46. a real drink

QUINN

     THUNDER RUMBLED THROUGH THE NIGHT SKY as the three of them ran beneath the trees. Walkers were right behind them, too many to fight but Quinn couldn't keep up with running through the darkness much longer either.

Daryl and Beth were right in front of her pushing through the bushes. Quickly she made her way after them frowning when she noticed they had ended up on the road. An abandoned and rusty car stood right in front them, a dead body lying on the ground.

Daryl ran up the road, holding up his crossbow as he scanned their surroundings.

Quinn headed towards the door of the car, taking place behind the wheel and tried to get it going but it seemed to have broken down completely. Once again the thunder echoed through the sky. As a kid she used to love watching through her window as the bright white beams lit up the sky at night but now every flash made her jump in her skin. Then a sound that she loved far less reached her ears, the snarls of the walkers closing in on them.

She looked at Beth, whose eyes were wide with panic.

'Come here,' Daryl suddenly said and ran up towards the trunk of the car. He opened it and gestured for Beth to climb inside. Once Quinn realised his plan she started shaking her head, she didn't want to climb into a small dark space. Daryl turned to look at her as the groans of the walkers grew louder, his gaze penetrating. She inhaled sharply and knowing she had no other choice she climbed after Beth inside the trunk.

Daryl followed them, closing it and binding the handle shut with a piece of cloth.

Quinn leaned her head back as she closed her eyes, she tried to keep her breathing steady, tried to ignore the panic rolling through her stomach but the fact that her legs were pressed up against Daryl and her arm against Beth's shoulder didn't really help.

The walkers had finally reached them and she could hear their feet shuffeling along the pavement as their growls grew louder. A white flash lit up the sky and the thunder rolled, making her shiver once again.

Next to her Daryl sat completely still, his crossbow loaded and pointed outside, just incase the walkers would somehow open the trunk.

Quinn wished she could sit just as still but her hands were trembling and no matter how hard she tried they wouldn't stop. She bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming as the thunder became louder. Suddenly Beth reached out and placed her small pale hands over Quinn's folded, trembling ones. She knew the girl was only trying to comfort her but, impossibly, it only made her feel worse.

The snarls of the walkers grew incredibly loud and it took everything within her not to open the trunk and run away. She needed air, she needed space, she couldn't do this.

Squeezing her eyes shut she waited, for what felt like hours, she waited, the darkness threatening to overwhelm her, swallow her and pull her under. Until finally the snarls died down, the thunder had stopped and the sun had risen. Only when the light was so bright she could see clearly and the birds were chirping loudly, Beth finally opened the trunk.

Quinn pushed herself up, she was the first one out. Falling down on her knees on the pavement she sat there, breating heavily as sweat fell down her forehead. She could hear Beth and Daryl climbing out of the trunk as well and for a few moments there was nothing but silence as she tried to collect herself. She hated it when people saw her fall apart like this but right now she couldn't help it. Dark, small spaces had too many bad memories attached to them and she wasn't always able to push them to the back of her mind. Finally she forced herself to stand up, stretching her sore muscles as she took a deep breath, the fresh air filling her nose, making her feel slightly better.

She turned around to see Daryl and Beth had filled a bag with anything useful the car had to offer. Nodding at the both of them to show them she was ready, they started down the road again. And all she could do was go on and pretend she didn't just have the worst night of her life.

It was late in the afternoon when they started to set up camp. Daryl left without saying a word and Quinn figured he went hunting. While Beth busied herself with making a fire from the mirror and a piece of glass she had taken from the car, Quinn spend her time attaching a wire from tree to tree, surrounding their camp so walkers wouldn't be able to just stumble in. She hung parts of the wheel that Beth had taken on it as well, so it would make noise if a walker got caught in it, a trick she had learned from Sasha.

She and Beth were both sitting around the fire when Daryl returned with a snake. He had skinned the thing and placed it above the fire to roast it. Quinn didn't say a word as she stared at what could only be described as a disgusting piece of meat but knowing she had to eat something she didn't protest as he handed her a part of it.

The meat was tough, had very little flavour, was filled with little bones and overall just wasn't something she'd gladly eat again. But she had tasted worse. Like that frog Andrea had once managed to catch. The three women had collectively agreed to never eat frog again. It felt like something snapped within her as she thought about them. She had learned to deal with Andrea's death, though it came back to haunt her in her nightmares more than she cared to admit. But the fact that she knew nothing about Michonne's whereabouts, if she was even alive, it was hurting her like crazy.

'I need a drink,' Beth suddenly said.

Daryl reacted by throwing a bottle of water her way and Quinn almost felt herself laughing at the way he did it, like a child mad about something it didn't want to talk about. Almost. Because it honestly felt like her body had forgotten how to laugh.

She frowned when Beth didn't even touch the bottle and instead said: 'No, I mean a real drink. As in alcohol.'

Daryl didn't react and instead kept chewing on his snake meat.

Quinn sighed, throwing the last pieces of hers away. Then turned to look at Beth, raising her eyebrows as a silent question to her sudden urge to consume alcohol.

'I never had one,' the blond girl explained. ' 'Cause of my dad. But he's not exactly around anymore, so...'

'Where do you expect to find alcohol around here?' Quinn asked, reaching for the water bottle and taking a swig.

'I don't know, I thought we could go find some,' Beth replied.

Quinn sighed deeply. 'I honestly don't think it's a good idea.'

Beth took a deep breath before standing up. 'Okay,' she said and walked away but not before throwing one last glare at Daryl. 'Enjoy your snake jerky.'

Quinn narrowed at Daryl who didn't react in the slightest way and instead kept chewing at the snake meat. She didn't know what to say to him, or what to do and instead sat there awkwardly. She was about to stand up and go after the girl when Daryl suddenly put down his meat, wiped his mouth and took his crossbow. Standing up he looked at Quinn, his expression didn't change but she could tell he was waiting for her.

Pushing herself up she took her dagger in her hand and followed him out of the camp and through the forest.

They found Beth standing against a tree, her knife in her hand as she hid from a few walkers, who were stumbling away from them, luckily, because Quinn felt way too tired to fight. The girl looked up to see Quinn and Daryl standing there. Without another word Daryl turned around and headed back into the direction of the camp. Quinn frowned when she noticed he took another route but Beth didn't seem to realise that.

'I think we made it away,' she said. 'I pretty sure we gotta go that to find the booze,' she added, pointing someplace over her shoulder. But as they turned around the corner she walked against the wire Quinn had put there earlier.

'The hell?' Beth questioned. 'You brought me back? I'm not staying in this suck-ass camp!' Then she put up her middle finger and started to walk away.

'Hey,' Daryl suddenly snapped as he stepped forwards and took her arm to prevent her from walking away. 'You had your fun.'

'What the hell is wrong with you?' Beth yelled in his face. 'Do you feel anything? Yeah, you think everything's screwed. I guess that's a feeling. So you wanna spend the rest of our lives staring into a fire and eating mud snakes? Screw that! We might as well do somethin'.'

Quinn crossed her arms over her chest, taking a deep breath. She didn't know what to do with the words of the teenager even though they weren't directed at her. Beth had a point but what could they do? They had no leads on anyone or anything and had no way of finding out where anyone was. What else could they do but sit in a camp and try to survive?

'I can take care of myself,' Beth said, 'and I'm gonna get a damn drink.' Then she turned around and stormed off again.

Quinn threw Daryl a glare but his gaze was focused on the ground, as if lost in thought. Spinning her dagger between her fingers she turned around and headed after Beth, not really caring what the man would do but knowing the teenager needed her help more than Daryl. As she followed Beth though she could her Daryl's quiet footsteps behind her, following them through the shrubbery.

They broke through the treeline, entering what looked to be an old golf course. The grass stretched out for miles until finally disappearing into another forest on the other side. Quinn took a moment to look up at the sky, the corner of her lip lifting into what might've been a small smile. It felt good to stand under the open sky again, feeling the soft breeze on her heated skin.

'Golfers like to booze it up, right?' Beth questioned, staring at the big white golfers club house down the field.

'I honestly wouldn't know,' Quinn replied, then frowned and turned around to see a few walkers stumbling towards them. They were far away however and so the three survivors ignored them and started walking towards the main building up ahead.

Walking up towards the front gate Beth suddenly stopped. 'There might be a few people inside.' Quinn sighed and walked up to the doors, trying to get them open but they seemed to be shut tightly.

She frowned upon noticing Daryl kneeling down next to a corpse and inspecting its pockets. When he couldn't find anything he picked up a golf club from the ground and gestured for Beth and Quinn to follow him. They ran around the building, searching for the back entrance.

Carefully Daryl opened the doors and they walked inside. Quinn held her dagger in her hand as they entered, her eyes scanning around the place. She stopped in her tracks upon noticing the dead bodies in sleeping bags, laying all spread out across the floor. The smell was itching her nose, making bile rise in her throat. She figured she would get used to the smell of death overtime but it still made her want to puke.

As they walked further into the room her eyes fell on three walkers, hanging from the ceiling in what seemed to be self made nooses. People who had tried to kill themselves, not knowing nothing but a bullet through the brain would work.

Daryl picked up a flashlight from the ground, shining around the place, as the windows were covered and didn't let much light in.

Quinn looked around, her eyes falling on another flashlight on the ground. She bend down and picked up, testing to see if it still worked and smiling when it did. A sudden rustling behind her made her turn around and she frowned when she saw Daryl taking a bag of money and jewelery, filling it with even more. She knew she couldn't judge, seeing as she wasn't a stranger to stealing, but she simply found it pointless. There was no use for that stuff anymore. She turned to look away, scanning the place for something that might actually be useful but except for pillows and blankets, she didn't see much.

A sudden banging sound came from the door and Quinn turned to look at it, seeing Daryl had placed the golf club through the door handle like a lock. She could see the shadows of walkers pushing against the door from the other side.

'Come on,' Daryl said, packing up his things and opening a door that led further into the building. Quinn and Beth followed him closely.

It was even darker in here and she was glad for the flashlight she picked up. Shining around the place she noticed they were in the kitchen with a food pantry in the back. The place was filled with boxes and the smell of rotten food hung like a thick odor in the air.

Moving along the shelves she searched for anything useful but most of the food was rotten. A loud clanking sound made her turn around, but she breathed out with relief upon noticing it was only Beth, climbing on a shelf to get to a bottle of alcohol. Quinn didn't know what had come over the girl so sudden that she was hell bend on getting some liquor but at the same time she totally understood. Throwing some alcohol in your system to forget about the burning pain of grief did sound like a pretty solid idea. Only Quinn knew how badly it could end.

A sudden scream echoed through the room, followed by the familiar snarls of a walker. Quinn turned around, running over to Beth but a hand landed on her shoulder and stopped her from moving. She turned to see Daryl standing behind her.

'What's the matter with you,' she whispered harshly, trying to break free from his grasp.

He didn't reply and instead nodded at Beth. Quinn turned to see the girl stabbing the walker in the head with the broken end of a bottle, but the corpse didn't go down. She dropped the bottle and managed to take her knife and plunge it through the creature its skull.

Beth looked up to the two of them. 'Thanks for the help,' she panted.

'You said you could take care of yourself,' Daryl said. 'You did.' He let go of Quinn's arm, turned around and walked through a door at the end of the room.

Quinn stared after him, narrowing. His reasoning did make sense and at the same it was screwed up as hell. He made her feel so confused that she got tired of it, at least Merle had always been clear about his intentions. She threw a glare over her shoulder at Beth to make sure she was alright and upon seeing that was the case she walked after Daryl.

They made their way down a couple of stairs into a hallway and finally into a room filled with fancy golf clothes. Quinn looked around, suddenly realising how filthy her own green shirt was. Her jeans were ripped and her knee high boots were covered in blood stains. Her jacket, which she had tied around her waist, had become brown instead of black, mud and sand all over it. But looking around the place she didn't feel like dressing up. Especially not in fancy golf clothes.

Beth, however, seemed to feel differently as she took a yellow shirt and white vest and disappeared in a dressing room.

Daryl was checking the cash desk for money, making Quinn sigh slightly. 'Is that really necessary?' She asked, walking over to him.

He looked up at her, his eyes falling on something behind her that made him drop the things he'd been holding. Quinn followed his gaze, noticing Beth walking up to them as well.

In the back of the shop stood a dressing doll but in the place where its upper body should be was a real woman's body, decayed but dressed up, with a sign around her neck, reading "rich bitch".

Quinn felt herself growing sick at the sight of it and clearly Beth felt the same as she walked towards it. 'Help me take her down,' she said.

'It don't matter,' Daryl replied, 'she's dead.'

Beth turned to look at the man. 'It does matter,' she whispered softly.

He sighed before standing up and taking a blanket from the ground, covering the woman with it, taking her out of sight. 'Here.'

Suddenly the silence was interrupted by the snarls of walkers. Quinn sighed deeply, taking her dagger in her hand and turning to face them. However, before she could do something Daryl had already shot the first one down with an arrow. He then dropped his crossbow and took a golf club from the ground, hitting another one right in the face with it. With only two walkers left he ran up to the closest one, hitting it down the same golf club.

Running over to the last one he kicked it down on the ground and started beating it mercilessly with the club. He kept at it, beating the body of the walker even though they all knew it was useless. Finally he screamed and hit part of the walker its face, sending blood and brain matter flying across the room, hitting Beth her new clothes.

Breathing heavily Daryl looked up at her and finally something became clear to Quinn. The way he behaved, the way he had treated them, he was mad. Unbelievably mad, a rage that had been growing inside of him probably since the moment the Governor had taken Hershel's head off.

She wondered why she hadn't seen it before but then again, masking his emotions seemed like a second nature to the man.

Without saying a word he pushed passed them, leaving the room in a hurry. The two women shared a small glare before following him, not really having an option. And as they crossed the hallway and entered another room they finally found what they'd been looking for. Or at least, what Beth had been looking for.

The bar.

Beth turned to look at both Quinn and Daryl, her blue eyes determined. 'We made it,' she said. 'I know you both think this is stupid and it probably is but I don't care. All I wanted to do today was lay down and cry but we don't get to do that.' She took a deep breath. 'So, beat up on walkers if that makes you feel better. I need to do this.' Then she turned around and walked towards the bar.

Quinn avoided Daryl's gaze and walked forwards as well, looking around she could see that almost the entire place was smashed to pieces. As far as she could tell there wasn't a single glass left that wasn't broken.

As Beth sat down behind the bar, searching for whatever bit of alcohol there was left, Daryl gathered more jewelery and cash before picking up a few darts and started throwing them at pictures of people that hung on the wall. 'You have your drink yet?' He asked without looking over his shoulder.

'No,' Beth replied. 'But I found this.'

Quinn narrowed at the bottle in her hands, walking closer to see what was written on it.

'Peach schnapps,' Beth explained, noticing the woman's gaze. 'Is it good?'

'No way,' Quinn told her, shaking her head, leaning back against the wall to see what the teenage girl would do.

'Well, it's the only thing left,' she said.

Quinn looked away from Beth, her gaze wondering over to Daryl who was still throwing the darts, right in the men their foreheads, everytime. But he stopped when a sob came from behind them. She followed his glare towards Beth, seeing the girl staring at the bottle, not even having it opened yet. She seemed to try her hardest not to cry, even though crying would probably make her feel relieved.

A shaky breath escaped Quinn's lips. She wasn't good with kids, with teenagers, she never knew what to say. Her brother had a gift for that kind of stuff, he always said the right thing at the right time. Right now she wished she could that because this sadness wouldn't just be solved with a hug.

Daryl threw away the last dart before walking over the bar, taking the bottle in his hands and smashing it on the ground, making Beth jump in her chair. 'Ain't gonna have your first drink be no damned peach schnapps,' he mumbled before walking over to the exit, throwing the door open. 'Come on,' he said and followed by Beth and Quinn he walked outside.

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

This is one long ass chapter but I really enjoyed writing it, so I hope it's good and you guys don't mind. I really love writing the dynamic between these three and it's only going to get better. Quinn is feeling so awkward and confused around both of them and that is so much fun to write because I've never really shown this side of her before.

I also wanted to do something different with the car scene than what you see in most fanfiction. I mean, sure, it must feel pretty great to be that close to Daryl but seeing as Quinn has a horrible fear of small, dark, spaces she wasn't going to feel any sparks. I actually had a lot of fun writing how scared she felt and how she wished she could be as calm as Daryl. Let's break the cliches in fanfics, right? (Though I'm sure my fanfic has some cliches here and there as well)

Also, I actually did some research on what snake meat tastes like so I could write it as real as possible. So what Quinn describes it like, that is actually how it tastes. Can't make it any better than that. :) What is the strangest thing you guys have ever eaten?

So, that was it for this week. Please leave a vote or a comment, they mean the world to me. And I will see you all next time!

xXx

UYM