Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

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Jo

As the sun started to set a chill settled into the air. I shivered as I climbed the metal ladder. When I reached the top I zipped up my jacket that I had grabbed from the house. I dug in the pockets and pulled out a pair of leather fingerless gloves and pulled them on as well.

Rick glanced back over his shoulder at me. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," I said stepping up beside him. I rested my hands on the top of the fence and stared off down the road. We stood like that in silence but there was nothing to see.

Once full dark was upon us I swallowed, stealing myself to speak the words that had been festering in my heart for hours. "They should have been back by now. Something went wrong."

Rick nodded and sighed. "Yeah, I know," he agreed sadly. After a moment of silence he looked down at me. "You all right?" he asked.

I nodded, lifting my chin. "Yeah, yeah I'm good." I promised him but it was a lie. Abraham, Sasha and Daryl were all extremely capable fighters, but there were so many things that could have gone wrong in front of that horde. Daryl would never leave one of the others behind and if they had gotten into a bad situation Daryl would not have hesitated to put himself in danger to protect them. I ran a restless hand through my hair. 

"You know he's all right, right?" Rick asked me carefully after a few moments of silence. When I didn't respond Rick shifted his weight. "He's strong," Rick continued unnecessarily.

I only nodded, keeping my eyes glued off into the night. I felt like any second headlights could appear, but they never did.

"He's going to be fine Jo," Rick promised me, but there was no way for him to know that. 

Finally, I looked back at Rick, he looked exhausted and stressed and I wasn't helping. I forced an encouraging smile onto my face. "I know," I assured him, not because I did, but because Rick needed to hear it maybe more than I did right now. "I have watch, you should try to get some sleep."

He must have been even more tired than he looked because he didn't fight me on it. He just nodded and turned to go. Rick reached out and squeezed my shoulder. "It'll be all right," he said tiredly.

"Night Rick," I called after him because there was nothing else to say. If he had genuinely believed everything was fine he wouldn't have been up here in the first place. Like me, Rick had never taken watch before.

A short time later I heard movement on the ladder but I didn't bother looking so I was surprised when Carl stepped up next to me. He was wearing his hat and had his gun strapped to his hip. I wasn't surprised to see that after what we had just gone through. We stood silently side by side watching the night.

"Enid's out there too," he finally said in a low voice. I glanced up at him and his face was drawn with lines of worry.

I didn't bother asking how. I had known for a while the two of them had been sneaking out but it wasn't my business to keep them caged in and they obviously knew what they were doing. So, instead of saying all the stupid reassuring things people had been saying to me all day I turned to Carl. "I'm sorry Carl," I said. "You must be really worried about her."

He nodded. "I'm sorry too," he said. "Daryl'll be okay."

I nodded. "So will Enid. She's smart."