The Story of Rudy || The walking dead

5. Goodbye Beth

-

"..no, I am not staying behind." Rudy agrued, following behind Daryl.

They had made it back to Daryl's group, but half of them went on some special mission that Rudy could care less about until Beth was saved.

Daryl had told him that he was staying back, but Rudy didn't like the sound of that.

"It's not up to you." Daryl replied, and Rudy scoffed, stopping him from going any further.

"Actually, old man, it is! It's been up to me for a year, so if I wanna go and save my friend, then I am going to save my friend whether you like it or not, complain to God for all I care, but I am going." Rudy told him with a determined look on his face.

Daryl stared down at him before huffing and pulling out a small gun. "Do you know how to shoot?"

"Yes." Rudy lied, smiling up at Daryl, and he made grabby hands towards the gun.

Daryl scoffed under his breath but handed Rudy the gun.

"Don't aim it at yourself." Daryl warned him, and Rudy nodded. "Yeah, I'm not a kid."

"Yes, you are. You're like, what? 4?" Daryl said, and Rudy gasped,

"4!? I'm seven!I'm just...small for my age." Rudy told him,

"Right, just listen to what we say." Daryl told him with a pointed look.

Rudy hummed, not looking at him as he looked at the gun with a grin.

"I will."

🦎

"..why can't we just shoot them?" Rudy questioned, gesturing to the cops that they had taken hostage.

"We're gonna trade them for Beth and Carol. Did you miss that part?" Noah asked, standing next to him with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Maybe, I was trying to figure out how to shoot a gun." Rudy replied, and Noah snapped his head towards him in disbelief.

"You told Daryl you knew how to shoot a gun." Noah said, and Rudy shrugged, grinning.

"Just wanted to hold a gun. Ya think Daryl was going to give me a gun if I told him that I didn't know how to shoot?" Rudy told him, and Noah took the gun away from him.

Noah checked the safety and sighed in relief before he sat down, and Rudy sat down in front of him.

"You see this? This means the safety is on. You can't shoot if the safety is on, and safety stays on," Noah told him, and Rudy nodded, listening closely

"But if you take the safety off, you do not, and I mean it, Rudy, don't aim the gun at yourself, and finger off the trigger unless you need to." Noah held out the gun towards Rudy.

"I'm serious. Don't aim the gun at yourself if you take the safety off." Noah warned him, and Rudy nodded, grabbing the gun.

"I won't, I promise."

Noah nodded, "Okay, and don't shoot any of us."

Rudy looked towards the cops, "Can I shoot them if they move?"

"No."

🦎

Rudy stood behind Daryl in the hospital hallway. One of the cops was idiot and got himself killed, and they only had two cops left to exchange, which wasn't bad, one for Beth and the other for Carol.

Rudy saw Beth , and he smiled, lifting his hand to wave at her. She smiled a little when she spotted him.

Carol was the first to be exchanged she was wheel in a wheelchair before she stood up.

Next was Beth, and everything was going alright until dawn demanded that Noah go back with her.

Rudy could only watch as everything happened so quickly.

Beth had gone up to Dawn and stabbed her with a pair of scissors, and Dawn shot her in the head.

"No...I..i..didn't.." Dawn was cut off by a gunshot, a bullet hole in her head.

Everyone glanced towards the person who shot her.

Rudy's hands were shaking as he held the gun up, tears welled up in his eyes.

Daryl took the gun from him, and Rudy ran forward, "beth!" He dropped to his knees, shaking her slightly.

"Beth?..beth?" Tears streamed down his face. He didn't want to believe it. He didn't want it to be true, but the blood pooling around Beth's head was real.

The hole in her head was real. The blood on his hands was real.

Arms were wrapped around him, pulling him back from Beth, from her body.

He didn't put up a fight. He let himself get pulled away.

Beth was dead. His friend was gone, his first friend in this world was gone.

Beth was gone, and it was his fault. He shouldn't have left her behind. He should've gone back for her when he had the chance.

He could've taken those two cops. He could've saved Beth back there, but he chose not to. He chose to run instead of helping her.

Now, Beth is dead, and it was his fault.

🦎

They buried her. They still were. Maggie, Beth's older sister, had come only to find out Beth was dead.

She was by her grave with Glenn, Maggie's lover.

Rudy stood far away by the trees. He couldn't bring himself to go over there.

"I know what you're thinking. It's not your fault." Daryl muttered to himself. He stood beside Rudy , looking over at Beth's grave while Rudy couldn't make himself look.

"I left her there, I left her behind. It's my fault she's dead." Rudy said, staring down at his shoes.

"It's not your fault." Daryl mumbled, and Rudy scoffed, lifting his head to look at Daryl, tears in his eyes.

"Well, it should be. I left her there, Daryl. I left her behind, and now she's dead, and it's all my fault." Rudy told him, his voice wavering as tears slid down his face.

Daryl pulled the boy into a side hug, and Rudy let out a muffled sob, "it's all my fault."

"It's not. It is not your fault, Rudy." Daryl told him, but Rudy didn't believe him.

If it wasn't his fault, then who was it?

"Come on, kid, you gotta say goodbye." Daryl lead Rudy towards Beth grave.

Rudy wiped his tears, but they wouldn't stop falling.

Maggie lifted her head as she heard footsteps. She sniffled, and she stood up, Glenn right by her side.

Maggie looked at Rudy, and Daryl shook his head at her. She nodded before she and Glenn walked towards the others.

Rudy sniffled, "I'm sorry, Beth," his voice broke when he said her name.

"You were my first friend and..I failed you, I'm sorry that I couldn't save you..I'm sorry." Rudy wiped his tears with the back of his hand.

"Goodbye, Beth." Daryl said, and Rudy let out a deep breath.

"Goodbye, Beth."

🦎

1133 words

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