Red River Blue
Chapter 75
"Are ya sure yer okay ta ride?," Daryl asked, ignoring River and her not so quiet snickering laugh.
Carol adjusted her body slightly in the saddle, answering Daryl first with a warning look. One that said she was quickly losing her patience with him. Something that only happened maybe once or twice during all the years they'd been together. Carol took a long deep breath in through her nose, letting it out as slowly as she could and reminding herself that Daryl was only driving her crazy because he cared. He'd always been protective of her. And the kids. But it never felt patronizing then. They were always partners. They trusted each other. Since she got back from her extended absence, things between them felt different. He'd been treating her like a porcelain doll. Like he was afraid she would break.
"I said I'm fine," Carol repeated for at least the tenth time since she climbed from the infirmary bed.
Carol knew she took a hard hit to the head. And that she was unconscious for over twelve hours afterwards. But the doctor assured her, and Daryl, that she was out for so long because she'd pushed her body to it's limits before she fell and hit her head. Back before the turn, she'd taken far worse knocks to the head and still managed to get Ed's dinner on the table by five. Carol was quite sure she could handle riding to Hilltop to pick up a few steers and a litter of piglets.
Daryl grumbled a few choice words under his breath. But before he could continue their argument, the sound of thundering horse hooves caught his attention. Mika pulled her horse to a stop on the other side of Carol. And for a moment Daryl forgot his concerns about her possible concussion and moved to simply admire the animal. Handing his reins off to River, Daryl skirted around Carol's horse and approached his daughter. The horse Mika was riding was not impressive in size and build, its entire coat was pure white.
"Isn't she pretty?," Mika asked, leaning forward and patting her horse along the neck. "Henry got her for me."
At her mention of the young man, Daryl flicked his eyes towards his son in law and tried to control his facial expressions. He knew everything that happened between the three of them was entirely his own fault. But Daryl was still finding it hard to completely let go of his bitterness towards the young man for taking his daughter away. Daryl reminded himself that Henry was not only good to Mika, he practically worshiped the ground she walked on. And despite the scruffy blonde beanpole look of him, he was actually quite skilled in hand to hand combat. Harley and Rick brought him in as part of their community battle training to teach martial arts and self defense classes. Even Daryl was impressed with his moves.
"You've got a lot packed fer just a trip to Hilltop," Daryl said, glancing hopefully at the bulging saddlebags that were strapped to the sides of Mika's horse. Mika always overpacked. But the amount of shit she had strapped to her fancy white horse still looked excessive for just a day trip.
"After Hilltop we're gonna come back to Alexandria with you," she exclaimed.
"Just for a few weeks," Henry quickly interjected. "...we've got to be back in time to help my dad get ready for the trade fair."
Daryl scowled at the boy. But he quickly decided if he was going to have an argument with Henry about whether or not Mika was moving back home permanently, he'd much rather have it in Alexandria. Preferably with Merle there for the extra intimidation factor.
A loud whistle rang out, catching everyone's attention. Michonne was standing on the front steps of the Kingdom's main community gathering house, waving the arm she wasn't using to hold her son at them.
"Glenn! Maggie's on the radio! Something happened at Hilltop!"
Daryl watched Glenn swing down off his horse and take off at a full run the moment his feet hit the pavement. Rick hadn't mounted his horse yet. So he took off after the man, wanting to hear first hand what was happening. The rest of the group waited impatiently for news. And the moment Daryl saw both men running back towards their horses, he climbed onto his and adjusted the strap of his crossbow. They wouldn't be running if there wasn't a good reason.
"A tree fell through the wall," Rick said, practically flying up into his saddle. "Maggie said there's walkers everywhere."
"Skins?," River asked. Rick shrugged.
"Who else could it be?," Carol huffed, guiding her horse forwards towards the gate.
Glenn was the first to kick his heels in, sprinting through the gates the moment they were open wide enough to allow him through. The small group rode hard, worried about what they might find when they arrived. They could clear the walkers. And Hilltop had a fall back location their people could hide in if they were overrun. But that wouldn't stop the dead from killing their livestock and trampling over their crops.
Glenn let out a loud whistle, signaling his guards to swing the gates open. The group rode their horses through the narrow opening, quickly swinging down off the animals and grabbing for their weapons. Daryl slapped his horse on the rump, encouraging the animal to follow its natural instincts and run further into town and away from the chaos and the walkers that were pushing in against the walls. Like they often did when spooked, the other horses followed the first, running hard even though they didn't have a destination in mind other than simply escaping the smell of death.
The damage from the tree was much worse than Daryl imagined. Not only did it crash a section of their wall in, the large tree landed on a building and caved the roof halfway in. People were still being pulled from the wreckage and the smell of fresh blood hung heavy in the air. The dead could smell it. And they were pushing in against the closest section of wall, eager to get to the fresh meat they knew was inside.
"Let's clear the dead off the wall first," Rick shouted.
Daryl loaded his bow, turning just in time to see River crawling into the half collapsed building where a baby could still be heard crying inside. The structure was groaning as the weight of the tree pressed down on it. Other people hovering near the entrance, too afraid of being crushed to enter. Daryl felt a stab of fear for his sister-in-law. But he pressed forward instead of going after her, knowing that if the walkers pressed in any harder, the section of wall might fall on what remained of the structure and River would be crushed for sure. If he could stop that from happening, there was a chance she might be able to get herself and the child out safely.
All of them were well versed in fighting walkers. The frustration of the fight they were entering was that they were trying to get at the walkers that were already pressing in against the wall while a large herd of them was still coming in from the other direction. This meant there were dead coming at them from both sides. Once Magna and some of Hilltop's other fighters joined them, they managed to form a rough circle with their backs pointed towards each other. Then they slowly started cutting through the herd.
Rick moved, preparing to slice through the skull of a rotted corpse that was heading towards him. But as he lifted his machete, the walker fell. An arrow was sticking from its skull, the fletching marked with fluorescent paint. Rick could only grin as he looked around for the owner of the arrow. Harley was particular about her arrows. She preferred the metal broadhead tips, which were harder to come by than regular bullet tips. She always marked her arrows with paint so she knew which ones were hers when she went to retrieve them. Rick spotted her a moment later, his eyes widening when he realized Judith was shouldered up next to her with an arrow notched in her small compound bow. Each of them fired off another arrow before they began to charge forward towards the gates.
"ARCHERS WITH ME!," Harley screamed, putting her fingers to her mouth and letting out a shrill whistle. Rick immediately caught on to what she was doing. If they lined up in a sort of rough diagonal in front of the gates, they could encourage the walkers to come at them, which would make it easier to fight as an organized group. And it would get the walkers off the compromised section of wall.
"ANYONE INSIDE WITH A BOW GET OUT HERE NOW,!" Harley screamed.
The gates parted just wide enough for a small group to slip out. And Rick rushed towards them, taking up position near Harley with Judith between them. The rest of the group caught on quickly to what was happening. And once they were in position, Carl lit a firecracker and tossed it out a few feet in front of their loosely organized formation. This got enough of the dead moving in their direction that the ones pushing in on the wall turned and began to follow the rest.
"JUST LIKE ON THE BEACH!," Rick shouted. "ARCHERS FIRST! THEN HAND TO HAND!"
Harley got the archers firing together. And between rounds of arrows, those that were fighting with hand weapons surged out and cut down the walkers they didn't manage to hit. Henry was flipping and spinning his stick so fast it looked like a blur, taking down several walkers at once before he darted back behind the line of archers. Now that the group was working together in a more organized way, they were taking down the walkers faster and with less physical exertion. More people were slipping out between the gates to help. And soon, they were picking through the piles of bodies, stabbing any of the dead that were still twitching or wiggling through their heads.
Rick watched as Judith trailed behind Harley, imitating the woman even down to her mannish walk. Harley pulled an arrow from a walker that was still groaning and reaching for her. She stepped down on it with her cowboy boot, holding it in place so Judith could stab it through the head with her machete. Rick weaved through the carnage until he caught up with them.
Harley was quick to wrap her arms around him, pressing her body against his in a way that promised more than a hug once they were alone. And for a moment he was distracted by thoughts of how rough she liked it when her adrenaline was flowing. But then he remembered Judith was there, staring up at them like she was watching a romantic scene in a movie.
"What are you doing outside the walls?," Rick asked. If money was still a thing, he would be willing to bet that Judith snuck out of town and followed Harley until they were already too far away to take her back. It wouldn't be the first time she tried it. Though he was concerned about how far she got on her own before Harley caught her.
"Oh," Harley said, "...that's on me. I brought 'er." Rick raised his brow. Harley's lie would be easier to believe if Judith wasn't staring at the woman with her mouth open.
"You brought her?," he confirmed, fighting back a smile.
"Yeah, I really needed the backup and she's the best shot we've got," Harley said. She pointed towards the treeline. "Go get the bag and take it to Maggie," Harley instructed. Judith nodded her head, leaping over a few dead walkers on her way to retrieve the bag of medical supplies.
"You know you're only encouraging her to sneak out again," Rick teased.
"I'll talk to her," Harley promised, taking his hand in hers as they headed back towards Hilltop's high gates. As they entered town, Harley immediately started laughing. Not the mean laugh she did when she was about to get the better of someone. But the high pitched girlish giggle that was her real laugh. "Mom," she hollered, "...where'd ya steal that baby from?"
Both River and the child were streaked with dirt. And River had leaves sticking out of her hair. The little girl looked to be somewhere between one and two years old. And she was clinging to River's neck with a tight grip. River turned, pointing towards the building that was still groaning under the weight of the tree, indicating that she'd pulled the child from the wreckage. But before she could speak, there was a louder groan followed by the sound of something cracking. Whatever beam that had been holding the structure still partially upright finally gave way. The tree crashed the rest of the way to the ground under the flattened building. River's eyes widened slightly and she breathed a very large sigh of relief that she wasn't still under the structure when it collapsed.
"I can take her," a woman offered, reaching for the child in River's arms. "Her mother's in the infirmary." The woman must have been familiar with the child. And River was a total stranger. But that didn't stop the little girl from gripping River's neck so hard she nearly choked her and screaming like it was the end of her young life. She was terrified and it was clear she wasn't going to allow anyone to pry her from the arms of her savior.
"I'll find her mom," River offered, tightening her grip on the girl. The other woman backed off, giving River a grateful smile. The rest of the group fought the dead. But River was the one that crawled into the mostly smashed half of what used to be their community gathering lodge and rescued the little girl in her arms. Harley had a feeling that's what people were going to remember about this day. The idea of her mom being celebrated as the hero of the day made her smile.
The gates were finally secured and barred once Glenn and Daryl passed through them. They were the last to come in. Glenn gave them a quick nod of his head as he headed for the large historic mansion that was currently serving as their medical center. But Daryl stopped, informing Rick of what he observed outside the walls. The tree didn't just fall. It was cut through. This wasn't just some natural disaster. It was an attack. Harley wasn't surprised. There was no way this was a coincidence. Even if the tree fell on it's own, which it clearly didn't, someone led an entire herd of walkers through not just one but two entire cornfields and all the way up to Hilltop's front gate.
"Why would they attack Hilltop after she moved the borders up?," River pondered. "It don't make no sense."
"Maybe she was pissed that Glenn and the other community leaders showed up at the meet," Rick suggested. "Or maybe she did this to try and make us suspicious of each other?"
Rick scratched at the winter beard he still hadn't shaved off for the year. They were grasping at straws. But the truth was, it was almost impossible to predict Alpha's next move. Because she wasn't behaving like a rational person. Rick thought he knew her ultimate goal. Alpha wanted her daughter back. But the moves she was making seemed to be contrary to that.
"It doesn't matter what she wants or why she's doing any of this," Carol said. "She's a threat. And she's got to go." Carol saw most of her people nod in response to her declaration. But Harley was doing more than nodding. She was grinning from ear to ear. Like she'd been waiting to hear Carol say those exact words.