"Banks! I'm gonna kill you!" Liam shouted at Rosie as she burst through the door of the classroom, almost slamming into some girl in the hallway. Her purple sneakers screeched on the shiny, marble tile as she booked it down the hallway, Liam right on her tale.

She sprinted through the hallway, narrowly missing a bunch of other students and even a few teachers. She don't know why none of the teachers intervened to get Liam to stop chasing after her, but none of them did.

Rosie turned a corner and ended up in an emptier hallway. She thought she might've gotten away when her eyes landed on the door to the girls' bathroom, but just as she was about to run over to it, Liam tugged on her backpack and shoved her back up against the wall.

"Got any other shit you wanna say about me?!" Liam spat.

"Screw y-" Rosie started, but Liam sent a punch right into her cheek, making her head whip to the side. "Oh-ho-ho," she groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. She quickly recovered, though, and turned to face Liam again.

"Jesus, you're so fucking annoying," Liam shouted in her face.

"You were givin' me shit first," Rosie spat, furrowing her eyebrows at him.

He sent another punch to her face. Her nose was for sure bleeding now. She could taste the metallic flavor dripping down onto her lips. It tasted like the water from the school water fountains. Like pennies.

"You need to learn when to shut your mouth," Liam said.

Rosie nodded and kept her mouth shut as she quickly kneed him in the balls. He groaned and let go of her, almost falling to the ground in pain. Rosie took that as her chance to escape, so she booked it to the principal's office. No way he'd punch her in there.

However, going to the principal's office only got her into trouble, because apparently she started it.

•

About half an hour later, Rosie found herself sitting in a chair outside of the office, kicking her legs back and forth as she waited. Soon enough, she heard the quick and heavy footsteps down the hall that she immediately recognized to be her father's.

As he walked past Rosie to go into the principal's office, he glared daggers. Rosie was about to say something in her own defense, but he pointed his finger at her. "I don't wanna fuckin' hear it," he said sternly. He went to knock on the door and waited for the principal to open it.

The principal opened the door and when David closed it behind him, Rosie could immediately hear him start arguing with the principal. "Did you see her fuckin' face? And, what, you're gonna suspend her? Because what? She fuckin' defended herself? That's bullshit!"

"Mr. Banks, your daughter started-"

"My daughter ain't fuckin' stupid! She don't start nothin' unless there's a damn good reason for it. Some little asshole kid started a fight with 'er, she defended herself, and now you're gonna suspend her? That's the stupidest shit I ever fuckin' heard!" Rosie could hear her dad going on and on, trying to get her out of the suspension. It never worked though.

After a long, futile argument with the principal, David left the office even more pissed off than before. He grabbed Rosie by the back of her shirt and marched her out the door. Rosie fiddled with end of her shirt anxiously as they walked to her dad's truck.

David aggressively opened the driver-side door of the car and slammed it shut behind him. "Get yer ass in the truck," he growled out when he glanced over at Rosie, who was standing by the passenger side door and looking at her shoes.

The car ride home was silent. David's grip on the steering wheel was hard, almost making his knuckles turn white. Rosie's nails dug into her palms as she stared into the nothingness, her heart beating hard in her chest.

When they pulled into the driveway, David stayed sitting there, staring straight forward as he gripped the steering wheel. Rosie looked over at him, waiting for him to tell her what to do next, but he didn't say anything.

"Dad, I'm sor-"

"Go inside," David ordered, still not looking at his daughter. She had dried blood around her nostrils and a faint bruise on her left cheek from Liam. Rosie did as she was told and started walking towards the house. She gnawed at her bottom lip when she heard the driver side door slam shut.

She stepped inside the house, standing near the doorway as she looked down at her shoes.

Everything was silent for a moment.

Then David walked through the door.

"That's the second fuckin' time at this school! Ya get yer ass expelled from this school too, I'm gon' beat ya senseless, girl! Don't give a shit whether yer defendin' yerself or not, I ain't dealin' with this shit no more!"

"I wasn't fightin', Daddy, I swear! I didn't do nothin' to 'im!"

"Don't give a shit what really happened, ya got yer ass suspended!"

The first thing he did was throw a punch at her already-bruised cheek, making her fall to the ground from the force of it. Then another punch, but this one went to her jaw, making her spit out a bit of blood as she cowered back, whimpering in both fear and pain. David stood tall over her, practically seething. Rosie's stomach churned as he unbuckled his belt, sliding it out from the belt loops and gripping it in his right hand.

•

Three and a half hours later, Rosie was lying on her mattress, biting down onto her busted lip as she tried hard not to cry. She felt so unbelievably angry and frustrated. But there was nothing she could do. She was stuck.

"Rosie!" David's voice called out. Rosie jumped to her feet, getting to the living room as fast as she could. She didn't want to make her dad mad again. "Yer annoyin' ass coach called. Ya got a game at six. Go now. I'm sick a' lookin' at your dumb ass," he said.

Rosie nodded and went back to her room. It was only about four o'clock, so she'd have some time to kill before the game. She got her baseball uniform out of her closet and went to the bathroom to change, considering her bedroom no longer had a door. After putting on her uniform, she put on her cleats, grabbed her glove, and was out the door.

Unsure of where else to go, Rosie just went straight to the baseball field. There was a playground near by, so she just swung on the swings to entertain herself. She still felt angry, though. She wanted to leave and never come back. Like Fraser. But she couldn't. She had to stay.

Coach Smith showed up at the baseball field at about 5:30. As soon as Rosie saw his car, she jumped off the swings, picked her glove up off of the ground, and started walking over to him. "Hi, Coach Smith," she said once she got close enough for him to hear her.

He glanced back at her, then back at whatever he was grabbing from his car, and then did a double take at Rosie. Her lip was busted, she had a dark bruise and gash under her eye and on her jaw, and a small cut on her eyebrow. He sighed, shaking his head. "Jeez, kid," he said.

"Got in trouble," Rosie muttered. Coach Smith rubbed his hand over his face, a bad feeling in his stomach. "Will ya still let me play?" Rosie asked, rocking on her feet.

"If that's what you want," Coach Smith said, putting his hand on her head and ruffling her hair. "Uh, why don't you grab the catcher's gear for me, carry it out to the dugout," he said, nodding towards the back seat where the catcher's gear was. Rosie nodded and did as she was told. Coach Smith walked beside her, carrying a baseball bag over his shoulder and a bucket full of baseballs in his right hand. "Brady, Luke, and Jacob won't be here today," he informed her as they walked.

"What? Why?"

"Their parents said they're sick," Coach Smith said as he dropped the bag he was holding down onto the bench and the bucket on the ground in the dugout. "Max is gonna sub in for Luke."

Rosie groaned and tossed her head back in complaint. "Max can't even throw a strike," she complained. Luke and Jacob were their best pitchers.

"Neither can you," Coach Smith said.

"Yeah, that's why I don't pitch," Rosie replied, sitting down on the bench.

"Well, who else should I sub in? Alex throws a fit every time he pitches. He hates it."

"Maybe Luke should toughen up and come to the game anyway," Rosie said, shrugging.

Coach Smith laughed and patted her on the back, and Rosie squirmed away. It hurt, but he didn't mean to. "I tried to convince his mom, but she said he could barely stand. Ya think he could throw a strike sitting down on the mound?"

Rosie frowned and shook her head. "Ya think he's got the same sickness the people on the news got?" she asked, scrunching her eyebrows together as she looked up at Coach Smith.

"Maybe. Hope not," Coach Smith said. He stood up and grabbed his own mitt from the bag he brought. "Come on, let's get some practice in before the other kids get here." Rosie grabbed a baseball from the bucket and put her glove on before meeting Coach Smith out on the field and playing catch with him.

•

After the game, Coach Smith offered to give Rosie a ride home. She was in a much better mood than she was before, considering they won the game three to one, which usually wouldn't be such a great win, but considering Max was pitching, it was a god damn miracle. Her good mood didn't last, though, because Coach Smith wanted to talk about the "elephant in the room", as he called it.

"So, what'd ya do?" he asked.

Rosie sighed. "Got suspended," she answered.

"For what?"

"Fighting."

"Again?"

"Yeah."

It was silent for the next minute, neither of them saying anything as Coach Smith gradually drove them closer to Rosie's house. "Fuck," he muttered to himself as he turned onto Rosie's street. Rosie wanted to ask what he was saying it for, but she thought better of it, not wanting to be annoying. "I don't know what the fuck to do," Coach Smith sighed as he put the car in park outside of Rosie's house.

"About what?" Rosie asked, thinking that maybe she could help. Coach Smith didn't say anything else, though. He kept his right hand gripping the steering wheel while his left hand pinched the bridge of his nose, leaning his elbow on the arm rest. Rosie waited a moment, wondering if he'd say anything else, but he didn't. "Um, bye," she eventually mumbled out, feeling awkward as she opened the passenger door.

"Bye, kid," Coach Smith said quietly, still not moving his hand from his face.

As Rosie neared the house, she noticed that her dad's truck was gone, which eased the anxiety she felt in her stomach. She went inside and took a quick shower, letting herself cool off after the game. The water stung every mark left on her body that day, but she tried to ignore it. After her shower, she put on her black shorts and a Black Sabbath t-shirt. She also threw on Fraser's old flannel, feeling a little chilly after the cold shower.

•

Her stomach started to hurt again when she heard the rumbling of an engine nearing the house from the outside. Looking out the window, she could see that it was her dad's truck. He came storming into the house quickly.

"Rosie!" he shouted. Rosie quickly hurried into the kitchen, where her dad was opening a bottle of beer. "Get some shoes on an' help me pack up the truck," he said.

"Where're we goin'?" Rosie asked.

"Just do what I fuckin' said," David grumbled before taking a big sip of his beer. Rosie quickly put on her red cowboy boots, seeing as they were the closest shoes to her in that moment. She didn't want to get in trouble for taking too long.

David and Rosie packed some stuff into the truck, but Rosie didn't understand what it was for. It looked like they were going camping or something, but her dad seemed to be in such a rush. She didn't bother asking, not wanting to make him mad again.

When they finished packing up the truck, Rosie got into the passenger seat and David started driving. They sat silently for a bit. "Goin' ta Georgia. Gettin' my pops," David eventually told Rosie, after they'd been driving for about 45 minutes.

"My grandpa?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"That sickness on the news is gettin' worse. Spreadin' into the cities. Gotta get him away from Atlanta," David explained.

David drove through the night, only stopping for gas once. Rosie had to pee really bad, but she was too scared to speak up and tell her dad, so she just held it. When they got to the cabin David's dad was living at, he parked the truck outside.

"C'mon," David said, getting out of the truck. Rosie followed him up to the porch of the cabin. David knocked, but got no answer, so he opened the door without permission. It wasn't locked, anyway. "Dad," David called out into the house.

Still no response.

Rosie looked around the cabin, eyeing the deer heads and several taxidermy animals that were around the cabin. She was used to the deer and the rabbits, but he also had a taxidermy fox, a hedgehog, a badger, and a racoon. Their eyes made her feel uncomfortable, but she tried to ignore the feeling as she followed David towards the bedroom. When he swung up the bedroom door, he was immediately pushed backwards, falling onto the ground with someone on top of him.

"What the fuck!" David screamed, pushing his dad away from himself as his dad snapped his mouth open and shut. Rosie was completely confused, pushing herself as close up against the wall as she could. David understood, though. He had seen it on the news. He knew what happened to his dad. "Go to the kitchen, get me a knife!" he shouted at Rosie, struggling to keep his father away from him.

Rosie's eyes widened. "But-"

"Just do what I fuckin' said!" David snapped. Rosie quickly ran to the kitchen, opening and closing all the drawers until she found a kitchen knife. "Give it to me!" David shouted. Rosie placed the handle of the knife in her father's hand as he reached back, using his other hand to keep his own father's snapping teeth away from him. David stabbed the knife right into the center of his father's forehead, making him drop dead on top of him.

Staring with wide eyes, Rosie took a few steps backwards, not understanding. She watched, horrified, as David pushed his father off of him and knelt down over him, stabbing him in the head over and over and over again with a strong sense of rage that Rosie could practically feel reverberating off of him.

Only after a minute did David calm down, leaning back against the wall as he caught his breath. "Fuck!" he screamed, making Rosie jump back a little.

•

The two remaining Banks' stayed the night in the cabin. David slept on the couch while Rosie slept on the floor- or at least tried to sleep. Once morning hit, David and Rosie packed some stuff from the cabin into the back of the truck and went on their way. David's plan was to go to Atlanta- go to the Superdome. That didn't work out, though, because the highway was completely blocked.

"Dammit," David shouted, slamming his hand against the steering wheel after waiting only twenty minutes in traffic. "Stay here," he said, pulling the keys out of the ignition and getting out of the car. Rosie watched from the window as he pulled a box of cigarettes out from his pocket, and then his lighter. He held the cigarette in his lips while he lifted the lighter up to it, his free hand cupping the side. He flicked the lighter, but nothing happened. He tried again, but nothing. Again, and again, and again. Still nothing. "Jesus fuckin' Christ," he swore, stalking back towards the car.

Rosie quickly started digging through the glove compartment, trying to find a lighter, but came up empty. When her dad reached the truck, he started digging through not just the glove box, but everything. The bags, the pockets on the doors, under the seats. Everything.

Quietly, Rosie slipped out of the truck, going unnoticed by her father. She thought that maybe if she found him a lighter, he wouldn't be so angry anymore. So she looked around at the surrounding vehicles, trying to spot someone who might have a lighter on them.

There was a cop with a brown haired lady and a boy who Rosie assumed to be their son. She knew that her dad would probably be even more mad if she went and talked to a cop, so she decided against asking him.

Next, her eyes landed on a woman with short, gray hair, standing next to a girl- Rosie guessed it was her daughter. She didn't want to talk to any kids, so she decided not to ask the short haired woman.

She lifted to stand on the tips of her toes, trying to see over the cars. After a moment, she lost her balance and stumbled backwards a bit. As she stumbled back, she bumped into something. Someone.

"Watch where ya goin', lil' lady," a scratchy voice said. Turning around, Rosie looked up and saw a man with very, very short hair. Almost bald. She could see his facial expression change for a moment when he saw her face, but it quickly went back to its normal look. That happened a lot, so she tried to ignore it. By the sound of the man's voice, Rosie guessed that he would definitely have a lighter.

"Do you have a lighter, mister?" she asked, holding her hands together behind her back as she tried to be polite.

"Ain't givin' my lighter to some lil' girl," the man said, scoffing. He turned away and continued talking to the man he was with. The other man wore a brown shirt with the sleeves cut off, and had short, brown hair. They stood next to an old, blue truck.

Rosie furrowed her eyebrows, frowning. Before she could say anything else, someone's hand landed on her shoulder, pulling her backwards. Looking up, Rosie saw that it was her dad. And he did not look happy.

"The hell I tell ya, girl? I stay stay in the damn truck," David said, clenching his teeth together.

"That guy has a lighter," Rosie said, pointing up at the man from before. David looked up at the man, then back at Rosie. He was about to tell her to stop being stupid and go back to the truck, but she turned back around and tapped the man on the back. "Hey, mister," she said.

"Little girl, I ain't givin' ya my lighter," the man said, turning around once again.

"Rosie, let's go," David said, grabbing onto her upper arm.

"You this girl's daddy?" the man asked.

"He needs a lighter," Rosie said, nodding her head at the man.

"Ya got a cigarette?" the man asked, digging in his pocket for his lighter.

David nodded, pulling the box of cigarettes from his own pocket. "Yeah. Here," David said, holding the box open in the man's direction. The man didn't hesitate to take his pick. "David Banks," David said.

"Merle Dixon," the man said, lighting his own cigarette before passing the lighter over to David. Merle nodded his head over to the other man he was with, smirking a little. "An' that's my baby brother."

"Daryl," the brown-haired man said, nodding his head a little to say hello. He seemed a bit irritated, in Rosie's opinion.

David put his hand on Rosie's shoulder. "This is Rosie," he said. Rosie looked at David's hand on her shoulder, and then back up at Merle, not saying anything.

"The hell happen ta yer face?" Merle asked after blowing smoke out of his mouth.

"She got in a fight at school," David answered for Rosie, squeezing her shoulder to tell her to keep quiet. "Got 'er ass suspended."

"Well, damn, girlie," Merle said, chuckling to himself. "Ya win?"

Rosie shrugged, unsure of how to answer. She only kneed him in the nuts, did that really count as fighting? Did she really break her year and a half streak? She didn't count it in her head. Her only reasoning being that she didn't throw any punches. "Kneed him in the nuts," Rosie said.

Merle laughed, smiling at the girl. "That's the way ta do it," he joked.

After a few minutes of the two men starting their own conversation, Rosie zoned out, staring at her red cowboy boots. Then she got bored of looking at her shoes and started looking at her surroundings, trying to see if there was anything interesting. Her eyes landed on a crossbow. It was left on the passenger seat of the truck the Dixons were standing by. Rosie could see it through the driver side window.

Wanting to get a closer look, Rosie wandered her way around to the other side of the truck and stood on her tip toes, peering in at the crossbow from the passenger side. She admired it for a moment, wanting to have one herself.

"Kid," a gruff voice said from beside Rosie, making her jump back, looking at the person with wide eyes. It was the brown haired man called Daryl, Rosie remembered. "What're ya doin'?" Daryl asked, giving Rosie a look that was close to a glare.

Before Rosie could give any answer, they were interrupted by a loud, booming sound. Rosie jumped again, her head whipping in the direction the sound had come from. It was far away, she could tell, but still very loud.

"What the fuck," Daryl murmured to himself, looking out towards the city. "C'mon," he said as grabbed onto Rosie's upper arm. He pulled her back to the other side of the truck, letting go of her once they reached her dad. Both Merle and David were staring out over the city as well, along with pretty much every other person on that highway.

"They're bombin' the fuckin' city," David said to himself, an irritated but shocked look on his face.

"I thought that's where we were goin'," Rosie said, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked over the city as bombs began to drop again.

"Not anymore," David said. "Fuck!"

"What're we gonna do?" Rosie asked, feeling worried.

"I don't fuckin' know!" David growled. Rosie took a few steps backwards until her back hit the Dixons' truck. "Go to the truck," David ordered.

"But it's blocked in," Rosie said quietly, not wanting to make him mad.

"Jus' get yer shit from your truck and bring it here. Best ta stick together, ain't it?" Merle said, leaning against the hood of his truck. Daryl shook his head, looking everywhere but at David and Rosie. It didn't take a genius to tell that he didn't like the idea.

"C'mon, girl," David said, pushing Rosie forward. "Get yer shit."

"I don't got any shit," Rosie replied.

"Then help me get my shit, a'right? Jesus," David muttered. The two Banks went back to their truck to grab their stuff, leaving the Dixons at their own truck.

"The hell'd ya do that for?" Daryl asked Merle once the Banks were far away enough to not hear them.

"Like I said, best ta stick together. Problem, Darlina?" Merle asked, smirking at his brother.

"Yeah. Don't need some lil' girl in the way," Daryl muttered as he got into the truck, slamming the door behind him.

"The kid's his problem. Ain't nothin' we gotta worry 'bout, little brother," Merle said.

"Whatever," Daryl grumbled as Rosie and David returned to the truck.

Before hopping into the back of the truck, David leaned down next to Rosie. "Ya keep yer damn mouth shut from now on. Don't wanna hear a word outta you 'less I ask for one," he said. "Ya hear me?"

"Yes, sir."

🦖🦕🦖🦕

Long chapter to make up for yesterday 🫡

Also, please lmk if there are any typos in any chapters! I will fix them and I will not be offended I swear lmao