Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

87

Hey guys! I'm sorry, I feel immeasurably guilty. I have left you three whole days without an update! It's like I'm some kind of monster! Anyway I hope you enjoy this update! Please keep up the awesome amount of comments and votes, you guys are the greatest!

<><><><><>

Jo

Holly was one of the most pretentious people I have had the ill fortune of meeting. I went to meet her as we previously agreed and she spent the next two hours regaling me with stories about her teaching experiences. She was younger than me by at least five years and had been a middle school history teacher. This, she felt, made her far more qualified to teach the children of Alexandria than me. After all, I had still been a student at the time of the turn, her words, not mine. I sat and listened to her back handed compliments and smiled in agreement when she asked rhetorical questions that only highlighted her apparent superiority as an educator. By the end of two hours I was ready to pull my hair out or go for the knife I had concealed beneath the flowy blue tank top I was wearing.

She was still talking when I cleared my throat and offered her an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid I have to get back to the house to get dinner on."

Holly paused, looking down at her watch in annoyance. "It's only 1:30."

I nodded. "Yes, but there's a crockpot recipe I am dying to try and I'm afraid I have to get it in by two or it won't be ready until after Judith's bed time and Rick doesn't like to have dinner without her. Family dinners are so important don't you think?" I asked with a serene smile.

Holly flinched at my words. She was alone. Her entire family had died and she lived in one of the town houses with Olivia. I briefly considered feeling guilty for my words, but then I remembered how long I had been stuck sitting here listening to her refer to me as her assistant.

Justified.

"Yes of course," she quickly snapped. I had thrown her and she showed me her real face. I let the insincere smile fall from my face as I studied her sour expression. It took a minute for her to regain control and remember what societal expectations were. I bit my lip to keep myself from smirking.

"I'll expect to see your proposed outline for your lecture by tomorrow," she said sniffing indignantly. "If you use any books from here please cite your sources." She shoved a notebook into my hands and nodded to it.

"APA or MLA?" I asked flashing her a smile that showed too much teeth.

Her sour expression returned. "If you aren't going to take this seriously-" she sniffed.

"No, no," I stopped her before she sent me away. Carol would be pissed if me being lippy ruined our chances of fitting in here. "I take this very seriously. It was a serious question," I quickly backtracked. "In Biology we used CSE format and I wasn't sure what you preferred."

"Good," she snapped and spun on her heel and stalked away.

I barely contained my sigh and climbed to my feet. It was like grad school all over again.

I slipped out of the garage and set off towards home. There was a surprising amount of people milling around. I wasn't sure I would ever get used to how casually they seemed to stroll these streets. It was mind boggling.

I looked down at the spiral notebook in my hand. I was thirty years old and was in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and I had homework. I thought briefly of Daryl's good fortune at being able to be a recruiter. Not for the first time, I regretted the lie we had constructed. If they knew what I could do, they wouldn't have assigned me to the middle school teacher on a power trip.