Knife Edge [Daryl Dixon]

Chapter Three - Beyond Today (1/2)

No sense have they of ills to come,
Nor care beyond today.
Thomas Gray

Wayne pulled aside the faded poster covering the store window. He kept watch while the others worked out back, trying to get a car started. A black and white cat with a torn ear skulked down the sidewalk, sneaking up on some birds pecking at the trash littering the street. 

It managed a few stealthy steps across the sidewalk, but that was as close as it got before the birds took off. Wayne felt for the cat as it watched them go, flicking its tail in irritation. Sometimes everything you wanted seemed so close, right there for the taking, but the reality was you never had a chance. 

If he was being honest, he didn't really want to leave the Sanctuary, but he had made too many enemies while Negan was in charge and didn't fancy sticking around to get a knife in the back. 

Rick and Eugene were making all the right noises, but even though Eugene helped Negan run the Sanctuary before switching sides at the end of the war, he wasn't a strong enough leader to keep the Saviors and workers from each other's throats. Luckily enough, or so he thought, he wasn't the only one to feel like that and soon enough a group of them were looking for a way out.

Being sent to the satellite outpost seemed the perfect opportunity, though the plan to make a clean getaway hit the skids from the off. Miguel not only changed his mind about leaving, he tried to talk everyone else into staying and true to form, the row became a fight. 

Derek was shot taking Miguel down, and the icing on the cake was when Grant drove the car into a herd almost straight away. In the middle of nowhere too. 

They should have been miles away by now, leaving the bullshit politics of the Washington communities far behind them, but instead they were holed up in a store on the outskirts of Fredericksburg. Out of supplies, but with lots of ammo. The only problem was there was nothing to shoot except the dead. 

Matt came in the back door, 'Car's ready. The others are packin' up.' He started to gather their bags together. He was gaunt, his pockmarked cheeks drawn with lack of sleep, 'It's been well over a week. You think they'll still be lookin' for us?'

Wayne was there when Rick paced half-mad with anger and grief after he cut Negan's throat and won the war. He was very clear that any Saviors who couldn't live in peace would pay the price. 

Letting the poster fall back into position, he turned to Matt, 'There's no doubt in my mind. But we have to go sometime.'

*

Rosita drove down Route 1 with Tara. Tall pines banked one side of the road, open waste ground the other. Daryl had returned from Hilltop before they left bringing back the news that Maggie was refusing to commit any people to the search for the Saviors and the new group. Full stop. 

Carol and Ezekiel at the Kingdom were on board but they had the same number of people as Alexandria, and more importantly, hardly any of them could fight. The burden would be on Alexandria, as usual.

While Tara made excuses for Maggie. That she was pregnant, that her husband Glenn was killed months before, Rosita was pissed. She was sick of the way Daryl was spun about whenever he came back from Hilltop. She was even more sick of the way Maggie acted like she was the only person to lose someone when Glenn died. Negan murdered Abraham about two minutes before Glenn but she didn't see anyone wringing their hands over him.

Tara drummed her fingers on the Uzi on her lap, 'So that leaves Oceanside and the Sanctuary. Will Eugene step up, do you think?'

'He will if he knows what's good for him,' Rosita growled, though she wasn't as confident as her answer sounded. The last time she was at the Sanctuary, Eugene was trying to get everyone to accept he was the leader by telling them how smart he was. He was lucky no-one wanted to go back to having a leader like Negan. It was about all that was keeping him in charge. That, and the fact he was smart.