Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

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Daryl

The council meeting was grim. Rick still didn't come and his chair was left open. We could have really used him in there but I didn't press it. When I left to go to the meeting he was organizing isolating his family.

Carol was shaken up by what happened in D but she was holding it together better than most. "Patrick was fine yesterday, and he died over night. Two people died that quick?" She shrugged. "We have to separate everyone that's been exposed." She said decidedly.

I nodded, "That's everyone in that cell block. That's all of us. Maybe more." I said. I didn't know how we were going to separate everyone. We were going to run out of space real quick.

Hershel looked stressed. He rested his hands on top of the table and nodded along with what we were saying. "We know that this sickness can be lethal," he agreed. "We don't know how easily it spreads. Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?" There was a glimmer of hope in his voice. Hope that this was a one off thing. Hope that we would all be spared.

Carol was quick to disagree. "We can't just wait and see. There's children. It isn't just the illness, people die and they become a threat." There was a slight tremble to her voice. I glanced over at her and could see she was remembering what it had been like in that cell block. We were used to Walkers being a threat but now we had to worry about everyone.

Hershel nodded in agreement. "We need a place for them to go. They can't stay in D. We can't risk going in there to clean it up."

I shifted my weight uncomfortably. I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't where Jo was right now. Cleaning up and getting things done was her style. And now she had a greater risk of exposure.

"We can use cell block A," Carol suggested.

"Death row?" Glenn asked in  disbelief. "I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade."

I sighed. With a threat like this we couldn't be worrying about people's feelings. "It's clean," I said shortly. "That's an upgrade. Think that'll work for Dr S?" I asked looking at Hershel.

Hershel nodded thoughtfully. "I'll help Caleb get it set up-"

Out in the hall a woman coughed. We all tensed. I was on my feet before anyone else. I scooped up my crossbow but followed the others out into the hall.

"You okay?" Tyreese was asking Karen, as he supported her with his arm around her shoulders.

She nodded. "Yeah," she assured him, a small private smile on her face.

"You sure?" Carol asked bluntly. "You don't sound so good."

Tyreese rubbed a soothing hand up and down her back. "I'm just going to take her back to my cell so she can rest." His actions were soothing but his words were firm and he looked me dead in the eye when he said them. Somewhere along the way he decided I was the most likely to put up a fuss. I snorted as I thought about Carol and Sasha.

"Tyreese," Hershel said calmly, stepping between Tyreese and I. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Tyreese tensed, his shoulders tightening protectively around the small woman.

"Why?" Karen asked. "What's going on now?"

We all exchanged grim looks. We didn't want to start a panic, but we had to educate people or it would spread worse.

Glenn finally spoke up. "We think it's a flu or something. That's how Patrick died." Glenn's voice was soft, as he tried to deliver the news as gently as possible.