Future Ghosts • TWD

111. Thread.

"Do you want me to count it down or...?" Siddiq asked, the needle and thread in his hands.

"I'll be able to tell when ya start," Rosie muttered. Of course, she'd be able to tell. Did he not know that?

"I'm sure you will," Siddiq chuckled light-heartedly. "It's just to ease your anxiety."

"Don't count her down. She'll just freak out," Daryl said.

"I won't freak ou- oh, fuck, fuck, fuck! Stop, stop! Stop it!" Rosie swore when Siddiq poked the needle into her skin without warning. She squirmed, her face contorted with pain. She didn't even mean to move; her body was just doing it without her control. Without meaning to, Rosie's free hand went up to push Siddiq's hand away, but before she could reach him, her hand was pushed back down onto the table and held there.

"Just don't think 'bout it," Daryl told her, cringing at the sight of the needle going through her skin. He looked at her face rather than looking at the wound.

"I'm thinkin' about it," Rosie assured him, her face all scrunched up. She wished she had her velociraptor toy. She wished she could squeeze onto it, so it would make her feel better. It almost always made her feel better, even if it was just a trick of the brain. But the pressure of Daryl's hand pressing hers onto the table was a good distraction, too.

Looking at Rosie's face rather than looking at the wound didn't help much. He still cringed at the sight of her being in pain. He knew how bad stitches hurt, especially when the open wound already hurt like hell. "Tell me 'bout that... ah, fuck," Daryl murmured, trying to recall the name he was looking for. "That dinosaur in Jurassic Park 3," he tried.

"There are a shit ton a' dinosaurs in Jurassic Park 3, Daryl," Rosie muttered out, her teeth clenched together as her entire body tensed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," she kept whispering to herself, under her breath, as if it would make her feel any better.

"The one that, uh.... It looks like a T. Rex, but it ain't. It's got the horn on its nose," he recalled. Back in Alexandria, Rosie had watched all of the Jurassic Park movies several times. He didn't understand how she never got bored of them, but she found them so entertaining that she couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen, even if she'd seen them a thousand times before. He remembered her pointing out the T. Rex with a horn to him. He couldn't remember what it was called or what she said about it. He probably just mumbled an uh-huh and pretended he took in the information.

"The ceratosaurus?" Rosie asked, opening her eyes again to look at Daryl. She closed them again just as quickly, because Siddiq pulled the thread tight and moved on to the next stitch. "Shit, shit, shit."

"Yeah. Tell me 'bout it," Daryl said, hoping to distract her from the pain.

"Ceratosaurus lived in- fuck- the- the Late Jurassic period. Was a- a carnivore. They were, like, a thousand- God- a thousand somethin' pounds. I think 1,500 or somethin' like that Or maybe 2,000," Rosie explained, trying to remember each thing she'd read out of books and had heard from Eugene about the ceratosaurus.

The thread pulled tight once more. "You're doing really good," Siddiq said.

"Shut up," Rosie snapped, her teeth clenched tight together. Daryl probably would've already told her to watch herself about three or four times now, if the situation were any different. She bit down on her lip. "Ceratosaurus were- fuck. It hurts real, real bad, Daryl."

"I know. Where'd they find the bones, Ro?" Daryl asked.

"They ain't the real bones. They're fossils. Ain't the same thing. The bone stuff breaks down, leaves the rock stuff," Rosie corrected him. Daryl rolled his eyes. Siddiq pulled another stitch tight and Rosie flinched, trying to move her hand to hit Siddiq's away, but Daryl wouldn't let her. "It hurts. Please, please, please stop!" she blurted out. "It hurts!"