Jinx || Daryl Dixon || The Walking Dead Fanfic

-30-

JINX

Carol tracked her down that morning while she was dragging the bodies out of the tombs ready to be burned. She waved for her to come over, but Jinx ignored her until she walked over and physically stopped her.

"Jinx, I need to speak to you." She told her solemnly, following Jinx back inside the building.

"So speak," she told the other woman, "can't guarantee I'll hear it though." Jinx was self-aware enough to know the state she was in; she just didn't care enough to do anything about it. She'd shut down and it was easier that way.

"We need you," Carol's voice was almost pleading, and Jinx glanced over at her as she grabbed the next body, the other woman picked up the feet making it a little easier to move, "Rick's out chasing ghosts and with Daryl gone, Glenn's struggling to keep everything going. He's stepped up, but he can't do this alone." She looked at Carol, there was no emotion in her gaze which seemed to throw the other woman a little. "We need you; people listen to you when you speak up, you should be helping Glenn lead this group until the others are back."

Jinx startled her by barking out a laugh, "Lead?" she laughed harder, "Lead?" she asked again when she caught her breath, "Carol, I am fully aware that I can't get my shit together enough to sleep more than two hours, this, right here, is all I am good for right now. Killing and burning and killing again.", she waved a hand around at the collection of bodies surrounding them. "I couldn't lead if I wanted to." She shook her head and turned away, chuckling to herself as she disappeared back into the tombs.

___

DARYL

As they finally neared the prison Daryl could hear machine gun fire and he broke into a run. By the time the broke through the treeline the shooting had calmed a little, but Daryl could see that someone had driven a truck full of walkers through the main gates. It took no guesses as to who, but he didn't have time to worry about that.

For some reason Rick was outside the fence, rather than on the inside with the rest of their group and he was pinned down by two walkers, obviously out of ammo. Daryl nailed one straight through the skull and Merle stabbed the other with some metal rebar as Daryl reloaded the crossbow. When he looked up, he could see the silver pick up swinging through the field back towards the prison yard, but Jinx was nowhere near it.

His eyes landed on her, and he stared at the girl on the other side of the prison, she was almost surrounded, but keeping the dead back by a reasonable distance. There was something different about her, but Daryl couldn't put his finger on it. He took out another walker and risked another glance back over at her.

The difference suddenly dawned on him, the way she fought had changed. Before she'd always been fighting on the defensive, she held the knives pointing forward, ready to throw and run back any second, but now she was holding both knives pointing away from her and she span forwards towards the walkers. It was almost like watching someone dance as she easily took out four, five, six of them without stopping.

He saw the truck finally pulling around to her, but a walker was almost on her, and he fired an arrow to take it out before it got too close, his arrow hit at the same time her knife did and he watched her whirl round to look at him as she jumped into the truck bed. He couldn't see any expression on her face at all, but maybe that was just the distance.

They'd taken out the walkers that were an immediate danger to them outside of the fence, and now they could stop, Rick, Daryl and Merle stood still, staring at the state of the field between them and the prison, they could see their people doing the same looking out at them. The field was filled with walkers and more would join soon, drawn towards them by all the gunfire.