Red River Blue
Chapter 51
His arms were wrenched painfully behind his back. Because he was missing a hand, Merle's wrists couldn't be zip tied together behind his back as easily as everyone else's. So his captors had yanked his one good wrist back further and secured it to the metal sleeve on his arm. His shoulder was radiating with pain and he was quickly losing sensation in his only good hand. Not that it mattered much. It didn't look like he was going to live long enough to worry about nerve damage.
Rick had pumped everyone up inside the train car. They had created weapons out of every limited item in their possession. Merle had even seen one of the girls sharpening the edge of a plastic button she pulled off her shirt. But in the end none of their efforts mattered. The people holding them captive had thrown a flash grenade in through a hole in the roof of the train car. Merle had used his body to protect River from the worst of the blast. The last thing he remembered hearing was her screaming his name as he lost consciousness.
Merle glanced around the room. The smell of disinfectant was so strong it was almost sickening. He was kneeling on the floor in front of a long trough shaped basin. His brother was on his left and Glenn was on his right. Rick was positioned on Daryl's other side. To the left of Glenn were three men Merle had never seen before. No one else from their group was present.
Merle's mind was still clouded from the hard hit he had taken when the flash grenade went off. The reality of the situation didn't hit him fully until a man in a plastic apron swung a bat at the man at the far end of the trough. The bat hit the man hard in the back of his head, sending the man slumping forward over the lip of the trough. Without any hesitation, a second man in a plastic apron stepped forward and slit the man's throat. Blood gushed out of the man and into the clean basin. It flowed past them, heading for the drain at the bottom of the trough that was positioned in front of Rick. The strong metallic odor of the blood combined with the already present smell of bleach clenched Merle's stomach. A sense of hopelessness overcame him. He had survived so much. Found his family. Only to be butchered here like an animal. This couldn't really be happening.
Two more strangers fell forward over the lip of the trough. Heads bashed in. Their blood flowed out of them, adding to the red river that flowed towards the drain. Glenn was next. Merle snapped back to reality. He turned his wrist as he struggled to try and break the plastic ties that held his arms behind his back. The plastic clad man took a step towards Glenn, lifting the bat in his hands. But he stopped and lowered it when a third man entered the room. Merle watched as the man approached, sizing the man up immediately as he had a tendency to do to everyone. But Merle's attention was quickly redirected towards the open doorway the man had just entered through. The man was being followed. Not just followed but stalked. The man was clearly unaware of the deadly presence behind him as he knelt down with his clipboard and began questioning Rick about a bag of weapons.
She disappeared from view but Merle was sure of what he had seen. His oldest daughter. She was wearing a poofy pink sunday church dress and holding a wicked looking hunting knife in her hands. Harley peeked around the doorframe again, this time making brief eye contact with her father. Her eyes scanned the room quickly and Merle knew she was counting how many men were inside and what they were armed with, carefully planning her attack. He had seen his oldest daughter in action enough times since their reunion that he knew the slender girl was stronger than she looked and moved quicker than a jungle cat. These cannibals are dead meat. Maybe it was the after effects of the blow he had taken. Or just the relief that suddenly overtook the brief hopelessness he had been feeling. Or maybe even just the irony of being saved by his teenage daughter. The one that he used to worry might stab him in his sleep. But before Merle could stop himself, he began to laugh through the gag in his mouth.
Merle turned towards his brother as he laughed, tears running down his face and wetting the gag in his mouth. Daryl stared at him like he had lost his mind. This only made Merle laugh harder. He turned his head towards Glenn. He remembered the man was as observant as he was. Merle had discovered that when they were on the road together, looking for their wives. As soon as they made eye contact, Merle knew the other man was also aware of Harley's presence outside the room. Glenn wasn't laughing but he certainly looked more relaxed than a man about to be bled out into a metal trough would be. Glenn flicked his eyes to the men behind them. Merle nodded as he attempted to get control of himself. Their hands and feet were bound but they might still be able to help Harley if they worked together. Or at the least, they could create a distraction and allow the girl to enter the room without being immediately detected.
The thin man with the clipboard stopped talking to Rick. He approached Merle and leaned over the trough to pull his gag down.
"What in the hell are you laughing about?," he asked. The man clearly had a high opinion of himself and did not appreciate being laughed at. Not even by a man that was going to be his dinner later.
Before Merle could answer, a loud explosion outside pulled the man's attention away from him. The entire building shook. Merle wasn't sure if Harley was also responsible for that, but it wouldn't exactly surprise him if she was. The man with the clipboard stood up and hurried out of the room. This left only two men behind for them to deal with. Still they needed to do this quick. Before any more of them showed up.
"Ready?," Merle asked. Glenn nodded. The man with the bat was closest to them. He leaned down, intending to pull Merle's gag back up over his mouth. It was easier to kill people if you didn't have to talk to them. But before he could get the small strip of cloth secured, Merle hollered for his daughter.
"HARLEY! NOW!," he screamed. Glenn threw himself backwards onto the floor. His feet were secured together but that didn't stop him from landing a hard kick into the back of the man's knees. Merle followed Glenn's example and flopped to the ground on his side, aiming his kick at the man's face. He felt a satisfying crunch when his boots made contact.
Harley held her blade by the handle. Her grip was firm but not overly tight. She was ready the moment she heard her father yell for her. Moving quickly, she stepped inside the room. She knew there were two men for her to deal with. One had a bat and the other had a knife. There were other items in the room that could be used as weapons but none that were within easy reach of either man. The man with the bat was already on the floor. She heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking followed by his scream. His companion was frozen in place, unsure of what to do. He didn't see Harley until the blade of her knife was buried in his shoulder. She had thrown it from the doorway, a risky move since some of her people were between Harley and her target. But none of that mattered since she hadn't missed. Harley ran forward. The tip of her boot hit the rim of the basin, propelling her up and over it. She landed gracefully on the other side, grabbing the man's bat as she pulled her body back to it's full height. The man's nose was gushing blood and he was attempting to get to his feet when Harley swung. The bat hit him square in the middle of his face. Blood splattered across the floor as the man fell backwards. Harley lifted the bat up over her head and brought it down hard. When she lifted it again, there was nothing left but a pile of brain and flesh where the man's face used to be.
The second man was still on the floor. Harley's knife had immobilized his right arm. The man was grabbing for his knife with his other hand. He had barely gotten his fingers wrapped around the handle when Harley stepped down on his wrist with her boot.
"Oh no you don't," she scolded. Harley shifted her body weight, putting more force onto the man's wrist. He screamed as he let go of the grip he had on his knife.
"Please," the man begged, "Don't hurt me. I'm not a bad man." Harley glanced over at the three dead men slumped over the trough. He was lying. He was a bad man. The corners of her mouth twitched up into a deadly grin. Blood dripped from the end of the bat in her hands. As she brought the bat down, there was no question in her mind that the man deserved exactly what he was getting from her. These people disgusted her. At the very least they were cannibals. And had her tied to a bed. Harley didn't want to know what else they had been up to.
Once the man was dead, Harley pulled her knife from his shoulder. She grabbed the knife he had been groping for off the floor. Her dad looked like a turtle on its back the way he was flopping around on the floor. Harley grabbed him first. She cut the plastic ties that were holding his arms behind his back. Then she handed him the extra knife so he could cut his own legs loose.
Harley quickly released her uncle Daryl from his restraints. Rick had gotten his own wrists free so Harley only had to cut the tie holding his ankles together. She helped both men to their feet as her dad and Glenn did the same for each other. Her uncle grabbed her first, hugging her tight and roughing up her hair with hand.
"Ya got some fuckin' timing kid," he grumbled.
Once Daryl let go, Merle snatched the girl up. He yanked her against him, hugging her tighter than he had in years. The embrace pulled her up onto her tiptoes but she still held on, even when he laid a big wet kiss on her cheek. Merle let go and stepped back. He looked the girl up and down. At first Harley thought he was checking her for injuries. It wasn't until he spoke up that she remembered she was still wearing the horrible dress that woman had slipped on her while she was unconscious.
"Girl," Merle asked as he smiled at his daughter, "What in the hell have you got on?"