Cherokee Roses {Daryl Dixon's Daughter}

f o u r t y

"Fill a couple bags shouldn't be too bad." Michonne tells him

"It's 8:15 now." 

"We'll be back by noon." 

"All right, follow her lead, you understand." Rick tells him handing his son his gun. "Hey, everything okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm just hungry." Carl says. That's a damn lie though. We all know it. 

"I'll see you in a couple hours." Rick says. He closes the door and we push the couch back in front of the door. 

"Go upstairs and sleep." I tell him. "I'll stay down here and keep watch." 

"When did you become such a grown up." He asks with a chuckle. 

"I've always been, the end of the world just made it worse."

---

Sometime later, I see a group of men making their way to our house. Grabbing all traces of my existence, including my crossbow and knife I run up the stairs where Rick is sleeping. 

"Rick!" I say harshly as the men enter the house. "Wake up! We gotta go!" 

He jerks awake, eyes wide before he gets up. One of the voices gets closer, meaning someone is walking up the stairs.

"Under the bed!" He whispers. "Now!" I slide under the bed, holding my crossbow and it digs into my side. Rick and I watch the door hesitantly. He starts to slide out and grab something but a man walks out of a room. He quickly slides back under, waiting for him to pass before grabbing a bottle of water that was on the nightstand. Something that showed we were here. 

A man walks into the room we're in and lays on the bed. It sinks further onto us and I cover my mouth to muffle my whimper. Rick shakes from beside me.  

The man above us begins to snore and Rick starts to get out but more footsteps approach causing him to get back in. 

"Yo." a new voice says waking the man on the bed up. "Comfy?"

"You waking me up to see if I'm comfortable?" The bed voice asks.

"I want to lie down." New voice tells him.

"There's two other bedrooms, pick one." 

"Them's kids beds. I want this one" He says walking to the man in the bed. 

"It's claimed." The one on the bed growls. 

"I didn't hear it, you're gonna have to lay claim somewhere else."

The two men start wrestling and one falls to the floor in front of us making eye contact with Rick and I. My eyes are wide as the new man strangles the other one.

"My bed now Jackoff." He says laying on the bed violently making it creak on top of us. 

After a while Rick starts to slide out once more and gestures for me to follow.  Quietly we make our way out from under the bed, trying not to disturb the man sleeping. Then someone yells and starts to come up the stairs. 

"Tony, Len, get your asses down here!" 

Rick and I run into the room where Carl and I had our bags placed and had been spending so much time in. I hand Rick Carl's bag and put on my own. We hide in the nook on the side of the room as the footsteps come closer.

The man who yelled comes to where we are hid and stops right in front of the door way. I raise my crossbow and Rick raises his fists, prepared to fight the man. The man throws a tennis ball at the window multiple times and I flinch before he walks away. 

When he does, Rick tries to open all the windows but none of them will. There goes that escape route. 

"Claim, claim claim!" Someone yells from downstairs. 

"Shut the hell up!" Len, the man from the bed yells. "I'm trying to sleep!"

"There's a woman shacking up in here!" Someone yells. 

"Say what?" Len yells.

"Come on down!"  Rick grabs a trophy as a weapon from the shelf and we both stick to the walls.

"She hot?" Len yells.

"Don't grab your pecker just yet. She ain't here."

"What the hell you hollering about?" Len asks. 

"Found her shirt! Must've washed it this morning."

The men continue talking while Rick starts to run for the gun that Len left on the bed. He doesn't reach it because Len starts to come back for it and Rick pulls me into the open bathroom. He shuts the door almost in relief do I let out a breath but, theres a man on the toilet. 

Rick punches him quietly and the two begin to fight. He starts to strangle the man who reaches for a pair of scissors but I grab them before he can. The man turns red, choking to death before he stops struggling. Rick points the gun towards the door for a minute before I slide open the window in the bathroom quietly. He opens the door and I crawl out first while he keeps watch. When he crawls out we both slide off the roof as quiet as we can, landing on the back porch. 

My crossbow is aimed, ready to kill anyone who might find us as we make out way to the front porch. But of course we don't get lucky. The man who was bouncing the ball at the window comes out onto the porch and we freeze as he sits on the railing right on top of us and begins to whistle. 

I see Michonne and Carl on their way back and I look at Rick with wide eyes. They don't know that they can't be here. Rick gets ready to shoot the man before screams come from inside, causing him to go check things out.

Rick and I take the opportunity to run to Carl and Michonne and we sprint as fast as we can away from the house and we don't stop running until we reach a path of train tracks. But even then we walk fast. 

Sooner or later, we come across a sign. 

'Sanctuary for all

Community for all

Those who arrive

Survive'

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Word Count: 1545

busy busy busy chapter.

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