The Last of Us

"You've ever been to Washington?"

"Nope"

"So this is your first time to Washington?"

"Yup."

"Well there ya go, now we have a first together."

Daryl chuckled lightly as they road along the streets of a deserted safe zone. The Walkers that occupied the place were now frozen in place and Daryl remembered why he loved the colder seasons so much. However, along with cold days of riding on the horse, deemed Moonshine by Beth, with Beth's body pressed up against his, came the even colder nights where she'd curl up against him to keep warm. They always had about a dozen blankets around them to keep themselves warm, but Daryl was starting to enjoy how she felt against him. Sometimes she'd sing a soft song and he'd find himself drifting off and other times she'd drag her fingers along his forehead. Everything about her was soothing to him, but what he liked the most was when they both woke up and their limbs were tangled together. You couldn't tell where either of them began or ended. Daryl knew him and Beth were something, but neither one of them questioned it.

"So when we get there, they'll take a small sample of my blood and we can go back to Ricks!" Beth happily said. "The world will have its cure and we'll have a normal life."

Daryl looked over his shoulder and noticed the eyes that Beth was giving him, those infamous doe eyes of hers. "That sounds like a good plan to me."

Beth's cheeks burned and she giggled. "Okay, then let's get a move on. Tally ho! Moonshine."

"Fuckin' hate that name."

"Ah deal with it."

XxX

As they rode up to the Pentagon, Daryl's eyes narrowed in suspicion. The building looked completely deserted. Not one person was standing guard and there wasn't a flicker of candle light or a beam of light coming from a flashlight. There was nothing. "You think this is a trap or something?" Beth asked and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Not gonna know till we find out." He grunted and he heard Beth sigh behind him. "C'mon Moonshine."

He hitched the horse up and helped Beth down from the saddle, with a deep breath and her head held high, she strolled into the building. "Hello, anyone here?" Daryl was right behind her, his crossbow ready. "Cure to mankind here!" She looked over at Daryl again with confusion on her face. "The place is a ghost town."

Daryl nodded his head in agreement. It truly was a ghost town; he kept Beth at his side as they wandered down the halls. The some of the walls had been destroyed and plant life had taken over the building. "It's Thanksgiving today." Beth murmured to him as they found a flight of stairs. "I keep calendars, for holidays- birthdays and new year." She explained as she Daryl brushed off a sign. "I actually have something to be thankful for this year." He glanced up at her and his gaze made her cheeks burn. "It's you- actually, I'm thankful for you and for what you're doing."

Daryl didn't respond but rather point up the stairs. "The medical lab is up there," He sighed when he watched her face fall. "They'll do what they gotta do and when they're done, me and you will celebrate Thanksgiving." Then there was that smile and Daryl could feel the corners of his lips twitch. "C'mon, cure to mankind.

XxX

The door to the lab wouldn't budge, it took Daryl and Beth a few moments before they could finally open it and when they did, the sight in front of them made their stomachs drop. In front of them were the decaying bodies of the lab techs. Each one with a bullet in their skulls. "Shit, suicide pack." He muttered as he took the shot gun out of one of the skeletal hands and gave it to Beth. "Look around, see if you can find anything." Beth gave a silent okay and went to work looking through the journals. He watched with a chuckled as she gently moved one of the bodies from a chair and sat down on it and he got to work to. It wasn't long till he found a tape recorder and pressed play. It made Beth look up from the notebooks and they both listened to the man's desperate voice, saying there was no hope, no cure, no point of living anymore. But then he gave the location to the other lab. Colorado State University, Daryl stopped the recoding and stuffed the recorder in Beth's bag.

"Guess we're going to Colorado then?" Beth asked.

"Yup, go Rams." He grumbled. "Now how about I got hunt us a meal and we call it a day."

Beth smiled as she walked over toward him. "That'd be-" They were cut off by a flashlight blinding them from the other side of the building. "Fireflies?" Beth asked and Daryl shook his head.

"No, run!" He ordered as bullets started to fly. "The guys from the city, they found us on the farm and have been tracking us."

There were about four shells left in the shot gun and Beth made every bullet count. He had to admit that she had gotten better since they first met. She used the butt of the gun to bash the men that were coming toward them along the head. They kept running, they had to though because keeping her alive was his main job.

"Down this hallway, saw an exit here earlier!" Daryl told her. But as he opened the door, a man with a sharpened pipe came barreling at him. He felt something go through his body and a gunshot go off as him and the attacker fell over the stair case to the first floor below. Daryl's vision became blurry but he heard Beth's voice scream his name. She soon filled his vision, her tear filled eyes she moved her hands to cup his face. Two more men came through the doors and Daryl pushed Beth aside as he shot two bullets into their skulls. "Daryl," She asked. "What do I do? You gotta tell me what to do!"

"Get this thing out of me." He croaked.

"No, no- my daddy said that if-"

"Just get it out of me!" He ordered in a harsher tone. Beth nodded her head and took off one of the coats she had on. Without warning, she pulled the metal object from his torso and used her coat to catch the blood. "Let's go." Daryl said as she helped him up. He used her for balance only once but from then on, he didn't want her help, no matter how much he needed it. Two more men came running down the stairs.

"The girl, Gareth want's her!"

But they didn't even get a chance to walk down the stairs before Beth landed a few rounds in them. She turned back over to Daryl with desperation on her face. "Just lean on me, please." This time, he gave into her begging and she wrapped a tiny arm around his torso as they hobbled out of the pentagon. One of the hunters were attempting to steal the horse but Beth took care of him too. She got on Moonshine first and helped Daryl on. She made sure that he was holding on to her before giving the horse a quick kick. "Just stay with me, please Daryl- just stay with me."

And that's all he heard before everything went black.

XxX

"Come on, come on-" Beth muttered as she rubbed a twig against a log. "C'mon light, damnit." And just like that, a few sparks erupted and a small flame started to burn. She added some leaves and twigs before it turned into a roaring flame and then looked back at Daryl. They had taken refuge in a frozen yogurt shop in a mall, figuring there had to be something here that could help him. Beth was just getting him set up before she went around looking for bandages and medicine. She placed a hand on his cheek and gave him a sad smile when she noticed his teeth were chattering. "You're gonna be okay." She whispered. "I'm going to fix this." Beth leaned down slowly and brushed her lips against his forehead. "Just hold on."

Beth stood up from his side and pulled on her coat. "I'll be right back." She promised as she shut and locked the door behind her.

Before the turn, the mall had been decorated for Christmas. The huge artificial tree still stood in the center of the mall with Santa's secret workshop around it. The whole thing made Beth's heart drop, she had loved the holiday as a child and to know that it was the season when all hell broke loose made her despise the holiday. With a sigh, she walked past the winter wonderland and went on the hunt for a drug store and maybe some clothes that could keep them warm. She did have more luck on the clothes, finding thermal underwear and socks along with sweaters, sweat shirts and snow suits which she hastily put on the sled she was dragging along. She also noticed a few more woolen blankets, at this point Beth would grab just about anything that would keep them warm because she figured she'd be in this mall for a while. Finally, when she made it to the drug store, she was lucky enough to find a bottle of hydrogen peroxide hidden under a frozen walker and a half of bottle of antibiotics. It might not have been enough, but it was something. She smiled widely and held the two bottles closely to her chest, maybe Daryl would be okay after all.

XxX

She made it back to Daryl as quick as she could and barricaded the door behind her. The fire was still blazing and Daryl seemed to be warmer, but he flinched when he felt her hands going to open his shirt. "It's okay, it's just me- this needs to be stitched up." Beth couldn't hide the waver in her voice when she noticed how ugly the wound actually was. With a deep breath and shaky hands, she reached for the hydrogen peroxide and uncapped the bottle. Her one hand reached out to grip his before she poured it over his open wound, watching as he cringed and whispered to him that it was going to be okay. As soon as it bubbled up and started to dry, she took the fishing line she found and a needle that she had sterilized in the fire. She blew out a breath as she threaded the needle and looked down at his half open blue eyes. "My daddy- he was a vet and he taught me once how to stitch an injury up- it's gonna hurt."

Daryl mumbled something she couldn't understand and gave a nod of his head and as quickly as she could, she began stitching up his injury- fighting back her own tears at the pain she was causing him. Once she was done, she cut off the rest of the fishing line and popped a pain pill into his mouth, forcing him to swallow it. "You gonna be up on your feet as soon as you know it." She promised as she put gauze over his stitches and buttoned his shirt back up. "And in an hour you'll need to take these antibiotics to stop infection." She paused for a moment to grab the extra bags before curling up next to him. Her eyes met his and she ran her fingers through his hair and his eyes fluttered shut. "You're gonna come out of this, Daryl, I know you will."

A/N- so I hope you all had a very merry christmas and along with this story, I will be starting a new au one with no ZA that will be up later tonight!