Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

112

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Jo

There was a few moments of silence while Paula paced around angrily. Molly was giving her some space which made me think silence was a good idea just now. She didn't appear to have much of a temper, but I wasn't taking any chances of provoking her into doing something stupid. Her eyes flickered to me at one point, but I had scared her sufficiently she stayed well clear of me.

I moved my fingers slowly and resisted the urge to flinch when the sensitive tips of my fingers glided over a sharp piece of metal on the pipe. I stilled, so they wouldn't notice when I pressed the tape on my wrists against the metal. It took some pressure but I could feel the metal bite into the tape. I turned my attention back to the room so they would realize what I was doing. 

Carol was cowering against the wall. I glanced over at her in concern. Despite the pounding headache, I recognized getting us out of this was going to fall to me. Whatever was going on with Carol, she was not going to be able to help. I wished Maggie was still here, she was better at convincing people to do what she wanted than I was. I could lie and I could fight, it was a limiting set of resources sometimes. 

I let the silence simmer for a few more seconds before I licked my lips. "This isn't necessary," I said in a calm voice. "This doesn't have to be a fight." 

Molly spun on me, a look of disbelief on her face. "Your people killed all of my people," Molly snapped. "Of course we gotta fight."

"No, you don't," I told them sincerely. "This doesn't have to continue on tit for tat, or this will never end." 

Molly laughed and shook her head. "You, you sugar plum are telling us violence ain't the answer?"  She let out a hacking laugh. "That's rich." 

I nodded, it was hypocritical of me, but that didn't make my words any less true. "It wasn't our first choice." I told them truthfully. 

"But you did," Paula said stepping around Carol, who cowered back away from her. Her eyes dropped to the edges of my sleeves where I knew there was blood from me fighting. "So tell me why." Paula demanded.

I couldn't implicate Hilltop. If things went wrong here I would be endangering Jesus and all his people. So instead I went for the simplest explanation, something an aggressive group like this would understand. "Your people ambushed my people on the road," I thought back to Daryl telling me the story of the men they had encountered on the road. "They tried to take everything they had. They were going to kill them."

"Well, damn. So now we know what happened to T's group. Those idiots probably put on a big show," Molly said pacing around the room.

"Okay," Paula agreed, her hands on her hips. "Fair play. You were just defending yourselves. But, see, your people killed them on the road right? Blew them to pieces. So why not stop with that?"

She had caught on quicker than I anticipated. She really was smart. Negan had been wise to put her in charge of this little group. Finally, because my head hurt and I couldn't come up with a better lie I shrugged, "They said they were working for Negan."

"And what do you think you know about Negan huh?" Paula challenged.

I shrugged. "People were scared. We had to stop him."

"Sweetie, sweetie, we are all Negan," Molly said laughing.

My mind started tripping over itself as I considered her words. We hadn't killed him last night. What did she mean, they were all Negan? Were they some kind collective? Or was it like Daryl said, and Negan was just a boogeyman they had all made up to inspire fear? If that was the case, it was smart. He was a symbol, something that could never be killed and the group could continue to live under the shadow of the names protection.