Daryl and Beth: An Awkward Romance

Chapter 10: Swan Song

Ky's POV

3 years earlier

"Shhh my little Wanda, shhh" I whispered. Keeping down low behind an abandoned truck in the woods, I held my five year old daughter's hand and reassuringly stroked her back as we stayed out of sight from our hunters.

"Daddy, daddy I'm scared" she whispered back, tears slowly forming in her eyes. "Hey now don't you worry my treasure, daddy will protect you, I promise" I whispered back, pushing her midnight hair away from her damp face.

"Hey princess, want to play a game?" I asked, my tone as enthusiastic as I could muster in the circumstances. Looking slightly confused - I guess it was strange considering the tense situation but it was all I could think of to calm her - she replied with an almost inaudible "Yes, ok then"

"Alright princess, if you can stay quiet longer than daddy, we will make stick dolls down by the lake tomorrow. What do you think?" "Yes!" She squealed, causing my anxiety levels to rise and I quickly put a finger to my lips and mouthed, 'Now remember, whatever happens stay quiet. Let's begin the game' She just nodded and my game of distraction began.

It wasn't a game though. None of this was. It was a horror story. She was all I had left and through my stupid actions she was now in unimaginable danger. We'd lost my best friend, Alexander, two weeks ago, and he'd always been the one to find us food, supplies, everything we'd ever needed.

We had discussed that it would be much too dangerous to take Wanda on runs, and so we'd made an agreement that we'd go alternately - one of us would stay with her at camp to protect her while the other went out for supplies, and we'd switched back and forth between runs.

I trusted him completly, and he'd always looked after her as if she was his own daughter too. You almost would have thought that she was, even by physical appearance - they both shared the same black raven hair and slender nose - the only difference were Alexander's grass green eyes. She didn't just have me - she had Alexander too.

Alexander wasn't my wife, she was long gone. But that didn't matter, because he gave his own speacial influence on Wanda, and taught her not just how to fight, but he taught her about the world - the old and the new.

When we'd come across an old grocery store with quite a large load of supplies, the opportunity seemed too good to pass up. I'd tried to insist on staying a few days, observe it for a while just in case it wasn't safe - such a big hoard of supplies seemed suspicious - but Alexander insisted on going that night, eager to keep going on our way to the rumoured Alexandria. And I'd agreed, telling him to be quick, keep safe and that everything would be fine - it looked quiet enough. So I had gone back to our new, temporary make - shift camp with Wanda and Alexander had made his way to the store.

I waited all night for him, and all morning. But Alexander never returned, and when I'd gone back to search the area for him, all I had found was his old backpack that I'd given him for his birthday once, his ring smeared with blood, and a note pinned on top - 'Your dear little buddy Alexander is dead, you bastards, and we're coming for you next. Oh but a little messege from him - he muttered it before the lights went out - something along the lines of he's always been in love with you bla bla - and he loves the girl - not that it matters now - because he's dead. Little bastard didn't give me your names, but we'll find you anyway. You'll find out what stealing from us gets a person - L'

Okay so this chapter is a bit short and probably not that good, I'm really unsure about it. But the next one is really long, so I hope that makes up for it. The next chapter may seem like it starts up very suddenly, and that is because when I was writing Swan Song, it seemed awfully long so I decided I would make it into two parts, so it has literally just all been written at once and then split in two. I will be getting back to Bethyl right after Part 2 of Swan Song, so don't worry about that :) Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter, I know it's a bit different and not Bethyl, but I thought you all might like to see a bit of Ky's backstory. Remember to vote and comment. I like to know what you all think about the story! :)