Cherokee Roses {Daryl Dixon's Daughter}

t h i r t y s i x

It's been a rough 24 hours. I've only seem to be getting worse, a white handkerchief is stained with my blood that I've coughed up. I was helping Hershel, Sasha, and Glenn with helping others but Hershel sent me to the cell because of how bad I was getting. 

All around me there are signs of sickness. Coughing is the only noise being heard other than the faint whispering of Hershel and Glenn. I bundle myself up in a blanket in order to try and stop the shaking but it doesn't work. I just keep sweating and while I should be feeling warm I have goosebumps decorating my skin and I continue to shiver violently.

Glenn slowly hobbles into the cell where a cot is laying on the floor for him. As steady as he can, he lays down and falls asleep.  I lean my head back onto the cell wall and close my eyes as another coughing fit happens. Blood splatters in the crease of my arm and look at it in disgust. 

This will not be what takes me out. I will not die because of some stupid cold. It won't take me out in the middle of the night. If I die, I'll have the chance to say goodbye to my dad, to Carl, to the rest of my family. A cold will not be my downfall. I'm strong enough to beat it and I will. Dixon's don't go down without a fight. Merle might've been one of the dumbest people I knew with questionable morals but that's the one thing he always got right. 

Sometime later I get up in order to help Hershel. He tells me to go help Henry with the tube we've been squeezing to help me breathe.

"This will make sure you don't over exert yourself" He nods. 

After about 30 minutes, I realize that despite me pumping the tube, Henry isn't breathing. Quickly I begin to pump his chest and attempt to get him breathing again but my attempts fail. 

"Hershel!" I call. "Hers-"

I find myself coughing up blood once more and begin vomiting up blood before falling down struggling to breathe. At some point Lizzie comes and is standing over me, just watching me struggle.

Henry's body begins to reanimate and she starts yelling for Hershel. All of a sudden I hear the growls of walkers and a gunshot echo. Not again. 

More gunshots echo and people are screaming as Lizzie leads Henry out of the cell. I'm still gasping for breathe but it's not working and I end up just choking on my blood more.

Hershel's body appears above me but its all a blur. "Hold on Cherokee."

My vision goes spotty and I fight to stay awake as more gunshots echo throughout the cell. Soon enough Hershel comes back and turns my onto my side and I spit up some of the blood that's been clogging up my airways. "Hold on Cherokee," He repeats. "We have something. We still have it."

Maggie runs into the cell by the time I'm gasping for breath once more. "She's turning blue!" She yells grabbing my head and putting it in her lap.

When Hershel returns I no longer can hear what they're saying only my own gurgling. I feel a tube being saved down my throat and soon enough my gasping stops and I can breathe again. 

I look at the father and daughter with wide eyes. They just saved my life, and I'll forever be grateful. At some point I hear that my dad's back. Bob is administering my medicine and dad took over for Maggie who was pumping air through the tube for me. 

He looks at me with a faraway look in his eyes and brushed my hair that clings to my face. I keep my eyes on him as Bob presses a needle into my skin with medicine. 

"You're gonna be the death of me."  He mutters and I close my eyes. "I can't even leave you alone for one day without you trying to die on me." 

Weakly I reach up and touch his arm before grabbing his hand. Almost as if trying to say, "It's okay, I'm still here." He squeezes my hand back before letting it go. He stays like that for hours, helping me breathe seeing as I can't do it on my own at the moment and at some point I fall asleep. There's not much else to do, so I allow myself a few moments of peace after all the chaos that has happened in the past week. 

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Word Count: 763

Short chapter I know but, there's only so much you can do when the main character is on her deathbed.

Seriously Cheri, get your act together, this is like the 3rd near death experience you've had in the past 5 chapters.  

So, how do you feel about me switching what happened with glenn and making it happen with Cheri?  I felt like we needed something drastic to happen to our girl.