50. the cemetery

QUINN

     'ARE WE CLOSE?' BETH WHISPERED, holding up Daryl his large crossbow in her small and pale hands.

'Almost done,' Daryl mumbled, focusing his gaze on the forest around them.

'How do you know?' Quinn whispered, twisting her dagger between her fingers nervously.

'The signs are all there,' Daryl replied, 'just gotta know how to read 'em.'

She sighed at his vague answer as her eyes scanned the forest floor. She had already figured she was never going to be good at this but Beth had insisted that Daryl teached the both of them how to hunt. Quinn had to admit she had picked up a few handy tricks along the way, but hunting was just something she was never gonna enjoy.

'What are tracking?' Beth asked.

'You tell me,' Daryl replied. 'You're the one who wanted to learn.'

The teenage girl took a deep breath before turning her gaze to the ground, looking at the forest floor. 'Well,' she finally said, 'something came through here. The pattern is all zigzaggy.'

Quinn narrowed at the ground, noticing places where the leaves had been kicked aside or pushed deeper into the mud.

'It's a walker,' Beth stated, a proud smile on her features.

'Maybe it's a drunk,' Daryl said, making Quinn shake her head with a smile tugging at her lips.

'I'm getting pretty good at this,' Beth smirked, ignoring the man as she placed the crossbow against her shoulder. 'Pretty soon I won't need you at all.'

'Yeah,' Daryl simply said, not moving his eyes off the ground. 'Keep on tracking.'

Quinn couldn't contain her smile and walked after Beth. Following the zigzaggy pattern they finally stepped out into a clearing where a walker was sitting on its knees on the ground, chewing on something Quinn couldn't see.

'It's got a gun,' Beth noted.

Daryl nodded at her, gesturing for her to move towards the corpse. Quinn followed closely behind, not wanting to take any chances. Slowly they approached the walker but suddenly Beth fell down on her knees, her pained yelp made the walker turn around. Her eyes widened upon noticing the animal trap around Beth's feet. But the girl was too busy with the approaching walker, aiming the crossbow at its head and firing it, the arrow landing in the walker its mouth.

Inhaling sharply she sprinted forwards, kicking the walker against the chest so it fell backwards. Bending over the corpse she plunged her dagger into its skull, making the creature go limp. Groaning she pulled her dagger back out, trying to wipe it clean with the walker its shirt.

Turning back around she saw Daryl was already trying to free Beth as the girl bit her lip not to cry out in pain. With one last pull he managed to free her as Beth carefully pulled her feet back.

Quinn kneeled down next to the girl, narrowing at her foot. 'Can you move it?' She asked.

'Yeah,' Beth sighed as she slowly moved it side to side.

'Best not to stand on it,' Daryl told her, helping her stand.

Quinn gestured for the girl to hand her the backpack she had been carrying. Beth did so and she swung it around her own shoulders. With Daryl holding Beth steady they walked on. There was no more use in tracking things now, Beth couldn't even walk. Their best bet was to find a place to rest for a while. And as they walked through the forest her prayers seemed to have been answered, though not in the way she might've wished.

Pushing through the treeline they entered a graveyard, with a funeral home right in the middle of it. Not really having another option Quinn started walking forwards when Beth asked for them to stop.

'You all right?' Daryl asked.

'I just need to sit down,' the girl replied.

'All right, hold up,' Daryl said, putting his crossbow over his shoulder, placing it on his stomach before gesturing for Beth to jump on his back. 'Hop on.'

'Are you serious?' Beth questioned.

'Yeah,' Daryl said, 'this is a serious piggyback. Jump up.'

Quinn chuckled at them as she watched Beth jump on. Daryl grunted. 'You're heavier than you look.'

'It was your idea,' Quinn told him as they started walking. 'Don't start complaining now.'

Daryl threw her a side-eyed glare, making her shake her head with a small smile before focusing on their surroundings. There wasn't a single walker in sight as they moved through the graveyard, which made her relax a little more.

'Maybe there are people there,' Beth said, nodding at the house.

'Yeah, if there are, I'll handle them,' Daryl replied.

'There are still good people Daryl.'

'I don't think the good ones survive,' he mumbled.

Those words stirred something within her she preferred not to feel, or even think. Words that reminded her of all the bad things she'd done to survive, or she had watched other people do to survive. If only the bad ones survived, did that mean they were bad people too? She pushed the thoughts away before they would overwhelm her and then frowned when realising she no longer heard Daryl's footsteps behind her. She turned around only to see Beth had jumped off his back and was staring at a grave. Walking up to the girl, Quinn came to a halt next to her, her eyes falling on the grey tombstone standing straight up in the ground.

There were a few simple words carved in the stone, but even something this simple had a burden to it that did not go unnoticed by either one of the three of them. 

"Beloved Father."

She threw a look over her shoulder upon noticing how Daryl bend down to pick some flowers before turning to the grave and placing them on top of the stone. The color of the little plant stood out against the grey and gave some weird sort of comfort.

Beth reached out, taking both Daryl's hand and Quinn's hand in her own. Silence enveloped them as they stood there. And for the first time since they left the prison they could actually take a moment to pay Hershel their respects and grief for a moment.

Finally it was Daryl who turned away, taking Beth on his back again and the three of them headed towards the funeral house. Upon reaching the door Daryl put the teenager down, taking his crossbow off his shoulder. Quinn took out her daggers and stared into the hallway through the glass as Daryl banged on the door to draw out any walkers that might've been stumbling around inside the house.

'Give it a minute,' he told them, raising his crossbow as he looked inside.

When no sign of life came, they opened the door and slowly moved inside. Her eyes fell on the ground and she couldn't help but kneel down and let her hand wonder over the carpet that lay on the ground, feeling the soft carpet between her fingers. It reminded her of days gone by, memories of old rooms and finding some sort of weird happiness by putting poison in her body. Quickly she retrieved her hand, standing back up to try and get her focus back.

'It's so clean,' Beth said, looking around the old styled living room.

'Yeah,' Daryl replied. 'Someone's been tending to it. May still be around.' He disappeared in the room on their right. Quinn and Beth followed him and she narrowed upon seeing what the room held.

An open coffin stood against the wall, a corpse inside of it, dressed in a fancy suit that did not have a speck of dust on it. Shaking her head she turned around and walked out of the room, not wanting to look at the sight longer than necessary.

The three of them moved downstairs where two more bodies lay all dressed up on operation tables. Daryl placed down his crossbow, opening the cabinets that hung on the wall, searching for some bandage.

'Let's get that ankle wrapped,' he said, taking the bandage from the shelf and walking over to Beth, who didn't seem able to take her eyes off the corpses.

'Looks like somebody ran out of dolls to dress up,' Daryl noted, following her gaze.

'It's beautiful,' Beth corrected him. 'Whoever did this cared. They wanted these people to get a funeral. They remembered these things were people before all this. They didn't let it change them in the end. Don't you think that's beautiful?'

He didn't reply and instead gestured for her to sit down. 'Come on.'

Quinn looked away from the corpses and watched as the man wrapped Beth's ankle, taking a deep breath. She wasn't sure if she agreed with Beth on the whole beautiful thing. It sounded more like somebody who wasn't ready of letting go of how things used to be. On the other hand with the amount of lousy funeral' they had seen, it was somewhat a breath of fresh air to see tombstones and pretty goodbyes.

'Dang,' Beth sighed upon opening another empty cupboard. 'You find anything?'

Quinn shook her head, closing the cupboard she'd been inspecting. Then turned to look at Daryl who just opened one that had food on the shelves, neatly organised and stacked.

'Woah!' Beth exclaimed, staring at all the food.

'Peanut butter and jelly,' Daryl said, listing things that stood on the shelves, 'diet soda, and pig's feet. That's a white trash brunch right there.'

Quinn reached out, taking a jar of peanut butter from the shelf and opening it. 'It all looks good to me,' she said, smelling it.

'No, hold up,' Daryl said, making her put the jar down and frown at him. 'Ain't a speck of dust on this.'

'So?' Beth questioned.

'Means somebody just put it here,' he explained. 'This is someone's stash. Maybe they're still alive.'

Quinn nodded, staring at the jars and the soda, wondering what to do with it.

'All right,' Daryl offered, 'we'll take some of it and we'll leave the rest, all righ'?'

'I knew it,' Beth smiled, placing a jar back.

'Knew what?' He questioned.

'It's like I said. There are still good people.'

He didn't reply, instead opened up a jar of jelly and stuck his hand in it, licking off his fingers like a toddler would do.

'Gross,' Quinn said, turning to look away from him and find something worth eating.

'Hey, those pig's feet are mine,' Daryl said with his mouth full, gesturing with his dirty fingers towards the jars.

'Fine by me,' Quinn sighed, sharing an amused glare with Beth before taking a jar of peanut butter off the shelf.

After they'd eaten, Daryl went outside to set a peremiter with wires and cans. Quinn had inspected the rooms upstairs, finding some pillows. Taking them downstairs, she frowned upon hearing music coming from one of the rooms. Walking inside, she put the pillows on the ground, smiling when she saw Beth sitting behind a piano, playing a song as she softly sang along.

'That's beautiful,' Quinn said as the teenager finished the song, making the girl turn around and smile at her.

'Thanks,' she replied.

Quinn bent down, placing the pillows comfortably on the ground before sitting down them, taking her dagger out of its sheath, playing with it between her fingers. And then frowned when Beth hadn't started playing again. She looked up to the girl, finding her still staring at Quinn. 'Is everything okay?' She questioned

Beth blinked, as if having been startled out of her thoughts. 'Yeah...I just wondered do you have a request number?'

Shifting on the pillows Quinn frowned slightly. 'I-I don't know.'

'It can be anything,' Beth quickly said.

'Well,' Quinn inhaled deeply, her gaze wondering to her lap. 'When I was little...my dad used to sing this song. The little moments that he was sober but if he caught me or Milo hearing him he'd stop.' Taking a shaky breath she blinked quickly, hating the fact that tears were coming up. 'But Milo knew it, he told me it was mom's favorite song.'

Beth studied her for a second. 'What's it called?' She whispered.

'You wouldn't know it,' Quinn mumbled, suddenly wishing she hadn't said a word.

'I can try,' Beth said slowly. 'Can you sing it?'

She was about to open her mouth and say no, that this was stupid and that she sould just forget about it, but looking at Beth she suddenly couldn't. The innocent gaze of the girl was one that reminded her of a little girl from a long time ago, before she grew up and destroyed everything she ever could be... So, taking a deep breath she softly started singing the words. And it scared her how quickly they came to her, as if the last time she heard them was only yesterday.

Beth turned to the piano, softly starting to play along as Quinn sang. She sang until she was out of words and silence filled the room. It was only then she felt something saulty touch her lip and she quickly wiped her tear away.

'I think I got it,' Beth said and started playing the song again, now singing the words herself.

Quinn leaned back in the pillows, staring at the quick moving fingers of the teenager, listening to the song as if welcoming an old friend.

Suddenly the sound of Daryl clearing his throat sounded through the room, making Quinn and Beth turn around at the same time, seeing the man leaning against the doorframe. She wondered how long he had been standing there but if he heard anything, his expression didn't say it.

'Place is nailed up tight,' he said. 'The only way in is through the front door.'

'G-good,' Quinn muttered, watching as he walked across the room, placing down his crossbow and heading towards the empty coffin that stood in the corner. She frowned as he jumped inside of it, laying down against the white pillows.

'What are you doing?' Beth questioned.

Daryl looked at her as if she was kidding. 'This is the comfiest bed I've had in years.'

'Really?' Quinn snorted.

'I ain't kidding,' the man replied as he lay down, sighing deeply. Then he turned look at Beth. 'Why don't you go ahead and...play some more? Keep singing.'

She frowned. 'I thought my singing annoyed you.'

'There ain't no jukebox, so...'

Quinn shook her head, smiling as she lay down on the pillows she gathered, listening as Beth started playing again. The soft piano tunes filling the room as the song warmed her heart. And for now, she was okay.