Red River Blue
Chapter 51
Harley bit back a smile when Judith rammed smack into her back the moment she stopped walking. Since Harley started staying with Rick at his house and in his tent, his daughter had taken to following her around like a tiny brown haired shadow. It was equally as adorable as it was annoying. And Harley found herself feeling quite a bit of sympathy for the girl. Mothering didn't come naturally to her. She did her best with Monroe. And she would die fighting before she let anything happen to the girl. But Harley was never able to provide the kind of gentle comforting sort of love that River always offered her. She couldn't make a bruised knee better with just a kiss. Harley just didn't have it in her. She figured poor little Judith must really be desperate for a mother figure if she was willing to latch onto her.
"When we get home from the fair," Harley offered, "...how'd ya like a fightin' lesson?" Judith's face lit up like the fourth of July. And she darted in, wrapping her arms around Harley's waist and hugging her so tight she could barely breathe.
"There's that lady with all the dogs!," Monroe exclaimed, tugging on the sleeve of Judith's shirt. Harley laughed as they tore off to go harass the poor woman, dragging Frankie's daughter Alice along with them. Alice was a few years older than Judith. Which put her at the awkward age where she wasn't really old enough to hang out with the adults yet but too old to still have interest in the same things as the younger girls. As they wandered around the fair, Harley noticed the girl's eyes lingering on a few of the older boys.
Harley laughed as the woman shooed the girls away from her dogs. They got a few pets in first at least, Harley thought as the girls came running back towards her. The girls still had fair tokens burning holes in their pockets. And they seemed determined to give themselves belly aches buying and eating all the snack foods in sight. This time they wanted snow cones with flavored syrup on top.
"Go ahead," Harley told them, "I can see the snow cone booth from here."
She didn't mind if the girls explored a little. They knew to stay in her line of vision. She would like to give them a little more freedom, but there were too many new people at the fair. More and more every year. And while there hadn't been an incident in a long time, Harley still erred on the side of caution when it came to the kids.
Olivia shouldered up next to her, offering her a sip of the iced coffee she bought. Harley took a sip, humming her enjoyment of the cold overly sweet beverage. The taste of it brought back a host of core memories. Her mother never got much sleep. Not when she was still working late nights as a dancer and saving up for the bakery. And since River never took hard drugs, she relied on lots of strong coffee to keep her going. Harley could remember sitting at the table, sipping on a coffee of her own while she helped her mother sort and count out the stacks of loose cash she drug home stuffed in her sparkly pink purse.
"So you and Rick, huh?," Olivia asked. Harley gave her the side eye. But that didn't deter Olivia from pressing her further. "You're like an official couple now, right? Everyone's talking about it."
"Don't these assholes have anythin' better to do?," Harley huffed. Olivia laughed.
"Guess not," she teased. Harley rolled her eyes, irritated to be the subject of gossip. It was bad enough that people were already talking about her mom. And whatever happened with Negan. Now they wanted to speculate about her love life as well.
"Let's take the girls back to camp for a while," Harley suggested. "I think they need a break before they end up barfing all over." Olivia nodded. They'd been stuffing their faces all morning. Starting with breakfast and the treats River let them have after, and everything they spent their tokens on after, it was a wonder they weren't sick already.
"Can we stop by the bakery booth on the way?," Olivia asked. "Maybe Frankie's back." Harley nodded, offering her opinion on Frankie's extra curricular activities as they headed down to round the girls up.
"I don't know why she went down to that nasty hoe tent in the first place. It's so disgusting," Harley said, wrinkling her nose up. Olivia laughed. She didn't find it as distasteful as Harley. But the thought of letting a relative stranger see and touch her naked body wasn't an appealing one. And all she could imagine was seeing all the men lined up, each of them secretly hoping they wouldn't get picked by the fat girl. She'd rather die.
"Fuckin' hell," Harley cursed, scowling at the group of unruly children that were already running rampant around Alexandria's campsite. Her father, who she assumed was supposed to be watching them, was leaning back in a camping chair smoking a joint. Hershel and Axel were chasing Gracie with a garter snake, making her scream bloody murder. Finch was wrestling Daryl's puppy. And Annie was sitting on the breakfast table, plucking leftover potatoes out of the chafing dish with her dirty fingers and throwing them to a small flock of geese that had either wandered or been lured into their camp and then allowed to shit everywhere.
Harley sprung into action. Much to little Annie's horror, the first thing Harley did was pull out her machete and kill as many of the geese as she could before the rest took off flapping and honking into the distance. Then she hollered her brother over and put him in charge of field dressing and plucking the large birds. They dug a ground oven when they arrived. So Harley put Monroe and Judith in charge of building a fire inside it. By the time Harley sat down in a camping chair with Daryl's birthday puppy in her lap, the chaos had mostly been brought to a halt. Or at least kids were directing their wild energy into doing some sort of useful task.
"Are you sure yer okay to watch Monroe and Judith tonight?," Harley asked, snagging the joint from her father not only to get a puff for herself but also to keep him from smoking any more. She trusted Merle with her daughter. But seven wild ass kids seemed like a lot for anyone to handle alone. Especially someone with only one hand.
"They'll be fine," Merle assured her, waving off her worries with his bad arm. "Yer ma should be back from the booth any minute. We're taking 'em all to the movies." Merle took a sip of water from his canteen, rinsing his mouth with it and spitting it onto the ground. "Aaron oughta be back from settin' up his tent here shortly. I think he's goin' with us." Harley nodded, already feeling a little better about the situation. And Olivia was staying too. At least until Frankie got back from her hoe business. Between them, they ought to be able to keep the kids under some form of control. Hershel and Axel were the worst of the bunch. Especially when they started egging each other on. But there was only so much trouble they could get into sitting in a movie theater.
"Oh shit," Merle cursed. "Rick left. I was supposed ta tell ya. Maggie and Glenn saw some busted up wagon on the way here. So him and Daryl went with 'em to check it out, see if they could find the people. I think Carol went too. He said to tell ya he might not be back fer the singin'."
"Oh well," Harley said, shrugging like couldn't care less. She was a little disappointed. Rick promised to meet her before the concert. But he had heard her sing lots of times before. And it's not like Rick lit off for no reason. If people were missing or hurt, Harley understood that finding them took precedence over listening to her sing. Harley stood up, handing Merle the dog and brushing her pants off. "Yer good here if I go help Beth finish settin' up?"
"I'm good," Merle promised. "Break a leg angel," he teased. Harley leaned down, giving her father a rough hug before she took off towards the area that had been set aside for the concert. They already hauled all their instruments and gear over there the day before. And Harley wanted to get her guitar and warm up a little before she played in front of such a large group of people.
"Hey Luke!," Harley called out, smiling at the man as she approached. "Where's Beth?" Luke tilted his head to the side, his face a mask of immediate confusion.
"What do you mean?," he asked. "I thought she was with you. Helping at the bakery booth."
"No," Harley countered, shaking her head. "She left hours ago. She said she was coming here to help ya set up."
The look of confusion on Luke's face was quickly giving way to worry. If Beth wasn't with him. And she wasn't at the bakery booth. Then where the hell was she?
"Maybe she's back at camp?," Luke suggested hopefully. Harley shook her head. She just came from there. And Beth was nowhere to be seen. Harley knew her dad said Maggie and Glenn went to check that wagon. And it was possible that Beth went with her sister. But Merle didn't mention the girl when he mentioned the people that left.
"I just came from there," Harley said. And she'd been chasing the girls around the trade fair booth area all afternoon. So she knew Beth wasn't there either. "I don't like this," Harley said, already feeling the ball of anxiety forming in her stomach. "Where the hell is she?"
"Let's check the bakery booth," Luke suggested. "Maybe she stopped there and told someone where she was going." Harley nodded. It wasn't the best plan of action. But it was all they had at the moment.
Harley and Luke hurried across town. But when they arrived at the booth, Harley's mom and the other girls were already gone. All the booths were being closed down. And there was still no sign of Beth anywhere. Harley looked around, waving at the first familiar face she saw.
"Tyreese!," she called, hurrying towards the man. "Have you seen Beth anywhere?" Tyreese shook his head.
"No. But we're looking for Kelly. She was supposed to meet us when she got done with guard duty and she's late," Tyreese explained as Connie held up a note in her small even script that read HAVE YOU SEEN MY SISTER? Harley shook her head. She hadn't seen Kelly since breakfast. But she was with Sam and Mika. And they weren't exactly known for being responsible. Or punctual. There was a good chance they were just off goofing around somewhere. But still, the knot in Harley's gut tightened. During fair week, someone was always looking for someone. But this felt different. It felt like these people were actually missing.
"If we see Kelly, we'll tell her yer lookin' fer her," Harley offered. Tyreese thanked her and promised to send Beth back to the concert area if he saw her. Since they weren't sure where else to look, Harley and Luke headed back towards the concert stage, hoping that there was some small chance Beth had turned up there while they were searching the booth area for her.
"Morgan?," Harley gasped. "Is that you?"
The man turned, giving her a tight smile.
"In the flesh," he replied. Skipping the normal pleasantries that two people who hadn't seen each other in years might exchange, Morgan asked a question instead. "You haven't seen Cyndie anywhere have you? She was supposed to meet me here."
"No," Harley said. "...but Beth and another girl we know are missing too." Harley turned towards Luke, seeing her own increasing fear mirrored back on his face. This was getting worse and worse. How could so many people just disappear from the middle of the trade fair.
"Cyndie was down at the ladies tent last time I saw her," Morgan said, sounding much more worried than he had a moment before when he was only asking if they'd seen Cyndie anywhere. "I'm checking there first."
"We'll go with you," Harley offered. Beth would have no reason to be down there. But they'd checked almost everywhere else she could be. Morgan nodded his thanks.
As they hurried over to the large white tent, Harley pulled her machete from her sheath, getting a firm grip on it. Morgan swiped the curtain open and headed inside. But Harley paused, pulling a smaller knife from her boot and handing it to Luke. Harley was on high alert as she stepped inside the tent. The place reeked of sex and scented candles. She wrinkled her nose against the smell. Morgan had already pressed ahead, pulling the curtain open to the small alcove where he saw Cyndie last.
"Cyndie!," he called out. "You here?" There was no answer from Cyndie. But a low snarling groan emanated from behind the next partition over. Harley rushed forward, yanking the curtain back. She cursed, darting back out of the reach of Frankie's reanimated body. The shock wore off quickly. And as they always did, Harley's survival instincts kicked in. She plunged her knife into the side of what used to be Frankie's head, dropping her naked body face down onto the floor of the tent. Morgan knelt down, rolling her over. The lighting inside the tent was dim. But the dark purple bruises around her neck were still visible. She'd been strangled to death and left to turn.
"Holy fuck," Luke gasped. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Someone killed her," Morgan observed, looking a little green around the gills himself.
"Yeah," Harley agreed. "No shit." She turned and cupped her hand around her mouth, hollering a warning out to anyone else that was still inside the tent. "HEY! We just found a walker in this tent! It's not safe here! Anyone that's still in here needs to leave!"
Behind several of the partitioned curtains, Harley could hear whispered words and the rustling of clothing. The few couples left inside did as Harley asked and left quickly. One woman caught a glimpse of Frankie's dead body on her way out and shrieked before the man that was with her hurried her away.
"Cyndie!," Morgan screamed. He yelled her name over and over, ripping open curtains in his panic to find the woman. Harley stepped inside the alcove Frankie's body came from. There was a small dried puddle of blood on the ground. And since Frankie was strangled, she guessed it wasn't hers. Which probably meant it was Cyndie's. Or some other innocent victim's. Harley knew there was no way to track which way the attacker took the woman. Too many people had been coming and going from the area all day. Harley left Morgan to his fruitless search and headed back outside. Luke was sitting on the ground with his face buried in his hands. Crying like he'd already given Beth up for dead.
"Get up!," Harley hissed, kicking at him with the toe of her boot.
"I don't know what to do," Luke admitted, wiping his face with his shirt as he forced himself up onto his feet.
"We need to find Ezekiel," Harley said. "He's got to sound the alarm before anyone else gets killed by whoever did this."