Red ~ TWD (Daryl Dixon)

It Never Ends

"Were you up here all night?" I turned to Rick, the answer obvious by my bloodshot eyes. "You can't keep this up. I know you're worried, hell, we all are, but..."

"You need me ready to pull a Sicario," I finished, looking away, "Don't worry."

I was always ready to kill, whether I liked it or not.

"I was going to say right now I'm more worried about you than them." That got my attention. He chuckled. "Don't look so surprised. We're family. Looking out for each other is what we do."

I nodded, exhaling slowly, trying to push back the tide of emotions surging inside. "Francine's due to relieve me any minute. I'll go home, shower, eat, maybe even sleep." At best I'd do one of those things, but it was what he needed to hear. "You should go check on her."

I pointed to the opposite lookout where Maggie stood. She took over halfway through the night, and had been there ever since. Not that I could blame her. Well, not without being a complete hypocrite, but if anyone needed rest it was her.

"It never gets any easier," he murmured, glancing down at the herd in disgust.

"Yes it does." He searched my face and I smiled. "When I found this group, when you became my family, it got easier. Things might not change." I sighed, surveying the herd. "But when you have people worth fighting for, it makes this worth it. No matter what happens, I'll always be grateful I found you guys."

His lips trembled slightly, and I saw tears pooling in his blue eyes. "Stop by the house later. There's something we need to talk about."

He gave me a brotherly side-hug, planting a chaste kiss atop my head before climbing down and heading for Maggie. Francine ascended the ladder a beat later, flashing me a genuine smile.

"Right on time."

She laughed. "Figured it was the least I could do considering you pulled every shift last night, and this morning."

"Yeah, well..." I trailed off, moving to leave. "Be careful. I don't want to hear any shit from Captain Hook."

She waved me off with a good-natured laugh. Clearly she didn't know her boyfriend all that well yet. If she left this platform in any anything less than pristine condition he was liable to loss blow a gasket.

By the time I made it back to the house, took a quick shower, and put on fresh clothes Rick was sitting at the dining room table with Carol, Morgan and Deadpool. Everyone looked tense, defensive even, and I bit my lip. Whatever Rick wanted to talk about it wasn't good, and I resisted the urge to jump out the window to avoid the inevitable confrontation. I didn't have the energy for this. I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept or eaten. I knew sleeping wasn't going to happen, not anytime soon, so I opted to rummage through the pantry until I found a can of ABCs and 123s. Once I had it open I pulled a dining room chair out, falling into it, and propping my feet up on an adjacent one. Rick merely raised a singular eyebrow, waiting for me to get comfortable before starting.

Morgan beat him to the punch. "What's going on?"

"When I was coming back," he cleared his throat, the subject matter clearly difficult to talk about. "I tried to cut off the herd with the RV. Lead the walkers away, but five of those people with the W's on their foreheads, they stopped me. They tried to kill me, shot up the RV. Now, Carol says she saw you...and that you wouldn't kill those people."

"Did you let any of them go?" Carol posed it as a question, but it was an accusation.

"Yes, I did," Morgan admitted without hesitation.