Black Roses

***FLASHBACK***

Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump. The heartbeat monitor were attached to her chest, keeping track of her heartbeats. Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump. Don’t show fear. Her heartbeats remained steady while her fingers traced the cool steel sword in her hand. She couldn’t see anything. Her eyes were blindfolded with the same familiar silk kerchief. Don’t show fear. Listen. Smell. Taste. Feel the hard leather handle in your hand. Inhale. Exhale. Hear over her own heartbeats.

Then she heard it. The almost silent footsteps. What direction was it coming from? The footsteps stopped. Th-th-thump. Her heartbeat escalated for a second. Ahh. Just about negative forty-three degrees from her position. Her heartbeat steadied itself. Th-thump. Th-thump. Don’t show fear. She can smell him now. His clean-shaven aroma. His cockiness. This was the test. Her against the best. The slight rustle of his clothes warned her that he was moving. The sound of his sword coming out of its sheath. Th-thump. Th-thump. Her heartbeats continued to fill the arena. A slight breeze wooshed around her. Suddenly a clash of steel filled the air as Rose sprang into action.

Her sword collided with his sword, feeling the brunt of his strength behind it. Th-thump. Th-thump. Just don’t show fear. Listen. Think of his next move. His feet are turning. Does that mean he’s pulling back? Does that mean he’s going to jump over her? Smell him. Oh he’s definitely going to flip 360 degrees over her. Rose spun on her heels as he sprang over her. Her sword flew in a blur, stopping just an inch before beheading his head. Th-thump. Th-thump. She succeeded. She passed the test. Applause filled the arena as her heartbeat monitor switched off.

“Aurélien Emerwen Rose is our most promising experiment. She had outsmarted many of our best spies and is quite attuned to her senses,” a male voice filled the arena. “As you can see… her heartbeats maintained steady as danger approached her. You can be well assured that our millions of dollars were well spent.”

She felt his cold unforgiving hands on her face before he ripped away the silky blindfold. There he was. Her spymaster. The only male figure she had looked up to in her entire life. Her eyes squinted as it adjusted to the glaring lights and then she noticed the man standing next to her spymaster. She noticed the greying hair, the crow’s feet around his eyes, the sharp beak-like nose and his thin lips. He wore a dark blue suit with a light blue tie. There was an American flag pin on his suit jacket. As he observed her slowly, a gasp escaped his lips. “Her eyes?”

“Well yes. Her eyes are simply an unfortunate side effect of genetic engineering. But it is easily overlooked when you look at all the other attributes. Isn’t she magnificent though? She’s a result of decades of DNAs being warped and combined together.” The spymaster chuckled. Rose stood patiently, not finding it strange that she was being talked about like she was simply a doll.

“Genetic engineering,” The stranger mulled over the possibility. “Does she not have any parents?”

“Oh no. No parents. No family. No familial connection. She was made in a petri-dish and was carried by a surrogate. We had a wet nurse for her until age three. Frankly I think this girl right here is the best weapon America had ever invented. By age 4, she knew how to wield most weapons. By age eight, she learned how to speak six languages quite fluently. By age ten, she was already hardened to all forms of torture, including waterlogging and sexual abuse. Her IQ ratings are well over 130.”
The spymaster bragged. Rose exhaled, knowing that she had made him proud.

The stranger seemed quite uncomfortable. He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that this girl was basically stripped of all her basic human rights. This girl never knew true happiness. “But she’s a female. Do you truly think she is the best fit for this job?”

“Oh yes. I assure you she is the best fit for this job,” the spymaster exclaimed, stealing a glance at his young pupil. “Oh Rose… Forgive me for being rude. I didn’t introduce him. Please meet your commander in chief… the President of the United States, George W. Bush.”

***FLASHBACK ENDS***

Rose gasped for air, desperate for oxygen. Her mind hasn’t gone back to those dark moments of her past life. Her upbringing were deeply instilled inside her and made her who she is today. However she’d like to forget how cruel and sadistic the spymaster was and how brainwashed she was. Her body felt like it was suspended in the air with nothing beneath her. Simply floating in the air. But no more. She needed to come back to Earth. Her body began to thrum with life. Finally she could feel her little toes. Her calves. Her thighs. Her stomach. Life… the need to fight for life coursed its way throughout her as her body began its fall.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Settle down.” That drowsy but familiar southern drawl comforting her while she struggled to open her eyes. Two candles illuminated the dark room. Rose knew it was in the wee hours of the morning from the lighting and the gentle breathing of people sleeping. Her eyes searched for Daryl’s but he wasn’t there. Yes… that southern accent wasn’t as rough. It was far more gentle and fatherly. Hershel smiled, seating on the side of her bed. “I’m glad you’re finally awake. Been terribly hard to keep everybody out of the room.”

The pain in her side was throbbing when she took a deep breath. She wasn’t wearing her old familiar clothes. Instead, she had a large flannel shirt and a pajamas shorts covering her body. It didn’t bother her that Hershel probably was the one who changed her. He had two daughters and also considered the group’s doctor. What bothered her the most? The fact that he might’ve seen all the scars on her body. It was a little too personal. It was… too vulnerable. She wasn’t used to being well taken care of. If she dared to passed out or show any kind of weakness in the past, she’d wake up chained up with new bruises all over her body. Weakness or pain wasn’t something she was allowed to have. Especially the kind of wound she suffered.

“You’re a bundle of surprises Rose. That was a nasty bite wound. I’m surprised you even made it to our cell block. Especially with the state of exhaustion you were in. You really ought to stop pushing yourself to the limit. After all you are only human.” Hershel gently scolded her.

So he knew. He knew her deepest and darkest secret. The group wasn’t going to take this pretty well. Rose remembered the time she told everybody that they’re all infected. The group were pretty peeved. Perhaps it’s time for her to move on. Nothing good comes out of them knowing. It was amazing that she was still alive as it is. Rose swallowed uneasily, trying to sooth her parched throat. “How did you know?”

“Observation. You have to remember that I used to be a vet. I keep note of all the pandemics and its characteristics in order to treat my animals. Rose… I’ve seen you jumping into a group of walkers fearlessly and getting scratched dozens of times. Yet you never turned,” Hershel explained with a gentle tone. Rose took a sharp inhale of breath, ignoring the protests her side made. Her biggest fear was the rest of the group knowing. How could she explain to them? “That’s a heavy burden you’re carrying Rose. You’re lucky that I was able to explain your wound away and keep it out of sight. Your secret is now also my secret Rose.”

Rose’s eyes started to sting with an unfamiliar wetness. Karma was a powerful thing. She saved his life and in return, Hershel saved hers. If the group saw that wound when she passed out, they probably would’ve killed her. It was a cruel fact but it was the only way to survive. But they didn’t… all because of Hershel. They still didn’t know her darkest secret. “Thank you Hershel.”

“No… thank YOU for allowing me to see another day with my precious daughters. Now I believe you have somebody that would very much like to see you. You really should be kind to him Rose. He really likes you.” Hershel sounded quite amused. Rose’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, watching Hershel walk towards the cell door and brushed aside the “cloth-curtain” to beckon somebody over.

The original person she was looking for emerged while Hershel slipped out. Her lungs felt constricted and her heart began to race when his eyes raked over her. She suddenly realized that the flannel shirt belonged to him. That musky forest smell swirled around her as she forced herself to sit up more. Seeing Daryl now… she was reminded of her last thoughts before passing out. “If that’s not love… she doesn’t know what it is.” But looking at the redneck hunter in front of her, she was pretty sure that it was love. Did she want to tell him that? No. She didn’t. In fact, he scared the hell out of her. Everything about him makes her want to go against her training. Perhaps it’s that strange primal instinct that make people… humans.

Daryl’s dark blue eyes swept over her, leaving a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. They were both unsure about how to break the silence. Both had so much on their minds. Daryl wanted to shake her little body until her heads fall off but yet he wanted to hold that little firecracker so close and never let go. Se scared him. That wound she got looked unusually like a bite wound but Hershel claimed that it was some form of serrated circular material that had cut into her. But regardless his conflicting emotions and his swirling head, he was only able to manage to weakly say, “Rose.”

Suddenly, the man had collapsed into her arms sobbing. Ignoring how right it felt to have him in her arms, Rose’s hands began to softly stroke Daryl’s unruly hair. A sinking feeling hit her as she gently comforted the man she loves. Daryl might not know it yet… but they were star-crossed lovers. They cannot ever be together. Her feelings for him does not matter. No matter how she wanted to envelop herself in his scent forever. How she wanted to reach out to comfort him in dark moments. Rose wanted to wake up to the way that he looks at her when he thinks she’s not paying attention. However she couldn’t afford it. She couldn’t afford to let her guard down.

None of her feelings would matter because her demons will catch up sooner than later. Rose made that mistake once… believing that she could stop them from coming. But in the end, she failed to protect the very person that taught her how to be human. She was endangering the group. Rose needed to move on.