Cherokee Roses {Daryl Dixon's Daughter}

f o u r t y s i x

At this current moment, very few of us were left at the church. Tyreese, was in one of the pews playing with Judith. Carl and I sat together, quietly enjoying each other's company as we read some books that we found in the back room in the church. Dad went with Carol to get water and he hasn't returned but I don't worry for once, they are both more than capable of handling themselves.

"Come on," Carl says setting down his book and grabbing my hand to pull me up. "Let's go for a walk." 

He leads me outside after I grab my crossbow and we make our way around the building. Abraham is working under the short bus, trying to fix the vehicle and suddenly Carl stops in front of one of the church walls. There's knife marks along the window shutters. 

'you'll burn for this'  is engraved into the white wall. 

"What the hell?" I mutter touching the words lightly. Suddenly, Rick rounds the corner, the group who went to the food bank is back. 

"Hey" He says approaching us at a brisk pace. "Tyreese said you guys were out back. Come on in. We found food. A lot of it."

"Good." Carl says still looking at the engraved words that my hand still hovers over. 

"What is it?" Rick asks. 

"Those scratches? They're deep, like knife marks" Carl says. "Someone was trying to get in." 

"I found something else." I tell him.  "We don't know what happened but whatever it is, we're capable of handling this."

"Doesn't mean Gabriel is a bad guy for sure, but it means something." Carl tells his dad as I step away from the wall.

"Alright." Rick says nodding. "For now, we're going to keep quiet about this. I want you two to not let your guard down. But right now, we're going to go inside and act as if we never found this." 

"But Rick-" I protest and he cuts me off.

"Cheri, we'll discuss it with your dad when he gets back but for now, we're not in the right spot to do anything."

"Okay." I say defeated before heading inside.

Later that night, we all sit together inside the church. Compared to what we're used to, we're having a feast. Laughter is in the air, people are all talking amongst themselves and Judith seems to be feeding Rick with food jammed in her tiny fists. Then Abraham speaks up.

"I'd like to propose a toast" Abraham says and the chatter stops. "I look around this room, and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title." He raises his glass thats full of wine. "To the survivors" 

"Survivors! Cheers" The adults say lifting their own glasses respectively. Carl takes a seat next to me, and hands me a bottle of water. My dad sits on the floor with his back against the pew that Carl and I sit on, eating quietly.

"But is that all you wanna be? Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat?" He continues. "Cause you can do that, I mean, you got the strength, you got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender. Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. That is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip." 

I look around the room, my eyes stopping on Judith. She's oblivious to the world around her. She'll grow up fighting the undead. She won't go to school, or birthday parties, or sleepovers. She won't have a normal life. But maybe, just maybe this could work and she could have a normal life. Is it worth the risk though? To bring a baby out onto the road like that?

She coos at her father and he shushes her placing her head on his chest in a fatherly way. 

"Eugene, whats in DC?" The red head asks the man with the mullet.

"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge, restart." Eugene says after a pregnant pause.

"However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for that little one, and even the little ones who aren't that little." Abraham speaks nodding to Carl and I. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there, who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

We all look around at each other. Wondering what our next move is. Let's face it, we can't live in the church forever. Especially with our vast amount of people and a growing child. There's not enough room. Rick chuckles before looking at Judith as she coos again. 

"What was that?" He asks lightly with laughter creeping into his voice. "I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in, if she's in, I'm in. We're in." 

Thus, our fearless leader made his choice. Claps go around the room as we mentally prepare for our next journey. I curl closer to Carl as he wraps an arm around my shoulder. I notice Elisa watch us as if we were prey before her gaze turns into a glare as she looks at my father. 

What in the hell is her deal?

----

Word Count: 913

hope you enjoyed!

thanks for the support, feedback is appreciated and inspires me to write more!