Before I Fade Away~ Daryl Dixon Fanfiction

Chapter 36~ Road to Nowhere

    {Daryl's P.O.V}

         I watch as Beth holds my crossbow and focuses on the ground. I'm teaching her how to track so I'm letting her use my crossbow too. She points out a set of tracks that appear to belong to a walker.

"It's a walker." She states proudly.

"Or a drunk." I remark. She just smiles and holds her head up high.

"I'm getting good at this, pretty soon I won't need you at all." She says. I crack a small smile and continue to follow her until we stumble across the walker.
 
      Beth creeps up behind it with the crossbow loaded and pointed at the walker. She gets about 5 or so feet away and then she suddenly cries out in pain. I demand Athena to stay there as I rush to get Beth unstuck from the snare she had stepped in. Before I do that however, I have to kill the walker. Once I get her unstuck, I help her stand and we continue on our way.

      We emerge from the trees and in the distance stands a funeral home. Gravestones litter the field right up to the house. Beth starts to have worsening pain in her ankle so I hoist her up onto my back and continue moving.

"How come I can't get a piggy back?" Athena pouts in jealousy.

"Do ye' have two legs that work just fine?" I ask in a smartass tone.

"Yeah, so?" She sasses back.

"That's why." I chuckle in response. She just rolls her eyes and continues to walk beside me.

        After we've cleared the house of any walkers, (which there weren't so it was pretty easy), we rummage through the kitchen area and find a stash of goodies in the cabinets. There's all sorts of things like peanut butter and jelly. Athena jumps up and down excitedly at the sight of it. I take the jars down and grab a small plate. I fork some onto the plate for Athena and she instantly goes to town on it.

"This is so good... I wish mommy were here to enjoy it with us." Athena says happily.

      Once we finish eating, Beth goes into a room with a piano and casket. She starts to play a tune and sings, her voice is angelic and makes me want to fall asleep. I hop into the open casket and urge Beth to keep playing. Athena sits next to Beth on the piano bench and watches her play. In the midst of the song, clattering of the cans tied together outside the door cause me to jump out of the casket and go check it out. Earlier there was a dog out front, so I figure its the same dog after hearing it yelp.

      I swing open the door only to be face to face with a crowd of walkers. I slam it in their face in a panic.

"Beth! Run! Grab Athena and get yer' shit and get out of here!" I yell out to her. She grabs Athena's hand and her bag but hesitates to run.

"I'm not leaving you!" She yells.

"I'll meet ye' outside by the road! Just get out of here!" I hollar. She finally starts to run, dragging Athena along with her.

     I let the door swing open and run downstairs where I can take them out easier in a small room. Once I'm in the room, I push a roll-away table in front of myself so they can't get at me. One reaches its sickly, decaying arm out to me so I grab it by the hair and sink my blade into its rotted skull. It falls limp on the cart so I move on to the next one. I start to get tired so I use the cart to push them out of the way so I can escape.

    Finally I make it out to the road, but on the ground lies Beth's bag, and a car speeds away.

"Beth! Athena!" I yell after it.

"Daryl!" I hear a scared little voice say. I turn around and Athena comes out from behind a tree, shaking in fear. I rush over to her and pick her up. She starts to cry uncontrollably. She snorts with each sob and tears flow from her eyes like a water fall, wetting my shirt.