Future Ghosts • TWD

40. Run, Hide.

Rosie was standing a little ways outside of Hershel's cell. He had gotten a lot better and they were even able to find him a pair of crutches, so that was his next step. Lori brought in the crutches with Beth while Carl and Rosie watched.

"Just take your time," Lori reminded the older man with a small smile on her face.

As Hershel sat himself up and pushed himself closer to the edge of the bed, Beth visibly tensed. "Daddy, don't push yourself," she insisted, a look of worry on her face.

Hershel chuckled. "What else am I going to do? I can't stand looking up at that bottom of that bunk anymore," he said. He stood himself up and used the crutches to support himself. It took him a moment to adjust to the crutches, but once he balanced himself, he seemed to be doing pretty good. "You know, I think I'm pretty steady," he said. Rosie made sure to stay out of the way as Hershel made his way out of the cell.

"That's a good start," Lori said. "Wanna take a rest?"

"Rest?" Hershel asked, chuckling a little. "Let's go for a little stroll."

Rosie could easily understand what he was feeling. He had been lying in that bed for days. It was already torturous for her to just sit in the living room at the farm for that one day after she got her stitches, but she couldn't even imagine having to lie down in a dark prison cell for days on end. It was no surprise that Hershel was beyond ready to get out of there.

Carl and Rosie followed close behind as Beth and Lori helped lead Hershel outside- not that he needed much help anyway. He was getting along quite well for just starting that day. When they got outside Rosie looked out across the yard and saw that Rick, Glenn, and Daryl were outside the fences. She didn't know what they were doing, but she knew that she wanted to be outside of the fences too.

Of course, being safe in the prison was great and all, but part of her missed the outside. Not the walkers or the death, obviously, but the hunting and the flowers. She was sick of feeling like she was in a prison, but that was a really difficult problem to have because she was quite literally in a prison. She hoped that they'd start going on runs soon, so maybe she could tag along, just to get a break.

"You cleared all those bodies out?" Hershel asked, looking around at the basketball courts. "It's starting to look like a place we could really live in."

"Hey, watch your step," Lori reminded him. "Last thing we need is you falling."

Rosie thought that if she were Hershel, she'd get pretty annoyed with everyone fussing over her, but she guessed that Hershel was much more patient than she could ever be.

"Alright, Hershel!" Rosie heard Glenn shout from across the yard. Looking over, she could see that the reason they were outside the fence was to get firewood. Now they were carrying the wood behind one layer of fencing.

"You're doin' great, Daddy," Beth said, smiling at her father.

"Ready to race, Hershel?" Carl joked.

"Give me another day. I'll take you on," Hershel replied, making Carl chuckle a little.

Continuing on forward, Rosie could see Maggie, T-Dog, and Carol a little ways away. She stood behind Carl, Beth, Lori, and Hershel, kicking right foot into the side of her left foot. Everyone was looking in their direction and it made her feel weird.

As she was standing there, waiting to see where Hershel would want to go next, she thought she heard footsteps behind her. But that didn't make sense, because absolutely everyone was there, in front of her, in her vision, whether they were directly in front of her, a few feet away, or all the way across the yard. Could it be those prisoner's again? She turned around, expecting to see Axel and Oscar, but instead, she saw a whole bunch of walkers. They started hissing and snarling at the sight of her. Quickly, Rosie elbowed Carl's side to alert him, and without a moments hesitation, he started shouting out warnings.