The two of us just sat in the darkness for a while with only the fire between us. Neither Beth nor I said a word to one another as we let the time go by. Not only that, but it was now I realised that we also hadn't eaten. I'd been so preoccupied with following the trail and making sure Beth was still with me that I hadn't gone out to hunt. It was to dark to go out now as I knew there wouldn't be anything out there, and if there was, I wouldn't be able to see it.
Then, all of a sudden, the all to familiar, sound of walkers filled the air.
As the sound got louder, I glanced over to Beth. She was just sat, holding the handle of her knife and looking back at me with fear filled eyes. I could tell she was terrified, but she did well to hide it. It gave me some sort of new found respect for her and I knew I had to keep her safe. She was my responsibility out here and I knew it was what she'd do.
I was quickly pulled back from my thoughts as I heard a branch snap near by, then another, then another and it wasn't until I slowly stood up that I saw them. From the dim light of the fire, I could see the herd of walkers making their way towards us.
There was no way the two of us would be able to take on that many. Not even if we used guns. Our only choice was to run.
Without any hesitation, I pulled Beth to her feet and ushered her in front of me, where the two of us began running once again. Only this time, it was the dead of night, not knowing which way to run and having to stay close so we didn't lose each other.
Then the soft dirt beneath my feet turned into hard concrete and I looked up to see that we'd ran up onto an old road. That was when I spotted the abandoned car a little ways down and ran straight towards it.
"Go!" I whispered to Beth as I pulled my crossbow up in front of me and stood guard. If we could get it working we'd be able to get out of here and lose the herd.
Without taking a moment to think, Beth climbed into the drivers seat of the car and tried the engine. Nothing happened. She then tried it again. Still nothing happened and the herd was right on us. I knew we didn't have time to kick start the battery so our best shot was to keep running, but then an idea popped into my head.
I quickly ran round to the boot of the car and and opened it. I then whistled over to Beth and nodded down to the space inside. She knew what I was saying and ran over, climbing inside and ducking down. Once she was in, I climbed in after her and bought he boot down with me, tying it off so that it wasn't completely shut, but it wouldn't open whilst we were in here.
There wasn't much room to move inside at all, but I kept my crossbow pointed at the gap and Beth kept her hand firmly on her knife. We both knew that if the herd found out where we went, we were done for.
Then, as the first couple of walkers passed, a storm errupted outside. The thunder echoed though the night and the lightning was bright enough that we could see every walker as it wondered passed the car. All we could do was sit and wait. We had no where else to go.
It was a long and uncomfortable night and neither of us had gotten any sleep. It was yet just another restless night to add to the list since leaving he prison. Come to think of it, I couldn't remember the last time I actually slept and it was starting to catch up with me.
We waited until just after the sun had began to rise before Beth untied the boot and slowly opened it. She then climbed out and I did the same, my arms and legs aching from having been in the same position all night.
I took a moment to stretch as Beth began stripping the car for anything we could use. Wind mirrors, glass, wires, batteries. We took it all. In our search, I'd also found an empty black bin bag and handed it to Beth so she could put all the stuff in.
Once we'd finally stripped the car clean of everything we could use, I began walking down the road again and Beth followed on behind silently. Still, neither of us speaking to one another.
I walked a little ways down the road again before I turned back into the trees. From there, we headed a few minutes in and stopped near a couple of fallen trees to make camp for a couple of hours. Then, leaving my stuff and Beth to get herself sorted, I grabbed my crossbow and headed back into the trees.
I didn't go to far from camp just in case, but being out here by myself meant I could finally breathe. Beth's constant positive and clueless attitude were starting to suffocate me. I hadn't felt like that in a long time, but with it being just the two of us out here, I had to make sure she was safe and alive and I couldn't do that if she didn't start taking some responsibility for herself. We'd all lost someone and we all had different ways of dealing with it and I think that she was just finally realising we weren't ever gonna see anyone from the prison again.
After a little while longer, I spotted something move out of the corner of my eye. It was a squirrel.
I raised my bow and leveled my sights at the animal and then fired. I missed. I never missed.
I stalked over to the tree and pulled my arrow out of the trunk and looked at it. The shaft had snapped. I cursed under my breath as I snapped the arrow in two and tossed it to the ground. I knew I coulda fixed it, but even if I did, it wouldn't fly straight again. Sooner or later I was gonna have to make more.
With that in mind, I kept going and wondered around a little while longer to clear my head. That was when I heard the familiar hiss of a snake in the grass. Then I spotted it just ahead of me. I wasn't gonna let this one get away.
Merle had taught me to hunt snakes at an early age, on one of the rare occasions he was home from juvi. I shook my head as the memory surged and pulled a branch off of a tree, snapping the ends to form a 'Y'. I had to keep focused. If I did this right, this'd be our first meal in days.
Taking my time, I pulled my knife from my belt and started to slowly edge my way towards the snake. Lucky enough for me, it was slow and it hadn't spotted me yet. That was all I needed. I slammed the branch down onto the snakes body and pushed down, so its head was trapped, and I stuck my knife into it, killing it.
Then, having finally caught us some dinner, I made my way back to Beth.
By the time I got back to camp, I noticed that Beth had us a fire going and had strung the car parts around the camp so we'd know if anything was coming at us. I was impressed to say the least.
She looked up as she heard me coming and wrinkled her nose as she saw the snake, but she didn't say anything. She didn't say anything the whole time I was skinning and cooking it either. She just sat opposite me, quietly watching as I worked.
I then divided the snake up bewteen us and began eating. It wasn't until then, I realised just how hungry I really was. Being out here with Beth was effecting me more than I realised.
"I need a drink." Beth broke the silence, wiping her hands on her jeans.
I picked up the bottle of water, that was in front of me, and threw it at her. "No. I mean a real drink." She threw the bottle into the makeshift tent. "As in alcohol." She told me as if I didn't know what it was.
I just continued eating my snake and didn't turn my head to look at her. "I've never had one. 'Cause of my dad, but he's not exactly around anymore so..." She trailed off looking around her.
I still wasn't answering. I didn't feel the need to talk so instead, I just continued eating. "I thought we could go find some." She then looked over at me cheerfully and waited, but as soon as she realised I wasn't gonna give her an answer, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay. Well enjoy your snake jerky."
Beth then stood up and pulled her knife from the log I was next to and walked into the woods. My patience with her growing thin as I finished my 'snake jerky', as she had called it, and went after her. She was weak and with the way she's going, she's gonna get herself killed. I wasn't gonna let that happen. I'd failed her dad at the prison and I had failed her, but I wasn't gonna fail Beth.
When I finally caught up with her, she was standing with her back up against a tree, hiding from a group of walkers that were walking by. I approached her slowly and lightly placed my hand on her shoulder. She spun on me quick, but when she realised it was me, she lowered her knife. I just shook my head and began walking back in the direction of the camp, making sure she was behind me. Not that Beth knew any different.
"I think we made it away." She finally said, once we were far enough away from the walkers. "I'm pretty sure we got to go that way to find the booze."
I ignored her as I stepped over the wire leading into our camp, but Beth wasn't looking where she was going and walked straight into it, causing the car parts to rattle. "What the hell? You bought me back." She yelled. "I'm not staying in this suck ass camp!" And she flipped me off.
That was it. My temper finally snapped as I grabbed hold of her arm before she could walk away. "Hey! You had your fun!"
She just jerked away from me and pulled her arm out of my grip. "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 want to spend the rest of our lives staring into a fire eating mud snakes? Screw that. We might as well do something. I can take care of myself, and I'm gonna get myself a damn drink!"
I then watched as she walked away and in some ways, she's right. I do think everything's screwed, but it's not just that. I feel empty and worthless and as though I had failed at keeping those who I care about alive. Merle, Lily, Hershal, everyone. They were all dead because I gave up looking for the Governor.
Lily was the one good thing to happen to me in my life. She got me in ways no one else could and made me feel things I didn't know I was capable of feeling. Merle would've called me a girl or a pussy for it, but it didn't matter anymore because he was gone just like she was. I owed it to her to keep Beth safe. She was still family after all.
Keeping that in mind, I took one last look back at the camp and packed all the essentials back into a bag and went after Beth...again. I've found myself doing that a lot and I don't have a reason why other than I know it's what she'd do. I feel like it's my responsibility to keep her safe.
I finally caught up with her as she stepped out onto a golf course. It was all overgrown, as would be expected, and she turned round with a smile on her face. Almost as if she knew I was gonna end up following her.
"Golfers like to booze it up right?" She asked.
I ignored her question and watched as a group of five or six walkers emerged from the trees and started making their way towards us. "Come on." She just said, as she walked off again, heading towards the building.
As we got closer, the building looked like any other building now a days. All run down and abandoned. That was when Beth stopped. "There might be people inside."
There was only one way to find out.
We walked up to the front doors and Beth shook them whilst I searched a walker for anything that might be of any use to us. There was nothing. It was then I noticed the group of walkers from before had doubled in size and there was no way the two of us would be able to take on that many.
"Hey." I whispered and grabbed a golf club as I turned to Beth. She stopped what she was doing and looked over at me and I saw the change in her eyes as she caught a glimpse of the walkers. I just pointed around the side of the building and the two of us made our way round to the back door.
Once there, I signalled for Beth to wait as I tried the door. Lucky enough for us they were open.
Taking my time, I cautiously peared inside and looked around. From what I coukd see, it all seemed clear. "Come on." I stepped inside and closed the door behind Beth, putting the club through the handles. I then aimed my crossbow and picked up at torch, which was next to the door, flicking it on and pointing it at the room to see walkers hung from the ceiling by their necks.
There were bodies everywhere and it made me think that this place must've been set up as some sort of camp, for those who used the clubm, as beds, pillows and belongings littered the floor. Then I spotted money and lots of it.
Without thinking, I grabbed a backpack, emptying what little was in it, and started shoving as much of the money into it as i possibly could.
"Why are you keeping all that stuff?" Beth asked from across the room.
I looked up at her and ignored her as continued putting the money into the bag. I guess I figured if the world ever went back to the way it used to be, this money would change my life. It would give me a better life than what I had before.
Then I stopped as my hand hesitated over a small diamond ring laying on the ground. It reminded me of her. It looked similar to the amulet she wore around her neck and I remembered the day, after the farm, I had hung it around her neck.
Just before my emotions could surface, the walkers from outside started to bang on the walls from outside. It was time to move. I picked up the ring and shoved it into my back pocket where I then pulled my bag onto my back. I didn't have a reason for keeping the ring, it just reminded me of her.
We left the room and ended up in some kind of dining room or kitchen, where Beth went off looking for her alcohol whilst I searched for something we could actually use. Then, the sound of pots and pans crashing together had me spinning around with my crossbow raised. It was only Beth. Damn girl had a death wish walking around noisily the way she did.
I let out the breath I hadn't realised I was holding and continued my search through the cupboards. That was unil I heard Beth yell. It was then followed by the sound of a bottle hitting something and smashing.
I ran through the kitchen and over to her to see her wrestling with a walker before stabbing her knife into its skull. She then looked over at me and I watched as the frustration passed through her. "Thanks for the help." She snapped angrily.
"You said you could take care of yourself. You did" I replied and continued with what I was doing. Maybe she's tougher than I first thought.
Having found nothing of value, I made my way down a narrow hallway and was surprised to find that Beth was sticking close and following. I then crawled under a fallen trophie cabinet and moved an old clock from our path so that we could get through. The clock made a loud chime, but not enough to draw attention to ourselves. I then stood up on the other side and continued down the hallway where I ended up in some sort of store.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I noticed Beth picking out some clothes and heading into the changing rooms to get changed. As she did, I looked around and stared at a walker, which was hung up, wearing fancy clothes with the words 'Rich bitch' hung around her neck. It was somethin I imagined Merle woulda done befkre and I chucked at the thlught, but just like everyone else, he was gone.
It was then Beth came back through out of the changing rooms wearing a yellow shirt and a white cardigan. Her eyes then falling on the walker I was standing in front of.
Without a single word said, she walked passed me and grabbed hold of it, turning her head to look at me. "Help me take her down."
"Don't matter. She's dead." I replied.
"It does matter." Beth insisted.
Knowing she wasn't gonna let up, I picked up some sort of blue cloth and placed it over the walker's head. "Here." Beth didn't seem happy, but it would have to do. There wasn't any point in moving it.
All of a sudden, the clock chimed in the hallway and I instantly regretted puttim it up straight. It was stupid. Then I heard the sound of the walkers. The stupid thing had bought them all out of hiding.
"Move, move!" I pushed Beth and we made our way back through the building.
Beth didn't object as we ran into some sort common room. The walkers were right behind us and we had no where else to go, so I shot the one closest to us and dropped my crossbow. As it went down, I shoved another in the chest away from me and picked a colf club up from the floor, weighing it in my hands for a moment. I then swung it with all my might and crushed the first walkers head.
With each walker I killed I grew more and more frustrated and angry. I was taking it all out on them, putting all of my emotions into my swings. That was until it came to the last one. I hit the walker in the arm until it was on the floor and then swung at its head over and over again, feeling all the tension leak out of me until it was finally dead.
It wasn't until I looked up that I saw that all the blood and walker brains had splattered all over Beth's new clothes. She just looked over at me, crinkled her nose and took off the blood covered cardigan. It was gonna get bloody sooner or later.
"We made it." I heard her say and I turned around to see her standing in a doorway I had missed. On the other side was the bar. "I know you think this is stupid and it probably is, but I don't care. All I wanted to do today was lay down and cry. We don't get to do that, so beat up on walkers if that makes you feel better. I need to do this." And with that, she walked into the bar.
I just rolled my eyes and followed her in, tossing the golf club away from me and picking up my crossbow.
I was pissed with myself and I took ot out on that walker, and Beth's clothes. If I hadn't have stopped looking for the Governor then non of this would've happened. We'd still be at the prison. I'd still have Lily and we'd have made it somehow. But no. Here I was, with Beth, looking for damn booze.
Knowing if she found anything I wasn't gonna drink, I made my way around the room, looking at all the frames on the walls. I then stopped at one, breaking the glass and taking the paper that was inside. "Did you have to break the glass?" Beth asked.
"No." I grunted and took down the frame. "You have your drink yet?" I asked back, trying to match my tone to hers.
"No." She replied. "But I found this." She placed a bottle down onto the counter. "Peach schnapps. Is it good?"
I scoffed as I remembered back to my days of drinking with Merle. Peach schnapps wasn't worth it by any menas. "No."
"Well it's the only thing left." She sighed.
I shrugged and walked over to the dart board, shouldering my crossbow and collecting all of the darts. "Who needs a glass?" I heard Beth mumble as I began throwing the darts at the faces of the club presidents. The darts landed with a thud.
Then I heard a sob. I looked over at Beth to see she had one hand on the bottle and there were tears rolling down her cheeks. I sighed and threw my last dart, landing it in the forehead of the persons face. A part of me felt sorry for the girl, but getting all worked up over some damn peach schnapps wasn't worth her tears. It was a shit drink anyway.
I walked over, picking the bottle up off of the counter and threw it to the floor, where I watched the glass shatter and the liquid go everywhere. "If you're gonna have your first drink. It ain't gonna be on no damn peach schnapps. Come on." I said, walking towards the door and opening it.
Beth nodded and wiped her tears as she followed me over and I closed the door behind us.