Red River Blue

Chapter 46

The smell of death and freshly turned dirt was filling the air around them. The light filtering in from the entrance slowly dimmed as they headed deeper inside the tunnel. The flashlight in Glenn's hand flickered, making both men freeze in place with nervous tension. After a few gentle taps against the palm of Glenn's hand the beam of light sprung back to life again. Merle felt for the lighter in his pocket, knowing that if the flashlight went out they were screwed no matted how much fluid was left inside the small metal square.

"Lets do this quick," Merle suggested. Glenn nodded his agreement as he cluched the flashlight tighter in his hand. The light had been a parting gift from Abraham. An unexpectedly kind gesture from the man that he and Merle had assaulted and tried to rob only a few hours before.

"Maybe we should go back?," Glenn suggested. Taking the long way around was sounding better and better the deeper underground they went. Now they were far enough inside the tunnel to see that part of the roof had collapsed. Various moving undead body parts stuck out from under the rubble. Merle shook his head.

"What if they're trapped in here?," Merle asked, reminding Glenn of the reason they had decided on entering such a dangerous area in the first place. The usual biting sarcasm was missing from his tone and Glenn realized that it was because Merle was just as afraid as he was. Afraid that more of the roof might collapse on them. Scared that a horde of geeks might be waiting for them on the other side of this walker gauntlert. But most of all terrified that they might find the undead bodies of their wives somewhere in this mess. It was a rare show of humanity from the man.

Merle tucked his gun away. He pulled a knife from his belt instead and began clearing a path for them to climb through. Glenn watched as Merle stabbed each walker between the eyes, then used their heads as a staircase to climb up to the top of the rubble pile. The ones he didn't stab with his knife got their faces stomped with his boots. Glenn followed his example, climbing the pile of uneven earth and jagged chunks of cement as best he could with one hand holding the flashlight.

Coming down the other side proved to be more difficult that going up. The earth slid under Glenn's feet and he almost landed facedown on a walker's open mouth. Merle snatched him up by the back of the shirt like a mother cat might lift a kitten and yanked him back into an upright position. Glenn yanked his knife out and stabbed the walker that almost had him for a snack through the eye socket. Then just to be safe Glenn stabbed it a few more times. He heard a low chuckle bubble out of the man next to him. The noise was low and quiet but the cement walls around them amplified it.

The next rubble pile was higher. They had to climb almost up into the broken of part of the ceiling to get over it. Glenn was able to slide around and under the large protruding metal rods easily. This same task took Merle a little longer. Glenn slid down and stabbed at the trapped walkers below while he waited for the larger man to pick his way through.

The last pile was not as tall as the second but it was much thicker with the dead. Their arms, legs and heads protruded from almost every possible surface. A loud creak sounded from somewhere above them, urging both men on more quickly than they had been moving before. Merle employed the same tactic as before. He stabbed as he went and used the body parts to propel himself upwards. Glenn followed behind him, breathing heavily through his nose since he had the flashlight clamped between his teeth to free his hands. They were almost through. Merle was already on the ground and Glenne was halfway down when he felt the ground shifting under his feet. He tried to make a jump for it but he moved a few seconds too late.

Glenn tumbled and fell down the pile, followed closely by a large sliding piece of the cement that had fallen from the ceiling. He could hear the hissing and snapping of walkers, encouraged by the sudden increase in noise. But it wasn't until he tried to get up that he realized his leg was trapped under the large chunk of cement that had slid down the steep incline behind him. Glenn twisted and turned, trying to free himself. But all he suceeded in doing was to dig himself in deeper.

"Well isn't this ironic?," Merle quipped. He stabbed a nearby walker before he leaned down and grabbed the flashlight off the ground. "Should give you a dull saw and let you cut yer way out," the man remarked as he knelt down and shined the light onto the large chunk of cement that was pinning Glenn in place. His sarcastic tone was back and Glenn snorted in irritation. Merle was enjoying his discomfort just a little more than Glenn was comfortable with.

Another loud metallic whine sounded from somewhere inside the thick ceiling of the tunnel. Suddenly being stuck inside the tunnel stopped being so funny. Merle pointed the light up towards the ceiling staring at the hundreds of tons of metal and concrete above them with a nervous look on his face. He stood up and stuck the flashlight in his pocket before he leaned down and gripped the edge of the large chunk of cement with his one good hand. He grunted with his efforts as he yanked upwards on the jagged block. But the heavy chunk of cement didn't budge on single fraction of an inch. Another creaking groan from above had him jumping to his feet and backing up a few steps.

"You should just leave," Glenn told him, "before we both die down here."

Merle didn't respond verbally. But he turned and walked away out of Glenn'ss range of sight. Glenn took this to mean that Merle had taken him up on his offer to be relieved of the responsibility of his death. But after a few moments the man reappeared with a long metal pole in his hands.

"Ain't gonna be able to hold it fer long," Merle warned him as he wriggled the long pole around to position it. "So as soon as I start lifting, start pulling." Glenn nodded. The flashlight was shoved back into Merle's pants pocket, bathing them both in an eerie almost darkness. "Ready. One. Two. Three. GO!" Merle tucked the pole under his bad arm and grabbed on with his one good hand, hanging from it with all of his weight in his attempt to budge the large hunk of rock. Glenn pulled as hard as he could. Once he felt his laces rip as his foot slid out of his boot of it he knew he was free.

Glenn leaped to his feet as Merle lost his grip on the metal pole. The large cement chunk went smashing down into the area where Glenn's foot had been stuck only moments before. The crash echoed off the tunnel walls. As it faded away, a louder creaking noise could be heard from above. The two men didn't wait to find out if the tunnel ceiling was going to hold. They turned and ran.

TWD

River pulled down the hankerchief she had wrapped around her head to cover her mouth and sucked in a breath of fresh air. They weren't out yet but the tunnel was getting lighter and she could feel the breeze from outside on her face and arms. The air inside the tunnel had been stale and smothering. She increased the speed of her stride, noticing that Maggie, Sasha and Bob were doing the same without any words of planning being exchanged between the four of them.

Her eyes had adjusted to the dim light inside the tunnel. So the sunshine became blindingly bright as the mouth of the tunnel got closer. Sasha was the first one to notice that there was a van parked right outside. And not an abandoned van. Three strangers with guns were blocking their path. Sasha flattened herself against the wall, pulling Bob along with her. River couldn't see the threat but she knew the woman well enough to trust that there was one. She dropped into a crouch near the opposite wall, signaling for Maggie to do the same.

River blinked and lifted her hand to shade her eyes. As she knelt in the rough uneven gravel, she was glad for the thick practical khaki colored utility pants that Sasha had talked her into wearing, even though they made her sweat in all the wrong places. They had saved her skin from a few hard walker scratches in the dark of the tunnel.

"How many bullets you got left?," she hissed at Maggie.

"Just the two we found on that dead body," Maggie whispered back. She flipped her gun open and shook one of the two bullets out. River smiled at the other woman as she held her hand out to take the small metal slug. So much could change in a day. A week ago she didn't think Maggie would have pissed on her if she was on fire. Now the woman was willing to give up one of her last remaining bullets to her.

The two women had teamed up together because they had a common goal. Neither of them had been very happy about it. River thought Maggie was a spoiled little snob. And Maggie thought River was the queen of all trailer trash. They began with a little bit of forced trust. No one could make it alone. It wasn't until the previous evening that they finally bonded.

Sasha and Bob took the first watch, leaving River and Maggie alone beside the dying fire. River couldn't get the thoughts of her girls out of her mind. She was overwhelmed with her fear for them and her burning need to hold her babies in her arms. It was the first time since before the outbreak that she had been separated from her children for any length of time. So River turned and cried as silently as she could, muffing her sobs with the thin material of the sleeping bag she had scavenged from an abandonded campsite. Her loneliness felt like it was consuming her from the inside out.

Just when River was feeling like she might drown in her own tears, she felt a gentle hand on her back. Maggie didn't speak any words of comfort to her. She just pushed on River's back, urging her to scoot over and make room for another person inside her sleeping bag. They cried together until both women were lulled to sleep by the combined body heat of two people tucked inside a single sleeping bag.

"What should we do?," Maggie asked. Since Sasha blew the roof of the tunnel to kill the herd of walkers that was after them, going back the way they had come was not an option. They could fight. But two bullets and a few sharpened knives was only going to get them so far.

"Yell at them," River suggested, "maybe it'll scare them off." Maggie nodded.

"Whoever you are you better get away from here!" Maggie shouted.

"Cuss," River suggested. Maggie hesitated for a moment before screaming out the dirtiest word she knew without any context at all.

"FUCK!"

Maggie could hear River snickering beside her. They sounded about as intimidating as children playing a game of dare on the bus. One of the people in the mouth of the tunnel was laughing loud enough that they could hear him. "You think you can do better?," Maggie muttered. River nodded and cleared her throat, coughing a little on the cement dust that was still lingering in the tunnel.

"GET THE FUCKIN' FUCK OUTTA HERE!," River screamed, "BEFORE WE HAFTA FUCKIN' SHOOT YA!"

"That was good," Maggie whispered. Even she jumped a little. However, the laughing man outside was not as intimidated as Maggie would have been in his position. He rested his large fully loaded gun on his shoulder and took a few steps towards the spot where River's voice had come from. River's eyes were finally starting to adjust to the light. It shined into the tunnel from behind the man, lighting up the red hair on his head like a copper halo. He wasn't pointing his gun at them, which felt confusing. Because River was definitely pointing her gun at his big ginger ass.

"You got one hell of a mouth on you sweetheart," the man announced, "lemme guess, you're Merle's wife?"