Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

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Jo

It was daylight when I came to. I groaned and found myself tied up in the dirt. My hands were tied behind my back. I ached everywhere. For the barest moment, I was back on the dirt road with the claimers. I closed my eyes and felt the cool dirt of the forest floor beneath my cheek and the moment passed.

I realized belatedly it was a woman's voice that had woken me. "Lower your gun prick...You with the colt python, all of you, lower your weapons right now."

I blinked several times to clear my vision. My head was pounding. The woman was speaking into a walkie talkie while staring out at an open field through a pair of binoculars. She was a couple of years older than me, probably closer to forty.

There were two other women, one older and one younger, as well as the man I had thrown my knife at. She and the rest of her group looked tough. They were fighters like the men we had just killed were fighters, but none of them appeared to be fighters the way I was a fighter.

"Come on out. Let's talk," I instantly recognized Rick's voice as it drawled cautiously through the walkie talkie she was holding in her hand.

"How many we got Paula?" the older woman asked the leader.

"Eight in sight. Too many," Paula reported lowering her binoculars thoughtfully.

"No, we can take them. We've took more," the injured man urged enthusiastically.

"We're not coming out, but we will talk," she let go of the button and looked over at Carol and Maggie. "Names," Paula demanded. At first Maggie said nothing. "Names!" she demanded angrily.

Maggie shifted and hesitated for a second as she debated whether or not to tell the woman who we were. "I'm Maggie, she's Carol."

"How about you sugar plum?" the older woman asked, kicking me lightly in the side. I gritted my teeth as the toe of her boot caught my ribs just right. "Jo," I ground out.

Maggie met my gaze and she looked relieved to see I was awake. I must have been out longer than I realized. I blinked my eyes slowly as I tried not to move too much and draw attention to myself. The others weren't tied up so they had obviously decided I was the dangerous one. They were smart. 

Paula turned away from us. "We've got a Carol, Maggie and a Jo. I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about."

Thinking they were appropriately distracted by the conversation with Rick I tugged experimentally at my wrists, but my bounds were tight. There was no way I was getting out of them. I heard a gun click over my shoulder and glanced up to see a women about my age with long dark hair pointing a gun at my head. 

"I wouldn't move too much sugar," the older woman drawled in a thick southern accent. "Or my friend here will put a bullet in that pretty brain of your's."

I looked back and forth between them and then to Paula. She was obviously the leader. She was looking through the binoculars again. From the ground I couldn't see what she was looking at, but I was betting it was Rick and the group.

Paula's voice was steely. "Now, we're going to work this out right now, and it's going to go our way."

Rick's voice came through tight and angry on the other side. "You can see we have one of yours. We'll trade," he offered.