Future Ghosts • TWD

135. The Escape.

Rosie got her hands untied before the sun even went down. She pretended she was still tied up, though, because she wasn't a complete moron. Lucky for her, she wasn't on the side of the tree that was facing the rest of the camp. That was where Henry was tied up. Rosie was pretty sure it was because Alpha was trying to keep him scared. It was just karma, in Rosie's mind. He was stupid, so he got to watch people skin the dead. Good for him.

It was when many of Alpha's people were distracted with skinning a fresh deer that Rosie decided to make a run for it. She didn't tell Ian or Henry what she was doing, because they would only mess it all up. Her plan was to run until she found Daryl or someone else that could help her, then lead them to Alpha's camp, and finally, with help, get Ian and Henry out of there. And, if they were lucky, Lydia, too.

So Rosie was running. She was running, running, running, so fast, but so quiet. Daryl had taught her how to quiet her footsteps even more than they already were. It was hard with so many leaves and other debris on the ground, but Rosie managed to get away without anyone seeing her. They must've thought that their knots were tight enough, but they weren't. Rosie knew several knots and how to untie them. She'd learned plenty from David, even more from Daryl, and a handful from Rosita. Besides, Rosie had been kidnapped far too many times to not know how to escape.

Rosie looked back, just to make sure that no one was following her, and just like she had on that night at the farm, she ran into someone. Back then, Rosie had immediately thought it was a walker as she went tumbling down into the dirt, but it turned out it was just Daryl. Now, though, Rosie wouldn't jump to conclusions. She didn't fall to the dirt, either. She stumbled back and looked at the person. It wasn't Daryl, but it was Connie. Rosie's eyes widened, and she sighed in relief before forming a fist and rubbing it in a circle on her chest, which she knew meant sorry in ASL.

Connie put her hands on Rosie's shoulders, steadying the both of them. Then, she forcibly turned Rosie to look the other way- to Connie's left. Rosie stumbled back once more when Dog came bounding up to her and jumped up on her, attempting to lick her face. "Dog," Rosie breathed out, stroking Dog's head. Just as Dog calmed down and dropped back onto four legs, Daryl came following after him. "Daryl!" Rosie called out to him, loud enough for him to hear her, but quiet enough not to alert Alpha's people that they were nearby.

Daryl's head shot up from looking at the ground, upon hearing Rosie's voice. His steps quickened until he reached Rosie and pulled her in for a hug, muttering profanities as he did so. "Jesus Christ, Rosie. You oughta your fuckin' mind?" he scolded as he released her from the hug.

"If I didn't go with 'em, they'd be dead right now. I had to," Rosie said. That was part of her reasoning, sure, but it wasn't the full truth. The full truth was that it hurt her chest to know that Lydia had to go back to Alpha- that Lydia had to go back to being beaten.

"I don't give a shit why ya did it. It was stupid as hell," Daryl said, his former relief upon seeing her being drowned out by the anger he felt when he found out she had left.

"Well, I'm fine, aren't I?" Rosie muttered, raising her eyebrows and holding her arms out to her sides. She was fine, but she almost had a broken arm. She was fine, but if she hadn't escaped, Alpha would be forcing Lydia to kill her right now.

"I don't give a shit if you're fine! It was stupid! You coulda' died! You know better than to do shit like this," Daryl argued, scoffing and swinging his arm around like he always did when he was angry.

"I'm capable of doing things on my own. I'm not a nine-year-old little girl who needs savin' no more," Rosie spat with a bit of sass to her tone. She wasn't usually sassy- she was usually more internally angry, and if she was sassy, it wasn't intentional- but right now she was using that tone because she knew it'd piss Daryl off. Maybe he'd listen. Rosie thought about what Ian said on the way there. He basically said that Daryl treated her like a baby when she wasn't one. And Rosie had been thinking about it for a while now, ever since Ian brought it up. She was starting to think that it was true. So, she continued. "It's bullshit. I ain't a kid no more. And you-"