───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
WHEN THE man fell limp to the ground, rosaline couldn't help but feel thankful for the decision that the stranger had made for them. if they didn't do something soon they'd have been walker food.
daryl rushed to the door peeking outside, "remember the alamo?" he asked.
rick waved to the side, "here help me with the door."
oscar shook his head in disapproval, "you gotta be kidding me."
"he's dead. check the back," he demanded, lifting the dead body up with daryl.
"it's clear." oscar informed.
"come." rosaline uttered to rhaegar quietly taking him to the back door as rick and daryl threw the man's body to the walkers as a distraction.
the group sprinted out the back as the walkers feasted. they needed to get to where glenn and maggie were before it's too late.
it took them all until nightfall to get there. everything was dark and the night gave them the advantage of camouflage. maybe it was for the best that they were doing this in the night: there were pros and cons.
when they approached behind a car, there were armed sentries and tall walls covered by car tires to enforce their strength. sentries were there and large spotlights for anything that moved. people were patrolling the wall.
rosaline couldn't believe her eyes. the place was fortified. how were they going to get in as the woman had told them? the girl lowered the german shepherd at the side, making sure to ask him to be silent.
for the first time in forever, she was wondering what they could possibly be dealing with.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
the group scanned any possible ways of entering, until the woman with them decided to break off catching rick's attention, "hey! hey! damn it..." he hissed, "all right. we need to downsize."
rosaline wasn't about to go after her, that was the last thing she wanted to do in unknown territory.
daryl spoke, "ain't no way we're gonna check in all them buildings, not with all them guards there."
a twig snapped behind them and rosaline trained her gun on whatever it was with the rest of the men. the stranger had come back. she was mouthing a few words - probably a sign to follow them. quietly, rosaline got off her knees and stalked after her, rhaegar at her side crouching lowly.
she led them over to a window, which they silently hopped in through, watching their every step in order not to make a noise. anything that would give them away meant death. it was a house, long tables and lights were placed around the room.
"is this where you were held?" rick asked the woman.
"i was questioned," she replied.
"any idea where else they could be?"
rosaline crept after daryl who parted some curtains, peering out into the streets of the establishment. there were a few people strolling around on the street. they looked like civilians. although, they weren't clear as they were told.
daryl was annoyed, "i thought you said there was a curfew."
"the street is packed during the day. those are stragglers." the dark-skinned girl replied, hastily, aggravated by his lack of belief in her.
"what do we do about them?" rosaline muttered.
rick seemed to be concerned too, "if anyone comes in here, we're sitting ducks. we gotta move."
"they could be in his apartment," the stranger suggested.
rick swiveled himself pacing towards her, "yeah? what if they ain't?"
"then we'll look somewhere else."
"you said you could help us." rick grumbled.
"I'm doing what i can."
oscar tilted his head, "then where in the hell are they?"
"she wasn't here when they were taken, she couldn't possibly know." rosaline reminded.
rick jerked his head to the place where they came from, leading them over, "if this goes south, we're cutting her loose."
"you think she's leading us into a trap?" oscar questioned.
rosaline sighed quietly, glancing at daryl as he opened his mouth to speak, "right now it's the blind leading the blind. let's split up." he suggested.
a pounding at the door caused them to whip around at the noise. keys jangled meaning that someone was going to enter the building they were in. swiftly rosaline hid rhaegar behind the wall.
"i know you're in here. i saw you moving from outside. all right, now. you're not supposed to be in here and you know it." a man's voice warned, he came closer, "who's in here?"
rick was the first to lunge for him, grabbing him by the shirt causing the man to yell, "shut up. get on your knees." he barked, pointing a gun at him, "hands behind your back. zip tie him. where are our people?"
"i don't know." he shook his head quickly, full of fear. rosaline glared at him, daryl passed her an m4 tell her to hold onto it and that she should hold onto her bow until she is forced to use it.
"where the hell are they?" he pressed.
"i don't know." the hostage urged.
"open your mouth." rick demanded, shoving a cloth in the man's mouth. daryl butted him in the back of the head with a gun, knocking him unconscious.
gunshots made everyone snap back to reality. rosaline scanned around the room, "there's fighting, gunshots." she commented. they went to the door, rick opening it first, creeping out into the street in the search of maggie and glenn.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
the girl snapped her fingers to the floor, her eyes on rhaegar, "find maggie." she instructed the german shepherd. he looked at her before planting his nose to the floor. quickly, he led them to a place that looked like a warehouse, people were surveying the perimeter, watching for any intruders.
this would make the job a whole lot harder.
a voice rumbled out something, the sound of it was indistinctive. rhaegar laid down on the floor, indicating that was as far as he could take them without getting caught.
"they're in that room." she breathed out softly.
"on your feet, move! let's go, come on." the voice that belonged to a male snapped out orders.
this was their moment. they had to throw out the flash and smoke grenades to take the pair back. rosaline covered rhaegar's ears before they ran deeper into the warehouse. the girl lifted her m4, training it on the people.
meanwhile, rick guided glenn and rosaline guided maggie away, the dog at her feet making sure to stay to the ground in order not to get hit. the group raced through the street, taking shelter inside another building.
what they didn't see was that the woman had split off from them, once again. they were more focused on questioning glenn and maggie's wellbeing.
daryl scanned the area outside the window, "ain't no way out back here."
"rick, how did you find us?" maggie gasped out. glenn was beaten up badly, blood running from his nose and his eye was swollen. he was going to have a black eye for sure.
rick examined him, "how bad are you hurt?"
"i'll be all right." he managed.
"where's that woman?" maggie asked, urgently.
"she was right behind us." rick answered, peering out the window.
"she didn't come in with us." rosaline informed.
daryl's eyebrows knitted together, "maybe she was spotted. want me to go look for her?"
rick shook his head, "no. we gotta get them out of here. she's on her own."
glenn leaned forward as maggie wrapped a cloth around him, "daryl... this was merle."
that piqued his interest. he stepped forward. rosaline was shocked. his brother was alive? was that good? obviously not, he'd almost beat glenn to death. he was with this man that ran this community.
"he's alive?" rosaline said.
glenn nodded, "it was him. he did this."
rick was amazed too, "you saw him?"
"face to face. he threw a walker at me. he was gonna execute us." glenn explained shakily.
"so my brother's this governor?" daryl stammered for the first time in forever.
"no, it's somebody else." maggie murmured, "your brother's his lieutenant or something."
"does he know i'm still with you?"
maggie bobbed her head up and down while glenn threw his stare at their leader, "he does now. rick, i'm sorry. we told him where the prison was; we couldn't hold out."
"don't. no need to apologize." the former sheriff reassured.
"they're all around the street, checking for us." rosaline observed staring out the window.
"they'll be looking for us." maggie growled.
rick's head snapped to her, "we have to get back. can you walk? we got a car a few miles out."
glenn rose to his feet, "i'm good."
daryl stopped them slightly, "hey, if merle's around i need to see him."
rick didn't approve of that idea, "not now. we're in hostile territory."
"daryl he might not even hesitate to kill you. we don't know what he's like anymore." rosaline pointed out, trying to push the idea out of his head. if daryl were to search for merle, that would mean putting himself at risk.
the marksman glared at her thinking that she would be the one to understand out of all the people there, "he's my brother. i ain't-"
"look at what he did!" rick seethed, poking his head at glenn, "look, we gotta- we gotta get out of here now. listen to rosaline."
daryl's eyes widened, he was desperate to search for merle, "maybe i can talk to him. maybe i can work something out."
"no, no, no. you're not thinking straight. look, no matter what they say, they're hurt. glenn can barely walk. how are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers and this governor catches up to us?" rick rationalized to the dixon brother, "i need you! are you with me?"
daryl hesitated, letting out a breath. rosaline could swear she'd never seen him this emotional before. the return of his brother had sparked some hope in him, "yeah."
relief washed over rick's face. daryl rushed over to one of the packs, taking out a smoke grenade, "on three. stay tight. one, two, three."
the marksman chucked out the smoke canister. it started to fill the street, enabling them to slip away using the camouflage that it gave. sadly, someone on the wall spotted them, calling out their position.
rick was the first to shoot, knocking a few people off the wall. rosaline took an opportunity as well, nailing a man in the chest as he aimed his gun at daryl.
"behind you!" daryl called to her, turning around and beginning to shoot at some people hidden away behind a bench.
"go get cover!" rick waved at them, "get there!"
"how many?" oscar asked.
daryl reloaded his assault rifle, "don't matter. there's gonna be more of them. we need to move!"
in the background, gunfire continued, "any grenades left?" rick queried.
"uh-huh." the redneck replied.
"get 'em ready. we gotta gun into the wall!" rick requested.
daryl passed his gun to glenn, "you guys go ahead. i'm gonna lay down some cover fire."
rosaline shot a look at daryl. she knew damn well what he was doing, he wasn't staying just to lay down cover fire - he was hoping to see merle.
maggie seemed to realize apart of that too, "no, we gotta stay together."
"too hairy. i'll be right behind you." he picked up another smoke grenade, "ready?" daryl threw it.
rosaline moved out, beginning to shoot at any sign of flash outside the smoke, hoping to hit someone. the smoke didn't only provide them an advantage, they couldn't really see who they were gunning at either.
oscar climbed on top of one of the cars, pulling glenn up with him. rosaline slammed her hand on top of the dashboard, making rhaegar hop onto it with them. she had to make sure he got out first, the walls were too tall for him to clear.
"ahhh! god!" oscar writhed in pain as a shot got him.
"no!" glenn yelled, trying to grab the man.
rosaline and maggie started to scream and call out for rick, seeing as ocar had been shot. he seemed to be standing a ways away, staring at a man he'd just headshot. it was unnatural, it seemed like he was slipping again.
the two girls tried to shake oscar, but he wasn't budging. he'd been scored in the heart. maggie had no choice but to put him down.
rosaline pushed up rhaegar with glenn, getting on the bus herself whilst giving a hand to maggie. her eyes searched through the smoke for daryl, their leader had already called out to him.
"daryl! come on, please!" the green-eyed girl pleaded, not wanting him to be left behind. at that moment, he meant to her more than anything. perhaps it was just the adrenaline rushing through her veins, but the worry she felt for the man was overwhelming.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
rosaline isn't sure what to do. should she go back for daryl? should she risk the rest of her group for him? is she willing to go that far?
also i have an important question due to the fact i've written ahead to where we almost meet negan. how should rosaline react to him after everything?
after some time should she start forgiving him as she believes she can't live a life full of hate, should he save her from a rapist when she goes out on a hunt when negan comes back to get the things rick scavenged and brings her home, admiring how she wanted to contribute ( it is clearly stated that negan hates rapists, also shown which means i could work with that ), or should negan just have a soft spot for her and rhaegar. unless she should just hate his guts - there are a lot of good options.
let me know if you have any other suggestions <3
don't forget to vote and comment, it helps the story out!
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────