The General's Daughter

Chapter 3

~Nakota~

I walked up to the Dixon as he looked out from the outside of the watchtower. Leaning against the railing with my arms, I stood next to him. Looking out at the land beyond the prison fences.
"Ya know. My middle name is spelled as Merle, but my mother always claimed its pronounced mare-el." I could feel his eyes on me. "'Nakota Merle Troy... Whenever they pronounced it like that I'd just stand there and look at them. Eventually I quit paying any mind to anyone who called me by my full name. I guess I had the mindset of 'if you can't get it right, you don't deserve my attention.'" I smiled a little. "There's your fun fact of the day." Looking up at Daryl I found he wasn't staring at me anymore. With a sigh I cast my eyes away too. "What's happening between us. If it's going to last or by morning we'll want nothing to do with each other. Treat me like I'm invisible or that you don't care I don't give a shit about that. But what I do care about is my daughter. I haven't got the damnedest idea on what you did or how you've done it. You've made an impression on that little girl. I've heard her for years as she wondered about her father. While she's been here? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I don't know how or why, but she's found something in you that a lot of other people have missed, probably me included." I looked up at him as he itched his jaw to try and hide his expression. "She looks up to you Daryl. I caught her the other day almost calling you dad. She thinks that highly of you. Whatever the hell your doing please keep doing it. Being her mother's daughter she doesn't like admitting she's scared. So somehow when she came here she saw a friend in you. So I guess all I'm asking, is that you watch over her please." I stood up, waiting for him to respond. When he didn't I kissed his cheek. "Thank you Daryl."
With that I walked out of the watch tower.

"You can't you were just passed out col-"
"Glenn. Shut up." I told as I found my balance. "Don't you even start Ford." I wasn't even facing him, and I knew he was about to agree with Glenn. "I'm fine now. You wanna be stubborn, then I will too. I'm going with you." Tara stood behind Glenn as they were telling me not to go in the tunnel with them.
"Nakota-"
"Need I remind you, you were unconscious when they found you too. I'm hurt, your sick, and your the one waists get their breath. I'm fine." I growl before walking away from the van.
Someone caught my shoulder. It was Glenn. "Kota it's not a-"
"You're trying to find your wife." I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. "I, am trying to find my daughter and brother. So excuse me while I put their safety above mine. Once again, I'm gonna remind you. Your doing the same for Maggie. So out of everyone here you should understand the most." I started walking to the tunnel. "Now c'mon, we're losing daylight." Knowing their objections were getting them nowhere Tara and Glenn followed behind.

As we walked through the darkened tunnel by the light of Glenn's flashlight, Tara sped up a little to walk next to me.
"Why'd you help Eugene with the walkers? He was a complete stranger." She asked quietly.
"I could see if he kept that up I might wind up dead with him. I'd rather not have anyone find my daughter and tell her how her mother died because a man with a mullet." I said in a serious tone. Tara ducked her head and looked away. "But." I glanced down at her. "I had told someone very close to me once, that your life doesn't have purpose until you give it for something greater than yourself. I tried to duck and cover when he first started shooting. It was when his aim turned to the truck I took it from him. Today really isn't a good day to get blown up." The edges of my lips curled when Tara snickered.
Her laughter faded to a small smile. "What's your daughter's name?" It faded. "Sorry."
"Cierra. Like the desert, but spelled like Sierra, only with a C other than an S."

We slowed as we came to a pile up from the ceiling. When I peeked over the top along with Tara and Glenn, we found a good sized group of walkers. Too many for the three of us to take on. Glenn looked at the two of us before glancing at the gun I had swiped from someone before escaping the prison.
"Don't get any ideas. Im pretty sure the damn thing is just for looks. Sort of." I told quietly. The I thought of something. "What if we use the flashlight?" Giving mor thought I patted my leg to find Sam had given me my knives. "Anybody got an extra one? If shit hits the fan I'm gonna need every last one."
"We can use the flashlight to keep their attention off us." Glenn told, before looking at me. "Oh no." He had seen the look in my eye. Pulling the flashlight from his hand, I looked at the two next to me.
"What is it?" Tara asked quietly.
"This won't be good." He knew I had something up my sleeve.
"I'm gonna say this once, and you won't argue. We don't have the damn time to sit here and twiddle our thumbs for a different plan." Quickly I checked the gun to find it had more ammo than I had originally thought. "You two climb over the other end and get the hell outta here. I'll place this down and take care of any that come after you."
"You'll be right behind us." It wasn't a question, it was more like an order.
"Yeah Glenn. I'll be right behind you. Now get goin." The moment they walked to the other side I started climbing as I turned the flashlight on. While I was catching the dead freaks' attention a chunk of concrete had gotten on to Tara. From what I could see, Glenn wasn't able to lift it. The next thing I knew Tara was yelling at Glenn and I to leave.

Suddenly the flashlight slipped from my hand as a walker had gotten up to me. Taking hold of a knife I killed it and pushed the body back down. That was when Glenn all the sudden started shooting, soon followed by a click. He was out. Dropping the flashlight I threw my knives at the closest dead bodies going after the two. Putting my fingers to my mouth I let out a loud whistle before taking out my own gun. Several still went over toward Glenn and Tara but I managed to have seemed to be the best meal ticket. More and more of them started to try climbing up to me. Soon my foot slipped, causing me to fall back with one on top of me. That was when bright lights blinded the three of us as a familiar voice yelled for us to get down. The next moment bullets erupted. Pretty soon all the walkers had been killed. Shoving the two off of me I felt the graze on my arm from one of the bullets. Maggie walked over and pulled Glenn into her arms.
"Comfy up there Troy?" Abraham snickered. Still on my back I raised my gun and pointed it at his head before pulling the trigger. Abraham seemed to find it even more funny when a hollow click sounded.
"One of these days Ford. So help me, one of these days I'm gonna put a bullet in that smart ass mouth of yours." Slowly I sat up before glancing at the group. Sasha and Bob had been with Maggie, and Abraham's group hadn't changed. No one else was with them. With a sigh I rested my arm on my knee, preferring to stay where I was as everyone else had a small little reunion.

I still sat on the pile of concrete as everyone sat around the fire. Pulling my jacket a little mo over my shoulders I listened to the conversation while trying to drown out my thoughts. The stupid thing was a little bigger on me than it use to.
"Hey Koda." Abraham called. I grinned at the name he always called me. "Did you ever find out what happened to that kid Sam." My smile faded.
"This time he too the bullet for me." I said softly as my brothers tags dangled from my fingers.
"Damn shame." He said as I slid down.
"It is." I told before I started walking toward the end.
"Koda." Abraham had a warning in his voice.
"I'm good. I'm good. Just need a little fresh air. I'll be fine." With that I continued on.
Soon footsteps followed. "Hey wait up."
Glancing over my shoulder I found Tara catching up to me as I stopped at the end. Looking up at the stars I zipped up my jacket. As I leaned my shoulder on the wall, Tara stood next to me. All I could think about was that Ci and Will were out there and I had no damn clue where. When I glanced over at Tara since she had been quiet, I found her looking at the tags that were threaded over my knuckles. Reaching out I handed them to her.
"My brother always put them on in the morning weather he was working or not. Never took them off until that night before he went to bed." She gently handed them back to me. "My younger brother never joined. Guess he didn't want to follow in ours and our old man's footsteps."
"My dad... He uh, was a Vet too. And I only had one sibling, a sister. Her name was Lilly. She had a little girl.." I elbowed her before she went too far.
"You don't have to." It was easy to tell it was still a sore subject. Looking back up at the sky I let out a breath. "Dan died while on duty. I was just stepping off the plane from having stayed at a base in a different country when someone handed me a phone. We tried to get there, I talked to him as I rushed to the car they had waiting for me. I wasn't there when he died."

We both stayed quite. Soon we headed back toward the others to get some sleep. We're going to have quite the day in the morning.

a/n
I'm gonna keep this short, and say I'm sorry for not updating in a while. I've been busy, and I shouldn't be as much soon.

I hope you've enjoyed. Please remember to comment, vote, and tell me what you think! Until the next chapter!