Future Ghosts • TWD

136. Ain't Gonna Happen.

After her conversation with Ian, Rosie was feeling a bit less confused. She was pretty sure that she was feeling what Ian was describing, but it was wrong. Lydia liked Henry. Rosie couldn't like Lydia because Lydia liked Henry. So Rosie would just have to suck it up, she supposed. Ian did it. She could, too. Another thing that was making her feel conflicted was Daryl. She was staring at his back as she followed behind him and Connie. She wanted to tell him, because it felt big and important and she wanted Daryl to know big and important things, but he was mad at her and she was mad at him. So she'd just have to wait it out.

They had more important things to deal with right now, anyway. Alpha's people were after them. They needed to get this over with, so they could go back to worrying about stupid things like arguments and crushes.

"I don't understand," Henry mumbled as they approached the large building Connie had pointed out.

"They use walkers to protect themselves, right? So we go up," Daryl pointed up to the top floor, "someplace the walkers can't go. We separate the living from the dead. They travel in a herd, but there's only, like, five or six of 'em in the middle, right?" he asked Lydia.

Lydia nodded, but she still had quite a concerned look on her face. "Yeah, but if we go up there, we're trapped. Alpha's not gonna send an army 'cause she doesn't have to. She'll send Beta," she explained.

"Beta's the one who almost broke my arm, right?" Rosie asked, just to make sure of it. For a moment, Lydia looked a bit guilty. She turned away, nodding her head.

"Yeah, and that was stupid as hell. You should've just answered the questions," Ian said.

Rosie rolled her eyes. "I'm not a pussy. I wasn't gonna tell her all our business just because I didn't wanna have a broken arm," she said.

"She just wanted your name. And you should be thanking me. He was gonna break all of your bones and leave you to the walkers," Ian said, rolling his own eyes.

"What?" Daryl asked, glancing back at the two kids with furrowed eyebrows.

"It doesn't matter! I'm alive and well, ain't I?" Rosie asked, raising her eyebrows and holding her arms out to her sides.

"Well is a bit of a stretch," Ian murmured.

"Jesus, Rosie. That is what I'm talkin' 'bout when I say you-" Daryl started to get riled up again, his voice raising with each word. But, of course, Connie tapped him on the arm, stopping him. He looked at her and she widened her eyes before pointing up at the building. "Yeah. Yeah, let's just go," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. He turned to Lydia. "This Beta- he their best?" he asked. Hesitantly, Lydia nodded. "Good. I'll kill him first," Daryl said, turning and walking off.

Rosie watched him go, then hesitated for a moment before quickly running up to walk beside him. "Daryl," she said.

"We'll talk about it later," Daryl dismissed. Rosie knew that that meant he'd yell at her later and she wouldn't be doing much of the talking, but that was beside the point, because that wasn't what she was talking about.

"There's somethin' else I wanna talk about. Not-" Rosie huffed out a sigh and fought the urge to roll her eyes dramatically, "not me bein' stupid. Somethin' else," she said. Daryl glanced at her suspiciously. "I can't tell you now."

After a moment of giving Rosie a weird look, Daryl nodded. "A'right. I'mma barricade the stairwells when we get in there. You can help," he said. He still wanted to yell at her, but now he wanted to know whatever secret she had even more than he wanted to yell. He thought it was probably something stupid and unimportant, because Rosie always seemed to think that things were much more important than they actually were, but that didn't change the fact that he wanted to know what it was.