The Black Rose

Chapter Two

The morning after the siege of zombies, Rose could hear the engines rumbling off in the distance as the group slowly reunited. Last night was not pleasant as she refused to sleep in the car and choosing to lay outside on her hammock. She was still pissed at herself for staying as she kicked a nut on the forest floor. Rose was sure that Carl and Rick was probably wondering where she was since she got up just before the sun peeked over the horizon. But she was hunting for a rabbit or perhaps a squirrel. The nut she kicked must've scared some little squirrel to dart out into her vision. A small smirk came onto Rose's face as she pulled back the familiar string, feeling the tension between the string and her arrow.

At first, she thought she missed the squirrel and annoyance immediately kicked in. However in the next second, the arrow hit the squirrel expertly. Rose immediately retracted the arrow from the body. Little bastard sure wasn't going to get away from her

Daryl stood around moodily. It had been a hard night for both Carol and him. They were driving for a while to escape the large amount of walkers however once they stopped to camp for the night, they realized what they lost. The whole group did. It was a peaceful place up until the end when Shane went crazy. Shane, Jimmy and Andrea were all gone. Daryl absentmindedly heard Carl excitedly telling him and the others about some chick helping them out last night. "Rose was so cool! I didn't know that people can jump like that! She's like a badass just like you."

Once Carl finished talking about Rose, the little boy realized that Rose wasn't around. He frowned as he asked Rick if he knew where the girl went. But suddenly a flash of red had Daryl straightening up to figure out where that redness was coming from. Once he located the red, he felt his breath catching up in his throat.

Her hair was like a blazing flame, and tumbled down in tightly woven ringlets to her waist. Whenever it clashed with the sun, it gave off a shiny light so powerful that it was almost blinding. Almost as if she was eternally on fire. But her eyes were more shocking. She had one emerald green eye that made you stop and look at them when you had just a glimpse. It was like peering at waves of green, from a distance... perhaps like a breeze carefully caressing a field of grass. Yet her other eye was a piercing blue color that could gaze into your soul. Anyone who dared to look felt like they were looking at the bottom of a mysterious and intriguing ocean. But that was just her face. Daryl had to hold back a whistle as his eyes roamed on the girl's body.

The girl was definitely armed. She wore combat boots and a calf strap that held a small army knife. Then on both of her incredibly muscled but lean thighs, black straps held hunting knives and a little of bullets surrounding it. Her frayed jean shorts was just peeking under her gun holster belt with a Glock G17 and a Smith & Wesson Model 59 guns on both sides of her hips. Daryl could just see that the belt was black from the small fabrics looping around the ammo on her belt. She wore a simple grey v-neck t-shirt that just held her curves loosely.

But there were two straps going around her chest, making it painfully obvious that she had ample breasts. One chest strap was a bowstring, revealing a Recurve bow behind her back and the other was a sheath for a katana sword. On the sheath, she attached the quarry of arrow on it. And in between her weapons was a sturdy black book pack with something rolled up below it. Daryl raised his eyebrows quizzically, thinking that it would be rather hard for her to shrug off her book pack and use her bow. Then he realized that the girl had even more weapons strapped onto her. She had an arm sheath strapped around her lower left arm, holding a small hunting knife. Alright... Carl was definitely right. This girl, Rose, was definitely a badass.

"I suppose we should find another spot to camp." Daryl vaguely heard somebody speaking as he snapped his eyes off Rose. Shit... he was eating her up with his eyes. However the girl didn't even notice him. She was busy taking a bite out of something that seemed like a raw de-furred squirrel.

Rick watched the redneck being somewhat hung up on the new visitor as he smirked, "We gotta keep moving."

"I say head east." T-Dog added as he followed Daryl's line of vision onto Rose. She was definitely attractive but something about her scared the shit out of T-Dog. Perhaps it was the way her face seemed to be carved out of stone, no expressions ever coming across her face. Or the way her body moved as if she was trained to be a ninja. Maybe it was the bloody handprints all over her bare skin as if it was war paint. Part of him wondered what was she doing before the world ended.

"Stay off the main road. Bigger the road... the more assholes like this one." Daryl was about to point his crossbow toward a lone walker approaching them. But before he was able to shoot, an arrow was sticking out of its head. The redhead female jumped over a vehicle, retrieving her arrow back. Daryl tried to wipe off the shocked look on his face as he swallowed. Suddenly he disliked her. Who the hell was this girl to underestimate his abilities to kill a goddamn walker?

After Rose pulled out her arrow, she placed it behind her into the quarry. She glanced at Rick, "I suppose I should get going now. Very glad y'all got your happy ending and got back together. Adios."

"Rose..." Rick jumped over the vehicle to grab a hold of Rose's wrist. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw his pregnant wife before touching Rose. Perhaps it would be a better idea if he didn't invade Rose's personal space. She didn't seem to be the kind of person that would appreciate being touched. "You just can't leave us yet. We lost people... we can use somebody with your kind of expertise. It's too dangerous for people to be out there alone."

The group watched their leader trying to haggle with the stranger. They weren't sure what the big deal about her was. Some had mixed feelings and wished that Rose would go on her own way. Others recognized that Rose was definitely the type of person that they would want next to them, fighting walkers. But none of them were going to question Rick. Her simple words echoed through the abandoned highway, "I travel alone."

"Just until we find a place to settle down." Rick reasoned with Rose. He didn't know why he was trying so hard to keep the girl with them. But something about her told him that she would protect his son, his wife... hell even Hershel to the death. Or maybe it was the way that Daryl finally noticed somebody around him. Rick felt responsible that he took away Daryl's brother. Perhaps this would be his way of making it up to Daryl. But whatever the reason was... Rose just had to stay with the group.

"Just until you find a place," Rose snarled. She knew that this was a stupid reason for her to stay. They might not even find a place! She felt the annoyance bubbling inside her as she took a survey of the group in front of her. Shit... this is a lousy bunch of people. There were a pregnant woman for god's sake! Who the hell thinks about getting pregnant and having sex in the middle of a goddamn zombie takeover? Rose quickly threw out, "No promises though."

Daryl hopped onto his bike and Carol joined him, initiating the process of moving. Everybody hopped into their cars as Rose jumpstarted a vehicle, refusing to join anybody. She couldn't get attached to any of these people. The group decided to drive down a small country road as she rolled her eyes. Daryl was in front of them, trying to concentrate on the road but his mind kept wandering to the female warrior behind them.

He really hated the way his mind ran wild about her. He hated that the warrior was obviously capable of taking care of herself. He hated... just... about... everything that she did to him without knowing.

***Author's Notes***

YAY! Daryl and Rose finally meet!!! <3 <3 Tell me what do you think! :-) I love Rose. I think she has a great depth of character.

If you guys wants to learn more about her, check out my other story called "The Chronicles of the Black Rose." It follows Rose's pre-apocalyptic life and her experiences. If you don't, that's okay! It doesn't affect this storyline at all. (Eventually it might provide some insight but overall no) I'm not going to update that story as often I'll be updating for this one.

Anyway... check out Rose's outfit: http://www.polyvore.com/everyday_rose/set?id=165095003