Black Roses

It was nighttime when they finally arrived, watching the sentries carefully. Michonne led the group around into a concealed entrance into Woodbury. It appeared to be some kind of a basement or cellar. Michonne entered first, followed by Rick, Oscar and Daryl. Once Daryl climbed down from the small window, he turned to catch Rose. Rose raised her eyebrows at Daryl, knowing that she couldn’t protest. They had to be as quiet as possible so they don’t attract attention. She sighed as she dropped herself down only to be caught in Daryl’s strong arms. Rose had to fight the need to stay in his arms as she scrambled out of his arms to meet the rest of the group. Michonne was ahead with the other two.

“This is where you were held?” Rick whispered, asking Michonne as they entered a small spacious room filled with knickknacks.

“I was questioned.” Michonne confirmed.

Daryl rushed ahead, brushing aside a flower curtain to peek out the door, seeing people walking without any care in the world. “I thought you said there was a curfew?”

“The street is packed during the day. Those are stragglers.” Michonne defended herself.

Rose sighed, seeing the people casually strolling as if they were in a park. “We gotta move.”

“They could be in his apartment.” Michonne suggested. After a minor disagreement between Daryl and Michonne, Rose called over the three men to try cool them down.

“If this goes south, we’re cutting her loose.” Rick snapped, earning a disapproving glare from Rose. Rose sighed as she glanced over to the African American female, trying to assess the situation.

“Right now, it’s the blind leading the blind.” Daryl muttered before there was a light knock on the door. The door knob turned, and revealed a thin scraggy looking man. He was looking for them. They had to act quickly. Rose pulled out her katana sword and pushed the man against the wall.

“Shut up. Get on your knees.” Rick commanded, “Hands behind your back. Zip tie him. Where is our people? You’re holding some of our people. Where are they?”

The scraggy looking male wasn’t giving any answers expect a chorus of “I don’t know.” From her training of torture, she knew that this man obviously didn’t know anything. Daryl watched as Rose and Rick communicated with their eyes. He just didn’t know how anybody could ever follow so blindly. How a single expression made decisions. Yet here he was, watching Rose shake her head slightly as if she was saying no. Immediately after that, Rick stuffed fabric into the man’s mouth and knocked him out.

Gunshots echoed when they disposed of the unwelcome strangers. Rose’s acute hearing was able to locate it, signaling the group to follow her as they escaped through the front door.

They entered a simple warehouse with guns up, in a single line formation just in time to rescue Maggie and Glenn from an inevitable death. Through the thick smoke, Rose clutched Maggie and Glenn by their shoulders, pushing them to safety through the dark corridor, ignoring the rest of the group. She knew that they would be just fine. She needed to get the injured out of harm’s way. Rick shouted for the group to follow Rose.

It was pitch black outside as each of them ran across the street with their bodies crouched to keep out of sight. Th-thump. Th-thump. Rose’s heart struggled to regulate itself as she watched Glenn collapse onto the floor from the amount of pain he was in.

A deep dark rage reared its head inside her as she assessed the damage done to both Maggie and Glenn. A snarl escaped her throat as she spun around on her heel, seeking revenge.

“Where’s that woman?” Maggie asked, wondering who the African American woman was. Glenn and Maggie was perched on the ground, enduring a grueling questionnaire from Rick. Oscar was keeping watch by the door. Rick glanced around, searching for the newcomer’s face.

“She was right behind us,” Rick stated, looking for Rose. Perhaps Rose knew what happened to Michonne. But she wasn’t there. Hell. Rose wasn’t there. “Where’s the hell is Rose?”

Daryl’s stomach twisted with agony, hoping that Rick’s words weren’t true. Why wasn’t he looking out for her? He should’ve kept an eye on her. Doesn’t matter if she frustrates him or angers him, Daryl still loves her. Oscar shrugged, “Maybe they were spotted.”

“No. Rose brought us here. She must’ve left.” Glenn managed to blurt out before wincing from pain. He was badly beat up.

“Want me to look for them?” Daryl asked.

“No,” Rick replied with a heavy sigh. “We have to get him out of her. Michonne… she’s on her own. Rose will make her way out eventually.”

Glenn interrupted Rick, “Daryl, this was Merle. It was. He did this.”

Daryl knew that Merle kidnapped them. But never in his imaginations would that Merle do this. Rick answered for Daryl, “You saw him?”

“Face to face,” Glenn gasped. “He threw a walker at me. He was gonna execute us.”

“You sayin’ he did this to you? So my brother’s this governor?”

Daryl almost sounded like a broken little boy.

Maggie shook her head, “No, he’s somebody else. Your brother’s his lieutenant or something.”

“Rick I’m sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn’t hold out.” Glenn shamefully hung his head down to his chest. He felt like a failure. He failed the group. This should’ve never happened in first place. Glenn should’ve been more proactive and more aware of his surroundings.

“Don’t,” Rick gently assured Glenn. “No need to apologize.”
Maggie pointed out the obvious, “They’re gonna be looking for us.”

“We have to get back,” Rick sighed again, not wanting to leave behind Rose. But they were running out of time. “Can you walk? We’ve got a car a few miles out.”

“Hey, if Merle’s around… I, I need to see him.” Daryl stammered.

“Not now,” Rick barked. “We’re in hostile territory.”

“He’s my brother,” Daryl stated, shaking his head in disbelief. “He ain’t gonna try…”

Rick didn’t respond but instead opened the door for Daryl. Daryl threw a can out, seeing it explode into smoke almost immediately. As soon the fog became thick enough, the group ventured forward. Bullets began to fly in the air as the small group rushed through the darkened town. Rick exhaled a relieved sigh when he recognized the glimmer of katana sword on the top of the barricade taking out the sentries. Rose was on a killing spree as she leaped from barricades, taking out most of the guards.

Rose recognized the figures emerging from the smoke and began a low whistle. They needed to gun into the wall so they could get out. Daryl threw another grenade once again as the group rushed over to the female warrior. After they were safely cloaked by the forest, they stopped to take a breath. Rose’s eyes instinctively searched for Daryl’s and found no solace. He wasn’t there. DARYL. “Where’s the hell is Daryl?”

Back at Woodbury, Daryl was pitted against his older brother and was miserably failing. Merle always won. It was always this way with him. There was no equal grounds with Merle. Merle betrayed him. Daryl’s heart was heavy as he listened to his brother prove his alliance to Woodbury. Soon, they heard the groans of the walkers closing into them. As quickly they were fighting against each other, they fought aside each other. Daryl wasn’t sure if he was going to make it out. There were too many walkers and his ribs were already aching from Merle’s abuse.

But in a blink of eye, the walker in front of him was dispatched only to reveal a blood-soaked Rose with an expression on her face that Daryl would probably never forget. So much contempt, anger and hate. It was the most hateful expression ever. Daryl wasn’t used to see that face that was usually void of any emotions. She was beautiful and… terrifying. Shots began to fire, and smoke grenades were rolled out but Daryl was mesmerized by the redhead. No amount of fog could ever disguise that flaming red hair. Rose leapt around, slicing through abandoned walkers’ skulls.

“Daryl! SNAP OUT OF IT,” Rose’s voice managed to be louder than the gunfire, snapping Daryl back to reality. Daryl began to fight back as the group escaped. Somehow through all this frenzy, Rose and Daryl made their way toward each other as they teamed up, forming an alliance. They bulldozed through the zombies to escape with the rest of the group. “I’d be damned if I leave you behind. I’m not leaving you behind Daryl. C’mon.”

Daryl’s heart leaped as soon their hands intertwined. Her hands were calloused from years and years of abuse yet it was dainty and soft. He could feel some bones were broken in her hands and never healed correctly. Rose continued to pull Daryl along, not willing to leave him behind. The group was way ahead of them and Merle, Daryl’s brother was nowhere in sight. As soon they ran past the borders of Woodbury, Rick and Maggie came into view. “Little help would be nice!”

Rick glared at Daryl’s older brother, seeing him beating the walker on the ground with his makeshift arm weapon thingy. Rose shook her head at Rick, warning him to not say anything until they were further away from Woodbury. They needed to move quickly. Rose, who were still holding Daryl’s hand, fought off the walkers with her other hand as they all ran forward. The sun was beginning to come up above the horizon when Rose detected that Michonne has joined Glenn by the car.

Michonne drew her katana out at Daryl as soon she saw him which resulted into Rose pointing hers at Michonne. She sure as hell wasn’t going to let anything happen to Daryl. Rick watched the two women, unsure what was going to escalate out of the tense situation. Everybody was tense. Eventually Michonne faltered, backing down just when Glenn yelled, “What the hell is he doing here!”

Rose glanced at Merle, knowing damn well that this wasn’t going to end well. If it wasn’t for Daryl, she’d probably kill him on sight. He messed with her own people. Wait. Rose’s brain began to go into overload when she realized that she called them her own people. They were. They weren’t just her responsibilities. She didn’t just love them. They were her family. The first big family that she never had in her entire life. And this hick was a threat. Rick threw up his hands, trying to defuse the situation, “Hey hey hey!”

“HEY!” Daryl yelled even louder, removing his hand from Rose’s grip. He took a stance in front of his older brother with a wild look in his eyes. “PUT THE GUN DOWN. Put it down!”

“Look what he did,” Glenn yelled back at Daryl, refusing to lower his gun. “If it wasn’t for him, Maggie could-“

“Y’all just got of there fine.” Daryl challenged Glenn with his eyes, completely forgetting about the redhead. It was his brother. How could he ever go against his own blood?

“Right after he beat the shit outta you!” Rick snarled, holding his gun up to Michonne who had redrew her sword towards Merle. Rose sighed impatiently, knowing that this situation was so pointless. She just wanted to go back to the prison and check on the little ones.

Merle protested which earned a quick disapproving glance from Daryl, “Hey! We both took our licks man.”

“Jackass.” Daryl directed that comment towards Merle, making it clear that there were some unsolved issues between them.
Merle snarled back, “Hey shut up.”

“Enough!” Rick yelled at Merle as bickering broke out amongst everybody. Rose proceeded to pack the car, taking herself out of the situation. She wasn’t trained to be like that. Rose was raised to keep her silence and do what she said without any questions. No arguing or bickering involved.

“RELAX!” Daryl shot another glare at his older brother. He knew that Merle was just making the situation worse. Glenn was still pointing his gun towards Daryl, “Hey! Get that thing outta my face!”

“Ha, looks like you’re goin’ native, brother.” Merle chuckled and then grinned. Rose perched herself on the edge of the car with a towel wiping off the blood on her swords. She already knew that nobody was going to fire at anybody anytime soon. They just had to get the steam out.

Daryl scowled, shooting back at Merle, “No more than you hangin’ out with that psycho back there!”

“Oh yeah man. He’s a charmer. I gotta tell you that,’ Merle grinned even wider, directing his eyes on Michonne as he taunted her, “Been puttin’ the wood to your girlfriend Andrea big time baby.”

The bickering ended almost immediately when everybody looked at him stunned. Glenn had the strength to speak up, “What? Andrea’s in Woodbury?”

“Yeah, right next to the Governor.” Daryl confirmed, remembering how the blonde reacted when she saw them. Merle caught something that was bright red out of the corner of his eyes only to see this pretty little creature boringly cleaned her blades out of the back of the car. The sun was just coming up which hit Rose’s hair in a peculiar way. It made her hair seems like if fire was woven into tight ringlets. Merle wondered who she was.

“I told you to drop that!” Michonne snarled, stepping closer to Merle. Merle turned his attention back onto the African American female, grinning. He loved getting under people’s skins.

“You know Andrea?” Rick shouted, glaring at Michonne. He wondered why she kept that one detail out. She didn’t reply which resulted in Rick yelling at her again, “Do you know Andrea?”

Merle’s cheeks began to hurt from grinning so much, “Yep she does. Her body spend all winter cuddlin’ up in the forest. Mm mm mm. Yeah. My Nubian queen here, had two pet walkers, no arms, cut off the jaws, kept them in chains. Kinda ironic now that I think about it.”

“Shut up Bro!” Daryl yelled when Rose finally tuned them out. She reached into her book pack, pulling out a deer jerky to chew on. How long was this going to last? Perhaps she should intervene and make them shut up. Yet at the same time, she felt like this was an important issue to the group. Something that she probably won’t understand. But something stopped her heart when she finally tuned back in, “Fine. We’ll fend for ourselves.”

Daryl stole a glance over to Rose, only to see her eyes wide open. Emotions were far and few when it came to Rose and it broke his heart to see Rose’s face contorted in confusion. Her eyebrows were furrowed down and she parted her lips as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t. Rose didn’t see that coming. She never thought that he’d be gone just like that. The group protested as they tried to reason with Daryl. But all Rose could think was that… perhaps she did something wrong. Maybe she should’ve tried better with her emotions. She should’ve tried to communicate to him about how he made her feel.

“No him… no me. That’s all I can say.” Daryl shrugged his shoulders. Merle was his brother. He couldn’t just leave him. Not now. Daryl finally found his brother again. No matter what his heart tells him about Rose.