Stronger - The Walking Dead Fanfiction

Part 6: Little Fighter

A man approached the blonde girl who was lying unconsciously on the floor.

"Beth?" Daryl said, shocked.

Dropping his sack to the ground, he ran to her. Kneeled down and put two fingers on her neck to check her pulse.

She was alive.

He noticed the blood on her hand and shirt, he suspected she'd been bitten. He couldn't stay too close to her, but he also couldn't leave her.

"Beth, wake up, girl wake up." He rushed, shaking her face not too roughly, "Ain't losing you to them."

He shook her head, he didn't know what else he could do, he just hoped for the best.

"Beth, com'on." He demanded.

She felt herself wake up, her eyes opened slightly but she couldn't see his facial features, only his face shape. Although the sound of his voice was enough for her to recognise him.

After a few blinks, she let out a raspy cough, "Daryl," she said underneath her breath, "I thought," she choked, "you l-left me."

He helped her get into a seating position and put a bottle of water to her mouth, helping her drink from it.

"Have ya been bitten?" He questioned, looking at the blood on her hand and shirt.

"Where were you?" She muttered, answering his question with another question. She wiped her mouth with her hand, her eyes were mostly shut.

"I went to get us food," he paused to point to the full sack of food behind him, "I thought I'd be back before yu woke up."

"W-why did you lock me in?" She asked with fatigue.

"To protect ya." He admitted.

She opened her eyes as much as she possibly could and gave him a weak but warm smile.

"What on earth 'appened to your hand?" He questioned, holding it to try and figure out.

"When I was cutting the roof to make my way out of the car, I accidentally cut my hand instead." She struggled.

"Oh." He responded, "and those?" He pointed at her shirt.

"And I got hurt when I was climbing out, it's fine." She said looking down at her shirt.

Daryl picked her up holding her back and legs and walked over to the car, holding the keys with the hand placed below her legs.

His muscles tensed as he bent down to reach the handle.

"Let's get ya some rest," he said, lying her down on the backseat.

Beth didn't say a word back, she just shut her eyes and fell asleep peacefully.

Beth had waken up around just before sunset, unaware that time had gone by so fast.

She managed to pull herself together to leave the car and limp over to Daryl, who was sat on the floor around a fire.

"What have you been doing all this time? Feels like I've been asleep for days," she joked, stretching.

"I'm sorry I made you do all this," Daryl apologized, his eyes were on the ground, he felt guilt for leaving without without telling her.

"It's not your fault," she said, surprised by his apology.

She sat down next to him clumsily. Crackling sounds spat from the fire.

"I just shoulda told ya where I was going," He argued.

"It's done now. You can't change what you've done, I now know you done it with a good intention." She comforted Daryl, shuffling closer to him.

He got up and grabbed the sack behind him.

"How'd you get all this?" She rejoiced, looking inside it.

He sat down closer to her than he was before and whispered, "I had t'kill a few." He smirked.

She chuckled, digging into the bag to pull out diverse tins of food.

"Thank you," she said licking her fingers after her first tin," but I need to stop eating like this, we need to save some of this for later." She said, feeling greedy.

"I do, ya don't. Ya gotta eat." He encouraged her.

She didn't even try to argue about it, she knew she really did need to eat after she fainted and lost so much blood.

GULP. GULP. MUNCH.

"Damn, I'm full." She giggled.

Daryl looked over at her, fascinated by how she was so happy after she got hurt the way she did.

"Little fighter," he thought.

"Where are we staying tonight?" She asked curiously.

"In that old trash again," he responded.

Beth rolled her eyes, it wasn't the best place for her, she deserved somewhere more comfortable, "what about the house where you got all that stuff from?" she suggested.

"That place was full'a walkers upstairs, it wouldn't have been safe," he explained, "I really had to kill a handful of 'em."

She looked disappointed, but there wasn't really another choice. It was almost night.

"Night, Daryl." She yawned, crawling into the backseat of the dusty car.

"Nigh', Beth." Daryl responded.

He decided to let her have the backseat all for herself, he'd be sleeping in front for the night.

"Daryl," she whispered, her face resting on her gentle arms, covered by the knitted blanket.

"Mm-hmm," he replied, rubbing his eyes.

"Can you come to the back, please?" She entreated.

He made his way out of the car to get to her.

After he sat down on the right side of the vehicle, "thank you," she smiled.

The tired girl rested her head on his lap and snuggled with her blanket.

He watched her eyelids shut slowly, she seemed to let herself go of all the pain as she fell into a profound sleep.

It was relaxing for Daryl to watch her whole body at peace with itself.