Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 55 (Moonshine Cabin)

Daryl hadn't taken CJ's necklace out of his pocket since the night after he found it. He would feel for it now and again, making sure he hadn't lost it or left it somewhere he and Beth had camped. Apart from that, he refused to look at it. Every time he did, he thought about her. He'd almost lost her to the sickness; he finally got her back only to lose her again. Maybe for good this time.

He was blaming himself. He had no reason to, but he was. He kept replaying the events of a few days ago in his mind. The Governor, the attack, the explosions, the gunfire... He wondered if there was anything that they could have done differently. Anything he could have done to change the outcome of the fight.

It had been almost a week since it was just him and Beth together in the woods. Having no plan on where to go and no leads on finding anyone else.

Beth was still a firm believer that they weren't the only ones who survived. There had to be others. To her, finding CJ's necklace on the tracks was a good sign. Whilst Daryl thought the complete opposite.

He'd completely shut down on her, barely uttering a word to her since the tracks. They were very different people who saw the world very differently.

Daryl shut all hopeful thoughts of finding any of his people alive. To him, they were all gone. Everyone he'd ever known had been taken from him in an instant and he'd never see any of them again.

Beth was the total opposite. She was still a kid who wanted to stay positive. She refused to assume the worst. Her family was still out there. They had to be. Maggie was still alive. Glenn was still alive. Michonne, CJ, Rick, all of them. They were out there somewhere.

After spending the night trapped in the trunk of an abandoned car, avoiding a storm which had brought on a herd of walkers, the two of them were setting up a small camp. Whilst Daryl looked for food, Beth had set up strings of tin cans around the space as a way of alerting them of walkers.

They were eating a snake that Daryl had caught when Beth dropped hers and looked at Daryl as he kept eating. A rather random thought had been playing on her mind the last couple of days and she was fed up with the aimless wondering around, so she finally spoke.

"I need a drink," she said. Daryl didn't even look up as he picked up the half empty water bottle and chucked it over to her. "No, I mean a real drink. As in alcohol." He seemed to completely ignore her as he kept chowing down on the last scraps of the snake. She just kept talking. "I never had one. Because of my dad. But he's not exactly around anymore so... I thought we could go find some." Still no reaction from Daryl. He was acting as though she wasn't even there. "Okay," she sighed as she stood up. "Well, enjoy your snake jerky," she muttered, grabbing her knife and walking out of the camp.

She spotted a few walkers and hid behind a tree. She threw a rock away so that they'd follow the noise. She wasn't sure how many there were, she just knew it was safer to get rid of them rather than try and take all of them on alone.

When they were all gone, a twig breaking made her quickly turn and she saw Daryl stood there with his crossbow. He didn't say anything, just turned and began walking away whilst she followed him.

"I think we made it away," she said. "I'm pretty sure we gotta go that way to find the booze." She cut herself off when she tripped on the string of tin cans surrounding their camp. "What the hell? You brought me back. I'm not staying in this suck-ass camp!" She flipped him off and turned away.

Daryl grabbed her wrist. "Hey! You had your fun."

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she yelled. "Do you feel anything? Yeah, you think everything's screwed. I guess that's a feeling. So, you wanna spend the rest of our lives staring into a fire and eating mud snakes? Screw that! Might as well do somethin'! I can take care of myself, and I'm gonna get a damn drink."