The Infected || C.G₁

3- Cherokee Rose

It was the morning after Otis's death. When I woke up back, I was still in the same corner of my room that I had cried at all night. My shirt was still wet from all the tears. my face felt puffy, not too sure what time I fell asleep.

I got up and changed my shirt, before going to the bathroom and splashing water on my face. I went downstairs and gave my Mama a hug as i walked into the kitchen.

"Morning, Mama." I mumble

"Morning, Daisy." She says with a soft smile.

After breakfast, we all went outside to gather rocks for Otis's funeral. I grabbed a few and chucked them into the wheelbarrow. Beth and Jimmy putting some in there too, as well as Glenn-the Korean man, and Shane.

I was looking at the ground trying to find suitable rocks, when we all heard the roaring of a motorcycle. I looked over and saw a scruffy man on a motorbike, then behind him was a silver car, and a caravan. Must be the others from Ricks group.

"Ain't it a bit dangerous to have a vehicle that makes a shit ton of noise out here?" I ask Beth softly.

"Don't use that language." Beth says with a soft chuckle.

Beth, Jimmy and I all headed back inside before the rest of ricks group actually made it to the farm. I walked past the room where Carl was. He looked better now, still sleeping though. I figured he might need some water when he wakes up, so I went to the kitchen to grab a glass. I filled it up and went into the room. Now that I had a good look at him, he had freckles on his face, and dark hair.

I placed the glass on the bedside table, and headed for the door. I was stopped by a soft voice; "Hi.." Carl called out.

I turned back around with a soft smile. "Hi."

"I'm Carl."
"Daisy."

Carl nodded softly, but he looked like he was just about to black out. I'd probably have to re-introduce myself later. He doesn't look like he'd remember this.

"Hope you feel better soon." I say softly, but the boy was already out cold. I chuckle to myself and close the door behind me as I walk out.

The rest of Rick's group was outside the house now, well actually everyone was.

"How is he?" An older man with a white beard asks rick with a worried expression on his face.

"He'll pull through." Lori says with a smile and happy tone while nodding her head.

I went over to Mama and leaned on her side.

"Thanks to Hershel, and his people." Lori continues, "And Shane." Rick adds.

Shane had buzzed his hair off the night before, I have to say he looked kind of odd.

"We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Rick continues.

I looked over at Shane, he was wearing some of Otis's old clothes. The sight made me a bit sad. I grabbed onto Mama's hand and squeezed it for a moment, she squeezed mine back.

Rick the the older man hugged, I noticed Patricia whipping her eyes.

"Thank god," A woman with very short hair whispers as she hugs Lori. "We were so worried."

The older man went on to ask rick how Carl got shot, Rick responded with 'Hunting accident.'

A little while later, we had a funeral for Otis. We all put a rock in a pile as Grandpa Hershel read out a part of the bible. I was holding back the tears as I put one on, My mind going back to all the different times with Otis. He was gone forever now. After placing my rock, I made my way back to my Mama and leaned my head on her side. She put her hand on my head.

"Otis, Who gave his life to save a child's." Grandpa calls out, making Patricia tear up even more.

"Shane, will you speak for Otis?"

"I'm not good at it." Shane retorted in a low tone.

"You were the last one with him," Patricia speaks up with a shaky voice. "You shared his finial moments, Please. I need to hear, I need to know his death had meaning." Patricia croaks out as Mama puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Meaning." Shane whispers. Shane went on to say how Otis died, every word making Patricia cry harder.

Shane walked forward, "If not for Otis, I'd never made it out alive," Shane takes a rock from the wheelbarrow and stops Infront of the pile before turning back to us. "And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis. He saved us both." With that Shane places the rock on the pile. "If any death ever had meaning, it was his." Patricia nodded with tears at Shanes words, and like that the funeral was over.

Later i had headed back into the house, apparently Sofia, the daughter of the woman with the short hair, Carol, had been missing for the third day now. The groups cars broke down on the highway a little ways down from the farm, a heard came and one tried to get Sofia so she ran into the creek and had been missing ever since. This group was not good with kids clearly, one goes missing and another gets shot. I hoped they found the girl. Mama had gotten a map from the house to help Rick and the others find her.

"Daisy, I'm gonna go on a supply run with Glenn, Okay? You stay inside the house." Mama calls out to me before the leaves. "Maybe you could keep Carl company if he's awake."

"All right, be careful!" I call back from the kitchen table. Mama simply holds her hand in the air as a sigh of 'Okay.' before heading back to where rick and his group set up camp, about 20-30 feet away from the house.

I walked to the room where Carl was just to see if he was awake, he was. Just staring at the ceiling.

"Hi, how're you feeling?" I ask as a smile creeps onto my face.

"Hi..Yeah, good." Carl says as he looks over to me. "I'm uh, Grimes. Carl Grimes." He smiles.

"Hi Grimes, Carl Grimes." I laugh slightly, "Sorry, that was stupid." I laugh again, he laughs with me. "I'm Daisy, not sure if you remember, we met like an hour ago but you seemed really tired."

"I think I remember." Carl says with a slight laugh.

Carl and I start to talk, not about anything too interesting but interesting enough that we both have smiles on our faces. It had been awhile since I talked to someone my age. Probably a fair few months. Beth and I are close, same with Jimmy, but they are 16-17 and just Wanna go off and make out or something. Eugh.

A little while later, and Lori comes in. I stand up, "Sorry, I'll go." I say, "No, you're fine don't worry. Just wanted to let you know Carl, Dad's going out to look for Sophia, He'll be back in a bit." Lori smiles before leaving.

"I hope they find her." Carl sighs.

"They will." I respond just to give him some hope, truthfully I have no idea if this girl will be alive, I hope that God wants to be nice to her mother Carol.

After a while of chatting, Carl seemed to start getting tired again. "I'll let you rest." I say as I stand up, "Bye, Carl." I say with a smile before leaving. As I walked out into the hallway, I overheard Grandpa Hershel talking to rick and saying how once they find Sophia, and Carl is fit to travel the group will move on. I hadn't expected Grandpa to let them say, but it was still sad to hear.

Through out the day, I didn't do much else except for school work that I had before the world ended. It kept my busy. Wasn't fun, but it was that or mindless comics.

CHAPTER 3- END

WORD COUNT: 1314