TAWNYA'S POV

A good hour or two later everyone was seriously debating leaving the quarry. I didn't care what happened either way, as long as we ended up safe. In the meantime I was talking to the woman my dad brought back, Cherokee. She didn't talk much, kinda like me and my dad.

"So how did my dad find you?" I asked her.

"One of the dead had me pinned against a tree." She explained.

"Let me guess, he came in crossbow a blazing?" I smirked and raised an eyebrow. Cherokee smiled and nodded. "Yeah that's pretty much what happened." She said chuckling a little.

"So, are you actually Cherokee? Or are you not even Indian?" I asked curiously. Cherokee smiled a little as if it were a question she had gotten a lot in life.

"I'm not full blood Cherokee. We've got that, some Chickasaw, Sou, and a couple other tribes that I can't remember the names of, I am mostly Cherokee though." She explained. I smiled. I'd always been a little enchanted by American Indian culture. I don't know why. Maybe it had something to do with how the tribes had such a strong bond and a strong sense of community, something I'd never ad with anyone except for my father and my uncle.

"So is Daryl your dad?" Cherokee asked after a moment of silence. I nodded. "Yep. I didn't know him for the first nine years of my life though." I said.

Cherokee tilted he head a little in confusion. "I can tell, you've got his eyes. Why didnt you know him?" She asked. Yayyy my favorite topic..

"Oh well... He and my mom we're together for a few weeks when she got pregnant. He left town with my uncle soon after she found out. She had me and she wasn't a great mom.. not at all. She was a druggie and an alcoholic. She'd sleep all day and stay out all night. If I didn't have the house cleaned and food on the table she'd yell at me and sometimes even beat me." I explained looking at my and the whole time.

Cherokee sighed. "I'm sorry, Tawnya." She mumbled. "You didn't deserve that, sweetheart, you honestly didn't." I shrugged and lanced a her.

"What about you? Do you have kids?" I asked. It was Cherokee's turn to get the far away, sad look in her eyes, which were a nice shade of Chestnut brown.

"I had a daughter. She died when this all started." She explained briefly. I didn't ask what happened to her. It was the same story everytime.

"What was her name?" I asked instead. "Danellea." She answered. I smiled slightly. "That's a pretty name."

"Tawnya! Cherokee! Let's go!" Shane's voice interrupted our conversation. Cherokee and I both stood up. We walked over to dad.

"So how're we gonna do this?" I asked him.

"You, me, an' Cherokee are gonna drive the truck. We'll put the bike in the back." He explained. Cherokee and I nodded. All three of us lifted the bike and set it in the truck. "Alright everyone, load up!" Shane's voice rang out. Everyone got into their vehicles and we took off.

"Do you know where their takin us?" I asked dad after a while of driving.

"Rick thinks the CDC is our best bet." Dad said focusing on the road.

"So that's where we're goin?" I asked. Dad nodded. After that we drove in silence for a while. After about another thirty minutes to an hour of driving the RV pulled over. Rick got out and signalled for everyone to get out of their vehicles. We all gathered around Rick, who's eyes were trained to the ground.

"Jim's gettin worse. He asked us to leave him here." He let us all take that in and think about it for a minute.

"Is that what he wants?" Cherokee asked. Rick looked up at her and nodded.

"Then I say we tie him to that tree," I started pointing to the tree next to us. "And we leave him a gun and a water bottle." Everyone looked at me, deciding whether they agreed or not.

"It's the most humane thing to do." Andrea said, nodding her head slightly.

"That settles it then." Shane said. He and Rick went into the RV and helped Jim out. They tied him loosely to the tree and set the gun and water next to him.

"You should take them. You need em more than me." Jim said.

"No sweetie, you keep them." Jaquie said before kissing his forehead and stepping back.

We all said our goodbyes, Dale and Glenn being the most reluctant to leave him. As everyone was walking back to their cars I crouched down in front of Jim.

"I'm sorry this happened to you." Was all I managed to get out.

"Don't be. Thank you for what you did when everyone found out." Jim said quietly. I forced a small smile.

"Your welcome. I'm glad I got the chance to know ya." I said before standing up and gently tapping his shoulder. I got in the truck, trying to hold back my tears.

As we drove I couldn't stop thinking about Jim. I thought it was crazy that I barley knew him, but I was this upset about his death. Maybe it was just the fact that I had seen someone dying, I don't know.

We drove on for hours and hours, but i don't remember most of it because i needed up falling asleep. I didn't dream that night thankfully. I flinched awake when I felt the car door being moved from under me. Cherokee braced a hand against my side so I didn't fall and chuckled slightly at me.

"We're at the CDC, but you need to hurry up and get out." she said as she removed her hand and took a step back. I nodded slightly and jumped out of the truck and looked around. I saw a herd of walkers heading our way. Fear flared up my chest and through my body. I looked around for my dad and when I didn't see him,i only got worse.

"Dad!?" I whisper yelled. I saw him walk around the truck and sighed in relief.

"Your okay Tawnya." he said when he got closer. I nodded and swallowed the lump forming in my throat. Dad handed me my bag and told me to go over to Rick and Lori. I did what he told me immediately.  Lori saw me coming and held an arm out, I walked into her embrace. She had one arm around me and one around her son. Rick and Shane were looking for possible ways to get in while everyone else was a huge bundle of nerves.

Dad and Cherokee walked over and I instantly broke away from Lori to get to my father. I stood close to him and held his shirt with one hand. Dad placed a hand on my shoulder and rubbed my arm, trying to calm me down. I looked behind us and the herd was noticeably closer, carol saw it too, fear flashing through her eyes.

"Rick we don't have much more time." she piped up. Rick and Shane looked back. Rick went back to searching when he found a security camera. He stared at it for a moment, thinking.

"Hey man, we gotta go." Shane said putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. Rick was about to reply then his eyes got wide.

"I saw the camera move! There's someone in there!" she said excitedly. Shane shook his head and tried to pull Rick away.

"Rick it did move, now come on we gotta go!" Shane said loudly as he pulled on his friend, Lori started to plead with her husband, begging him to leave. Rick started to get more and more agitated as he yelled at the camera.

"We have children! If you leave us out here we'll die!" he yelled at the camera as Shane tried to pull him back. Rick was panicking at this point and I could see it. "Your killing us!" Rick yelled a few times. Just as Rick turned around and we started to leave, I heard the door shift.

"Wait!" I said. Everyone turned around and watched the door open. A bright light was shining and when my eyes adjusted I saw a man standing there with a shotgun in his hands.

"Is anyone bit?" he asked eyeing all of us.

"No nobody's bit." Rick said despratly. The man looked at Rick for a moment being sighing.

"Get whatever you need out of your vehicles and get in, when this door closes it stays closed, you have two minutes."