Staying Alive//TWDFanFic

Twenty Eight

I sat by Daryl and sighed as I handed him Judith, "I don't think I'm going to be able to be around for this." Daryl glanced at Carl, "I don't either." There's muffled explosions above us Carl speaks softly to Michonne and Rick before handing them letters. "It wasn't the saviors, it just happened. I got bit." Rick nodded before Siddiq came down the tunnel with a gurney, Michonne and Rick lifted carl onto it quickly. "I have something to give him if you'll let me, it'll tame his fever a little bit." Rick just glares at him so Siddiq insists, "Please, let me help." Rick nods as he takes the bottle.

The explosions are still going off when Michonne gets tired of it and approaches Dwight, "Please, you're one of them, make them stop! They'll listen to you." Rosita approaches and puts her hand on her shoulder before Michonne steps back, "What about going to the Hilltop?" Daryl hands Judith to me before approaching them, "We can't stay here, they'll find us." Dwight shook his head, "No we need to wait, they should be done soon." Rosita agrees with him, "Yeah, we can't risk going out there and losing anyone else." I nod as Daryl glances back to me for approval. Dwight looks around at all of us, "All of you are going to the hilltop?" Daryl nods, "Yep, all of us together. We'll be their worst damn nightmare."

We wait around for a while until the explosions start to be few and far between. Dwight speaks up, "Sounds like they're letting up." Rosita looks above us and then back at Dwight, "You're right, they're leaving." Daryl scoffs, "Yeah, maybe." He hands Judith off to Rick, "I'm gonna take a look." Rick nods, I watch Daryl make his way down the tunnel until he's out of sight. I try not to but I bring myself to look at Carl, he smiles slightly and I just close my eyes, trying to hold back tears. "It's okay, Josie." I shook my head, "No it's not, Carl." I muttered. Daryl finally comes back, "They're gone." We all decide to go to Hilltop, we're going to leave when I hear Rick asking Michonne to take Judith, Daryl steps up in front of me, "I'll take her, I'll keep her safe. I got it." Rick nods before Carl speaks up, "Let me say goodbye to her first." Rick sets Judith down so she's looking at Carl as he says, "You be good, honor Dad, listen to him. Well, don't always, sometimes kids got to show parents the way." He takes his hat off and hands it to her, Rick takes it as Carl continues, "I know it's stupid but it always kept Dad with me, made me feel strong, it helped me, maybe it'll help you too. Before Mom died, she told me I was going to beat this world and I didn't, but you will, I know you will." Judith starts crying so Daryl steps in and takes her before looking at Carl, "These people, you saved them all, it was all you man." We go to walk off but I stop and turn around, "I just want you to know that I always saw you for who you were and not what people wanted or thought you were. I wish we had more time." Carl smirked, "So do I, we'll see each other again one day." I held back tears as I nodded and walked away, I caught up to Daryl quickly and he wrapped his arm around me as we made our way out of the tunnel.

We made our way through the woods and just kept walking. One of the women from Alexandria that babysat Judith often, offered to take her so we could focus on getting them to Hilltop so we gave Judith to her. "Do you know how to get there from here?" He looked at me like I just asked him the dumbest question he's ever heard before I sighed, "Right. Tracker. Got it." He smirked, "We'll cut through here then head that way once we get closer to the roads." We walk most of the night into the morning before people start trickling off to get some rest, Daryl doesn't even notice and Rosita nudges me, "You should probably get him to slow down for a moment." I nod as I catch up to him, I grab his hand and he turns around, "Wha-" He looks behind me, "Where is everybody?" I dropped his hand, "They're tired, D. They usually sleep at night unlike us." He scoffed, "Alright, 10 minutes, then we need to keep moving." I sigh, "Daryl, chill out for a minute so we can figure out a way around them." We walked under a bridge a while ago and heard them talking about looking for us on the roads, so we've been trying to find ways to avoid them. Dwight steps up, "We can go through the swamp, they think it's too dangerous so they never go out over there." Daryl sighs, "Alright, we can go clear it out then get the people through it." I nod and go to follow him as I put my hands in my jacket pockets, I feel a folded up piece of paper in it. I stop and take it out, it had my name written on it. I unfolded it and it read, "Josie, I know we didn't know each other that well but I always wanted to. You made Daryl smile and I always thought that was really cool because he never did before you. You helped my Dad when he needed it and I couldn't be more grateful for you watching over Judith and I when he couldn't be around. You didn't know I knew you kept an eye on me when I went outside of the walls but I always did. I looked up to you like an older sister, I just wish we could've been closer than we were. I want you to know that even though you've been through shitty fucked up things with men, you're not weak. You're one of the strongest people I know besides Dad and Michonne. I'll be watching over you just as much as Dad, Michonne and Judith. I hope we meet again someday. Love, Carl." I gripped the paper so hard that my knuckles turned white as I started crying. Daryl rushed over to me and grabbed the paper, reading it over quickly before tucking it in his shirt pocket and hugging me, "It'll be alright, he'll be alright." I sobbed into his chest for a few moments before I pulled myself together, I pulled away quickly, "I'm good, it's fine. I'm fine."

We made our way to the swamp area with Daryl, Rosita and one of the men from Alexandria. I stuck by Rosita as Daryl went the opposite way. We took out all the walkers in the water before I glanced over and saw Tara chasing Dwight through the trees. I rushed out of the water and ran in the direction they were going.

I saw Tara hiding behind a couple trees as Dwight was leading the saviors away from the swamp, he walked off with them before Tara turned around and saw me. She looked confused, "Why didn't you try to stop me?" I sighed, "No one could've stopped me if that was Daryl." She sighed as she nodded, we went back to the group and Tara told Daryl she was basically trying to lead Dwight away so she could kill him. He went off on her, "I told you to wait! He could be back with them telling them everything right now." Daryl keeps yelling before looking at Judith, his demeanor softens as he picks her up, "C'mon."

He led us all the way to Hilltop and once the gates opened, Maggie and Carol approached us and he told them about Carl. I saw Enid drop to the ground crying as Maggie went to comfort her. We walked toward the mansion and decided to wait for Rick. I handed off Judith to the woman from earlier and went to find Daryl.

I saw him standing by one of the trailers outside of the house, "You alright?" I asked as I stepped beside him, he shook his head, "Nah but I will be." I wrap my arms around him and lay my head on his arm, "I don't know if I've said it before but I'm so glad we found each other." He chuckles softly, "So am I." He kissed my forehead before I pulled away, "What do you wanna do?" He looked me over and handed me an arrow, "Wanna help me sharpen em up?" I nod as I sit on a table nearby and start sharpening up some arrows with my knife. Daryl sits beside me, "You think we'll be able to go back to normal after all this?" I was caught off guard by the question so I thought for a moment, "I don't know."

A few hours go by before I heard the guard by the gate announce, "Rick is here!" I make my way to stand beside Daryl by the blacksmith area, I watch as Rick reunites with Judith, he hands her to Michonne after a minute and walks off. Daryl glances at me before walking off after Rick.

I went off to sit back on a table and wait. I kept myself busy by tuning up my bow a bit, Daryl eventually came back over to me. "Rick and I are gonna go back out but we're going to be split up." I nod, "Alright, what do you want me to do while you're gone?" He chuckled, "What do you mean? You're coming with me." I smirked, "Alright." We made our way over to Rick as he started going over the plan with the group. We'll watch for Saviors coming to Hilltop at different points and sound off horns if we see them before rushing back here to gear up for a fight.