Red River Blue

Chapter 48

** The Claimers are in this chapter, so there will be some sexual violence and also a lot of regular violence. Nothing happens that's any worse than anything that happened on the show but just to be safe I like to throw up a warning.

I think I explained this in a previous AN, but I didn't change much about Daryl and Beth's storyline after the prison fell. Beth still got kidnapped and Daryl still ended up with Joe and his gang. **

"How you doin' over there lover-boy?," Harley teased. She ticked her chin just slightly to her left, glancing over at Carl before immediately turning her attention back to the task at hand. Her fingers were laced together behind her back as she carefully placed one foot in front of the next.

"Quit calling me that!," Carl protested loudly. He turned towards Harley as he spoke, almost causing him to lose his balance. When she laughed Carl realized that the older girl had been baiting him, calling him a nickname he hated on purpose to try and make him lose his concentration. "Yer a cheat," Carl announced.

Carl's accusation was met with more laughter, from both Michonne and Harley. Harley was laughing at him and Michonne was laughing at her. The young woman's attitude never failed to amuse the woman. And Michonne had to admit that Harley reminded her a bit of what she had been like as a girl. Whatever game Harley played she played to win. There was no doubt in Michonne's mind that the girl would walk on the narrow metal beam that ran along the side of the railroad tracks until she fainted with exhaustion if that's what it took to beat Carl.

"Hey look!," Michonne hollered, pointing into the woods to their right, "A naked walker!" Harley whipped her head in the direction that Michonne had indicated, quickly swinging her bow off her back and into her hands. The motion threw her off balance and Harley was forced to step down onto the rough wooden planks of the tracks. She loaded and arrow into her bow, wincing at the pain in her ribs as she strung it back. It wasn't until she heard Carl and Michonne laughing behind her that she realized there was no naked walker and that she had just been given a taste of her own medicine.

"Damn it all to hell," Harley cursed. She was smiling again, biting at her lower lip to try and keep from laughing along with them. Carl smiled back. He had never spent much time with the older of the two Dixon girls. To tell the truth he had been a little intimidated by her. Harley came off very intense and unusally serious for a teenager. Now that he had been able to spend some more time with her, Carl had quickly become comfortable with the young woman. He had always wondered what it might be like to have an older sibling and now he knew. It was annoying and amazing at the same time. He was slowly working up his courage to ask Harley for an archery lesson. The things she managed to hit with her bow impressed him. And unlike a bullet from his gun, she was able to take her arrows back and use them again.

"Carl gets first choice," Michonne announced as she hopped down off the beam herself. She dug into the front pocket of her bag and pulled out the last few pieces of candy that she had. Carl didn't hesitate. He took the biggest candy bar for himself, earning him a disappointed sigh from Harley.

Rick slowed down, allowing the kids to pass him by so he could walk in step with Michonne. She dumped a small pile of stale M&M's into her leather clad palm, putting the rest of the bag away for later. The woman didn't make a verbal offer. Michonne had always been a woman of few words. But she held her palm up between them so Rick could share in what might be the last treat they were going to have for a while.

Rick tossed his arm around Michonne's shoulders. He told himself that he just needed her to help him with his balance. He felt fine considering what he had been through physically, but there was still something weird going on with his depth perception. His left ear was ringing.

Once they finished the candy, Michonne wrapped her arm around his waist, her hand resting lightly on his hip. He was surprised by how comforting it was to be in Michonne's personal space. Rick smiled down at her. She was still laughing at the kids. After all their big talk of competition, Harley and Carl had split the candy between them. Then Harley pulled Carl into a playfull headlock and roughed up his long hair with her other hand. He bumped her ribs pulling away and she let out a little yelp of pain. Rick thought about scolding them for playing too rough. But he was having too much fun watching the two of them interact to put a stop to it. He always regretted not giving Carl a sibling. Lori was the one that didn't want another baby. Because she didn't want any more stretch marks.

"We should start looking for a place to make camp for the night," Michonne suggested.

"Already?," Rick asked. He assumed the plan was to walk until they lost the light. The sooner they got where they were going the sooner they would find out if the people they were looking for were there.

"She's getting winded," Michonne told him, lowering her voice so Harley wouldn't hear her and start up her incessant squaking about how she was fine and she could take care of herself. Rick nodded. He wasn't exactly feeling one hundred and ten percent himself. Resting and getting a good night's sleep sounded appealing enough to him that he had no interest in fighting Michonne on what she felt needed to be done. It had been so long since someone had taken care of him that he had forgotten how good it felt.

The small group walked another half hour before they found a good spot to settle in for the night. There was a large SUV off to the side of the tracks that was big enough for them to sleep in. Water from a creek only a short walk away. And according to Harley there were a shitload of animals tracks around.

TWD

The fire was burning low. Rick had banked it as best he could but he knew it would burn out before the night was over. They didn't collect enough wood to keep it going all night. The air around them was cooler than it had been earlier in the day. Rick was grateful that it wasn't cold enough that they needed the fire for warmth. The flames had only been necessary for cooking the food and boiling their water. After that he had kept it going simply for the comfort that having a little light in the dark brought them.

Harley and Carl had retreated to the SUV some time ago. They holed up in the front seat. Harley was in the reclined driver's seat and Carl was scrunched up across the rest of the wide bench seat, using Harley's lap as a pillow. Rick had peeked in on them a few minutes before. Harley slept with one hand on her knife and the other resting on Carl's head, protecting the boy even as she slept. He felt a momentary pang of guilt, remembering when the girl and her family had first arrived at the prison and how he hadn't wanted them there.

Michonne was sitting so close to Rick that their hips were touching. The physical closeness had been established when she was helping him to walk along the tracks. And Rick guessed she had felt as comforted by him as he had by her, since she had shown no interest in trying to move away from him since.

His arm was around her shouders, one finger tracing lazy circles up and down the length of her bicep. She was still knawing at a tiny bit of meat that was left on the bone of the beaver Harley had shot and roasted over the fire for them. Michonne's other hand was resting on his knee. They talked quietly for a while, neither of them quite relaxed enough yet to be able to get any sleep.

The sky was clear and the moon was hanging above them in a tiny sliver, making all the stars visible. Michonne pointed out the constellations she knew. She told him her favorite was Cassiopiea. And that she had briefly considered a philosophy major before she switched over to pre-law. It was the most Rick had ever heard the woman reveal about herself and instead of being satisfied with the new information he found himself hungry to know more about her.

"You know what tonight is?," he asked her.

"Spaghetti Tuesday?," Michonne teased. Her smile faded when the thought of the joke reminded her of the man that used to like making it. And the terrible crunch of her sword when had been forced to kill Hershel's reanimated head. Michonne tossed the bone she had been nibbling on into the fire. Rick shifted his body, tucking the woman into his side.

"It's New Year's Eve," he told her. Michonne snorted out a quiet laugh. She had stopped keeping track of the days and months a long time ago. But she knew not everyone had been so quick to give up the habit of at least knowing what month it was. "Six days ago Hershel had that Christmas candle ceremony for everyone," Rick added. He wasn't sure how long he had been unconcious but he was sure it hadn't been for longer than a day.

"I don't think it's sunk in yet," Michonne sighed. "...that everything is gone. Hershel. The prison. Everything."

Her tone was soft and sad. Tears were glistening in her eyes. She looked vulnerable in a way that Rick had never seen before. He lifted his hand, pulling her head against his chest as he stroked over the soft round of her cheek with his fingers. Rick kissed her. But not on the lips. He still wasn't sure if they were at that level of intimacy yet. But he pressed his lips to her forehead and lingered there. It was Michonne that made the first move. Much like she had when she offered him the candy earlier in the day, she didn't speak. One minute she was cuddling against his chest and the next her hand was stroking over the buldge in his jeans.

Rick was leaning down to press his lips to hers when he heard the snap of a twig behind them. He turned, reaching for his knife. But it was too late. There was a gun in his face and another one pressed to Michonne's temple. At first Rick thought they were only being robbed. They didn't have much. And certainly nothing that he was going to fight anyone for. He didn't make the connection between these men and what had happened at the house earlier that day until one of them spotted Harley sleeping in the truck and started yelling.

"There she is! That's the fucking bitch that killed Billy and stabbed fucking Tony!," a fat man with a balding head hollered from near the truck. The loud voice woke Harley with a jolt. She grabbed for her bow but it was too late. One of the men was already dragging Carl out of the truck with a knife to the boy's throat. Harley strung an arrow in her bow and pointed it at the other man that had yanked her door open.

"Oh no you don't you bitch!"

Harley's head snapped towards the voice. The grey haired man that had ripped her shirt open had a gun pressed against the side of Rick's head. She also noticed that the man who had been thinking about dragging her out of the car had backed up when she pointed her bow at him. He was afraid of her. Maybe not enough that he wasn't still going to try something. But scared enough that he backed away. She swung out of the SUV and pointed her arrow at the man that spoke to her. She was pretty sure he was the leader. The thoughts in her head started swirling. All bullies were nothing but cowards that put on a good show. If she killed the leader, the rest might run. But the grey haired man wasn't as stupid at the rest of his men. He shifted his body, using Rick as a human shield.

"Put that bow down you little whore," he demanded, "or you are going to watch lover boy there bleed out on the ground and then we are still going to have you anyway." He ticked his head towards the man that was holding a knife to Carl's throat. The man tightened his grip, holding the knife so close that he knicked the side of Carl's neck. Harley knew then that she was fucked. These men had been following her all day. They had been close enough that they had heard her nickname for Carl.

"Okay!," Harley screamed. She cursed under her breath and tossed her bow to the ground at her feet. Before she could contemplate her next move, the young woman was immediately seized by her hair and drug backwards. She could hear her hair ripping from her scalp. The piercing pain was so intense that little grey dots swam in front of her eyes. Harley felt her blue eyes watering up but she blinked the tears away, refusing to let these men make her cry. The man pushed her up against the hood of the SUV she and Carl had fallen asleep in. She put her arms out to keep her ribs from being slammed again and her elbows crunched against the metal hood, leaving a dent in the car and what would later be two more colorful bruises for Harley to add to her collection.

Harley could hear Rick trying to reason with the leader of the group. She thought about telling the man not to waste his breath. It was pointless to try and bargain with people who's only end game was causing as much pain to other people as possible. His words were a blur to her. The only thing Harley could concentrate on was the knife that was being held in front of her face as the man behind her fumbled around behind her, trying to get his pants down. She could feel the bile rising up and she swallowed hard a few times.

"Get the fuck off her!"

The voice was familiar and so unexpected that for a second Harley was sure that she was still sleeping safely inside the SUV and this was all a horrible nightmare. But when she turned her head to look, she saw her Uncle Daryl standing next to the man that had his hand down her pants, pointing a knife of his own at the man's face.

"She's already claimed!," the man behind Harley complained, "Ya kin have yer fuckin' turn once I'm done."

"No one's gettin' a turn," Daryl hollered, "that's my fuckin' neice. Get the fuck off her right the fuck now!" Daryl hesitated, looking like he was going to give the man a few more seconds to back away on his own. Then he lunged forward and stabbed the man through the eye socket. Before the man's body even hit the leaves under his feet the small area around the campfire exploded into chaos.

Harley hit the ground, landing hard on her knees. She grabbed her bow and strung it back. Two men were figthing her Uncle Daryl. Harley took one deep breath and forced herself to let it out slowly. Three seconds later one her arrow hit one of them square in the gut. He fell back, grabbing at the arrow like he was going to be able to save himself by pulling it back out.

The rest of her arrows were still in the SUV. So Harley grabbed for the knife that the man Daryl killed had been holding on her. She could hear Carl struggling with the man that had grabbed him. When the man saw Harley coming he drug the boy back in front of him, holding a knife to his throat. Most of his friends were already dead or dying. The man looked frightened and desperate.

"Get back!," he ordered, "Or I'll cut 'im up."

"Let him go!," Harley barked. To her surprise the man relaxed his grip on Carl. The boy darted away and ducked behind Harley, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face into her back. It was then that she noticed the man's pants were down. He had been planning to rape Carl. It was bad enough those men had planned to force sex on her. And probably Michonne. But it really sickened her that they would have done the same to the boy. Harley liked Carl. He was a tough little sumbitch as her father and uncle liked to say. But he was still only a child. Harley felt protective over him like she did towards her younger sister.

"Hold on," Rick said, putting his hand gently on Harley's forearm before she could loose her arrow into the man, "This one is mine." Rick's face and shirt were covered in blood. It looked almost black in the moonlight. Harley hadn't seen what happened but he looked like he was killed at least one of the men with his bare hands. Harley hugged Carl to her, not caring if he was holding on to her so tight that it hurt her ribs. She didn't look away while Rick stabbed the last member of the group that had attacked them to death.

Michonne pulled Carl away, wrapping him up in her arms. He wasn't crying anymore but his face had gone blank. Harley thought he looked like he might be in some kind of shock and she wondered how far that sick pervert had got into his depraved act before she stopped him. It had obviously gone far enough that Carl had figured out what the man had intended to do to him.

Harley felt Daryl's arms wrap around her. The familiar smell of sweat and leather was like heaven. She felt powerless to stop the tears from spilling over. Daryl held her against his chest until her emotional outbust was over. Then he slipped his leather jacket off and draped it over her shoulders. He had an arm wrapped around her. When Rick approached Harley felt Daryl's body go tense.

The two men stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Harley knew the two men had some sort of fight. But in the end they were all on the same side. There was no point in holding grudges over things that couldn't be changed now.

"I'm sorry about Carol," Rick finally said, "I was wrong." He stuck his hand out like he meant for Daryl to shake it. But Harley reached behind her Uncle and gave him a hard shove forward. He bumped into Rick awkwardly. But then the two men hugged. End of the world or not it was still funny to see two grown men hug. Harley could count on her fingers the number of times she had seen her Uncle and her father hug each other. She laughed at the funny way they whacked at each other's backs. Then she rushed forward and squeezed in between so she could hug them both at the same time.