Future Ghosts • TWD

65. Distance.

Dead.

More people were dead now.

Hershel. Bob. Beth. Tyreese.

He went with Noah and a few others to see if Noah's family was still alive. When the group came back to join the others on the endless walk again, Tyreese was dead. Another makeshift gravestone, this one with a beanie placed on top.

And now they walked. Sometimes they'd have cars, buses, or trucks, but then they'd run out of gas and they'd have to start walking all over again. Water was scarce, and food was even more scarce. Three weeks had gone by. Rosie wondered if she was eleven yet, but she didn't know for sure. It didn't matter, anyway. They'd all be dead soon enough. Even if they did make it to Washington DC, there was no telling how long it would be safe there for. Nowhere was safe anymore. Not for long, at least.

Rosie was walking alongside Glenn, but neither of them were saying anything. Rosie's eyes lingered on Daryl, who was walking alongside Rick. They were talking, but not loud enough for her to hear exactly what they were saying. Daryl was different from how he used to be. He barely talked to anyone, including Rosie, other than to ask if she'd had her share of food and water, if they had found any. Rosie understood, or at least she tried to. He was sad about Beth. But Rosie was sad, too, and she didn't know what to do with herself.

"I'm gonna head out. See what I can find," Daryl said, handing his gun over to Rick.

"Hey, don't be too long," Rick replied. Rosie wanted to ask if she could go with, but Carol beat her to it, so she just kept her mouth shut. Daryl probably would've said no anyway. So off Carol and Daryl went, into the woods again.

In order to catch up to Rick, Rosie quickened her pace a little bit. When Rosie caught up to him, Rick gave her a smile, but she could tell it was fake. They were starving and dehydrated and they were losing hope- no smiles were real anymore. "We can go to my house," Rosie said, getting straight to the point.

Rick sighed, shaking his head. "We don't have to do that, Rosie," he said. She'd already brought this up to him and Daryl before, but they'd agreed that it would inevitably be bad for her. They didn't tell her that that was why they were saying no, though. They always told her it wasn't necessary or they didn't have a big enough car or whatever they could think of in the moment, but their excuses weren't going to be valid anymore when they were all on the verge of collapsing.

"We can find a car- it don't even gotta be one we can all fit in. Just some of us can go, and then we can bring back stuff and keep goin'. It'll be good," Rosie insisted, feeling frustrated. She didn't understand why they were so against it. "My daddy had lots a' weapons, and we got water and at least a little bit of food. That's more than we got now."

"And what about the others?" Rick asked, trying to come up with a new reason to say no.

"They can keep walkin' and we'll be back," Rosie said, as if it were obvious. Rick didn't say anything in response, and Rosie huffed. "You could say no before 'cause we weren't dyin', but now we need it. Me and you and Daryl and prob'ly two other people could fit in a car. We go to Reston and I show you where everythin' is and we come back here and help everyone."

"And what about gas?" was Rick's next excuse.

"There'll be gas somewhere. And when we get there, we got even more gas. My daddy has those red things full a' gas in the shed. And he's got guns and ammo and other stuff, too. Food and water. We need to," Rosie said, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Rosie-"

"We have to! We're dyin'!" Rosie nearly shouted at him.

"Watch your tone," Rick warned, making Rosie roll her eyes. She didn't care if anyone got mad at her anymore. They were all going to starve to death, and Rick was being stupid for saying no. She could help. She could actually provide something useful instead of just being another mouth to feed- instead of just being some kid they didn't ask for that was now their responsibility. She could help them just like they helped her.