Jinx || Daryl Dixon || The Walking Dead Fanfic

-49-

JINX

Mika and Lizzie trailed behind her and Tyreese, she could hear the two girls talking, Lizzie taking charge and looking after her younger sister, but she wasn't really paying attention to specifics. She stared down at the baby in her arms, Ty had offered to take her a couple of times, but Jinx had always turned him down, the tiny girl was the only thing that stopped her from turning back to look for Daryl.

"It's going to be dark soon, where are we going?" Lizzie asked and the two adults stopped.

"Further. Come on." Tyreese told her, nodding his head in the direction they were going.

Lizzie didn't move, "Is everybody dead?" she asked. Jinx hesitated for a moment but followed Tyreese's lead and ignored the question and after a second the other girl continued to follow behind them.

They found a small clearing and sat down, thankfully one of the two girls had grabbed the bag of Judith's things so they had formula, diapers, and a few changes of clothes for the baby. Jinx straightened out a changing mat on the ground to lie her down and sat close by leaning against a tree. She raised her chin to face the sky, but closed her eyes, she let herself wonder whether Daryl was out there somewhere too, looking up at the sky and thinking of her.

Judith began to cry and Lizzie frustratedly pointed out that the dead would hear her, that they weren't safe out here. Jinx growled under her breath in frustration as she picked the baby back up, holding her tight to her chest and rocking side to side slightly to soothe her. She knew they weren't safe; she knew it was likely that everyone else they loved was dead, but she didn't need Lizzie to point it out so often.

"We'll find a safe place soon." Tyreese told her calmly. He actually sounded like he believed it and Jinx was envious of whatever optimism or conviction he had. Lizzie stood up and walked towards her, appeased for now by Ty's answer, she pulled one of the ready made-up bottles of formula from the bag and handed it to Jinx and as she put it in the baby's mouth she instantly quieted.

There was a rustle from the trees just behind where they sat, and Mika gasped "Walkers!". Calmly Jinx removed the bottle from Judith's mouth and passed it to Tyreese to put back in the bag. She stood in a single swift motion, still holding the child to her chest, but grabbing the mat from the ground and using it to shield the infant from the elements as they began walking again.

___

They walked all through the night, Jinx had eventually relented and allowed Tyreese to take turns with her carrying the baby. She had just started fussing again as Mika spotted some grapes. She was so pleased when the adults agreed they were edible and quickly picked some and shared them out with the others.

Judith began to cry at full volume, it was Tyreese's turn to change her, but even with a fresh diaper she continued to cry. Jinx took hold of her and held her tight, murmuring to her, but nothing would settle her.

There was the same tell-tale rustle as the night before and Ty winced as Mika scratched him as she grabbed his arm and he yelled at her briefly.

"Don't yell at her, she doesn't understand walkers." Lizzie told him angrily, but it was Mika who responded.

"You're the one who doesn't understand them."

"Watch the baby." Tyreese told them in a hushed tone as he pushed the two younger girls towards Jinx before turning towards where the sound had come from, pulling the hammer from his belt only to jump back in surprise when it turned out to be a flock of birds that came flying out of the bush.

It was enough to spook Mika though and she quickly took off running in the opposite direction, dropping all the grapes she'd collected. The others quickly ran after her, Jinx almost slipping on the squashed grapes, but catching her balance at the last second.

They called for her as loudly as they dared, but there was no sign of her.

"She's gone. You yelled at her and now she's gone!" Lizzie accused Tyreese.

"We'll find her." Jinx hissed at the girl, trying to get her to keep her voice down and as they continued to move forward, Mika eventually stepped out from behind a tree a short distance ahead.

As they caught up to her Tyreese asked if she was okay and the younger girl hung her head. "I got scared." She confessed in a small voice.

Jinx handed Judith to Tyreese as he spoke, "That's okay. We all get scared sometimes." He told her.

"You did the right thing running." Jinx told her as she crouched down to take the girl's hand.

"What?" Lizzie seemed incredulous.

Before she could answer, Tyreese spoke "She did. You hear or see a walker, you run." He told them both, glancing between them. "But, when you're in a group, you got to try to stay close to them, okay?"

Mika nodded and reached out to pat Judith's arm, but it quickly drew all their attention to blood on Tyreese's arm and she asked if she'd hurt him.

"It was a lot worse at the prison. No big." He told her and Jinx realised she must have caught the cut on his arm from before, no wonder he'd yelled.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm not like Lizzie." Mika told them both. And Jinx pulled the girl into a brief hug.

"Don't be sorry. You each do things your own way, but you both get it done." Tyreese told her calmly and Jinx found herself admiring how well he was able to handle this situation, she had no idea what she would've done without him here.

"Like you and Sasha?" Mika asked with a smile, but Lizzie interrupted, telling her sister she wasn't like Sasha.

When Mika asked why, Lizzie continued, "Because you're still here. Sasha isn't." Jinx inhaled sharply and she saw a look of disgust cross Ty's face, but before either of them could call Lizzie out on the inappropriate statement they were interrupted by a high-pitched scream.

Jinx jumped up from where she was still crouched beside Mika and took off in the direction of the sound, leaving Ty behind with the two girls.

As her hands went instinctively to the knives she kept on her belt she was dismayed to find one missing and she quickly remembered that she'd thrown one to save Daryl back at the prison, fully expecting him to hand it back to her at the next opportunity as he had a hundred times when they were training or hunting. Her heart felt heavy in her chest at the memory as she continued to run towards the sounds of screaming.

As she came through the tree line she saw what had been maybe a group of three or four survivors from the prison, people she didn't know well, either from Woodbury or that had joined when she'd been away with Michonne, but their faces seemed familiar enough. There were two women on the ground already dead, one of them must have been the source of the screams and the two men were continuing to fight, one pushed walkers away using a small rifle and the other swinging a wooden baseball bat, neither very successfully.

She took a breath and ran forward, pulling the first walker towards her and sliding her only knife into the base of its skull. She yanked it back and jumped out of the way before the corpse could fall on her just as Tyreese ran up behind her and joined the fight.

Their efforts were wasted though, when the first of the two men fell to the ground, screaming as the walkers ripped the flesh from his body. Tyreese finally got close enough to take them out as Jinx reached the other man, he was still standing, still fighting, but blood poured from a wound on his shoulder. Jinx grabbed the now discarded bat from the ground and swung it, clearing just enough space to step forward and take out the penultimate walker, but as she turned she was dismayed to see the last walker sink its teeth into the man's neck. It was easy to kill it now that it was distracted and the man had already gone into shock.

Her eyes met Ty's and she saw the same emotion reflected there, she couldn't quite put her finger on it yet; pain from people they had known's deaths, guilt for not reaching them in time or fear that everyone else they loved had gone the same way. Maybe all of the above. She didn't have time to stew on it though as a gunshot ricocheted through the forest around them, seemingly coming from where they'd left the girls.