Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

131

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Daryl

I followed behind Jo and Rick as we walked into the building. I slowed down as we came through the doors and I saw the whole place was packed full of people.

They might potentially be our allies in a fight against Negan, but they could just as easily be our enemies. And there were a lot of them. I forgot I was still holding Jo's hand until she tensed beside me. I looked down at her in surprise and realized I musta subconsciously tightened my grip on her hand. She was gazing up at me with concern in her green eyes. I had thought earlier would get her to stop worrying about me, but Jo was Jo and she was stubborn. I looked away from her and back to the room full of strangers. I estimated around a hundred and fifty. Not as many as Negan but it was close.

I stood stiffly next to Jo watching all the people within easy reach. I didn't like being surrounded by so many strangers and I liked it even less that I didn't have a weapon aside from the one knife. Jo was still armed to the teeth, though when we got dressed again she had decided to leave the thigh sheath of throwing knives behind. I didn't like it, not one bit. If I wasn't armed and able to protect her than I wanted her to have everything she could to give her the advantage in case this wack job who called himself a king decided he was done playing nice.

Jo squeezed my fingers and I looked back down at her. She offered me an encouraging smile and tugged me gently behind her towards our seats. Ezekiel had us all seated at his table at the front of the room. Everyone else from Alexandria was sitting every other with someone from The Kingdom but Jo sat right next to me, as usual doing what she wanted. She was worried about me, I knew I was tense but I couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to pay attention, that I couldn't let my guard down around strangers. I normally trusted my instincts pretty well so I didn't see a reason to change it now.

The feast went about how I would have expected it to. Ezekiel put on quite the show, but there was food, and a lot of it. Despite us being at the front table it looked like the food was the same no matter which table you were at. I gave him a little credit for not being an elitist ass despite calling himself a king. It at least looked like he treated his people good.

I ran my eyes over the room, making note of where all the exits were and how close our people were. Jo shifted beside me but I was concentrating on deciding if it would be better for us to try for the exit that would take us past Ezekiel, knowing his guards would want to protect him. Or if it made more sense to go for the one behind us. It was a little further away but seemed like a better option.

I flinched when I felt something touch my hand under the table. I tried to jerk my hand back but they held on. It took me a few seconds to realize it was Jo. I blinked stupidly at her face which was studying my face, concern forming deep lines in her forehead. She ran her eyes over the room, like she was trying to see what I was seeing but she was too calm. I didn't want to distract her from this dinner. She was good with people, I needed her to focus on Ezekiel and her her brain working to figure out how we were going to get him to help us. So I just shook my head and reached for my water glass. I lifted it to my lips and frowned when I saw my hand was trembling. I quickly set the glass down and pulled my other hand away from Jo before she noticed.

Jerry, Ezekiel's assistant or something, stood at the front of the room, banging his ax handle against the floor. The room immediately silenced and Jerry smiled cheerfully at everyone. He was a big guy, he looked kinda fat but not like fat Joey, he looked strong. I was guessing he was with Ezekiel because he was a fighter. He turned and bowed his head to Ezekiel like he really believes the asshole was a king.