No Looking Back | Carl Grimes

Chapter 1 - A New Beginning

The snow began to settle, but the cool breeze was still chilling. This time of year was especially difficult. It was extremely hard to find clothes to wear so that she wouldn't freeze to death. Rose kept her silver knife with her, while a gun was under her shirt; her hand turned white as she gripped the handle. She cautiously looked for a place that was quiet enough to settle in for warmth.

Finally, she came across an empty shop. There were a couple of muertos, but she could handle them. She counted them. Four. She sneaked around the first one and stabbed it in the head. The one closest to the one she stabbed, turned and focused on her. It began to growl and walk towards her. She kicked its knee hard enough to make it tumble and then stabbed it in the head too. She killed again the other two then walked into the shop, Emmanuel's Groceries.

"Holy shit."

The empty shop wasn't too empty. There were still some canned food left. She ran towards it and popped open some can of beans. Whether they were long expired or not, she did not care. Her stomach rumbled at the smell of the food. She ate quickly, but enjoyed every second of it. Once she finished, she continued to look around the quiet shop, it was evident that people had been in it recently, but why'd they leave food behind? Did they not notice it?

It didn't matter. If they didn't slip up like that, Rose would still be starving. Rose looked around to ensure that there were no more muertos. Finally, she came back around with a small blanket to cover herself. She sat on the floor and looked through the big, glass, window of the shop. It gave her a clear view of the road and anyone in it.

She had not realized how tired she was. She leaned against the counter, still with the road in view. Slowly, her eyes began to close against her will.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep, but she heard a motor running outside. She quickly sneaked behind the counter and peeked from there. She instinctively grasped her knife once more.

The road was still very visible, but now, Rose, was not. She saw a man with medium-length blonde hair hop off a motorcycle. Half of his face was scarred. Rose wondered what could've cost such a terrible incident to leave his wounds marked on him forever.

"We've got to go back!" The man shouted into a walkie-talkie. "You saw them. They have a lot of supplies," he continued.

"No! I took what I need. We go back when I say we go back. You got that, Dwight!?" Another man yelled from the other like.

Rose saw Dwight kick a nearby car in frustration before pressing the button, "yeah I got that, Simon." 

"Good boy. Besides, Negan said that as long as Rick and his people play along, we don't need to do anything, but follow his orders. Now, talk later. Bring something good, will ya? I'm talking about Tequila."

Dwight put the walkie away without responding. He looked around then looked towards the shop. Rose knew he was debating whether he should search the place for some Tequila or not. He didn't decide soon because another engine was heard in the distance, but it was getting closer each second.

A car stopped a couple feet away from Dwight's motorcycle. A man with curly, dark brown hair, stepped out of the vehicle. Rose quickly noticed that where he had a gun holster, he had no gun. Two more people stepped out of the car. A man with long, brown, hair, and a beanie and trench coat, and a man with short, curly, brown hair. He looked pretty beat up.

"Man, what do these people get in to?" Rose muttered to herself.

"Well, well, well," Dwight said with a grin across his face, "miss me already, do you, Rick?"

"We're out here scavenging for food, you left us with almost nothing," Rick, Rose assumed, answered with a tone of disgust.

"Well, good luck because we'll be back soon and expect a lot more," Dwight laughed. He got on his motorcycle.

"Oh, and try finding some Tequila, okay? Special request," he winked. The motorcycle revved, then he drove off.

"C'mon, Jesus, Aaron, let's see what we can find here." Rick pointed at the shop Rose was in. They walked towards the Shop. Rose panicked, at first it was only one person she thought she was going to deal with, but now it's three.

She looked to her left and saw a closet door. She quickly entered right at the same time as Rick, Jesus, and Aaron walked inside. She left a small opening so that she could see what they were doing.

"Someone's been here," one of the other two said.

"It was probably Dwight," the other replied.

"Yeah, well, let's hope he didn't take everything," Rick responded. Rose heard footsteps approaching the closet, she got her knife read to strike.

"Rick, over here!"

The footsteps turned the other direction. Rose let out a breath she didn't know was holding.

"A backpack, its full of supplies, some food, and other stuff too."

Rose panicked and reached for her shoulder. The straps of her backpack weren't there. She didn't have her backpack. She peeked through the small space she left and saw them looking through her backpack.

If it didn't have pictures of her family in there, or the bracelet her brother gave her, she would've let them take it, but when they left the shop, she followed.