Things had gone from bad to worse. Michonne had returned, but without Glenn- who she was supposed to be with. Rick had also returned, but he returned with a huge herd of walkers following him. Now all of those walkers were surrounding Alexandria like a moat full of alligators around a castle. Rosie was worried for Daryl, and for Glenn, and for Abraham, and for Sasha, and for all of the people who were outside of the walls. What if they came back, and they couldn't get inside? What if they were stuck out there, all on their own? She tried not to think about it. Rick would come up with a plan. He always did.
"You can hear it. Some of you saw it," Rick announced as he joined the crowd of people gathered around the walls of Alexandria. They all had these concerned looks on their faces, and it only made Rosie's anxiety grow worse. "They got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us 20 deep. Look, I know you're scared. You haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe for now. The panel the truck hit seems intact. We reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall's gonna hold together. Can you?"
Can you? That was the big question. Had the people of Alexandria seen enough to finally understand? Would they do as they were told and work together to save this place, or would they spiral into a panic and turn against each other? Only time would tell.
"The others, they're gonna be back," Rick claimed.
"They're gonna be back," Rosita repeated, nodding her head, as if confirming it.
Rick nodded his head back at her, appreciatively. "Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, they all have vehicles. They're gonna lead 'em away, just like the others. And Glenn and Nicholas are gonna walk back through the front gate after. They know what they're doing, and we know what we need to do. We keep noise to a minimum. Pull our blinds at night. Even better, keep the lights out. We'll try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on."
"This place is a graveyard," one of the women from Alexandria that Rosie still hadn't met spoke. She had short, brown hair and a sort of disbelief in her tone that irked Rosie. Nothing would get better if they didn't stick together and do as Rick said. Doubt, disbelief, and mistrust would tear the people apart, and they'd be as good as dead.
"The quarry broke open, and those walkers were heading this way," Aaron suddenly started speaking. He stepped forward, closer to Rick, in the center of the gathering. "All of them. The plan that Rick put into place stopped that from happening. He got half of them away."
Rick's plans always worked, and if they didn't, he always came up with a new plan that would work. His plans worked, and he made them work because he was good. At first, Rosie didn't understand why Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog risked their lives to get her back from the vatos, back in Atlanta. They had their guns, and saving her would just be adding an extra mouth to feed, an extra kid to keep track of, and an extra person to save. But they did it anyway, without hesitation, because they were good people. They didn't even think for a second that they'd go back to camp without her, because they were good people. Rosie had been nothing but rude to Rick and T-Dog, but they still saved her. Rosie had barely even spared Glenn a glance, but he still saved her. And Rosie had been nothing but a pain in the ass to Daryl all day long, but he still saved her. Rick, and the other people in his group, were good people. They did things for the greater good, and they did it because it was who they were. So when these people from Alexandria doubted them, it made Rosie want to yell, and scream, and bang her fists against their chests until they finally understood that they were good people, and they were only trying to help.
"I was out there recruiting with Daryl. I wanted to try to get into a cannery and scavenge, and Daryl wanted to keep looking for people. We did what I wanted... and we wound up in a trap set by those people. And I lost my pack. They must've followed our tracks. Those people who attacked us... they found their way back here because of me," Aaron went on to explain. Rosie watched as his own people sighed and looked away from him, shame and disgust plastered on their unscathed, ignorant faces.
Rosie wanted to tell Aaron that it wasn't his fault. It was the bad people's faults. "It ain't your fuckin' fault," she wanted to say sternly. And if he cared enough about what she said to argue, she would say, "No. Nothin' that you say is gonna make it your fault. Those people did what they did because they wanted to. That makes it their fault. It had nothin' to do with you. Nothin'. Now, are you hearin' me?"
Bad people did bad things because they were just that: bad. It wasn't Aaron's fault. All he wanted to do was bring back food to feed his people. He didn't know that there would be a trap, and he didn't know that he would drop his pack, and he didn't know that bad people would follow him back home. If he would've known, of course he wouldn't have done it. He shouldn't have to carry around that weight.
"There'll be more to talk about," Rick said, nodding his head. Deanna began to walk away, and despite Tobin yelling her name, she didn't stop. She was disheartened, just like everybody else. Rosie didn't want to be disheartened like everybody else, so she decided she wouldn't be.
•
There was a wall on the north side of Alexandria. Stretched across the panel were the names of the people they lost, and the list was getting longer and longer. Three women were out there, painting the names in black. In Our Memory was painted big and bold at the top. Then there were two columns. Dinesh, Jeffery, Carter, Holly, Shelly, Richards, Helen, Stacy, Michael, and Barnes were listed in the first column. Bobby, Samantha, Park, Charlyne, Ohara, Sturgess, Adrian, and Nicholas were listed in the second column. Rosie was just walking past, and she thought she might help. But before she even got close enough to offer, she noticed that last name in the second column.
Nicholas.
Nicholas wasn't dead. He was with Glenn. That's what Rick said, at least. So why was this woman writing Nicholas's name on the wall of dead people? Rosie stepped closer, silently watching as one of the women began writing a new name, below Nicholas's name. Her hand moved slowly and steadily, leaving behind a smooth, clean G. Then an L, then an E.
She was spelling out Glenn, Rosie realized.
"Glenn ain't dead," Rosie finally spoke up, just as the woman was painting on the last N. The woman jumped a little, not having known that Rosie was there. She gave Rosie a sad sort of look- a look of pity. Rosie didn't need pity, because Glenn was very much alive. "Glenn ain't dead. He's comin' back. Just like Rick said," Rosie said again, fully believing her words. "You don't gotta write his name."
"We don't know that, sweetheart. Chances are-" the woman began to speak.
"Don't call me sweetheart," Rosie interrupted. She didn't like being called sweetheart, and she only made exceptions when people deserved exceptions. This lady was writing an alive person's name on the dead people's wall. She didn't need an exception. "Glenn ain't dead. Stop actin' like he is," Rosie said.
The woman put her hand up to her heart, still giving Rosie that pitying look. "I don't want to give you false hope, Rosie. It just isn't likely that they're coming back," the woman said.
Before Rosie could even argue, someone came up behind her and grabbed onto her hand. Turning around, Rosie could see that it was Maggie. "Come here," Maggie said. Her voice was still nice and kind, like it always was when she spoke to Rosie, but it had a hint of seriousness in it this time. Rosie did as she was told and followed Maggie to the food pantry.
Still holding onto Maggie's hand, the two of them went past the food, through the house, and into the armory; where most of the guns were now kept. Maggie finally let go of Rosie's hand and went to the table. She picked out a gun, checked to see if it was loaded, and then picked out a holster. She turned back around and clipped the holster onto Rosie's belt before placing the gun in Rosie's hands. Rosie could now see that the gun and holster were hers, from before they got to Alexandria.
"I want you to keep this on you at all times. Ok?" Maggie said, her eyebrows raised and her voice stern.
"Ok," Rosie said, trying to hide the face that she was really quite confused. She was happy to finally have her gun back, but she didn't understand why Maggie was acting so weird.
"I have to do something, and I want you to listen to Rick for me. Ok?" Maggie said. The way she was talking made Rosie's stomach churn with anxiety. Something seemed wrong, or off. Like she knew something that Rosie didn't. Rosie watched as Maggie's eyes wandered from her own, over to something behind her. Turning around, Rosie could see that Aaron was now standing there, in the doorway. Maggie looked back to Rosie, grabbing her attention once again. "Promise me," Maggie said.
"Are you leavin'?" Rosie asked, her eyebrows pinched together.
After taking a deep breath, Maggie sighed. "I didn't say that. Just promise me," she said.
"Ok. Promise," Rosie assured her, nodding her head. She slid the gun into the holster on her belt, just as Maggie said to.
"Good. Now go find Ian. He was looking for you," Maggie said, ushering Rosie out the door. Even though she wanted to know what was going on with Maggie, Rosie figured that if something something serious was going on, it was better for her to stay out of the way. So she did as she was told and went back to the house to find Ian.
When Rosie got back to the house, she found Ian sitting in the kitchen, eating a peanut butter sandwich. Rosie sat down next to him, and he jumped, not having heard her come in. "There you are!" he exclaimed, his words all slurred and mushed together by the sticky peanut butter in his mouth. Rosie cringed, trying not to be grossed out by it, and Ian took a moment to swallow his food and regain his composure. "Liam told me to give this to you," Ian said, and he pulled something out of his pocket. Rosie's eyebrows furrowed, confused, when Ian put a small stegosaurus toy in her hand.
"What for?" Rosie asked, looking at the toy in her hand. She couldn't believe it. Liam hated her, and he thought her interest in dinosaurs was stupid. So why was he giving her a dinosaur toy? Why was he being nice?
"Because you saved him and his mom, obviously," Ian said, smiling a little. Rosie's face scrunched up. It was weird. Very, very weird. "I'd give you a dinosaur, too, if I had one. Just so you know," Ian added on quickly.
"Um, thanks," Rosie said, giving a short smile.
"He also said he was sorry, by the way," Ian said, referring back to Liam. Rosie thought about it for a moment. She wasn't sure if she completely forgave him yet, but she was willing to not punch him. She was willing to deal with him, if she had to. As long as he was actually sorry. She would've taken it more sincerely if he'd manned up and come to apologize himself, but this was better than nothing. "Hey, can you teach me how to shuffle cards?" Ian asked, completely changing the subject.
"Sure," Rosie said, a small smile finding its way onto her face. She liked shuffling. It was something that she was actually good at, and it was an easy distraction from waiting for Daryl, Glenn, Sasha, and Abraham to get back.
•
The day had flown by, and now they were sailing into the next one. Rosie had a hard time sleeping. Still no Daryl, still no Glenn, still no Sasha, and still no Abraham. Rosie was beginning to lose hope. She was trying so hard not to give up- not to be disheartened like everyone else seemed to be. But they should've been back by now. Maggie was constantly on watch. Rosie was pretty sure she was losing hope, too. And Rosita. Rosie was pretty sure she even caught Rosita crying. Rosita never cried. She was tough. Maybe tough people cried sometimes, too.
The walkers were getting rowdy. Some of them were pressing up against the walls so hard that their blood was seeping through the cracks. Drops of blood had seeped through the cracks in Rosie's skin, just above her eyebrow, too. But it didn't hurt as much anymore. She still seemed to have some sort of constant headache, but she wasn't sure if it was the concussion or the stress of knowing that if one single panel on the wall came down, they'd all be as good as dead, or maybe the stress of knowing that Daryl, Glenn, Sasha, and Abraham could all very well be dead already.
They had to come back. It was weighing down on Rosie. Her velociraptor toy had been clutched tightly in her left hand almost constantly, being the only thing that made her feel like maybe things would turn out ok. She didn't know what she'd do if they didn't come back. They just had to. Glenn and Daryl- they'd been there since the very beginning. Rosie had met Daryl on the highway, when she'd asked Merle for his lighter. She met Glenn not even a day later, when he offered her a Barbie doll he found, and she'd rudely declined it. Then Sasha at the prison, and Abraham at Terminus. No matter how long she'd known them for, they all felt like some of the most important people in the world to Rosie. So they had to come back.
The missing people were all on the list of people that Rosie liked- except for Nicholas. Nicholas was on the list of people Rosie didn't like, but she still didn't want him dead. She didn't want anyone dead. Along with Nicholas, Spencer was moving up on the list of people Rosie didn't like. He had tried to slip away, without anyone noticing, by climbing across the sea of walkers on a rope. His plan failed. He'd almost died, and almost killed Tara in the process. Rosie was listening to Tara tell the story, alongside Rosita and Eugene, when their focus was suddenly directed up towards the sky.
"What's that?" Tara interrupted her own story to point up at the sky. She shielded her eyes from the sun and looked up and behind Rosie, so Rosie did the same. In the sky, just above some old building, was a bundle of green balloons, floating higher and higher by the second. Rosie's stomach fluttered.
"That's Glenn! It's gotta be!" Rosie exclaimed, her heart swelling back up with hope. She bounced on her feet, a smile growing on her face. Glenn was alive, and chances were, if he was alive, then Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha were, too. They were gonna be ok. Everyone was gonna be ok.
Hope was filling up everyone's insides. Hope that their people were alive, hope that they'd lead the walkers away, and hope that everyone would survive. Things were going to be good again, and those green balloons in the sky were the proof. Green had always been Rosie's favorite color, but now she was sure that she liked it even more than she had before.
Glenn was alive, and he was almost back to Alexandria. Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham had to be on their way too. Then they'd lead the walkers away, and they'd all come back, and Rosie would be able to sleep well again. Daryl would come back, and he'd probably ask about the stitches above Rosie's eyebrow, and maybe accuse her of getting in a fight with Liam when he was gone, but then she'd tell him about how she saved Liam and his mom, and he'd be proud, and Rosie would feel strong again. Abraham would be back, and he'd probably say something funny, like what the bitch, and Rosie would try not to laugh at him. Sasha would be back, and she'd tell Rosie about what happened, and Rosie would try to be as brave and as strong as Sasha was in her story. And Glenn would be back, and he'd ruffle Rosie's hair, and he'd smile, and Maggie would smile again, too. And everything would be good again.
Everything was going to be good again.
And then the wood started to crack.
Rosie's eyes wandered away from the green balloons in the sky, and she turned towards the bell tower. It was standing tall, like it always was. But then it began to sway. Back, and forth, and back again. Rosie's eyes widened, and her heart started to slam against the ribs. All the hope that had built itself up upon seeing those bright, green balloons floating in the pale, blue sky, came crashing down within a matter of seconds, and the bell tower came crashing down with it.
Forwards, backwards, backwards, backwards, until the tower was down on the ground, in a thick cloud of dust and dirt. It brought down one of the wall panels with it, and the walkers were already flooding in. Their growls got louder, and louder, and louder, and they were climbing through the wreckage that the tower had left behind. It wouldn't matter if Daryl, Glenn, Sasha, and Abraham got back if everyone would already be dead, anyway. So Rosie was running, running, running.
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Sorry if these last few chapters have been boring or oddly paced lol I'm trying to hurry up and get to the introduction of the saviors because this era is low key boring to write