NOTE: This is (and will be) the longest chapter of the story; it is a few hundred words longer than chapter twelve.
Chapter Fourteen:
Night of The Living Dead (2017)
In the back of the van, Arya realized something. As it was driven through the woods and back to the road, the driver made a left turn, and Arya then made a mental note that they were going south. Earlier, her group had been running south to flee the men who'd burned down the house, and now they were in said men's clutches. Because of the direction where the van had turned, Arya realized two things. One, they had been walking towards Harrenhal all along. Two, because of this, they had been unknowingly working against themselves the whole time. And now Lommy was dead because of it. It made things worse for her because his blood, though it was now drying, was still on her face.
Arya wanted to break out, and she was certain that both Gendry and Hot Pie felt the same. However, even if one of them were to slam themselves against the back doors of the van, whoever was driving would pull over to the side of the road, drag out whoever was causing the trouble, and execute them on the spot, leaving their body out there as they drove off. Therefore, they could do nothing except sit on their knees and silently stare at each other as they were shipped off to Harrenhal.
On the way south, Arya thoughts returned to Weasel, as well as Jeyne, Willow, and Nymeria. Arya hoped that they'd all gotten away or, in the case of the latter three, had never been discovered at all. As day drew on into dusk, Gendry glanced over at Arya and spoke for the first time in a while.
"Arya," he said, "we need to do something–"
"SHUT UP BACK THERE!" someone from up front shouted. Nobody said anything for the rest of the ride to Harrenhal. They arrived to their destination half a day later after Gendry had been shouted at. One man opened the back of the truck, and several armed guards yanked them out of the back.
Getting an eyeful of where they now were, Arya could see that they were currently in the middle of what looked like a parking lot. A number of large buildings were scattered around the surrounding area, and walls with ramparts and towers on every corner enclosed where they were. Without anyone having to tell her, Arya knew that they were in Harrenhal. The whole place smelled like death and, as she and Gendry and Hot Pie were escorted at gunpoint to somewhere else, Arya decided to look around at their surroundings in Harrenhal.
Mainly, armed men were moving to and fro. Some were carrying boxes and others looked to be on guard duty. Some glared at them, and others ignored them. As they kept walking, Arya noticed a number of men gathered around an older man with a kind face. Arya soon put two and two together in her mind as she realized who this must have been: Qyburn, one of the Brave Companions. The man looked incredibly close to Weasel's description of him from when she was a prisoner in Saltpans, and Arya supposed it would have made sense if Gregor Clegane's men had decided to spare him. He was, apparently, a medic, and he would definitely be useful. Arya listened as Qyburn spoke to the men around him.
"So, when the patient woke up, he was missing a few organs, and the doctor had vanished."
A few of the men chuckled. Others grinned. Qyburn continued. "So that was how I lost my medical license."
The men around Qyburn all burst into a loud fit of laughter. Arya didn't think he was joking.
Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were all ushered down into a basement-like structure which was used as a jail. There were several other prisoners in various cells, and Arya thought one motionless figure that had cockroaches scurrying around them was dead. One reached out from his cell, grabbed Hot Pie by the front of his shirt, and yanked him towards the bars of said cell. One of the guards, aggravated by this, practically tore the cell door open and charged in with another guard. Both proceeded to beat the prisoner senseless as Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were ushered further down the hall.
In the end, their bindings were removed, and Arya was thrown into a cell across another where Gendry and Hot Pie were both kept. The men left, and a minute later, Amory Lorch appeared in the jail.
"You'll stay here until we have need of labor," he explained. "If you refuse to cooperate, you will be killed. If you try to escape, you will be killed. If you try and call for help, you will be killed."
Amory did not say anything else. He turned and left.
Weeks passed. As time went on, Arya paid as much attention to her surroundings as possible and what was going on around her. Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were given little food and water every three days, and it made Arya wonder if she was in a similar situation as Weasel when she was a prisoner of the Brave Companions.
There was a small window in the wall of her cell which provided sunlight to come in, and Arya could hear people talking among themselves. She picked up on a lot of people's names, but the most notable to her were Polliver, Chiswyck, Raff, Amory Lorch, and Dunsen. She had already encountered Raff, Dunsen, and Amory Lorch. She despised all of them equally, but she felt a deeper hatred for the jailer of Harrenhal: Weese.
Weese came in every day, and he loudly threatened every one of the prisoners. One of them further down the hall presumed to threaten him. Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie listened as Weese threw the cell door open, pulled out the crowbar he used as a nightstick, and beat the prisoner senseless. By the end of it, Arya had heard what sounded like gagging and spitting up blood.
After this happened, Arya watched in angry silence as Weese made his way down the hall. She took notice of the angry-looking, large boils bunched up in one of the ends of his mouth. Gendry and Hot Pie did the same as Weese's squat form passed by them, turned around, then walked back the way he came. Weese's head turned to glance at Arya as she watched him walk by her. He stopped, then glared.
"Why are you looking at me?" he hissed.
Arya didn't know how to respond to that.
"WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME?!" Weese screamed upon noticing Arya's lack of an answer. He began to unlock the door, slamming it open when it was fully unlocked. Before Arya could move two feet, Weese swung the crowbar, hit her in the side, then rammed it into her torso, right under where the stomach would be. Arya yelled and fell to the cold stone floor. Groaning, she tried to get up, only to be kicked in the same spot where she'd been hit with the crowbar.
Arya glanced up at her assailant, and he looked like he wanted to kill someone. It reminded Arya of Rorge when he attacked the house. Weese, shaking and with a red, livid face, stamped down on her again. Arya groaned as Weese addressed her again.
"You want another?!" he roared. "You'll get it! I'll have NONE of your insolent looks! If you want to eat tonight, you'll get NOTHING if you do anything more!"
Arya avoided of looking into Weese's face and remained silent as he stood there for a few moments before leaving. When she heard him shuffling away back down the hallway after the door to her cell had been locked, Arya got up and walked over to address Gendry and Hot Pie.
Gendry was the first one to speak. "I saw what happened, and so did Hot Pie," he said. "He's fortunate I wasn't with you. I'd have broken his neck for hitting you with a crowbar."
Arya knew that both she and Gendry could likely overpower and disarm Weese in seconds. This hadn't been the first time Arya had been hit by Weese, but this had been her most violent encounter with him. He had threatened both Gendry and Hot Pie in the past, but he'd never hit them. Arya figured it was mainly because Gendry stayed quiet and kept his head down, and Hot Pie just tried to hide himself in the corner of his and Gendry's shared cell.
Arya briefly thought about what might've happened if Lommy had been spared and brought along with them. It was likely that he'd have his tongue torn out or even be killed if he'd threatened and disrespected Weese like what he'd done with Raff when he spat on his boot. Arya missed Lommy, and she wanted justice for him, but she couldn't help but think that his death had been a mercy compared to what he might have faced in Harrenhal if he'd been taken along.
Weese didn't return for the rest of the day. Arya was still hurting after what had happened, so she figured she could just try to get some rest and hope that she, Gendry, and Hot Pie would find an opportunity to escape Harrenhal and regroup with the others.
A day later, Arya was still feeling sore after Weese had beaten her with the crowbar. She felt herself tense up when she heard the now familiar sound of Weese entering the jail. Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie listened as Weese dealt with the other prisoners there. Some were beaten, and Arya was certain she heard someone being killed. Arya knew that Weese was what she called "killing mad", and she understood she had to try as hard as possible to not provoke Weese and make him more angry than he already was.
Weese, as he made his way down the hall, stopped in front of Arya's cell, turning to face her. "What is your name?"
Arya made sure to not look at his face when she answered. "Arya."
Weese unlocked the door and approached her. "Arya, you're needed outside. We're going to put you to work today."
Weese escorted her out of the cell, and Arya found two armed guards in the hallway waiting for her. Arya understood they were there as assurance that she wouldn't run away. As Weese and the two men began leading her out of the jail, Weese turned his head to call over to Gendry and Hot Pie. "I'll be coming back for you two later!"
Arya didn't know if this meant that they would be killed or made to work, but she couldn't focus on them now. She walked out of the jail and into the sunlight. Arya was led to what looked like a town square with six other people there. Arya figured they were other prisoners, but she didn't get a good look at the other prisoners besides Gendry and Hot Pie as she was being led in on their first day. Armed guards were all around, and Weese was gone by then, likely going back to the jail to address Gendry and Hot Pie.
Arya paid attention to the man at the front of the group, Polliver, who began to address them. "Alright, you! You are all going to be carrying supplies to our warehouses. Anybody who steps out of line will be shot!"
Polliver directed the prisoners towards a large pile of cardboard boxes. After giving them directions to where the warehouses were, Arya was among the first people to grab a box and begin to walk. Walking north out of the square she was in with a few others, Arya was now finally able to get a look at the main area of Harrenhal, which she had spent weeks looking out on from the window in her underground cell. People were moving to and fro, and Arya got a look at the tall buildings around the part of a small city which had been claimed as land belonging to Harrenhal. Arya understood that she was only going to be used for general labor until she was killed by someone. Therefore, she didn't want to speed up the process by angering someone into being violent by looking at them like what had happened with Weese.
Making her way to the warehouses in the northernmost areas of the colony of Harrenhal, she noticed something in the ground butting up against one of the buildings: it was a pit, and it was full of wights. Arya, though she did not show any of her emotions, knew that the brutes running Harrenhal used it for execution. Arya would not have been surprised if some of the wights in the large pit were once prisoners like her.
They made it to the warehouses after a short while. Arya included, the seven prisoners went to stacking the supplies into one of the warehouses. When she put them where they needed to be, she knew what she had to do: immediately go back to the pile where Polliver was located, take another box, and go back. Arya arrived back to the square she had been in and grabbed a second box without saying another word.
This continued for a few hours until Arya and another prisoner returned to the boxes. It was here when she got a second good look at Polliver. He was nearly as tall as Sandor Clegane, and now that she got a better look at him, he was the one who had taken her machete from her weeks earlier. She'd only caught a sliver of his face during the scuffle in the woods, but now she was sure it was him.
Polliver must have noticed that Arya had looked at his face for a while. He addressed her, saying, "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing, sorry," Arya replied.
Polliver was unamused. He marched over to Arya, grabbed her by the face, and spiked her to the ground. He kicked her a few times when she was on the ground. Arya wanted to get up and claw his eyes out, but she couldn't because of the armed guards around. Afterward, Weese arrived to bring her back to her cell.
When Weese opened the door, he shoved her inside and slammed the cell door shut behind her, locking it immediately afterwards. Arya sat up and waited for Weese to leave. When he was gone, Arya stood up and walked to the bars of her cell, hoping to see Gendry and Hot Pie across from her.
"Gendry?" Arya called. "Hot Pie? Are either of you there?"
There was no answer. Arya realized that they were either dead or doing work. She hoped it was the latter.
As the day drew on, Arya just tried as best as she could to kill time in her cell. Mainly, she listened to people work outside through her window. She paid close attention as two men stopped to have a discussion outside of said window. Because of the sound of the voice of one of the men, Arya could tell that it was Amory. The other one she didn't recognize.
"So what is it, then?" Amory asked. "That's what you're worried about? Need I remind you we are a colony of both Kings Landing and Casterly Rock?"
"Sir, you must understand that we might be slightly unprepared for an attack of this magnitude–"
"So?" Amory snapped. "Chiswyck, I understand you've done some scouting with Dunsen and a few others, but what harm can so many dead men do?"
"This wasn't like a group of five or seven, sir. All of the wights… it was like an ocean of them, and they're all headed this way."
Amory snickered. "Our walls are pretty fortified, Chiswyck. It's not like when we raided Saltpans last year."
There was a pause. "With all due respect, sir, you don't understand this like I do. You didn't see all of them."
There was another pause. Amory sounded angry when he spoke again. "Chiswyck, Gregor and I know what we're doing! We don't need the input of someone near the bottom of the food chain, and if you whine to me again, I'll have you given to Qyburn for him to experiment on!"
Chiswyck and Amory parted ways. Arya picked up on several things during her time listening to Amory and Chiswyck's conversation, and these things were that a massive swarm of wights were coming Harrenhal's way (the whole idea of this reminded her of Fairmarket, but only with more wights possibly being involved), there was likely tension among the people at Harrenhal, and the confirmation that Qyburn was both alive and indeed there at Harrenhal, having been spared by Gregor Clegane's men likely because of his potential usefulness as someone with medical expertise.
An hour before dusk, Weese came back, escorting both Gendry and Hot Pie back into their own cell across from Arya. Neither of them looked bruised, but they looked tired instead. Weese locked the door after they both got inside, loudly promised death if they tried to escape, and left. When they were certain that Weese had left for the night, they got to talking.
"Where were you?" Arya asked, then explained what she herself had been doing all day outside of the jail. "I was carrying boxes to the warehouses all day. Polliver knocked me down and kicked me repeatedly at the end."
Gendry was the first to speak. "They had me in their weapon storage area organizing things," he explained. "There were a few other prisoners in there with me. I saw my hammer and your machete in there."
Hot Pie spoke up next. "One man asked me what I'm good at, and I said making food. So they ushered me into a building, and they had me making food all day. They threatened me a few times, and they said they'd cut one of my hands off if they caught me stealing food."
"I overheard a conversation before you two arrived," Arya revealed. "Just outside the window of my cell, Chiswyck and Amory Lorch were talking. They said that there's a massive swarm of wights coming this way."
"How big?" Hot Pie asked, sounding nervous.
"I don't know," Arya answered. "Chiswyck just said that it was like an 'ocean' of them."
"Then what are we going to do?" Gendry asked.
Arya was quiet for a moment. "I… I don't know…"
The next day, Weese escorted Arya out of her cell again after shouting at her and hitting her in the chest with his crowbar for being "lazy" during the previous day. From what Arya could gather, Polliver had told Weese about what'd happened during the previous day. Arya mentally promised herself to not make any more mistakes like that again, though the people in Harrenhal would likely hit her again regardless.
Unlike before, Weese was in front of her as he escorted her out of the cell to do work for Harrenhal that day, and the armed guards were behind her this time. Because of this, she was able to get a better look at Weese without him hitting her again. From what Arya could tell, when comparing Weese to others she'd met in the apocalypse, he looked to be about half of Rorge in terms of muscle, though he was squat. Arya knew for sure that say she and Gendry could take on Weese and win if he were by himself. Arya despised Weese, and she would not be sad to see him go if he died.
On this day, Arya had been brought before Dunsen instead of Polliver with a number of other prisoners, around ten people this time. When everyone had been gathered, Dunsen addressed them. He said they would be taking measures to repair parts of the southernmost wall. Arya, not saying a word, took her supplies with the other prisoners with her and left. Nearing the wall, Arya noticed in her peripheral vision that Weese was in the process of leading Gendry up out of the jail towards wherever, likely the weapon storage area again. Arya didn't stop to wait and see if Hot Pie would be led out next. She had a job to do, and plus, Weese was right there and would most definitely see her and later beat her with his crowbar if he saw her not doing her job.
Arya got to work. She and the other prisoners were tasked with hammering metal sheets to the places in the wall where there were holes and empty patches. Arya thought she saw a few bullet holes in the wall here and there, but she wasn't sure. All she needed to do was focus on repairing the wall. While she was working, Arya noticed that Harrenhal was in the shape of a square, and each corner of the wall had a tower, likely watchtowers. There were two passageways on each tower, one connecting to the other. It reminded Arya of castle ramparts.
While she worked, Arya hardly said anything and only spoke to the others when she needed something or when she herself was addressed. During all of this, Arya thought about those who had been left in the woods, namely Jeyne, Willow, Weasel, and Nymeria. Out of all of them, Arya figured that Weasel was the one who was most likely dead. But there was a chance that she'd made it out alive. Arya theorized that the only hope of herself, Gendry, and Hot Pie was the four that weren't taken. The scenario flickered through her mind: two women, one little girl, and a German Shepherd traveling far to break them out of Harrenhal. Arya hoped that the Brotherhood Without Banners would get involved somewhere and assist them with breaking Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie out, but there seemed to be no sign of them anywhere near Harrenhal. All Arya could do was hope.
As the day drew on, Arya and the other prisoners finished their work. Dunsen, who had been overseeing the work, ordered them all to line up against the wall with their backs pressed against it, facing him, when a number of people arrived from the main area of Harrenhal. Before anything else could happen, Arya saw a new face approach from nearby. Accompanying this newcomer were various people, including Chiswyck, the Tickler, Raff, Qyburn, Weese, and Polliver. The newcomer himself was the tallest man Arya had ever seen, even taller than Sandor Clegane and Rorge. He was mostly composed of pure muscle, and he reminded her of a mountain. Arya didn't have to be told that this man was Gregor Clegane.
He spoke. Gregor's loud, intimidating voice sounded like boulders being broken. "Raff, which one was it?!" he demanded.
All of them, Gregor included, were armed with a variety of weapons. Arya, usually brave in the face of danger, was almost too terrified to move. She stayed ramrod still as Raff answered.
"That one there," he answered, pointing at someone. He sounded angry. "That one's the thief."
One of the prisoners next to Arya shuddered, then tried to run. Chiswyck, though he was an older man, was quick, caught the offending prisoner, and punched them in the face hard enough to knock them down. Polliver, Weese, and Raff hurried over to hit the thief as well. After watching several minutes of this, Gregor approached, and his men stepped away. He lifted the thief up by the front of his shirt and began screaming into the thief's face.
"YOU WANT TO STEAL FROM US!? FROM ME?!"
The prisoner groaned in response. Gregor continued. "NORMALLY, I'D CRUSH YOUR SKULL WITH MY BARE HANDS AFTER MASHING YOUR TEETH IN, AND YOU WON'T BE THE FIRST MAN I'VE KILLED IN SUCH A MANNER! HOWEVER, QYBURN AND THE TICKLER MIGHT HAVE SOME USE FOR YOU!"
The thief, shaking and clearly afraid, was dropped by Gregor. Qyburn and the Tickler, each with an eager look on their faces, hurried over to the thief, grabbed either arm, and dragged him away. Arya knew that the thief would be tortured to death; from what she had learned from her time in Harrenhal, the Tickler and Qyburn liked to torture people for fun. It reminded her of Shagwell.
Arya and the other prisoners who had been working on the wall watched as the thief was dragged away. When he and Qyburn and the Tickler were out of sight, Gregor Clegane turned to face those lined up against the wall who had not just been dragged off.
Gregor proceeded to roar at them. "IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS OF STEALING, THEN I'LL CUT YOUR HANDS OFF AND GIVE THEM TO THE MAN NEXT TO YOU AND GIVE HIM FOUR HANDS! IF HE STEALS, THE NEXT MAN WILL HAVE SIX!"
Gregor left with most of them, but Dunsen stayed behind. "Get back to work!" he ordered. Not wanting to be next, Arya turned around and continued her work with the other prisoners.
Arya and the other prisoners worked for the next few hours before she and the other prisoners were escorted by Weese and a number of armed guards back into the cells below Harrenhal. Arya noticed that, like before, she had returned to the jail before Gendry and Hot Pie. It was almost dusk when they were returned to their own cell. Hot Pie had a bruise on the right side of his face, and Arya decided to ask about it once Weese had left the jail for the night.
"Hot Pie," she said as she approached the edge of her cell. "Hot Pie, what happened to your face?"
"Polliver," he answered. "I nearly tripped and fell while carrying a box for him, and he hit me. He almost drew blood, I think."
"He didn't," Arya said. "Gendry and I can see a massive bruise on your face there."
"Huh," Hot Pie replied, rubbing the wounded part of his face where he'd been struck. "What happened to you today?"
Arya paused to gather her thoughts. "I saw Gregor Clegane today. A whole bunch of his people were with him, and they said someone working on the wall with me was stealing. Two of them, Qyburn and the Tickler, dragged him away." She didn't continue; she didn't have to explain that said thief was now dead.
"Qyburn?" Gendry said. "As in the Brave Companions member?"
Arya nodded. "Yes, he was here."
"I thought they all died when Saltpans was attacked," Hot Pie said.
"Weasel said he's a healer of sorts, like their version of Jeyne," Arya explained. "They must have spared him for his potential usefulness to them."
"Lovely," Gendry sighed. "Now we have another sadistic man to be concerned about."
Arya knew that Gendry's concerns were understandable. Gregor, Qyburn, Polliver, the Tickler, Weese, all of them were horrifying people, and Arya wanted nothing to do with them. If she could have her way, she would personally tear all of them limb from limb. What happened to their home in Crossroads and later what happened to Lommy frequently played out in her dreams when she fell asleep on the dirty floor of her cell every night. It didn't help that Lommy's blood was still partly flecked on her face. A good amount of it had dried and peeled off on its own, but a notable amount of it was still there.
There was a pause before anyone said anything else. The next person to speak was Hot Pie. "So are we just going to die in here? They'll work us until they have no more use for us?"
Arya believed that Hot Pie's idea of what those in charge of Harrenhal wanted with them was true. They would be used for labor until they had no more use of them or until one of them slipped up somewhere along the line to give them an excuse to kill them all one by one.
"No and yes," Arya replied. "Yes, they're going to use us for their labor until they have no more need of us. We need to get out of here still. Maybe Willow and Weasel and–"
"No, stop," Hot Pie said in an unamused tone of voice as he began to slink back into the deeper parts of his cell. "Arya, we have little to no chance of making it out of here. And even if Willow and them find us, what are they going to do? Stare at the outside wall, be spotted by a guardsman, and be brought down here with us?"
Hot Pie didn't say anything else for the rest of the night. Gendry and Arya, both reading the room, didn't say anything else, either and decided to get some sleep.
The next day, like before, Weese came for Arya first and brought her out of the jail to do work. He did not hit her this time, though Arya knew to not step out of line, even a little. Weese was likely ready to snap at the drop of a hat at any moment like he usually was, and Arya wanted nothing of what he handed out. There were armed guards present like always, and Arya knew that despite Weese's current lack of common hostile behavior, the guards would kill her if she tried to run away at all.
Arya was led to the main open area of Harrenhal. She looked around to attempt to notice any sign of what was likely to come, and she soon found more boxes. Polliver was there to direct the work like before, and Arya–accompanied by nine other prisoners–were meant to carry boxes to the warehouses like before. Arya got right to work after Polliver's instructions had finished being given to the prisoners who would be working.
After a few hours of this work, Arya returned to the main area of Harrenhal to find a big crowd forming up. Before Arya could reach the boxes, an armed guard grabbed her and shoved her towards the crowd. Normally, Arya would have fought back, but this man was armed with a firearm, and Arya knew she had to head over to the crowd.
As she got closer, she noticed several people she recognized: Amory, the Tickler, Polliver, Qyburn, and Gregor Clegane himself. She then briefly took a look at the crowd she was in and saw Hot Pie there among them. There was no sign of Gendry anywhere. Arya took another look at Gregor and his people and saw several prisoners, four of them, all beaten and bloodied, lined up against the nearest wall. It was also notable that the wight pit in Harrenhal was close by. Arya could likely throw a stone and hit one of the wights within in the head if she had the opportunity.
One of the four prisoners was led forward. Gregor glared down at him, and the Tickler approached, large knife in hand.
"I understand you've been stealing from us," the Tickler said angrily. Now Arya understood what was going on: these prisoners lined up before them were all likely involved with the same theft situation the other prisoner from the other day had been tortured to death for. And now the four of them were going to be made examples of in front of everyone else.
"Wh… yes, I was…" the prisoner admitted. Arya figured that he knew there was no sense in hiding his involvement with the stealing if he'd been caught red handed.
For the next nine minutes, the Tickler brutalized the prisoner in front of everyone, asking him questions related to the theft. By the end of it, Arya wanted to take the Tickler's knife from him, stab him repeatedly, and see if he liked being tortured and screamed at until they were dead. By the end of it, the prisoner had died, and the second came up.
The second prisoner became hostile immediately. They spit in the Tickler's face, and Gregor himself approached and swung a hard punch, knocking the prisoner down. Half of their teeth were splintered, and their nose had been smushed. Gregor approached, understanding that the prisoner was likely dead, and broke their neck to finish them off after lifting them from the ground. Grumbling to himself, he threw the corpse onto the body of the first tortured prisoner. Nearby, the wights in the wight pit noticed the scent of fresh blood spilling from the corpse's face and began trying to claw their way towards where the smell was coming from.
The third prisoner did not put up a fight at all. When they were brought before the Tickler, they were tortured like the others, but Arya watched them when at the end, Gregor Clegane grabbed them by the throat and hurled them into the adjacent wight pit. In moments that felt like three whole years, the screaming prisoner had been torn to shreds and devoured. Arya watched without a sound. Even though she did not say anything, she was inwardly becoming more enraged every passing minute. She wanted all of these people in Harrenhal who tortured others dead. If Arya had her way, she would let each of them get bit, watch with joy as they panicked while they turned, and then torture the wights of the perpetrators until she grew bored of it and crushed their skulls with something heavy before feeding their remains to Nymeria.
The fourth and final prisoner did not seem to want to fight, either. By the end of it, they were shaking, had lost both eyes, and had their throat slit by the Tickler before being thrown into the wight pit. Arya watched in silence as the corpse was quickly torn apart. Arya was not alone in her silence; the only sounds made by those observing these displays of torture were nervous coughs or shuffling feet. While nobody in the crowd made any noise, Gregor spoke again.
"LET THIS BE A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR ALL OF YOU IF YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ABOUT STEALING FROM ANY OF US!"
Personally, Arya didn't think that some of those accused were guilty. Gregor Clegane and all of his cohorts were vicious, brutal men who wanted to see others suffer for their own amusement and gain. In her eyes, they were like the Brave Companions, but much more armed and powerful. It made her hope for escape dwindle a little bit. Everyone was led back to their work stations, and Arya continued to work for a few more hours before being escorted back into her cell by Weese. Around twenty or so minutes later, Gendry came back, followed by Hot Pie five minutes later. Weese made sure everyone was in their cells before leaving for the day. When he was gone, they got to talking.
"They're going to kill us, aren't they?" Hot Pie asked, sounding desolate.
Arya theorized that he was right; she thought that Harrenhal would dispose of them when they outlived their usefulness.
"Probably, but we still need to find a way out of here," Arya replied.
"What are you going to do, then?" Hot Pie asked. "Sit on your hands until Gregor dies or leaves to go somewhere?"
"If he dies, that doesn't mean everyone else is just going to lay down and die themselves," Arya replied. "Something massive needs to happen for us to get out of here."
"Like what?!" Hot Pie snapped. "A meteor hitting Harrenhal? Us growing wings and flying off?"
"A wight swarm," Arya answered. "I overheard Amory and Chiswyck talking about one coming this way."
"Then it can't come soon enough," Hot Pie grumbled. "Maybe we really WILL get out of here–"
"Hot Pie, knock it off!" Gendry hissed.
Arya, now focused on Gendry, began to think that he had hope that they'd escape from Harrenhal eventually. Therefore, she decided to ask him about it.
"You think we'll get out of here?" Arya asked.
Gendry shrugged. "Maybe. I trust you with this fully."
"Really?" Arya said, her eyebrows raising.
"Yes. And if I know anything, it's that Arya Stark will always do what's best for her group."
Arya, now happy for once in a long while, wanted to hug him for saying that. However, due to their current circumstances, she couldn't. All she could do for the rest of the night was sit quietly and hope for an opportunity to escape.
The next day, Weese didn't arrive in the morning to take Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie to do any work. After a number of hours of sitting around and doing nothing in her cell, Arya finally got tired of waiting and called over to the others.
"Hey, have either of you seen Weese?"
"No," Hot Pie said.
"Neither have I," Gendry added, shaking his head.
"Where do you think he is?" Arya asked.
Before anyone could get two words out, Arya heard the door to the jail open. She knew Gendry and Hot Pie had heard it as well, evident by their shrinking deeper into their shared cell. Arya could only sit and listen as Weese entered every cell, fought with the weakened prisoners inside, and killed them. She could tell what was happening due to the shouting and fighting noises, followed by wet crunching and crackling, sometimes accompanied by gurgling.
As Weese grew closer, Arya realized that she would likely be soon to die. However, she knew she would fight Weese to her dying breath, regardless of what weapon he had with him (if any). If he had his crowbar, she would wrestle it out of his hands and cave his skull in. As she sat there thinking of what new and exciting shapes to pound Weese's face into, she heard something from outside: it was, unmistakably, the distant sounds of a swarm of wights approaching. She recalled Chiswyck and Amory talking about this very thing days earlier, and now it was here. It reminded her of Fairmarket. And then it dawned on her: the prisoners who had been forced into labor had outlived their usefulness to Harrenhal.
Weese finally arrived. He had his crowbar, bloodied, in hand. To Arya's surprise, no other guards were there. Weese didn't say anything, just opened the door and approached. Without hesitation, he swung the crowbar at Arya's head. She ducked, then charged forward, screaming. She punched him in the face, her fear of him evaporating as it was replaced with sheer rage.
"GET DOWN!" Weese screamed, trying to bat Arya off of himself.
Arya didn't listen. It was Weese's turn to scream when Arya began scratching at his face and sliced open one of his larger boils with a few of her fingernails. Noticing this, Arya began deeply digging into the open wound with the same hand, screaming "HOW'S THAT FEEL?!" as she continued to do this. However, she let her guard down during this; Weese, with his free hand, grabbed her by the face and threw her to the back of the cell.
Gendry slammed himself against the door of his own cell. "YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!" He continued to slam himself against the door, attempting to batter it down to get to Weese and Arya. Arya couldn't tell what Hot Pie was doing. For a second as all this took place, Arya thought she heard the entrance to the jail open for a second time.
Weese charged and rammed the crowbar into Arya's gut, then backhanded her with his fist with his other hand. Falling backward, Weese raised the crowbar into the air, preparing to bring it down atop Arya's head. However, he never got a chance. A loud scream ripped through the cell, and Weese dropped to the floor as if dead. And then Arya saw it: Nymeria was in the cell, and she had bitten into Weese's right calf, pulling back forcefully and making him fall and loosen his grip on the crowbar. Arya grabbed the crowbar and walked back as Weese rolled himself over, giving Nymeria an opening to rip open his throat with her teeth. Weese, now desperate, tried to shove Nymeria off of himself, but he soon grew limp.
"Arya!"
Arya looked over and saw Weasel approach, large knife in hand. Both Arya and Weasel smiled as they ran towards each other and hugged one another tightly. They let go of one another, and Arya began to speak to Weasel.
"What happened? How did you find us?"
"The Brotherhood found us," Weasel explained. "We told them what happened, and they immediately knew what it was and who was responsible. We came here to rescue you guys. And before they found us… we… found Lommy and buried him…"
Arya let the implication of her words sink in. She knew that Jeyne's reaction to his body could not have been pretty. "Where are the others?" She asked as she heard the sounds of someone else opening the door to Gendry and Hot Pie's cell.
"They're out in the hall. Members of the Brotherhood are gonna come in here in a minute."
Arya exited the cell, and Weasel and Nymeria followed. The first thing Arya saw was Willow hugging Hot Pie and Gendry watching them. Arya looked to the left and saw Jeyne for the first time in a long time.
"H-hey, Arya…" Jeyne said weakly, sounding like she was seconds away from bursting into tears and trying hard not to. Arya then noticed her eyes. They were both raw and red, like she'd been through hours of tears. Arya also noticed that Jeyne wore both of Lommy's tattered green gloves on her hands.
"Hi, Jeyne," Arya said. She glanced down, and that was when she noticed a swell in Jeyne's abdomen, and it all clicked. Jeyne and Lommy advocating for staying at the house to defend it to the death, Lommy fighting as hard as he did in the woods right before he died, Jeyne asking Arya about what it was like taking care of a very young child, the sickness, it all made sense now, and she felt foolish for not realizing it sooner.
"You're pregnant, aren't you?" Arya said, then thought, You and Lommy wanted to raise your kid in a sturdy home secluded from most dangerous things around today.
Jeyne, quietly beginning to cry again, nodded slowly. Arya and Jeyne moved towards each other and hugged. Jeyne sniffled as she and Arya hugged one another, and she finally spoke after Hot Pie moved past them towards the entrance of the jail after briefly speaking with Willow.
"Arya, we found him… we found him on the ground…"
"I know, and I'm sorry."
Jeyne continued to cry. "They killed him so… in such a horrible, cruel way…"
Arya tightened her hug. She could not imagine what Jeyne was going through. All she could do for her was offer her condolences and try as best as she could to comfort her. Jeyne let go of her after a moment, and then turned to approach Willow and Gendry to speak with the both of them.
Arya felt Weasel tug at the back of her shirt. Arya turned to address her. "Yes?"
"Arya, what does 'pregnant' mean?"
Arya felt horrible about the whole situation, but she wanted Weasel to understand. "It means… she's going to have a baby."
"Who's the other parent?"
"Lommy."
With the mention of Lommy's name, Jeyne began to sob loudly and collapsed into the arms of Willow and Gendry. Weasel then realized the full extent of what was happening, and a sad look crossed her face. Arya didn't blame anyone for how they were feeling regarding the situation.
Before anyone could say anything else, the entrance to the jail opened again, and three people walked in: Hot Pie, accompanied by both Anguy and Jack of the Brotherhood Without Banners, entered. Anguy had his bow and arrows, Jack had both a katana and an AR-15, and Hot Pie had been given a shotgun by them.
"We've got company," Hot Pie warned as he approached. He turned his head to look at Gendry. "They're all out there, and a whole bunch of wights–thousands of them–are headed this way. Gendry, you ought to lead us to that weapons storage spot so we can arm up and get out of here."
Before arriving at the outside walls of Harrenhal on their motorcycles, the Brotherhood Without Banners had regrouped with Jeyne, Willow, Weasel, and Nymeria. Weasel and Willow had explained everything to them, and they had found where Lommy's remains were buried shortly afterwards. All the while, Edric Dayne knew that while the Brave Companions were now gone, Harrenhal was now a variable that could not afford to be ignored, especially now that Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie had been taken hostage by them.
Edric and other members of the Brotherhood Without Banners quickly noticed that Jeyne was pregnant, though Jeyne herself didn't bring it up. Edric, thanks to his conversations with Arya when he traded with her group, knew that Jeyne and Lommy were close. That coupled with her tears gave him all the information that he needed to know regarding the situation.
Willow and Weasel explained everything as best as they could. In turn, Edric, Tom, and Lem explained how they'd found the burned out shell of the house and tracked them into the woods south of Harroway, the bodies of the men from Harrenhal they killed helping them locate where they were in the process. Edric also took note of how they had Lommy's final bomb, Devastation, with them. He instructed Jeyne, Willow, and Weasel to take it with them when they reached Harrenhal. Everyone likely knew what Edric was thinking judging by the tone of his voice and his interest in Devastation: he was going to use that bomb somewhere in Harrenhal.
Getting close to Harrenhal, the group passed by a massive group of wights that was approaching the aforementioned base. Only a few of the dead noticed them, but they didn't stop the group. Edric, for obvious reasons, could not stop and count every single one of them, but he figured that there were thousands all headed straight towards Harrenhal. The gears started to turn in Edric's head when he saw this, thinking that the sound of Devastation's explosion would draw the dead towards Harrenhal in droves. He understood that they would still get there regardless, but the sound would definitely help them find it.
They got there first, though the dead weren't far behind. The group quickly spoke about a plan after surveying the area from a hole in the wall, and they found the entrance to the jail. Realizing that Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were likely trapped inside, they decided to wait for an opening for Weasel, Nymeria, Jeyne, and Willow to break them out, followed by Anguy and Jack entering.
The mission was successful. When Edric and the rest of the Brotherhood Without Banners members followed them inside, the whole group gathered near the entrance to the jail in Harrenhal. Arya was the first to approach Edric.
"Edric, we need to get to the weapon storage area and arm ourselves," Arya said. "We need to get out of here right now."
"We may have to wait out all of the wights coming in," Edric replied. "It's starting to get dark out, and there are thousands of wights coming here. Yes, we need to arm up, but we also need to hide for the time being and barricade ourselves wherever we can until–"
Loud shouts from several people interrupted Edric's statement. Several members of Harrenhal's garrison noticed them and began heading over, weapons in hand. Jack and Hot Pie raised their own weapons and began shooting before they got over there.
"Gendry, where is this weapons area?!" Willow demanded.
"In the southeast corner of Harrenhal," Gendry replied. "Now let's get there before anyone else sees us!"
They ran. Several people noticed them and tried to stop them, but Anguy shot some with his arrows, and Sandor nearly cleaved one's head off with his ax. The group made their way to the weapons area with Gendry's assistance. Sandor reached the door to the storage area first, and knocked it down with one hard hick. The rusted door flew off its hinges, and Sandor entered first, followed by Jack. There were five people already in the room.
Jack aimed his rifle towards the ceiling and fired off two warning shots. "EVERYONE, SHUT UP AND GET ON THE FLOOR!"
Everyone who they'd discovered in the small building did as they were told. Edric was already armed, so he didn't need to arm himself. Arya, Gendry, and a few others in the group who were still unarmed got to arming themselves. Arya found her machete, and Gendry found his sledgehammer.
"Okay, we have our things," Arya said. "We need to get out of here, and–"
Before Arya could finish, one of the people on the ground, who had been hiding a knife, got up and charged towards Arya, yelling. Edric didn't let him get ten feet; he shot him twice, and he fell. A few Brotherhood Without Banners members rolled him over and straightened him out to get a look at his face. When Arya saw who it was, she kicked the corpse once.
Edric raised an eyebrow as he looked over to her. "You knew him?"
"Yes," Arya answered. "This is Dunsen. He was one of the people who helped kidnap us and take us here."
They left the building quickly, and Arya looked over towards a wall and approached to get a look out of it through a hole; at once, Edric knew that the sound of the gathering wights was building, and everyone else in the group and in Harrenhal could hear it.
Arya could not believe what she was seeing through the hole in the south wall of the compound after deciding to investigate the noise she'd heard, which had been progressively growing in volume.
Outside of the walls of Harrenhal, there were thousands upon thousands of wights approaching. There were more than the massive crowd of them at Fairmarket, and Arya knew they would be unable to fight the entire approaching army of the dead, not the small group they had that consisted of her own group and the Brotherhood Without Banners. They would be all torn to shreds. Arya recalled Edric's words about hiding out in Harrenhal somewhere until the swarm had passed. That had problems on its own: Harrenhal was still swarming with Gregor Clegane's people, and it was incredibly likely that he and the other higher-ranking people running the compound had been alerted to the recent events involving the jail escapes. Therefore, Arya knew they had to act fast if they wanted to hide.
Edric approached her from behind. "Arya," he said quickly. Arya noticed he was holding Devastation as he kept talking to her. "We need to set this off so a lot of them come in and rip these Harrenhal guys to shreds. I recommend we put this towards the front of the building and mess up that garage door-looking thing they've got."
"Alright, then," Arya said. "We'll go."
Several others offered to come along, and in the end, Arya was accompanied by Edric, Sandor, Gendry, and Jeyne. Nymeria stayed behind with Weasel and the others. Willow and Weasel urged Jeyne not to go along with Arya due to her pregnancy, but she pushed back against them, explaining in a tone filled with absolute conviction that she was going to help set Devastation off, even if it killed her.
Making their way from the weapon storage area, Arya and her group soon approached the main area of Harrenhal. All over, people were running about with weapons, all likely getting ready to defend their compound to their final breath against the approaching tsunami of the living dead. Arya, since her group had Devastation with them, knew the people manning Harrenhal would be dead sooner than later.
Entering the main area of Harrenhal, Arya knew they would be seen if they just made a beeline for the front entrance, so they knew they needed to find another way to get there. Gendry pointed out a window in the building in front of the wight pit. Sandor smashed it open with his ax, and the small group hurried on inside, taking Devastation with them. As they hurried through, Arya heard the sounds of people talking.
"I don't know," one man said. "I think this might me it. Those three we brought into the jail some time ago might cause some trouble."
"Weese has killed them all by now," the other replied. "Amory gave the order for all the remaining prisoners to be slain."
Now Arya understood why Weese had come into the jail and tried to kill her; her theory about them outliving their usefulness had been confirmed. They had been busy fortifying Harrenhal to protect it against the oncoming swarm of the dead, and they had outlived their usefulness to Harrenhal once they had either finished their work or had run out of time. Arya thought they'd run out of time.
The two men in the other room entered, each of them wielding loaded pistols. They noticed the group in the room, and right as they were raising their weapons, Jeyne fired a crossbow bolt into one's neck while Sandor charged forward and nearly cleaved the other's head off with his ax. With that situation taken care of, they continued through the house and exited through a second window.
Like before, they entered the next building through a side window. Unlike before, there was no one inside. Pleased by this, Arya still understood that no people in this new building didn't mean she should let her guard down; they still needed to get close enough to the front door for Devastation to blow it open and let the dead break inside Harrenhal.
They made their way through the next building the same way, and they didn't encounter anyone like before. Though Arya was happy to be so fortunate to not encounter anyone else, she still refused to let her guard down. Reaching the end of the house, they found the final window. Arya ducked to hide her presence there when she saw two armed men running, but popped back up when she saw a now clear shot to the front entrance of Harrenhal. Arya opened the window and, one by one, they piled out and ran to the garage-like entrance.
Jeyne placed Devastation to where it was butting up against the metal of the door. Stepping back, Arya, Jeyne, Gendry, Edric, and Sandor got a look at Devastation. Arya could hear the sounds of the wights outside. They were all around Harrenhal now.
"Everyone back up," Jeyne said. Arya thought the look on the former's face said, "Justice will be served tonight." Jeyne continued to speak after everyone moved by about twenty feet, saying, "Edric, be prepared to–"
She never got a chance to finish. A loud, familiar voice interrupted her.
"HEY, YOU GET BACK HERE!"
Arya turned her head to see Raff approaching with two other men. Arya and the others began to run, and a gunshot rang out from Edric's handgun when they got farther away from Devastation. Edric had shot the bomb, and it went off and tore open a large hole in the wall. One of the two men accompanying Raff had died in the explosion, the other was screaming as they burned, and Raff's right leg had been ripped in half. Edric shot the burning man right before he, Arya, and everyone else in the group surrounded Raff.
"You…" Raff growled.
Arya, noticing Raff's mangled leg, decided to reply with a specific sentence. "Can you walk?"
Raff, based on the look on his face, realized what was going on.
Jeyne seemed to pick up on it, too. "Arya, was he the one?" She sounded like she wanted to tear something off of someone.
Arya immediately knew what she was talking about. "Yes."
Jeyne raised her crossbow and fired a bolt into Raff's head, killing him immediately.
They had no time to dwell on anything else. The wights from outside had been attracted to the sound of the explosion, and some of them were in the process of worming their way through the hole Devastation had made in the wall and front entrance of Harrenhal. One made their way in, followed by two, then another sole wight. Arya understood she and the others didn't have time to stick around. The sound would not just attract wights–the men manning Harrenhal would most definitely hear it as well.
"We need to get back to the others!" Arya shouted. Without saying anything else, the small group, in their haste to flee, ran back towards the weapons storage area through the main area instead of going through the windows of the buildings again. Like what Arya had expected, more people showed up. Some went to go and defend the entrance and try in vain to patch up the hole while some noticed the people planning to escape.
"HEY!" one man out of three shouted as they neared Arya's small group. Arya noticed that they were nearing the wight pit as they approached.
Not hesitating, Edric raised his weapon and fired multiple shots off. One dropped dead, another fell after being shot in the leg a few times, and the third hadn't been hit at all. The third swung a metal pipe at Gendry's head. He ducked out of the way, swung his sledgehammer, and hit his attacker in the ribs. The attacker made another move and missed Gendry again. Jeyne, noticing an opening, fired a crossbow bolt into the attacker's eye and killed them in the process.
Arya noticed that they were nearing the wight pit. She looked back once and saw that the entrance to Harrenhal was starting to be pushed in more, like a sizable number of the dead were pressing themselves up against the door. More were getting in, and Arya realized that they'd be caught in the midst of what was inevitably going to happen if they didn't get out of the way, and soon.
Arya hoped that she, Edric, Gendry, Sandor, and Jeyne would make it back to the others before anyone else saw them. Unfortunately, this didn't happen. Gregor Clegane himself, accompanied by Polliver, the Tickler, and a few others, appeared before them with six other people. All of them had melee weapons. Gregor had a large broadsword, Polliver had a machete, and the Tickler had a knife in each hand.
"YOU WILL NOT LEAVE HERE ALIVE!" Gregor roared as he swung his broadsword at Sandor's head. Sandor ducked out of the way and swung his ax into his brother's armor. Nearby, Edric used the three bullets he had left on a few of the attackers (killing a number of them), Jeyne fired a crossbow bolt into someone's head, more wights spilled in from behind them all, Arya was charged at by the Tickler, and Gendry was faced with Polliver.
Arya jumped out of the way as the Tickler swung a knife at her face. It split open a small amount of skin, but did not puncture deeply. Arya swung her machete at the Tickler as she charged forward, hoping to impale him on it like with what happened with Rorge in Saltpans. She didn't get a chance. The Tickler swiveled around and swung again.
Arya let out a pained shriek as one of the knives penetrated her left shoulder. She lurched back, and the knife was wrenched from the Tickler's hand in the process, though it was still in Arya's shoulder. Nearby, Gendry swung his sledgehammer and connected with Polliver's left knee. Polliver screamed as a crackling noise was heard, through he still lurched forward and swung his machete at Gendry. Gendry jumped back when he saw this, and Polliver cut through a bit of Gendry's shirt, a thin vertical line of blood forming in the process as he was grazed.
Gendry didn't let this deter him. He charged at Polliver again, keeping careful watch on his machete. Nearby, as Sandor charged at his brother again, the latter grabbed him by the throat and threw him back, approaching him with his broadsword immediately after. Sandor rolled out of the way on the ground as Gregor swung down, screaming, "HOLD STILL!"
Sandor didn't listen. Instead, he propped himself up and charged with the ax again, swinging. Gregor pulled one had from the handle of his broadsword and grabbed the handle of the ax as Sandor swung down again. Sandor yanked back, pulling Gregor with him, and head butted his brother. A crack was heard, and Sandor watched as blood began pouring from Gregor's broken nose.
As Jeyne and Edric dealt with the others, Arya swung her machete again and severed a number of the fingers on the Tickler's left hand. He shrieked, and Arya tackled him. She grabbed one of the Tickler's fallen knives, and she began stabbing him in the chest repeatedly. He went limp after a few moments.
When Arya realized that she'd killed him, she got up and saw Polliver quickly limping at her with his machete. Gendry had noticed and charged at him from the side as Arya ripped the Tickler's knife out of her shoulder and charged from the front. Gendry swung his sledgehammer and hit him in the side as Arya avoided Polliver's swing by ducking and ramming both the knife and the machete into his abdomen. She left the knife in Polliver as she yanked the machete out.
From behind them all, the door was continuing to press inward. Anyone who saw it knew it wouldn't hold for much longer, and more and more wights were getting in after being attracted to the noise of Devastation going off.
Now Gregor was the final one of the attacking group standing. He charged at Sandor with a yell, and Sandor ducked out of the way. Arya understood that they needed to assist Sandor, so she maneuvered around trying to find an opening to attack Gregor. Arya took mental note of how they were all close to the wight pit, and someone would likely fall in if they weren't careful.
Gendry was the first to get over there. He swung his sledgehammer at Gregor's back, and it left a dent in the armor. Gregor, noticing this, turned to confront Gendry, swinging his broadsword as he turned around. Gendry lurched backwards to avoid getting hit and landed on his back. Arya was relieved; if he hadn't moved so suddenly, he would have likely lost his head.
Edric charged at Gregor from the side. Gregor, noticing this, grabbed him by the throat, ran over to the nearest wall, and held him up against the building. He briefly put his sword back in its sheath to hold Edric's head in both hands. Screaming, Edric thrashed around and beat at Gregor's large, trunk-like arms with his hands as Gregor began to press his thumbs into Edric's eyes.
"YOURS WON'T BE THE FIRST HEAD I'VE SMASHED OPEN!" Gregor screamed.
Sandor, Arya, and Gendry charged towards Gregor immediately to protect Edric from being killed. Sandor swung his ax, Gendry swung his sledgehammer, and Arya drove her machete into the back of Gregor's right leg. The armor on Gregor's torso began to crack apart as Sandor and Gendry repeatedly hit him there, and Gregor howled and dropped Edric after Arya twisted the machete as she yanked it out of Gregor's leg. As Edric scampered off, Gregor turned around quickly and drew his broadsword. Arya and everyone else backed up as Gregor charged, but quickly staggered and dropped to one knee because of the leg wound which Arya had given him.
As Gregor got up again, Arya and everyone else heard a loud scream. They watched as Weasel appeared, knife in hand, clambering to the top of Gregor. Gregor roared as Weasel–who was still screaming–wrapped an arm around his neck and began stabbing into his chest repeatedly. Gregor's armor was very much damaged by this point, allowing Weasel to have areas in which to stab. After a few moments of this, Gregor grabbed Weasel by the back of her head and threw her over his shoulder. She went flying, and Arya hurried over to help her back on her feet.
Sandor swung his ax a final time after Weasel had stabbed into Gregor's chest repeatedly. It found itself embedded in Gregor's chest, and he staggered back, falling backwards into the wight pit. The wights were on him immediately. As Arya and a few others watched as Gregor tried to wrestle his way out of the pit, he was bitten several times in various places.
"Weasel!" Arya said as she helped her up from the ground. "We need to get out of here before–"
A loud, metallic groan came from the front entrance. Enough of the dead had pushed up against the door, and it had been broken open. Dozens of them began spilling into Harrenhal. Arya noticed Qyburn near the door, and some of the wights began headed right towards him. Sandor's words summed up how everyone felt about the situation.
"Everybody run."
They ran as Gregor began to make his way out of the wight pit. Arya could see that already, his eyes were starting to change from brown to blue because of the amount of bites he'd received. More people were beginning to gather around the front to try and shoot at the wights to keep them back, but they were quickly getting overwhelmed.
Arya, Gendry, and Weasel were in the back of the group. Jeyne, Edric, and Sandor disappeared around the corner of a building, and Arya, Gendry, and Weasel hurried after them. This didn't last long. Weasel screamed as she was suddenly wrenched away. Arya and Gendry turned to see Amory Lorch running off with her. Before they could get two feet to help, three wights appeared and stopped them from going any farther.
By the time they dispatched the wights, Amory had dragged Weasel around the side of a building off in the distance. Without saying a word, Arya and Gendry hurried after the both of them. They soon found a horrifying sight: Weasel was trying to run away, and Amory had a sledgehammer of his own. Amory swung and hit Weasel in the leg. Weasel screamed and fell. Arya began running faster towards them, her anger rising to a level she'd never experienced before.
Amory swung again, hitting Weasel in the stomach so hard she vomited. Arya, now running faster than Gendry, dropped her machete, snatched his sledgehammer out of his hands, and leapt. Amory turned to see them, and Arya smashed the end of the hammer into Amory's pig-like face. For the next minute, she went nuts on Amory and turned his head into what best could be described as ground pulp with the sledgehammer, rage and ferocity driving her in the moment.
After it was done, she tossed the sledgehammer aside and hurried over to Weasel.
"Weasel, can you move?"
Weasel tried to get up, but let out a pained wail. "Arya, I don't think I can walk!"
Arya picked Weasel up. Seeing Weasel in pain like this felt to her like being stabbed in the soul. "Wrap your arms around my neck," she instructed. "I'll carry you out of here. Jeyne or Thoros can look at you after we get out of here."
Weasel did as she was told. Gendry and Arya retrieved their weapons, and they began to run for where the weapons storage area was located. It was then that Arya noticed Willow a distance away from them, cupping her hands on either side of her mouth to call over to them. Gregor was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Qyburn. Arya watched as Chiswyck fell from one of the walls as a wight tore into his chest.
"We found some stairs to head up to the ramparts!" Willow shouted, Hot Pie appearing by her side as he blew a wight's brains out with his shotgun. "Follow us! We might be okay up there!"
Arya didn't want Weasel to slip off of her back, so she deeply hoped that Weasel would hold on with every ounce of strength she had left.
Following Willow and Hot Pie, they found Jeyne with them. Jeyne, joining Arya, Gendry, and Weasel in the back, hurried with them as scores of the dead began to hurry after them from behind. They soon found a set of stairs and began to climb. Arya knew that if they lagged behind, even a little, they would die. Reaching the top of the ramparts, they began to run after Hot Pie and Willow to the nearest tower in one of the corners of Harrenhal's walls.
"You all stop!" a voice Arya recognized called from behind. Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, Willow, and Jeyne turned to see Qyburn approaching from amidst the dead, revolver in hand. His eyes were turning from a light brown to a pale blue, and Arya noticed that he was covered in wight blood and chopped up organs, and a bite mark was on his right hand. There were likely other bites in other places, but she didn't see them anywhere.
The dead were slower than usual; Arya noticed that several of them had leg wounds likely sustained from trampling over each other in an attempt to get at them. She also noticed an undead Gregor Clegane among them, two heads taller than all the others.
"You will not escape here with your lives!" Qyburn shouted weakly. Arya noticed that the hand holding the revolver was shaking.
"Run, go!" Arya screamed to everyone else. Before she could turn to run, four shots rang out. Jeyne screamed and fell as three of the bullets hit her, one in the calf and two in the knee. Arya felt a sharp push and then a sting as her right shoulder was wounded by one of Qyburn's bullets. The wights, drawn by the noise Qyburn had made, quickly began to swarm and devour him. He didn't fight back. Arya fell and landed on Weasel, who screamed. Arya quickly got up.
"WEASEL, ARE YOU OKAY?!"
"Yes, just hurt…" Weasel groaned. Arya and Willow hurried over to Jeyne.
"Jeyne, are you okay?!"
Jeyne on the floor, groaned as she staggered upwards. "My leg… I don't think I can run or walk properly…"
She tried taking two steps after staggering up and fell a second time. The wights, finishing up with Qyburn, now turned their attention to the others.
"You guys have to run!" Jeyne shouted.
Willow grabbed her sister's hand and yanked. There were tears in her eyes. "NO! YOU'RE COMING WITH US!"
"WILLOW! HEDDLE!" Jeyne shouted as loudly as possible as some of the wights started to make their way over to them. She was crying as well. "MOVE! NOW! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"
"I love you…" Willow wheezed before letting go of Jeyne to regroup with Hot Pie and run.
Weasel lurched to the side, likely trying to get Arya to do something she wanted. All was explained to Arya as she began shouting.
"Arya, we need to get Jeyne!"
"Weasel, we need to leave! Her leg is too wounded for her to–"
"But the baby–"
"THERE'S NO TIME!" Arya felt like her heart was being torn out as she said this.
As Jeyne screamed as she was torn apart by the masses of the living dead, Arya silently cried as she hurried away with Weasel, hurrying after Gendry as Hot Pie and Willow entered the tower they were running towards.
Arya, Gendry, and Weasel entered the tower after Hot Pie and Willow had already left it. Gendry noticed a few crates nearby and pushed one of them in front of the door they'd just entered.
"We can get out of here now," he said, walking towards the middle of the tower. Arya followed suit, and the floor began to creak loudly. With horror, Arya realized that the floor was like to give away soon if too much weight was put on it. Willow and Hot Pie running through first had likely weakened the floor due to Hot Pie's weight, and she and Gendry and Weasel would likely make it worse.
They both backed up. "What… what's this…?" Gendry said as he observed the floor, sounding like he was about to mentally hit the panic button.
"It's too weak to support all of our weight," Arya answered. "I think…"
A rotted hand burst through the wall behind them. The force of all the wights began to move the crate.
"I think…"
Splintering noises came from the wood in the wall behind them as more of the dead started to break in. The crate lurched forward a bit.
"Only two of us can make it out of here."
Gendry looked and sounded distraught. "No… no… no… no… we'll make it out together…"
"Gendry, our predicament says we can't," Arya shot back. "I want to make it out, too. Believe me, I do. However, while we're here, I have one final request."
"Yes?"
Arya turned around. "Take Weasel and get out of here."
"What?!" Weasel screamed. "No!"
"Weasel, it has to happen."
A short moment later, Weasel wrapped her arms around Gendry's neck instead go Arya's. She was wailing loudly, just like when she was a toddler. It wrenched Arya's heart out, just like Jeyne and Lommy's deaths. Arya knew she herself was dead.
"Arya, please!" Weasel begged, tears streaming down her face.
"Look," Arya said, hugging Gendry. He returned her hug as she kept talking, "I love you both very much, and I wish you the best. Gendry, please, you and everyone else take good care of Weasel for me, okay?"
He kissed the top of her head. "I will. We all will. What are you going to do now?"
She let go of Gendry, drew her machete, and faced the door as the crate lurched again. She saw more rotting hands begin to make their way into the room. "I'll buy you both some time."
Gendry ran with Weasel on his back over to the other door, the floor loudly creaking and crackling as he moved. He and Weasel gave her one last glance before they left.
The wights broke in. Arya yelled loudly and cleaved one's arm off with her machete, followed by her ramming it into one's eye straight through to the brain. She backed up as the crate moved again. She killed two more as she neared the center of the room, the floor about ready to give away. More wights came in, and the floor gave away.
Falling, Arya saw a second room below the one she'd been fighting in. There were some large objects and a metal door nearby her.
The door swung open just before Arya landed on anything. Arya hit her head on the side of something heavy at the bottom room of the tower, and she lost consciousness as several of the dead spilled in after her.
NOTE: I am sorry this chapter may have taken longer than expected. See you next time for the ending of this fic.