You thought death could keep me from you? // A Bethyl fanfiction

Chapter IV - The road isn't fit for strangers

It was hot and even with the canopy of trees providing a ring of shade the road was starting to bubble up, forming small gooey tar pits that stuck to her shoes. 
She had long since removed Daryl's poncho, keeping it tied around her waist. 
Julian slowed his pace to match her speed; she was currently in last position, with Raegan and Hoshi up front, guiding the way, and Simon not far behind, with his hands in his pockets and his shoulder length hair now tied up in a low ponytail. 

"How're you holding up?" He broke the ice. 
She knew they were good people, but she had yet to really speak to them, they were still strangers after all, strangers that for some reason decided that she would be useful to have around, and so they invited her on their journey up to DC. 
"I'm alright. Hot." She answered truthfully.
"Oh here," He pulled out a bottle of tepid water from the side of his bag and handed it to her.
She unscrewed the cap and took two small gulps, afraid that she was being to greedy she gave it back to him, despite her throat aching for more. 
"Thanks." She mumbled
They walked in what was either awkward or comfortable silence, either way Beth wasn't used to the feeling. 
"So, why'd you let me tag along anyway?" She finally asked, clutching the poncho's fabric as if she was holding its hand. 
"Well." He cleared his throat, not totally confident with the question, "Simon said you'd be useful, I mean you got this far by yourself, so you must know how to survive. He, uh, convinced us that taking you with us, even if it's not all the way would maximise our chances."
Simon, upon hearing his name, slowed his pace until he was on Beth's other side. 
"Is that true?" She turned to the newcomer who had clearly been eavesdropping. 
"Yeah, it is. I mean we wouldn't be losing anything by bringing you along with us. Just an extra stop. It was a situation that benefited us both. Else you wouldn't have come along." 
"Numbers mean safety." Added Boss-man.
Beth shook her head, "Not necessarily. If you're ten but you have no clue how to hunt or light a fire then you would probably die quicker than a smaller group of people who know all of the things you didn't. Surviving isn't about numbers. It's about knowledge." 
There was a pause and then Simon asked her a question she never thought she'd hate so much in her entire life:
"Who taught you how to survive?" 
Beth gritted her teeth, and tightened her grip on the cream poncho. "The greatest man I'll ever have the privilege of knowing." And then she quickened her pace and walked away from the two men. 

"Oh hey Beth." Exclaimed Hoshi, noticing the blond girl.
"They get too much for you?" Asked Raegan happily, jabbing her thumb towards Simon and Julian who were now deep in conversation as they walked.
"They got too curious." She grumbled back, sounding a lot like someone she knew. 
"Oh, did they ask about your past lovers?" Beth knew Hoshi was only joking but it felt as if she had just twisted the knife in her wound. 
"Something like that."
The two girls looked at each other, eyes wide and mouths agape. So in order to lighten the conversation Raegan clapped Beth on the back and leaned closer to her.
"We can fill you in on what it's like on our end of the stick if you want." 
"Yeah." Added Hoshi in mock excitement, "We still have another nine hours of walking ahead, may as well make the most of it." 

She turned on her heels, walking backwards, so that she could call the two men who were slowing their pace subconsciously. 
They jogged up to join the girls on the front line, and then they began sharing their stories as if they were little kids around a campfire, hands sticky with melted marshmallows. 
Hoshi started with her story, giving us a disclaimer that they would all cry because it was oh so harrowing. Raegan leaned in to Beth again to whisper a quick She's a drama queen, if you hadn't already noticed. 
She addressed everyone in her theatrical play, despite Beth being the only one who didn't know the story: before the apocalypse she was a competitive Aikidoka and worked in a small comic book store along with her girlfriend. Her sister, Aiko, who was currently waiting for them in Savannah refused to practice Aikido, despite it being  family tradition, she instead decided to master the art of Kickboxing. But her family soon forced her to take on Kyudo, a japanese form of archery. 
"What happened to your girlfriend?" Beth asked, careful not to upset her. 
"Well, when the outbreak hit it was chaos, I was working at the time, but she had called in sick. Of course, my first priority was my sister, so I rushed home. She was there already packing our stuff. She was born for this world I'm telling you. Anyway, we were on our way to the science research lab where our parents worked when I got a phone call, despite the signals being jammed, somehow, she got through to me." Hoshi's voice wavered but her eyes remained dry and fixed on the horizon, "She told me that something was wrong, I tried asking what but the phone cut out. So I took a detour to her place, but when I got there..."
"She was already one of them?" Beth could feel her throat constrict and her eyes dampen as Hoshi nodded. 
"I didn't know what to do, she was sick, so I tried to help her, but these officers came and they shot her. They tried to shoot me too, yelling something about spreading the infection, but I ran out before they could. When I got to the lab, it was already too late. My mum and dad had both been shot. They weren't even infected, but the police didn't know how to deal with the outbreak. So they just shot everyone and anyone in the hope that it would stop the spread. Aiko and I, we ran, we didn't know where we were going, but we ran away from our home, and after maybe a year of being alone, we ran into Simon and Raegan. She tried to shoot me at first, just like with you. But then they introduced us to Julian and, well, here we are."
"I'm sorry, that's rough." Beth didn't know what to say, so she put her hand on Hoshi's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "Your sister, how old is she?"
"Sixteen now, the little bub is growing up." She laughed, and all of a sudden she was back to normal, as if she hadn't just relieved what was probably her darkest memories. 
"Don't worry Beth, our stories aren't hardly as depressing. Julian's is actually quite happy." Simon reassured her with a warm smile.
"So how did you two meet with Boss-man over here?" Julian laughed at the nickname.
"Not you too." He reprimanded softly.

"Well Raegan here was in the army." Simon chuckled. 
"Shut up will you, I'm telling my part, you'll just mess it up." Raegan huffed, punching her brother in the arm. "I was a trainee, first of all. And damn near about to be kicked out. They said I was too disrespectful and yada yada. I really couldn't care less about the army, but it was either that or prison."
"She kept smoking weed in the playground." Clarified Simon, laughing.
Raegan grumbled disapprovingly. "Our parents died when we were kids and I was considered a problem child so, mostly because of me, I kept having to change foster homes. But Simon followed me where ever I went, mostly because he can't do anything without me." She smirked. "But that's about it, Simon was in medical school, I was in prison. And then the world decided to fuck itself up, and we ended up saving an idiot named Julian who was trapped in a car surrounded by the dead." She finished, grinning.

Julian kept his story brief; he was with his wife Tallula and his five year old Matilda when the world blew up. He and his wife were farmers. They had survived at home for the first year, eating their livestock and vegetables, but soon they ran out of supplies and had to go scavenge, but their car broke down in the middle of a hoard of walkers, and that's where his story and the twins linked up. 
"What about you Greene?" Asked Raegan impatiently. "Let's hear your story."
And so Beth with a feeling of dread rising up to her throat recounted her life; she told them of her dad's farm, of Rick's arrival, of the Govenor and the fall of the prison, of Grady, and finally of her accident.
"So you did get shot." Confirmed Hoshi, "She's been going on and on about your head wound since we met you." She pointed towards Raegan who smiled nervously. 
"That's a miracle and a half." Exhaled Julian, wiping sweat from his brow. 
"So you've been looking for your family ever since? I hope you find them in Richmond, Beth." Said Simon almost gravely. 
"Me too." Beth was holding onto the poncho again. "Me too."

Author's note:

Pheeeeeew, backstory guys! It's important ;) 

I had to split this into two chapters because it was getting too long, so that's why nothing really happens. But character development is really important to me, especially when it's a fanfiction and you are introducing new characters into an already made world. 

Next chapter is gonna be intense, so stay tuned xx