Future Ghosts • TWD

160. Liam Johnson.

"We don't have anywhere else to go, Ian. You saw those people. We're goin' with our best shot, and our best shot is Liam," Rosie said. Ian could tell she was frustrated by the tone of her voice, but on the outside, she remained calm.

"God damnit," Ian muttered, letting his knife drop to the ground.

"Gun, too," Liam told him.

"We're out of ammo," Ian said.

"Gun, too," Liam repeated, tenser this time. Ian let out a huff as he dropped his gun.

Liam took their knives and kicked their guns away, considering his people didn't really need two measly pistols. They had everything they needed. Once Liam was sure they didn't have any other weapons, he began walking. Rosie walked by his side, her hands shoved into her pockets. Ian followed. Begrudgingly, sure, but he followed.

"So, where the hell are we going?" Ian asked, glaring at the back of Liam's head.

"To bring you to Leah, and probably Pope," Liam answered.

Rosie looked over at him. The name Leah was common, right? It couldn't be the same Leah. "Leah who?" Rosie asked.

"Leah Shaw. Not like you would know her," Liam said, shrugging his shoulders.

That wasn't helpful. Rosie didn't know what Daryl's Leah's last name was. "How do you know her?" she asked next. There was just no way it was the same person.

"She's family," Liam told her.

"Family?" Ian asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Family. Everyone here is."

"Right," Ian murmured.

"So why does your family want to kill ours?" Rosie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Pope's orders," Liam answered. That gave them just about no information. Liam's answers were all very vague and strange, and neither Rosie nor Ian knew exactly what was going on and what they should do.

"Great. Yeah. 'Cause we know what that means," Rosie said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Liam suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to her. "You know, I could let you go and someone else could find you and kill you. I'm giving you a chance to live, here, and you're being pretty damn ungrateful," he said.

"You're not givin' us a chance to live; you're leadin' us to some strange place we've never been before to meet a whole bunch a' crazy people we never met before! For all we know, they could kill us the second we get there," Rosie argued. Her calmness was starting to wear off. She needed to take another breather.

For all her talk about being an adult and not needing to be taken care of, she really wished that Darly, Maggie, Negan, or literally any other adult were there to tell her what to do. She felt like, no matter what she did, she was doomed. She could go with Liam and maybe die, or she could run away and also maybe die. There was no good option.

After starting to walk again, Liam thought about explaining the whole thing to them. What happened to him, where he went, how he met these people, and what these people were going to do to them. But he wasn't sure whether or not he could trust them yet. He wasn't even sure whether or not they could trust him. Part of him, deep in his heart, still blamed Rosie for his mother's death.

His mom went out to fight Negan's people, and Negan wanted Rosie. So that meant, with some sort of twisted logic, it was Rosie's fault. Really, though, Liam just needed someone to blame.

Thinking about his mom and thinking about Negan reminded Liam that Negan had been with the group. With Rosie. With all of them. And that made his blood boil. "Why the hell is he with you guys?" Liam asked, his tone and eyes suddenly dark again.