Future Ghosts • TWD

152. A War We Will Lose.

Daryl lurched awake the next morning, quickly coming to his senses and remembering where he last was; in that building with Alpha.

"Easy, easy," Lydia said quickly, trying to get the man to calm down before he could wake up Rosie. She had fallen asleep only a few hours beforehand. She tried to stay awake, but it had been days since she had gotten any sleep, and her body wouldn't let her stay awake any longer.

As Lydia passed him a canteen of water, Daryl looked over the wounds on his body. His head hurt something awful and his leg was messed up. "How long I been asleep for?" he asked.

"Most of the day," Lydia answered.

Letting his eyes scan over the area, Daryl took in his surroundings. He was in the woods, leaning up against a tree. Lydia was crouched down in front of him. Behind her- fuck. Behind her Rosie was leaning up against a tree, sleeping. She looked unharmed, which was good, but seeing her reminded Daryl of what had happened- what he said to her in that cave. He had mentioned her brother, and he definitely shouldn't have, looking back on it.

"What? What's wrong?" Lydia asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Had Daryl muttered the word fuck out loud? Lydia followed Daryl's gaze to Rosie, behind her. "She's ok. She's not hurt or anything," she assured him. Rosie probably was hurt, and Daryl was sure of it. She just wasn't hurt on the outside.

Right now, Daryl didn't want to talk about what was going on with Rosie, though. And not to Lydia. So he changed the subject. "So, you just been out here?" he asked.

Lydia nodded, fidgeting with a stick by her feet. "Yeah. Just watching you, watching them. Deciding," she said.

"Deciding what?" Daryl asked, confused. But Lydia didn't give any answer. She looked at Daryl, and then back at the ground again. "Did you kill her?" Daryl asked, referring to Alpha.

"If it was your father, could you have?" Lydia asked, her voice quiet and scratchy. Truthfully, the answer was no. Daryl hadn't been able to kill his own father after he got bit, right at the beginning. But the only living people who knew that now were Daryl and Rosie, and the only reason Rosie knew was because Merle told her.

Once again, Daryl felt obligated to change the subject. But he didn't know what else to talk about. He wished Rosie was awake, so he could get it over with and apologize. But at the same time, he was thanking God that she was asleep, so he wouldn't have to face her.

"She's mad at you, isn't she?" Lydia murmured, connecting the dots.

And Daryl didn't want to talk about that. So, "Just get her up. We gotta get to Hilltop," he grunted, sitting himself up straighter despite the aching in his bones.

Nodding, Lydia went to wake Rosie up. "He woke up. We have to go to Hilltop," she said as Rosie rubbed her eyes.

Rosie stood up and brushed the dirt off of her pants, not sparing a glance at Daryl for a lot of reasons. She wanted to tell him about what happened with Lydia, but she was still mad at him. Just because he got hurt didn't mean she was about to forgive him for what he said.

Together, the three of them made their way back to Hilltop in a tense silence. Daryl didn't want to talk to Rosie because he felt guilty, but still a little frustrated with her. Lydia was feeling both nervous after kissing Rosie and anxious thinking about getting to Hilltop. Rosie was feeling angry, and sad, and a little overwhelmed with everything that had been happening.

When they got to Hilltop, Daryl got his wounds fixed up before they all gathered in a room in Barrington House. The absence of Connie and Magna was more noticeable than Rosie had expected and it made her heart hurt.