Red River Blue

Chapter 52

Lydia released her grip on the box of popcorn Henry left with her, spilling the small crunchy kernels on the floor near her feet. Her hands were shaking and her whole body was rigid with fear. Her head spun, adding together the fact that Sam was missing and her mother was here.

"What did you do?," Lydia asked.

Her mother's smile was always more unsettling than her angry face. And this was no exception. Lydia felt everything she'd snacked on during the day churning in her stomach, threatening to make an uninvited reappearance. She swallowed hard, forcing the bile back down and willing her body to come back under her control. Fear was her constant companion for years. Lydia didn't realize how horrible it was to exist in a constant state of it until she got a taste of living without it.

"Not as much as I'm gonna do if you don't get up and come with me right now," her mother warned. Except this wasn't her mother. This was Alpha. It had been years since Lydia saw her real mother. The woman she knew before the outbreak turned her into a monster.

Lydia clenched the arm rests of the theater seat, holding on tight. Like she was on a rollercoaster ride and afraid she might be launched from her seat. She didn't speak. But she shook her head. She didn't want to go anywhere with Alpha.

Alpha turned slightly in her seat, grabbing the fleshy part of Lydia's upper arm. Her nails dug in through the silky fabric of Lydia's dress. And she gripped her even harder, making her wince in pain as she leaned in to whisper in Lydia's ear.

"I'll bar the doors and burn this place to the ground with everyone inside. Including you. Get up. Now."

With that, Alpha rose and jerked Lydia to her feet. She pulled her towards the door and Lydia allowed herself to be led. She was terrified that Beta would be waiting outside for her. Unlike her mother, he was capable of physically forcing Lydia back to their camp. Her eyes darted from side to side as her mother dragged her in a small alley between the theater building and the one next to it. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she realized that Beta wasn't waiting there for her. Maybe he'd actually died when Daryl and Merle threw him down that elevator shaft. Or maybe, due to his extreme height, he just wasn't able to disguise himself and slip into the trade fair unnoticed.

"You've had yer fun," Alpha hissed, emphasizing the word as though she knew the exact kind of fun Lydia was having with Sam when they were alone together in his tent. "Now it's time to go home."

Lydia shook her head. Defying her mother was terrifying. But her terror was tinged with how good it felt to finally stand up for herself. Because she had no basis of comparison, Lydia never realized how horrible the woman really was. She was more monster than mother. Alpha's unwarranted beatings seemed more brutal when Lydia compared them to the way Carol brushed Sam's hair back out of his eyes. Or the way Harley sat her daughter between her knees and patiently combed Monroe's long curly hair, taming it into braids. Or the way River had to hold back her laughter when she scolded her son.

"This is my home," Lydia said, cringing back and lifting her arms in anticipation. Anyone that talked back to Alpha was sure to be dealt with swiftly and with violence. And this was no exception. Alpha didn't slap her. But she shoved her, slamming her back into the brick facing of the building behind her. The back of Lydia's head hit the bricks, making little black dots swim in front of her eyes. She shook it off, ducking to avoid the inevitable slap she knew was coming.

"Touch me again and I'll scream," Lydia warned. "They won't let you take me. They're not afraid of you." Lydia felt her skin crawl as her mother smiled at her again.

"This is your last chance," Alpha threatened. "Either come with me now. Or yer going to regret it."

Lydia straightened up her back. She clenched her fists the way Harley showed her. With her thumbs on the outsides of her hands between her first and second finger. The moment her mother even flinched in her direction, Lydia swung. She was afraid. And she closed her eyes when she moved. Lydia felt her fist connect. But she didn't realize she'd punched her mother straight in the face until she opened her eyes and saw the blood trickling from the side of the woman's mouth.

Alpha lifted her hand, touching the tip of her finger against her lip and pulling it away. She stared at the blood on her finger in disbelief. But when she returned her focus to Lydia, her face twisted back up into a sickening smile. Lifting her hand again, she grabbed the floppy sun hat on her head, pulling it and the hair under it off her head. When she dropped, Lydia looked down at the bloody smears of skin attached to the long blonde hair. Her mother wasn't wearing a wig. She was wearing someone else's scalp. Lydia leaned forward and vomited, all the sweets and cupcakes and fried potato chips and popcorn she ate bubbling up and spilling out onto the pavement as she watched her mother stroll casually away down the alley. The smell of her own vomit made Lydia puke again. When her stomach was finally emptied she turned and ran back towards the theater, her mother's threat to burn everyone inside alive echoing inside her mind.

Lydia knew Merle and River were inside the theater. They were sitting a few rows in front of the seat she'd been in, one row behind the large rowdy group of children they were watching. Lydia entered the theater, running down the aisle as the lights dimmed. She stopped at the end of the row and screamed.

"MERLE!"

A few people shushed her. Or threw irritated glances in her direction. But hearing his name called out in desperate panic had Merle on his feet in seconds. River was right behind him, following as he pushed past the legs of everyone that was between him and the aisle where Lydia was standing.

"What's wrong?," he asked, steadying her with his hand on her shoulder.

"My mom," Lydia said, feeling the panic as it began to rise inside her. "She's here. I think she took Sam."