Future Ghosts • TWD

58. Alive.

When Rosie heard a thud from the other side of the train car, her head shot in the direction of the sound, and so did everyone else's. In the dark, it was quite hard to make out, but Rosie was sure she could see the figures of other people pressed up against the walls. One of the people stepped closer, his face becoming illuminated by a ray of sunlight seeping through a crack in the train car.

"Rick?" Glenn said. Rosie's eyes widened and she felt somewhat relieved, despite the fact that they were all trapped in a train car and probably about to die. She couldn't believe that he was really here. More people started walking into the light, and Rosie could see Maggie coming up next to Glenn. She knew they'd find each other!

"You're here," Rick breathed out. He stepped forwards, taking in the sight of all of them. Sasha and Bob were there, too, along with four other people that Rosie had never met before. "You're here," Rick said again.

"Who are those guys?" Rosie asked, pointing past Maggie to the four new people. One of them was a girl with pigtails in her hair and a hat on her head that Rosie liked. There was also another girl with shorter hair and a flannel, and a guy with a mullet. Behind them all was a very tall, buff looking guy with red hair. Rosie thought he looked like someone that would be called sergeant, but she wasn't sure.

"They're our friends," Maggie answered, giving a reassuring nod. "They helped save us."

"Yeah," Rosie heard Daryl say from behind her. She looked up at him and saw that he had a small smile on his bruised up face. "Now they're friends a' ours."

"For however long that'll be," the sergeant man said from the back.

"Think they're gonna put us in that pile a' bones," Rosie said quietly, her eyebrows pinched together as she looked over at Rick. He shook his head.

"No," Rick said. He looked around at the group and turned his head slightly to the side. "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out."

"Find out what?" the sergeant man asked with his low, scary voice.

Rosie looked over at Rick, waiting for his answer, and so did everyone else. "They're fucking with the wrong people," Rick said with venom in his voice. And Rosie believed him.

•

"They seemed nice enough, but I was ready to go. We just got here, but, damn, it was time to go. When I told them about DC, a wink and a nod from the head asshole in charge, they pulled their guns and it was right back to our regularly scheduled shitstorm," the sergeant man, who Rosie learned was called Abraham, explained. Rosie liked the way he told stories, even though his story wasn't a good one.

•

"Black car with a white cross painted on it," Daryl said to Maggie, but Rosie was listening, too. He was talking about Beth; how he escaped with her, how someone took her. "I tried to follow it. I tried," he said sadly.

"But she's alive?" Maggie asked him.

"She's alive," Daryl confirmed.

•

"You weren't on the bus," Maggie said, crouching down in front of Rosie. Maggie had found the bus. It was overrun. She killed every walker on that bus until she was sure that none of them were Glenn. None of them were. None of them were Rosie, either.

"It was gone," Rosie told her.

"Who did you get out with?" Maggie asked her, a concerned look on her face.

"Nobody," Rosie said, shaking her head a little. "I ran. Then bad people found me. Then Rick did, and he helped me get away. Then Daryl found us."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you to go to the bus on your own. I should've stayed with you," Maggie said, a frown on her face. Daryl had told her about the Claimers- about the night they had. But he hadn't told her that Rosie was with them. He figured that if Rosie wanted to tell Maggie about that, it'd be on her own terms. "You'd have been safer," Maggie sighed.