Future Ghosts • TWD

9. Funerals.

Boy, was Jim having a rough couple of days.

Rosie stepped out of the way, her back pressed up against the side of the RV as Shane, Rick, and Daryl came marching towards Jim. "Show it to us," Daryl commanded.

"I'm okay. I'm okay," Jim kept saying.

"Show it to us," Daryl said again. Jim backed away grabbing his shovel to use as a weapon. Rosie didn't get why he was fighting. He'd be dead within the next three days. What was the point?

T-Dog snuck up behind Jim and knocked the shovel out of his hands before restraining him, holding his arms back as Daryl lifted Jim's shirt. On the right side of his abdomen, a deep bite mark was red and bleeding, despite Jim's continuous claims of being "okay".

The adults gathered in a circle to discuss what to do. Aside from Jim. He sat outside the RV. And Rosie went down to the quarry, like she intended to before. She couldn't stand the feeling of blood behind her fingernails, first of all, and second of all, she frankly did not care what happened to Jim. She barely knew him and he'd be dead within a few days, no matter what.

If I were him, I'd have blown my brains out already, Rosie thought.

She sat on the rocks by the quarry, leaning over the water and continuously scrubbing her hands. There were still some bloodstained rocks a few feet away where Shane beat the shit out of Ed. That was something that had happened when Rosie was gone.

Ed Peletier was Carol's husband and Sophia's father. He was a piece of shit, apparently. Rosie just thought he was a normal guy. He wasn't much different from her own father, aside from the fact that David let Rosie do things that weren't strictly "feminine", like hunting and shooting guns.

Anyway, Shane had beaten the shit out of Ed after he hit Carol. Rosie didn't get why. Her dad never got in trouble when he hit Rosie. Rosie thought maybe it was because she was a kid and Carol was an adult. And maybe it was because the world was ending. There was no more consequences to beating the shit out of people. Maybe Shane just didn't like Ed.

Ed Peletier was dead now anyway, Rosie remembered. Just like Amy. Just like so many others at that camp.

While she sat there, scrubbing away at her hands and picking beneath her nails, she thought about her baseball coach. She wondered if he was still alive. She wondered if he had looked for her. Sometimes she wished that he was there in Atlanta with her, but it made her feel guilty to think that because of nights like last night. Nights where so many people died.

It was better for her baseball coach to be far away. Safer, hopefully. Everyone around Rosie all seemed to keep dying.

The blood from underneath her nails was finally- for the most part, at least- gone. It was no use trying to get all of it out, even if seeing it there made her want to puke. It wasn't going to come out. The blood on her clothes wasn't going to come out either, but that wasn't as noticeable because the clothing was darker. Plus, she still had her new crocodile shirt in her backpack to change into whenever she got the chance.

Rosie figured the next best thing to do would be to help. Whether it be helping Daryl make sure all of the walkers were dead, or helping T-Dog and Glenn drag the bodies to the fire.

She also knew she could pack up her tent, but she didn't want to. If someone else wanted it, they could have it. But Rosie wasn't spending another second in that tent.

The adults were talking earlier that morning, and Rosie had been listening. Sometimes she wondered if they forgot she was there. They said that they couldn't stay there any longer. The noise from the gunfire was going to attract every walker from Atlanta and the same thing would happen again.