Red River Blue
Chapter 30
Rick was having the best sleep he could remember having in years when he was abruptly woken by the sound of loud angry voices coming from outside the open bedroom window. Harley groaned in protest, rolling away from him and scrubbing her face with her hands.
"What's happening," she grumbled. Rick was already out of bed, yanking his boxers up as he leaned forward towards the window to get a better view. Since a few people were gathered on the sidewalk watching, Rick knew there was no real danger. But from the sounds of it, there was definitely a fight going on. He could hear a lot of cursing, which meant Merle was involved. No surprise there.
"I think yer dads having a go at Negan," Rick said. Harley groaned louder as she tossed the covers off and climbed from her bed. She cursed and grumbled under her breath as she pulled her clothes on, leaving her feet bare as she rushed down the hall. Rick followed after her, laughing when he heard her thunder down the steps, her feet pounding against the stairs like rapid gun fire.
The front door was hanging open. Rick headed through, taking up position next to Harley on the front porch. Like he guessed, Merle and Negan were mixing it up in the front yard, wrestling and swinging at each other. It wasn't hard to deduce what caused the fight. Merle arrived home from Hilltop to find Negan just chilling in his kitchen or on his couch and probably just went postal. The people on the sidewalk looked like they weren't sure what to do about the situation. Since the only man among them was Eugene, it was likely that they were just afraid to intervene. River and Carol were off to the side, trying to stop Daryl from involving himself in the mess. Judith and Monroe were yelling for the men to stop fighting. Axel and Sam were cheering Merle on, laughing at what Rick guessed was some quality entertainment to them. But the funniest reaction to the fight was Lydia's. She was standing next to Sam, looking more bored than concerned, like she saw this sort of fighting on the daily and didn't know what the excitement was about.
"I'll get my fuckin' dad," Harley cursed. "...You get Negan." Rick nodded, heading down off the porch with her. She clapped her hands together, like she was breaking up a fight between two rutting goats. "That's enough!," she hollered. "Break it up!"
Merle was on top of Negan. So Harley grabbed him first, wrestling him into a headlock and pulling him backwards. Since they were locked into each other, Merle lifted Negan off the ground slightly. Rick moved in, pushing them apart and putting his weight down on top of Negan to keep the larger man on the ground. Seeing that Harley might be about to get hit, Daryl moved in and started helping her with his brother.
"Just stop man," Daryl grumbled. "Before someone gets hurt." Merle stopped trying to lurch forward, his eyes flicking back and forth between his brother and Negan.
"Ya wouldn't be tellin' me ta stop if ya knew he tried ta fuck yer daughter," Merle announced as loudly as possible. Daryl stopped, his back going rigid as he turned around. He glanced at Carol first, the look on her face immediately confirming that what Merle said was true. Daryl felt a surge of irritation at his wife. She shouldn't be keeping secrets from him. Especially secrets like that. But this minor aggravation was nothing compared to the all out rage he was feeling towards the saviors former leader. Behind him, Merle was watching the situation unfold with a satisfied smirk on his face.
"You touched my daughter?," Daryl asked, pointing his finger at Negan. His words came out sounding more like an accusation than a question. And to Negan's credit, he seemed to be actually trying to help diffuse the problem for once in his life. He was back on his feet with his hands in the air, palms facing out.
"Hey man, that wasn't my fault," Negan insisted. He took another look at Daryl, his face twisting up into a grin before he added. "...that little tramp was asking for it."
Rick cursed under his breath, knowing that he was still between Daryl and the object of his rage. While the younger of the two Dixon brothers had a much longer fuse, once Daryl's was lit it was almost impossible to extinguish. Rick put his hands out, barely even succeeding in slowing the heavier man down before he was knocked to the ground. Daryl locked into Negan and they both fell down on top of Rick, grabbing and swinging at each other. Rick was hoping Harley might step in and help him before he was crushed to death by the two heavier men. But when he lifted his arm away from his face long enough to look, he could see that she and Merle were having a fight of their own. They weren't trading blows. Not yet. But they were screaming and pushing at each other. Monroe was weeping and Axel had his arms around her, not finding the fight so funny anymore now that his favorite friend was upset.
River pushed between her husband and their oldest daughter. Harley backed up. But then River and Merle started fighting, which seemed to be a slight improvement since at least they weren't likely to start trading blows. Judith ran off down the street when the second fight started. And now she was running back towards them with Tyreese in tow. Having been ousted from his bed by the youngest Grimes, he was only wearing a pair of basketball shorts. Tyreese shook his head before he stepped forward, physically lifting Daryl off the ground and bear hugging the man against his chest as he backed them both away.
The loud crack of a gunshot startled most of them, finally bringing a moment's pause to the chaos. Beth was standing on the porch steps, the recently fired handgun in grip as she looked at everyone involved in the fight with disapproval in her wide blue eyes.
"Hey! Some of us are trying to sleep!," she announced.
"That motherfucker raped my wife!," Merle hollered, pointing at Negan. Beth glanced at River, trying to determine if something more recent had happened, or if Merle was still screaming about the same ass bullshit he'd been throwing a fit about for the last seven years. Since River was rolling her eyes so far back in her head that Beth was sure she could see her own brain, she guessed she knew the answer to that. And Beth was quite sure River had asked her husband to stop bringing that shit up at least a hundred times since it happened.
"You can't rape the willing," Negan spit back, laughing at Merle when the man surged forward again only to be pushed back by his wife and daughter.
"Enough!," Carol said, stepping between the two men. Since she was much shorter than both of them, she was only partially blocking their view of each other. "I've had it with this! You two wanna fight then fight. No weapons and no more childish ass wrestling. Just stand here and trade 'em until you've had enough or someone taps out."
Carol moved out from between the two men, offering Daryl a hand and helping him up off the ground. Once Daryl was up, he helped Tyreese up. The poor man was still half naked. And there was now a large green grass stain on the ass of his shorts. The promise of watching his brother trade blows with Negan was enough to hold Daryl in place. At least for now.
People backed up slightly, forming a loose circle around the two men. The gunshot brought most of the other residents of Alexandria out onto their porches, though some of the more curious were venturing closer for a better look. Merle struck first, moving in and landing a hard punch to Negan's face that knocked him back a few steps. He recovered quickly, moving back towards Merle and punching him straight in the mouth. Merle's lips smashed against his teeth, sending blood running down over his chin. Monroe took one look at the blood and started screaming. Before Harley could grab her daughter, the girl surged forward. Darting between the two men Monroe cocked her fist little fist back and punched Negan as hard as she could directly in his crotch. He let out a grunt, his hands moving to protect his dick as he dropped to his knees in the grass.
"Don't you touch my poppa," Monroe squawked, giving him another hard kick with the toe of her pink cowboy boot before she turned and wrapped her arms around Merle.
Merle crouched down, hugging his granddaughter before he lifted her off the ground. Monroe clung to him like a baby koala, her arms locking around his neck in a vice grip. Merle's mouth was filling up with blood. And he spit a large hocking wad of it in Negan's general direction before turning and carrying Monroe into the house. Beth moved to the side of the steps, allowing him room to pass through. She left Luke in bed when she rushed outside with her gun. And that was the last place she'd seen him. When Beth turned around, intending to head back into the house herself, she began to laugh. Luke was on the porch. And instead of being shocked and horrified by the violent scene he'd just witnessed, he was just standing there in his shorts casually eating from a jar of homemade applesauce like he didn't have a care in the world. He took one more bite before setting the jar on the porch railing so he could wrap his arms around Beth.
"Your friends are wild," he teased. Beth giggled, hugging him tight before she tiptoed up to kiss his cheek.
"They really are," Beth agreed with another laugh. "You want breakfast or you wanna go back to bed?," she asked, eyeing his half finished jar of applesauce.
"How about we make breakfast and then go back to bed," Luke suggested, hugging Beth against his chest. She was so petite compared to him that he could rest his chin on the top of her head.
"That sounds perfect," Beth told him with a soft humming sigh. She held onto him for just another moment before she released her grip so they could head inside together.