Red River Blue
Chapter 54
"If yer leadin' us out on some wild fuckin' goose chase," Harley warned, jabbing at the injured man with the end of her longbow, "...yer gonna lose more than a few fingers."
The light was fading rapidly in the sky, turning the bloody footprints the man was leaving behind from red to black. Harley felt like they'd been wandering around the woods aimlessly for far too long. And she was quickly losing patience with their prisoner. With the blood loss and the extreme amount of pain he was certainly in, it was possible that he was lost. But she felt it was more likely that he was playing them for fools. Harley grabbed him by the collar of his filthy shirt.
"How much further?," she demanded, jerking him forward and making his head snap back.
"Not far," the man whined. "I swear."
"Let 'im go," Merle ordered, grasping Harley by the back of her shirt and pulling her away from the man. "He's our only fuckin' lead." She pulled away from his grasp, ripping the seam of her shirt. The man stumbled to the ground and Harley cursed at him as Negan yanked him back up onto his feet.
"He's not a lead, he's a waste of fuckin' air," she argued. Harley charged at the man again. But this time Carl got in her way.
"Keep it together," he warned. "You're not helping things." Harley flipped her middle finger into his face and cussed at him. But Merle noticed she also took Carl's advice and fell back a few paces, allowing him to move in on the other side of their hostage.
Despite her angry words, Carl fell back next to Harley. He reached across the space, grasping Harley's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. Carl wasn't sure if Harley was his friend, his sister-in-law, or now possibly even his stepmother. But he knew she was family. And that she was hurting and scared to fucking death for her missing family members and friends. Not only were Beth, Mika, and Sam missing, along with the other people that had been taken by Lydia's group. But Rick went out with Daryl and Carol earlier to search for some other missing people and no one had seen them since.
"My dad's okay," Carl said, hoping to convince himself just as much as he wanted to convince Harley. "He's always okay. He probably found the rest of them already. Maybe they'll beat us back to town."
"Ya been hangin' around with my sister too much," Harley huffed. Wren the eternal optimist. Despite everything she'd seen to the contrary, Wren never stopped believing in the basic goodness of people. Or in the future they were working hard to build for themselves. Harley wondered if her sister was still going to feel that way tomorrow. Because unlike Carl, the terrible feeling of foreboding in the pit of her stomach was steadily growing.
After what felt like another eternity of walking through the woods, the treeline finally gave way. The sun had long since set. But even in the moonlight, Harley could see the silhouette of a building up ahead. From the shape of the roof, it looked to be a large barn. Harley still wasn't convinced that the whisperer hostage had led them to the right place. Not until he started screaming for help and trying to jerk away from Negan and Merle. There was no reason he would do that unless he really believed his people were inside the barn he led them to. Merle jabbed the man through the eye with the knife he had attached to his metal arm piece, shutting him up permanently.
The small group fanned out, preparing for an attack in case whoever was in the barn heard their comrade screaming for help. Harley cocked her head and listened for any movement inside the barn. A stray walker shuffled out, attracted by the previous noise. But there was nothing else. Harley lifted her fingers to her mouth, letting out the series of whistles that only her family knew the answering call to. There was still no response. Even if Lydia's group was trying to keep the people they took quiet, there was no way they'd been able to keep them completely silent. If they were in there, they would know now that their people were outside. And would be trying to signal back in any way they could.
Merle tapped her on the arm, pointing her towards the open barn door. Then he rotated his finger, indicating that he was going to circle around the back of the building. Harley nodded. She gave Carl's sleeve one rough tug before she began to stalk silently towards the barn. They flattened themselves against the side of it, slowly edging towards the door. Carl used his knife on the one stray walker when it lunged towards them, dropping it soundlessly to the ground.
Harley took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Then she peeked around the doorframe. Her body was tense, like a rubber band ready to snap. But it quickly relaxed once she took a better look inside the barn.
"There's no one fuckin' here," she groused. The barn was empty. Still, she kept her bow drawn as she slowly stepped inside, looking up at the loft to make sure no one was waiting to ambush them. When she was sure that it was safe, Harley whistled the all clear. Some of their search party didn't know her signals. But there were enough of her people outside that she was sure the rest of them got the point. Rachel and Morgan were the first to step inside. Like Harley, they both scanned the interior of the barn looking for any possible signs of danger. Morgan knelt down, lifting a piece of dirty straw and rubbing it between his fingers.
"There's no one here now," he said. "...but there was someone here. Look at how much blood seeped into the floor."
Harley crouched down next to him. The floor almost looked like it had been drenched in oil. But when she pressed her fingers into the dirt and lifted them, she could tell Morgan was right. There was a lot of blood on the ground. Too much to have come from just one person. It was even splattered up the wooden slats of the horse stalls. And the small piles of straw and animal bedding were soaked in it.
More of their people were slowly filing into the building. A few of them had flashlights they were shining around, the beams of light bouncing around as they moved. No one was sure exactly what to say. It was clear that a lot of people had been killed in this place not long ago. And given the circumstances, it was likely the people they were searching for. But no one wanted to be the one to admit that out loud. Not even Negan. And he pretty much lived to run his mouth.
It was Connie that finally broke the silence. She ventured all the way into the back of the barn, shining her tiny flashlight around. Suddenly she dropped it and screamed. Since she couldn't hear herself, the sound that came out of her was unnerving and almost inhuman. Tyreese bolted towards the woman, picking up the flashlight and hugging Connie into his broad chest. He only took one peek before he dropped the light back where it came from, sending the small beam of light rolling and spinning on the dirt floor. He scooped Connie up into his arms and headed for the door, not offering any explanation. But it was obvious that after what he saw, Tyreese had no desire to spend one more moment inside the horrid place. Harley could hear Connie weeping outside. And she glanced around, unsure of what to do.
"Everyone stay the fuck here," Merle cursed. He lifted his gun as he approached the last horse stall on the left, even though it was obvious that whatever Connie and Tyreese saw there was more disturbing than dangerous. Harley watched her father as he cautiously approached the area. He picked up the light Tyreese dropped and shined it into the stall. Then Harley saw eyes widen. Merle didn't scream or run the way they had. But he backed the hell up, his eyes widening as his face paled.
When Merle saw Harley heading in his direction he held up his hand, warning her to stay back. She paused for a moment. Until she felt Aiden pressing in behind her. They headed for the stall together. And while Harley felt she had seen everything horrible there was to see in this world, she still wasn't prepared for the pile of naked headless bodies she saw piled up against the back wall of the horse stall. Thrown away like human garbage.