Last One Standing ~ TWD Daryl Dixon

165

Hello Everyone! I hope you enjoy the update! I know it's been a while since I've written but we all (okay, most) of us know what's coming in the next couple chapters and honestly it's been tough to write. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with me, some of you from the very beginning. You are amazing!

Happy Reading!

<><><><><>

Jo

Negan stepped into the cell. His teeth glittered in the dim light as he smiled down at me. Unconsciously, I took another step backwards from him. My shoulders hit the wall and the cool cement blocks made me jump. Negan chuckled and I gritted my teeth, angry at myself for showing weakness.

He took another step towards me and reached behind him. I tensed, sliding into a crouch. I didn't have a weapon, but that didn't matter to the primal part of my brain that only saw enemies. I knew Dwight was technically on my side, knew he had promised to help me. Hell, he had already helped me. But in that moment, with Negan reaching for something that might have been a weapon all I saw was enemies surrounding me.

And none of them looked like people. Normally, that would have bothered me, but not today. The most immediate threat was the one in front of me. He was by far the most dangerous, but there was another one closer than the rest. There were others in the hall. I could hear their guns but that didn't matter. The threat in front of me was fast, nearly as fast as me, but he was also stronger. If he got a hold of me he could do a lot of damage. I cracked my neck and rose up on the balls of my feet. If I feinted right, slammed my left elbow into his cheekbone and-

The man behind the threat in front of me went very, very still. So still it caught my attention in an oddly detached way. It was the way prey reacted when there was a predator in the room. But the only predator I saw had it's back to him and his eyes were locked on me. So his reaction didn't make sense.

Dwight. His name was Dwight.

Dwight's reaction didn't make sense.

It was enough to help me think. I slow blinked looking from one to the other. Dwight was acting like I was the scary thing in the room. I didn't feel scary, I felt scared. My pulse was pounding so loudly in my ears it made it difficult to think past the noise. Unconsciously, my hand tightened into a fist so I would be ready to fight.

It felt like everyone surrounding us was holding their breath. Negan for once seemed to notice. He glanced first over his shoulder at Dwight and then he turned his head slowly back to face me. Whatever he saw had that slow, aggressive smile stretching even wider across his face.

"You are goddamn magnificent hot friend," he chuckled. He glanced over his shoulder towards the men in the hallway but he never fully took his eyes off of me. Smart man. Smarter than I think even he realized in that moment. He raised his voice so everyone in the hallway could hear him easily. "Every single one of you assholes could learn a lot from watching her."  His hand slowly came into sight. He was holding a grip of zip ties.

He stepped towards me and my muscles wound one notch tighter.

Negan cocked his head to the side and for just a second, with his back turned to his men his face fell into something incredibly serious. He took another step towards me. "Take it easy sweetheart," he said in a voice so low I could barely hear him. No one else would have been able to witness their bosses moment of weakness. "You don't want to do this the hard way," he said taking another, fearless step towards me. I couldn't decide if he was actually unafraid, or if he was continuing to put on an act for his men. If it was the former, he was an idiot.