><><>< Beth's POV ><><><
I sat on the ground across from Daryl, it was pitch black and the only light we had was emanating from the fire before us. I occasionally looked up to see Daryl lost in the flames and keeping his thoughts to himself. I crossed my arms over my knees and kept quiet as well. Ever since Y/N left, he has been distancing further and further.
"We should get going." I said.
"Where're we gonna go?" Daryl replied in a low and dismal tone.
"Somewhere, anywhere but here."
Standing up, I ripped my knife out of the ground and stuffed it back into its sheath where it belonged. I looked to Daryl who's gaze was still set on the fire before him.
"Maybe we can catch up to Y/N.." I said under my breath. Apparently he heard because his automatic response to my statement was a scoff and a slight shake of his head in denial.
"She's made her choice, don't need us no more."
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I snapped. He glanced up for a moment but went back to his original place. I was getting really frustrated at this point.
"Fine, go ahead and play the pity card, not like she'll come rushing back to you."
"You don't know what the hell you're talkin' about!" He said standing up and chucking the rag he had sitting on his lap to the side.
"I know you like her Daryl! Don't act like you don't!" With that one comment, he went from being angry and unstable to calm and taken back. I could swear that I saw his cheeks turn the slightest shade of red.
"I'm right, aren't I?" He looked all around before answering, as if the answer was somewhere stuck in a tree.
"So what?"
"So you're just gonna let her run off? What if she's in trouble? What if she needs us?" He looked to the ground and bit the edge of his thumbnail in thought.
"Daryl, what is she needs you?" His gaze snapped up to me. Right there is when I knew, I had him. He snatched his crossbow off of the ground and stomped out the fire. He adjusted it on his back to sit more comfortably and brushed past me, knocking me back a bit in the process.
"Doubt it." He said under his breath. I gathered up our bags and followed after him, seeing as though he was hot on her trail.
><><>< Y/N's POV ><><><
I've been walking down this barren road for God knows how long. Nothing familiar in sight, everything just looks the same both up and down the road. Trees one each side of the path and nothing but the asphalt guiding me down the way.
Every so often my mind would run back to Daryl and Beth. Was it selfish that I left them by themselves? Beth looked horrified when I said I was leaving, and Daryl didn't seem to care. He's strong enough to last out there, why should I be worried? But there was that little voice in the back of my head that was practically screaming 'you're wrong! You're wrong!'
Ive been kicking the same rock down the road for what feels like decades, but it's the only thing keeping me from dying of boredom. The front of my boots were all scuffed up from the amount of walking I've done all throughout the apocalypse. With one good kick, I sent the rock flying down the path. As I watched it skid and hop down the road, my gaze fell upon a herd of walkers heading my way. The rock I kicked hit one of them in the leg and got its attention. I cursed under my breath and quickly tried to think of an escape plan.
I darted back down the road in hopes of finding somewhere to hide. My mind automatically went to the trees, but that was a trap waiting to happen. I ended up rushing into the woods, in hopes of losing them in the process.
><><>< Beth's POV ><><><
The walk through the woods was anything but eventful. Daryl didn't say a word since I spilled his little secret. He stuck to her tracks like a bee to honey. Even if I tried to spark up a conversation, his responses were just grunts and small one word answers. After a while, I decided to give up.
We finally broke past the trees and made it out to the road. Everything looked the same both ways, with no sign of Y/N anywhere.
"Tracks stop here. She must've gone across."
"She must've walked down a ways, there's no way she would come from the woods just to go right back to them." He was just about to argue my point, but when he was ready to speak, he was interrupted by the presence of a herd of Walkers just down the road. They were all attempting to push their way past the tree line across the road into the woods.
"Probably just a deer or something."
"No, that's her." Daryl said and yanked his hunter's knife out of its sheath, starting down the road to the mass of walkers.
"But, how can you know for sure?" He glanced back to me letting me know that this wasn't some educated guess. I went with it and followed his lead.
Ten, maybe fifteen walkers scrambled to follow whatever it was into the woods. Before I could even suggest a plan to Daryl, he started hacking away at the walkers. He picked off about five before I even stared to help.
One by one, they were taken out. We kept stabbing until there were nothing but limp corpses around us. Even then Daryl pushed through the woods and followed the stragglers that managed to make it through. I followed after him and kept watch, seeing as his mind was only focused on one thing, and one thing only.
><><>< Y/N's POV ><><><
My legs ached, I was low on water and felt exhaustion swarming over me. Every so often I would look back and see the number of walkers decreasing, lightening the stress I had. I kept running until It was only down to about four. Seeing as I was ready to collapse from running, it was time to end the chase.
My breathing was heavy and I struggled to breathe, but I had to take these decaying freaks out before they took me down with them. Drawing my blade, I stabbed it into the skull of one, and kicked the corpse so my knife could free itself. I was on the verge of passing out, just as I killed the last Walker.
Taking a much needed rest, I took my time to breathe in and out, only for the air to get knocked out of me once more. A walker came up behind me and knocked me to the ground. My knife fell out of my hand and skidded to the side, out of reach. The walker's mouth snapped at every attempt to latch onto my flesh. Was this how I was going to die? By one lonely Walker? The more I struggled to push it off of me, the more I grew tired. I fought as hard as I could, but there was no way it would budge. Just as it was about to sink its teeth into my neck, an arrow went right through its skull and collapsed on top of me. Through my hazy vision, I saw what looked to be Daryl run in my direction, followed by Beth. I so badly wanted to run to them, but my body wasn't cooperating. I felt a sharp pain on my upper arm and tried to think of something else to take my mind off of it, but that was all I could think about. As soon as Daryl ripped the corpse off of me, i passed out, and everything went black.
><><>< Beth's POV ><><><
Daryl and I ran through the woods trying to keep up with Y/N's trail. Just as we reached the end, off in the distance we saw her struggling to catch her breath. Daryl was just about to call out to her, but as soon as he tried, a walker took her down. Daryl ran ahead and aimed with his crossbow. I followed right behind him. All of a sudden I heard Y/N scream and then Daryl shot the Walker in the back of the head.
Daryl gripped the back of the walker's shirt and pulled it off of her. He held her up, but as soon as he did she went limp. He paused for a moment, letting it all sink in, but then frantically tried to wake her up. Shaking her, splashing her face with the little water that was left in her canteen, nothing.
"Daryl.. Are those?" He looked down to see blood flow from her upper arm. "Scratches?" I said breathlessly.
He set her down and ripped the bottom of his shirt into a band like fragment and tied it around her upper arm, preventing further blood loss.
"Cmon!" He yelled while picking her up. I followed Daryl as he lead us to this run-down shack that was back a ways from where we were.
"Daryl, how did you-"
"Found this place with Michonne, open the door!" He said interrupting me, I yanked the door open and followed Daryl inside as he placed Y/N on the trashed couch in the corner of the room.
"Do you think she'll..." He glared at me, and if looks could kill I'd be dead ten times over. "..turn?" He said nothing in response. I looked down to see him holding her hand with all he had. His knuckles started to turn white, and he looked like he could break at any given moment. I took this as a sign and walked onto the porch to leave them be.