Author notes: My first attempt at a prompt and first participation to Bethyl week. It turned out to be much longer than I expected… Quick note that English is not my native language and this story is probably filled with spelling errors and grammatical abominations. I apologize in advance for that. Although I hope it's not too bad because I spent more time reading it again and again and editing than actually writing it ahah. Anyways thank you for reading and if you have any comments, I'd love to hear them! (and if you want to point me to bad spelling and errors feel free to send me a message and I'll gladly edit it!)

Summary: Beth and Daryl are out on a hunt but things take a bad turn. Taking place somewhere after the group got out of Terminus and found Carol, Ty, Judith and of course Beth.

Prompt word: Red

Beth could feel the salty taste of her own sweat on her lips. She was panting for running from the herd of walkers Daryl and her had came across during their hunting morning. It has been a habit of them for the last couple of week or so. Daryl would take Beth out for hunting and teach her some more fighting and hunting technics, similar to what they have been doing during their time alone.

But for the first time in weeks, they had been in real danger. Of course they encountered their fair share of walkers before and it actually had made good training targets. But today was different. There were dozen and dozen of them. Beth hadn't seen that many walkers since the farm was overran.

She tried to steady her breath while they were hiding inside a hunting cabin, hiding behind a wall. They were waiting for the herd to pass by. She could hear the moans and the shuffling feet of the corpses while they were passing right behind the thin wooden wall. She tried her best not to cry, not the make a noise but the fear in her chest was burning and she could feel the blood pumping in every veins of her body.

She jumped and stopped breathing when a hand went to cover her mouth. Daryl had stepped closer to her silently and put his free hand on her to make her quite, while the other one was griping his hunting knife so tightly his knuckles had turned white.

He was a few inches from her face and locked his eyes on her. His gaze was so serious and determined it was almost as terrifying as the herd. But he just took deep breaths with his nose, exaggerating the movement of his chest and his head. He was showing her she needed to breath in and out deeply and slowly. Beth put her hand on his, not to remove it but grasping on it like it was an anchor of safety and she started to breath as he instructed, keeping her eyes locked on his. After some time she noticed her heart rate slowed down a little bit. And Daryl nodded, judging she was calming down. When he tried to remove his hand, she pressed it keeping it in place to let him know she wanted him to keep it where it was. Daryl's look shifted slightly and he nodded again, understanding this posture was somehow reassuring for her.

They stay close to each other, Daryl's hand on her mouth, Beth desperately gripping it, waiting for the herd to pass by in completely silence. They had done this several times when they were together after the prison. But their hiding spots had never been that precarious. The cabin was in a very bad condition, two of the walls were completely destroyed and they could have been very exposed if they were not lucky the herd was going in the right direction for them to hide behind the remaining facade.

When the last walker passed by, Daryl waited for about an hour before removing his hand from Beth. He gave her a look that said they were ok and they both allow some time to stretch their bodies and recover from the aching of staying still for so long.

Daryl took a few steps inside the cabin and looked around for supplies or anything useful.

"We should go back."

Beth was the first to speak, her voice was low and worried and Daryl was surprised to find it so comforting after earring walker's groans and the silence of the woods for the last few hours.

He looked back at her. She was standing very awkwardly still standing next to the wall. Her shoulders were tights and she was leaning over a little and shifting from one foot to another. He hadn't seen this posture in a long time; she seemed to have gain more confidence lately. But they did come very close to death today. He felt the urge to reassure her, to come closer and let her know they were safe. But he didn't move and moved around uncomfortably.

"Don't worry. S'ok. They long gone."

She just nodded quickly and looked down at her feet, feeling ashamed she had been so scared when she was claiming for weeks to be able to take care of herself, to be better at killing walkers, when in the end when real danger struck she just hung on to Daryl and let him save her like the little girl in distress she actually was.

"Beth-" He looked at her from under the strands of hair falling in his eyes. "We're ok."

"Yeah yeah. I know. I just- " She stopped and shook her head while a sad smile spread across her face. "I am a burden I should know how to deal with fear. I- I just wouldn't have made it without you."

Daryl took a few steps towards her on the cracking wooden floor.

"You did good. You ain't a burden."

"But I was. You had to save me. Again."

"I'd save you every time Beth. S'what we do. We look out for each other."

Beth lifted her eyes from the floor to look at Daryl stepping closer to her. His look was soft and comforting and she felt her heart pounding faster at the way he was eying her. Beneath Daryl's feet the floor made a growing crack and suddenly snapped under his weight.

Beth saw him disappear to the ground and she heard a loud thud and the sound of Daryl's scream. She rushed not caring about the cracking floor under her.

Daryl was laying there, just a few feet from the floor. The hole wasn't deep and she could almost reach him with her arm but he was barely moving, his eyes were half shut and a long groan was escaping his lips. She called out his name, careful not to scream too loud. And she saw it. A sharp piece of wood coming out of his side. And blood. The blood stain was slowly growing bigger around the wound, spreading on his shirt like a wave.

She covered her mouth with her hand so she didn't let a scream escape her. Panic rose inside but she didn't allow it to overcome her. She had to think. Quickly. She didn't have time to let the fear come to the surface. She pulled it together and jumped in the hole next to Daryl. She checked for his pulse. It was weak but it was there. He seemed to start waking up and Beth cupped his face with her hands.

"Daryl? Daryl can you hear me? Talk to me."

"Mmhm."

He was slowly coming back to her and started wincing in pain. His hand clumsily reached for his side and he touched the plank peaking from his wound. The pain made him moan and he opened his eyes fully.

"What-"

"Don't move. You're hurt, some piece of wood stabbed you."

"Wood's stabbing people now? Damn I already have my hands full with walkers."

Earring him tease made Beth chuckle in relieved and tears escaped from her eyes rolling down her cheek to her neck. She had been holding those the whole time. He finally came back to his senses and tried to lift himself from the impaled wood. Beth eyes were wide open and tears kept coming out. She put her two hands on his chest preventing him to move.

"You have to pull me out."

"No, no, you're gonna bleed out!"

"I ain't gonna stay here forever and bleed out all the same. Do it!"

"No." She needed to think. She knew she had no other choice to pull him out but they were a long way from their car and she wasn't gonna be able to carry him on such a long distance if he passed out. "I need to get the car closer.

"You remember where it is?"

"Yes. I'll be quick."

She realized after saying that she was just half sure she could find a way back to the cabin after she found the car. She pulled herself out of the hole and started retracing their steps into the woods running like she never has ran in her life. The idea of Daryl alone with open wounds at the bottom of this hole was making her anxious as hell. She had seen people hurt and in danger, loved one and complete strangers, but she never felt that desperate and terrified by someone's fate. Daryl had grown to be one of the closest friends she had on the group. He was important, he was vital to her. She wasn't even sure he was a friend anymore and when exactly he had become more than that.

It took care a good fifteen minutes to run to the car. It was exactly where they left it and she nervously put out the keys from her pocket with her shaking hands. She remembered a dirt road they crossed right before pulling over and it seemed to be the one that was leading to the cabin. She wasn't a hundred percent sure of that but she knew she was getting better at trusting her instincts. She had always been observant but she had learned so much with Daryl. How to track, how to look at every details of her environment. She drove fast, a bit too fast, but it was a matter of life of death and really didn't care about what could happen to her, hell it didn't even cross her mind. All she could think of was Daryl.

When she saw the cabin at the end of the path she let out a scream of relief. She stepped out the car and opened the backdoor. She had no idea how she was going to be able to drag Daryl if he couldn't walk, but she'd be damn if she didn't try everything. Running inside the house, she saw him trying to pull himself out, both his arms were on the edge of the hole and his face was wincing with pain. She was walking so fast when she stopped she fell on her side right in front of him.

"Don't fucking hurt yourself Greene! I'mma need you to get out."

"Shut up dammit! And take my hand!"

"Pull me out c'mon!"

She took both his arms right under the armpits and with her help he was able to get on his feet and climb up. He turned around and lay on the floor on his back, his shirt was soaked with blood and Beth quickly removed her sweater to press it on the wood.

"Keep pressure there."

She helped him get up, luckily he was able to walk leaning against her.

They got to the car and Daryl lay down on the back sit holding the cardigan on the wound. Beth started the engine and looked behind her to drive back to the main road. She peaked down at Daryl intermittently; he was drifting away, his head falling on his side and his hand slowly loosing the grip on the sweater.

"Don't you die on my Daryl Dixon! Don't you dare do that!"

Her voice was breaking and when she finally got to the road she leaned heavily on the accelerator pedal to drive at full speed.

"Daryl! Stay with me!"

She screamed at him trying to keep him awake but he had lost so much blood, the color of her sweater was now impossible to recognize and the back sit was covered in it.

She arrived at full speed in front of the house the group had been occupying for the last few weeks and the noise of it had dragged out some of its residents.

Maggie and Glenn were running towards the car when Beth stopped it hitting the brakes in a loud noise.

"What happened?! Beth are you ok?!"

Beth got out of the car. Tara, Abraham and Carl were running to them too. As soon as she was out Beth opened the back door wildly.

"Daryl's hurt! He's bleeding out! Get Bob!"

Carl ran back at the house calling for Bob and his father while Abraham and Glenn were already pulling out an unconscious Daryl out of the car. They both slid under his arms to get him inside. Beth followed closely and when the two men laid Daryl on the couch Bob was already there with the medical supplies and towels to try and stop the bleeding.

Beth placed herself at the end of the sofa and held Daryl's head in her hands; her whole body was shaking in fear. Maggie had to tear her sister away from him to let Bob do his job. She took her to the hallway, Beth just couldn't stop looking at Daryl and Maggie closed the door trying to get her to focus on her instead.

"Beth you okay? Were you hurt?"

Maggie was looking at Beth from head to toes, holding her by her wrists. That's when Beth looked down at her clothes and realized she was covered in blood. All she could see was red, red everywhere. She lifted up her hands to look at the blood, Daryl's blood, and she went blank. She felt down her knees and Maggie joined her to wrap her arms around her little sister. And Beth let herself go into complete shock and cried out loud.

"Don't let him die! Please don't let him die!"

Maggie had taken Beth to wash herself and changed her clothes. After a few hours Beth had stopped crying and she was sitting on the floor in the hallway, her head into her arms. Maggie was sitting next to her, a hand resting on her shoulder. Most of the group was also in the hallway or waiting outside on the porch. Rick was pacing around in front if her. He hadn't seen Daryl at all and he was just as anxious as Beth.

Carol finally opened the door of the living room where she had been helping Bob. Beth got up quickly helping herself on the wall and looked at Carol with desperate eyes.

"We stopped the bleeding and suture the wounds. Bob was able to remove all the wood pieces out of them. He's lost a lot of blood but I think he'll be ok. He just needs to rest and stay hydrated."

Beth didn't take the time to thank Carol and went inside the room. Rick followed her after giving Carol a quick hug.

Towels soaked in blood were spreading around the couch. Bob was covering Daryl with a blanket and let room for Beth and Rick to come by Daryl's side. He gave them a nod and a weak smile before starting to collect the towels and medical instruments from the floor.

Beth kneeled and put her hand on Daryl's forehead. She heard him moan weakly but he didn't wake up. Rick was standing next to Beth and he gave her a squeeze on the shoulder. She lifted her head to look at his worried face.

"He's a though guy, he's gonna be ok."

When Daryl opened his eyes he wasn't sure where he was. His whole body felt numb and he didn't feel the pain right away. When he turned his head and looked down from the pillow he was resting on he saw a mess of blond hair spreading on his arm and shoulder. He took a breath to inhale Beth's familiar smell and that's when he felt a spiking pain ran on his side and on his back spreading and throbbing like electricity in his whole body. A deep and low groan escaped his lips and Beth lifted her head in a start. She was resting on the floor with her both hands wrapped around his arm. She straightened herself quickly.

"Hey."

Daryl let another groan leave his dry mouth not able to form words yet. Beth reached to the floor and approached a glass of water with a straw to his lips.

"Don't move. Just drink this."

He took a few sips of water eagerly and cleared his throat.

"Take I didn't turn into dead meat then."

He coughed a little and Beth didn't give him a smile, as he would have expected. Her face was dead serious and all he could see in her eyes was concern.

"Don't be smart ass. You almost die."

"Almost's the key word here I reckon."

Beth sighted and her lips finally curled up in a soft smile. Every drug in the world couldn't make him feel better than those big blue eyes and this beautiful smile of hers. Getting so close to turn into a walker had never made Daryl more aware of that.

The sun was getting down outside and an orange glow was peaking between the wooden planks on the window.

"I was out all afternoon?"

Beth raised her brows and her smile got wider.

"You were out for more than 24 hours Daryl Dixon. You scared the shit out of me."

"Hey watch your language Greene, your sister will kick me in the nuts if she hear you speak like that."

Beth shook her head and dived her hand in his hair, stroking his forehead with her thumb. Daryl closed his eyes and let the soothing feeling of her touch on his skin taking his mind off the pain.

"Thank you." He whispered so softly she barely heard him.

"It's what we do right? We look out for each other."

Daryl opened his eyes to look at her beautiful face. She was leaning on him, closing the space between them and before he could take another breath her lips were pressing to his. Her kiss was soft and warm. She lingered a little pressing on his lips tightly for a second before drawing away and looking back at him. A light smile formed on Daryl's face and in this moment he swore he didn't want anything else than looking in those blue eyes for the rest of his life.