Future Ghosts • TWD

33. Liar.

"Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare. And brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us. The truth. Who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it. Set aside out differences and pull together. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety, our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."

•

A day went by. Most of the time was spent preparing for the winter. The weather was getting colder each day, and Rosie was now grateful that Daryl got her warmer clothes from Maggie.

Speaking of Daryl, Rosie hadn't spent much time talking to anyone but him, not that she said much to him anyway. She was unusually quiet, but it was to be expected after everything that went down. She spent most of her time following Daryl around until he wouldn't let her anymore. After he got sick of her, she'd just go back to the tent. It was easier to hide in there than to look around at the group that was now missing her dad, Amy, Jim, Jacqui, Sophia, and Dale. People just kept dying.

The smaller the group got, the harder it was to look at any of them. Which was why Rosie was feeling very anxious and frustrated as she listened to Rick and Hershel discuss everyone staying in the farm house together over the winter.

"Gonna be tight," Rick was saying, "15 people in one house."

"Don't worry about that," Hershel insisted. He'd become a lot less grumpy ever since he got back from town with Rick and Glenn, and was being even more nice after what happened to Dale. "With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up..."

"With 50 head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringin' the damn dinner bell," Maggie said, her arms crossed.

"She's right. We should've moved you in a while ago," Hershel agreed.

"Alright, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out toward the road," Rick ordered, using hand gestures to try and show what he was talking about. "We'll build a lookout in the windmill and another in the barn loft. That should give us sightlines on both sides of the property. T-Dog, you take the perimeter around the house. Keep track of everyone coming and going."

T-Dog glanced over at Rosie, who was sitting on the truck bed, looking down at her boots, then he looked back at Rick. "What about standing guard?" he asked, referring to the fact that Randall was still locked up in the shed.

Rick glanced over at Rosie for a moment, too, then over at Daryl. "I need you and Daryl on double duty," he answered. T-Dog nodded and left to continue helping.

"I'll stock the basement with food and water, enough that we can all survive there a few days if need be," Hershel said as he carried a crate towards the truck. Rosie slid off of the truck bed, stepping out of the way. Hershel gave her a nod and a friendly smile, which she opted out of returning.

"What about patrols?" Andrea asked.

"Let's get this area locked down first. After that, Shane'll assign shifts while me and Daryl take Randall offsite and cut him loose," Rick said, avoiding Rosie's eyes. It was very obvious that she didn't want Randall to go. She hadn't gone back to see him again, not wanting to get into anymore trouble, but she did tell Daryl that she wanted Randall to stay, which Daryl then told everyone else. Randall was better off dead than out there in the winter on his own, Rosie knew that. She just didn't understand why they wouldn't even give him a chance.