Future Ghosts • TWD

117. A New Beginning.

Rosie hated the Sanctuary. She hated it with every bone in her body. She wanted to go back to Alexandria, but, of course, Daryl wouldn't allow it. Rosie wasn't allowed in Alexandria anymore. Not unless she was under constant supervision. This was because Negan was being kept in a cell in Alexandria and Rosie had been caught going to talk to him three times before she and Daryl ended up moving to the Sanctuary. Rick wanted to keep the Sanctuary running, so it could grow to become something similar to Alexandria, the Hilltop, the Kingdom, or Oceanside. But Rick was too busy in Alexandria to lead at the Sanctuary, so that job went to Daryl. Rosie was pretty sure that Daryl hated it even more than she did.

There were several reasons for them to hate the Sanctuary, which Rick didn't care to take into account. One reason was that nothing grew at the Sanctuary. They could plant a thousand different plants, and all of them would die. Another reason was that it was an abandoned factory and was constantly gloomy. In addition to that, it was crawling with raging assholes. Some of them even still believed in what Negan preached. And, last but most certainly not least, Rosie and Daryl had both been held captive in this place, and they couldn't help but think about it.

But, of course, the Sanctuary needed a leader and Rick wanted Daryl to do it.

As Rosie made her way through the Sanctuary, she made sure to glare at her least favorite people, like Justin and Arat. She was looking for Daryl, because she had run out of pages in her notebook and wanted to know if he knew where she could find any other notebooks to draw in. She found him outside, fixing something on his motorcycle.

"Hey, Daryl?" Rosie said, coming up to stand beside him. He kept his focus on the motorcycle, but hummed out a what? Rosie held her notebook out in front of his face and he turned to her, his eyes squinted to block out the sunlight. "Outta pages," Rosie told him.

"That sucks," Daryl told her before turning back to the bike.

"That's not what you were s'posed to say," Rosie murmured, pressing her lips together even though he wasn't even looking at her to see her expression.

"What was I s'posed to say?" Daryl asked, slightly amused with her response.

"I don't know. Maybe, 'Oh, I gotta notebook in my room. You can have it and draw so many dinosaurs because you're so good at drawing and everyone loves to see your art'," Rosie said, making her voice deep and scratchy while exaggerating her accent in an attempt to imitate Daryl's voice. "Knew ya wouldn't say that, though," she muttered.

Daryl scoffed out a laugh at her impression of him. "Well, I don't got any notebooks, but you can draw on the walls on the other side of the building, like ya did at the prison," he said, gesturing over to the north side of the factory. Rosie squinted her eyes and held her notebook up high to block out the sun as she looked over to where he was pointing. "No one'll bother ya over there. Just keep a knife with you, in case ya see any walkers," he explained his reasoning. He was right. No one really went over there, most of the time. People usually stayed inside, out by the crops, or outside where they kept the vehicles. The right side of the factory was away from all of that. Rosie nodded, liking the idea. "I'll keep an eye out for a notebook when I go, though," Daryl added on.

"Where're you goin'?" Rosie asked, furrowing her eyebrows. He hadn't told her he was going anywhere. Usually, he told her a day or two in advance if he was leaving. But, sometimes, he'd forget to tell her, or purposefully not tell her for whatever reason he had. This was one of the times when he didn't tell her he was leaving on purpose, because he didn't want to hear her begging to come with him for two days straight.

"On a run. Takin' supplies from an old museum in DC," Daryl told her. Rosie's heart skipped a beat and her stomach bubbled with excitement. Museums had dinosaur fossils, usually. Maybe this museum would have some. Before she could even ask, though, Daryl shook his head. "You can't come. The cities too overrun," he said, already knowing what she was about to ask.