DANIEL POV:
We had to have been driving for a couple hours since we had last stopped and talked. I wasnt planning on breaking the silence again, and apparently neither was Rosita.
We pulled into a halfway empty parking lot that led to an outlet mall. I hated to think about what had happened to the people who had drove those cars into the parking lot, not realizing that they wouldn't be driving them back out.
Rosita drove up to the midway point in the parking lot, before stopping and turning the car off. "Considering your father takes his damn time whenever he's in Alexandria, Rick doesn't want us back til tomorrow."
"Great." I said, opening the door to the car and getting out. Rosita got out and opened up the truck, revealing a couple guns. She grabbed one, putting the strap over her shoulder and handed me the other one.
"Just keep your eyes open when we get in here." She said, closing the trunk and walking away from me. I followed behind her for a few minutes before deciding to catch up. "We're gonna do a sweep through the place, find a store that should be easy to block off, start going through places for supplies. Get everything in a central location and then go back to wherever we're hiding out for the night."
I nodded, "Sounds good." I said as we approached the entrance to the outlet mall. Rosita took the lead into a couple stores, downing a few walkers as they approached.
TIME SKIP
We had spent a while, exploring the stores until we found one to hunker down in. We had decided to take some supplies on back to the car so that it wasn't so much to carry back tomorrow.
"Once we get back to the store, we need to change the bandage on your shoulder and abdomen." She said, as we got to the car and she opened the door.
I tossed a few bags of supplies into the back seat and shrugged, "It can wait til I get back to Alexandria tomorrow."
"Sure, if you want to get an infection." She said, glancing over at me and tossing the bags she had carried into the car. She closed the door and started walking back, "You're not waiting til tomorrow."
As soon as we got back into the store, Rosita started digging through a bag that she had brought in. "Sit down, and take off your shirt." She said, not turning around to face me.
I sat down without taking my shirt off, and waited for her to turn around. After a minute, she did. "Seriously, it can wait til tomorrow." I said, shrugging.
"Trust me, it won't." She said, walking a little closer to me. "Take off your shirt."
I finally gave in and pulled it off with my good arm. She got to work changing the bandage on my stomach from the bullet wound, before moving onto my shoulder.
"Now was that so hard?" She said, glancing back at my face. She walked back over to the bag that she had been digging in and I pulled my shirt back on.
"By the way, the shot should be good to go in a week or so. Your shoulder on the other hand, I've seen worse, but I'm still not sure how you're up and out here a few days after that. And whoever stitched it up did a pretty shitty job." She said, turning around and looking at me. "What caused your shoulder anyway?"
"The damn bat." I said, shaking my head.
Rosita nodded. "Help me block the front of the store?"
I stood up and we got to work, moving some of the shelves in front of the glass windows and door that led to the outside.
As soon as we were done, I sat down in the back corner of the store. Rosita returned to the bag that she had, pulling out a couple bottles of water. She walked over closer to where I was sitting and held out one of the bottles.
I took the bottle and smiled, "Thanks."
"No problem." She said, sitting down beside me. I glanced over at her, surprised at how close she had chosen to sit.
"So we heading back in the morning?" I asked before taking a drink from the bottle of water.
"Yep. You still going to be living with Father Gabriel?" She asked, looking over and meeting my eyes.
I nodded and looked back up to the front of the store, "Yeah. I think that's the plan."
Rosita smirked slightly, "As soon as your arm is good to go, he'll have you helping him clean up the church in no time." She said, laughing.
I laughed. "I wouldn't mind it." I said, looking back over at her to find that she was looking right at me.
"Of course you wouldn't. Cause you actually seem like a good guy. Otherwise why would you be out here with your shoulder the way it is? I know Rick didn't tell you why he wanted you away from Alexandria until you were at the car." She said, nodding her head. "Look you can go ahead and go on to sleep, I'll take first shift."
She went to get up and I pulled her back, her head turning back to look at me. I took the opportunity to connect my lips to hers, and after a second she kissed back.
TIME SKIP
I woke up to light streaming in the front windows around the shelves, and rolled over to find no one laying beside me.
"Come on, we need to head back." I heard from the front of the store. I slowly stood up grabbing my discarded shirt and pants and pulling them back on.
"Morning," I said, grabbing a couple of the bags that we were taking back with us.
Rosita smirked and nodded, "Morning."
We moved the shelves out of the way and grabbed the stuff we were taking back with us, and left. As soon as we were back into the car, Rosita started driving back out to the road. The silence inside the car was a lot more comfortable than it had been the day before.
"So when are you supposed to go back up to the Hilltop for their doctor to take a look at your shoulder?" Rosita asked, glancing over at me.
"Probably in a couple days." I said, she nodded and looked back out at the road.
Within a couple hours we got back to Alexandria, a man with a mullet opening the gate as we approached. As soon as we got pulled into the gate, Rosita cut the car off and got out. I got out of the car and was greeted by the man who had opened the gate.
"Names Eugene Porter." He said, holding out his hand.
I shook his hand and smiled, "Daniel. It's nice to meet you."
"Same to you, I suppose." He said, walking back over to his seat that he had by the gate.
Rick walked up, offering a smile. "Daniel, mind coming with me for a while?"
I shrugged, "Sure, no problem." I said, walking off following Rick.
"They were looking around here pretty hard yesterday, so I'm glad we got you out of here before they showed up.'" Rick said, continuing to walk down the street.
"Yeah, I appreciate you guys making sure that I was nowhere nearby when he showed up." I said, nodding.
We walked for a few more minutes in complete silence. As soon as we were in a pretty abandoned area, Rick stopped and turned around to face me.
"I've been thinking and I think you can be a real asset to this group. Things aren't gonna stay good around here, I can't keep risking my people in order to keep enough supplies for your father." Rick said, crossing his arms. "And we can't just blindly fight against them. I was wondering if you'd be willing to work as a spy almost, when you're healed up, I need you to rejoin your father."
I nodded, glancing down at the ground. "Work from the inside?" I said, laughing slightly. "I'm good with that."
Rick nodded, "I appreciate it. But I need you to not mention a word of this to anyone in this group. I want to make damn sure that your life isn't in any danger while you're there. It needs to come off as a legitimate betrayal to everyone here other than you and I."
"I'll do it. Next time he comes for supplies, I should be healed up by then. And I'll do it, I'll go back with them." I said, glancing back the direction we had came from. The direction where a woman stood who I might actually care about, and yet here I was unable to tell her that next time they came for supplies, I would be leaving with them.