Future Ghosts • TWD

96. Home.

That was it. 

Rosie quickened her pace, nearly running towards the exit sign. She was only a few steps away when she heard voices from around the corner. Almost instantaneously, Rosie slammed herself up against the wall, her hand pressed over her mouth. A man's voice. No, two men's voices. 

"Aye," one of the men greeted the other. This one had a young-ish sounding voice. He also sounded tired- groggy. "Where you goin'?" he asked the other man.

"Out for a smoke," the other man replied. His voice was low and scratchy, like he'd been smoking those cigarettes for a hundred years. 

"Care to share?" the younger man asked. There was a grunt, as if saying, I guess, then the older voice got a bit further away from Rosie- closer to the younger voice. Then a quiet flick. Then another flick, and another. 

"Ah, fuck," the older voice cursed. 

"I might have a lighter somewhere," the younger voice said. The older voice grunted again, then two pairs of footsteps walked a few steps further away until they were gone. Rosie peaked around the corner, her heart slamming against her ribs. They were gone. Thank God, they were gone. Now, though- now she had to hurry. She didn't know how long it would take for them to find a lighter and go outside for a smoke.

So, Rosie went straight to the door below the exit sign. She pulled it open. It was unnecessarily heavy, but Rosie managed to get it open. She pulled it closed behind her, then stood in the stairwell for a moment, listening for any more voices. There were none, so she ran down the stairs. When she got to the bottom, and she got to the final door, she was sure that there had to be some sort of trick. Maybe- maybe Negan knew. Maybe he made Eugene give her the paperclip. Maybe this was a test. Maybe Negan was going to be waiting on the other side of this door, and maybe he'd grab her by the arm and drag her back to that miserable cell. 

But maybe, it wasn't a trick. Maybe it was real. And there was no point in going back now. She'd already gotten this far- it'd be stupid to go back. So, with her heart in her stomach, Rosie opened up the last door. She froze in her spot when she heard two voices. A man's voice, annoyed, saying Man, I don't care. Will you shut up? And another man's voice. Eugene's voice, saying things- big words, big ideas- that Rosie didn't understand. Rosie locked eyes with Eugene, and he gave a barely noticeable nod before breaking eye contact. 

This was it. This was it. 

Rosie, silently, but quickly, snuck past the man- the Savior who was on guard shift. He had his back turned. Eugene was irritating him, distracting him. He pushed on Eugene's shoulder, telling him to shut up and leave- Rosie couldn't hear him anymore. She reached the dirt road and veered off into the woods. She'd done it. She'd done it. Now all she had to do was run. So, she ran, and she ran, and she ran. 

Running, running, running. Constant, lung-shattering running until Rosie felt that she was far enough away to stop and figure out where to go. There were now holes in her jeans and scrapes on her knees from the pesky sticks and logs that dared to get in her way. Rosie didn't know how to get back to Alexandria from here, but going back there- that would be too obvious. The Hilltop. She could go to the Hilltop. Where was that? In the RV, Eugene and Sasha were looking at the maps, when they were bringing Maggie- oh, Maggie- to the Hilltop. 

"Barton Road takes us north, but they gotta know we wanna go north," Sasha said, leaning over the map next to Eugene.

North. The Hilltop was north. Where was North? I need the sunrise, Rosie thought to herself, growling in frustration. She looked up at the sky, wondering how long it would be until the sun rose in the east. She looked up at the stars, thinking about the dead. There was the Big Dipper. And across from the tip of the spoon was the North Star. Of course! The North Star. Idiot, why didn't you think of that?