Survival Guide: To Surviving the Living Dead 101

Rule #29

Have A Little Fun

It doesn't hurt to have a little fun. As long as you're not in any immediate danger and are relatively safe you can have some fun. You just need to be smart about it. Noise attracts walkers so don't be stupid and start making a ton of noise. If you're going to drink, do it responsibly just like in the old world. Except now you have to worry about dead people trying to eat you.

"That's a real first drink right there," Daryl said to Beth. She looked down at it but didn't touch it. "What? What's the matter?" Daryl asked. She shook head and looked up at us. "Nothing. It's just my dad always said bad moonshine can make you go blind," she said. Daryl reached down to grab his own jar of moonshine, "ain't nothing worth seeing out there anymore anyway." He's not wrong. The world is full of the dead and everything is abandoned.

Beth hesitated a little. "You don't have to drink it if you don't want to," I told her. She shook her head, picked the cup up and brought it to her lips. Her face scrunched up in disgust. "That's the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted," she said. I laughed and hummed in agreement. "Yeah but you'll want more. JuT go slow," I said as she downed the rest. "Second rounds better," she said, reaching for the jar on the table. I looked over at Daryl, "She's going to be a lightweight," told him. "Slow down," he told her. She looked up at him and smiled. "This one's for you," she said. Daryl shook his head, "no, I'm good."

Eventually we sat around and played Never Have I Ever. That was until Daryl took Beth's too serious but then again it did sound like she was trying to figure out what he did before the outbreak. Daryl ended up storming out of the house to kill a walker. Except that isn't what happened. He pinned it to a tree and then tried to force Beth to learn how to use the crossbow then they got into it while I tried to defuse everything. Then it ended with Daryl wrapping his arms around me and burying his face in my neck, Beth behind him with her arms wrapped around his waist.

After the emotions were finally all out we went back to just sitting around and drinking. We sat on the front porch. I sat with my back against Daryl's cheat as he leaned on one of the posts and Beth was across from us. "I see why my dad stopped drinking," Beth said. "You feel sick?" Daryl asked her. She shook her head, "nope. I wish I could feel like this all the time." The carefree, no shits given feeling.  I totally get what she means. "That's bad," she said. Daryl and I hummed. "You're lucky you're a happy drunk," Daryl told her. "Yeah, I'm lucky. Some people can be real Jenks when they drink," she said. I let out a small laugh and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm a dick when I'm drunk," Daryl admitted.

I laid my head back on his shoulder and looked at him as he talked. "Merle had this dealer. This janky little white guy. A tweaker. One day we were over at his house watching TV." It was rare for Daryl to talk about his life before the dead started walking. It was a surprise he was telling us what he was now. "Wasn't even noon yet and we were all wasted. Merle was high. We were watching this show and Merle was talking all this dumb stuff about it. And he wouldn't let up. Merle never could." That wasn't any big surprise. Merle was a straight up asshole.

"Turns out it was the tweaker's kids' favorite show. And never sees his kid so he felt guilty about it or something. So he punches Merle in the face. So I started hitting the tweaker, like, hard. As hard as I can. Then he pulls a gun and sticks it right here." He pointed to the side of his head before wrapping the same arm around my waist. "He says, 'I'm gonna kill you, bitch.' So Merle pulls his gun on him. Everyone's yelling. I'm yelling. I thought I was dead. Over a dumb cartoon about a talking dog." Daryl scoffs and fiddles with something beside him. "How'd you get out of it?' Beth asks. "The tweaker punched me in the gut. I puked. They both started laughing and forgot about it."

There was a beat of silence before I spoke up. "I've dealt with people like Merle. I've dealt with people worse than Merle. I had some guy hold my own gun to my head. I was still just a rookie when that happened. Got a call about some druggy harassing people in town. We chased him three blocks until I finally caught up to him. Except he was able to over power me and got a hold of my gun. Rick and Shane got there just in time. It's a memory I will never forget. I thought I was sure I was dead. But like always my big brother was there to save me." I was hoping he was still alive out there.

"You want to know where I was before all this? I was just drifting around with Merle…doing whatever he said we were gonna be doing that day." He was silent for a few beats. "I was nobody. Nothing. Some redneck asshole and an even bigger asshole for a brother," Daryl said. "You miss, don't you? I miss Maggie. I miss her bossing me around," Beth said, laughing. "I miss my big brother Shawn. He was so annoying and overprotective. And my dad. I thought– I hoped he'd just live the rest of his life in peace, you know? I thought Maggie and Glenn would have a baby. And he'd get to be a grandpa. And we'd have birthdays and holidays and summer picnics. And he'd get really old. And it'd happen but it'd be quiet. It'd be okay. He'd ve surrounded by the people he loved." My heart broke for her. She shouldn't have had to see what happened to her father.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she looked at Daryl and I. "That's so unbelievably stupid I am." She choked on her tears and grabbed the Mason jar of moonshine, taking a drink from it. I shook my head, "You're not stupid, Beth. Things were good. You're not the only one that had those kinds of dreams. I thought Carl could finally be a kid. He could finally have friends and grow up with a relatively normal life. That Judith would grow up with a big family and we could have her first birthday. Maybe we could find the ingredients to make a cake and Carol could do her magic. So you're not stupid for wanting those things. We all do and maybe one day we will."

After all the confessions and vulnerability settled down Beth came up with the idea to burn the rundown shack. So that's what we did. We found some gasoline and we set the place on fire. Then we walked away and left it all behind us.