Staying Alive//TWDFanFic

Forty Three

**This part strays from the actual show, it's leading up to Season 11 though**

It's been a few weeks since I ran from Alexandria, I still can't process that Beth is dead, it's too much to even think about. I keep wondering why I'm even still going on without her, there's no reason for me to keep living if she's not here. I've thought about going back to Daryl but I can't bring myself to look him in the eyes, he asked me to stay behind a million times it felt like and if I would've this last time, maybe she'd still be here. I start crying once again and ball up in the corner of the abandoned cabin I found in the woods. I've been here for a few days now and I was heartbroken for whoever lived here when I saw there was a box hidden under the floorboard near the door with a note in it that read, "I belong with you." I wonder if they ever found each other again, the world is starting to get to me as I laid there in silence. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I woke up to the sound of footsteps close to where my head is so I just kept my eyes closed as I listened to what sounded like a woman whispering to herself, "She has a wound on her side, by the looks of it, it's almost healed. I think I've seen her before but I can't be too sure." I sat up slowly as her back was turned to me and just watched as she looked around before finding the note I mentioned earlier, I sat it on the table after I found it and she picked it up and smiled before folding it up and putting it in her pocket. She turned around, finally seeing me watching her and pointed her weapon at me, "Who are you? Why are you here?" I shrug as I stood up, "Doesn't matter who I am." She looks uneasy as I stood up but lowered her weapon once she realized I wasn't going to do anything, which was true, I wasn't. She sighs as she sat on the counter beside me, "Who'd you lose?" I scoff, "Does it matter? Just kill me already so I can finally be free from all this survival shit." She shook her head and laughed lightly, "I've been there, that's why I came out to this cabin a long time ago, I even met a man while I lived out here with my dog, he left the note that you found." I sighed, "Well, sorry to tell you but no one was here when I found this place." She shrugs, "Doesn't matter, I gave up on him long ago anyways, that's why I left and joined the group I'm with now." I nod before grabbing my bag and setting it on the table across from her, grabbing two apples before tossing her one. She bit into it quickly and looked me over for a moment, "That vest, where did you get it?" I sigh as the memory of Carol giving it to me flashed in my mind, "An old friend made it for me, she thought it'd make me a true Dixon." I chuckled softly. She seemed intrigued, "Looks like the jacket this guy I knew used to wear." I nod, "Yeah? Who was this guy?" I smirked as I prepared for some romantic story as she sighed happily, I assume at the memories she was thinking in that moment right before my heart dropped and my blood ran cold as she said, "Daryl, his name was Daryl." My smile dropped and I tried to keep my composure as I turned around and faked a smile, "He's the one who left the note for you?" She nods as she pulls it out and looks it over, "Yeah, he was obsessed with finding his dead brother, he also talked about his family a lot so I gave him an ultimatum, me or them. Looks like he chose me but it was already too late." I gulped as I kept my cool some more, even though all I wanted to do was bash her head into the counter until her body went limp. I forced a smile, "How, uh, cute. What a cute story." She smiled as she put the note back into her pocket, "How about you? Did you have anyone?" I nodded as Daryl flashed through my mind and his confession about a woman he met during the years he was gone, now realizing that when he said nothing happened with her, he was fucking lying to me. "I had a daughter, I lost her a few weeks ago." She sighed, "I lost my son a long time ago, right before Daryl starting coming around actually, you'll learn to live with the pain or you won't, either way." We were silent for a few moments until she sighed, "What happened to the father?" I tried to hold back the tears as I said, "He's dead too, to me at least." I forced a smile as I finally looked at her, I immediately was comparing myself to her. She was taller than me, blonde, dark eyes, older, probably closer to Daryl's age than I am anyways like they were made for each other. I'm on the shorter side, natural black hair but at the beginning of all this, I had dyed deep burgundy hair which has grown out so long that its now only at the tips of my hair, I have green eyes and I'm a lot younger than Daryl, not made for him apparently. I shook off the thoughts, "I should probably get out of your place and move on then." She shook her head and stood up with a sly smile on her face, "Nah, I have a better solution. Come with me." She stepped toward me with her hand out, "I'm Leah, by the way." I nod, "Josie." We shook hands and I followed her out of the cabin.