it's possible but I love you and you can't go. Please?"

Daryl shrugged again.

Beth wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself into his chest, breathing softly against his chest as she cried.

"I just can't lose you," she sobbed softly. "I'm-" she tried to continue but Daryl had crushed his lips to hers in an effort to shut her up without being rude or blunt.

"I love ya," he smiled, "And don't worry ya pretty little head, I'll be back."

They'd been gone for two days.

Beth couldn't help but think about it as she lie in her cell, bible in hand as she prayed for their safe return.

She couldn't bear to think what she would do if Daryl didn't come back; what the group would do if Daryl, Rick, Michonne or Carl never came back.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she lifted herself to stand and set the bible on the small table beside her bed.

It'd been days since she'd properly read it.

Her faith was wearing thin.

Beth's small steps made no noise as she stepped quietly along to find her father or Maggie. She wasn't sure why but she knew she needed them, if only for comfort or kind words or to pat her head while she tried helplessly to sleep.

Daryl wouldn't just leave her would he?

Shaking yet another thought from her head, Beth quietly slipped past Carol and Tyreese, who were engaged in a heated discussion, and straight over to Glenn.

"Hey, Glenn," she called, "Have you seen Maggie?"

The young man turned to look at her, then, as if without thought, shook his head.

With a heavy sigh, Beth walked past him as he sat and ate and over to Judith's cot. "Hey there, li'l one," she cooed softly, "I'm going to find my sister, I'll be back soon." Settling the now-almost sleeping baby into its cot and beginning her ascent to Maggie's shared cell with Glenn, she tried her best to ignore the glances of the people occupying the surrounding cells. 

As she walked passed Maggie's and Glenn's cell, glancing to see if her sister was in there, she froze.

"Maggie?" she asked, staring at the person sitting on a bed, one hand on the wall to help themselves up and one on their round stomach.

Beth's sister turned to look at Beth and, panic evident in her eyes and face, said something quietly. Beth ran immediately to her sister's side, the words still ringing poison in her ears.

"The baby's coming."

Daryl's crossbow was held over his shoulder waiting for Rick to motion them forward from in front of the group. It'd been two days since they'd left and as much as he wanted to get back to the prison, he just wanted to see Beth.

To be honest, there was a hunger in him for her. Something that needed her in whatever way; something to be in her.

The two days they'd already spent had amounted in a long list of injuries.

Michonne had fell earlier and her ankle had swelled to twice the size, Carl had a long gash on his cheek which Daryl knew would make Aislynn like the young boy a lot more for being brave and Chloe, who Rick had insisted on bringing along, had hit her arm quite harshly on the pavement after being grabbed and pulled to the ground by a walker.

Daryl was afraid that if they didn't get back in time, Beth might give up like he had. And the thought of her kissing Rick or Tyreese mad him sick and also slightly jealous even if the images were just in his head.

Rounding the corner, following closely behind Michonne, he raised his crossbow slightly in case he'd have to shoot.

They had to be prepared.

"Daryl, stay close," Rick whispered quietly from the front of the group, Carl and Chloe stalking behind him very closely while Daryl and Michonne hung back at the back of the group.

"Car," Daryl heard a quiet voice say from the front.

It'd been right.

There was a small car parked slightly on the bend of the road, the door wide open and a small key not far away from it on the floor.

"On my count," Rick said, counting along with his fingers, "One, two, three... Go!"

The group walked quietly but quickly along to the car and they filed in one by one, Rick and Carl in the front while Daryl got stuck between Michonne and Chloe who kept commenting on how cute Rick's ass was while Michonne pretended to listen and wiped her katakana sword of the walker blood on its tip with a dirty rag found on the floor.

It was a long drive back to the prison.