Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

138

Hi all! This is a little bit shorter of an update, but I really hope you enjoy it.

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Daryl

I tried to sleep, but after barely dozing for almost an hour I couldn't anymore. If I stayed, I was going to wake her up and she needed to rest. I slipped out of bed and got dressed. It was too hot in the room again, just like it was every night. The room was too small and too hot and it didn't feel very safe.

I scooped up my new crossbow and checked it three times before my hands stopped shaking. It was too quiet and too dark. We were the only ones in this building which meant there was no one watching the exits. I needed to do a sweep and make sure we were safe.

I had my hand on the door knob when my eyes landed on Jo.

She had rolled over onto her stomach into my spot. Her arm was thrown out and wrapped around my pillow which she pulled against her chest as though I were still with her. The moon was bright tonight and it's light was flooding the room. Her hair had fallen over half her face. It was the longest I had seen it since the beginning and I wanted to brush it away so I could see her whole face.

I tightened my hand into a fist when I realized I had already taken a step towards her. I didn't want to wake her. She was hurt bad, and she needed rest. If she woke up I would have to explain why I wasn't sleeping. She was already so worried about everything else I didn't need her worrying about me too. She looked so small laying in the bed. When she was awake her personality made her seem larger than life, but laying there she seemed so small and vulnerable. She didn't say how she got so hurt but I was sure it had something to do with that bastard. Something he did to her to punish me.

My breath caught in my throat again and the room felt too small. I tugged at the collar of my shirt and was surprised to find it wasn't even touching my neck. I couldn't leave her in here by herself. Not when she was hurt and sleeping. Not when she couldn't defend herself.

I moved over to the desk below the window and climbed on top, leaning against the window frame. I shoved open the window and the cool night air blew in. My head cleared a little and I felt like I could catch a breath. This gave me a decent view of at least this side of the building. Which wasn't perfect but I felt better knowing I was able to watch at least this part of the wall.

I don't know how long I sat there breathing in the night air, watching the wind through the trees and listening to Jo's quiet steady breathing but the moon had moved to the other side of the building making it darker in our room again. I cracked my neck and shifted my weight. I was restless and wanted to be out on that wall, keeping an eye out for The Saviors, but every time I looked at her I settled back in. I couldn't leave her alone.

I didn't know how Rick did it. How he had managed all that time with people he loved not able to protect themselves. It was terrifying. Jo had always been a fighter and while I worried about her I had never realized how much worse it could be. I silently ran down the list of her injuries. Concussion, stitches in her shoulder, stitches in her thigh, bruised ribs. It would be weeks before she was back to one hundred percent.

I was so focused on her I knew right away when she started having the nightmare. At first it surprised me, before I had been taken, it was a long time since she had one. Her breathing picked up, like she was running or more likely fighting. My girl didn't run from much.

She whimpered, clutching the pillow tighter against her chest. "No," she mumbled, rolling over and getting herself tangled in the sheet.