Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

141

Hi guys, so I'm sort of back. I couldn't stand not writing, but man did this one take a while to put together so I hope you enjoy it!

<><><><><>

Jo

I lay in the dirt sobbing. My chest heaved with the effort it took to draw in each and every breath. My chest was tight and it took so much more strength than it should have. I gasped in mouth fulls around my sobs but I couldn't get enough air.

I pushed myself up onto all fours as tears and snot ran together down my face and into the dirt beneath me. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think. All I could do was hold myself up on trembling arms as my sobs threatened to tear me apart.

I didn't understand anything that was happening anymore or how I was going to survive it. The pain radiating through my abdomen made my thoughts scatter. I knew I should be doing something, but I was stuck, trapped in an endless cycle of pain and absolute, mind numbing terror.

I squeezed my eyes closed tighter, trying to block out the image of Negan's face. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't banish the memory of that possessive gleam in his eye. I knew that look, I had seen it in Phillip's eyes before he became The Governor. Before he had locked me up in a cage.

I choked on another sob. I wouldn't go back to another cage.

No matter how much time passed, and how much I knew it didn't make sense, there would always be a small part of me that felt like what happened in Woodbury was my fault. As though I had somehow let him put me in that cage. The rational part of my brain knew I had been a victim, but there was a piece of me that didn't believe it. I didn't feel like a victim, I had never viewed myself as one and I wouldn't start. No matter what happened I wouldn't go back to another cage. I turned myself into something no one would ever consider a victim. And yet...a shudder wracked my body as I realized what could have happened had Negan not been here today.

Distantly I heard the sound of another truck on the road and all I could think was that Negan had changed his mind and was coming back for me. I wouldn't let anyone put me in another cage, and Negan's obsession was no different than Phillip's.

I pushed myself to my feet, gasping in pain. Lights flashed along the edges of my vision and I swayed dangerously. I was hurt, too hurt to fight. I hadn't been strong enough to fight then and I wasn't strong enough to fight now. So I did the only thing I could. The only thing my over tired brain could process. The thing I should have done the first time I heard Phillip's voice years ago. I ran.

I stumbled through the thick trees. The branches caught and pulled at my exposed skin but I forced myself to keeping moving. Fight or flight was the oldest of natural instincts and I gave myself over to it. My vision kept going blurry, making it hard to run and I couldn't be sure if it was tears or nausea. Maybe both. My balance was unsteady and it took everything in me to push myself to my feet every time I fell. I just had to keep moving.

It wasn't dark yet when my legs finally gave out. I tripped and fell in the leaves and mud and didn't have the strength to push myself back up one more time. Instead, I crawled into some of the thickest underbrush I could find to hide. I wrapped my arms around my knees, hugging them to my chest and closed my eyes. Fearful tears ran down my cheeks as I waited for him to find me.

<><><><><>

Daryl

I paced around the Hilltop waiting for someone to give it the all clear. The saviors had left half an hour ago and Jesus had sent one of their trucks out to tail them, just to be sure they were gone. I didn't think they were coming back. They got what they wanted and took the doc.