Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

126

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Jo

"Jo!" Negan screamed my name. I heard him move, heard him coming close to me. Then I heard the damn bat swinging through the air towards me. I heard the movement and knew that if that bat made contact it would be the end for me. No more fighting, no more Jo. I knew that and I didn't hesitate. I didn't move. I pressed the knife against Arat's skin, just shy of drawing blood.

I wasn't going to back down and I wasn't going to show him fear. He had just killed Spencer and I wasn't going to let him kill anyone else. At the very last moment I lifted my gaze and leveled it on Negan.

His brown eyes widened for a millisecond and then hardened. He met my eyes unflinching, but he pulled the bat up at the last second. I don't know if he was always going to do stop, or if it was because I looked at him. Either way, it didn't matter. The bat stopped. It was so close the air ruffled my hair. But I didn't flinch, I didn't move, I didn't show fear. I just glared up at him and let him see in my eyes what I could do to Arat and to him before his men could stop me.

"Damn," he said in a low voice, and his eyes sparkled with excitement. "Damn, damn, damn," he whispered so low only Arat and I heard him. He raked his eyes over me again and I could see the struggle going on in his head. I just didn't know if it was the struggle to not kill me, or the struggle to bring me with him. Either way, I wasn't going to submit without a fight.

He chuckled appreciatively. "Damn. There. She. Is." he laughed again, only this time it was sincere. I hated when he was sincere. It usually meant things were getting especially dangerous.

"Now that's what I'm talking about. That's my girl," he growled possessively.

I lifted my eyes and glared at him. "No," I ground out the words. "Not your girl."

Negan threw his head back and laughed. "Yeah, you and Daryl are two peas in a pod. A match made in hell, huh?" He leaned forward so his lips were near my ear. I tensed in revulsion but didn't let him see that he affected me. "I've seen the scars on him, seems yours are all upstairs. Tell me, what did he do to you? Cause who ever he was, he did a bang up job!" he chuckled.

I looked away then, unwilling to talk about my past or Daryl with him. I hated that he had brought up something that was so personal for Daryl. I had known Daryl for nearly a year before he had trusted me enough to tell me about his past. Knowing that Negan had used that against Daryl made me want to sink a knife in him.

I looked back at Arat. She was holding her chin up as high as she could in an effort to get away from my knife. I watched her curiously. She looked frightened, but she made no move to back. She just lay beneath me, defeated. It was disgusting. I shifted the knife in my grip and Negan tensed.

"Jo," Negan said my name again, only this time it was tight and controlled. "Jo, I like you but if you kill her I will kill Daryl myself."

My heart was pounding in my ears as I fought to think past the feel of the blade in my palm.

"Come on now sweetheart," he said, all humor gone from his voice. "Think of Daryl. You won't like what happens if you don't do what I say."

I looked up at him sharply, hating him for speaking to me like that. Like he knew me, like he could control me. But as I thought about Daryl being there, I remembered he absolutely could control me. He had the single most important thing in my life in his possession. He didn't even need me in one of his damn cells to control me. He could get me to do whatever he wanted from a distance.