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BEAMS OF light tore through the tent that rosaline was laying in. the early morning brought the echoes of chirping birds throughout camp. her sleeping figure was plopped in the corner, breathing up and down ever so slowly. the girl's brown hair was all over the place, quite frizzy due to fussing around so much at night.
nightmares had taunted her since the world had turned into a never-ending graveyard and a battle for survival. the horrors of her childhood as well as the early events of a few weeks before also redeeming themselves in terrorizing her.
she woke up with a shaky start, gasping and panting for breath as if she was being suffocated by the monsters in her dream themselves. however, that proved to fade into a memory as she sat up and rubbed her tired eyes.
no one got very much sleep, but she was one of the few that was restless always falling in and out of sleep at night. never had she dared to complain about it though. rosaline had been blessed with a safe place to sleep and some warm food provided by her fellow campers every day.
she was grateful for that.
the sounds of hurried footsteps made her look around. rosaline was left alone in the tent. no signs of lori and carl or rhaegar.
had the children begun playing outside already along with rhaegar? lori wouldn't let them play without breakfast. she must've missed it or lori was busy.
sighing and shuffling her feet over the mattress, rosaline stood up and began to dress up for the following day.
usually, all that she wore were long sleeve tops and black jeans with a belt that held all her weapons in. although, she had noticed that the day seemed particularly hot and stuffed a plain black halter top on that shane had scavenged for her. to go with that, she put on some black leggings and combat boots. also, she gave her hair a quick brush and braided it.
before exiting the tent to go and eat, she made sure that her revolver was fully equipped with ammo and her curved knife was in its place. a few moments later she exited the tent.
the camp seemed somewhat peaceful with a nice atmosphere, dale was on top of the rv where he usually spent his time as a lookout. morales' family were helping out with tasks and amy was talking to the other women that lived in the camp.
today though, a few people were missing. glenn, andrea, t-dog, jacqui, merle, and morales himself.
the day before, a supply run to atlanta had been planned. rosaline volunteered to take part in it but lori refused to let her go. rosa, remaining level headed did not bother to argue and cause controversy in the group. besides she liked to stay behind to look for herbal plants. rosaline used to have a love for medicine before the apocalypse.
it was one of the things she had come to do as well as respect lori. in her partly hispanic family, respect came a long way and was taught from an early age. she was now 22, had just been completing her bachelorette degree in medicine. at the time when she was with her family, she had come home for break.
listen to your parents, the words echoed through her head.
lori - though not being her biological mother - was not an exception especially after having rosaline took in. instead, the girl chose to help out in her own way. helping one of the camp's hunters daryl skin his kills and sometimes even join him on a few hunts when he was not in an especially grumpy mood. which was rare.
besides that, the girl was desperate to learn how to handle something that involved arrows.
smiling, rosaline made her way over to the rv, "hey dale! have you seen lori around?" she called up the old man with a smile.
everyone around the camp had been treating her so kindly. that had seemed to catch his attention as he put down his rifle and looked down at the blonde girl. he hummed and then started to also look around in the search of the brown-haired mother. it seemed that he hadn't found her as his expression seemed to remain the same.
"oh, she's gone out somewhere and told me to watch over carl, is there anything you wanted?" he questioned.
to answer him, rosa shook her head and looked around, "if you want to eat something i think the girls are trying to figure out what to eat for breakfast. daryl hasn't come back with the squirrels so they're figuring out what else to make."
"alright, thanks, dale!" rosaline called back and then turned around walking away. she wondered where daryl was - he was usually back by morning with a fresh string of squirrels that had to be skinned.
as she walked past, there seemed to be people hanging their fresh washed laundry and carl was playing with a bunch of plastic cars that had been looted by shane whilst rheagar laid out in the sun.
grinning, she jogged over to the two.
"hey, kid." she greeted with a smile, sitting down in a crisscross position. the brunette looked up his eyes scrunching up due to the bright sunlight.
these days the atmosphere seemed particularly hot in georgia sun. rhaegar barked and the girl bent down stroking his head.
"hi, rose!" he replied enthusiastically, "do you know where mom went? dale told me she just went out somewhere and i had to stick close by..."
she shook her head looking around, "i don't know either," however, shane had seemed to be gone as well. the girl frowned to herself, she had seen the two grow so lovey-dovey close to each other recently.
since lori had lost her husband and told her how he had been shot on duty and shane was his best friend, it made sense they grew that close. although, it didn't mean that almost the whole camp didn't know.
carl sighed shaking his head for a moment.
he had been feeling quite lonely recently - there were no kids his age to play with other than sophia. not that there was something wrong with sophia, but carol's abusive husband always got in the way.
that was something the whole camp knew too. every day the mother turned up with fresh bruises but no one had the courage to stand up to the man.
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rosaline had been playing with carl and rhaegar for a good hour until they were called to breakfast. that was when lori and shane came out of the woods.
shane's hair had looked like it had been run through with a broken plow.
the girl's gaze traveled towards lori studying her, she seemed like a car ran over her. the woman looked as equally done over as shane. rosaline chuckled to herself and then nudged carl catching his attention.
he looked up, following her stare to his mother. his smile rose and he jumped up running to lori. she turned to rosaline and sent her a kind smile.
in return, rosaline gave her a knowing smirk instead and then pointed with her head towards shane who walked over to a burning campfire getting some of the food that had been prepared whilst making kissing noises to mock her.
lori rolled her eyes in response, knowing exactly what she had just been accused of.
"so," the younger girl started quietly as they walked over to where breakfast was being served a teasing grin settling upon rosaline's face for a slight moment, "how did that trip to the forest with shane go?"
lori slapped her shoulder lightly with a cheeky grin and then grabbed three plates. one for carl, her, and rosaline.
today's breakfast was a few canned fruits that the campers managed to scavenge. rhaegar would get some of the dog food glenn had managed to find. it wasn't a regular breakfast that the people had usually gotten on a daily basis.
probably because daryl was late and we were running out of supplies we have to eat this, rosaline thought, at least it's something.
thanking her, the brown-haired girl sat down.
"we ought to cut your hair later." lori remarked to her son and rosaline could already hear the groan coming from carl. she laughed a bit and then continued on with her breakfast.
maybe daryl would be back soon and rosaline would have something to help with?
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"baby the more you fidget, the longer it takes, so don't okay?" lori remarked combing gently through carl's hair whilst rosaline was sat down next to her playing with her dog. a game of fetch.
carl mumbled something beneath his breath. shane was sat opposite them, fiddling with his gun, checking if he has a sufficient amount of ammo in it.
it was clear to all of them now that carl absolutely despised haircuts. the young girl chuckled a slight bit while fumbling with the piece of grass waiting for rhaegar to bring his stick back.
carl took note of how rosaline had laughed at him.
"what're you laughing at?" carl asked crossly glaring at her as if he had blades in his eyes. rosaline cackled, even more, when he was trying to look scary. she took a quick glance at lori who seemed to have the same smile present on her face.
"nothing," she replied turning around trying not to face carl again. It would make her crack up more.
"you think this is bad? worry about starting to shave. when that day comes, you'll be wishing for one of your momma's haircuts!" shane told him placing something long inside his shotgun.
rosaline squinted her eyes, attempting to make out what it is. ah, a fishnet? she thought, frowning.
"i'll believe that when i see it," carl remarked making shane chuckle.
"tell you what, get through this with some manly dignity, and tomorrow, i'll teach you something special." he offered, trying to distract carl from being cross with the little snippet of his hair he was getting.
the girl glanced at shane interested in what he was going to give or do with carl.
it's not that she didn't trust him, but to her it was just that she had nothing to do around camp. to rosaline, it felt like she was someone who just ate up all the supplies until they are asked to do something that will benefit the group somewhat.
the girl strongly disliked that aspect and desperately wanted to change that.
carl perked up with interest, "i will teach you how to catch frogs." shane said.
"i've caught a frog before!" carl exclaimed with confidence.
"i said frogs. plural. and it is not my friend to be taken lightly!" he exaggerated possibly trying to get the boy eager for tomorrow, rosaline smiled beginning to pull some daises from the ground that she had noticed and braiding them together, "there are ways and means. few people know about it. i'm willing to share my secrets."
carl turned around raising an eyebrow questioningly at his mother as if asking what he meant about all those frogs. rosaline also couldn't help her curiosity at how that would go, "oh, i'm a girl, you talk to him." the woman told him and he turned back around a small smile creeping upon his face.
shane laughed, "it's a one-time offer, bud — not to be repeated."
"why do we need frogs, plural?" carl questioned tilting his head slightly making his mother click her tongue in annoyance as he had just ruined his haircut in a certain spot.
"you ever eat frog legs?" shane asked. suddenly, rosa cringed pushing herself backward. that was disgusting! the girl appreciated hunting of any kind - just not frogs.
"ewww!" carl stuck his tongue out, grimacing at the suggestion of eating frog legs.
"no yum!" shane protested smiling.
"i think he's right, that's gross!" rosaline chuckled. shane shook his head with a small smile.
"when you get down to that last can of beans, you're gonna be loving those frog legs, lady. i can see it now —'shane, do you think I could have a second helping, please? please? just one?'" shane teased her earning a roll of the eyes with a smirk.
rosa could never see herself eating any frogs. they're too disgusting and slimy, in her opinion. cute creatures, not delicious food.
"that'll be the day!" she retorted with a quick smirk as rhaegar padded back over with a stick clamped in his jaws. carl and lori also seemed to be having a small chuckle in the background as shane made silly mimicks of her character. she threw the sick again.
the former cop let out a toothy grin turning back to carl, "don't listen to your big sister, man. you and me, we'll be heroes. we'll feed these folks cajun-style kermit legs."
lori began to also grimace, "i would rather eat miss piggy, i'm almost certain rosaline would too, and yes, that came out wrong."
shane dismissed her comment jokingly, "heroes, son, spoken of in song and legend. you and me, shane and carl."
finally, carl seemed to join up on the laughing, and then just about lori had finished his haircut. rosaline grinned, ruffling his new hair but something stopped them as in the distance a siren echoed loudly over the hills, probably drawing every walker for miles.
rosa began to look around, a frown on her face. lori shared a look with her whilst shane stood up abruptly and stormed away - probably to find the source of the sound that could possibly mean danger for them.
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chapter one done! i hope you enjoyed it - put any comments on what you may think will happen down below! <3
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