Chapter Text
They'd been on the road for just under a week when it happened. Daryl was riding ahead in the car again with Carol, and Beth was helping with Judith on the bus while it was Rick's turn to drive. She was making faces at Judith in her lap when suddenly the bus started swerving and skidding out of control.
Everyone reached out for something to hold onto, but Beth clutched Judith to her chest, wrapping her arms around her in an attempt to brace her tiny body against any impact. Her attempts at bracing herself with just her feet were useless though, and she slammed hard into the window of the bus. She could feel herself sliding toward the aisle, and then the next several seconds were a blur. Instead of falling into the aisle, Beth collided with Tyreese as he lunged toward her from the next seat over. She felt his arm circle around her back just as the bus seemed to go airborne, rolling onto its side.
When the bus finally stopped, Beth was disoriented but conscious, finding herself curled on her side on top of Tyreese. She still held Judith tightly in her arms where she was tucked securely between Beth's chest and Tyreese's bicep. For a moment she felt panicked and thought she must be holding her so tightly she'd suffocated her, but through the ringing in her ears she realized she could hear Judith's cries. She pulled her away from her chest just slightly to look her over. She had no idea how to check a baby for a spinal injury or internal bleeding or a concussion or something so she was afraid to move her too much but thought she looked okay. And she thought crying was a good sign. At least her lungs were working fine, and she was conscious.
The others around them started to get their bearings and she heard Tyreese's concerned voice. "Is she okay? Beth, is Judith okay?"
Beth nodded, still dazed. "I think so at least."
And then amidst the other voices checking in with each other she heard Rick and Carl calling out Judith's name frantically.
"I've got her!" Beth called out. "Rick! I've got her!"
By the time Rick maneuvered his way around the seats, Carl hot on his heels, Beth and Tyreese still hadn't moved, not wanting to jostle the baby around more than necessary. "She's okay Rick. She's okay."
The fear and agony on his face melted into relief and he reached for Judith, but Beth shook her head. "I don't think we should move her yet."
Rick looked pained, but nodded in agreement. "Right. That's smart, Beth. That's good, just try to keep her still like that."
Beth nodded, but then they heard a voice call out about the engine on fire just as they heard the first walker crashing into the back door of the bus. They'd passed a dozen or so on the road a few minutes ago, but there were at least twice that now, seeming to have poured out of the treeline, with more still coming.
"Shit." Rick said.
"You can't go out into all those walkers with her like that, not without even a hand free to fight." Tyreese said.
"The car," Beth breathed, looking at Rick again. "How far up ahead did they stop?"
Carl leaned toward the closest window. "Not far. Like maybe a couple houses length?"
Rick looked out the window too, nodding. "Thirty, maybe forty yards." He turned to Beth. "We get a path clear, you think you can hold her steady running that far?"
Beth nodded confidently, thinking of her year playing saxophone in the high school marching band. If she could do a passthrough between a line of sousaphones at 180 beats per minute when the only thing on the line was a competition score, she could do this to keep Judith safe.
Rick glanced at the others, Glenn and Abraham taking the lead on the overall game plan to deal with the walkers. "Carl, you wait till it's clear, then go with Beth, get the car door open. Then you get inside and you wait there with Beth and Judith."
"I'll hang back until it's clear too. Keep anything from coming through the door then block when it's time to run," Tyreese said.
More walkers were pressing up against the door and windows now, and there was more smoke rising up from the engine. Glenn and Abraham were the first through the door, with the others following to enter the fray. Tyreese and Tara were in the doorway, killing any walkers that got too close, while Beth and Carl hung back just slightly and Eugene and Gabriel cowered awkwardly off to the side.
Beth could see out the window from where she stood stiffly, trying to hold Judith as steady as she could. There were more walkers than she'd originally thought, all pressing in toward the bus, but the others seemed to be holding their own, pressing them back as they took them down one by one.
And then Beth caught sight of Daryl and felt her heart leap up into her throat. A minute ago she'd seen him at the back of the wave of walkers, taking them out from the rear with Carol. But now somehow he was right in the middle of them. He was fighting wildly but he was completely surrounded; Beth didn't know how he could possibly make it out alive. But soon Carol caught up to him, and Beth let out a breath as the two of them fought back to back, not as vulnerable.
She saw Daryl's head snap to look at Rick, calling out to him. That was good, if they were within shouting distance then they could work together, come up with a plan.
"Beth." Carl's voice pulled her attention back to the bus. "C'mon, it's almost time."
Beth nodded, stepping away from the window, refocusing on the plan, on the task at hand. She just needed to get Judith and Carl to the car. Everyone else would take care of the walkers, and then they could make sure Judith was okay. Carol would know what to do, Beth was sure of it somehow. They'd get to the car, and then they'd get Carol as soon as it was safe. And Daryl would be fine.
Beth wasn't sure how much time had passed before Tyreese stepped down out of the bus, calling out.
"Now!"
And then Beth and Carl were running to the car, and everything was a blur. The others had cleared a sort of path, and there weren't too many walkers able to get close to them. Tyreese and Carl took down the few that did slip past the others. Before long, Beth was sitting in the back seat of the car, with Carl sliding into the driver's seat in front of her.
"What's wrong, why is she crying again?" Carl asked, sounding worried.
Beth took a few seconds to catch her breath. "It's okay. I just need to stay real still with her for a while until we can double check some stuff, okay?"
"I don't understand, you had to hold her still before, and then we were supposed to run, and now she's crying again. What if she's hurt?"
"Carl, listen. She's crying just like she cries all the time. You hear that? It means her lungs are working just like they normally do. That's a good thing." Beth was pretty sure her lungs were the least of what they should be worried about, but at least she could be pretty sure she hadn't broken a rib that punctured a lung or anything. And Beth was pretty sure at least certain kinds of spinal injuries could screw up your breathing or something but she really had no idea. She was just focusing on breathing as a positive sign and figured Carl should do the same.
"Carl, I need you to do me a favor okay?" Beth said, trying to keep her voice calm.
"Yeah, okay."
"I can't turn around because I have to hold Judith really still until we can check her over better, just in case. So I need you to look at the bus, at everybody else and tell me what's going on."
Carl turned in his seat, and immediately exclaimed, "oh crap!"
"What, what is it?" Beth asked, still trying to sound calm even though she didn't feel it.
"The bus is on fire!"
Beth let out a breath. "That's okay. We all got off the bus, that's fine. Is anything else on fire?"
"No, just the bus."
"Okay good, that's good. How many walkers are left? Can you count or are there still too many for that."
Carl paused, and Beth could hear him counting under his breath. "No, there's still too many to count."
"That's okay, that's okay, are any of them coming toward us or are they still by the bus."
"They're all by the bus."
"Good, good." Beth said, relieved. "Where's Tyreese?"
"He's still by the car, back by the trunk."
"Okay," Beth took a few breaths to try to calm down. "That's good, Carl, you just keep an eye out and let me know if any walkers are headed this direction okay?"
"Yeah, okay." And so they waited things out in the car with Carl giving her a play-by-play while Beth repeatedly checked that Judith was still conscious and breathing.
Daryl took out one walker after another, with Carol at his side. He wasn't usually one to panic but he couldn't deny he was worried and unfocused at the very least. The bus had crashed and was lying on its side, smoke coming from the engine and swarmed by walkers by the time Carol threw the car in reverse and sped back toward them. Now he and Carol were on the outside of the swarm, fighting their way toward the bus while the others were fighting their way out. This gave him the advantage that the walkers mostly had their backs to him as they were drawn toward the movement and noise near the bus. It would've been easy if he weren't growing increasingly distracted.
He watched as one person after another climbed out of the rear door of the bus, getting closer and closer to a state of panic with each person stepping out that wasn't Beth. And then no one else was coming out. His eyes scanned the group, searching for her again in case he'd missed her, as he thrust his knife into the skull of a nearby walker. She wasn't there. He knew she must still be on the bus, but couldn't think of a reason why she wouldn't have come out with the others unless she was hurt. Or worse, but he was trying not to let himself think about that possibility.
"Beth!" He started calling out for her despite knowing she probably couldn't hear him through the sounds of the walkers and everything else. "Beth!"
He saw movement in the doorway of the bus, but it wasn't her. It was Tara, and then Tyreese, but they weren't getting off the bus either. Instead they were killing any of the walkers that got too close to the door, almost like they were guarding it. He was even more sure now that someone must be injured.
"Beth!" He called out again. His eyes searched the group again trying to see if anyone else was still missing. Maybe she was helping them. But there was too much happening now and he hadn't paid close enough attention earlier when they were coming out one by one. "Beth!'
He'd been cutting a straight line through the crowd of walkers. He knew the smarter move would've been to stay on the outside, working across a wider area to keep from getting surrounded, but he wasn't thinking clearly. Carol had followed, watching his back and now they were getting closer to the rest of the group.
"Beth!" He called out again, hoping maybe now he was close enough for her to hear him.
It wasn't Beth who called back to him, but Rick. "She's fine."
Daryl stabbed another walker as he turned toward Rick across a cluster of walkers. "Beth?" He called.
Rick nodded, hollering back, "she's okay!"
Daryl looked back to the bus, then at Rick again.
"She's got Judith!" Rick yelled back. "Need to get her to the car."
The mixture of relief and guilt amidst everything else was disorienting but Daryl pushed it aside and continued the fight with renewed focus. Before long he and Carol had reached Rick and some of the others and the group started pushing back the walkers to either side.
He heard a shout, and then saw a blond ponytail streaking by out of the corner of his eye. And what seemed like mere seconds later, he heard the whoosh of flames as they engulfed the bus. And he knew she was off the bus, he'd just seen her, but he had to be sure. He took out the three closest walkers and turned away from the bus. And there she was, running almost gracefully somehow despite the baby she clutched to her chest, Carl at her side and Tyreese leading the way. They were almost at the car, past the walkers; they'd be okay.
Daryl turned back to the fight, and soon there were only about a dozen walkers left. He was itching to go check on Beth, leave the others to deal with these. But he knew if he was this anxious that Rick must be on the verge of losing it - Judith had been on the bus too.
Daryl caught Rick's eye and put his knife through the skull of the walker between them. "Go," he said, nodding his head toward the car. "We've got this. Go get your kids."
Rick nodded and clapped Daryl on the shoulder in thanks before taking off at a run. Before long, the last of the walkers had fallen and Daryl was starting his own jog toward the car. Tyreese was still standing nearby, and Rick was kneeling beside the open rear passenger-side door. Daryl felt his stomach sink as he realized no one was getting out of the car despite the immediate threat being gone. Someone was hurt. Just as that panicked thought registered with Daryl and he picked up his pace, another car door opened and Carl was running toward him.
"What is it?" Daryl asked.
Carl grabbed at his arm pulling him back toward the others as he ran by "Supposed to get Carol. C'mon!"
Daryl felt like it took at least twice as long to get back to the rest of the group as it had taken him to run toward the car the first time. He called out for Carol, still not sure what was going on, but soon the three of them were approaching the car. Rick stood, and though he looked concerned he didn't seem too shaken up, which Daryl took as a good sign.
"It's Judith," Rick said, immediately continuing at the looks of concern on their faces. "She seems okay, but I was hoping you can check her over, see if I'm missing anything."
Carol stepped closer to the car, leaning down to peer into the backseat before kneeling down. The opening to the backseat was now completely blocked by Carol and Rick, and Carl had rushed back around into the front seat as soon as they'd gotten back to the car, kneeling and looking back over the seat.
Which left Daryl standing off to the side with Tyreese, not able to see what was going on and feeling anxious and a little helpless, and he just needed to see Beth was okay dammit.
"She's okay." Daryl realized Tyreese was talking to him, and he turned to look at him, blinking and not fully recognizing what the other man had said.
"Beth," Tyreese spoke again. "I uh, heard you calling out for her before. Figured you'd wanna know she's alright. She's just in there with Judith."
Daryl nodded, hearing the words this time. His head finally clear enough to try to make sense of things, he finally spoke, "And Judith?"
This time Tyreese nodded. "We think she's okay too. Beth held onto her like a freaking human car seat or something. She's been trying to hold onto her in the same position 'til somebody can check for injuries. But Judith's awake and everything; doesn't seem hurt. Just figured it was better safe than sorry, ya know?"
Daryl nodded, feeling a little better now that he had an idea of what was going on.
Beth remained still as Carol checked Judith over in her arms. She knew they were all wishing, now more than ever, that they still had a doctor in their group, but she was thankful they at least had Carol. A few of them had learned what they could from Hershel and Dr. S. while they could, but Carol had also told her once that when Sofia was a baby she'd been terrified that Ed would turn his anger onto their daughter. And while she didn't get out much, when she did leave the house, she spent as much time as possible reading up on infant first aid and injuries at the library, just in case something ever happened and she couldn't get her to the hospital.
It had been years of course, and from what Carol had told her she'd never actually had to put that knowledge to use, but Beth hoped enough of it had stuck that she'd be able to tell if anything was wrong with Judith.
Carol's voice interrupted her thoughts, "Go ahead and lay her on the seat, Beth."
Beth scooted toward the other side of the car and turned to lay Judith gently on the seat. She watched anxiously as Carol gently ran her hands over Judith's tiny body, carefully bending and straightening each little limb in turn. Carol wiggled her fingers at the baby and Judith reached out toward her. Judith's cries had already lessened, but when Carol tickled her feet and the cries turned to giggles everyone seemed to let out a breath of relief all at once.
"I'm not a doctor, Rick," Carol said, turning to face him as she rested her hand lightly on the baby's belly. "But she seems like she's moving okay, and there's no obvious swelling or anything. Reflexes seem good as far as I can tell. Best we can do now is watch her for any changes."
Beth watched as Carol lifted Judith from the seat and handed her over to Rick, who looked relieved but still a bit wary. Judith cooed happily as she reached up and tugged on Rick's beard, earning a few relieved laughs.
Finally able to look away from Judith, Beth looked out the car door past Rick and saw Daryl & Tyreese hanging back a little ways, looking tense. Beth was relieved to see Daryl and that he didn't appear to be injured at all. While she'd felt a little better once he was closer to the others, he'd still been right in the middle of all those walkers. And Carl hadn't mentioned anyone getting hurt, but she still wasn't actually able to see that for herself until now.
Beth opened the other door and stepped out of the back seat, making her way around the car and toward the two men. Tyreese already looked relieved, smiling and giving the little girl a wave where she was giggling in Rick's arms. Daryl, on the other hand, still looked worried.
"She's okay," she told them as she approached, "or we think so anyway." She glanced over her shoulder as Rick and the others brought Judith over.
"She's a lucky girl," Carol said.
"Lucky Beth and Tyreese were there," Rick chimed in.
"Lucky Tyreese moves fast and thinks fast, " Beth said with a hint of a laugh "Judging by that first hit against the window I don't think I'd have done Judith much good if we got banged around much longer."
"You hurt?" Daryl asked abruptly.
Beth shook her head, feeling almost shy under the intensity of his gaze. "I'm good." She gestured toward the rest of the group over by the bus, wanting to take the attention off herself, "everybody else okay?"
Beth and the others looked from Daryl to Carol, as they were the only two still with the rest of the group once they'd taken out the last of the walkers.
Daryl was still watching her from where he stood beside Tyreese, looking her over for any sign of injury, clearly not having heard her question.
After a beat, Carol answered, "as far as I know, yeah."
"Let's see what's left of the supplies, find a place to make camp and rest," Rick said, starting toward the others.
Carol shook her head, "You oughta hang back, keep Judith away from the worst of the smoke."
"Right," Rick nodded, glancing down at Judith. "Should probably take her in the car as far as we can toward wherever we make camp for the night. Keep from jostling her around too much for now."
"We'll check on the others," Daryl said, finally speaking again. "See what makes sense to camp for the night."
Carl waited with Rick by the car while the others headed toward the larger group which was moved off to the side away from the still burning bus.
Before they were halfway there, Daryl reached out and gently hooked a finger in the crook of her elbow, slowing down to hang back a bit from Carol and Tyreese.
"You're hurt." This time Daryl's words were a statement, not a question.
Beth turned her head, looking at him quizzically.
"You're favoring your left side."
Beth shrugged, "Probably gonna leave a bruise, but nothing major."
"You said you got banged around a bit in there," he said, nodding toward the bus.
"It's nothing, I'm fine."
Daryl stopped walking completely then, turning to face her, and Beth stopped too. She was surprised and confused to see Daryl looked almost angry. "Like hell it's nothing. You were in a fucking bus crash Beth!"
"Yeah, I was. And I'm fine. " Beth's voice was firm but calm as she looked him in the eye. "I slammed into the wall of the bus once," She held up one finger for emphasis, "Once. Before Tyreese grabbed me. And then yeah, we all got jostled a bit, but Tyreese took the brunt of the impact, especially when it rolled onto its side."
Daryl's nostrils flared, but Beth spoke up again before he could say anything else. "I was holding Judith. What would you have me do, drop her so I could hold onto something?"
Daryl's face softened. "Of course not."
"Nothing feels broken, Daryl. I'm not bleeding, and I didn't hit my head. A few bruises is an easy price to pay for Judith to be okay."
Daryl nodded, but still gave her a questioning look. "You're sure it's nothing worse?"
"Just bumps and bruises," Beth answered with a reassuring smile, reaching over to give his hand the briefest squeeze before letting go again. "I promise."
Daryl gave a short nod then, letting out a breath of relief before turning to continue walking back toward the others.
Beth fell into step beside him, shaking her head lightly with a quiet sigh and a soft smile on her face.