All of Us (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 35

I woke up feeling the weight of a heavy arm draped over my stomach. I opened my eyes and turned my head to the right, seeing a sleeping Daryl lying on his stomach, one arm resting over me protectively.

I smiled, recalling last night. But then my smile faded slightly. I tried not to overthink this, but would Daryl act differently towards me now that we had been together? Was he the type of person to commit to a relationship, or would he see this as a one time thing during the end of the world?

I pushed down the thoughts and closed my eyes again, relishing in the comforting feeling of having Daryl sleep beside me. I always felt more safe and comfortable when he was around.

I drifted back to sleep and woke a little while later to some movement on the bed.

I looked to see Daryl slowly waking up, his eyes still closed. I pulled the thin sheet up over me, aware that I didn't have any clothes on and it was light out now.

Daryl's eyes opened slightly and he looked at me. "Mornin'," his mouth tugged up into a small smile and he turned over on his back. This was good. It didn't seem weird between us.

"Morning," I smiled back at him. The sheets were just resting at the top of his waist. I bit my lips and tried to keep my eyes on his face.

Daryl's eyes moved to my lips and he stared at them.

After a moment, I started to lean in, but jumped slightly when we heard loud knocking on the front door of the house.

"Sloane?" I heard Siddiq's voice call out from outside the house. My cheeks went red and I immediately sat up.

I frantically looked for my clothes and heard Daryl chuckle behind me.

I felt Daryl get off the bed so I stood up, keeping the sheet still wrapped around my body, and started picking up my clothes off the ground.

I quickly put on my underwear and shorts under the blanket, and then dropped them with my back to Daryl so that I could put on my bra and shirt.

When I was done, I turned around and saw Daryl watching me as he dressed. He was just putting on his shirt over his head.

I heard another knock downstairs.

"Uh, I better get that," I pointed to the downstairs and then left the room before he could say anything. I obviously didn't need Daryl to make things awkward, I was just fine doing that on my own. I rolled my eyes.

I hadn't even thought to check the state of my hair before I opened the door. I was sure it was a mess.

"Siddiq," I said breathlessly as I opened the door and saw him standing there. His eyes went to my hair and then back to me. "I thought you might have still been sleeping," he laughed. "Sorry to wake you, I just needed to talk to you about something important."

"Sure, go ahead," I said. Siddiq opened his mouth to speak but then stopped. His eyes went wide as he looked behind me. I turned my head and saw Daryl, who also looked like he had just woken up with his hair probably equally as messy as mine, walk down the stairs and towards the kitchen. He nodded his head to Siddiq as if this was no big deal. I turned back to look at a surprised Siddiq nod back to Daryl. Siddiq looked back at me and then to Daryl, and then back at me again. I wished a black hole would swallow me up right there.

"Um, I needed to ask you," he cleared his throat and tried to remember what he was going to talk to me about. "Oh, have you seen Rosita?" He looked a little worried.

I frowned. "Not since last night. I was going to go find her this morning to talk to her about something. Why"

"No one can find her and there's a car missing. She's not in Alexandria and she didn't tell anyone where she was going which is unlike her. Did she say anything to you last night?"

My eyes went wide. Oh no. I put my hand to my forehead.

"What?" Siddiq asked, taking in my concerned expression. "Do you know where she is?"

I looked up at him. "I think so."

This wasn't good.

"Siddiq, get everyone and tell them to meet me in the town hall in ten minutes," I said.

He nodded and left.

I closed the door and walked to the kitchen, lost in a daze.

"Sloane, what is it?" Daryl asked in a deep voice.

"Rosita's missing, but I think I know where she is. I got Siddiq to bring everyone to the town hall for a meeting. I think she went after the group all by herself. Daryl," I looked into his eyes. "She asked me to go with her last night. I said no. I should have just gone with her, or told someone about it. This is all my fault," I said, panicking. She could get hurt, or captured, or killed... there was no way she could take them out all on her own.

"Sloane, this ain't your fault, okay?"

I nodded my head and took in a deep breath.

Daryl handed me a granola bar and a bottle of water for breakfast. "Let's go to the town hall."

When we got to the town hall, everyone was there. I explained what I knew to the group standing in front of me. I told them how Rosita had approached me and asked me to go with her to take them out. I had said no.

"I really didn't think she would go off on her own," I said, still feeling like this was somehow my fault.

Rick put his hand on my shoulder. "Sloane, it's okay. Thank you for telling us. Now we at least know where she's goin'. We know how to find her. She can't be that far ahead of us."

Gabriel spoke up. "What are we going to do if we make contact with the group? Are we going to try to get her quietly, or are we going to fight?"

We all looked to Rick, waiting to hear his answer. He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. "No more waitin'. We know who these people are. We take them out."

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Dun, dun, dunnnnn!

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