Red River Blue

Chapter 49

The cut on Mika's stomach was long and jagged. It bled so much that it soaked her shirt and the top of her pants. But once Carol got back and cleaned it out, Wren was relieved to see that it had looked a lot worse than it was. Wren held Mika's hand while Carol disinfected the cut and put a few stiches to hold the skin together while it healed. After the cut was bandaged up, the bleeding stopped.

There was a small meadow full of wildflowers near the cabin. Tyreese dug a narrow hole. He wrapped Lizzie's body in the bloody quilt that Judith had been playing on only a short time before. His emotions were all over the place but Tyreese managed to keep control over them while he dug the grave. The vigorous physical activity helped. Being physical had always been something that he enjoyed. It allowed him to clear his mind of everything that was bothering him and just focus on the task at hand. But when he placed Lizzie's body down in the small dug out patch of earth Tyreese fell to his knees and began to cry.

She looked so small down in the ground. Crazy and dangerous or not, she was nothing more than a child that should have had her whole life in front of her. He cried for Lizzie. For Sasha wherever she was. For his parents that hadn't even survived the first wave of the outbreak. But mostly he cried for Karen and the horrible violence that had been inflicted upon her.

"I'm sure she went quickly," Carol said. Her voice was soft and soothing and the hand she placed on his shoulder was a welcome comfort. Tyreese grabbed her smaller hand in his own and squeezed it.

"Thank you," he responded. "I only wish I could say the same for Karen." Tyreese looked up at Carol. Her facial expression didn't express the sadness and mouring he expected to see. Instead she looked nervous.

"You know something about that don't you?," he asked. Tyreese used all his self control to keep his tone even. If he scared Carol he knew the chances of her telling him anything were far less likely. "You know who killed her, don't you?," Tyreese asked again, his voice softer this time. Carol nodded her head and looked down at her feet. Tyreese waited a moment but when she still didn't speak he added his suspicion, "It was Daryl or his brother, wasn't it? Is that why you don't want to say? Because you're protecting them?" Tyreese had never had any personal problems with either man, but the Dixon brothers had always given him a bad vibe. The rumor was that they had both been involved in criminal activites in their old lives. So as far as Tyreese was concerned they just seemed like the most likely suspects to have committed a murder.

"No." Carol was quick to come to Daryl's defense. He would never hurt a woman. The same went for Merle as long as he was sober. And their mother had died in a house fire. So Carol had been certain they were off the list of suspects as to who killed Karen and set her on fire. The idea that Daryl might be blamed for something that she did was disturbing and upsetting.

"Who was it then," Tyreese coaxed. "Whoever it is I would never let them hurt you," he added just in case Carol was keeping silent because she was afraid of the person or persons.

"...I went down to check on them," Carol began. She was afraid of what Tyreese's reaction to her confession would be. But she also knew he wasn't going to be able to start letting go of his grief until he knew the truth. And it would be better for everyone if he heard it from her instead of finding out some other way.

"David was already dead. Karen was choking on her own blood. She was dying. There was blood coming out of her nose. Her eyes. I didn't want her to suffer. I burned the bodies to try and keep the flu from spreading. I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you."

The story was close to the truth. Karen would have died no matter what. But Carol had killed her to stop the spread of the sickness, not to ease her suffering. And while there was no doubt in her mind that Karen would have died no matter what, maybe she wasn't quite as far along in the progression of the disease as Carol had described. And River had helped her drag the bodies out and burn them. Carol left her involvement out of her story. Tyreese didn't need to know all of that. None of it would help to ease his pain.

Carol breathed out a long breath. She stayed still and fought the urge to grab her knife in case Tyreese reacted badly. Thus far his only reaction was the look of complete and total shock on his face. When he finally spoke Carol could hear the pain but also some relief in his voice.

"Why didn't you just tell me that before?," he asked.

"When you found out Karen was dead you attacked Rick," Carol reminded him, "I was afraid."

Tyreese nodded his head. He was still holding onto Carol's hand but she no longer had to fight the urge to yank away from him. Instead she reached down and cupped his face with her free hand. The large man leaned into her touch the way a child or a puppy might. Carol allowed him to pull her closer and rest the side of his face against her stomach. They held onto each other for a while, both of them grieving for the dead child lying only an arm's reach away as well as everyone else they had lost along the way.

TWD

They stayed at the cabin for an extra day to let Mika's stomach heal up. The place was relatively safe. Safe enough that they could have done as Tyreese suggested and stayed there much longer. There was running water and the small building could have easily been fortified to keep smaller herds out. But the ghostly image of what Lizzie had done was hanging in the air around the place. Everyone was eager to move on and leave the horror of what had happened behind them. Carol gave up her secret hopes that if she stayed in one place long enough Daryl would be able to find her as she rearranged Judith's diaper bag so all the formula they had would fit inside.

Wren put a double layer of gauze over Mika's stomach in the hopes that it would keep the dead from being able to smell the blood. Mika had been much quieter than usual since her sister passed. Wren guessed the girl was torn between being sad about her sister's death and feeling relieved to be rid of her tormentor. Having an older sister herself, Wren was more than well aware of the complications involved in sibling relationships. Harley had never hurt or abused her in the same way that Lizzie had done to Mika but she did have a problem with her anger. Wren could remember a few times when she wished she knew where her father was so she could go live with him and thus gain a break from listening to her sister fight with their mother.

With her superior sewing skills, Carol had improved the sling they were using to carry Judith. The little girl was fastened securely to Tyreese's back, her sleepy head resting between his shoulder blades and her little legs dangling down below her. They followed the tracks and looked for more of the signs they had seen before. The ones that offered Sanctuary for all. Wren kept a close eye on Mika, watching the injured girl to make sure she wasn't getting winded or pushing herself too hard.

Terminus was getting closer and closer. A few times they had even been able to spot the top of the tall building through the breaks in the tree line. Carol was carrying Judith in her arms while Tyreese lugged her heavy diaper bag along like it weighed next to nothing. Wren heard out the loud crunch of leaves and turned towards the noise to see a lone walker that had stumbled out onto the tracks behind them.

Carol started to hand Judith over to Tyreese so she could take care of the monster but Wren waved her off. She pushed Carl's hat back on her head to make sure the brim wouldn't fall forward and block her line of sight. Her fingers flexed around the handle of her knife. Killing the dead was getting easier. She no longer froze with fright at the sight of a walker coming at her. Wren wasn't tall like her sister. She like to kick the walker's knees out first to make it easier to stab them. But this one wasn't much taller than her. Wren raised her knife above her head and stabbed down directly into it's half rotted skull. The force of her blow sent Wren flopping down onto the tracks on top of the dead walker. She wrinkled up her nose at the rotten meat smell as she reached for Carl's hat. It had fallen off when she hit the ground. When she turned her head her eyes got wide. A whole herd of walkers was coming right at them.

"Walkers!," she hissed. Tyreese grabbed her, pulling her quickly to her feet. The same panic was written on all of their faces. One moment they had been fine. The next the dead were everywhere. Carol motioned for them to follow her into the woods. The only place to hide was behind a fallen tree. It wasn't a very good hiding place. Wren glanced nervously at Judith. She knew if the little girl started making noise they were all as good as dead. There were too many dead for them to fight. Mika was breathing hard and fast. Wren pulled the younger girl into her arms.

"Close your eyes," she whispered, "Don't look at them." Mika hugged her back, her fingers fisting into the material of the well worn denim jacket that Wren had found in the cabin and claimed for herself.

Just when Wren thought there was no hope left, loud popping sounds from somewhere not so far away drew the herd away from them. Her first thought was that the noise sounded like gunfire. But after listening more carefully she thought it might be fireworks. She had never thought of using fireworks to distract the walkers but it wasn't the worst idea she had ever heard.

Once the larger part of the herd passed them by, Carol signaled for them to move. They weren't heading towards any specific location, but only trying to put some distance between themselves and the herd. So Wren was surprised when a small cabin loomed up in front of them. Mika started towards it but before she got even a few steps Wren snagged her by the back of the shirt and pulled her back.

"I hear a car coming," Wren warned. Carol handed Judith back to Tyreese and gestured for him and Mika to duck down behind a bush. Wren had been right about what she heard. Not more than a few seconds later a car pulled up in front of the run down cabin. Only one young man got out. He appeared to be alone and had a large bag with him.

"Should we say something?," Tyreese whispered. Carol shook her head. She wanted to see what the man was doing first. Wren shifted her weight, leaning to one side so she could get a better view of the stranger. She had been right about the car and she had been right about the fireworks too. The man was unloading what looked like more of them out of his bag and setting them up in a row on the ground in front of the cabin. The walkie talkie on his hip chirped. The noise made Wren jump and she felt silly for being startled so easily.

Everything seemed to be on the up and up. Until the man started talking. What he said made Wren's arms prickle up with goosebumps under the thick demin of her jacket. She couldn't make out what was being said on the other end of the conversation but she could hear the man clearly.

"...the chick with the sword, she should have gone first... The guy with the crossbow... I want his leather vest after they bleed him out... Yeah, the one with the wings on it..."

Carol was behind the man with her gun to the back of his head before Wren knew what was happening. The girl scrambled to her own feet and hurried over, snatching the walkie out of the man's hand before he had a chance to alert whoever was on the other end.

The man attempted to start up some sort of negotiations. He invited them back to his camp. He said they would be safe there. Wren could feel the anger rising inside her. She kept replaying the man's words in her mind. I want his leather vest after they bleed him out. That man was talking about killing her uncle. And Michonne. They might have Carl. Her mother. Harley. If they had her Uncle Daryl they might have her dad too.

"Shut up!," Wren hollered at the man. He was a liar. Carol gave her a pointed glare. Wren needed to keep her voice down. They didn't know how many other people were around. Or how many of the dead.

"Hey," the man protested, "there's no reason for this to get ugly."

"We're friends with the chick with the sword and the guy with the crossbow," Carol informed him. The man turned back towards Wren just in time to see her balled up fist flying at his face. She punched him square in the nose. There was a sickening crunch when her knuckles met his face. Wren had never really punched anyone before. But Harley made sure she knew how to do it right. Fingers tightly clenched with her thumb wrapped around the second and third knuckle. Wren broke his nose, not her hand. It felt better than she thought it would. Once the man was on the ground, his hands laced over his bleeding nose, Wren pulled out her knife. Tyreese grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back before she could do any damage with it.

"Let go," Wren complained as she tried to twist out of the big man's grip. That man on the ground had threatened her family. He would hurt her and Mika too if he had the chance. Wren had enough of playing nice with people that wanted to kill her. This man deserved to die.

"Stop," Tyreese argued back, "We don't just go around killing people. That's not what we do."

"He's right," Carol told the girl. Tyreese was right but not for the reasons he thought. Carol glanced at him before she added, "We need to see what he knows first."