Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

92

Buckle up! This is the longest chapter to date but I didn't have the heart to delete anything or break it up. So...sorry, not sorry. Hope you don't mind. I ended up taking this chapter a different direction than I had first intended based on comments and feedback and I am super excited about how it turned out, so I really hope you enjoy it as well! 

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Daryl

I led Aaron through the woods following the tracks of one guy. He wasn't too far ahead of us. "Somebody came through here a while ago," I said keeping my eyes on the trail. I motioned to the tracks, unsure if Aaron knew what to look for. 

Aaron looked down but it was clear he didn't know what he was looking at. "If we see them we hang back, set up the mike, watch and listen."

I nodded. "For how long?" I asked.

"Until we know. We have to know," his voice was thick with emotion and I glanced back over my shoulder at him.

"You've sent people away before?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied tightly.

I jumped across a small creek and paced both ways along the bank until I saw where the tracks started up again. "What happened?" I asked glancing over my shoulder.

Aaron looked away in shame. "It was early on. It was three people. Two men and a woman. Davidson was their leader. Smart as hell and strong. I thought they'd work out. They didn't. I brought them in and I had to see them out. It was me, Aidan and Nicholas. We drove them out, far, gave them a days worth of food and water and left them."

"They just went?" I asked in disbelief.

"We had their guns. We had all the guns," Aaron said, and then he glanced at me regretfully. "I can't make that kind of mistake again."

Like they did now. They had all the guns. They had all our guns. I glanced at Aaron, pinching my lips together tightly. With me out here the only weapons our group had were knives and only one person would really benefit from that. I walked faster. 

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Jo

The next morning Abraham, Carol, Glenn and I went to visit Rick in the empty house Deanna had insisted we put him in. When we got there Michonne was already there, crouching in front of Rick who looked a little like he had been run over by a truck. 

"Where'd you get the gun?" Michonne was asking as we came through the door.

Carol stepped forward to Rick's defense and immediately piped up. "You took it didn't you? From the armory? Why'd you do it?" She asked innocently. As though that act would work on Glenn and Michonne. Abraham wouldn't care either way. "It was stupid," she finished, sounding more like her normal self. 

Rick stared at her for a moment before he shrugged to Michonne. "Just in case," he replied simply.

Glenn stepped up behind us. "Deanna's planning on having a meeting tonight, for anyone who wants to attend."

"To kick Rick out?" Abraham asked from the door.

"To try," Carol responded angrily.

"We don't know that," Glenn said defensively. "Maggie's with Deanna right now, she's going to find out what it is."