Red River Blue
Chapter 34
"Is it safe to have only women going on this trip?" Aiden asked, adjusting his eyepatch and glancing at Rosita and the two babies in her arms with great concern. She raised her eyebrow, giving him the look that he knew by now meant he was about to get his ass kicked. Then she adjusted her hold, hiking the larger of the two babies higher up onto her hip.
Aiden sighed. He really didn't mean what he said to come out sounding misogynistic. All the women were capable fighters. Rosita was better hand to hand than he was. And Harley was going, which counted the same as two men. Aiden was just afraid that if another group saw that a bunch of women were traveling together, they might be more likely to attack. He knew Rick agreed with him. Rick just wasn't going to say so because he didn't want Harley's cowboy boot jammed directly up his ass.
"We'll be fine," Frankie assured him, trying to hide her amusement with the situation. "...and besides, big Ty and Eugen-ious are going." Neither one of them was worth shit in a fight but last she checked, they were still men. And Henry was technically going too. He still counted as a guy even if he and Mika were riding ahead to check the route and inform Ezekiel that the rest of the group would be there shortly.
Harley rode her horse back in through the open gate, shaking the walker gore off her large machete. She and Beth rode out first, to kill the walkers that tended to bunch up around the entrance to town. Tucking the weapon away, Harley signaled to her mother that she was ready to go. River was driving the first wagon. Carol was sitting on the other side of the bench from her with her longbow, ready to go. Axel was squeezed in between them, looking miserable. He wanted to stay behind with his dad and the rest of the guys, but Merle told him no fucking way after the stunt he just pulled at Hilltop. Harley maneuvered her horse as close to the wagon as she could get it, offering her hand to the boy. Axel was quick to leap up, letting his sister pull him onto her horse in front of her.
"Can I ride too"," Monroe asked. Harley shook her head, reminding her daughter that she needed to stay in the wagon and help Rosita with the babies. Monroe nodded, knowing better than to argue with her mother when she was in attack mode.
River blew Merle a kiss before she cracked the reins, signaling for her horses to move. Tyrese was in the second wagon, which was loaded up with all their baking supplies, everyone's camping gear, and some of the more valuable items that they intended to use in trade between the communities. The wagon River was guiding was taken from a science and industry museum and reinforced. The second was an old van that had been gutted and reconfigured so it could be pulled by their horses. In a nearby garage, there were a few more vehicles in various stages of deconstruction. Some were being converted into horse drawn wagons. And a few others were part of one of Eugene's many projects. He was working on trying to convert the engines over to run on something besides gasoline.
The ride to the Kingdom took about three hours with the fully loaded wagons. They made it through the first two before there was a problem.
"Walkers!," Harley warned. "...up ahead!"
River shaded her eyes with her hands, trying to see how many of the dead were slowly shuffling out of the woods. She briefly considered trying to ride through before the small herd could begin to gather in the middle of the road. But it looked like there were too many for that. And she was nervous that the second wagon might be mobbed by them if she tried. Harley and Beth started taking down walkers with their bows, burying arrow after arrow into their rotted heads.
Eugene grabbed the walkie, radioing Mika and Henry for help. There were not just walkers ahead of them now, the dead were coming out of the woods on either side of the wagons. River grabbed her rifle and started picking them off. Axel was back on the driver's bench with her. And the boy grabbed the small handgun he favored, aiming for the walkers that were getting closest to the wagon. Tyreese wasn't a good shot. But his large size gave him a distinct advantage fighting the dead hand to hand. When River saw him shove the wagon reins at Eugene and hopped down, she hollered out a warning.
"Watch their hands! There could be skin jobs mixed in with the dead."
Rosita flipped open the large wooden trunk that was full of blankets and sleeping bags. Tossing the bedding out, she placed both babies carefully inside and closed the lid. The box wasn't air tight. But it would keep them from being grabbed or scratched by the dead. Then she jumped down from the wagon and began to fight the dead. Harley spun when she heard her daughter scream. Riding hard and fast, she decapitated the monster that was lurching over the side of the wagon.
"Get the guns out and start using them," Harley hollered at the girls. Guns were usually a last resort. Because they were noisy and would undoubtedly alert more of the dead to their location. But since River and Axel were already shooting, there was no point in holding back now. "Lydia!," Harley ordered. "...grab that spear and stick the ones that are getting close to the wagon." The girl seemed weirdly less afraid of the dead than everyone else. But she also seemed unsure of what she ought to be doing to help. Harley was relieved when the young woman hurried to follow her instructions.
There were still enough walkers coming at them to make River nervous. But they were at least thinning the herd. She was surprised how good Connie and Kelly were with just their slingshots. River was aiming at one of the fresher looking walkers as it stumbled out of the woods when she felt the scratching tug on her pant leg. One of the dead had pushed in on her other side and was grabbing at her. She reached for her knife. But before she could plunge it into the monster's skull, the walker was decapitated in front of her. She looked up to see a large group of strangers on horseback tearing through the rest of the herd. Before long, the walkers were just rotting bodies on the roadside.
"Who the hell are you?," River asked, directing her question towards the man in the cowboy hat that helped her with the walker that was grabbing at her leg. She giggled when the man tipped his hat at her, maneuvering his horse close enough to the wagon that he could offer her his hand. River gave the man one more suspicious glance before she shrugged and leaned over to put her hand in his. Instead of shaking it, the man lifted it, pressing a soft kiss to the back of her palm. River giggled at the man as she snatched her hand back.
"We're the Highwaymen, at your service m'am," he said, giving River a friendly smile. "We're here to escort you safely to the fair."