A new story from me and I can't even explain how excited I am for this one. I have many adventures planned for Daryl and Beth on this road trip. This first chapter moves a bit quickly but it will slow down from here on out.

…

Chapter One.

Daryl Dixon moved around the dingy motel room as quickly as he could, making sure that he didn't leave anything behind. He knew it really didn't matter if he did or not. Nothing he owned was worth anything but he needed everything he could get at the moment, not knowing when he would get some money to buy anything else.

He crammed his shirts and extra pair of jeans into the duffel bag and the pack of cigarettes from the table along with the lighter. Both were Merle's but he doubted his older brother would notice either were gone. He was almost out the door before he stopped himself and went into the bathroom, grabbing the complimentary bottles of shampoo and little bars of soap.

He didn't look back as he left the room, closing the door a little too harshly behind him, feeling a wave of satisfaction as it slammed behind him, echoing across the dark and quiet parking lot. He looked to the shitty truck and his brother's bike but he walked past both without stopping. Both were Merle's and stealing cigarettes was one thing. He wouldn't take either of those things for himself. If he did, that would only cement Merle coming after him and Daryl just wanted to leave his brother behind and not worry about having to look over his shoulder for him.

Daryl hefted the duffel bag onto his shoulder, stopping for only a moment to light one of the cigarettes, and walked across the parking lot, past the motel's flickering neon sign that advertised vacancy and air conditioning, and down the gravel shoulder of the two-lane road. He knew Merle wouldn't come back into the room until well past dawn and even then, he'd be too drunk and high to notice him gone. And by the time he did notice, Daryl figured he would be far enough away and Merle wouldn't be able to track him down.

Cars and semis zipped past him and mosquitoes buzzed in his ears but Daryl just kept walking and smoking, thinking about what he wanted to do. He was walking in no particular direction with no particular destination in mind. He had thought about doing this so many times – just getting his shit and walking out on Merle – but now that he had actually done it, he realized that he had never made any further plans past that first step. He knew, deep down, that he never expected himself to actually get past that first step.

But here he was. Walking down some country road in the middle of the night, in the middle of Georgia, and he knew he had to put some distance between him and his older brother because if Merle found him, he would put his arm around Daryl's shoulders and promise him it would be different from here on out and Daryl would fall for it because Daryl always fell for it. Merle was the only family he had and he had spent so many years of his life just blindly going along with him, always a little unsure about what was going on but never speaking up.

Tonight, though, it finally was just too much for Daryl and he knew he had to get out. He couldn't do this anymore. Going from one town to the next, just drifting around, sitting there and watching Merle deal and use almost just as much, never having any plan past what town they would go to next. And Daryl had told himself that he didn't want much more than that. But tonight, watching Merle help some girl stick a needle in her arm while her baby sat in the corner of the room made Daryl's stomach roll and suddenly, the air around him was too hot and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

He didn't know what else to do except get the hell away from there. Away from it all.

But now, he didn't know what to do or where to go. He had never even been out of Georgia before and couldn't understand how people did this. Just went out and started whole new lives for themselves. Of course, most of those people probably weren't stupid rednecks who didn't know how to do much besides selling drugs.

Daryl knew he was pretty much a waste of space in this world. Didn't contribute much of anything and no one sure as hell was going to miss him when he was gone.

He took one last drag of the cigarette and dropped it to the ground, stubbing it with his toe before he continued walking away. His stomach was grumbling and he was reminded that he hadn't eaten anything since a small bag of potato chips from a vending machine more than a few hours ago. He only had a few bucks on him though and not knowing the next time when he would get the chance to get more money, he decided to just let his stomach keep grumbling. It wouldn't be the first time he go hungry in his shitty life.

He could see the headlights of a car coming up behind him getting closer and closer and Daryl wasn't sure what made him do it but he looked over his shoulder and it took him a moment to see the model. Silver Subaru. One of those little SUVs with the four wheel drive that could help if ever stuck in Georgia mud. He couldn't see who was driving it though; momentarily blinded by the headlights and everything else too dark around him.

Despite that, he found himself sticking out his thumb and the car was already slowing down, pulling onto the shoulder, gravel crunching beneath the tires. Daryl hefted his bag higher onto his shoulder and walked around to the passenger side, remembering that he had thrown his hunting knife into the front of the bag. He would be able to reach for it quickly if it came to that.

The window rolled down and he bent down to look in to see who had stopped.

"Hi!" The young blonde woman – or was she young enough to still be a girl? Daryl couldn't tell – smiled at him from behind the wheel. "Need a ride?"

"Generally why people stick their thumbs out on the side of the road," he grunted.

She just kept smiling though and he heard the click as the doors were unlocked. He hesitated for just a moment though. Why the hell had this girl stopped for him? Daryl had decided she was still a girl – no way was she over twenty – and she was driving this nice car and smiling at him as if they had known one another for years and her kindness almost made him want to take a step back from her.

He could hear music coming from the radio though she had dialed the volume down when they had started talking and the interior of the car smelled like chocolate. There was no way a guy like him could get into a car like this with a girl who looked like she was just coming home from cheerleading practice. He could just imagine how he looked to her which led him back to his original question.

Why the hell had this girl stopped for him? He could be a mass murderer or an escaped convict or mental patient for all she knew. And she looked like she weighed less than most bucks he had hunted so there was no way she would be able to fight him off – not that he would ever attack her. Despite how he looked, he wasn't like that but she didn't know that. Girls – especially girls who looked like her – couldn't be too careful in this world nowadays. Didn't she have a daddy to tell her that?

"So, in or out?" She broke through his thoughts. "You're letting all of the cold air out."

Daryl took a quiet, deep breath to himself and then swinging the duffel bag off his shoulder, he opened the door and slid into the passenger seat, slamming the door shut behind him. She smiled and locked the doors and rolled the window up once more. She looked at him and he looked at her though the lights from the dashboard didn't provide nearly enough for him to get that clear of a look.

He could tell one thing though. She was pretty.

"Where are you headed?" She asked and she was still smiling at him and maybe she didn't have to know how to defend herself because her smiling at him like that was enough to make him feel like the nervous one.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders. "Nowhere in particular."

"Me, neither." She seemed to be smiling even wider now. "Well, I was going to head to New York City but I've been thinking about LA for the past couple of hours. Have you ever been to LA?" She asked.

He just stared at her and didn't say anything.

"I think I'm going to head out that way. It just seems right. And the drive will be easier now with two people."

Daryl felt his brow furrow. "Ain't you 'fraid of me?" He asked because this girl was talking and going on and on as if this was some whole planned road trip between them and she wouldn't stop smiling and he was wondering if he should have gotten into the car with her. Maybe she was escaped mental patient.

Her mouth snapped shut at that and she stared at him, almost studying him. "Should I be afraid of you?" She then asked, her eyes staring into him in such a way, he almost thought she was trying to cast a spell on him like some witch.

"For all you know, I could hurt you or rob you blind," he answered.

She shook her head at that. "No, you wouldn't do any of that."

He wanted to ask her how the hell she could possibly know that but he stayed silent and just kept staring at her. The cold air blowing from the vents rustled a few strands of her blonde hair.

"Besides," she was back to smiling again. "I don't have anything to steal."

"Got more than I got right now," Daryl grumbled to himself.

She stuck her hand out then, suddenly, and Daryl couldn't help but flinch as if she was going to slap him. It was an instinct, literally beat into him when he was a kid and one he wasn't able to shake even now, nearing forty.

"I'm Beth." If she noticed his flinch, she wasn't acting like it and just kept smiling.

Daryl sighed as if this whole thing was annoying him and he stared at her hand before lifting his eyes to her. "Daryl," he grunted and didn't shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Daryl," Beth said. "Well, shall we?"

With that, she shifted the gear stick back into the drive, checked the side view mirror before pulling back onto the road and drove both of them away. Daryl couldn't help but look into the side view mirror, watching as the motel sign grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely from view.

…

"Now, you stop when you start to feel tired," Hershel said as he loaded her bag himself into the back hatch of the car. "There's no need for you to push yourself until you're exhausted and can't keep your eyes open."

"I know, daddy," Beth said because even if he hadn't told her the same thing at least a dozen times already, she would still know. Common sense and all of that.

She smiled and stepped to him then, wrapping her arms around his middle, and Hershel smiled, hugging her close and kissing her head.

"You give me a call as soon as you're somewhere for the night," he said. "I don't care how late it is. I won't be able to sleep a wink anyway unless I know you're safe."

"I promise," she nodded and gave him one more squeeze before stepping back.

She took a moment to take one last look around the farm; the farm she had spent her entire life on. And while she loved the farm more than any other place on earth, she had never thought she would spend her entire life here.

There was an entire world out there and Beth Greene was ready to see it. She was twenty-one, almost twenty-two, a newly college-graduate and her time had come. She wouldn't be gone forever. She had promised this to her daddy and to herself as well because no matter where she went or what she wound up doing, this would always be her home and she wouldn't be able to stay away for the rest of her life. She just knew there was a world outside of the farm and she wanted to see it and experience it and live in it before she came back and settled here for good.

"Love you, daddy," Beth smiled at him as she got into the car.

Otis had looked it over that morning, making sure the tank was full and the oil was changed and the brake pads weren't worn and just like her, the car was ready to go.

"Love you, Bethy," Hershel smiled.

She had been nervous when she had first come to this decision the month before. She was the only one still here. Mama and her older brother, Shawn, had passed years earlier and Maggie had moved to Atlanta the year before to live with her boyfriend and the only people Hershel had were her, Otis and his wife, Patricia.

But Hershel reminded her for the countless time throughout her life that he was pretty much the most understanding daddy in the world and he had just smiled and gave her his blessing and reminded her that it was her life to live.

"Be smart!" Hershel called out to her one more time as she began driving down the dirt drive, sticking her hand out the window and giving one last wave and honk of the horn.

Her heart was thumping and her stomach was fumbling but she couldn't stop smiling. She was doing it. She was really doing it. After all of the dreaming and thinking, she was pulling onto the road and driving in whatever direction she wished and though she had no destination in mind, she was on her way.

She had been driving for a couple of hours, heading south towards Florida before she changed her mind and started heading west instead. The sun was set by this point and she honestly had no idea where she was but she kept her eyes out for a motel she could possibly stay at for the night. A cheap motel because even though she had emptied her savings account, she felt no need to blow it on a room she would only be in for a few hours.

But the first motel she passed had most of the letters burned out in the sign and it looked like one of the settings she used to see on episodes of Cops – Shawn's favorite television show – and something told her to keep on going.

She wasn't even a mile away when she saw something on the side of the road. No, not something. Someone. A man walking with a bag over his shoulder and as she got closer to him, she saw the blue jeans and tee-shirt he was wearing and the dark hair. She thought of her daddy's words and she knew that picking up a hitchhiker wasn't what Hershel had in mind when he told her to be smart. But that man wasn't necessarily hitchhiking. It wasn't like he was holding his thumb out. Oh, there it was!

She had never even dreamt of picking up a stranger from the side of the road before and she knew that a girl couldn't be too careful nowadays but she had a small canister of pepper spray in her purse that Otis had given her and wasn't this whole thing about her getting out here and living a little?

Without a second thought, she pulled her car over and watched him come over.

Well, one thing could be said about him. He was quite handsome in a way she hadn't been expecting. He had a lean body but obvious muscle build and oh goodness, she had never seen arms like his before. He had hair growing on his chin and he was in need of a haircut and yet, he was able to pull that sort of look off well.

He smelled like cigarette smoke when he finally got in and sat down beside her and she almost opened her mouth to tell him that he couldn't smoke in her car but he made no movement to show her that that was what he was wanting to do.

She had been driving for almost twenty minutes and they hadn't exchanged another word with one another. She had a mixed CD playing and a song from Taylor Swift's 1989 album was playing and she began singing softly along. She kept her eyes out for another motel but so far, they had passed nothing but trees and lit-up billboards, advertising churches or lawyers.

"I'm starving," she suddenly announced to him. "Can you do me a favor? I have a bag in the backseat full of food. Can you grab me a sandwich? And take one for yourself."

From the corner of her eye, she could see Daryl staring at her and for a moment, he didn't move. She didn't know why. It was just a sandwich and she was starving and she had been pretending to not hear his own stomach grumbling beside her.

But finally, he turned in his seat and found the bag, pulling out a sandwich in a plastic baggie, handing it to her.

"Thanks," she smiled. "And one for yourself, too, Daryl."

"Ain't hungry," he grunted.

"Shut up and take a sandwich. It's just white bread and peanut butter. When we pass a grocery store, we'll buy more."

He didn't move to get one and she sighed. She didn't even know him and she was already thinking he was the most stubborn man she had ever met. She took her eyes off the road long enough to give him her best cutting look; a look she had learned and perfected from her own southern mama and it must have worked on him because he finally reached back and took out another sandwich for himself.

She smiled and hummed along with the song as she took a large bite of her sandwich. From the corner of her eye, she could see Daryl take a bite from his own and seeing him eat, she wasn't sure why but it made her want to smile. So she did.

"Thanks," he mumbled then through a mouthful of bread and peanut butter.

Beth just smiled wider. "You're welcome. We're going to be living on these for a few days. I also have some apples and bags of potato chips. And we'll keep our eye out for a grocery store. Right now though, we need to find a motel for the night."

"Got some money," he said. "I got the room tonight."

"Thank you," she smiled at that, taking her eyes off the road again long enough to flash it to him but he was staring straight ahead through the windshield, taking another bite of his sandwich.

Beth had no idea how within thirty minutes, she had picked up a strange man from the side of the road, had shared one of her sandwiches with him and was now talking about spending the night at a motel with him.

And she had no idea how it felt all so perfectly natural.

…

Thank you so much for reading and please review!