Future Ghosts • TWD

71. Inside and Outside.

The front door opened up and out walked Carol. Rosie's face scrunched up. "What the hell are you wearin'?" she asked, staring at Carol. Carol was wearing a white shirt tucked into a fancy pair of pants, with a blue sweater. Rosie could see that, obviously, but what she really should've asked was why.

"Time to punch the clock and make the casseroles," Carol said in a weird voice, raising her eyebrows as she adjusted her sweater.

"What?" Daryl murmured, finally looking up from his crossbow, which he was fiddling with. Rosie didn't ever know what was wrong with it, but he always seemed to be fixing it, somehow. Same with his bolts.

"Make dinner for the older people- moms who need a break, people who can't cook. Get to meet a lot of the neighbors that way," Carol explained, smiling. She had been acting weird ever since they got there, but this was just wrong. Daryl scoffed, raising his eyebrows for a moment before mumbling out a alright....

"You want to meet the neighbors?" Rosie asked, her eyebrows pinched together.

"Yes. And you should, too. You should be out playing with the other kids," Carol said, raising her eyebrows at Rosie. This time, both Daryl and Rosie scoffed. Carol rolled her eyes and directed her attention towards Daryl. "Have you taken a shower yet?" she asked Daryl.

"Mhm," Daryl hummed, even though they all knew that that wasn't true. He was still filthy- you could see it all over him.

Carol narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side, as if to say, really? "Take a shower. I'm gonna wash that vest," she said, and started down the porch stairs. "We need to keep up appearances, even you."

"Hey, I ain't startin' now," Daryl said.

"I'm gonna hose you down in your sleep," Carol said. She stopped at the sidewalk and turned to look at Rosie again. "Ian's at that boy's house. You should go play with them," she said. Rosie narrowed her eyes at Carol, but Carol smiled and walked off with a pep in her step.

"You look ridiculous," Daryl called out to her, but Carol gave no reply and continued on walking. Once Carol was out of sight, Daryl leaned back against the railing, just like he had been before. "She's right, you should go out there. Ain't gonna get used to it if ya don't try," he said.

"Says you," Rosie muttered, now narrowing her eyes at Daryl. "You still smell bad. I don't."

"Ok. So, I shower, you go hang out with those other kids. How 'bout that?" Daryl suggested, sliding off of the railing and leaning his crossbow against it.

Rosie glared up at him, contemplating for a moment. Was it really worth it? Spending hours with Sam and Ian, probably doing nothing interesting at all, just so Daryl would take a shower and stop smelling bad? But, honestly, how could anyone be sure that she was really with Sam and Ian? All she had to do was stay out of the house, and Daryl would just assume she was with Sam and Ian. "Fine," Rosie said, crossing her arms. "But you actually gotta shower. Ya look like you rubbed dirt all over yourself... and ya smell like it, too."

"I will. But you better not come back here with somethin' you stole. Hear me?" Daryl replied.

"Fine," Rosie said again. She got up and and marched down the porch steps with her arms crossed. Knowing that Daryl could see which direction she was going in, Rosie headed towards the Andersons' house. She didn't have any plans of actually going inside and hanging out with Sam or Ian, but at least Daryl would think that that was where she was headed.

In reality, Rosie didn't have a plan of where to go. She thought maybe she'd just wander around, but, then again, Daryl might see her. So she supposed that she'd have to stay off the main streets. She felt like a criminal, sneaking around like this. It was weird. She never thought that she'd be sneaking around like this again. She thought that she'd just be fighting to stay alive for the rest of her life, but here she was, sneaking around the neighborhood, like everything was normal. It was terrible. How could they treat everything like it's all been normal this whole time? Nothing was normal. Dead people were walking around outside of these walls, and they were just supposed to pretend that they weren't? It was bullshit.