Chapter 3: My Daddy's Eyes

Rosabelle was kneeling down in the back of T-Dog's church van as it sped along the empty highways leaving Atlanta. Glenn and her had joined the camp a little over a week ago and had been put in charge of runs, as the two of them had the most experience in maneuvering the overrun city. She had just finished changing into a new moss green tank top that she had found to replace the worn and dirty shirt she had been wearing, and was now looking at a small photograph that she had pulled out of her bag. The photo was of her, her dad and her Uncle Merle in front of the Georgia Guidestones.

Rose was standing between the two of them, with her dad's arm resting around her shoulders and surprisingly enough all of them had large smiles on their faces, even Merle. The picture was taken a few summers back, when the three of them had been on their way home from picking her uncle up from some small town drunk tank that he had gotten himself thrown into the night before. When they passed the sign for the Guidestones, Rose begged her dad to stop and after some persuading, mainly to her uncle, she convinced the older men to pull in. While there, Merle, who she now realizes was most likely still high or drunk, dragged over some poor tourist with a Polaroid camera to take the precious picture she now held in her hand.

"Hey Belle, you almost done back there?" Glenn calls out from the front.

"Yeah," she chokes out, quickly clearing the lump that had formed in her throat and gently placing the photo back in her bag. She then stood and slid into the passenger seat next to the young Korean. She gives her eyes a rub, to rid them of any excess moisture and turns to Glenn with a smile to break the tense air.

"Whatcha ya think?" Rose asks lifting her arms and looking down at the new shirt and fiddling with the little buttons that ran up the front, "Better than that old rag I had on before?"

"I would say! I think with one little pull that old thing would have torn in two," he chuckles out, with easy, comfortable silence then surrounding them for the continuation of their trip.

As they pull the van into the laneway at the camp, Rosabelle instantly notices a couple of very familiar looking new additions to the fleet of vehicles. A large black motorcycle and an old blue-grey Ford truck. The moment that Glenn stops the van, Rose flies out of the door towards the new vehicles. Shane, the leader of their camp, having heard the van pull up, comes around to meet the pair. Seeing Shane, Rose runs over to him.

"How'd the run…" Shane begins to ask.

"Where'd the truck and bike come from?" she interrupts him frantically.

"Just some new survivors we ran across," he answers nonchalantly, not noting the desperation in the girl's voice, "Did you get more food?"

Becoming desperate for answers, Rose grabs the front of Shane's shirt, pulling his face down closer to her own. "I don't give a shit about the damn food. Tell me, who the hell's truck and bike that is?"

"Jeez, Rose, chill out," he says pulling away from the girls grip. "Just a couple a redneck brothers we found out hunting in the woods. What's your issue?"

"Where?" she gasps out, afraid to hope that it could be them, "Where are they?"

"Last time I checked, at the picnic table."

The second the words leave Shane's lips, Rose takes off at a sprint to the table. She rounds the Cherokee that is the final car in the row, and freezes. There sitting in front of her, with his back facing her, was the one person she had desperately hoped to see again, but feared she never would. Her dad; with his torn off sleeves, demon tattoo peeking out from the shoulder, and the crossbow that he was cleaning in front of him, there was no mistaking it.

"Dad," she softly says, voice barely above a whisper and still in shock. Her dad's hands instantly froze and his head slowly rose, staring straight ahead of him and not moving another muscle.

"Daddy!" she cries out louder, emotion thick in her voice.

With that, Daryl spins around, eyes open wide staring at his lost daughter in complete shock. "Rosie," he quietly calls out while hastily rising from his seat. "Oh my God, Rosie!"

The father and daughter speed towards each other, tears of joy beginning to form in their matching eyes. Rose throws her arms around her dad's neck and he wraps his strong arms around her, falling to his knees with Rose cradled on his lap.

"I thought I lost you, Angel, I thought you were gone!" Daryl cries into Rosabelle's long hair, still holding her tight.

"I was so scared, Daddy," she sobs in his shoulder as he rubs his hand in small circles between her shoulder blades, just as he always has, to comfort her, "Please don't leave me again."

"Never, Angel! I ain't ever lettin' you go, Rosie!" Daryl chokes out past his tears.

For the next several minutes, the young girl and her father cling to one another oblivious to everything around them. The other members of the camp that had come over after hearing the exclamations, soon dispersed to allow the family to reunite in private.

Rose suddenly feels a large rough hand cup the back of her head, "Hey there, Lil' Bud."

"Uncle Merle!" she calls, standing and embracing her uncle, his arms wrapping around her small frame. Merle places a chaste kiss on the top of her head and releases her from his grip.

Turning around, Rose is pulled back into her dad's comfortable grasp. She leans into his chest listening to his strong heartbeat and inhaling the smell that belongs to him alone, cigarette smoke, string wax, and earth. She now knows that she is home.

The entire Dixon family had now been at the camp for a couple of weeks and were extremely grateful to be back together. Rose learned that Will and Jesse hadn't made it out of the woods all those weeks ago. Her dad wouldn't tell her what happened, but she knew it hadn't been good. Rose knew that she should feel some sadness for the loss of her grandfather, but she didn't feel an ounce of it. Even though her dad had never said anything to her, she has seen the scars on his back and had always noticed how her dad kept her away from Will as much as he could. Her dad and Uncle Merle also explained to her how they had found each other just outside of Atlanta and had been sticking to the woods ever since.

With the return of her dad and uncle, Rose found that she socialized with the group of survivors even less than before. Her family was rough, and she is fairly sure that majority of the others were a bit frightened of them. The only person other than dad and uncle that she regularly spoke to was Glenn, who had remained a 'brother' even with the return of her family.

That is what made it impossible for her to sleep right now, even though it was the middle of the night, since everyone that she considers her family is currently gone from the camp. Glenn and her Uncle Merle on a run to Atlanta, and her dad hunting for more food for the group. On any other occasion she would have been on the run or the hunt herself, but both parties refused to allow her to go as she was recovering from a bout a heat exhaustion that had struck her the other afternoon. She hated being left behind, and it took a lot of reassurance from all three men, that they would return safely before she would allow them to depart.

Currently, she is sitting outside under the starry sky, staring at the glowing embers in the fire pit, with one of her dad's shirts pulled over her own thinking about where her family is now. She suddenly hears twig snap to her left. Pulling out her knife and pointing it towards the source of the noise she sees a boy, a couple of years younger than herself, sleepily standing a few feet away from her.

"What are ya doin' out here, Kid? Do ya know what time it is?" she questions while sheathing her weapon.

"I had a bad dream and I couldn't fall back asleep. I saw you sitting out here so I thought that maybe I could sit with you. Is that OK?" Carl asks a bit nervously.

"Sure…why not. Just don't tell yer Ma alright?"

"OK" he says with some excitement, finding the older girl to be quite the mystery.

They sat in silence for a brief moment, before the younger child couldn't stay quiet any longer. "Where is your mom? I've never heard you talk about her before."

Rose looks away from Carl and lowers her head trying to determine the best way to explain the situation to the young boy. She'd only spoken to the boy a few times in the past and she wasn't quite sure how to talk to the kid.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I know what it's like to lose a parent." Carl rushes out apologetically, looking sad and guilty.

Rose looks up quickly at the boy sitting next to her in surprise, "Oh, my mother ain't dead. Well… actually that's a lie, she might be, but I have no idea where she even is. Don't really care either."

"What do you mean you don't care?" Carl asks in shock, clearly thinking about how much he cares for his own parents.

"I've never met her, so I don't see the point in worryin' 'bout her since she obviously don't care 'bout me. Dad and her met at some bar and hooked up for the night. Nine months later she showed up at his door, handed me over to him and never looked back." She explains with no trace of anger or sadness in her voice.

"So, you mean you don't know anything about her?" Carl inquires, still obviously shocked about the situation.

"Nah, I know a couple of things about her. I know that her name is Amber Hallisey, 'cause it's on my birth certificate. And I'm also guessin' that she must look a bit like me, 'cause I don't really look like my dad or any of his family." Rose tells the boy. The two young people sit together quietly for a few moments.

"That's not true you know," Carl states suddenly, "you and your dad have the same eyes."

"Yeah Kid, I guess you are right about that. I do have my Daddy's eyes."