Future Ghosts • TWD

82. Knots Untie.

"I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day, and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer," Jesus said, looking around at the group.

"Wait, you're looking for more settlements? You mean you're already trading with other groups?" Maggie asked, leaning closer with a confused expression on her face. It was hard to believe that other settlements were around.

Jesus leaned back into his chair, a smile growing on his face. "Your world is about to get a whole lot bigger," he said, making both excitement and anxiety bubble up in Rosie's stomach.

•

After a lot of convincing, Rosie was allowed to go with the group on their trip to Jesus's settlement. There were a few reasons she wanted to go with, but the main one was that if she went with, she didn't have to go to school. The other reasons were that it had been a while since she had been outside the walls, and that she was curious to see what other settlements were like. She also wanted to see the animals that Jesus claimed to have.

For now, though, Rosie was just waiting. She had changed out of her pajamas and was all ready to go, but everyone else was still packing things up. Rosie was standing on her tiptoes, trying to see into the RV, which Daryl was fixing up so they could ride in it. She didn't have a clue what any of the parts did or what exactly Daryl was fixing, but she wished she did.

"Here," a voice said from behind them. Both Daryl and Rosie turned around to see Denise standing there with some kind of food in her hand. She offered it up to Daryl. "Homemade oatcake. Complex carbohydrates, omega-3s."

"Nah, I'm good," Daryl dismissed her, turning back to work on the RV. Rosie just wanted to know what made the carbohydrates so complex. "We're gonna make a pit stop. I'll pick up somethin' then."

Denise's hand dropped back down to her side and she tilted her head a little. "Like rabies?" she asked. Rosie snickered to herself and Daryl turned back to Denise, giving her an annoyed look.

"Is this 'cause I tried to get you that stuff?" Daryl asked, finally ducking back out from underneath the hood of the RV.

"Yeah," Denise said, rocking on her feet awkwardly.

"What stuff?" Rosie asked.

"Just pop," Denise answered, shrugging her shoulders a little.

"What's pop?" Rosie asked, scrunching her face up to show her confusion.

"Oh, yeah. Um, it's soda," Denise answered. She turned back to Daryl, fidgeting with the oatcake in her hands. "Anyway, you just remind of someone I used to know," she said. After a few more moments of awkward silence, she offered up the oatcake again. This time, Daryl actually took it.

"Well... I hope it tastes better than it looks. 'Cause it looks like shit," he said, pocketing the oatcake. Rosie furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Shit's still better than roadkill. Okay, maybe- just eat it," Denise murmured awkwardly before walking off.

Once Denise walked off, Rosie turned back to Daryl. "You're rude," she said, glaring up at him. He only scoffed in response, then moved her out of the way so he could slam the hood of the RV shut again. "Why'd she call soda 'pop'?" Rosie asked.

"'Cause she's from Ohio or somethin'. Go get in the RV, I'll be right there," Daryl replied, lightly pushing her over to the RV.

So Rosie went around to the door of the RV. Abraham was standing there with a large gun in his hands. Rosie wished that she could use that gun, because it looked really cool, but it was almost as big as her, so she couldn't. When Rosie passed him, she gave him a smile, and he gave her a smile back. Once she was inside, she heard him yell, "Let's chew up some asphalt!" She didn't know what it meant, but it sounded cool anyway. After that, Maggie joined everyone in the RV, then Abraham himself, then Rick, and then Daryl, and then they were off.