Black Roses

“So what do you think Rose?” Rick approached Rose, noticing that she was staring into the prison courtyard. Her fiery red curls were up in a tight ponytail reaching all the down to her mid back and her eyes were brighter than usual today. Rick had noticed that her zombie blood camouflage wasn’t covering her light pale skin anymore. Her skin was so delicate like a Japanese geisha and had no freckles visible, not even on her face. It had been a tough winter for them and he doubted that the entire group would’ve been alive if it wasn’t for her. T-Dog, Glenn and Maggie were bustling full of nervous energy as they prepared themselves to join Rose and Rick into the prison courtyard and hopefully into the solid grey building. Daryl was few feet further from the group acting gloomy.

Daryl was pissed off. He acted like a complete blubbering idiot last night. If only Merle saw him, he’d never hear the end of it. Rose was standing in front of the courtyard gate with Rick and Daryl hated the sight of her. Thinking about the kiss they shared had him weak in the knees and made his stomach clench a little. Last night, after the kiss, Rose pushed him away gently and told him that he should go join the group before somebody notice his absence. Daryl wondered if she thought him as a little adoring fan boy. It was finally starting to annoy him that he had absolutely no idea about this girl. Hell the group knows a little more about HIM than they did about her and Daryl wasn’t good about sharing his past.

Rose, on the other hand, didn’t even think about the kiss. She was too busy surveying the surroundings past the zombies lunging for her behind the fence. The courtyard only showed the front yard and she couldn’t see what was around the building. That definitely made her nervous. There could be more zombies or perhaps something worse. Rick wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, wondering what she was thinking about so hard. Rose sighed, “Honestly Rick. I don’t know. There’s too much unforeseeable elements here. We’ll definitely have to be on guard once we get in there.”

“I have no doubt you’ll successfully pull us through,” Rick assured her, feeling quite impressed that Rose opened up a little. He had seen glimpses of her formidable talents during the hard winter they’ve spent together. But he had no doubt that she was lethal if she needed to be. Rose could probably take down an entire army if she needed to however it had only made Rick wonder even more. Where in the hell did she learn these skills from and how did she learn? She had to be taught from a young age if it came so naturally for her. “You’ve got us this far Rose. I appreciate that. Especially with Lori getting ready to give birth.”

“Thanks,” Rose gave him a light smile as she rolled her shoulders backward. She glanced over to see Carl sitting next to his mother, seeming slightly peeved. It must be hard to be at that age and not being able to do anything significantly important. He should be in school, learning useless things. Rose ran her fingers through her hair, trying to smooth out all the knots while walking over to talk to the young boy. “Hey you, Carl. Do you think you can make sure these nosy people keep out of my book pack while I’m in there?”

A huge smile broke out on Carl’s face when he realized that Rose was asking him to do her a favor. After a quick warning from Rose to keep out of her bag, he was now clutching the heavy book pack to his chest. Carol and Lori gave each other a knowing glance. Carl was the only one that Rose talked to on a daily basis and it was something that Carol and Lori spoke to each other about all the time. They wondered if she was a mother or maybe she was charged to take care of kids. But at the same time, the two women were not going to question Rose’s actions. Her actions toward Carl reassured them that she was actually human and had human emotions.

“Alright. So I need Maggie, T-Dog, Glenn, Rick… and Daryl,” Rose finally addressed the group. These members had become strong over the winter and already had their strength tested over and over again. Rose had no doubt that they can hold their own. Conversations fell silent when the redhead faced them, “We will cut the chain and break into the courtyard. Be on your toes. Everybody else, make noises and distract the zombies to you so you can stab them through the fence.”

After she gave out her order, she turned around to snip the chain that were separating them from the courtyard zombies. Once everybody got into the courtyard, Rose mentioned for Hershel to come over and lock the courtyard to prevent zombies going out into the yard they just cleaned up. Rose can hear the grunts and moans behind her. Daryl was rapidly shooting his crossbows, seeing them all surrounding the small group. Maggie, Glenn, T-Dog, Rick had formed a back to back group with Daryl, moving slowly towards the entrance into the building. Rose slowly crept around the building to see what was hidden from her sights before.

There were… zombies in riot gear. She cursed under her breath and then whistled to the group, signifying that there were danger. Daryl heard her low whistle and saw her slashing through heavily armored zombies. Maggie ran over to aid Rose but was futile in her attempts bashing them. Rose yelled over the loud metal clashing that Lori, Carol and Hershel were doing to distract zombies over to them, “In the neck Mags. In the goddamn neck.”

Daryl grabbed an arrow, stabbing one in the neck, and made his way towards the female warriors. Maggie finally got what Rose meant and was swiftly stabbing the walkers in riot gear. Rose gave her a small smile, winking as she grabbed a walker. Her katana sword went all the way through the zombie’s neck into its brain and through the decaying skull. Daryl’s breath caught in his throat as he watched those lips he kissed last night move effortlessly as she called for Rick to follow her. He was surrounded by chaos and death but for some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off the stunning Amazon Queen heading towards the open gate with Rick. Rose, on the other hand, was preoccupied with getting the gate closed. There were too many walkers in the courtyard for the group to handle. The groaning of the gate alerted the group fighting that they were in an enclosed space now.

“It looks… secure.” Glenn broke the silence after the last kill was made. Every one of them were covered in blood. Maggie shuddered as she glanced back to look at Hershel and Beth behind the fence, knowing that life was so precious. The group huddled together, feeling the need to find some compassion and warmth. Not Rose. Rose was standing in front of the recently closed gate, surveying her surroundings. The unit was successful in eliminating all the threats in that small corridor.

“Not from lookin’ at that courtyard o’er there,” Daryl’s voice sounded incredibly close to Rose. For the first time, she remembered his rough, chapped but soft lips on hers. The feel of scuffle from his unshaved face. The way his arms snuck around hers and held her close as if she was a doll. Rose was far from a porcelain doll but it was almost endearing to her. The fact that she wasn’t perceived as a tough-as-nail, made-of-steel warrior. “N’ that’s a civilian.”

The gruff southern voice startled Rose as she realized that the man she was thinking about was now standing next to her. Daryl nudged the dead body near her, indicating that this was the civilian he was talking about. After surveying the locked courtyard, Rose found that Daryl’s observation was correct. There were some civilians roaming around. T-Dog echoed the words that everybody immediately thought, “So the interior could be overrun with walkers from outside the prison.”

To untrained ears, the layers of stones would block out the noises occurring inside and would appear eerily silent. But to Rose’s ears, she detected low bustle of activity behind these walls. She wasn’t planning on taking over the entire prison in one day. No… she couldn’t let the group tire out and put themselves in a dangerous position. They could try take over a cell block or two and make that comfortable for the time being. She vaguely made out Glenn’s words, “Well if there’s walls down, what are we gonna do? We can’t rebuild this whole place.”
The thought of Lori being heavily pregnant and possibly due any day frightened Rose. She couldn’t be sure if Lori was going to give birth to a zombie. The tension between Rick and Lori was clear to Rose but she wasn’t good about social relationships or cues. Maybe Rick was worrying about raising a child in this world. Or… maybe there is something else going on between them.

“No… we cannot risk a blind spot.” Rose and Rick answered almost at the same time. Maggie and Glenn gave each other a knowing look immediately. It was hard to deny that the two leaders of the group was definitely connected on some kind of subconscious level. The group was definitely grateful for it. If it was not for Rose’s uncanny logic and sense of danger and Rick’s compassion and the ability to speak to the group and calm them down, they would be dead. Rick gave Rose a small nod, agreeing with her words. “We have to push in.”

The metal door screeched when Rick pushed through. Rose and Daryl were the last people to enter the small gated stairway, secretly savoring the closeness to each other.