Red River Blue
Chapter 79
Harley made a soft clicking noise with her tongue, encouraging the walker that was shuffling along aimlessly to turn and head in her direction. The creature lifted its arms, letting out a low growl as it lurched towards her. Harley let it come to her, spinning out of the way at the last minute and grabbing the hood of the zippered sweatshirt the walker died in. She jerked hard, stripping the garment off the creature and dropping it into the soft bed of decaying leaves under her boots. Once she had what she wanted from the monster, she whipped her machete through the air. The walker's hands hit the ground near her feet. Negan was already behind the shuffling dead man. And once Harley removed its hands, he delivered a hard kick to the back of its knees. Without too much effort, they pinned the creature on its back. It flailed its now useless arms, trying to claw at them with hands that were no longer there. Harley kept the creature in place, stomping down on its chest with her boot while Negan swung the large rock in his hands. He checked his force, being careful not to actually kill the creature. He only wanted to knock its teeth out.
Teeth and rotten clotted blood splattered the ground. And when Harley removed her boot and allowed the undead monster to climb back onto its feet, she had her very own pet walker. It wasn't her first. But it was the first time she'd ever caught one without Michonne's help. Harley preferred to simply avoid the dead, rather than use them as camouflage. But having a few of them around was going to be necessary if they wanted to infiltrate the whisperers.
Cringing at the stink, Harley picked up the hoodie she'd pulled off the walker. She shrugged her pack off, pulling the hoodie on and flipping the hood over her head. Her long blonde hair was tucked up inside the jacket and she worried about how long it was going to take her to get the stink of death out of it after this was all over. Fighting back her gag reflex, Harley jerked the zipper up and pulled her pack back on, making sure the sweatshirt was adjusted so she still had easy access to all her weapons. Her long machete was strapped to her thigh. And there was another large bowie knife attached to her waist. The only gun she brought was concealed in an ankle holster inside her boot. Her bow and her arrows were in the quiver that was attached to the side of her pack. The finishing touch was her new pet walker. She tied a rope around its neck, fastening the other end to the strap of her bag so the brainless creature couldn't wander off.
"How'd I look?," she asked, turning her body one way and then the other so Negan could examine her disguise.
"Better than you smell," he quipped, chuckling a little at the disgusting undead stink of her. She laughed along with him, her high pitched giggles making him laugh harder.
"Laugh it up," she teased. "...'cause it's yer turn next."
It took them a little longer to find a walker large enough that Negan could fit into the jacket they stripped off of it. But by late afternoon they were both well disguised and standing on the border of a large open field. Harley pulled a small scope off her belt. As she peered through it, trying to concentrate on counting how many of the dead in the field were actually skins, Negan kept up a steady stream of obnoxious commentary. Harley figured out within the first ten minutes alone with the man that telling him to shut his fucking piehole was totally ineffectual. Her current strategy was to ignore him in the hopes that he would eventually get bored of talking to himself and stop yapping.
"There," Harley hissed, pointing out towards the center of the field. "That's got to be Beta."
The man was much easier to pick out from the masses than the rest of his freaks. He stood head and shoulders above the dead, at least a foot taller than anyone else in the herd. A flutter of nervousness tingled in Harley's belly. She'd never fought anyone that much bigger than her before. She wasn't sure if she'd ever even see someone that big before. She was on the tall side for a girl. So most of the men she knew were a few inches taller than her at most. The biggest man she knew was probably Jerry. And he was like a giant teddy bear. The behemoth shuffling through the scattered herd in the field did not look cuddly.
"They weren't lying," Negan agreed. "That's one big sumbitch." Harley shook her head, trying not to laugh at the man's obvious imitation of her uncle Daryl. Negan jabbed his elbow into Harley's ribs. "Hey kid, you ready to climb that tree?," he teased.
"Fuck off," Harley spit, turning towards Negan just long enough to deliver a hard punch to his arm. He jumped back, rubbing his arm and laughing harder at her.
"Divide and conquer," he said. "It's the only way to get this done. I'll have that bald headed freakshow eating out of my hand by the end of the day." Harley rolled her eyes and tried her best not to start laughing. That would only encourage Negan to keep running his mouth.
Negan's plan wasn't the best she'd ever heard. But it wasn't terrible. And to be fair, Negan had a lot more experience manipulating people than she did. So Harley was willing to follow his lead. Thanks to Lydia, they knew quite a bit about the Whisperers hierarchy. And given what they knew, Negan thought the best way to cause disruption in the group was to create a rift between Alpha and Beta. He was convinced he could charm his way into Alpha's confidence. Harley wasn't as sure if she could do the same with the woman's right hand man. She wasn't even very good at making friends with people she didn't know, let alone getting them to fall for her. But she was hoping she might be able to figure out where the hoard was by simply watching these people. Once she knew its location, she planned to just kill Beta. He was bigger than her. But a knife to the throat or a bullet to the head would still end him.
"Ready ta do this?," Harley asked, tucking the scope away and resting her hand on the hilt of her knife. She turned, catching Negan's eye. For once, he was silent. Harley guessed he was not more eager to wander into a giant herd of walkers than she was. She caught his hand, giving it a quick reassuring squeeze.
Releasing Negan, Harley stepped out from the cover of the treeline before she could talk herself out of it. She walked in the weird slow shuffle motion that Lydia taught her, pulling her pet walker along behind her. The first walker that ambled towards her almost gave her a fucking heart attack. Harley gripped the handle of her knife so hard that her knuckles turned white. But the creature paid her no mind, continuing on its way like she wasn't there at all. It was working. The dead couldn't see her. Harley glanced behind her, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that Negan's disguise also seemed to be working. The dead weren't paying him any attention either.
Growing bolder, Harley shuffled further out into the clearing. She felt another pang of fear when she passed by the first walker in the area that wasn't actually a walker. Harley got close enough to the woman that she could see the edges of her mask and the bright human eyes peeking out from behind a dead man's cured flesh. Harley ticked her chin at the woman, who gave her nothing but a curious stare as she continued on her way. Harley couldn't pick Alpha out from the crowd. So she headed for Beta, unsure of what she was going to say when she reached the man.
Harley checked on Negan again, noticing that the woman they passed had shouldered up beside him. They were shuffling along together sort of diagonal to the way she was moving. Harley could tell they were talking, but quietly enough that Harley couldn't hear what they were saying to each other. Across the clearing, Harley saw another woman she was sure was not one of the dead. Her suspicions were confirmed when the woman pulled off the mask she was wearing and revealed her dirt streaked face. It was hard to tell with how filthy she was, but Harley guessed the woman was about her age, or maybe just a little older. Her hair was a light auburn and she looked like she might even be something close to pretty if she cleaned herself up.
Harley tensed, assuming the woman's odd unmasking behavior had something to do with her. But after a moment, Harley realized the woman wasn't even looking in her direction. She was focused on another woman that was shuffling around in a thicker section of the herd. Harley looked on in shock as the unmasked woman began to scream. The walkers that were shuffling around aimlessly were suddenly growling and snapping, their attention focused on the loud noise. Harley watched the screaming woman charge into the thickest group of the dead, leaping onto another woman's back. She held on tight, screaming and thrashing. The dead were going to tear her apart. And she seemed determined for whatever reason, to take the woman she jumped on down with her. Harley reacted out of pure instinct, surging forward. She didn't move as fast as she normally could, because she was hindered by the dead man she had leashed to her pack. But Harley still managed to grab the screaming woman. She ripped her off the other woman's back, pushing her as far away from them as she could. The dead were heading for her, because she was the one making noise. But Harley knew there was a chance she and the woman that was just attacked might be caught in the stampede and bitten. Her body was smashed against the body of the woman she just saved, pressed together by the rotted stumbling masses.
Harley groped for her knife. But with all the dead pressing in, she really didn't even have the leverage to even pull it from her sheath. Suddenly the walker closest to her fell, stabbed through the top of its head. She knew who her savior was when she glanced to the side and saw nothing but the man's chest in her line of sight. It could only be Beta. He pulled the woman she saved from the throng first, pushing her out and away from the pressing bodies of the dead. Without the woman clinging to her, Harley took a stumbling step back, pulled by the toothless walker she had tethered to her pack. She expected the big man to dart after his companion and leave her. But instead, he pushed further into the herd, cutting the rope that was tied to her bag and releasing her pet walker into the frenzied circle of walkers that were tearing the screaming woman's insides out.
Seeing as she had no better option at the moment, Harley let the man pull her against him and back them both out of the mess. When they were clear he adjusted his grip on her, grabbing her firmly by the fleshy part of her arm to keep her from running away. He walked slowly to keep from attracting the attention of the dead until they were completely out of the herd and near the edge of the treeline. A small group of the skins had gathered there. And Harley was relieved when she saw that Negan was among them. He was unharmed. At least for now.
Beta released the hold he had on Harley's arm, lifting his hand slightly and jerking the hood of her sweatshirt off to reveal her face and the wild mass of her curly blonde hair. She guessed that he hadn't been able to tell she was a girl with the hood of her oversized sweater pulled down to obscure her face. Because even his mask didn't completely hide the look of shock that flickered across his face.
"Who the hell are you?," he hissed.
"I'm the person that just saved yer friend there," Harley spit back. "Who the hell are you?" Once her hood was pushed back, Beta quickly resumed his hold on her arm. Harley jerked away from his grip. "Get your fuckin' hands off me!"
Beta still had a knife in his other hand. And while it didn't appear that he intended to use the weapon on her, he wasn't letting go of her either. Harley slapped at his arm, jerking harder as she tried to free herself from his grasp. When it started to look like a full on struggle was going to erupt between them, the woman Harley saved stepped forward and pushed the mask back off her head.
"That's enough," she ordered. Harley's eyes widened as Beta immediately released his hold on her. Even if Harley hadn't seen the woman's bald head, just the high pitch of her southern drawl and the way the big man reacted to her would have been enough to reveal her identity. Harley swallowed hard as the realization fully hit her. She just saved Alpha's life.
"I believe I owe you a debt of gratitude," the woman said, offering Harley her outstretched hand. Harley felt the hard twist of hatred and rage inside her. This woman was responsible for killing Beth and Sam. And so many others. But Harley forced herself to smile and accept the woman's offering of friendship. "We don't have names," the woman explained, "...but you can call me Alpha."
"Hey!," Negan exclaimed, speaking loudly enough that both Beta and Alpha gave him disapproving stares. "I know who you are! You're the walker people all those fuckin' townies are pissing their pants over."
"You've been to the towns?," Alpha asked. Harley nodded, trying to remember the underdeveloped cover story Negan came up with on their walk here.
"We stayed the winter in one of them," Harley said. "Oceanside. The community that's almost all women." Harley ticked her head towards Negan, giving Alpha what she hoped was a knowing smile accompanied by a roll of her eyes. "He liked it there."
To Harley's relief, Alpha seemed to find her story not only believable but humorous. Or she was at least pretending to believe them. For now. All Harley was sure of was that she was even creepier when she smiled.
"If you're from town, you're on the wrong side of the border," Beta grumbled, his knife still gripped firmly in his hand.
"I told you," Harley huffed. "We were just stayin' there. And you can calm yer big ass down about yer territory 'cause we're just passing through."
"...passing through on your way to where?," Alpha asked. Harley saw the look of irritation that flashed across the woman's face when the big man interjected and spoke over her. Maybe causing a rift between them wouldn't be such a challenge after all.
"Nowhere in particular," Negan said. "...just away from their bullshit coalition. We overstayed our welcome."
"Perhaps we could come up with a mutually beneficial arrangement," Alpha said, her creepy grin widening. "I could offer you my hospitality in exchange for any information you might have about the ones that call themselves the coalition."
"I'll tell you whatever you wanna know about those assholes," Negan agreed. "...for free!"