Wilted

t w e n t y t h r e e

A muffled scream echoes through the woods as my heart rate speeds up. It takes me a second to realize that the scream is my own. Tears stream down my face as I try to make my way towards my father who is now bleeding profusely. 

Is he still alive? It was a shot to the shoulder, so right now? Yes, he's still alive. But, if nobody does anything about the bleeding, he'll die. And, if nobody does anything about the shock, he'll die. 

"Shut up Bitch." A man yells at me as they drag his unconscious body over in our direction. It's then that I realize I'm hyperventilating and whimpering towards the direction of Dad's body.

"He'll be fine." Dwight states wickedly. "For now, we're going on a little road trip." 

With that, his men begin to load us into a van. I'm shoved inside harshly, and Dad is practically thrown inside. A blanket is wrapped around his shoulder and once the doors are shut I crawl weakly over to him. 

His breathing is stable, although it's slightly labored. I put pressure onto his shoulder and Michonne, Glenn and Rosita join into helping me. Not only that but, Michonne pulls me back while Glenn and Rosita do what little work they can. 

The ride to wherever is rough and bumpy. As I stare back at my father through the faint light of the van I think back to Carl and my mom. I know for a fact, Dad left unannounced. I ran after him immediately. Mom must be worried sick, and Carl; I don't know how he's doing right now. I just hope that he's okay. 

After driving for what feels like hours we roll to a stop. There are voices speaking outside the van and finally, dad regains consciousness. I worked the gag out of my mouth around 30 minutes ago, and we used them to soak up the blood from dad. 

"Daddy?" I croak making my way to him. 

"Rose?" He asks. "What the hell are you doing here?" 

"Oi! Shut up!" A man says hitting the back of the van door. 

So we do. We sit in silence for hours, I've helped dad up so he can lean against the wall of the van. The blanket has been readjusted  so he's not exactly shivering anymore. Still, it pains me to see him so weak and helpless.

As the sunlight from outside fades to nothingness, we're left with silence and darkness. Until eventually, the same eerie two toned whistles from before ring out again and the headlights of vehicles flood the holes of the van.

I grab onto my father tightly, except instead of fear; I feel the need to protect him in his time of weakness. Just like he's doe for me my entire life. 

"I'm here." He mutters and I nod despite knowing he can't see me. 

There's muffled voices coming from the outside and I'm terrified of what will happen next. "Let's get the other ones, right now."

Then, the back of the van is opened. Dwight on the other side with blinding lights behind him. "Come on. You got people to meet."

Dad is quickly yanked from my grasp, and one by one each of us are roughly pulled out of the van. My heart breaks at the sight in front of me. On their knee's is my family; my group, the love of my life who looks like he's trying so hard to be brave; but when he see's me he visibly breaks. 

There's Maggie, who looks so pale it's almost as if she's on her death bed. Rick is terrified out of his mind, with sweat pouring down his face, brown curls sticking to his skin. There's countless others and I can say I'm relieved when I don't see my mother on her knees. 

We're forced down into the same position and I begin to tremble. Our group who has been through almost everything is kneeling, and I'm terrified out of my mind.