Daryl's Angel (10th Anniversary Edition)

Chapter 64: Good People

Beth holds Daryl's crossbow, peering down the scope. Daryl waits right behind her, guiding her.

"Are we close?" she asks.

"Almost done."

"How do you know?"

"The signs are all there. Just gotta know how to read 'em."

Beth lowers the crossbow and takes a few careful steps forward, Daryl right behind her.

"What are we tracking?" she asks.

"You tell me," he replies. She turns to him, her brow creased with annoyance, and he shrugs. "You're the one who wanted to learn."

Beth pouts a little as she looks towards the earth. "Well, something came through here," she says, pointing to a few shoe prints in the dirt. "The pattern is all zig-zaggy." Her eyes brighten. "It's a walker."

Daryl strokes his chin. She's got a good eye and she's right about the footprints. Still, he can't have her getting cocky so early in her training. "Could be a drunk," he says.

"I'm getting good at this," she says. So much for not getting cocky. "Pretty soon I won't need you at all."

He snorts. "Yeah, keep on tracking."

They keep moving through the woods. Daryl hangs back, letting her pick her way through their path even though, if he was leading, they'd be moving a whole lot quicker. She won't learn if he doesn't let her try.

"Did you ever show Hope how to do this?" she asks.

The question brings the memory to the forefront of his mind and he purses his lips. He should've spent more time actually teaching her, not just teasing her under the guise of teaching. He blames it on how he was still riding the high of their first time and, judging by how red her face was every time he touched her, she felt the same.

"A little," he says. "She reacted the same as you to the draw weight."

Beth pouts. "It's so heavy!"

"Gotta have a lot of power to shoot those bolts," he says. "Keep focusing."

She huffs. "Fine, Mr. Dixon."

To her credit, they eventually find their drunk. A walker kneels in a clearing, gnawing at an unfortunate woodland creature. Beth creeps forward, crossbow raised, and Daryl stays just behind her.

That is, until she lets out a cry, falling to the ground and alerting the walker. There's something caught around her foot, but Daryl doesn't have time to look. The walker is already coming for her.

Beth raises the bow and shoots, skewering the walker through the cheek, but he keeps coming. Daryl snatches the crossbow back as he passes her, clocking the walker across the jaw and dropping it like a sack of potatoes.

Immediately, he whirls around, moving to Beth's side. She lets out a pained noise as she tries her ankle and Daryl sees a small metal trap clamped around it. He finds the trigger and releases it, freeing her, and she winces as she pulls it away.

"Can you move it?"

She wiggles her foot and nods. "Y-Yeah, I think so."

He helps her up and, hooking her arm over his shoulders, they hobble off together.

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They emerge from the trees onto a lawn dotted with headstones. Daryl can see a building far in the distance—most likely a funeral home or church. It's hard to tell.

"Can we—can we hold up a sec?" Beth asks.

He slows to a stop as she hops a bit on her one good foot. "You alright?" he asks.