She wasn't sure how long she and Daryl had been running, but the car was long gone and dawn had pasted a while ago. Juliana's lungs were heavy, and she struggled to breathe with each step she took. It was beginning to become painful as her boot hit the pavement, but she kept moving. Cringing at each step; her legs felt like Jell-O. Daryl was ahead of her by a few steps, and he eventually slowed, coming to a walk and Juliana could catch up with him. They were both caked in sweat. Juliana's eye had swollen shut by now, the skin surrounding her socket turning a dark purple.

Panting, they came to an intersection and stopped. Daryl looked helpless as he turned in each direction the roads forked off into, trying to figure out what to do next. Exhausted, Juliana fell to her backside onto the ground, falling backwards onto her back, arms sprawled out next to her as he chest rose and fell quickly. Daryl dropped his crossbow to the ground, coming to sit down next to her. They were defeated, and at a literal crossroads. The two of them hadn't realized until now how much Beth was leading them in the 'right direction' until they lost her.

Juliana pushed herself up into a sitting position, looking over to him as they sat in the middle of the road. Carefully, she reached up, touching the side of her face and winced as a sharp pain shot through the side of her face.

"I could have gotten her," she muttered, dropping her hand to her side. Daryl didn't look over in her direction. "I should have been able to save her," her throat began to tighten and she swallowed. Heat flowed to her cheeks and her eyes welled with tears. Roughly, she wiped her uninjured eye with the back of her hand. "I should have-"

"Stop," Daryl ordered, his tone sharp and quick. Juliana fell silent, knowing that saying anything else would be pointless. Once again, the two of them sat in silence, unsure of what to do, and desperate to find Beth.

***

Footsteps hit the pavement. Crunching of small rocks and particles of sand under a heavy pair of boots sounded incredibly loud in Juliana's ears. She quickly looked to Daryl, her head lowered as she watched him carefully. When he remained still, she remained still, both of their hands down. Her hand slowly moved to his arm, fingers gripping the fabric of his shirt to let him know she had heard it too. Carefully, she trailed her fingers down his side, grabbing a hold of his knife and pulled it out slowly as more boots circled around them.

"Well lookit here," a male voice crooned, taking a step towards the two of them. Just as he leant down, Daryl threw a punch. He grabbed at his crossbow, standing as he aimed it at the man. Juliana had followed suited, holding the knife in one hand, her back turned to Daryl as she tried to figure out exactly what they were up against.

Guns cocked, the gang aiming them at Juliana and Daryl. Daryl had knocked the man to the ground, his hand to his nose; bloodied.

"Damnit, hold up!" the man hollered at his men.

"I'm claimin' the vest," a greasy, dark haired man with a compound bow called out, "I like them wings," a creepy grin fell onto his face as his eyes darted to Juliana, "I like you too, even if your boyfriend fucked up your eye," he teased, letting out an even creepier laugh. Juliana took a step back, trying to get closer to Daryl. She was uneasy.

"Hold up," the man told them again, bringing his hand down from his nose. He glanced at the blood that had pooled on his hand and let out a hearty laugh, standing. "A bowman," he started, "I respect that. See, a man with a rifle, he could be some kind of photographer or soccer coach back in the day. But a bowman's a bowman through and through." He motioned to Daryl's crossbow, "What ya got there, 150 pound draw weight? I'll be donkey-licked if that don't fire at least 300 feet per second. I've been lookin' for a weapon like that."

At those words, Juliana gripped the handle of the knife tighter, glancing over her shoulder briefly as the man continued to speak.

" 'Course I'd want one with a bit more ammo and minus the oblongata stains." The man peered over Daryl's shoulder as he noticed Juliana peak over hers to look back at him, "Doesn't look like your pretty friend has any weapons to offer, either."

The creepy, greasy man let out a laugh, "You two get yourselves into trouble?"

Juliana ignored him, trying to look anywhere but his face and instead tried to focus on the interaction that was going on between Daryl and this man.

"You pull that trigger, these boys are gonna drop you several times over. Then we'll take your girl." He paused, staring Daryl down, "Is that what you want?" Daryl remained silent, still holding his crossbow level with the man's skull.

"Come on, fella, suicide is stupid. Why hurt yourself when you can hurt other people?" he paused, "Name's Joe."

Daryl's crossbow dropped, but he kept his eye on Joe. Reaching back, he tapped Juliana on the arm, letting her know silently that she would be safe to turn around. She turned around as Daryl told Joe his name.

"Well, holy shit," Joe grinned, looking Juliana up and down, "Looks like you beat the shit out of her. She is your girl, right?" Juliana parted her lips, just about to speak when Daryl interrupted her.

"Yeah," he mumbled, lying. Joe shook her head, the grin still on his face as his eyes traveled down Juliana's frame. Daryl shifted to the side, standing more in front of her as he caught onto this, causing Joe to let out a laugh, "Too bad," he mumbled to himself. The men shared a strange look between them.

Juliana felt like she was a piece of meat dangling in front of a pack of wolves, and even with Daryl with her, she felt in no way safe around this group. As much as she wanted to pull the 'bad ass bitch' card and say something smart, she kept her mouth shut, fingers still wrapped around the knife that was down at her side. At this moment in time, she was so glad Beth wasn't around.