Future Ghosts • TWD

47. A Response.

"We're not leaving," Rick growled out as he pushed the magazine into the gun he was holding.

The night had been a long one. Rosie couldn't sleep. She tried, of course, but the man she killed had come to haunt her in her dreams. Daryl had even slept on the bottom bunk in her cell to try and help, but it didn't. She needed to talk about it, but she didn't want to, so she just dealt with it and waited through the sleepless night. Now she was sitting on the top step in the cell block, her chin in her hands as she fought to keep her eyes open, listening to the adults figure out a plan.

"We can't stay here," Hershel said.

"What if there's another sniper?" Maggie said, agreeing with her father. Rosie tensed at the thought of the man, but stayed quiet. "A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds."

"We can't even go outside," Beth agreed.

"Not in the daylight," Carol added.

"Rick says we're not running, we're not running," Glenn said loudly, his voice tense. He was still angry. Rosie thought it was about Daryl leaving at first, but now Daryl was back, and Glenn was still angry. So it had to be something else.

"No, better to live like rats," Merle's raspy voice said from behind bars. Just looking at him made Rosie angry. She was trying to forgive him, or at least be able to be in the same room has him, but he kept digging himself into a deeper hole. It's like he wanted everyone to hate him.

"You got a better idea?" Rick asked, his tone making it obvious that he was not wanting Merle's input.

Everyone was mad at Merle. The fading bruise on Rosie's cheekbone and the dark bruise around Glenn's eye only served as reminders of what he had done. After Daryl's talk with Rosie the day before, he went right back down to where they were keeping Merle, now knowing that Merle was the one who had hit Rosie, and gave his brother an earful.

"Yeah, we should've slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we?" Merle said. He still had that twisted smile on his face, like everything was fun. "I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

"We ain't scared a' that prick," Daryl grumbled, pacing across the second floor of the cell block.

"Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringin' the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."

"Can you stop talkin'?" Rosie suddenly asked, looking up from her boots to glare daggers at Merle.

"Yeah, let's put him in the other cell block," Maggie agreed, her voice tense.

"No, he's got a point," Daryl muttered. Rosie rolled her eyes.

"This is all you. You started this," Maggie shouted at Merle.

"What's the difference whose fault it is?" Beth spoke up. She passed by Rosie at the top of stairs and started walking down them, stopping just about in the middle. "What do we do?"

"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here," Hershel said, sitting on the bottom step. Rick looked at him for a moment before walking away, not even trying to address Hershel's concerns. Hershel quickly shot up off of the stairs. "Get back here!" He shouted, his voice loud and strong in a way that Rosie had never heard it before. She tensed at the yelling, but it did manage to make Rick freeze in his spot. "You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."