Future Ghosts • TWD

122. The Pussy Ass Cop.

"Thanks, mister Jerry," she said as she began running for cover by his side.

"Just Jerry," Jerry said, smiling despite the stress they were both under.

"'Kay. Thanks, Jerry," Rosie corrected herself.

It wasn't long after that that Rosie began to hear the familiar rumbling of Daryl's bike. What was he doing back? He was supposed to take Rick to Alexandria. It wasn't that quick of a ride. By the time his bike skidded to a stop, most of the ex-Saviors who had come to attack were already down and the gunfire had begun to slow. As he hopped off his bike, one last ex-Savior tried going after him, but Daryl took him down easily.

"Hey!" Daryl shouted to get everyone's attention. Rosie hurried out of her and Jerry's hiding spot to listen. She could see that several others had remained uninjured, too, which she was glad for. The ex-Saviors were a bit too confident, then, she thought. "Gunfire's gonna attract the herd. Rick's leadin' it away as best he can, but we gotta get the hell outta here," Daryl announced to everyone.

Rosie ran over to him. "What's goin' on? Thought you were takin' Rick to Alexandria," she said, her eyebrows pinched together.

"Shit happened," Daryl said. He took his crossbow off of his bike and held it in his right hand while his left went to Rosie's back, pushing her along forward. "C'mon!" he shouted to everyone. And they did. They all started to evacuate the camp. Even just as they were leaving, a few walkers began to stumble their way into the camp.

As they left their camp, Daryl began to explain the plan. Rick was going to lead the walkers to the bridge, since it wasn't finished, and the bridge wouldn't hold. The walkers would fall into the river and everything would be just fine. But they had to get to the bridge with everyone so they could make sure everything had gone correctly and so they could kill off any stragglers.

Along the way, they met up with Maggie, Michonne, and a few others who had come from Alexandria and the Hilltop. Rosie made sure to keep close by Daryl's side, because no one needed a missing kid right now. They ran through the woods, going towards the bridge that they'd all been working on for so long, just so they could watch it be destroyed. They'd have to start all over again, and this time, without the help of all the ex-Saviors who were there the first time around. But Rosie knew that they would get it done eventually because Rick knew what he was doing. Rick was a natural leader. He called the shots, and sometimes they were the wrong ones, but he always wanted what was best for everyone.

No one was perfect- Rosie knew that- but Rick was pretty damn close. He had helped her back in Atlanta when she had been nothing but an asshole to him, calling him a pussy ass cop and flipping him off. She had done those things just because she was angry. Not at him, not because of Merle, not because of Merle's goddamn hand, but because of her father. She had always felt angry back then. A constant and perpetual feeling of anger and frustration that she didn't know how to get rid of without being a complete asshole. But Rick, along with Daryl and almost everyone else from that original group in Atlanta, somehow taught her how to get rid of that internal anger without her even telling them that she had it. Rick had started the whole thing. If he hadn't locked Merle on that roof, then Rosie would probably be dead right now, stumbling along the streets of Atlanta with nothing but a craving for human flesh.

That's why Rick was such a great leader. Because, even when he made bad decisions, they always turned out in the end. It always ended with something good out of the whole deal. Rick always figured out a way to make things right.

All these thoughts were the reason why Rosie's feet skidded to a halt, alongside her heartbeat, when they reached the tree line just off the river. As they all looked up at the bridge, they could see that the walkers were stumbling across it, and the bridge was holding. The bridge was supposed to fall. It was supposed to fall and the walkers would die and everything would be alright. But the bridge wasn't falling. But, even worse, what Rosie's eyes landed on first was Rick, standing opposite the walkers. His shirt was covered in blood and his left hand was pressed onto his abdomen. He was injured and he was bleeding badly. Like, they needed Siddiq here now, or else Rick would die, badly.