This was just a little fic-let I wrote while I was struggling with my other Rick/Beth fic. It doesn't really have anything to do with the Pete Wingfield song 'Eighteen With A Bullet.' other than the use of the title. I'm not sure that it really came out the way I intended, which was as a more light-hearted sojourn into the world of The Walking Dead. I think the trouble is that even the lighter moments in TWD still have some darkness to them... Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading it. I own nothing, and Robert Kirkman et al and AMC own the whole shebang! - Mrs P.

Eighteen With A Bullet

Chapter 1

Beth Greene sat alone in the prison yard and took out her gun. It was only missing one round, and that had been fired to stop a fight. Tomorrow was going to be her eighteenth birthday, and she was confused about how she should feel. It was supposed to be a significant milestone in a person's life, but the world had changed so much, it seemed to her that it was just another day. It was meant to herald a rite of passage into adulthood, but she felt the moment for that had already passed. Beth looked at the faint scar on her left wrist and thought about how stupid she was, to have wanted to kill herself. She still didn't want to end up being torn apart by walkers, but for as long as her loved ones were around her, she knew she would fight to survive. Another reason for living had recently presented itself, as she slowly came upon the realisation that she harboured strong romantic feelings for another member of the group. He gave her something to look forward to everyday, just by being around her, whether he knew it or not. She tucked the gun back into her pocket and was about to return to the cell block, when she heard Carol calling out to her.

"Oh, Beth, you haven't seen Jordan, have you?" She inquired frantically.

The boy in question was one of the young children who had joined them from Woodbury. He was a quiet, withdrawn orphan, who appeared to be around four years old. It seemed that he had somehow slipped out of the cell block undetected, and now no one could find him.

Beth started to look around, and she just managed to catch a glimpse of the boy as he slipped through a tiny gap in the perimeter fence.

"Over here," she shouted to alert the others as she ran to catch up to him.

Jordan had already gone through the small hole in the wire and absconded into the nearby woodland. There didn't appear to be any walkers in that area, but all the shouting from the group was starting to draw them from further around the perimeter. Beth made it to the small gap in the fence and started to ease herself through. She was sure she could catch up to the boy before he got too far away. She ignored Carol's pleas for her to wait, because she knew any delay would mean that they would lose sight of him altogether. With Rick, Daryl, Maggie, Michonne and Sasha out on a supply run, they only had a few people available who could capably mount a search and rescue mission.

Beth made a dash for the woodland, before any of the roaming walkers could reach that section. She had been so focused on trying to keep Jordan in her sights, that she didn't give due consideration to the weaponry she was carrying to defend herself. She had a knife and a gun with five bullets in it, which almost certainly wouldn't be enough. But it was too late to turn around, and so she paused for a second to try and get a fix on Jordan's location. There was a rustling noise a short distance ahead of her, which sounded like someone running, and so she set off to follow it. The rustling noise was always just in front of her but it was leading her further out, and she couldn't be sure it definitely was the boy. When Jordan was still nowhere to be found, Beth had to concede that it was more likely to have been some kind of wild animal. The realisation she had lost her bearings hit her, and she was forced to admit she was completely out of her depth. It all seemed so straightforward to her, when she set out in pursuit of the boy. Her only goal had been to recover Jordan and get back to the prison as quickly as possible. But it had been impulsive and stupid for her to take off like that when she had no tracking experience.

There were only a couple more hours of daylight left, if that, and Beth tried to keep calm so she could figure out her next move. She had been in these woods before; when they'd been hiding out from the Governor, and when they'd first found the prison. All she had to do now was to retrace her steps and find her way back. She couldn't risk calling out to Jordan for fear that it would attract walkers to her and to him if he was still nearby. Beth started carefully, and vigilantly, to make her way through the woodland, in what she hoped was the direction of the prison. She paused as she caught sight of a walker ambling around just ahead of her, and she took steps to avoid it. But then three more came into view and she ducked down behind a tree to try and prevent them from noticing her. Two of them staggered past her as she held her breath, but the other two seemed to have picked up on her scent and they were dangerously close to discovering her.

Glenn was growing frantic back at the prison; he had scouted the edge of the woodland with his binoculars and could find no trace of either Beth or Jordan. He only had Tyreese, Carol and Karen who could ably assist him in any search and recovery mission, but they couldn't all desert their watch posts at the same time. He had no way of knowing how long it would be until the others returned from their supply run, and the light was fading fast.

"My Bethy is out there somewhere, and the boy, we can't just leave them," Hershel was going out of his mind with worry.

Glenn slung his rifle over his shoulder.

"I'll go look for them, they can't have gotten too far, these woods aren't that deep and there's a road up ahead. I'll do a sweep of this section and then I'll come back here to check in. They might have had to take a different route back if they ran into walkers, so keep a watch on all sides of the perimeter," he directed as he made for the gate.

The others looked on anxiously as Glenn disappeared beyond the tree line, and then they took up their watch positions. Carol was pacing restlessly around the gate and she kept her eyes focused on the woods for any signs of activity. The whole episode was bringing back painful memories of Sophia for her, and she desperately hoped the outcome would not be the same this time around. A rustling noise from somewhere close by caught her attention, and she began to scan the area to pinpoint the source. There was something moving in the bushes up ahead, but she couldn't tell if it was a walker, an animal, or a living person. She signalled over to Tyreese, who had a telescopic lens on his rifle, and she pointed to where the noise was coming from. He studied the area for a moment and then gave her a thumbs up sign. Carol swiftly made her way out of the gate and chopped an approaching walker through the head, as she made her way over to the bushes. There she found an unharmed but terrified little boy, and she scooped Jordan up in her arms. They ran for the gate but the way was blocked, Carol wasn't sure what to do when she suddenly heard the roar of Daryl's motorcycle. He came in around her and quickly dispatched the two lurking walkers with his crossbow.

"What the hell's goin' on?" He questioned as he helped them through the gate.

Rick and the rest of the supply run group were following on behind them in the truck. They all continued on, and met up inside the prison yard. Carol explained what had happened as she handed the boy over to Karen and Hershel so that they could check him over.

"Beth and Glenn are still out there?" Maggie asked with a hint of panic in her voice.

The light had all but faded, as Rick, Michonne, Maggie, Carol and Daryl made their way down to the perimeter fence. They had fixed the wire and secured it the best they could, but obviously it wasn't sufficient to keep small children in. However, it was still keeping the walkers out, which was something.

"Glenn should be checking back in soon," Carol said.

They all scanned the tree line with hopeful looks.

The distant sound of two gunshots being fired in quick succession suddenly broke through their silent vigil.

"Over there," Daryl said as he pointed to the left.

"Me, you and Michonne will go check it out. Maggie, you stay here with Carol and keep a lookout," Rick commanded.

The three of them dispatched a handful of walkers as they headed into the woodland. When they had gone a short distance inside, Daryl hushed them up so he could try and pick up on any trace of either Beth or Glenn. He heard the sound of a succession of twigs snapping nearby, and he signalled to his two companions to be on the alert. They drew their weapons in readiness as they listened to the unmistakable noise of someone running in their direction.

"Glenn?" Rick exclaimed with surprise as the young man came bounding through the undergrowth towards them.

"I heard shots fired from somewhere over here," he explained.

They all stopped and looked around, but there was nothing to see.

"It must've been Beth," Rick said hopefully.

Daryl found some tracks and pointed up ahead as he set off walking. The light had now completely faded, and they were in darkness except for a couple of flashlights.

"I'm not sure it's wise; all of us continuing on like this," Rick said after a short while.

"We can't just leave her out here," Daryl said fiercely.

"No, no, of course not, but we can't just keep wandering about in the dark. If we don't find Beth soon, we should go back and resume again at first light. Maybe she's already found her way back, and we don't know what else is lurking out here," Rick reasoned.

No matter how desperately he wanted to find Beth safe and unharmed. His role as leader demanded that he should consider the needs of the many, over those of the few.

"Let's at least check a little further out, the shots definitely came from over in this direction," Glenn argued.

The small group agreed to continue searching for a while longer, and they followed on as Daryl tracked through the woodland.

Beth was almost out of breath, and couldn't see where she was running to. Her heart was pounding from fear and exertion. She had been forced to shoot the two walkers that caught her scent, and then she high-tailed it out of there as fast as she could. Unfortunately, she remained unaware of how close to the prison she had been at that point. Once darkness had fallen, she lost any pretence of recovering her bearings. There were no familiar landmarks or anything else that could point the way, and she was lost and terrified.

The trees started to thin out and she desperately hoped she would soon spot the remains of the guard towers. But instead, she came out by the roadside. Beth quickly realised that she had somehow got turned around, and that she was now on the wrong side of the woodland. The only thing she could think to do was to follow the road along until it turned off towards the prison.

There were a couple of walkers up ahead, but Beth hoped she would be able to dodge them without using any more bullets. She took a few deep breaths and tried to hold her nerve as she set off down the roadside. The sky above was filled with stars, and she couldn't help but take a quick glance at them. There was no time for her to stop and appreciate the beauty, because she needed to keep her eyes focused on her surroundings. But it reminded her of being back on the farm, before this nightmare had started. She would often steal out onto the porch at night, just to look up at the distant constellations.

Beth had been looking for any signs that Jordan might have made it this far out, but there was nothing. She didn't know he was already safe and sound back at the prison. She wondered if any of the others were out looking for her, and presumed that they would be. Beth had a fleeting romantic notion of Rick riding to her rescue and scooping her up in his arms. She often found herself fantasising about him with increasing intensity. It wasn't just him saving her father's life, and bringing Maggie back from Woodbury, that endeared him to her. He had also repeatedly proven himself to be a hero, in her eyes at least, through good times and bad. Unfortunately there had been more of the latter, but that wasn't Rick's fault. Beth felt like she was getting closer to him, mainly due to her taking care of Judith. He had been very appreciative of everything she did for his baby, and they often found themselves in each other's company when he was spending time with his daughter. She knew realistically, he was unlikely to ever think of her as a potential lover. But that didn't stop her imagination from going into overdrive. If Rick had ever noticed her staring at him for a little too long, then he'd never said anything. He'd also failed to rebuff her increasingly frequent affectionate gestures. A hug here, a kiss on the cheek there, and a squeeze of his hand on occasion, had all seemed perfectly acceptable to him. Beth just craved to be near him, even if her love for him was forever unrequited.

The walkers on the road began to turn around, and Beth feared they were on to her. She scooted back behind the tree line and tried to get past without them catching up to her. But her foot got caught under a branch and she went crashing to the ground. There was no time left for her to get clear of the walkers, and so she pulled herself up and aimed her gun. She managed to shoot the nearest one straight through the head, but her second shot went awry in the darkness. Beth knew she only had one bullet left, and so she tried to evade the remaining walker by running back into the woods. It was risky because she couldn't see what was up ahead, and there were likely to be more lurkers that had been drawn in by the gunfire. She heard a lot of rustling coming from somewhere close by, and her heart began pounding as she tried to see what was stalking towards her. The walker from the road had followed her into the woods and it was hot on her heels, so she had no choice but to keep moving. She held up her knife in one hand and her gun in the other and kept running, until she unexpectedly collided with something solid in the darkness. She was knocked onto her back by the force of the impact and looked up in terror as a dark figure loomed over her.