Black Roses

Hershel’s SUV slowly rumbled to stop as Rick beeped the car horn, alerting the group to stop. Rose stopped the car as she glanced at her dashboard, seeing that her car was running on fumes. Her stellar hearing picked up that Rick was running on fumes too. The group tried to discuss their game plan as Rose stepped out of her car, feeling the bite of the wind on her bare skin. Carl rubbed his arms as he glanced at the adults but was soon distracted as he watched the female warrior.

The group might want to move on but Rose can already tell that it was impossible for them to move on. They’ll have to bunk down for the night. She emerged into the darkness, her eyes already adjusted to it as she gathered firewood. Rose heard Lori, the pregnant woman in the distance saying that they should start a fire. Then she heard that gruff southern drawl warning others, “If people go out lookin’ for firewood… stay close. I only got so many arrows. How you doin’ on ammo?”
Rose remembered how the redneck watched her earlier and she knew that he was obviously the warrior of the group. Of course his feathers were going to be ruffled just a bit. She could tell that Daryl wasn’t the type of man that would take so kindly to females being a better fighter than he is. Beside… what kind of name is Daryl? Rose sighed as she approached the pregnant woman with a pile of wood in her arms.

“I know it looks bad. We’ve all been through hell and worse but at least we found each other. We’re together. We keep it that way. We’ll find shelter somewhere, there’s gotta be a place.” Rick tried to reason with the group. He felt some kind of obligation to them since he took away their former leader, Shane. The sheriff closed his eyes, trying to erase the memory of his best friend turning into his enemy in the end.

“Rick… look around.” Glenn, the younger Korean boy stepped forward as he explained, “There are walkers everywhere. Like they’re migrating or something.”

Rose held back the need to roll her eyes. Of course they were migrating. It was part of the natural yet vicious cycle. Zombies are just like animals. They migrates where the food is. Their human instincts might be dead and long gone, but their animalistic instincts were still there. But she reminded herself that she was simply surrounded by idiots and just had to let them figure it out on their own. Rick responded to Glenn quite harshly, “There’s gotta be a place! Not just where we hole up, but where we fortify. Build a life for each other! I know it’s out there! We just have to find it!”

“Even if we do find a place we think is safe… we can never be sure for how long.” Maggie, Glenn’s girlfriend added in. Rose felt the roar of fire when her old Native American tactics worked, forming a spark of heat. She heard Daryl’s voice questioning the fate of a previous boy that died and wasn’t bit. Confusion were rampaging throughout the group as they grilled Rick for answers. But then realization hit Rose quite hard when she realized that the group obviously had no idea.

Rose gestured for Carl to come closer to the fire when she saw him shiver from the cold. Lori and Carol were the only people there that saw that small gesture that she made towards the youngest member of the group. Carol wondered if perhaps Rose used to be a mother. But she did look rather young to have a child… who were they kidding? In the past lives they all led, teenage girls were having babies everywhere. Hell… they even had a TV show called “Sixteen and Pregnant.” Who was Carol to doubt that Rose ever had a child? Maybe it would explain why she was so closed off to everybody. God knows how a huge part of her died when she lost her little girl. But the very words that came out of Rose’s mouth struck a chord in everybody, starting that little pit of fear deep down inside them. “We’re all infected.”

“Rose is right,” Rick confirmed their worst nightmares. Rose didn’t even show any emotions as she turned her attention back on the growing fire. “At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it.”

“You never said anything?” Carol asked him, stepping forward out of anger.

Rick shrugged, “Would it have made a difference? How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy he was.”

“That’s not your call!” Glenn interjected, making the same valid point that everybody else felt. “When I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told for the good of everyone!”

Rose sighed as she zoned out on the pointless conversation. Obviously the group had some issues to overcome. She was just there… well… she had no idea why she was there. Once the fire was going strong, she turned to survey the tree line surrounding them. It seems good enough to hold her for the night. She sure as hell wasn’t going to sleep down on the ground with idiots like these people.

Daryl on the other hand was watching Rose intently. He wondered how she knew that they were infected and how calm she seemed when she informed the group. Suddenly Rose leaped up on a tree, climbing up out of Daryl’s line of sight. Rushing over to check out what the hell was she doing, he saw that she was pulling out the rolled up tube, attaching it from tree limb to limb. It was quite a brilliant plan. Daryl had to give her kudos for being wise enough to stay off ground, away from dangers. Perhaps that was how she survived by herself all these times.

As Rose was perched high above them, she saw them all huddled around the campfire she made. She needed to go hunting soon. That squirrel she had for breakfast wasn’t quite enough. They were obviously too busy sorting out unnecessary issues as they fumed over Rick withholding that information from them. This was why she doesn’t do group type of scenarios. But suddenly a noise echoed in the distance, spooking the group.

The redhead warrior decided to go hunting before the group annoyed her any further with their idiotic antics. Pulling her bow across her shoulders, she embraced herself for the impact as she jumped down. Daryl was already there, hoping to surprise Rose. But to his dismay, Rose seems indifferent to his presence near her. “I’m going to hunt for food. Are you coming?”

“Yeah. Gotta find us som’in to eat.” Daryl agreed as he followed the female in front of him. They both inspected their surroundings in the dark silently. “So where the hella did you come from?”

Rose didn’t answer right away as her eyes scanned the darkness. Her ears were on a high alert as she listened for the scurrying of animals. Daryl was getting annoyed that the girl wasn’t answering him. Sure, he was a little anti-social and all but he was definitely not as bad like this bitch, Rose! But suddenly he heard the whistling of arrows and it didn’t came from his crossbow. Rose stood next to Daryl, with her bow in front of her. A little squeak signaled that she caught some unlucky animal as she smiled, feeling quite accomplished. Nothing had ever escaped her arrows.

Daryl, on the other hand, could see the outline of her sadistic grin in the dark and wondered who the hell this girl was. They stepped toward where her arrow landed, seeing a quite large fox. It was quite impressive to successfully catch a fox. They were definitely quick and nifty type of animals. Rose could see the sense of admiration in Daryl’s face. “Well I suppose we got enough for the rest of the group.”

“We oughta skin it first.” Daryl spoke as Rose pulled her hunting knife out of its arm sheath and handed it to Daryl. After skinning the fox, they slowly made their back to the campfire. Both weren’t the talkative type of people and was more than content to walk back in silence. Daryl was definitely not going to try talking to her again after she made it quite clear she wasn’t interested. He never met a girl like her in his entire life. But hey… End of the world changes people and bring out the weirdest qualities in people.

Rose on the other hand was rather wasn’t bubbling with curiosity. Daryl was just the typical redneck…. Probably had an abusive father with a history of alcohol. It was how she functioned. Her first impressions of people were a little more educated than others. Daryl was probably a follower in his past life and finally stepped it up in this hell. The only thing she wonders about… how did Daryl become so loyal to this idiotic group?

It was hard to deny her admiration for his loyalty staying with a group that were obviously not fit for survival like they were. So perhaps… Daryl might be the first person in a long time to surprise her.