Future Ghosts • TWD

122. The Pussy Ass Cop.

"Carol? What's goin' on? Where're you goin'?" Rosie asked, coming up behind Carol and Jerry as they locked the weapons cabin. Rick and Daryl had only been gone for a little while, and Rosie fed her vegetables to Jerry's horse. Now she was just wandering around camp, searching for something to do.

"Daryl didn't tell you?" Carol asked, sounding surprised.

"No. He's bein' weird. Wasn't tellin' me nothin'," Rosie said, furrowing her eyebrows. She still had that stomach ache, and she hadn't even eaten any cheese.

"Yeah, there's a lot going on right now, honey. Come on," Carol said quickly, putting her hand on Rosie's shoulder and spinning her around. Rosie was confused, but she went along anyway as Carol started leading her back further into the camp. Then, she pushed Rosie behind a tree. "Stay here," she said. Rosie was very confused, but she did as she was told because Carol was Carol, and Carol meant business. However, she did peek out from behind her tree to see what was going on. Carol had her gun raised and the group of ex-Saviors were approaching camp with their own weapons. "Where'd you get the gun, Jed?" Carol asked, remaining calm. Several of the others around camp had their weapons out and raised, so Rosie took hers out, too, but she stayed behind her tree.

"Alden wasn't as quick as you," Jed said with a chuckle, pointing his weapon right at Carol's head. He cocked his head to the side. "Surprised me, too."

"How about we all lower our weapons. Nobody gets hurt today," Carol said, her voice calm and stern. Rosie could never understand how people could be so calm, even in moments like this. Rosie was sure that if she were in Carol's place, her heart would be racing and her throat would feel like it was closing up.

"That's right. Listen to the woman. Drop your guns. Party's over," Jed said snarkily. Rosie was confused at first, but then she realized he was speaking to the camp's side, rather than his own side. Rosie held her gun out in front of her, but she didn't aim it just yet. She decided, in that moment, that if she had to shoot anyone, it would be Jed. DJ second. "See, uh, I took the scenic route, but I figured it out. Oceanside's killing us," Jed said. Oh. Rosie hadn't figured that out. All she knew was that several ex-Saviors had gone missing, and some of them had shown up dead. "So now, being that it's war, they're gonna get what's comin' to 'em."

"Stop it, Jed," Carol said, looking Jed in the eyes. She had a powerful look that often made people want to listen to her. Not because of her size or her strength, like with Daryl, but because she knew what she was doing and you could see it in her eyes. "You're gonna get everybody killed."

"Excuse me, Carol. You ain't boss lady no more. You're a weak, little woman who got in a lucky shot," Jed spat. He kept taking steps closer to Carol, hoping she'd give in and back away, but she stood her ground, because she was Carol and she meant business. And she sure as hell wasn't weak. "And now... listen to what I say," Jed let his thumb lift to pull the hammer back on his pistol. "Now, step aside."

When Carol let her gun drop down to her side, Rosie didn't understand. What was Carol doing? Giving up? That wasn't very Carol-like of her. Rosie kept her gun ready, just like everyone else, as Jed stepped closer to Carol and pulled the keys to the weapons cabin off of her belt loop. Just as Jed began to step away, Carol kicked him in the back of the knees, knocking him to the ground. Jed instantly began to fight back and several more people who had no idea what was going on appeared from the woods. They instantly raised their weapons and Rosie knew that this was all about to go south- or souther than it already had gone. So, she aimed her gun at Jed's head and pulled the trigger, shooting him dead.

"No!" Carol shouted, just as the gunshots started to echo through the woods.

Chaos erupted among the group and Rosie ducked down behind her tree, hoping that it was enough cover to not be shot dead. As they ex-Saviors started to advance on them, she was pulled up to her feet when Jerry grabbed onto her arm. Rosie didn't know Jerry very well, but she knew he was nice and that Henry liked him a lot. She had used his name before, so she decided it'd be best to default to mister, just in case he didn't like to be called by just his first name. Some adults were weird like that. Like teachers.