Red River Blue
Chapter 20
"How are we gonna play this?," Aiden asked, his hands up to spot Harley as she swung herself down from the tree she climbed. She landed softly on her feet, brushing her hands off onto her thighs.
She climbed up high enough that she was able to spot the problem. The former saviors downed a tree in the road. When whoever had the misfortune of being forced to stop and clear it out of their path, they would jump out and hold them up. The ambush was an obvious one. The only credit Harley would give them was that they at least picked a good spot. The downed tree was around a bend in the road so the people traveling through wouldn't see the obstruction until it was too late.
"We can take the wagon another mile or two before they'll see us. Let's find a spot to park it and fan out, come around them from behind…," Harley suggested. Aiden nodded his approval and climbed back up into the wagon. He kept the horses moving until he spotted an area off to the side of the road where there was enough room to pull the wagon in and get it turned around. Being slightly off the road would at least give the wagon some cover. Everyone climbed down and tied their horses off nearby. Tyreese, Eugene, and Luke were staying in the wagon with the baby. Connie and her sister were going to climb up a tree nearby with their slingshots to make sure the dead didn't get close enough to spook the horses.
"I can help," Henry insisted, glancing at the seven year old boy that was clearly being taken along for this ambush while he was being told to sit in the wagon and wait. He squirmed under Harley and Aiden's scrutinizing stares.
"You ever killed anyone before?," Aiden asked. Henry gripped his fighting stick and nodded. He did kill someone once. Back during the war with the saviors. He killed the Savior lieutenant that was responsible for getting his older brother killed. But he hadn't seen much action since then, other than a few walkers. Ezekiel said he was too young to do patrol duty or join the Kingdom's soldiers. But he suspected the man was just trying to shield him from the horror of the new world. Something Ezekiel believed he'd already seen enough of in his young life.
"I know how to fight," Henry added. "Morgan taught me." Henry could tell his words had the desired effect. Because instead of pointing him towards the wagon, the little band of assassins were suddenly looking at him with new respect. Harley nodded, asking Tyreese to toss her an extra handgun from the case in the wagon.
"Yer with me," she instructed, handing Henry the gun and an extra clip. He nodded, rather excited to be part of the group that included the saviors former leader, a man he knew only by reputation before now. And he was going to get to watch Harley, who had a reputation of her own for being intense and ruthless, in action. Aiden went over the plan one more time. He was taking Beth and Carl with him, to circle around on the other side of the road. If Negan's information was accurate, there were less than a dozen in the group that was waiting to ambush them. They could take them easily with the element of surprise.
"Which group are you going with?," Henry asked, directing his question to Mika. She giggled, tossing her long blonde hair behind her shoulders.
"I'm riding down the middle of the road on my horse," she explained. Henry's eyes widened as he realized what her role in the plan was. She giggled again. "If ya wanna catch a big fish, ya need the right bait," she added, imitating her father's voice as she repeated a phrase the man obviously had a habit of saying.
"Give us about a half hour to get in position," Harley told her. Mika nodded.
"What's the go signal?," she asked. They all exchanged glances. Normally, they would use a long range walkie to communicate. But they didn't have a set with them. It was Negan that began to whistle. Carl's face lit up into a wicked grin and he began to whistle along with the man. Before long there was an eerie chorus breaking the silence of the forest.
"Let them break cover first. When the first one hits the pavement, fire on the ones that stayed back. When they're dead, start whistling…," Negan said. He looked around, gauging how his input was being received. Aiden was still looking at him like he wanted to punch his first straight down his throat. But even he wasn't willing to object to what sounded like a solid plan. And the whistling was a nice touch. All the saviors knew what it meant. They might surrender without a fight the moment they heard it.
Henry watched where he was walking, following slightly behind Negan and trying to step where the taller man was stepping. His head snapped to the right when he heard the low growl of a walker. Using his stick, Henry smashed it's half rotted head in with one hard swing. This earned him nods of approval from his companions. They walked a little further when Henry heard a strange mewling noise. He wasn't sure where it was coming from at first. But then he saw Harley's little brother swing his arm behind his back, swatting at the small backpack on his back.
"The hell?," Harley cursed. She snatched the boy by the strap of his backpack, yanking the zipper open. Reaching inside the bag, she pulled out a tiny fluff of a kitten. "Axel!," she hissed, "...why is there a goddamn cat in yer bag?"
"Dad said I could keep it," he claimed, though since the kitten was hidden in his bag, Henry had his doubts about the truthfulness of the boy's statement.
"Why the fuck would ya bring it with us?," Harley asked. "We're tryin' ta get the jump on these people and yer walkin' around with a damn meowing ass cat on ya."
"I forgot it was in my bag!," Axel insisted. Harley rolled her eyes at him and took a few steps away, clearly intending to toss the kitten away into a bush. Henry watched as her brother grabbed her, scratching up her arm in his attempt to snatch his kitten back. "Gimme my cat back," he demanded, his voice rising. Henry shifted his body nervously. Not only was there a risk of them being heard by the people they were trying to surprise. If the boy got any louder, he was going to attract more than the living.
"Just give it here," Negan huffed, taking the cat from Harley's hand and holding the tiny animal close to his chest. "Both of you shut the fuck up," he added, giving Harley and her pint sized mercenary of a brother a warning glance. Tucking his gun away momentarily, Negan unbuttoned his shirt pocket and gently tucked the kitten away inside it, fastening the button to keep it from climbing out. It made one more tiny mewl, poking its head out one side of the pocket flap. Then it ducked back inside, content for the moment to at least be where it could feel the man's body heat instead of being tossed around inside a backpack.
"Let's go," Harley said, keeping her brother close to her as she started off again in the direction of the ambush.
The walk through the woods felt like it took forever but also like it was over in an instant. Harley signaled with her hand when she spotted the small group of people hidden in the trees by the edge of the road. They stopped, slowly fanning out behind them. Henry copied the actions of his group, taking up position behind a tree and getting a good grip on his gun. The adrenaline was rising inside him as he waited, and he had to force himself to take slow even breaths.
It wasn't long before Henry could hear the sound of hooves on the pavement. And he felt a hard pit of fear in his belly for Mika, who was completely exposed out on the road. The man Henry had his gun trained on elbowed the man next to him, gesturing towards the road. There were six of them altogether. Not counting the ones that were hiding on the other side of the road. But they didn't seem to be in agreement about what to do. One man wanted to let Mika pass. He was convinced a larger group must be behind her and he didn't want to blow their chances of a bigger score. Two of the men wanted to grab her for reasons other than robbery. But one of the men spoke up, settling the brief debate.
"I know that little bitch," he cursed. "Her mother's the leader of Alexandria. She's worth more than the next caravan." The man that wanted to let her pass spoke up again, putting in his objection to this sudden kidnapping plan. But he was quickly overruled by his companions. As soon as Mika swung down off her horse to lead it over the obstruction in the road, three of the men stood up and raised their guns as they stepped out of the thicket of trees they were using to conceal themselves. They traversed the slight incline that led down to the road. And Henry could see that there were two more men coming at Mika from the other side of the road. They fanned out slightly, trying to prevent her from swinging back up onto her horse and riding back the way she came. Henry stared down the barrel of his gun, waiting for what felt like a thousand lifetimes for one of them to step out onto the pavement.
The men that were closing in on Mika stopped, looking back with concern at the amount of gunfire they just heard behind them. The members of their group that stayed behind to watch their backs were already dead. Mika notched an arrow in her bow, pointing it at the man that was closest to her. And then she began to whistle.
There were five men left alive. And all of their eyes widened when they heard the answering whistles coming from the woods around them. One man dropped his gun immediately, dropping to his knees and putting his hands on his head.
"Drop your weapons by the time I count to three or you're all dead," Mika ordered.
"One!" Mika fired an arrow into the man that was closest to her, shooting him dead center in the chest and knocking him onto his back on the pavement. Pulling another arrow from the sheath on her back, she notched it and pointed it at the next man.
"Two!" The man dropped his gun, kicking it towards her and lowering himself to his knees.
"Three!"
The two men still on their feet were gunned down instantly, shot at by several different guns at the same time. Mika kept her arrow strung, pointing it at the men that surrendered while the rest of her group emerged from the woods.
"I'm sorry!," one of the men cried as Harley moved forward and checked him for weapons. When she was sure he was clear, she made him move over and kneel down next to the other man that surrendered with him.
"We weren't gonna hurt you," he insisted. "We just needed food and supplies." The man looked around at his captors, realizing that this wasn't going to go well for him. The more people he saw coming out of the woods, the worse his chances were for survival. These weren't just Alexandria people, which was bad enough. This was half their fucking council. And not the good half. The only person crazier than the eyepatch guy was apocalypse barbie. That bitch had a reputation a mile long. They were lucky they weren't already strung up in the nearest tree.
"You know the rules," Aiden said, crouching down in front of the two men. "After the war, all the saviors were given a choice to join a community or leave the area. You chose to stay and make trouble. We aren't from fuckin' Hilltop. We don't give warnings."
"Why didn't you just shoot us from the woods then man?," the man whined. He was still clearly holding out some hope that surrendering was going to buy him some form of mercy. But Harley was already squaring up behind him with her machete out.
"We just didn't want to waste the bullets," she explained, bringing the sharpened edge of her blade down into the meat of his neck. As blood spurted from his artery, Carl grabbed the other man by the hair, dragging a blade across his throat. Henry watched with mixed emotions as the two men bled out onto the pavement. But he was even more shocked by what was done with the bodies. After they were looted and everything of value was removed and piled up on the side of the road, several of the men's bodies were hoisted up and hung by their necks in a nearby tree. They were placed where they would be visible from the road.
"It's a warning," Mika explained. "To anyone else that gets the bright idea to hold up the roads in or out of Alexandria." Henry nodded. Though the act seemed gruesome, and was certainly not something Ezekiel would ever approve of, Henry could understand the purpose of it. And after he heard those men whispering about what they planned to do to Mika when they caught her, he didn't feel much sympathy for them.
The rest of the ride went much smoother. And thankfully without any further incidents. Henry watched with a smile as his traveling companions were greeted enthusiastically by their friends and loved ones. Harley swung her daughter around in her arms, covering her face with kisses. Carl lifted his sister up onto his back and wrapped his arms around his wife. And Aiden's girlfriend laughed herself nearly onto her ass when he told her he brought her back something special from Hilltop and then retrieved a whole baby from the back of the wagon. People gathered from far and wide to fawn over Alexandria's newest resident. As the group near the gates finally started to disperse, Henry was ready to follow Mika back to her house. But Carl thumped him gently in the arm.
"You don't wanna be alone at the house with her when her dad gets back," Carl warned, "...you better come stay with me instead."
Henry nodded. He never had much opportunity to spend time with Carl. But he heard a lot about the man from Michonne. Just from all the stories, Henry was already slightly in awe of him. And that was before Henry saw Carl's wife. She was gorgeous with a friendly smile and curves for days. And the way she was clinging to Carl's arm while she told him how much she missed him was the way every guy hoped to be greeted by his sweetheart. Especially since he was only gone a little longer than a day.
"How long are you gonna stay?," Wren asked, turning her pretty smile on Henry. "I hope it's long enough that we can show you around town. Maybe we could even have a big picnic or a pig roast…" Carl chuckled and tucked her back into his side. Wren was Alexandria's unofficial party planner and tour guide. There was nothing she liked better than visitors. Her smile was so infectious, Henry couldn't help but smile back.
"I'm not sure how long I'll be here," he admitted. "... but I'd like to stay as long as I can."