Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

19- Pretend

"Alden?" a soft and broken voice asked. It was Rose, her face, shirt and right hand were drenched with blood. She was clutching a rough jagged rock in her hand, also covered in blood.

"It's me. It's me," he was barely able to get his words out over the storm of emotions he was feeling. He pulled her close in a hug, not caring that the blood stained his clothes. Only now did he notice the dead body laying beside her, its head smashed to bits. Her knife laid discarded on the leaf covered forest floor not much further. The body didn't smell of rot, probably why he hadn't noticed it at first. He pulled away from her. "Are you hurt?" he asked, checking her over for any signs of a bite or scratches.

"None of the blood is mine," she muttered half absently, eyes glassy. She pointed to the corpse, "it's his." The rock was still tightly clutched in her trembling blood covered hand.

"You can let that go now," he eased the rock out of her hand and tossed it aside. Immediately he noticed a cut on the palm of her hand, surely caused by the rock's jagged edges.

Rose only noticed it now too and looked at her hand, perplexed. "Oh."

Tara and Jesus kept their distance for now, this wasn't something they should weigh in on. Rose was clearly in shock and they could only make things worse when they tried to help.

"Was it a walker?" Alden asked, concerned. The recent attack got him fearing for what walker blood might do to her if it came in contact with that cut.

"N-No," her bottom lip quivered and tears rolled down her cheeks. "He was after us, Henry and I. We split up, I told him to go and I killed the man."

"Where'd he go?" he asked. "Henry I mean."

She pointed to the side/ Alden looked back at Tara and Jesus, who both gave a nod. It would be up to them to find Henry, he had to focus on Rose now.

"Let's get you back to Hilltop," he said as he got back to his feet.

"No, we need to find Henry," Rose protested.

"We'll go look for him," Tara promised her. "You go back to Hilltop with Alden and make sure people know you're alright."

She hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded hesitantly, "Okay."

"Is she alright?" Maggie asked when Alden finally made it into her office.

"Siddiq said it was just a sprained wrist and a cut on the palm of her hand," he replied. "Once she realized she was safe, she fell asleep right away. I thought it was better to stay with her for a bit, to make sure she was fast asleep before I left." He paused and shook his head. "She had to bash a guy's head in with a rock. She shouldn't have to do something like that just to stay alive, even remotely. Part of why I stayed in Sanctuary was because at least she didn't have to do stuff like that. She still saw them happen, but she didn't have to do it herself. And now I don't know anymore. I feel lost. Everywhere I turn the world is dark and grimm"