Chapter Text
Beth and Carol talk to some of the parents in block D and they agree to take care of Judith a couple of afternoons a week while Beth takes her lessons. First up is shooting a gun, which she’s never really had an interest in. She was always too preoccupied with taking care of her horse and picking sweet fruits to care much about shooting. That had been (and still is) Maggie’s thing. It’s loud, the gun is heavy and every time she pulls the trigger, the hilt of the gun slams back into her because she’s not used to it.
Her daddy lets her shoot one bullet per gun a day, because they need to keep their supplies as high as possible. She likes the revolver and the sniper rifle, but the shotgun’s too cumbersome for her small frame. She needs to pack some muscle on, but the fact that they’re all still on rations means her body can’t really get the nutrients it needs to do that, and there’s not exactly a gym she can go to so she can lift some weights. She’s getting pretty good at aiming, especially with the rifle, which has a scope she can look through. They place the cans at different distances and after a couple of days, she hits about 70% of them. Her daddy says it’s good enough, and sends her over to Carol, who teaches her how to use the knives.
“You gotta grip it like this,” Carol demonstrates, correcting Beth’s grip on the handle. “This way, you can stab it up and in, see?” She places the knife against the sack filled with grass, where Beth had drawn a crooked head and neck.
Carol sticks the pointy end of the knife under the chin of the dummy. “Here’s soft. Feel that?” Beth presses her thumb underneath her own chin, feels her throat and sensitive under jaw. She nods at Carol, who continues: “We’re small, you and I, so getting them on the head is difficult. The skull is hard and unless they’re old, a knife isn’t gonna go in easily. Pick the soft spots. The eye sockets, up the nose, the ears and the temples.” As Carol lists them, Beth moves her fingers along the spots, pressing inwards to feel the vulnerable parts.
“The walkers will try to grab you first, so you gotta get your arms free, alright.” Carol instructs, gripping Beth’s shoulders suddenly. “Try to get me off.” Carol’s grip tightens until it’s painful, her nails making little half-moons in her skin. She takes a step forward, but Carol just moves with her. “Jerk one shoulder to the side as you step. Use the momentum to your advantage.” Carol pulls Beth towards her. “Don’t let them get close, Beth.”
Struggling against her pull, Beth wriggles until Carol has to slacken her grip in order to get a better hold of her. “Great, now get me off.” She enthuses. Beth swings her left shoulder to the right while stepping forward and Carol’s hand flies off of her.
“Good job, Beth. Alright, what if they grab your neck or hair?” Beth’s head snaps back suddenly as Carol pulls on her long braid. She windmills her arms helplessly as she loses her balances and falls flat on her butt.
“Ow…” She mutters, rubbing her head where she’s sure Carol’s pulled out a couple hairs.
“Sorry, Beth. But you gotta learn.” Carol says solemnly. “Let me show you, okay?”
She glances over to where Daryl’s working on his bike and calls his name. He looks up, squinting against the glare of the sun. “Can you come give a demonstration?”
He stands up and shrugs, walking towards them. Beth had been so into the lesson that she hadn’t even noticed him. She scrambles up from the ground, her cheeks burning bright red. God, how’s she ever gonna prove she’s good enough like that? Just falling over when someone pulls on her braid like she’s still some little schoolgirl.
“What do you need me to do?” Daryl grunts as he comes to a stop next to them, eyes moving quickly between Beth and Carol, as if he can’t decide where to look.
“Attack me.” Carol says firmly, “Beth’s gotta see what to do when a walker grabs her.”
Daryl raises his eyebrows, clearly skeptical.
“You wanna let her practice with an actual walker, instead?” Carol shoots back. At his horrified expression, she says with a smug smile: “Thought so. Now c’mon. Attack me.”
---
Daryl’s just working on his bike- gotta make sure she keeps runnin’ smoothly- when Carol and Beth start practicing with the dummy. At first, Beth seems eager, upbeat. She grabs the knife and makes haphazard stabbing motions into the dummy. When Carol laughs gently, adjusts her grip and shows her the proper places to thrust the knife into, she becomes still, more serious and focused on the task at hand.
Good.
He doesn’t wanna lose her just ‘cause she got overconfident. They all had to learn the hard way how to fight a walker, but that doesn’t mean they let other make unnecessary- and possibly fatal- mistakes.
Especially Beth.
God, he doesn’t know what any of them- including him- would do if Beth got taken from them. All of them have already lost so much, and some nights it was just Beth and her gentle songs that got them through it.
He’s been staring at them for a while now, and he’s sure Carol’s noticed, so he tries to concentrate on his bike, hearing Merle’s instructions on how to take care of her echoing in his mind.
Still, he can’t help but look up every now and then, which how he sees Carol pulling Beth’s braid and Beth falling adorably on her butt. She seems put out by Carol’s attack, but walkers like to grab things and that hair might as well be a neon sign saying: “Grab me.”
She’d probably feel embarrassed if anyone saw her like that, though, so he quickly turns back to working on his bike.
“Daryl!” Carol calls out to him. “Can you come give a demonstration?”
Busted…
He wipes off his hands as best he can and heads towards them, Beth getting to her feet quickly, her rosy cheeks fired up.
“What do you need me to do?” Daryl says, eyes flickering between Carol, who’s looking way too self-satisfied, and Beth, skin flushed and shiny from exertion and nerves. Neither of them is good for him to look at, right now.
“Attack me,” Carol says; confirming his suspicions, “Beth’s gotta see what to do when a walker grabs her.”
He raises his eyebrows at her. As if he can’t see what she’s up to. Next, she’ll be asking him to put his arms around Beth, pretending to be a walker. Carol can be subtle when she wants to be, but she’s not fooling him for a second.
“You wanna let her practice with an actual walker, instead?” Carol shoots back.
Aw hell no. He’s not letting Beth anywhere near any walkers until he’s sure she can handle them. She’s gettin’ pretty good with a gun, but bullets run out fast. Hand to hand combat’s always the way to go.
“Thought so. Now c’mon, attack me.”
With a heavy sigh, he lifts his arms and grabs Carol’s shoulders, clawing towards her neck, pulling her backwards.
“See, Beth. Daryl’s taller than me, so he has to reach down to grab me,” Carol huffs, wrenching her shoulder free, simultaneously swinging her elbow back and up. He can just manage to duck it.
“A walker would have gotten an elbow to the face.” Daryl murmurs, “But I’m no walker.” He walks in front of Carol, placing his hands back on her shoulders.
“You wanna make them keep the arms straight, okay? Walker- or human- when the arms are straight they don’t have as much strength in them.” Carol explains calmly. “Bring your arms up like this,” she brings her wrists together in front of her chest,” And then jam them up and out against their arms. You gotta catch ‘em by surprise.” She does exactly as she says and Daryl’s arms spring free.
Beth nods, eyes wide, taking everything in. “What if I can’t get my arms free?” She asks, looking at Daryl.
“If it’s people grabbin’ ya, use your foot. Carol, go ahead.” He circles his arms around Carol, grabbing her tight around the waist whilst pinning her arms down.
He’s pretty sure his boots are firm enough for this.
Carol starts talking:” Now, if I kick backwards, I’m not gonna do much damage because we’re too close together, see? But I can lift my leg up,” she bends her knee to her waist, looking back down at Daryl’s feet. “And aim for his feet. You wanna hit the top of the foot, alright?” She brings her heel down powerfully.
“Ow, god-fuckin-damnit!” Daryl curses loudly as pain erupts in his foot.
“See,” Carol says proudly. “They’ll be hopping around on one leg, and then you can pretty much do what ya want. Like bringing your elbow down on their back.”
He did not fucking sign up for a goddamn beating. Why can’t a guy just work on his bike in peace?
---
“Daryl?” Beth’s voice drifts up the cellblock to where he’s trying to find a comfortable position on his bed.
“Hmm,” He grunts in acknowledgement.
“You okay?” She asks, walking up the stairs to his perch. “Carol got you pretty good.”
Yeah, Carol did everything he taught her – including not holding back.
“Back’s not so good. She got me right below my ribs. 'S a good spot to pick.”
She’s silent as she’s standing over him. She’s holding a tube- some kinda lotion.
“What you got there?” He prompts, sitting up so he can look at her better. Her breathing’s harsh and choppy- she’s clearly anxious about something.
“I thought…I thought I could maybe massage your back, or somethin’? Cause you got hurt because of me.” She blurts out, cheeks immediately reddening.
He frowns, cause the thought of Beth touching him- there, of all places… Words escape him. He doesn’t even really wanna contemplate it. That part of him- that ugly, wounded part of him- he doesn’t want anyone to see, least of all her.
“I know about the scars.” She whispers. “When you were hurt, on the farm…”
He grunts again, a soft “hmm” just to say he knows.
“I used to fall off my horse a lot, when I was just learnin’ to ride her. My back would hurt so bad, and my momma would just massage it with this sweet almond oil until I was all relaxed and sleepy,” a soft smile graces her face, and suddenly it doesn’t seem such a bad idea. Her soft, small hands, kneading his hard, gnarled flesh.
“Of course, the next day it hurt again, but at least I could get to sleep and I got to try again. I thought, maybe you’d wanna get a good night’s sleep for once?”
He looks at her carefully, her earnest face, her big blue eyes staring at him without blinking.
He gives her a barely there nod, strips off his vest, and then his t-shirt. Her eyes fall immediately to his tattooed chest, which also bears a fair amount of scars, but not all of them old.
He turns around before he can change his mind and he hears her suck in a shuddering breath.
“Y’don’t have to.” He says softly, squeezing his eyes shut. He waits for her to leave, but instead she sinks down on her knees behind him.
He hears the snick of the bottle cap, the squirty noise of the lotion as it hits her palms. She rubs it into her hands a bit, warming it up, before touching one of them carefully to his shoulder.
“This okay?” She asks, voice husky, while her other hand joins the first in rubbing the lotion into his skin. The pressure is barely there. She's letting him set the pace.
“Hmm.”
Her thumb presses into the tense muscle of his shoulder a little, and he lets his head droop down, finding himself relaxing despite himself.
Her hands smooth further down, her soft skin touching some of his scars, and he flinches a little. “If you want me to stop, just say so, ‘kay?” She says gently, hands moving outward to his sides, pressing gently to release the tension.
“You’re good at this.” He manages, voice sounding choked. His back may be relaxing, but he can feel himself stiffening behind his zipper, her hands and soft voice calming him and rousing him at the same time. He's too chilled to really feel any shame over it, though. Besides, he's pretty sure she hasn't noticed.
“I do this with Maggie sometimes, when she’s had the night shift up in the guard tower. She gets really tense in her shoulders.” Beth comments, hands continuing their blessed work.
“This where Carol got ya, huh?” she asks, fingers circling the beginning of a bruise.
“Yeah, she’s got pointy elbows, that woman.” He laughs gruffly. “I regret ever teaching her that move.”
“I’m glad you did.” Beth says sunnily. “Because now she can teach me. I promise I won’t do it that hard, though.”
“Whatcha mean, you promise?” He asks, head snapping up in his surprise. He’s hardly even focused on the fact that she’s touching his bare back, anymore. Beth’s good at distracting him.
“Carol said next time I get to practice on you.”
Goddamnit, Carol.
"Without even asking me, huh," he groans, just as Beth digs her thumb into one of his tense muscles in his lower back. She's hunched over him now, and he can feel the hot puffs of her breath against his skin. He shivers, dick straining against his jeans. It's getting to be a bit uncomfortable. All he wants to do is turn around and grab her, smash his mouth against hers in a brutal kiss, slam their hips together to get some relief. She'd probably turn just as red as she did this afternoon.
"You wanna maybe lay down?" Beth suggests, tone completely innocent. This girl is gonna be the death of him.