"Hey, just- you got her?" Rick said softly as he handed his daughter over into the arms of his son. He had returned that night and finally held his daughter for the first time. Now he was walking out in the basketball courts with his children, Hershel, and Beth.

While he was out there, though, something caught his eye. A walker at the fence. The thing about this walker was that it wasn't acting much like a walker. It was standing there with its left hand on the fence and it's right hand holding onto a basket. In the basket was about a dozen canisters of baby formula.

Rick stared across at the walker, quickly coming to realize that it wasn't a walker at all. It was a woman. A living woman. The woman had a wound on her leg and the walkers started to notice it. She pulled a sword out of a sheath on her back and backed away before cutting off the head of a walker.

"Should we help her?" Carl shouted over to his dad. Rick gave no answer. He ran to the gate as the woman toppled over, passing out before she could kill the last two walkers surrounding her.

Carl killed the two walkers before tossing the keys over to his father. "Ah, shit!" Rick hissed as he flung the gate open. Both Carl and Rick ran out and started shooting at the walkers.

Hershel showed up at the gate, having seen the commotion. "Is she bit?" he asked.

Rick searched the woman for bites, but came up empty. "Gunshot," Rick said. He picked up the woman and hoisted her arm over his shoulder before carrying her into the gates.

•

"We can tend to that wound for you, give you a little food and water, and then send you on your way," Rick said, pacing over to the woman. They had brought her inside, but she refused to give them her name or any information on why she was there. "But you're gonna have to tell us how you found us and why you were carrying formula."

The basket the woman had been carrying had formula and a toy dinosaur inside. "The formula was dropped by a young Asian guy with a pretty woman. The toy, a blonde girl. Small," the woman said, her voice low and raspy.

Rick turned to look at Daryl for a moment, but Daryl kept his gaze on the woman, glaring. "What happened?" Rick asked the woman.

"Were they attacked?" Hershel asked.

"They were taken," the woman said.

"Taken? By who?" Rick asked her, furrowing his eyebrows.

"By the same son of a bitch who shot me," the woman hissed.

"Hey, these are our people," Rick said, crouching down to the woman's level. "You tell us what happened now!"

He hit her on her wound and she lurched back. "Don't you ever touch me again!" the woman spat.

Daryl lifted his crossbow, pointing right at the woman's head. "Better start talkin' or you're gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound!" he growled.

"Find 'em yourself," the woman said.

Daryl lurched forward, ready to use whatever method he had to use to get Rosie, Maggie, and Glenn back, but Rick stopped him. "Hey, put it down," he said. Very reluctantly, Daryl lowered his weapon. "You came here for a reason," Rick said, stepping forward.

"There's a town," the woman said, glaring at Rick. "Woodbury. About 75 survivors. I think they were taken there."

•

Rosie sat at a table, her hands tugging at the hem of her shirt with anxiety as she listened to the sounds of Glenn getting the absolute shit beaten out of him. She still couldn't even comprehend the fact that Merle was alive, let alone the fact that he kidnapped her.

Nothing was making sense. Nothing made sense when Merle brought them there, nothing made sense when a bag was pulled over her head, nothing made sense when she was patted down, and nothing made sense when she was dragged away into wherever she was now.

Based on what she was hearing now, though, she had figured out that Merle would try and get information out of her. At first, she wasn't sure whether or not she should comply. She trusted Merle. He'd been nice to her and helped her after her father died, and he stopped her from running away (which she was mad about at the time, but now she was glad he did it). So could she trust him to come to the prison?

It wasn't until she heard Glenn's refusal to cooperate, even after Merle hit him several times, that she decided she could not trust Merle anymore. If he went back to the prison, there was no doubt in her mind that he would want to kill Rick. He'd want to kill Rick, and Rosie knew that Merle would absolutely kill anyone who got in his way. She couldn't let him get to the prison.

The girl's heart started pumping fast in her chest when she heard the lock outside of the door to where she was being kept being unlocked. She put on her best mean face and placed her hands on the table in front of her as Merle walked through the doors. She glared at him.

"Lighten up, sweetheart," Merle said as he pulled up a chair, turned it around, and sat on it backwards.  "I ain't gonna hurt ya."

"Ya hurt Glenn," Rosie said, trying to ignore the fear she felt. If Merle knew she was scared, he'd use that fear against her. She knew that.

"Well, darlin', Glenn didn't wanna cooperate. And I got a feelin' you will," Merle replied, pulling a map out of his pocket and placing it on the table. He took a marker out and placed it on top of the map. "Ya tell me where you and your pals are holed up, you're free ta go."

"I ain't tellin' you shit," Rosie spat, picking up the marker and throwing it at Merle. It hit his chest and fell to the ground. Merle was unaffected by the marker throw. He just stared at Rosie for a second, thinking. Back at the Atlanta camp, she was so shy and so obedient that she wouldn't even speak unless spoken to. And now, here she was, swearing and throwing markers at him.

"How 'bout we try somethin' else," he said, picking up the marker. He flipped the map over to the blank side and placed the marker on it again. "Why don't ya give me a list of all the people ya got with you."

"No," Rosie persisted, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. She jumped a little- no matter how hard she tried to be ready for it- when Merle abruptly stood up and slammed his hand on the table.

"Little girl, ya better start givin' me answers here soon, 'cause if ya don't, I'll get the Governor to come in here. And he ain't gonna be so friendly, ya hear me?" Merle threatened. Rosie could feel herself shrinking under his glare. It reminded her of the glare her father used to give her. But Merle killed her father for what he did to her. He wouldn't do it to her, too, would he?

"I ain't tellin' you shit!" she said again, leaning forward, still with her arms crossed. "You wouldn't do nothin' to hurt me. Ya killed my daddy for doin' that, remember?"

Merle stood back up and began walking back towards the door, making Rosie's confidence in her words start to waver.

"I'll do anythin' to find my brother, Rosie," he said.

She didn't think she'd ever heard Merle say her name out loud before. He'd always called her something like darlin' or girlie. Her name coming out of his mouth sounded wrong; threatening, in a way.

Merle stopped at the door, sighing loudly and staring down at the floor. He didn't want to hurt the girl, but he would. He would to get to his brother. Nothing was more important to him than Daryl. So, he turned himself back around and walked to the other side of the table.

As Merle grabbed onto the back of her chair, pulling it out so she was facing him, Rosie cowered back, feeling her head fill up with pressure. Merle placed his hand on her shoulder, pinning her to the chair, while he held his blade up to her neck.

"Tell me where my brother is," Merle growled out. Rosie kept her lips sealed, no matter how afraid she was. "Damnit, girl! Just tell me where he is!" Merle shouted at her. Still, Rosie wouldn't budge. "Fuck!" the man yelled out. Before she knew it, he sent his fist flying into the side of her face.

From the force of the punch, Rosie fell onto the ground. She looked up at Merle with wide eyes that stung with tears. Merle towered over her, his face burning with rage. He just wanted his brother.

"I hope you wise up and start talkin' real soon. 'Cause if ya don't, I get the feelin' ya ain't gonna like the Governor so much," Merle growled out.

With that, he walked out of the room, locking the door behind him. Rosie's mind raced with questions. What was the Governor going to do? Was not cooperating really the best decision? What would Daryl want her to do?

She wished that she had never gone on that stupid run with Glenn and Maggie. She wished that she'd just stayed back at the prison. She wished that they'd all just stayed back at the prison. If they were gonna hurt her- a little girl- then Rosie didn't even want to think about what they'd do to two grown adults like Glenn and Maggie.

Feeling more weak and more useless by every passing second, Rosie pushed herself into the corner of the room. She was scared.

Two pairs of footsteps echoed in the hallway outside of the room Rosie was being held in. She heard Merle's voice, and then another man's voice who she didn't recognize, though she couldn't quite tell what they were saying. She could guess that they were talking about her, though, because only moments later, the door was being unlocked again. A man with brown hair walked in and sat down in the chair Merle had just been sitting in.

Merle gave her a strange smile from the doorway before shutting the door and leaving Rosie all alone with the Governor.

"My name's Phillip," the man spoke, "And you're Rosie, right?" He waited for Rosie to respond, but she just glared up at him instead. Then he gave her a closed-lipped smile. "Well, Rosie, I brought you something."

Rosie's stomach started to ache as she watched the Governor pull a plastic bag up from the ground and place it on the table. She made no move to come closer or to touch the bag. Instead, she pretended it wasn't there, keeping herself in the corner.

The Governor sighed and pulled the item out of the plastic bag himself, holding it up in front of him. Rosie stared at it with confusion. It was a white dress with small flowers embroidered onto the fabric. Rosie didn't like wearing dresses in the first place, but the fact that the dress had a deep neck line, which would easily show her collarbones, made her dislike it even more.

"Go ahead, put it on. It's for you," the Governor said as he placed the dress on the table.

"No," Rosie said, pushing herself even further into the corner.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Rosie. I brought you nice, clean clothing. The ones you're wearing are filthy. I'm sure you're tired of wearing them," the Governor said. Rosie gave him no response. She thought that maybe if she pretended he wasn't there, he'd give up and leave. "If you don't tell me where your people are, I can't bring you back to them. So, you're just going to have to adjust to life in Woodbury, and in Woodbury, we don't have little girls walking around in blood-stained clothing."

"Woodbury?" Rosie asked, a little intrigued. She knew it was just a way to force her to give up the prison, but she wanted to know what the hell Woodbury was and who the hell the Governor was.

"That's where you are, Rosie," the Governor said, cracking a smile. "It's better up there, though. But I can't let you up there unless you cooperate. So, put the dress on."

"No," Rosie said again.

"You can put the dress on, or I can leave and come back with one of your friend's dead bodies, let them turn into one of the biters," he threatened. His tone was friendly, like this was a normal conversation, but that didn't make Rosie feel any better about it. If anything, it made her feel worse. "Put it on."

Hesitantly and slowly, Rosie stood up to her feet, stepped forward, and pulled the dress off of the table, holding it in her right hand. She waited for a moment, unsure of what to do next. She was willing to put the dress on now, so why was the Governor still just sitting there? She glanced up at him just to see him staring back at her. She scrunched her eyebrows with confusion.

"Go on," he said.

Rosie didn't understand. "But you-"

"Put it on."

Rosie thought about her choices. She either put on this dress, or he'd kill Glenn and Maggie. Those were her options. Those were her only choices. Of course, she could also give up the prison, but that would be selfish. She was not going to risk everyone back at the prison's lives just so she wouldn't have to change into this dress.

After a few more moments of waiting for the man to leave, Rosie came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to leave.

So, she slowly dropped herself down to the floor and slipped off her red cowboy boots. She faced her back towards the Governor as she took off her shirt and pants. She could feel his eyes on her, but she pretended she didn't. She just kept reminding herself that this was the only way to keep everyone safe. She didn't understand why she felt so uncomfortable. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. Rosie grabbed the dress and pulled it on quickly, covering herself up. She pulled her boots on and stood back up, keeping her eyes to the floor.

The Governor just sighed. Rosie glared at him again. "I admire your consistency, sweetheart, but that's not what I need," he said. He abruptly stood up from his chair and grabbed onto Rosie's upper arm. She tried to pull herself away from him, but his grip was too tight. He dragged her out of the room and into a hallway.

"Let go a' me! Let go!" Rosie shouted, kicking and fighting as best she could. It was no use, though. She was a little girl being held hostage and he was a grown man in charge of an entire town. She kept growling in frustration and shouting at him angrily as he dragged her towards a door. "I ain't tellin' you shit!"

She was pulled into a room, still thrashing around. But she froze when she heard Glenn's voice. "Rosie?" he said quietly, sounding completely terrified. Glenn and Maggie's stomachs twisted with fear and anger, noticing the dark bruise forming on the girl's cheekbone and the strange change in her clothes.

At the sound of Glenn's voice, Rosie immediately stopped fighting and looked up. She saw Glenn, beaten and bloody, standing next to Maggie, who had no shirt on and was covering herself with her arms.

Rosie felt uncomfortable, suddenly remembering how out in the open her own skin was. She wasn't sure who knew about her scars, but she had assumed that Daryl did. After all, he was the one who found her in the woods when she was using her shirt to wrap her wound. He hadn't ever asked anything about the scars, but she was sure he'd seen them because he had mentioned them that one time in the tent. But now Maggie, and Glenn, and Merle, and the Governor, and all the strangers in that room saw them. It felt wrong.

"Rosie? Oh, God. Are you okay?" Maggie asked. Her voice sounded broken and horrified.

Rosie's eyes were wide and afraid. Her voice shook when she spoke, and she wasn't even sure what to say. "I- I don't-" she mumbled. She couldn't even really comprehend everything that was going on, let alone explain what had happened. She didn't understand it. She just wanted to go home.

"You wanted to see her, so here she is. Now, tell me where your people are," the Governor said, still holding onto Rosie tightly. No one said anything. They just stared, their eyes wide with fear. The Governor chuckled lightly. "The girl's got some pretty interesting scars on her back. I could add to them, if you don't tell me what I want to know," he said, his voice low and threatening.

Glenn, Maggie, Rosie, and even Merle, all tensed at the Governor's words. Rosie could tell by the looks in  both Maggie's and Glenn's eyes that they were considering giving it up. She'd rather take a beating than risk everyone's lives, though. "Don't tell him nothin'! I had a beatin' before, it's fine. It's nothin'," she said quickly.

Rosie thought that she'd actually convinced them and that she was just going to have to take one beating, and everyone else would be safe. But each person's eyes widened when the Governor pressed a gun into the side of Rosie's head, even his own men's. None of them could believe he'd ever shoot a little girl's brains out, especially after everything he'd been through with his own daughter. 

"Tell me where your people are," he demanded.

"Don't, don't, don't!" Rosie said quickly, her voice loud and scratchy. "I'm just one kid, it doesn't matter! You can't!"

Rosie's words only proved to Maggie that she couldn't let Rosie die. She didn't think she was important enough to even try saving her. She was willing to give up her life to keep the others safe. Maggie couldn't let that little girl die.

"The prison," Maggie let out, her voice breaking.

"The one near Nunez?" Merle asked.

"That place is overrun," the Governor said, his gun still pointed at Rosie's head.

"We took it."

"How many are you?"

"11. We have 11 now."

"11 people cleared that whole prison of biters?" the Governor asked, not believing them at first. "Huh?" Maggie and Glenn nodded, not taking their eyes away from Rosie.

The Governor finally lowered his weapon, putting it in the hostler on his belt. He still held Rosie close to him, liking the obvious anger that came from both Glenn and Maggie as they watched. Just to make them angrier, he tucked a piece of Rosie's blonde hair behind her ear and smiled. Rosie kept her eyes on the ground, trying hard to keep looking strong, but the longer the Governor had his hands on her, the more her mask was breaking.

After what felt like ages of the Governor touching different parts of Rosie's face and running his hands through strands of her hair- when in reality it was just a few seconds- the Governor finally let go and shoved Rosie towards Glenn and Maggie before leaving the room, followed by his men.

Stumbling forward, Rosie felt Glenn wrap his arms around her, but she made no move to hug him back. She kept her arms at her sides, staring down at the ground. After a few seconds, Glenn pulled away and said something to Rosie, but Rosie didn't hear it. He took off his shirt and gave it to Maggie so she could cover up. Then Maggie came forward, hugging Rosie tight, but Rosie still wouldn't hug back.

After a few moments of Glenn and Maggie asking questions and fussing over Rosie, she got overwhelmed and pushed them away. "I'm fine!" she grumbled, avoiding eye contact. Sure, her cheek hurt where Merle punched her, but other than that, she just felt frustrated, uncomfortable, and confused.

Maggie and Glenn decided it'd be best to give Rosie some space for the time being, so they went and sat together on the ground and didn't ask anymore questions as Rosie began to walk to perimeter of the room, dragging her finger along the wall. She needed something to do to pass time. She couldn't just sit there anymore. It made her feel like she was just waiting for her death.

•

Rosie was on her eleventh lap around the room when they heard footsteps approaching. Glenn shot up off of the ground, followed by Maggie, and leaned up against the door, ready to jump out at whoever was coming. The door swung open and Glenn threw himself out at Merle while Maggie pinned the other man up to the wall and stabbed him in the throat with the makeshift weapon she'd managed to find in the room.

As the man fell to the ground, his finger hit the trigger and shots fired in the hallway, breaking Rosie out of her trance. She was now on high alert and moved to stand in the doorway. She panicked as she watched Merle slam Glenn onto the ground with his knife to his throat.

Looking around for anything to use as a weapon, Rosie's eyes landed on the other man's discarded gun. She quickly picked it up off of the ground and pointed it right at Merle's head. "Let go a' him!" she shouted, trying her best to look tough and threatening.

Merle smiled and lifted his hand and knife above his head. "Ok," he said. Then Rosie heard a gun being cocked behind her and she froze. Turning around, she saw a man pointing a gun at her and another man pointing his gun at Maggie. While she was distracted, Merle lurched forward and ripped the gun from Rosie's hands. He turned to Glenn. "Get up!" Merle screamed, pointing his gun at Glenn.

Despite how weak and beaten he was, Glenn got up and the men brought Glenn and Maggie into a room, while another man put a sack over Rosie's head and started pulling her in a different direction.

"Where are you taking her?!" Maggie shouted, her eyes sticking to Rosie as she was forced down the hallway, yelling and thrashing in the man's grip.

"Governor wants her alive. Best be grateful she's not in here with you," Merle said, chuckling a little. He forced Maggie and Glenn to their knees in the center of the room. "Glad we could catch up," Merle said, keeping his gun aimed at them.

Glenn grabbed onto Maggie's hand and they turned to look at each other. "Just keep looking at me," Glenn said, looking into Maggie's eyes.

"I love you," Maggie barely managed to say through her tears. A bag was pulled over her head, then another over Glenn's.

"On your feet, move. Let's go, come on," one of the men demanded, pulling Maggie and Glenn up. They started leading them into another room, but the second they got in there, there was a loud bang and the room filled with smoke. Before Maggie and Glenn knew it, they were being pulled elsewhere. The bags were ripped off of their heads and they came face to face with Rick and Daryl. With them was Oscar and another woman who they didn't recognize.

"Where's Rosie?" Daryl asked them quickly, his eyes searching through the smoke for the blonde haired girl.

"I don't know. They took her somewhere else," Glenn replied.

"We'll find her, but we gotta get you out of here first," Rick said, helping Maggie hold up Glenn.

They narrowly escaped the building and found an empty building to hide in. Glenn collapsed to the ground the moment they got inside. Maggie stuck by Glenn's side while Rick, Oscar, and Daryl searched the building.

"Rick, how did you find us?" Maggie asked.

"How bad are you hurt?" Rick asked instead of answering Maggie's question.

"I'll be alright," Glenn managed to say, his voice weak and scratchy.

"Where'd they take Rosie?" Daryl asked, coming closer to the group as they gathered in the kitchen.

"We don't know," Maggie replied, a worried look on her face.

"Daryl," Glenn said as Maggie started to wrap a hoodie she found around him, "this was Merle. It was. He did this." Daryl froze for a moment, coming closer.

"You saw him?" Rick asked.

"Face to face. He threw a walker at me. He was gonna execute us," Glenn explained, zipping the hoodie up.

"So my brother's this Governor?" Daryl asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"No, it's somebody else. Your brother's his lieutenant or something," Maggie said.

"Does he know I'm still with you?"

"He does now," Glenn rasped, his face scrunched up in pain. "Rick, I'm sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn't hold out."

"Don't. No need to apologize," Rick said. He went over to look out the window for a moment. The streets were crowded with people. "We have to get you back. Can you walk? We got a car a few miles out."

"We can't leave Rosie here," Glenn said, quickly rejecting the idea.

"We'll come back for her. You can barely walk, we have to get you out first," Rick said.

"Hey, if Merle's around, I need to see him," Daryl said as Maggie and Rick helped Glenn to his feet.

"Not now. We're in hostile territory."

"He's my brother. I ain't-"

"Look at what he did!" Rick hissed, gesturing to Glenn. "Look, we gotta- we gotta get out of here now."

"Maybe I can talk to him. Maybe I can work somethin' out," Daryl argued.

"No, no, no. You're not thinking straight. Look, no matter what they say, they're hurt. Glenn can barely walk. How are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers and this governor catches up to us? We need to get them out of here so we can find Rosie. I need you!" Rick whispered. "Are you with me?"

It took Daryl a moment to answer as he thought about his brother, but he knew what was most important, and that was getting Glenn, Maggie, and Rosie to safety. "Yeah," he said.

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Next chapter is gonna have you frowning.......