The car came screaming down the road and banked left when they reached an unmarked exit in the woods. Daryl and Beth held to anything they could as the car bounced along the dirt road, finally breaking from the wooded path and ending up in a trailer park. The driver slammed on the breaks and all three spilled out, hurrying into the closest trailer. It had been secured with a barbedwire fence. The man opened the gate and they hurried inside.
"Thank you," Beth said once they were in.
"They saw the car," the man said as he peeked out the window, looking back to the empty road. "They'll be coming this way."
Daryl pushed the man down- he collapsed in the narrow hallway of the RV. "You were just gonna leave us to get eaten alive," Daryl said, looming over the man.
"I didn't!" the man shouted. "She said you were good people, is that what you are?" he asked. Beth ran behind Daryl and pulled at his shoulders.
"Yes," she said. "We're just... we're scared."
The man stayed down, Daryl towering over him. Then, with Beth pulling him back, Daryl finally relented and stepped away. The man stood.
"Help me pack up my supplies, there's another place we can go. It's safer."
"What's your name?" she asked.
The man hesitated. "Conrad," he said after a moment. Beth smiled.
"I'm Beth, this is Daryl, thank you again."
The man nodded, "Let's get moving," he said.
#
Once back in the car, Beth couldn't believe her luck. The trunk was now full of water and canned food. Her pounding headache finally subsided after taking just a few more sips and eating some jerky. Though she knew he would never admit it, he was starting to see that she was right. As hard and punishing as the world had become, there was still hope.
"He must be taking good care of you," Conrad said, looking at Beth from the rearview.
"Huh?"
"For you to still be alive."
Daryl turned to him from the pasenger side. "She's tougher than she looks," he said.
They reached a small deserted town, dry leaves and crashed cars littered the streets.
"I need your help, there's always a few stragglers around here," Conrad said as he pulled in front of the police station and parked. He got out. Daryl moved to the trunk to get the supplies but Conrad walked up the stairs toward the station doors. "We're not staying here," Conrad told him. Two walkers lumbered around the corner and began shuffling towards them. "Kill them, then come inside," Conrad told Daryl and walked up the stairs into the station.
Beth moved Beside daryl. He aimed the crossbow to the closest of the two walkers and shot it in the head. He reloaded and fired at the second.
"More," she said. Three more appeared on the other side of the street. Daryl jogged to the two on the ground and took his arrows back. Another group of three stumbled from the sporting goods store ahead.
"I'm gonna get him back," Beth told him, turning to the police station doors.
"No," Daryl said. "I don't trust him."
"We need help, I'm going." She ran inside.
The lobby was trashed. Dried blood and broken glass covered the floor. Two old bodies in police uniforms lay sprawled by the counter. As she ran past, Beth noticed the photos of policemen lining the wall. Conrad was one of them.
She reached the top of the stairs leading to the basement which looked like nothing more than a dark pit. "Hello?" she called. "We need help."
Conrad reappeared, a shotgun and two handguns craddled in his arms. "Me too," he said. Beth ran down and grabbed the handguns. She ran outside, all the walkers lay dead on the asphalt.
"Looks like I made the right decision with you two," Conrad said.
"Where's this safe place?" Daryl asked, pulling an arrow from a walker's eye.
"Military base just north of here."
"We need to find the others," Beth told Daryl.
"We need to rest, eat. Then we'll find them," he said. She nodded.
#
In the car again, they rolled through town, slow so as to not attract the leftover walkers remaining in the stores and homes nearby.
"What'd we get?" Conrad asked Beth who held a pile of weapons in her lap.
"Shotguns, handguns, a rifle, taser."
"You know how to use a taster?" He asked. She shook her head. He held his hand out as he drove, she passed it up to him. Daryl watched the homes as they passed, his eyes scanning the windows from the passenger's side.
"This is actually a stun gun," Conrad told her. He put the device to Daryl's neck. A loud crack broke the silence, Daryl convulsed in his seat, Beth screamed and reached down to the handgun in her lap. Conrad slammed the break, sending it all falling to the floor. He quickly reached his hand back to her and put the stun gun to her leg.
"Hands where I can see them," he said. Beth obliged, putting her palms against the ceiling.
"Get out," he commanded.
