Black Roses

Once upon a time, rain was something that Rose would look forward to. It brings flowers and life along with it. Only god knows how she needed that confirmation that life was still possible. The sound of rain pitter-pattering and the way it seems to lull the world brought peace for Rose. But the raindrops fell down as if the earth itself was crying, decaying bodies also dropped down around Rose as she fought her way out of a horde. Rain… was no longer her salvation. It was her enemy. Rain washed away her masking scent and made her smell… well… human to the zombies.

A breathless chuckle escaped Rose’s lips as she thought of the old but familiar idiom, “When it rains… it pours.” Whoever came up with that genius idiom must’ve known that the world would go to shit like this. When it rains, she has to fight more zombies than usual. It drains her energy whether if it’s trudging through mud or killing the goddamn dead cannibals. Daryl watched her out of the corner of his eye as he bashed his crossbow into a walker’s head. She was... definitely a vision to watch on the battlefield. He watched how her wet but still flamingly crimson curls fell into her face as she spun around, successfully taking down three walkers at once. Once the zombies were all dead, Rose quickly pulled her wet hair back into a tight ballerina bun as she nodded at Daryl.

It has been just about a whole winter now that Rose was with the group and Daryl was slowly recognizing that he had feelings for this stubborn, mysterious warrior bitch. Of course… he hated it. Hell… she was definitely thriving in this post-apocalyptic world. The group found a temporary roof over their heads just because Rose led them to it. The group were well-fed because Rose hunted and successfully kill big game animals like coyotes. Daryl wasn’t used to having somebody else hunting for food beside him. And to his surprise… he actually learned some tactics from this girl. There were no signs that she was even impressed by him or even liked him. It has been a WINTER since Rose joined the group and none of them know anything about her except that her name is Rose and she’s definitely a badass.

“So what did ya do before the world went to shit?” Daryl decided to break the gloomy silence as they moved away from the fallen horde. Rose closed her eyes, knowing that this question was going to come up sooner than later. She had been with them for a bit and her worst fear is beginning to come true. The idiotic group had wormed their ways into her heart but she sure wasn’t going to let them know that. She will make sure that she put them in a safe place where the zombies couldn’t break through easily. Once they’re situated, she’ll leave. She couldn’t stay with them… it wasn’t in her nature to do so. Perhaps she could come every once in a while and check on them. But… she couldn’t imagine remerging into a society. She was NEVER a part of society to begin with… even before the world went to shit. “Rose?”

“We should probably head back to the camp and make sure everybody’s okay. That was quite a large horde we killed back there.” Rose replied smoothly as she eyed the small truck stop that was quite a waste of their time. They were out on a run, hoping for some canned food or anything else. But it was already trashed by others who got there before they did. She saw the way Daryl ran his hand through his hair exasperatedly and had to fight a small smile making its way onto her face. He looked like a little kid not getting his way.

“Rose, C’mon. Ya can’t tell me nothin’ about yourself?” Daryl questioned, not realizing that Rose was already walking ahead of them. A few second of silence went by when he realized that she was gone. After swearing some obscenities, he picked up his crossbow and swung it over his shoulder a little too hard. He felt the metal cutting a bit of his skin. Rose might be the most frustrating human being he had ever had to deal with and he had FEELINGS for the goddamn girl.

When Daryl returned to the abandoned house that the group had taken residence for the night, he didn’t see the fiery redhead and he didn’t care. It wasn’t unusual that Rose didn’t join the group for dinner. She always went somewhere else during the night… perhaps she liked sleeping up in the trees. Some people, like Hershel and T-Dog, thinks that she felt uncomfortable being surrounded by too many people. But Carl, Beth and even Glenn thinks that she watches over them during nights. Because sometime she would return in the morning with scratches and unknown blood splatters all over her body. Rick had never questioned her need to be gone during the night. For some reason, they both had mutual respect for each other. Sure Daryl was definitely Rick’s secondhand but perhaps Rose was on the same level with Rick or even above him. Nobody wanted to question it. It was like what Rick had said to the group the first night together after the siege… it wasn’t a democracy anymore.

In the morning, a high-pitched whistle had woke some of the group up. Glenn ran over to look out the window to see a large herd heading towards their shelter and Rose was in front of them, taking down lines after lines of walkers. Glenn immediately rummaged everybody up. They didn’t really unpack too much last night so luckily they were able to hop into their cars quickly enough. Daryl on the other hand was hopping onto his motorcycle, seeing that Maggie and Beth took his truck. He wondered if Rose liked doing killing sprees or something. He couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just go in and wake them up.

“C’mon Rose. Hop on the back.” Daryl yelled out to Rose, grimacing at how much blood was on her body. It didn’t seem to affect Rose too much as she placed her katana sword back into the sheath and hopped on the back of Daryl’s motorcycle. They sped off, heading back out onto the highway to meet the others. Rose’s arms snuck around Daryl’s waist, holding on as they dodged walkers. Their bodies fit together almost perfectly… it would’ve been perfect if it wasn’t for all the weapons between them. Daryl wasn’t used to that funny feeling he was having. He had females riding his motorcycle before… Carol rode it before. But none of them gave him that wonderful, warm feeling that Rose caused by holding onto him.

Rick was out there on the highway with T-Dog and Hershel, reading the map on the top of a car’s hood. Rick sighed as he finally admitted, “We’ve been moving in circles for months.”

As Daryl parked his motorcycle, he felt the girl behind him hopping off as she approaches the group. “What the hell happened back there?”

“I… uh… fell asleep.” T-Dog whispered as he met the girl’s furious glare. Both of her eye colors were stunningly bright. Daryl walked over, joining Rick, giving him a nod of acknowledgement before turning his attention back onto Rose. He finally realized that Rose might’ve not had time to alert the group. “I’m sorry Guys. I just wasn’t seeing anything a while and I thought I could just close my eyes for a few minutes.”

“If you were tired, you could’ve asked somebody to replace
you. Once I got back from hunting, they were extremely close. You all could’ve been dead if it wasn’t for me.” Rose hissed back at T-Dog. She knew that she was showing too much emotions but she couldn’t stop the words from coming out of her mouth. This might be the worst decision she had ever made in her life. What the hell was she thinking about joining this group? Her heart was slowly regulating itself as she glared down the African American male in front of her. They barely made it out this time. Rose needed to find them a safe place for her own sanity.

Rick stood back, not wanting to suppress Rose’s emotions… the first time she ever shown more than distaste. T-Dog didn’t say anything back so Rose sighed and turned her back to him, facing Rick. “It’s time we find a fortified place.”

“Where would we find something like that?” Rick asked, watching the girl pull out a pencil from her book pack and started to circle a place on the map. They all peered at the map, seeing how she traced their place onto a railroad towards an unlabeled place.

“There’s a prison not too far from here. Close to Newnan. West Georgia Correctional Facility. Maybe 10 or 12 miles from here. Why don’t we go and look at the place and see if it is strong enough to withstand these zombie assholes?” Rose whispered to Rick and Daryl, not allowing the others in the group to hear. “T-Dog, why don’t you gather some people and go look for water while we go hunt for some food?”

So Rick, Daryl and Rose left the group on the highway and make their way onto the railroad. The prison was definitely overrun with walkers. Nevertheless, Rick still saw the prospects that Daryl wasn’t seeing, “This place can be a goldmine!”

“We’ll close that gate and clear out the field. I’m sure we can all accomplish this tonight. But we’ll need the rest of the group.” Rose spoke as her eyes scanned the surroundings.