Future Ghosts • TWD

134. Chasing After You.

"What the hell's that s'posed to mean? You want me to get yelled at?" Rosie asked, scoffing.

"No, no, no. That's not what I mean. I mean, he treats you like you're still some nine-year-old little kid that can't be trusted to do things on her own. But you can be trusted, because he's taught you how to keep yourself safe. You go out and do this, you're proving that to him," Ian elaborated.

"You're stupid," Rosie murmured, shaking her head at him.

"I'm not. I'm serious. He needs to get that you aren't a little kid anymore," Ian said.

"Ian's right. Daryl's extremely overprotective," Henry agreed, widening his eyes to exaggerate his point.

"He's like that because he's trying to make up for the time he wasn't there for, but he doesn't have to make up for that. He just needs to lay off a bit," Ian explained.

"Jesus. You ain't a therapist. You don't know what you're talkin' 'bout," Rosie said, rolling her eyes. Ian huffed and rolled his own eyes, because he knew she was only being like that because she secretly knew it was true. She always got hostile when he tried to talk to her about anything that was actually important.

"I heard my mom talking to my dad about it, a little while ago. She was saying that you should stay at the Kingdom for a while," Henry said.

"You gotta real problem with eavesdroppin'. Ya know that?" Rosie said, finally looking up from the trail to turn and look at Henry. She shined the flashlight into his eyes, making him squint and cover his eyes. "And I told you, if you keep talkin' 'bout him, or anythin' else that ain't your business, I'mma hit you again," she reminded him.

"Ok. We're just saying, you should probably talk to him about how overprotective he is, or else he's gonna, like, lock you in a cell or something, so nothing can get to-"

"Shut up!" Rosie snapped, shoving Henry back by his shoulders. She wanted nothing more than to hit him, but she'd already left a bruise on his cheek, and she didn't really want to leave another on his other cheek. "I told you to stop fuckin' talkin'! Say one more thing 'bout my dad, Negan, or David, and I swear to God, I'll cut your tongue out your mouth!" After that, Rosie turned and picked up the pace, so that Henry and Ian were far behind her.

"I was kidding," Henry muttered to Ian, confused as to what he had done wrong.

"That's what Negan did," Ian said quietly.

"What?" Henry asked.

"Negan. He locked her in a cell, so nothing could get to her," Ian explained, shoving his hands into his pockets.

•

Henry and Ian stayed back, a few steps behind Rosie for the rest of the night. Just as the sun began to rise, Rosie halted to a stop, shoving both Ian and Henry down, into a ditch. It took them all night long, but they had finally caught up to Alpha's people. Rosie had followed their tracks, and this was where the tracks ended. Rosie peeked over the edge. She could see several of Alpha's people scattered around. They were all still wearing their masks, except for Lydia. Lydia didn't have a mask. She was sitting with her back up against a tree, pulling something out of the dirt.

"Do you see her?" Henry asked, his eyes wide. Rosie nodded and put a finger up to her lips, telling him to quiet down. But Henry was stupid. He was so, so stupid. "Let's go get her," he whispered. Her expression tense, Rosie shook her head adamantly. If they were going to get her, it wasn't going to be now. They needed a plan first. A plan that didn't involve trying to sneak through an unknown amount of people who wanted them all dead. "Let's go," Henry insisted, standing up to peak over the edge himself, his stick in hand.