Red River Blue

Chapter 47

Her body was tense with anticipation. River took one more drag off the half mangled cigarette she had found down in the bottom of her bag and flicked it to the ground, snuffing it out with the toe of her boot. She didn't smoke often and now regretted that she had. The nicotine had only made her feel more jittery than she was before. And now her fingers stunk. Rosita reached over and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. River forced herself to stop grinding her teeth and give the other woman a smile.

Maggie was pacing back and forth in the wide mouth of the tunnel. She looked like a lion in one of those tiny cement enclosures at the zoo, before it became popular for the zoos to make all the cages look like the animal's natural habitat. As River watched her, morbid curiosity filled her mind and she wondered what had happened to all the zoo animals when the world ended. They must have all starved to death. Or been ripped apart by walkes. River rubbed at the gooseflesh that was forming on her arms despite the heat of the day. She tried to think of happier things. But now that it had settled in the pit of her stomach, the sense of foreboding she got watching Maggie pace back and forth just refused to be shaken off.

"That's it," River announced, "I'm goin' in after them." She knew they had all agreed to wait. But if she stood around for one more minute she was going to lose her mind. River grabbed her pack up off the ground. She was preparing to sling it over her shoulders when she heard the cough. The sound echoed off the walls inside the tunnel, leaving no question as to where the noise had come from. Maggie stopped her pacing. River let the straps of her bag slip through her fingers as it fell to the ground with a thump and a jingle from the zipper on her sleeping bag.

"Glenn?," Maggie hollered into the darkness. There was a pause. It was only a few seconds but it felt like hours to the people waiting impatiently for a response.

"Maggie!"

The voice came from inside the tunnel. A hoarse cough followed it but there was no doubt that the wait was finally over. At least for Maggie. The woman took off running into the dark despite Sasha's warnings that she ought to wait and let the men come out. River took up Maggie's spot in the opening of the tunnel. Her heart was thundering in her chest. Maggie's pounding footsteps could be heard. And then they were replaced by the sound of sobbing and a muffled conversation that River couldn't make out all the words too.

The more River tried to see something in the dark depths of the tunnel the less she felt like she could see. The shadows played tricks on her eyes. Trying to make silhouettes out of them was making her eyes go crossed. Finally she laced her hands behind her head and blinked her eyes shut.

With her eyes closed it was easier to concentrate on only listening. The quiet voices inside the tunnel started to become more distinct. The crunch of gravel under their boots got closer. The whoosh of air hit her first. Someone was coming at her fast. Merle's body collided against hers with so much force that he would have knocked her to the ground if he hadn't lifted her up off her feet. River never thought stinky sweat and cigar smoke could smell so good. Her feet were dangling a few inches above the ground so she bent her legs and hooked her ankles under his ass, letting her legs and arms support some of her own slight weight.

She tasted like smoky mint and felt like heaven in his arms. The guilt over being so happy when the girls were still missing would come later. But for now all Merle could think about was how much he wished their last reunion had been like this one. And that he finally had River back. All the way back. The in his arms and kissing him harder than he was kissing her kind of back.

They kissed for what felt like no time and was in actuality a rather long time for everyone that was standing around looking at them. So long that people started laughing even though some of them were crying. Merle felt River's legs unhook from around his waist. He lowered her down gently. The moment her toes touched the ground she collapsed into his chest. Her hands fisted into his shirt as her emotions started to pour out of her. Her shoulders shook violently with her sobs. And for once he didn't have to ask her why she was upset or try to figure out what in the hell he had done wrong this time.

"We'll find them," he told her. Merle said it because it was the right thing to say. He didn't even know how much he believed the words until he spoke them. "We're gonna find them." River had always been his good luck charm. When he was with her, things had a funny way of going right instead of wrong. When Merle was fighting overseas, he always kept her picture in the inner pocket of his jacket. And while he was to much of a tough sumbitch to ever admit pansy ass shit like that aloud to anyone, Merle really and truely believed that her picture had protected him and kept him safe. There was no other way to explain how he had managed to make it out of so many dire situations. Fights where others died and he lived.

TWD

Glenn shifted his body, trying to get closer to Maggie without taking his foot down from the backpack it was propped up on. After he lost his boot to the large chunk of cement that had almost killed him, Glenn had then somehow managed to slice his foot open on a large chunk of glass. Merle had to basically carry him the rest of the way out of the tunnel. The man had mumbled insulting comments to him the entire time. And made a few off color jokes. But he didn't let him go until Maggie came slamming into them both and knocked him to the ground.

Rosita patched his foot up for him. Abraham found him a new pair of boots. And everyone agreed to camp in the mouth of the tunnel instead of moving on so that Glenn could have a chance to rest his foot and let the wound close up. Another audible moan sounded from the other side of the small campfire, reminding Glenn that perhaps other people had there own reasons for wanting to set up camp early.

They had the decency to wait until it got dark. Glenn would give them that. But that was where their discretion ended. The moment Merle and River got done splitting the can of soup they were eating for dinner, they went directly to her sleeping bag. And they had been rutting around in the mentioned bag for what Glenn was pretty sure had to be going on at least and hour and a half. Privacy was a luxury that no one could afford anymore. So Glenn tried his best to pretend he couldn't see or hear what they were doing. That worked for about the first fifteen minutes. Until River decided she needed to get out of the sleeping bag to go relieve herself. At which point she walked through their small makeshift camp with a huge knife in her hand, wearing nothing but her unlaced boots. Eugene had nearly broken his own neck turning to look at her. Rosita leaned over and bopped him right on top of his head with her fist.

Glenn kissed Maggie's head and pulled her tighter against his chest. Across the fire he could see the light reflecting off the pale length of River's leg, which was protruding from the sleeping bag.

"Think we will still be like that in 20 years?," he teased. Maggie giggled and tilted her head back to plant a few small kisses along his jawline. Her hand slithered into his pocket. She had been looking to get a handful of what was inside his pants, but pulled her hand back out holding a polaroid picture of herself.

"I hate this picture," Maggie announced. She sat up and cocked her wrist back like she was preparing to launch it frisbee style into the campfire. Glenn caught her wrist before she could finish the motion. He retrieved the picture from her with his other hand and slid it back into his pocket before she could dispose of it. "You don't need a picture of me," Maggie told him, "Because I'm not going anywhere. Not ever again." Glenn smiled and pulled her down for a kiss.

"It's for luck,"Glenn explained. "Merle saw me looking at it. And I thought he was going to be a total dick about it. But he said in the service he used to carry a picture of River with him. For luck."

"That's sweet," Maggie said.

"He said it was a naked picture," Glenn added. Maggie tried to muffle her laughter, her body trembling against his. Another loud moan from the other side of the fire crumbled her resolve and she flopped onto her back, laughing so hard that tears started to roll from the corners of her eyes.

"You are not taking a naked picture of me," Maggie said once she got her laughter under control. Glenn hadn't meant that he wanted one, but he played along with her anyway. Telling her that he promised not to show anyone and that her face didn't need to be in the picture. Soon the laughing led to kissing and the kissing led them to climb into their own sleeping bag.