I barely remembered walking back, to be honest.
If any of the others tried to speak to me, I didn’t hear them, too caught up in my own thoughts. I forced myself to picture each face, remember each name Sean had spoken to me. Guilt began to gnaw at my stomach, my chest aching with each beat of my heart.
Twelve years of being an assassin and not once had I ever killed an innocent person. That had been my thing. Mass murders, serial killers, paedophiles, rapists, drug kingpins. They were my targets. Never the innocent and absolutely never did I accept a contract for anyone under the age of eighteen.
I hated knowing these people, these innocent people that I had come to know and care for, had died potentially due to something I had done. Logically, I knew the blame lay more elsewhere than it did with me, but I wasn’t exactly working within the realm of logic at that moment.
When I stepped through the door to the concrete overpass, Merle and Daryl were both standing, waiting for me. They both gave me a curious look, but I couldn’t meet either of their gazes. Silently, I walked up to them and handed Daryl the torn piece of map, moving past him without a word and sitting back down on the concrete behind the wooden pallet.
“The hell’s this?” Daryl asked after a moment.
I heard Merle snatch the paper from his brother. “Bullshit is what it is. Ain’t no way this isn’t a trap. Right, Jacques?”
My lips remained drawn tightly together in a frown. When I didn’t answer, Merle came to sit beside me, giving me a curious, concerned look.
“What else he say?”
I glanced over to him. “We left the wall panel open when we left. Biters got in.”
His face smoothed out into understanding and he took a deep breath, pulling his legs up to rest his forearms against his knees. “How many dead?”
“Seven.”
Silence.
Daryl came to lean against the gate on my other side, looking down at us with a frown.
“Jas–“ My voice was hoarse as I fought against the urge to choke up. Clearing my throat, I took a deep breath and tired again, my tone stronger and clearer. “Jasmine was one of them.”
Merle let out a slow breath. “Damn. Poor kid.”
I made a noncommittal sound in the back of my throat, nodding as I chewed the inside of my lip. Softly, Merle placed his good hand on my knee and gave a reassuring squeeze.
“I know you cared about the little thing,” he said, his tone somewhat at war with his expression. Comforting people had never exactly been his strong suit and he looked incredibly uncomfortable as he tried to reassure me. “But it wasn’t our fault.”
“Kinda was,” I replied. “We left the panel open.”
“All of us did,” Daryl put in, lowering himself down into a crouch. “It weren’t just you.”
I clenched my teeth in an effort to keep my emotions in check. This was not the time to lose my composure. I had to keep myself together, at least until this bullshit with the Governor was sorted. After that, I could find a quiet place to think and let myself feel. But not now. Now, I needed to focus.
YOU ARE READING
The Monsters Among Us ➳ Daryl Dixon
Fanfiction𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯/𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 Not human. She was not human. They all knew it. Could almost feel it, but couldn't make sense of it. That was why they were afraid. Not because of what she used to be Before. But...
