My Damaged Protector

Chapter 61 ~ The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Dwight had sunk to his knees on the cold floor almost instantly after Rick demanded it, but his eyes didn't leave Daryl and I. "Look at me." Rick said, his voice oddly calm for this situation. Dwight tore his eyes off of Daryl and I to look at our leader still holding a gun to his head. "Why?"

"Cause I want it stopped." Dwight looked a lot different from when we ran into him in the woods. The left side of his face was scared up and his demeanor came off a bit more scared. "I want Negan dead."

"So why don't you just kill him?" Rick asked the question we were all thinking.

"It can't just be me. They're all Negan."

Tara stepped closer to Dwight. "That girl you murdered..." She trailed off to get even closer, referring to Denise. "She had a name. Her name was Denise, and she was a doctor. And she helped people."

Dwight signed a bit. "I wasn't aiming for her."

Daryl shoved his way through Rick and Tara, dropping my hand and grabbing his knife. He slammed Dwight back into the stone wall and placed the blade close to hie eye. I made no move to stop Daryl, the comment from Dwight feeling like a stab to my heart knowing that Dwight was aiming to kill Daryl instead of Denise.

"Do it." Tara encouraged Daryl. "Do it."

"You wanna end it this way, you go ahead." Dwight nodded to my husband. "I'm sorry. I am. I know you want to."

"He could just be here to see if you were here." I spoke up, looking at Daryl's back as he held the knife.

Michonne agreed. "We can't trust him."

"He owned me. But not anymore. What I did, I was doing it for someone else. She just got away, so now I'm here. So are you, because of her." I could faintly remember the face of Sherry, Dwight's wife. She was one of the women from the day we met in the woods, she must have run from Negan.

"Do it!" Tara continued.

"There's another choice."

"Daryl. Daryl, you knew her." Tara was almost begging Daryl to kill Dwight now.

"Negan trusts me." Dwight was trying to convince us now. "We can work together to stop him. You knew me then, and you know me now. You know I'm not lying. I'm not."

"Do it!" Tara called again, and after a few very intense moments, Daryl lowered the knife and stepped back slightly, allowing Rick to join his side.

Rosita crossed her arms across her chest. "They have Sasha, if she's even alive."

"Why didn't you say something?" Jesus looked at her. "He could be our only chance to get her back."

"Because I don't trust him." She fired back. "But I trust Daryl."

"Negan's coming soon." My eyes snapped back to Dwight. "Tomorrow. Three trucks probably. Twenty Saviors and him. I can slow them down. Bring some trees down in the road, buy a little time for you guys to get ready. If you can take them out, that's where we start. You kill them, I'll radio back to the Sanctuary."

"The Sanctuary?" Rick questioned.

"Where Negan lives." Dwight clarified for us all. "That's what they call it. I can radio back to them and say everything's ok. You drive the trucks back and I can lead you right inside, and with the right plan, we can wipe out the rest. Check to see if your friends' still alive. Then, we get the workers on our side, build our numbers up and go from outpost to outpost and end this."

A tense silence filled the cell as we all thought about Dwight's words, trying to figure out if he was really on our side or not. "Keep talking." Rick told him. That's how we spent the next hour, going over everything Dwight thought would happen tomorrow as well as his idea of us ending this war with Negan, for good.