Light | TWD | Daryl Dixon Fanfiction

05

"How did you do it?" Beth asked.

The small fire between the three of them crackled and flickered in the darkness, sending off embers in random directions. Daryl hadn't bothered to look up at her question, poking a stick into the embers instead. Juliana glanced over to Beth, who tilted her head to the side ever so slightly.

"How did you stay alive alone for so long?"

Juliana shrugged, her legs bent just enough she could lean forwards so her forearms rested on her knees, "I don't know," she answered honestly. Her answer called Daryl to raise his gaze in her direction, though Juliana hadn't noticed.

"You have to know," Beth pressed, shifting a little closer to her, "We found them today and they-" her voice drifted off and she swallowed, "-they didn't even make it a day."

For some reason, this irritated Juliana, and her head shot up to Beth, "Jesus, Beth, I don't fuckin' know, okay! I hope know if you're expecting me to give you some story of how I survived against all odds like it's some fucking movie. There's not gonna be some happy ending, Beth!"

"Jules," Daryl interjected, his voice low and gravely. He gently kicked at the toe of her boot to get her attention away from the sudden anger that had boiled up inside of her. When she had looked over at Daryl and then back at Beth, she realized how hurt Beth looked. Juliana could only muster up a quiet 'sorry' and turned away from Beth.

The buzz of insects and crack of fire was once again the only sound between the three of them before Beth's voice broke the quiet again.

"That's why you survived," she whispered, just loud enough for both of them to hear.

***

Their stay at the small campsite was interrupted due to the sound of thunder rolling in from the distance. Daryl had made the executive decision to leave and find some place safer to stay for the night, and Juliana and Beth were glad for the decision because not too soon after they caught up with a large herd. They ended up coming up on an old, torn apart car parked sideways on the edge of the road. The thunder couldn't mask the sound of the shuffling of feet and groans of the walkers that were quickly coming up to them. She had been amazed that they could shove three people inside the trunk of the old car. Juliana had climbed in after Daryl, who used his handkerchief to close the trunk so they would be able to escape from it later. Beth climbed in after Juliana had crammed herself in, settling herself in tightly next to her.

They didn't sleep at all that night. Juliana could feel herself dozing on and off, but Daryl would nudge her gently as he noticed her starting to drift. He was physically and mentally stronger than she and Beth combined, there was no doubt about that.

Morning broke when they could exit the trunk of the car. Beth and Daryl scavenged for parts they would use back at the campsite they had to abandon last night, while Juliana kept watch. Her whole body ached from staying cramped up in the trunk all night, and she was sure that Daryl and Beth weren't feeling the greatest either. They all remained silent, only exchanging looks and nods between the three of them before they headed back to their meager campsite.

Beth had stayed to 'set up' the campsite while Juliana went with Daryl to find something to eat. She knew Daryl was fine on his own, but there were better odds at two people being able to gather something instead of one.

They walked side by side through the timber, leaves crunching under feet as they moved carefully through the understory together.

"How did you stay alive for so long?" Daryl questioned from out of the blue.

Juliana raised an eyebrow to him, surprised that he wanted to hold some sort of conversation with her.

"I told ya, I don't know. I just did."

He grunted, glancing at her sideways as he took a step over a decomposing log on the forest floor, "Naw," he began, "You're tough. Take no bullshit," he paused for a moment before continuing, "Don't trust nobody."

Shaking her head, Juliana let out a sigh, "You sure got some weird way of complimentin' people, Dixon."

Daryl stopped suddenly, placing a finger to his lips before raising his crossbow. Juliana fell quiet, her eyes following his to what he had seen: a squirrel. The small, furry animal was scampering halfway up a wide tree, stopping on the broadside of it for a moment. Daryl pulled the trigger and missed, and the squirrel zipped up the tree and out of sight.

Stalking over to the tree, he yanked out the arrow that had lodge itself into the trunk of the tree. The sheath of the arrow promptly snapped in half. They exchanged glances, but no words between them as they continued their hunt.

Luckily enough they had managed to find a big, fat, rattlesnake who had slithered out from under the brush out into the open. Juliana's stomach rumbled in anticipation. Reaching her arm out to Daryl, she motioned to him to hand her his knife, and with her other hand she grabbed onto a pronged stick that lay at her feet. With as little hesitation as possible, she moved quickly, trapping the snakes head between the forked stick and swiftly struck the knife into its head. Without grabbing onto the deceased snake, she sawed at its head, kicking it away into the brush.

A grin crossed her lips at she held the headless snake up by the tail, showing her prize off to Daryl who nodded in appreciation.

"Good job," he mumbled, taking the snake from her.

He skinned and cooked the snake when they got back to camp. It was filled with bones and tasted strange, but they were all starving, and at the moment it the best tasting thing she had had in days.

"I need a drink," Beth said. Daryl tossed an old pop bottle filled with water at her. She shook her head, "No, I mean a real drink. As in alcohol." Daryl continued to chomp away at the cooked snake, but Juliana raised her head at the request, giving Beth a strange look.

"What?" she questioned.

"I've never had one," Beth replied, "Cause of my dad. But he's not exactly around anymore so..." her voice drifted of, peering between Daryl and Juliana, Juliana knew she had to appeal to Daryl more than herself, and Beth focused more of her attention on him. "I thought we could go find some."

Silence filled the space between the three of them.

"Okay," she muttered, "Well, enjoy your snake jerky." Beth stood, wiping her hands on the front of her jeans as she did. Stepping over the dying fire, she pulled out his knife that he had shoved into a log next to the remaining snake skin and pieces of guts and stormed off again.

Cursing under her breath as she noticed Daryl unmoving, she yanked her gun off the ground from next to her and stood, stalking off after Beth.

"Fucking teenagers," she grumbled, entering the woods once again.