Future Ghosts • TWD

1. Rosie.

The small girl climbed out of her tent and immediately squinted her eyes, still adjusting to the light of day. She adjusted the shorts around her waist- they'd gotten twisted up while she was sleeping. She looked down at her red cowboy boots, as if to make sure they were still there. They fell off often, being a few sizes too big (hand-me-downs from Fraser). They were the only shoes Rosie had, though, so she just tucked rolled up pairs of socks into the toes and it did the job just fine.

She lifted her head and scanned over the camp. Most people were still in bed, like Lori and Carl, but there were some early risers.

For one, Dale was already on the roof of the RV, a book in his hands.

Officer Shane was heading towards his Jeep, probably to go and get water.

Amy was up too, sitting around the empty fire pit.

There were also the Dixon brothers. Their tent was further away from the others'. They often went hunting early in the morning.

The girl frowned. Her father was nowhere to be found.

Hey, Rosie, I'm going to be over here just so you know, she thought to herself mockingly. If only her dad cared enough to tell her where he would be.

She considered asking Officer Shane if he'd seen him, since he was in charge, but she figured that if her father told anyone where he was going, it would most definitely not be the police officer.

Then she thought of Dale, but he seemed too absorbed in his book. She thought back to when her father said that Dale was an annoying old man and talked too much. He probably wouldn't tell Dale where he was going either.

The Dixon brothers were intimidating, but if her dad talked to anyone, much to Rosie's dismay, it would've been them. He'd gotten along with the brothers well. They were pretty much the only two people in the camp that Rosie hadn't listened to her father talk shit about.

So, unfortunately, Rosie knew that if she wanted to figure out where her dad went, her best bet would be on the Dixons. But they scared her. Sure, she'd spent plenty of time around them, but they still scared her.

She usually stuck to her father's side, silently following him and doing whatever he asked of her. When her father would hang around the Dixons' camp, she would sit silently and pretend she wasn't there, until her father either gave her a task to do or eventually told her to beat it.

Rosie had barely spoken a word in front of either of the two brothers. But she was still there when they interacted with her father. And that's what made her fear them, while also finding some sort of comfort or familiarity in their presence.

When she was with her dad at the Dixons' camp, it was like when things were normal. When she'd sit in the living room with her dad and his friends, fetching them beers when they asked and putting out their cigarettes if they fell asleep. She was afraid of her dad's friends, they'd done bad things, and it only made sense for the Dixons to be the same.

The only difference Rosie found between the Dixons and her father's old friends was that they barely ever said anything to her. When her dad used to have friends over, they would say weird things that Rosie didn't understand because they thought it was funny, and they would order her around.

Merle Dixon had made some jokes and comments that Rosie didn't understand, and he would occasionally tell her to go grab something for him, but it wasn't nearly as much as any of her dad's old friends, and Merle's jokes were never about Rosie herself.

Daryl Dixon hadn't ever said anything to her. Rosie wasn't sure if that was good or bad, so it only added to her fears.

But if there was any time to get over your fears, the apocalypse was it. Rosie wasn't supposed to be afraid of anything in the first place, because her dad wouldn't raise no pussy, but she still had fears. She was just good at hiding them. But now that the dead were walking and trying to kill her, Rosie decided she couldn't be afraid of the living people anymore.