Wilted

t w e n t y t w o

Later that day, Rosita and Dad came back visibly shaken and without Denise. She was dead, killed by a group of saviors in the forest. It hurt my heart, she had saved the love of my life from death, but no one could save her. There wasn't anytime, she was dead in an instant. A bolt through her eye socket, killing her immediately.

Dad was quite for a while, then he was digging her grave. Mom was worried, and so was I as we watched him from a short distance away.  He opened up a small bottle of alcohol and drank it in one sip. 

After a few days of his anger brewing Dad left early in the morning.  So did Carol, except no one had a clue as to where she would go. I watched him speed up to the gates of Alexandria and open the first one by himself. I was with Maggie and Glenn, sorting through new guns that were brought home from the raid on the saviors base. 

"What the hell is he doing?" Glenn asked and I shook my head running across the lot and watching my father speed out of Alexandria.

"Something he shouldn't." Michonne said gritting her teeth and following me.

"We gotta stop him." Glenn stated running into a car. 

"I'm coming with." I muttered and before anyone could protest I shot them both glares. "He's my dad. I have to." 

The three of us climbed into a van and began to drive before Abraham ran in front of us causing us to stop. "Make room for my freckled ass!"

"No." Rosita snapped. "Cover my watch, you stay."

"Hey we should keep numbers here." Glenn told her.

"I'm the only one who knows where Daryl's going." She said. 

"Just let her come we're losing time." I snapped anxiously. Rosita climbed into the van next to me. 

We drive for a while. It's deadly silent, and Rosita is the only one who speaks occasionally, voicing out directions on where to go. We pull to a stop at the railroad tracks. Each of us getting out and examining the dead saviors.

"That's where she died." Rosita speaks as we approach a deep red spot at the tracks. It's stained with Denise's blood. 

"All right, so he had to start from here." Glenn says looking around and I nod. Michonne walks over to a bunch of leaves, lifting it up. Under it is my father's motorcycle. 

"He did." She states grimly. 

"Which way did Dwight run?" Glenn questions Rosita as I stand by Michonne.

"He covered his tracks." I mutter. Seeing that there are no obvious footprints that would be his. I'm not as good of a tracker as dad, but I can usually find some tracks. "He knew someone would follow him." 

"Rosita!" Glenn says slightly louder.

"We should let him do this." She says and I feel myself begin to shake with anger. 

"We should let him get himself killed?" I ask boldly. "He doesn't know what he's doing, or what he's walking into. None of us do." 

"Maybe him trying this makes you feel better about it right now. Maybe they keep knowing more about us than we know about them. Or maybe Daryl's gonna get himself killed." Glenn says backing me up and I watch as Rosita processes this in her mind. 

"Which way, did Dwight run?" I ask slowly. She's quiet for a moment, looking between the two of us before she nods towards Michonne's direction. Quickly, the four of us begin to walk in the supposed direction that my dad is going. 

After walking through the trees for a long while, we come across a clearing. In it, my dad is walking with his head down tracking Dwight's footsteps. Someone rustles a tree branch and instantly a bolt is lodged into the tree next to Rosita, who was ahead of me.