Searching houses had become a routine operation. At first, only Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog would take the lead, kicking in the door and doing the first run through, but as time went on and Carl grew a little bit taller and a little bit stronger, he was allowed to join them.
This frustrated Rosie endlessly because she wanted to help, too. She was just as capable as Carl, maybe even more capable, but that didn't matter to the adults. They just saw her as a little girl whose only weapon was a slingshot. That was the real reason, actually. They still hadn't been able to find a silencer for Rosie's gun, so it stayed dormant in the bottom of her backpack. Still, Rosie was frustrated by their refusal to let her help.
Of course, she was still able to help once the place was fully cleared, but standing outside, waiting while the others went inside to clear the place, made her feel useless and weak. She'd only expressed these feelings a few times, complaining quietly to Daryl and Rick. Other than that, though, she did what they said and waited, even if she pouted while doing it.
The weather had changed, and Rosie's mood changed along with it. It went from being freezing every day of the week to being cold one day and hot the next, and Rosie went from seeming absent to cracking a small smile sometimes.
The everchanging weather made it difficult to decide what to bring and what to leave behind. They couldn't exactly carry everything they ever found with them, so they had to pick and choose what was needed.
Rosie ended up having to leave behind the dinosaur books at some bar a few weeks back. They were heavy and she'd already read them several times, and with the weather getting hotter, she didn't need to wear her green coat all the time, but also didn't want to just throw it away in case she might need it again next year. So, she ended up leaving the books behind and stuffing her jacket in her backpack.
Her Black Sabbath shirt was forgotten in an old ranch house a month ago. Rosie hadn't noticed that it wasn't in her backpack until they were miles away, and the adults refused to go back for a t-shirt. She was sad about it at first, thinking about the day Coach Smith had given it to her, but soon got over it. It was just a shirt, she reminded herself.
Anyway, at least she still had her dinosaur toys. That's what she thought about as she rocked back and forth on her feet, keeping an eye on her surroundings. That was her job. While Carl, Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog were inside clearing the house, and Maggie and Glenn were checking the perimeter, Rosie was told to keep watch for the rest of the group.
Rosie knew that it was just what they were telling her to make her feel better about waiting behind, but either way, she felt a bit of responsibility and it gave her a sense of pride. Keeping Carol, Beth, Hershel, and pregnant Lori safe was Rosie's job, and she did it well.
Keeping her slingshot ready in her right hand, rocks shoved into all of her pockets, Rosie kept watch until she heard Rick's whistle, telling them that they were in the clear.
Now knowing that the house was clear and she no longer had to watch over the others, Rosie took the bag in Lori's hands and followed them up the steps. Right inside the door, there was a dead man on the ground. Rosie didn't spare him a second glance, dropping the bag down and heading straight for the kitchen.
Carl was already in there, checking the containers left out on the counter. They were all empty. So he began going through all the cabinets and drawers.
Seeing as Carl was already checking for food, Rosie joined the others in the small room they were gathered in. Daryl was sitting on a chair, picking the feathers off of a dead owl. Rosie grimaced at the thing, not wanting to eat anymore owl. They'd eaten owl twice since they left the farm. It wasn't exactly on the list of things anyone craved.
Rosie sat herself down by Daryl's feet and pulled her knees up to her chest. Her stomach growled, reminding her of how hungry she was, but she ignored it, thinking about eating more owl. That just made her stomach hurt even more.
She looked towards the doorway when Carl walked in energetically before dropping down to his knees and pulling something out of his bag. Everyone watched with hopeful eyes as Carl started pulling cans out. But when he placed them down, they all saw that it was dog food. You can add that to list of things no one ever craved.
Carl started using a can opener to open the dog food, but Rosie stopped watching by then. Instead, she looked over at Rick, hoping that he had some other idea or plan that would make it so she didn't have to eat owl or dog food. He didn't.
Rick just watched Carl for a moment before stomping over to him and picking up the can. He read the label and threw the can at the wall, startling Rosie. Rick looked like he was about to say something, breathing heavily and opening and closing his mouth. Everyone gave each other weary glances.
Before Rick could think of something to say, T-Dog alerted everyone of walkers approaching outside. Quickly and quietly, the group filed out of the house, returning to their vehicles.
Originally, Rosie always rode in the green Hyundai with Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, and Beth, but after a few weeks, Rick had found a gray truck that he claimed as his own. From then on, Rosie rode in the truck with Rick, Lori, and Carl.
After driving for awhile, the group of cars eventually came to a stop in the middle of the road. Carl, Beth, and Rosie were assigned the job of keeping watch in all directions while the adults convened. Rosie tuned out their voices as they discussed where to go next in order to avoid herds of walkers, and focused more on listening for twigs snapping or leaves crunching.
After a minute or two of keeping watch, Rosie's laser focus was interrupted by a small tap on her right arm. Turning around, she saw that it was Daryl.
"Ro," he said. That was a new nickname Rosie had gained in the recent months. Now she was Rosie, Rose, and Ro. Three names. It was confusing at first, but now she sometimes liked being called the nicknames rather than her real one. "I'm goin' huntin' with Rick. Stick close and listen ta Maggie," he said as he held his crossbow over his shoulder.
That was another thing that had changed since the farm. Daryl had started telling Rosie whenever he was leaving. This was because of an incident where Daryl had left to go hunting without telling Rosie and she went out on her own to go and find him. Instead of finding Daryl, Rosie found five walkers and had just barely gotten away with her life after the group heard her screams and came running.
What Daryl would usually say was, "I'm goin' huntin'. Do whatever Rick says", but lately, Rick had been going with Daryl more often than not. He was learning how to hunt- how to be more quiet, in particular. So when both Rick and Daryl were gone, Rosie was then told to listen to whatever Maggie said.
Rosie gave Daryl a firm nod to tell him that she understood and would do what he said before continuing on watching for walkers.
•
Daryl and Rick came back sooner than Rosie thought they would have, and they came back without any food. She was disappointed at first, but her disappointment faded away when Rick spoke. He told them that they had found a place where they could stay. A safe place with walls and fences. Protected. They just had to clear it first.
What Rosie wasn't expecting was for the safe place to be a prison. She stood outside the fence, staring at the yard, which was crawling with walkers, as Glenn used wire cutters to cut through the first layer of chain-linked fencing. Clearing the place was going to be much harder than Rick made it seem, but that didn't stop them.
"Hurry, hurry!" Rick whispered, holding the hole in the fence open. Rosie only then realized that she was the last one outside of the fence, aside from Rick. Once Rosie climbed through, Rick followed and Glenn quickly closed the gap in the fence with a strong wire.
Once the entrance was sealed, they began jogging down the path, walkers clawing at the fences on either side of them.
"It's perfect," Rick said once they got to the end of the path. He looked out across the yard to one of the guard towers next to a big gate. "If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight."
"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked.
"I'll do it. You guys cover me," Glenn volunteered.
Maggie stared at him, clearly not okay with what he was saying. "No. it's a suicide run," she said.
"I'm the fastest," Glenn reasoned.
"I'll go," Rosie said, shrugging her shoulders. It only made sense- at least, in her own mind. She was small, she was fast, and she had no one relying on her. If she didn't make it, they might be sad for awhile, sure, but it wasn't like she was a super valuable member of the group. They'd survive just fine without her.
"No," Rick said quickly, "Glenn, Maggie, and Beth draw as many as you can over there. Pop 'em through the fence. Daryl, go back to the other tower. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot. Take your time. We don't have a lot of ammo to waste. Hershel, you, Carl, and Rosie take this tower."
Rosie almost smiled. She was finally going to get to use her gun again, despite the noise. They'd found ammo for it on the road, but she couldn't ever use it because it didn't have a silencer. But now, that didn't matter so much. They had fences. So, Rosie nodded and followed Carl and Hershel up the tower.
"I'll run for the gate," Rick said.
When they got to the top of the tower, Rosie dropped her backpack off of her shoulders and dug her hand down to the very bottom of the bag before pulling her gun out. Hershel had a rifle and Carl had a pistol.
As Rick ran through the walker-filled yard, Rosie focused hard on shooting the walkers in the head. It was hard from a distance, but she'd gotten better at shooting. She wasn't able to use her own gun, but she'd taken turns with Carl's gun, which had a silencer. Almost every shot she made hit the walker she was aiming for. Not always in the head, but always somewhere on the walker.
Just as the walkers were catching up to Rick, he was able to get the gate closed and lock himself in the guard tower. Once Rick was out of the way, Daryl shouted for them to "light it up", so that's what they did. They popped off so many shots that it sounded like the Fourth of July, and they didn't stop until every walker in the yard was dead. Dead dead.
Once the yard was clear, they each left their towers and gathered together on the ground.
Carol was very cheerful as she ran out onto the field. "We haven't had this much space since we left the farm!" she said, running through the grass. Even Rosie found a smile twitching at her lips, so she scrunched her face up, pretending the smile wasn't there.
She felt Daryl's hand on her head, ruffling her hair a little. That was another thing that was relatively new. People did it sometimes when she was younger, and sometimes Rick would do it back at the farm, but now tons of people did it.
Daryl did it the most, and Rick did it second most. Glenn and Maggie did it a lot, too. They tended to do that rather than hug her, because she didn't seem very fond of hugs, always tensing up a bit whenever someone would try it. Rosie also noticed that they tended to do it a lot when they caught her smiling, which embarrassed her a little.
Rosie wasn't very fond of the hair ruffles at first, but she had grown to like it. Just like she'd grown to like it when someone would comfortingly place their hand on her upper back or shoulder. It provided her with the same confusing sort of comfort that her velociraptor toy did.
She didn't always understand it, but she had stopped trying to push it away.