"Carol? What's goin' on? Where're you goin'?" Rosie asked, coming up behind Carol and Jerry as they locked the weapons cabin. Rick and Daryl had only been gone for a little while, and Rosie fed her vegetables to Jerry's horse. Now she was just wandering around camp, searching for something to do.
"Daryl didn't tell you?" Carol asked, sounding surprised.
"No. He's bein' weird. Wasn't tellin' me nothin'," Rosie said, furrowing her eyebrows. She still had that stomach ache, and she hadn't even eaten any cheese.
"Yeah, there's a lot going on right now, honey. Come on," Carol said quickly, putting her hand on Rosie's shoulder and spinning her around. Rosie was confused, but she went along anyway as Carol started leading her back further into the camp. Then, she pushed Rosie behind a tree. "Stay here," she said. Rosie was very confused, but she did as she was told because Carol was Carol, and Carol meant business. However, she did peek out from behind her tree to see what was going on. Carol had her gun raised and the group of ex-Saviors were approaching camp with their own weapons. "Where'd you get the gun, Jed?" Carol asked, remaining calm. Several of the others around camp had their weapons out and raised, so Rosie took hers out, too, but she stayed behind her tree.
"Alden wasn't as quick as you," Jed said with a chuckle, pointing his weapon right at Carol's head. He cocked his head to the side. "Surprised me, too."
"How about we all lower our weapons. Nobody gets hurt today," Carol said, her voice calm and stern. Rosie could never understand how people could be so calm, even in moments like this. Rosie was sure that if she were in Carol's place, her heart would be racing and her throat would feel like it was closing up.
"That's right. Listen to the woman. Drop your guns. Party's over," Jed said snarkily. Rosie was confused at first, but then she realized he was speaking to the camp's side, rather than his own side. Rosie held her gun out in front of her, but she didn't aim it just yet. She decided, in that moment, that if she had to shoot anyone, it would be Jed. DJ second. "See, uh, I took the scenic route, but I figured it out. Oceanside's killing us," Jed said. Oh. Rosie hadn't figured that out. All she knew was that several ex-Saviors had gone missing, and some of them had shown up dead. "So now, being that it's war, they're gonna get what's comin' to 'em."
"Stop it, Jed," Carol said, looking Jed in the eyes. She had a powerful look that often made people want to listen to her. Not because of her size or her strength, like with Daryl, but because she knew what she was doing and you could see it in her eyes. "You're gonna get everybody killed."
"Excuse me, Carol. You ain't boss lady no more. You're a weak, little woman who got in a lucky shot," Jed spat. He kept taking steps closer to Carol, hoping she'd give in and back away, but she stood her ground, because she was Carol and she meant business. And she sure as hell wasn't weak. "And now... listen to what I say," Jed let his thumb lift to pull the hammer back on his pistol. "Now, step aside."
When Carol let her gun drop down to her side, Rosie didn't understand. What was Carol doing? Giving up? That wasn't very Carol-like of her. Rosie kept her gun ready, just like everyone else, as Jed stepped closer to Carol and pulled the keys to the weapons cabin off of her belt loop. Just as Jed began to step away, Carol kicked him in the back of the knees, knocking him to the ground. Jed instantly began to fight back and several more people who had no idea what was going on appeared from the woods. They instantly raised their weapons and Rosie knew that this was all about to go south- or souther than it already had gone. So, she aimed her gun at Jed's head and pulled the trigger, shooting him dead.
"No!" Carol shouted, just as the gunshots started to echo through the woods.
Chaos erupted among the group and Rosie ducked down behind her tree, hoping that it was enough cover to not be shot dead. As they ex-Saviors started to advance on them, she was pulled up to her feet when Jerry grabbed onto her arm. Rosie didn't know Jerry very well, but she knew he was nice and that Henry liked him a lot. She had used his name before, so she decided it'd be best to default to mister, just in case he didn't like to be called by just his first name. Some adults were weird like that. Like teachers.
"Thanks, mister Jerry," she said as she began running for cover by his side.
"Just Jerry," Jerry said, smiling despite the stress they were both under.
"'Kay. Thanks, Jerry," Rosie corrected herself.
It wasn't long after that that Rosie began to hear the familiar rumbling of Daryl's bike. What was he doing back? He was supposed to take Rick to Alexandria. It wasn't that quick of a ride. By the time his bike skidded to a stop, most of the ex-Saviors who had come to attack were already down and the gunfire had begun to slow. As he hopped off his bike, one last ex-Savior tried going after him, but Daryl took him down easily.
"Hey!" Daryl shouted to get everyone's attention. Rosie hurried out of her and Jerry's hiding spot to listen. She could see that several others had remained uninjured, too, which she was glad for. The ex-Saviors were a bit too confident, then, she thought. "Gunfire's gonna attract the herd. Rick's leadin' it away as best he can, but we gotta get the hell outta here," Daryl announced to everyone.
Rosie ran over to him. "What's goin' on? Thought you were takin' Rick to Alexandria," she said, her eyebrows pinched together.
"Shit happened," Daryl said. He took his crossbow off of his bike and held it in his right hand while his left went to Rosie's back, pushing her along forward. "C'mon!" he shouted to everyone. And they did. They all started to evacuate the camp. Even just as they were leaving, a few walkers began to stumble their way into the camp.
As they left their camp, Daryl began to explain the plan. Rick was going to lead the walkers to the bridge, since it wasn't finished, and the bridge wouldn't hold. The walkers would fall into the river and everything would be just fine. But they had to get to the bridge with everyone so they could make sure everything had gone correctly and so they could kill off any stragglers.
Along the way, they met up with Maggie, Michonne, and a few others who had come from Alexandria and the Hilltop. Rosie made sure to keep close by Daryl's side, because no one needed a missing kid right now. They ran through the woods, going towards the bridge that they'd all been working on for so long, just so they could watch it be destroyed. They'd have to start all over again, and this time, without the help of all the ex-Saviors who were there the first time around. But Rosie knew that they would get it done eventually because Rick knew what he was doing. Rick was a natural leader. He called the shots, and sometimes they were the wrong ones, but he always wanted what was best for everyone.
No one was perfect- Rosie knew that- but Rick was pretty damn close. He had helped her back in Atlanta when she had been nothing but an asshole to him, calling him a pussy ass cop and flipping him off. She had done those things just because she was angry. Not at him, not because of Merle, not because of Merle's goddamn hand, but because of her father. She had always felt angry back then. A constant and perpetual feeling of anger and frustration that she didn't know how to get rid of without being a complete asshole. But Rick, along with Daryl and almost everyone else from that original group in Atlanta, somehow taught her how to get rid of that internal anger without her even telling them that she had it. Rick had started the whole thing. If he hadn't locked Merle on that roof, then Rosie would probably be dead right now, stumbling along the streets of Atlanta with nothing but a craving for human flesh.
That's why Rick was such a great leader. Because, even when he made bad decisions, they always turned out in the end. It always ended with something good out of the whole deal. Rick always figured out a way to make things right.
All these thoughts were the reason why Rosie's feet skidded to a halt, alongside her heartbeat, when they reached the tree line just off the river. As they all looked up at the bridge, they could see that the walkers were stumbling across it, and the bridge was holding. The bridge was supposed to fall. It was supposed to fall and the walkers would die and everything would be alright. But the bridge wasn't falling. But, even worse, what Rosie's eyes landed on first was Rick, standing opposite the walkers. His shirt was covered in blood and his left hand was pressed onto his abdomen. He was injured and he was bleeding badly. Like, they needed Siddiq here now, or else Rick would die, badly.
Rosie was frozen in her spot. She could hear her heartbeat pounding in her head like a throbbing headache. That stomachache was back and it was worse than it had ever been before. She didn't know what to do as Daryl lifted his crossbow and shot a bolt through one of the walkers' heads.
Rick turned to the tree line, seeing Daryl standing there. He nodded a thank you, and Daryl nodded back. But they both knew that it meant nothing, those bolts. Those bolts meant nothing because they were only putting off the inevitable. There were too many walkers. There were too many walkers and all of those walkers were going to kill Rick. So a single crossbow bolt meant nothing to those walkers, but it meant much more to Daryl and Rick. To Daryl and Rick, it meant, I'm here, you're my brother, I'm sorry, and a thousand different things.
"Daryl, what do we do?" Rosie asked, her voice more high-pitched and panicky than it had been before. Daryl didn't give an answer, because he knew that there was no answer. He just lifted his crossbow and shot another bolt. "Daryl!" Rosie shrieked, her heart in her throat.
"What is he doing?!" shouted Maggie, her eyes wide and sad. She had planned to watch Negan die earlier today, and now she was watching Rick die instead.
"He's hurt!" Michonne cried. Oh, Michonne. Rosie remembered thinking Rick was dead, back at those fairgrounds, when Rick had hidden beneath a booth, making both Michonne and Rosie believe that he was dead.
"No, no, no, no, no," Rosie kept whispering to herself, tears burning at her eyes. Michonne's sword dropped to the ground, and the walkers started approaching. Rosie didn't want Michonne to die, too, so she picked up the metal rod again and stabbed it into the head of one of the walkers.
Michonne had dropped her sword in the face of walkers that day. She thought that Rick had died and she gave up. She had decided that there was nothing left to live for without Rick. She couldn't do it without him. Rosie only hoped that Michonne wouldn't drop her sword today. She hoped that Michonne would be able to keep going without Rick, because Rosie didn't want to lose both of them.
"That herd that went right through Hilltop. He's tryin' to bring down the bridge," Daryl murmured, his voice quiet and beaten.
"No," Michonne whispered to herself, her eyes wide.
"But- but the bridge ain't breakin'," Rosie squeaked, looking up at Daryl as if he knew the answer to this problem. There was no answer, and Rosie knew that, but she couldn't help but ask for one.
"We turn them around! Fight 'em back!" Maggie shouted. Michonne had already run off with her sword in her hand. Soon, Maggie followed.
"Fire your guns! Try to divert them," Carol ordered, running after Maggie and Michonne. The rest of their group followed, all working together in an effort to save the man who ended the war, the pussy ass cop, Rick Grimes.
"No. No, don't do it, not for me," Rick pleaded, waving his hand, trying to tell them all to stop. Even in his dying moments, he was saving everybody. "It's too many. No."
Rosie tried to run after the rest of the group. She wanted to help. She wanted to save Rick. Maybe their plan would work. Maybe they could distract the walkers and Rick would survive. But Daryl knew better. He grabbed onto her wrist before she could get away.
"Daryl! We can-" Rosie shrieked.
"It ain't enough," Daryl whispered.
Rosie's heart couldn't take all of this anymore. She didn't want to. She felt like her heart was cracking and breaking into a million little pieces as her hands went to her hair pulling hard on the roots as if it would ease the pain in her chest. Rick stumbled forward and swung an axe through another walker's head. Daryl lifted his crossbow, shooting useless bolt after useless bolt. Rick would die anyway. Rick was going to die.
"No! No, no, no, no," Rosie kept crying, pulling on her hair as the walkers kept getting closer and closer to Rick. Why wouldn't he just run? Why couldn't he- why couldn't he get away? "Rick!" she cried as he lifted his gun up. What was he doing? What was he going to do? "No! Rick, please!"
When Rick pulled the trigger, the bridge erupted into flames, just as the CDC had back in Atlanta. Rick saved them all then, and he saved them all now. He couldn't stop saving people, that man. But he couldn't save himself at the same time.
"No!" Rosie cried, her eyes wide with terror. A thick cloud of black smoke replaced the orange explosion on the bridge, and as the flames began to envelop the wood, walkers began to stumble down into the river, being swept away by the current. Rosie looked to Daryl, as if he'd have the answers. Daryl was crying. He was crying like he had cried at the Sanctuary, and like he had cried at Rosie's old house, and like he cried at that hospital. "No. Daryl, what do we- can we-?" Rosie didn't even know what she was asking, because she knew that there was no way to save Rick. He was already gone.
Michonne was screaming. Rosie could hear the sound echoing in the woods.
Daryl wouldn't answer. He was staring off into the flames as if Rick would walk right out of them, perfectly ok.
"Daryl! What do we do?! What do we do?" Rosie asked, tears falling freely from her eyes. Daryl still wouldn't answer. She put her hands on his stomach and shoved him backward. "Daryl! What do we do?!" she shouted at him. Daryl wouldn't answer. He was supposed to answer. He always knew what to do. "Daryl!" Rosie shouted, shoving him back again. Daryl only stumbled a step or two back. Her pushing did practically nothing.
"I'm sorry," Daryl finally spoke. His voice was quieter than a whisper, and it was broken down. He had just lost his brother. Not Merle, but his chosen brother. Like Rosie was his chosen daughter. He had lost another member of his chosen family. He was crying and Rosie hated when he cried because she didn't know how to help him. But this time, she didn't know how to help herself, either.
"Sorry? Why- why're you sorry?" Rosie stumbled over her words, her eyes darting around. Who was to blame for this? Who could she blame? She was angry and sad and she needed someone to be angry at. Daryl wouldn't answer her question. "Daryl!" she said. No answer. Did she need to scream at him to get him to answer? Did she need to pound on his chest until he couldn't hold it in any longer? "Daryl! What happened?! What happened?!" she asked, trying to shove him once more. She was doing it again- turning her sadness into anger. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, but the tears kept coming. "What'd you do?! You were s'posed to take him to Alexandria! Why didn't you take him?!" Rosie shrieked, hitting Daryl as if her weak, devastated hits did anything to him.
Daryl just grabbed onto her hands to stop her from hitting and pushing him. She kept crying and shouting at him, but he didn't mind the shouting as much as the hitting.
"Daryl, you were- you-" she couldn't even finish what she wanted to say. She just kept crying and crying and crying, and Daryl put his hand on the back of her head, pulling her towards him, because he couldn't take it. He couldn't take the guilt and the anger and the grief on his own, and he needed Rosie just as much as she need him. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, his mind whispered a million times over.
What about Judith? What about Michonne? What about Alexandria and all of the people who relied on Rick Grimes? What about Daryl? What about me?
What were they to do? Rick had ended the war. Rick was the one person they all looked up to, and now he was dead. Another name on the list. Rick Grimes.
She scooted backwards as the cop stepped closer to her. "What happened here, Rosie?" the cop asked her.
"You're the pussy ass cop that locked Merle up here," Rosie replied, furrowing her eyebrows at the man. The cop raised his eyebrows, a little shocked, while T-Dog and Glenn turned away to snicker.
"I'm Rick Grimes," Rick said, crouching down in front of Rosie. He gave a friendly smile, but Rosie just glared at him. "You know my son, Carl. I hear you punched him, actually."
They were all dead. Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, Carl. They were all dead.
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Hope i did this chapter justice lol idk how i feel about it just yet.
Anyway, there'll be a few more chapters with little Rosie that will take place a few months after this (when Judith is taken and Michonne is pregnant with RJ) and after that we'll get to meet teen rosie !! I'm so excited