Red River Blue
Chapter 15
"Yer sure this is where you found me?," Harley asked. Tyreese didn't look sure. He looked like he always looked. Like every tree looked the same to him and if they turned him around three times he wouldn't even be able to find his way back to Hilltop from here. But the woman with him looked more confident. Connie nodded and pointed towards the tree.
Harley backed up and circled the tree, looking for any sign of her own footprints or those of her cousin and Connie's sister. The ground around them was hard packed dirt. And there wasn't a lot of vegetation. Not much opportunity for someone to leave a trail. But when Mika left, she was tracking where Harley came from, trying to find Eugene. So Harley knew if she could retrace her own steps, she had a chance of finding the girl. She moved around, widening her circle slowly, the way her uncle taught her, until she found something. There was the body of a dead walker slumped next to a tree. It had been killed with an arrow. So Harley knew that was the direction she needed to take. When they hit a small shallow creek, she knew they were going the right way. Because Harley distinctly remembered drinking from it without stopping to boil or sterilize the water. Something she hated doing. Because while the rest of her family never seemed to be affected by the disgusting practice, it usually gave Harley diarrhea.
Harley knelt down, scooping up a handful of cold water and splashing her face with it. Then she lifted another scoop and rubbed her damp hands over the back of her neck. She felt a cold cloth drape across the back of her neck as she leaned down. And she glanced up to see Rick had wet his extra handkerchief with cold water and was offering it to her. She fought the urge to roll her eyes at him. Partly because he was just being nice. And partly because she wanted the hanky and the cold cloth felt good against her hot skin.
"We've got about four more hours of good light left," he said. Harley nodded, glancing towards Tyreese and Connie.
"Do ya think you can find yer own way back ta Hilltop from here?," Harley asked the big man. He looked back at her, his confusion showing plainly on his face.
"Aren't you going back with us?," he asked. Harley shook her head.
"I'm gonna keep going, then tree it fer the night," she explained. Connie had her small pad of paper out, scribbling a quick note.
My sister is missing. I'm going with you.
Harley nodded. Connie was fast and quiet. She didn't really mind having the woman along. But she wished Tyreese would go back. She loved him when they were home at Alexandria. He was the sweetest person ever. But Harley hated being in the woods with him. He stomped when he walked. He talked too much. And he asked too many questions.
"Maybe you should take Tyreese back," Harley suggested, looking at Rick. "Connie can stay with me."
"You shouldn't even be out here," Rick hissed, "You should be in bed. There's no way I'm leavin' ya out here by yerself." Harley rolled her eyes. "We should all go back and pick this up again tomorrow." It was Rick's opinion that they shouldn't' even be out here. Not with another potentially hostile group in the area. He wanted to wait and see what the girl Merle and Glenn brought back had to say. But Harley was going to take off with or without his approval. So he went with her. At least this way, he could keep an eye on her.
Harley crouched down, rewetting the hanky Rick put around her neck. Once it was soaked through, she tossed it forcefully into his face and took off across the stream to the other side. Connie was quick to scurry after her. Leaving Tyreese and Rick staring after them.
"I think you're finally wearing her down," Tyreese observed with a deep chuckle. "Seems like she's really into you." Rick snorted out a laugh before he could help himself.
"Let's get moving before they get too far ahead," he suggested. Tyreese nodded and they hurried across the small waterway.
By the time it started to get dark out, they found the barn where Harley stashed Eugene. But there was still no trace of Mika or Kelly. And with the entire place trampled by the herd of walkers, it was going to be near impossible to figure out which way they went.
The night wasn't cold enough to justify the risk of making a fire. The small group passed around a bag of jerky and dried fruit. There was a small treehouse nearby that looked secure enough to hold them for the night. But the space was small for four grown adults. Rick watched as Harley climbed up high into the next tree over, feeling his stomach bottom out a few times as he watched her swing around the trunk and hop from branch to branch. When she climbed back down, she had a thick nylon rope in her hands. He knew she had some sort of tent pulley system that she rigged up to use when she went on overnight hunting trips. But since she always went with either her dad or her uncle, Rick never saw the device in action. She pulled out a tightly rolled hammock style tent. The nylon rope attached to the top. She clipped her backpack to the bottom, where she could reach it and her weapons from inside the tent. Then she climbed inside and started cranking herself slowly up into the tree. She got the tent about waist high before Rick jumped up and headed in her direction.
"Got room in there for one more?," he asked. Harley was quick to reply that she in fact did not have room as she continued to pull her rope through the crank.
"Come on," Rick cajoled. "There's no room in that tiny ass treehouse. Especially with Tyreese in there."
"Guess ya shoulda taken him back to Hilltop when I said," Harley spit back. But despite her sassy retort, she paused her furious rope pulling and glanced at him. Then she groaned. "Take yer fuckin' boots off. And clip yer bag right there." She pointed to an extra loop near the base of the tent. Rick kicked out of his boots, hiding them in a nearby bush. Then he climbed into the tent with Harley before she could change her mind. Harley cranked the tent up high enough that she knew they were well out of reach of the dead or anyone else that might be passing by and called it good. She had done the tree tent thing with another person before. Her dad. Because Merle couldn't crank up his own tent with only one hand. But they rigged two hammock tents up together so there was a separate spot for each of them to sleep. That was not the tent she was using now. This one was meant for one person. Which meant there was nowhere for her and Rick to sit or lay except right on top of each other.
Rick laid down on his back and let her cuddle into his side. It seemed to be going better than he expected until he heard his stomach give off a loud warning grumble. If they were at home, he would have booked it for the bathroom. But there was literally nowhere for him to go. They were suspended high above the ground, zipped up in a hammock. There was nothing he could do except let it rip and hope it didn't stink too bad.
Just when Harley was starting to think maybe sharing her sleeping space wasn't so bad, Rick's stomach made a weird noise. And then he didn't just fart. He ripped literal ass in her tent. It sounded like he fucking shit himself. She squealed, thrashing her legs in an attempt to get away from him. But there was nowhere to go. The more she struggled, the closer to him she was getting. And he was laughing like he did that shit on purpose. When the smell hit her she really started hollering.
"Ohmyfuckingawd," she cursed, "...what the hell are ya doin' fartin' in my tent like that!"
Harley slung one knee over him and sat up the only way she could in the hammock tent. She straddled him and popped her head up, unzipping the flaps that would turn the top from waterproof into just a mosquito screen.
Tyreese looked up when the wild scrambling in the tent started. He tapped Connie, pointing up. She couldn't hear the noise. But she could see the tent swinging around as the two people inside moved their bodies. She scribbled out a note and handed it to Tyreese. He squinted to read it in the dying light. And when he finally made out what it said he started to laugh so hard that the treehouse was shaking almost as much as Harley's tent.
If the tent is rocking don't come knocking!