Hope- The Walking Dead Fanfiction

Ch 15- Bruises and a Lot of Walkers

~Beth~

I woke up to Daryl gently shaking me. I looked up, to see the moon not quite in the middle of the sky, so I figured it was a little past midnight. "Can you and Michone take watch," he whispered.

I nodded, rubbing my eyes, and sitting up. I stretched a bit, and Daryl kissed my cheek before laying down next to me. After awhile, Michone spoke,"You have changed him."

I nodded,"I don't know if it is for better or for worse."

"It's for better. He's got something to live for, we all do. You have him hope, because before the prison went down, he was a hopeless asshole," she murmured.

I nodded again in agreement,"Who do ya got to live for?" She sort of flinched at my question. "Sorry to ask, but as far as I know you ain't got family here," I said quietly.

"I- I live for myself. I promised myself I would try my hardest to stay alive for my family," she answered after a long painful silence.

"I think Carl would miss you if you were gone. Your like his best friend, and I think we all appreciate you for it, you shoulda seen him after his mom died, even before than," I whispered.

She shook her head,"Nah. He is living for Rick and Judith."

"You don' understand Michone," I whispered," When you went on runs back at the prison, he was a worried mess. You are his only friend, and I think you sort of link him to his childhood."

She nodded, and we didn't talk for the rest of the night. It was just a silence, besides the fire cackling and the soft snores from Daryl and Rick.

In the morning, we all got up, with all of our supplies we had gathered, and walked back towards the house we had camped in.

"I blocked all the windows, except for the ones in the master bedroom upstairs. I figure if we ever need to to escape, we coul' go that way," Daryl murmured, closing the door behind him.

Carl's eyes lit up when he walked into the kitchen. "So much food," he laughed. Michone came up behind him, grabbing a bag of Cheetos.

"We all deserve this," she muttered with a smile, opening up the big bag. We snacked on them in the living room, with the map open on the table, and a marker in ricks hands.

"Alright. So we are here," he said motioning to a small road in the forest, with the four houses on either side. "So, we are on Pine street. Where did you guys find the hat?"

I looked at Daryl, and he pointed to a small field not that far," In the forest, near the field. There was a house there, so whoever had her probably camped there for awhile."

I nodded,"I think Carol has her." My murmur was barely audible.

"What makes you say that," Rick asked, running his hands above his lip like he normally does when he is thinking or frustrated.

"W-we found Mika and Lizzie's grave. There is no way they would've walked that far out of the prison without someone, and Carol was close with em. And to be completely honest, I don't think Maggie would've buried them," I finished, looking down when I mentioned Maggie.

"That doesn't mean that she ain't with Sasha or Tyrese or Bob or Glenn or," Rick stopped and looked down at the ground.

"Rick. I know we will find them," I said encouragingly. I knew we would find them, but I didn't know if we would find Judith. He nodded.

"Alright. Tomorrow we will start searching," Michone said, and she circled some areas on the map.

"Beth and Daryl search here," she said pointing to an area with a river and train tracks.