Red River Blue

Chapter 82

Harley was watching Beta. But that didn't mean she wasn't keeping an eye on the lesser members of his group. Like Carol warned her they would, she'd seen several men force themselves on the women here. And from their reactions, Harley could tell that rape was not only a common practice in the whisperer camp, it was considered acceptable behavior as well. Since she was new, Harley could only guess that she would be considered fresh meat to these perverts.

There were two men in particular. Harley pretended not to notice them. But she'd seen them watching her. Waiting to make their move. They disgusted her. Not only were they enthusiastic rapists. They also liked to work as a team, taking turns holding down the victim of their choice while the other one had his way with her. They were too cowardly to fight these women one on one. It took everything inside her not to interfere when she saw this horrid act in progress. Harley had to remind herself that she was here for a specific reason. And that was to get revenge on sick weirdos. Not to play savior to their women. So instead of helping, she sat and quietly sharpened her knife. Harley knew the perverts would come for her eventually. And when they did, she was going to enjoy giving them just what they deserved.

Harley finished eating the rabbit she caught earlier in the day. She sat in the fading summer sunlight, pretending that her focus was on the arrows she was repairing and not on the two perverts that were advancing on her. Negan was sitting in her line of sight, also putting on an act of nonchalance. But Harley could tell he was watching the men as they circled around behind her. She caught his eye, shaking her head slightly. She appreciated that he was doing as he agreed and watching her back. But at the moment she didn't want or need his assistance. She had the sheath of her knife secured against the inside of her forearm. Her plan was to let them get in close. Then she was going to fuck them up.

Like everyone in this camp, the two men were filthy and stunk to high heaven. One of them was about her height and skinny to the point of emaciation. The other was shorter and slightly stockier. It was the shorter man that grabbed Harley by the hair. She latched onto his wrist, pinning his hand against her head as he dragged her to keep her hair from being yanked from her scalp. She could already feel the surge of adrenaline rising up inside her. She was really going to enjoy this. The skinny man circled around in front of her. She flailed her heels against the dirt, letting him get in nice and close before she lifted her leg and kicked him full force in the gut. The air woofed out of his lungs and he stumbled backwards, clutching his stomach. His shorter friend cursed at her. She flopped to the ground as he released his grip on her hair.

Rolling to avoid the kick he was aiming at her ribs, Harley leaped to her feet. She rushed at the man, knocking him to the ground and landing on top of him with her elbow buried in his ribs. If the two men had any sense, they would have already realized they were outmatched and retreated. But when the man under her started swinging, Harley realized that wasn't going to happen. She let the man think he was getting the upper hand as he rolled on top of her. But really, she was pulling her knife from the sheath and preparing to bury it in his gut. Harley laughed as she got a firm grip on her knife. And then suddenly, the shorter man was being lifted off and away from her.

Harley's eyes widened as the man was dangled in front of her like he weighed no more than a child. Beta was gripping him by his filthy hair, the large wicked bowie knife he favored in his other hand. He sliced in, cutting the man's throat. As he bled out, Beta turned to the man's accomplice and gestured towards Harley with his knife.
"She's mine," he hissed. The man nodded his understanding as a large wet stain formed in the crotch of his pants. Beta watched the man scurry away as he dropped his dying friend to the ground like a sack of garbage.

Harley scrambled to her feet, her knife still gripped in her hands. Somewhere inside her, she knew that she ought to be fawning all over the giant doofus like he was her personal savior. But her temper was flaring. And for the moment, her well laid plan to seduce Beta and get him to turn on Alpha was forgotten. Not only did this asshole just claim her like she was the last peanut butter protein bar, he took her fucking kill. She'd been waiting for days to stick her knife in that asshole. And his asshole friend.

"I didn't need yer damn help!," Harley cursed, brandishing the knife in her hand. "I had it!" She looked down at her blood splattered body in irritation. "And ya got blood all over my fuckin' boots."

"Get your stuff," Beta ordered, pointing towards Harley's backpack and rolled up sleeping bag. "You're coming with me."

"Like hell!," Harley huffed, flipping her middle finger up at the man, stepping forward so she could shove the obscene gesture right into his stupid masked up face.

Beta tucked his knife away. His motions were slow and deliberate at first. Harley wasn't expecting it when his arm shot out quick as a snake, seizing her wrist and snatching her knife away from her. Beta tucked the weapon into his belt, keeping a firm grip on Harley despite her attempts to dislodge him. She tossed her body weight into him. But it was like tossing herself against a brick wall. Beta didn't even budge one inch. Leaning forward, he grabbed her by the legs and lifted her off the ground. Harley very quickly found herself tossed over the man's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He kept her in place with one hand, reaching down with the other and scoping her things up off the ground.

"Put me down," Harley demanded, kicking her legs and beating on his back with her fists. Beta ignored her thrashing protests and continued on his way. Harley wasn't scared of the stinky rapists that came after her a moment before. But she actually was getting a little nervous about what this mute giant was about to do to her. Even Negan wouldn't be able to get her out of this.

Beta dropped Harley's things on the ground next to a large worn out sleeping bag. Realizing that resisting his grip was only wasting energy, Harley stopped trying to escape after the first few swings. But she was still surprised when the man lowered her gently onto the ground near where he dropped her bag, suddenly treating her like she was something fragile and precious.

"From now on, you sleep here," he announced, pointing to the spot where she was currently sitting. Harley glanced around, immediately realizing that the big man meant for her to sleep next to him. When he lowered himself down onto his ratty bag, Harley braced herself. She assumed his intent was not to save her from being raped, but simply to claim her body for himself. But instead, Beta laid down next to her and tucked his hands under his head. He made no attempt to touch her or molest her in any way. In fact, he was basically ignoring her as she sat there staring at him with her mouth hanging half open in shock.

"I want my knife back!," Harley grumbled. She watched as Beta's body shook with silent laughter. He pulled her weapon from his belt, holding it out for her to take. Once it was back in her possession, he spoke to her again.

"There. Now shut up and go to sleep," he ordered.

Harley let out one more grunt of indignation before she turned and started spreading out her sleeping bag. She pulled out her MP3 player, sticking her earbuds into her ears as she started scanning through her music. Since the jolly green freakshow was obviously watching out for her, she figured she might as well take advantage of not having to listen for the sounds of approaching rapists. Harley flopped onto her back, scanning through her playlists and looking for the one she knew was full of her mom's sad country music. That was good music for putting her to sleep. She hadn't closed her eyes yet when she felt Beta thump her softly with the back of his hand. Once he had her attention, he gestured to the headphone cord and held his hand out. Harley chuckled, wondering if this big weirdo really just killed someone and carried her off like a total fucking caveman because he wanted to hang out and listen to music together. It certainly seemed that way. Harley pulled the bud from the ear that was facing away from him, handing it over. The cord was only so long, making it so they both had to scoot closer together so that it would reach his ear.

With all the shifting around, Harley bumped the play button on her small device. She cringed as the sound of her own voice began to flow through the wires. While she loved to sing and perform, she hated the sound of her own voice being played back to her. She never sounded the way she imagined in her mind. Her voice was higher pitched and sweeter sounding. Like it belonged to someone else. Aiden was the one that wanted to record their original songs. Harley hated the idea and only participated because Beth talked her into it. Grabbing the MP3, Harley attempted to quickly change the song. But Beta closed his hand down over the device before she could switch the music.

"I've never heard this song before," he said, his voice coming out in his usual low gravely monotone. "Who is this?" Harley let out a heavy sigh. The last thing she wanted to do was play her garbage music for someone as talented and well versed as him.

"It's no one," she lied. "It's just music that was already loaded on this thing when I found it." He cocked his head slightly to the side, closing his eyes as he concentrated on the music. When he opened them, Harley saw a trace of a smile on his face.

"It's you," he whispered. Harley rolled her eyes, feeling the heat rising up her neck as her cheeks flushed pink. "Is that you on the guitar too? Or are you just singing?"

"It's me on the guitar," she grumbled, letting out another heavy breath as Beta pulled the MP3 player away from her and started the song over. Of all the things that had to accidentally play, she found this song exponentially more embarrassing than the rest. Harley composed the music. But her sister Wren wrote the lyrics. Harley made and played the song for Wren and Carl when they got married. It was her wedding present to them. She didn't consider it to be one of her better songs. Not only was it sappy, but there were a lot of questionable half rhymes and extra words that didn't exactly fit with the rhythm of the song. Harley cringed a little as she heard the music flowing in through the small bud in her ear.

…maybe if we are surrounded in beauty

Someday we will become what we see

'Cause anyone can start a conflict

It's harder yet to disregard it

I'd rather see the world from another angle

We are everyday angels

Be careful with me 'cause I'd like to stay that way…

"Is there more of your music on here?," Beta asked, pausing the music once the song stopped. Harley fought the urge to snatch her music player back out of his giant hands. Having this man listen to her singing made her feel exposed in a way she didn't like. Harley had no intention of letting this psycho killer actually get to know her, let alone critique her musical abilities. Harley took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her nose. She reminded herself that she was going to kill this asshole real soon anyway. So it didn't matter if Beta listened to her music or what he thought of it. But that didn't mean she had to listen to it along with him. Harley pulled the earbud from her ear and handed it over to him.

"All the music listed under Blue River Band is mine," she admitted.

With that, Harley turned her back to him and tucked her arm under her head. With her focus on the fact that the lead singer from Half Moon was currently listening to her home recorded music, Harley momentarily lost her focus on her surroundings. But she regained it once she turned onto her side and prepared to get whatever little bits of sleep she could in this filthy place. Her eyes focused on a pair of boots a few feet from her backpack. Harley pretended she didn't see Alpha standing there. The woman was probably just passing by, intending to get some sleep herself when she saw them lying together.

Because she'd scooted over to share her headphones, Harley was lying so close to Beta that her back was still brushing against his side even when she rolled slightly away from him. And from the stiff pose of Alpha's body, Harley guessed that bringing a woman back to his sleeping area was not a common practice for the giant next to her. Since she was standing there staring at them, Harley could tell the woman was not only shocked but also didn't approve of what was going on. She might not be his wife, but Harley guessed that Alpha still didn't want another woman encroaching on her territory. Especially one that was younger and more attractive than her. Crazy or not, no woman would like that. Since Alpha was still standing there staring at them, Harley figured she might as well push her luck and see if she could make the crazy bitch more jealous than she probably already was.

Biting back her smirk, Harley shifted her body so that she was intentionally nestled up against the man beside her. The back of her head bumped his arm and Beta adjusted it, tucking his arm under her head so she could use it as a pillow. Since it was now clearly obvious that he didn't mind her snuggling up to him, Harley rolled towards the man. She hiked one of her long legs over his thigh and moved so her head was resting on his broad chest. Harley had to bite back another satisfied grin when he wrapped his arm around her, holding her close and stroking his hand down over her hair. He didn't smell as bad as she expected for someone that wore another person's face as a hat. So when Alpha finally stormed off, Harley stayed where she was and let his sound of his slow even breathing lull her to sleep.