Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

153

Hello friends! I know it's been a while since I updated. I really hope you enjoy the update!

<><><><><>

Jo

We ended up holding the meeting in our kitchen. Each community was represented. Hilltop had Maggie and Jesus, The Kingdom had Carol and Ezekiel. And Alexcandria had Rick, Daryl and I. I had tried to excuse myself from the war council in favor of taking charge of the watch out on the fence. Unfortunately, Daryl and Rick had disagreed and when I tried to argue Maggie and Ezekiel had insisted I join them.

Without me at the wall Rick had suggested putting Tara in charge of the patrol around our boarders. This was where I put my foot down. There were only so many people I trusted with our safety and if it wasn't one of us, I wanted Carl out on the fence. Rick had looked at me like he wanted to argue, but in the end I think he was just too exhausted to fight with me. Enid had gone with Carl and with the majority of the forces who had come still out there, we were as safe as we could be. Despite my itching feeling of discomfort I knew Negan wouldn't attack tonight. Even he couldn't rebound that fast. Tonight was the safest we would be for a long time.

Despite my certainty that he wouldn't attack I wasn't able to sit around the table with the rest of them. My brain knew I was exhausted by my skin felt too tight and I couldn't relax. I paced along the edge of the dining room unable to sit still for even a moment. I was listening to their planning with one ear and watching Jerry where he sat on the floor in the living room playing with Judith.

Rick seemed better now, more able to focus after the doctor from The Kingdom was able to look at Michonne. She was hurt badly, but nothing was broken. She had some bruised ribs and would be down for a while. Whatever plan they came up with, it wasn't going to involve Michonne or Rosita either. Our infirmary was nearly filled to capacity. Tara had volunteered to stay behind to help the doctor. She had learned more about healing from Denise than any of us realized.

Rick stood at the head of the table, looking down at the others. "We need to strike first," he said, his voice rough with exhaustion. "Before Negan is able to regroup. He has more men than us, but if we're smart we might be able to still use this time to our advantage. The Saviors are strong because of their numbers, according to our source they have three outposts. All of them are within twenty miles. If we attack one, the others will come. So we need to cut them off, isolate them, make them vulnerable."

Maggie leaned forward on her elbows, her folded hands pressed against one side of her face. "How do we do that?" She asked. She looked beyond exhausted. It had been years ago, but I still remembered how much the first trimester took out of me. I wanted to wrap this up as quickly as possible. We all needed rest, but Maggie shouldn't have been pushing herself the way she was.

Rick snorted and shook his head. He scrubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I have no idea," he replied honestly. "I was hoping one of you would have an idea," he said with a tired smile. 

"We are out manned and out gunned, so we must out think our enemies," Ezekiel said sagely.

The others nodded in agreement with him and I wondered if they were all so dazzled by his formal speech they didn't realize he simply repeated what Rick said.

"Don't underestimate Negan," Daryl's voice rasped. "He's an asshole but the bastard is smart."

I stopped behind Daryl's chair, resting a hand on his shoulder. Something was going on with Daryl. Something that went beyond simple exhaustion and what had happened out there today. I hated not knowing, but I wasn't about to ask until he and I were alone. It wasn't in Daryl's nature to talk about his feelings and he would be even less inclined when we were surrounded by other people.