Cherokee Roses {Daryl Dixon's Daughter}

f o u r t y s e v e n

Carl and I finished our food, before seeking comfort on one of the pews.He grabbed my hand and started fiddling with my fingers before he slid a small ring onto my ring finger.

"What's this?" I asked moving my hand to his face and brushing away a strand of hair. 

"A promise" He says blushing and gripping my hand in his. "I asked your dad, back at the prison. I've been carrying this for a while. I mean of course we're too young to get married, but I love you and I promise you I'll cherish you for as long as you'll have me."

My eyes teared up. I looked at the boy in the cowboy hat. The one who I'd loved since the quarry back in Georgia. Even if I hadn't known it back then. He was the love of my life, and I'd do anything for him. 

"Always." I told him pressing my lips against his. He kissed back tenderly and we pulled away slowly. Although I didn't want to. If I had my way, we'd never be apart. We'd have a stable home, the undead wouldn't be walking the streets, and we wouldn't be fighting psychopaths every four minutes. 

But I don't have my way. None of us do. So the best that I can do, is spend as much time as I can with the boy that I love and cherish it more than I've ever cherished anything in my whole life. He's my best friend, and he's the love of my life. Even if I had more of a choice, even if the world was normal, I'd still choose him. 

We don't get a lot of quiet moments. Times were we can be together without worry, times where we can feast as a group, times where we can laugh with our bellies full, not worrying when we will have our next meal. 

"I love you Carl Grimes." I say pushing his cowboy hat up so I can rest my head against his. 

"I love you more Cherokee Dixon." He whispers back pressing his lips onto mine one more time before we turn our attention to the group. 

Our little moment was only for us, no one else. We were able to bask in it without anyone else knowing and that's all I could ever ask for. The quiet moments that aren't interrupted by  the tight knit group we call our family. 

He puts his arm around my shoulders and I snuggled closer to him, enjoying the embrace. But like all good things, nothing lasts for long. Sasha comes in angrily , making her way towards Father Gabriel. 

"Stop" she tells the bald man. "What are you doing?"

She seems calm and collected from the tone of her voice, but her body language suggests otherwise. 

"What are you doing?" She repeats. "This is all connected. You show up, we're being watched, and now three of us are gone."

I sit up, looking around the church. That's when I notice it. My dad is missing, he said him and Carol were going to get water, but that was a while ago. Why hasn't he come back. 

"Calm down," Carl whispers in my ear brushing some of my hair lovingly. "I'm sure he's okay."

"I, I don't have anything to do with this." Gabriel stutters. Sasha unsheathes her knife. "Wait!"

"Don't." Rosita yells from the front pew.

"Sasha put it away." Tyreese tells his sister. 

"Who's out there?" She asks the priest.

"I don't have anything to do with this." Gabriel tells the angry woman. 

"Where are our people?" She grits out.

"I don't have anything-" He's cut off by Sasha yelling at him. "Please, I don't have anything to do with this."

It's Rick's turn to approach the priest. He's angry, I think we're all feeling some sort of anger at this moment. 

"Why'd you bring us here?" He asks steadily. 

"Please, I-" Gabriel stutters under all the pressure that he's experiencing from our group. 

"You working with someone?" Rick asks him.

"I'm alone, I'm alone." Gabriel reasons. "I was always alone."

"What about the woman in the food bank Gabriel?" Rick asks getting into the mans face. "What did you do to her? 'You'll burn for this.' That was for you. Why? What are you gonna burn for, Gabriel?"

He then grabs Gabriel pushing him up against the railing of the church. "What did you do?!" He yells repeatedly. Gabriel trembles within our leaders grasp.

"I lock the doors at night." He cries. "I always lock the doors at night. They started coming, my congregation. Atlanta was bombed the night before and they were scared. They were looking for a safe place, a place where they felt safe. And it was so early. It was so early. And the doors were still locked. You see, it was my choice. There were so many of them and they were trying to pry the shutters and banging on the sidings, screaming at me. And so the dead came for them."

I shudder at his words. How could somebody, a holy father of all somebodies. Just leave their friends to die like that? I feel Carl pull me closer into his side, kissing my temple softly. 

"Women, children." He continues making direct eye contact with Carl and I. "Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart, begging me for mercy. Damning me to hell. I buried their bones. I buried it all. The Lord sent you here to finally punish me. I'm damned. I was damned before."

He falls to the floor crying. I grab Carl's hand tighter, almost as if making sure he was still next to me.

"I always lock the doors." Gabriel continues to sob, repeating the same phrase over and over again clutching his heart. 

All of a sudden whistles come from outside of the church. Carl and I are up in a split second. My hand is reaching for my crossbow and before I can breathe I have it pointed towards the entrance.

Slowly, Glenn makes his way towards the window to investigate. 

"There's something-," He starts. "There's some outside laying in the grass."

"Sasha." Rick says before she runs out the door and starts crying out in hysterics.

Laying in the grass is Bob, and walkers are slowly coming out of the woods towards the commotion. 

"His leg." Maggie says and thats when I notice it.

Bob's leg is missing.

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Word Count: 1059

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