Dead.

More people were dead now.

Hershel. Bob. Beth. Tyreese.

He went with Noah and a few others to see if Noah's family was still alive. When the group came back to join the others on the endless walk again, Tyreese was dead. Another makeshift gravestone, this one with a beanie placed on top.

And now they walked. Sometimes they'd have cars, buses, or trucks, but then they'd run out of gas and they'd have to start walking all over again. Water was scarce, and food was even more scarce. Three weeks had gone by. Rosie wondered if she was eleven yet, but she didn't know for sure. It didn't matter, anyway. They'd all be dead soon enough. Even if they did make it to Washington DC, there was no telling how long it would be safe there for. Nowhere was safe anymore. Not for long, at least.

Rosie was walking alongside Glenn, but neither of them were saying anything. Rosie's eyes lingered on Daryl, who was walking alongside Rick. They were talking, but not loud enough for her to hear exactly what they were saying. Daryl was different from how he used to be. He barely talked to anyone, including Rosie, other than to ask if she'd had her share of food and water, if they had found any. Rosie understood, or at least she tried to. He was sad about Beth. But Rosie was sad, too, and she didn't know what to do with herself.

"I'm gonna head out. See what I can find," Daryl said, handing his gun over to Rick.

"Hey, don't be too long," Rick replied. Rosie wanted to ask if she could go with, but Carol beat her to it, so she just kept her mouth shut. Daryl probably would've said no anyway. So off Carol and Daryl went, into the woods again.

In order to catch up to Rick, Rosie quickened her pace a little bit. When Rosie caught up to him, Rick gave her a smile, but she could tell it was fake. They were starving and dehydrated and they were losing hope- no smiles were real anymore. "We can go to my house," Rosie said, getting straight to the point.

Rick sighed, shaking his head. "We don't have to do that, Rosie," he said. She'd already brought this up to him and Daryl before, but they'd agreed that it would inevitably be bad for her. They didn't tell her that that was why they were saying no, though. They always told her it wasn't necessary or they didn't have a big enough car or whatever they could think of in the moment, but their excuses weren't going to be valid anymore when they were all on the verge of collapsing.

"We can find a car- it don't even gotta be one we can all fit in. Just some of us can go, and then we can bring back stuff and keep goin'. It'll be good," Rosie insisted, feeling frustrated. She didn't understand why they were so against it. "My daddy had lots a' weapons, and we got water and at least a little bit of food. That's more than we got now."

"And what about the others?" Rick asked, trying to come up with a new reason to say no.

"They can keep walkin' and we'll be back," Rosie said, as if it were obvious. Rick didn't say anything in response, and Rosie huffed. "You could say no before 'cause we weren't dyin', but now we need it. Me and you and Daryl and prob'ly two other people could fit in a car. We go to Reston and I show you where everythin' is and we come back here and help everyone."

"And what about gas?" was Rick's next excuse.

"There'll be gas somewhere. And when we get there, we got even more gas. My daddy has those red things full a' gas in the shed. And he's got guns and ammo and other stuff, too. Food and water. We need to," Rosie said, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Rosie-"

"We have to! We're dyin'!" Rosie nearly shouted at him.

"Watch your tone," Rick warned, making Rosie roll her eyes. She didn't care if anyone got mad at her anymore. They were all going to starve to death, and Rick was being stupid for saying no. She could help. She could actually provide something useful instead of just being another mouth to feed- instead of just being some kid they didn't ask for that was now their responsibility. She could help them just like they helped her.

"We got baby stuff in the basement. Leftover stuff from when I was little. My daddy didn't throw that stuff out 'cause he said it was too expensive and maybe he'd need it again some day. Now it's just sittin' down there. Judith's growin' and she needs more clothes. And my house got 'em," Rosie said. Bringing up Judith was her last attempt. And by the look on Rick's face, it seemed like it was working.

After a few moments of staring at the ground and thinking, Rick sighed. "I'll talk to Daryl," he said, and Rosie was still beyond frustrated. Daryl was just gonna try to come up with a ton of different excuses, too. She didn't argue with Rick anymore, though, because he seemed to be convinced. She'd save her voice for convincing Daryl. He'd be harder to crack. He always was.

•

The group was still walking. Carol and Daryl had come back now, but Rosie was still waiting for Rick to talk to Daryl. She didn't know how impatient she was until she had to do all this waiting. Just like how she didn't know how much she'd miss Hershel or Bob or Beth or Tyreese until they were all actually gone.

Stop thinking about that, Rosie reminded herself. She tucked a strand of hair out of her face. She wanted to ask Maggie if she knew how to braid, but she was scared that it would make Maggie cry or something, so she didn't. She just dealt with her messy hair getting in the way.

"Dad, look," Carl's voice said, catching everyone's attention. They all looked forward, and up over the curve of the hill was a group of abandoned cars. Rosie's eyes immediately went to Rick, and he glanced back at her with a defeated look on his face. They had the cars they needed now, so it'd just be plain stupid to say no- especially if they were able to find enough gas in the cars to take one of them all the way to Reston.

"I'm gonna head out into the woods, circle back," Daryl suddenly said. He was doing that a lot lately. He didn't like to be with the whole group. But in this particular moment, Rosie wanted him to stay so that Rick could talk to him about going to Reston. She wasn't about to argue with him about it, though. He'd just get angry.

"May I come with?" Carol asked.

"No," Daryl snapped. Carol's eyebrows furrowed. "No, just me."

Silently, they all watched him go. Rosie really, really wanted to follow, but she was also really scared of pissing off Daryl, so she didn't. Then, Rosie felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned, seeing that it was Carol. "I think you should go with him," Carol said quietly, her eyebrows pinched together.

Rosie quickly shook her head no. "He'll jus' get mad at me," she said, furrowing her eyebrows. "He wants to be left alone."

"He wants to push everyone away. That doesn't mean he should. You should go with him," Carol told her. Rosie didn't understand why Carol didn't just go herself if she didn't want him to be alone so badly.

"And do what?" Rosie asked.

"Talk to him," Carol answered.

"What if he gets mad... or sad?"

"Then you make him feel better."

"I don't know how," Rosie said, looking down at her boots again.

"You always do," Carol said, which confused Rosie. She didn't ever make him feel better. She just followed him around like a lost puppy until he was nice to her. That wasn't making him feel better. That was getting in the way. "Go," Carol said.

Very unsure and hesitant, Rosie slowly went towards the forest. Daryl was already far ahead of her, but she could still see him in between the trees. She didn't quicken her pace, though, because she wasn't sure if she even wanted to catch up to him. She picked up a small stick, dragging it along the trees as she walked along, just to give her hands something to do. Her stomach hurt, but she couldn't tell if it was hunger or anxiety. When she finally got close enough for Daryl to be able to hear her coming, she took a deep breath. He was just going to get mad. But Carol said to go, so she went.

Upon hearing her boots crunch against the twigs on the ground, Daryl's head turned towards her. It was easy to tell that it was Rosie and not a walker, because walkers stumbled and dragged their feet. Alive people took heavy steps. He could tell it was Rosie, though, because her footsteps were much quieter than everybody else's. Part of it had to do with the fact that she was smaller and lighter than everyone else- who could walk already, that is- but also because she'd grown up hunting with her dad. If she walked too loudly back then, she'd get in trouble for it. So now she always walked quietly.

"Thought I said I didn't want no one followin' me," Daryl grumbled out. He turned back around and continued walking, Rosie following after him slowly.

"Carol said to go with you," Rosie said, completely blowing Carol's cover without a care in the world.

"'Course she fuckin' did," Daryl muttered. The two of them continued on walking, neither of them saying a thing. Rosie was surprised that Daryl didn't snap at her and tell her to go back with the others, but she was glad for it. She missed him, in a way. He was still there, but he also wasn't. Not really. It was confusing. She tried to understand- she really did- but it'd been three weeks and Daryl was still only half there. It was the same with Sasha and Maggie. They were only half there. And it hurt sometimes.

Rosie was busy poking her stick against the toe of her boot, so when Daryl suddenly stopped, she didn't notice and bumped into him. She was pretty sure that that was the first time she'd even touched him since the hospital. Furrowing her eyebrows, Rosie muttered an apology and took a couple steps backward.

The two of them were looking down at a deer. A dead one. Eaten up by walkers. Daryl dropped down to his knees, defeated. They could eat the deer, but then they'd die. They'd get infected and they'd die. It was even more frustrating for Daryl than it was for Rosie, because he'd found so many animals just like this. So many animals that could have fed them, but were taken by the dead. Just like everything else left in the world.

After a moment, Rosie knelt down, too, a couple feet away. She poked her stick into the dirt, dragging it around. She wrote out her name in the dirt. ROSIE. Then she wrote the B, about to write out BANKS, but she didn't really feel like writing the rest, so she rubbed her hand in the dirt, erasing the B and leaving it at ROSIE. Then she drew a star.

"C'mon. Let's go," Daryl's gruff voice said. It was only then that Rosie noticed he had gotten back up and was standing behind her, watching her draw. Rosie stood up, too, and kicked away her name and drawing in the dirt before following after Daryl. She felt like she was supposed to say something- for Carol's sake- but she had no idea what to say, so she didn't say anything at all.

When they got back to the highway, Rosie's eyes immediately met Rick's. She raised her eyebrows at him and the nodded her head towards Daryl. This was the most talking she'd ever done with her eyes, she was pretty sure. It was a full sentence. Talk to him about going to Reston because we are all going to die soon if you don't. Rick nodded.

"Daryl, can I talk to you?" Rick said, standing up. Daryl grunted, which meant yes, and Rick got up to go and talk to him quietly.

Rosie stayed off to the side, pulling on the hem of her shirt as she waited. She was no longer wearing the long sleeved shirt she'd left the prison in, and was now wearing a short sleeved shirt that was about a hundred sizes too big for her. The shirt was a light grey color and had some motor company brand logo on the front, and it went down to a little bit above her knees. She was still wearing the same jeans from before, but now she had a belt. Rosie was happy that her shirt was long enough to cover the belt, because the belt happened to have been Beth's belt. Maggie insisted Rosie had it, because she needed a belt and now they had one. But it still felt wrong. Everything felt wrong.

"Rosie," Daryl said, grabbing her attention. "C'mere," he demanded. So, she took a breath and approached to Daryl and Rick with caution. She held her hands behind her back, wringing them together nervously. "You realize, when we go back there, it ain't gonna be how you want it to be or how you remember it," Daryl said.

"We need food and water and I got it at my house," Rosie replied, kicking the toe of her right foot into the side of her left one.

"It ain't your house no more. You need to understand that," Daryl said. He nudged her shoulder with his hand, and Rosie looked up at him, taking a single step back. "We go there, it's just some house. It ain't yours- it's just another house we're searchin'," Daryl told her.

"I know," Rosie said, even though she didn't really understand.

"We go there, none of the shit that happened there before matters. You hearin' me?" Daryl asked. Yes, I'm hearing you, but I'm not understanding you. Daryl turned to look at Rick again, and he gestured towards the rest of the group, who were all sitting on the ground. "They're stayin' here. Me, you, and her. That's it," he said, pointing to himself, then to Rick, then to Rosie.

"So we're goin'?" Rosie asked, her hopes high.

"Yeah," Rick answered, nodding his head with his hands on his hips before going to explain what was going on to the others. Rosie wanted to smile, maybe even say thank you, but she wasn't supposed to want to go on this trip. She wasn't supposed to want to go home. It was supposed to be like any other house. Like every house they had ever searched through.

Rosie couldn't help but be a little bit excited, though. She was going to go home. She was gonna get some more clothes that would fit and she was gonna be in her bedroom again and she was gonna look at that picture of her and Fraser again and she was gonna remember what he looked like. She was gonna get her backpack and she was gonna get her baseball cap and she was gonna lay on her bed again. It was gonna be good.

None of the shit that happened there before matters.

That was the harder part. Pretending like nothing happened there. Pretending like her daddy never existed. Pretending like Fraser didn't die there. Pretending like she didn't live there for the majority of her life. Why did Daryl want her to pretend that? And why didn't he want her to go there? Why did it matter? Rosie kept her questions to herself, though, just in case one of them would make Rick and Daryl change their minds.

"Let's go," Daryl said, and started walking towards the group of cars.

"We're leavin' now?" Rosie asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Like you said, we need food and water. Sooner we get it, the better," Rick said, walking along side Daryl. Rosie hurried after them, not bothering to say goodbye to any of the other people from the group. She wasn't sure if they were in the mood. No one seemed to be in the mood to talk at all. No one seemed in the mood for anything.

Rosie made sure to stay out of the way as Rick and Daryl checked the cars for gas. They couldn't siphon any gas at the moment, simply because they didn't have a siphon. But, much to their luck, one of the cars had a gas can in the trunk. After taking a dead walker out of the trunk of one of the cars, Rick got into the driver's seat and Daryl got into the passenger one. Rosie didn't have to be told to get into the back, she just did. She scrunched up her nose. It smelled really bad in there.

"Is there an atlas or any maps in the glove box?" Rick asked, putting the keys into the ignition. They were lucky the keys were left in the car, or else they'd have to hotwire it, and that would be a bit more of a hassle. Daryl pulled his feet down from where they were resting up on the dash and pulled open the glove box. There was, in fact, a collection of maps, but not a full atlas. "Look through those. I know the general direction we should be going in, but I'll need some direction when we get to the highway."

"Why couldn't anyone else come with?" Rosie asked, looking out the back windshield at the rest of the group, who were all still sitting on the ground.

"They didn't need to. I want them all together. With Carl, Judith, Ian," Rick replied, glancing at Rosie through the rearview mirror. Rosie wasn't asking him, she was asking Daryl. He was the one who said no one else could come with. She didn't ask again, though.

"How long will it take to get there?" she asked instead, now sitting facing forward in the back seat with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Depends on how fast we drive, or how long this car lasts," Rick answered.

"Well, what if we drive fast and the car doesn't break?" Rosie asked. She looked around the backseat, opening any compartments that she could find. She didn't find anything interesting, though. Just a lot of gum wrappers.

"Then maybe two or three hours," Rick answered. They were only about sixty miles away from Washington DC, and Reston wasn't too far from there, as far as Rick knew.

Three hours wasn't that bad. Rosie thought it was gonna be, like, a whole day or something. She really didn't have much of a perception of distance like that. All she knew was that some things were far and other things were close. Everything seemed far now. Even the two people she was sitting in the car with.

So, Rosie spent her time looking out the window. Everything looked the same everywhere. It wasn't very interesting. It was quite boring, actually. She wanted to ask more questions, or talk to Daryl and Rick, but she decided not to because she didn't want Daryl to get annoyed. It was obvious that he wasn't very happy about them going on this trip, and he only said yes reluctantly. She didn't want to make him even more mad, so she kept her mouth shut, counting every road sign they passed by.

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I can't wait to write the next chapter

Also i skillfully avoided making Rosie eat dogs

Also also there are some parallels to the first chapter in this one, so if you want you could go read chapter 1 again, but you don't have to it doesn't really matter