Cherokee Roses {Daryl Dixon's Daughter}

n i n e

"And you waited the night?" Shane says violently. 

"I thought we could survive one more night." Dale affirmed. "And we did." 

That's the thing about life now. It's no longer living, it's just surviving. Shane starts to yell again and the doors to the barn rattle. The walkers want out. Dad walks over to me and pushes me behind his back. Guess safe isn't so safe now. 

Lori and Carol usher Carl and I back to camp as the other's 'discuss' what to do with the walkers in the barn. Carl sits down and starts to work on his schoolwork while Lori helps him. 

"You should go join them." Carol says nudging me playfully. 

"What's the point?" I laugh. "I can't kill a walker by figuring out the slope of line H."

My smile fades as soon as I say it. The thing is, it was meant to be a harmless joke but the moment I said it I realized the truth behind it. The only thing I need to know now is how to survive. 

"Cheri?" I hear Carol's voice even though it seems like it's miles away. "Cheri? Hey are you alright?" 

I look at her with a shocked expression on my face. "I-I gotta go." I whisper before running off into the woods. Carol calls my name once more before I can't  hear her. I run a little bit longer before collapsing against a tree and breaking out into sobs. I cry for a long time before anyone finds me. In fact it isn't until I notice a dead walker at my feet that I notice he's there. 

"Daddy?" I cry looking into the Dixon blue eyes I share with him.

"I'm here." He whispers pulling me into his arms. I continue sobbing into his shoulder. "Carol came and got me what's wrong darlin?" 

"I don't- I don't know." I tell him clutching onto his body for dear life. "Daddy, I'm scared." 

"It's alright, nothing will happen to you as long as I'm here." He murmurs into my hair. 

I pull out of his grasp looking at my father with watery eyes. "I don't care if anything happens to me, like what if we can't find Sophia, it should've been me instead." I whisper. "No one here would be lost without me except for you, but Sophia was loved by everyone, I'm just a girl that can shoot."

He looks at me and sighs heavily, and after my 12 years of existence I see my dad's eyes start to water as if he's about to start crying. "Don't you dare say that or even think that." He cautioned. "You are one of the only great things in my life and you belong in this group more than you know, like I've said before and you can be sure as hell I'll say it until I'm dead, you're special to anyone thats ever met you."

"Then why did mom leave? You said I was the first time she didn't care," I blurted. It's a low blow and I regret saying it as soon as the words leave my mouth. He just looks at me with solemn eyes before standing up and walking back to camp with me trailing behind him. "Dad, I'm sorry I didn't mean it." 

"I know you didn't Cherokee, I shouldn't have told you about her, " He told me before walking in another direction. "Go find Carl or something." 

 I feel tears running down my face once more. I always knew mom was a sore subject. But I brought her up anyways. I look around and see Shane pacing around the barn, he's been like a rat on cheese since he learned about the walkers. Andrea is walking out of the RV and Glenn stands atop of it. No one would notice if I left. 

"Cheri?" I hear Carl's voice from behind me. Okay nobody but Carl. I turn around wiping away my tears and snot. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing I'm okay." I lied to him. 

"Bullshit." He claims correctly. "I saw you run into the woods."

"Jeez you kiss your mama with that mouth?" I respond sarcastically trying to get him to lay off. 

"I'm tired of everyone lying to me." He states before continuing."I'm not a little kid. Cherokee, you aren't okay so whats wrong."

"Well for starters, we're in the middle of the damn apocalypse, one of my best friends is missing and she may or may not be dead, oh yeah and I might've just made my dad hate me so that's whats wrong cowboy." I yelled and stomp away from him heading back towards the main camp. "Oh and Carl? You are a little kid." 

"Oh and you're not?" He yells back at me. "Cheri, you start crying with every bad thing or thought that happens to us. You run back to your dad every time something goes wrong." 

That hit a nerve. "and you don't? Oh wait you don't have a choice because your mom keeps you on such a tight leash I think it's cutting off circulation to your brain because you can't get it through your thick skull that she controls your every move!" 

"At least I have one." He says dangerously low. I grit my teeth and feel my cheeks turn red. My fists clench and as much as I want to punch the kid in the cowboy hat I can't. I turn on my heel with my braids flailing behind me and start walking away. "That's it Cherokee, run away like you always do." 

I stop and look at the ground breathing deeply and attempt to control my trembling body before I look up again and continue walking. "You're just a stupid boy." I mutter under my breathe before going to my tent and residing there by myself. "He's just a stupid boy." I whisper trying to calm myself. "A stupid boy that kissed you and held your hand, but nonetheless, a stupid boy." 

I sit there for almost thirty minutes until I hear a large racket down by the barn. I peak my head out slightly annoyed as I  still hadn't calmed down from Carl and I's 'little dispute' earlier. I'm no longer annoyed when I see Shane yelling at Rick and Hershel who have to walkers on sticks? "What in the hell?" I mutter before running down to the barn. I go to stand by Carl before realizing I'm still mad at him, then my dad before also realizing he's mad at me, before I settle on just standing by myself. 

Shane shoots the walker in the chest multiple times explaining to Hershel, "A living breathing person couldn't walk away from that." Before shooting the walker in the head, killing it instantly.

"Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone!" Shane yells at the group. "Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us." Then he goes on and yells at Rick. "Enough! Rick, it ain't like what it was before. Now if y'all wanna live, if y'all wanna survive, you got to fight for it!" He' gone completely insane. "I'm talking about right here, right now."

Shane runs towards the barn, but no one tries to stop him except for Rick who tells Hershel to take the walker on the stick. Shane then breaks the lock of the barn with a pickaxe, everyone yells at him to stop. But once he starts he doesn't stop. Slowly but surely the walkers file out groaning what might've been their next meal, that is if Shane and my father along with other's hadn't started to shoot them down.

One after another the walkers drop dead, each gunshot ringing out louder than the last I drop to my knee's. I shake uncontrollably and my breathing quickens. I stare at the aftermath of the barn until I hear yet another groan and a small figure walk out of the building. It's Sophia and on her left shoulder is a large wound that shows she was bit. One of my best friends in this world is dead, and she's a walking corpse. 

So thing's got saucy in this chapter.

Word Count: 2091