Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

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Jo

We stood there together on the rooftop until the fire burned itself out. I held Daryl's hand and thought about my past. Maybe Beth was right, we both needed to let go of the things that happened to us if we were going to live. Not just survive but live.

Just the thought scared me. I knew how to survive. All I had been doing since the beginning was surviving. I glanced over at Daryl. His face was shuttered as he watched the bodies burn. The shadows on his face disappeared as the sun rose over the buildings. He looked tired, I wondered if he slept at all the night before. As I watched his face I realized I was ready to start living again.

I thought about my family, about losing Tommy and Michael. So much of that had defined me. I thought of everything I had been through with The Governor and losing Kate and losing myself. I felt like I had been clinging to who I was before for too long. I glanced down at myself. There was nothing wrong with who I was now. I was strong, I was a survivor. I had fought that for so long because it was what The Governor had made me, but without him I never would have lived this long. I tightened my grip on Daryl's hand. I wasn't willing to sacrifice what I had in front of me at the expense of my past.

Daryl and I walked back to the bedroom in silence. We found bags and raided all of the rooms, digging through the dressers and drawers for anything we could use. I was out in the office, pulling on my jacket when Daryl stepped out of the room. He looked ready to go. I swung the backpack onto my back and checked to make sure the straps didn't interfere with my ability to draw my knives. Then I slung the rifle over one shoulder.

Daryl was watching me closely but when I met his eyes he quickly looked away and cleared his throat. "That car was headed downtown. I say we get up in one of the tall ones, get ourselves a view, see what we see."

I nodded. "That sounds good. We can stay close to the buildings and keep quiet but sooner or later we're gonna be drawing them."

Daryl nodded thoughtfully and snatched up a yellow legal pad as we left the office, shoving it into the messenger bag slung across his body. He moved towards the door and looked back at me. "Ready to do this thing?"

I nodded. "Let's get Beth and get home."

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Daryl

Jo followed me through the city. I hadn't spent much time here, but the whole city was a grid. It wasn't hard to get around. Jo stayed close but I had to stop myself from glancing back to check on her anyway. Things had changed with us since last night I just didn't know how or what it meant.

I don't know what made me decide to tell her last night of all nights. I had just been thinking about rescuing Beth and knew the bubbly girl would have told me to. I snorted as I thought about how Beth probably would have yelled at me for not telling her before now. Beth knew how I felt about Jo. Hell some days it seemed like everybody knew. Everybody except Jo.

I slowed as we came to a blind corner. I held up my hand silently, to signal Jo to stop. I heard her footsteps pause. I crouched down so I came to corner out of the line of sight. I held my crossbow up, tucked into my shoulder. I could hear the growls. Judging by the sound there had to be over twenty. I glanced back at Jo. She was crouched down, tucked into a small doorway, her knives clutched in her hands. She looked tense but not scared. She was watching me calmly and I felt something in my chest tighten. She trusted me to get us through this in one piece.