Red River Blue
Chapter 83
The spell of unseasonably warm weather was slowly giving way to winter's last cold stretch. River could almost smell the incoming snow in the air. She guessed it would blow in during the night. But for now, all that was necessary was a light jacket. River glanced to her left, catching Carol's eye and giving the other woman a smile. Mika and Wren were walking ahead of them, chattering and giggling with each other. Mika's blonde ponytail was bouncing with the rhythm of her steps, while Wren's darker locks only swung slightly as they hung down behind her shoulders.
It made River happy to see the girls together again, even though she knew the reunion was slightly bittersweet for Wren. Mika was younger. She'd been married less than a year. And she was already expecting a baby, something River knew her younger daughter wanted desperately. Wren was maintaining her upbeat disposition. And she was genuinely happy for Mika. But deep down, River knew that it had to hurt. Especially since it wasn't it wasn't Wren's inability to conceive but her husband's unwillingness that was the issue.
"Hey," Carol said, reaching across the slight space and squeezing her hand. "Everything okay?"
River nodded her head, grasping Carol's hand in hers. She kept her voice just above a whisper, making sure the girls wouldn't hear her. "I'm just worried about Wren. I know Mika already bein' knocked up has to be hittin' her hard."
Carol nodded her understanding. Like River, she loved Wren and wished there was something she could do to fix her marital problems. But this was something Wren and Carl were going to have to work out for themselves. They were so young when they got married, a discussion about what they wanted in terms of family never crossed their minds. Their main concern at the time was not having to sneak in and out of their windows to sleep together. Carol guessed they didn't figure out they were at such an impasse about whether or not not to have kids until much later.
When River invited her to walk about to the barn and check on the horses with her, Carol didn't think anything of it. It was something they used to do together often. She had no reason to suspect anything else was going on until they were actually in the barn. That's when River and the girls pushed in close to her and began speaking in hushed whispers.
"Where's Harley? I know you know somethin'," River said, grasping Carol by the hand. "...and don't give me any of this Riverbend bullshit. 'Cause I already buzzed Ian up on the radio and he said she ain't there."
"Negan's gone too," Mika exclaimed, sounding more excited than worried. "Is Harley having an affair with him? Did they run away together?"
"Mika! Don't be gross!," Wren scolded. River interjected, telling them both to shut their traps. Then she turned and favored Carol with an expectant look.
"I've got no idea what's going on," Carol said, her voice rising in feigned innocence as she delivered what she hoped was a convincing lie. "If Harley was going somewhere other than Riverbend, she didn't say anything to me." The collective groan that rose from the small group of women around her was enough to convince Carol that she wasn't as good a liar as she thought.
"I know ya know where she is," River huffed. "So ya better quit playin' games and spill it. Right now."
Carol sighed. The less people that knew, the less chance there was of someone accidentally spilling it to or in front of whoever was passing information back to Alpha. Carol didn't like lying. Especially to River. But this was different. This was information that could get Harley and Negan killed. If she told River and River told Merle, Merle was going to tell Daryl. And before long it was going to get back to Rick. If he found out, he was going to go nuclear. There would be no keeping a lid on things after that.
"You can't tell anyone," Carol warned. "Not even Merle." She glanced at the girls. "You can't tell Carl. Or Henry." River nodded, gesturing impatiently for Carol to hurry up and spill. "Someone's been passing information back to Alpha. We don't know who."
"Well it's not me," River huffed, rolling her eyes. She understood not everyone needed to know everything. But she and Carol never kept secrets from each other before. Even things they didn't tell their husbands, they told each other. Or at least, that's how they used to be. Now she wasn't so sure. "I thought we were friends," River added.
"We are," Carol countered. "It's not like that…" Carol tucked the loose strands of her hair back away from her face. There was no good way to say what she needed to say. No way to make it seem less scary than it was. Harley had put herself in danger before. During the war with the saviors. But she was leading a militia group then. Not going behind enemy lines. With only Negan as back up.
"Harley went after Alpha."
River's eyes widened and she clamped her hand down over her own mouth. Wren moved in quickly, wrapping her arms around her mom. They clung to each other, taking comfort from the shared embrace. River squeezed her tight, having at least one of her children safe in her arms felt reassuring. She looked up just in time to see someone walk past the barn in a hurry.
"What's Leah doing out here?," River asked. Other than her dog, Leah didn't care much for animals. She usually offered to pull extra watch shifts or avoid helping out in the barn area.
Concerns over Harley's secret mission were paused as the small group of women crept towards the mouth of the barn and peeked out. River leaned around the edge just in time to see that she was right. Leah was walking through the barn area at a rapid pace before she disappeared behind the poultry barn.
"Where the hell does she think she's going?," River grumbled. Everyone knew that no one was allowed outside the walls alone right now. Part of the reason for it was that they wanted to try and stop whoever was passing information back to the whisperers. But it was also for safety. They didn't want a repeat of last summer when their loved ones were taken and killed. Leah leaving the walls by herself wasn't unusual. She usually checked her small game traps a couple times a week. But she always went out the front gate and took her dog with her. The way she was hauling ass towards the back wall definitely felt suspicious.
"Let's follow her and see what she's up to," Mika suggested, looking excited by the prospect. "If I see where she jumps the wall, I can track her." Carol was quick to nod, pointing Mika after the woman while the rest of them darted back into the barn and ripped into the small cache of emergency weapons and rations they kept in the tack room.
The girls shimmied up and over the wall one at a time. River and Carol were ready to charge straight after Leah and catch her. But Mika signaled for them to wait. She wanted to give the woman enough of a head start that there was no chance she would know she was being followed. After what felt like hours but was only a few minutes, they headed single file into the woods with Mika in the lead. Wren was visibly more nervous and jumpy than the rest of them. She almost never left the safety of the walls without Carl.
A chill ran up River's back as the wooden planks of the roughly built bridge groaned under her feet. The river they were crossing marked the end of their territory and the beginning of Alpha's. It felt like they were crossing some sort of invisible force field. River didn't like it. She glanced at Mika, hoping the girl was certain she was leading them in the right direction. The last place she wanted to go on a wild goose chase was on the wrong side of Alpha's border. Another half a mile and Mika held up her hand, signaling for them to stop. They spread out, ducking down behind a crop of thorny bushes and peeking out into the clearing.
Mika's tracking skills were on point. She led them to a run down barn in the center of a small clearing in the woods. Leah was outside the dilapidated building, leaning up against the sun faded wood and smoking a cigarette. As they waited and watched, she checked her wrist watch a few times, glancing up at the sky as if to determine if her watch might be off from the actual time.
"We should confront her now," Carol hissed, her hand fluttering to the gun in her holster. "If she's meeting Alpha, I don't want to wait for that conversation to happen."
"I don't know," River argued. "...maybe we should wait and make sure that's what she's doing." River knew Leah's behavior was extremely suspect. But she would still rather have undeniable proof that she was the spy before they acted. And if Alpha and Leah were meeting to exchange information, River wanted to hear what that walker fucker had to offer.
River cursed under her breath as Carol rose from her hiding spot. She whispered to Wren and Mika, warning the girls to stay put before she stood up next to Carol and revealed herself.
"Hi!," River called out, waving at Leah and offering the woman a friendly smile. "We saw you jump the wall and just wanted to make sure you didn't need any backup." River took in Leah's response to their sudden arrival. Her body went stiff and she reached for her gun. Not a good sign. She obviously wasn't buying the lies that River was trying to sell her. "Didn't mean to startle you," River added, pulling her hand on her own gun. Carol wasn't making any such pretenses. She already had her gun out and pointed at Leah.
"Don't even think about it," Carol warned, eyeing the shotgun that was strapped to Leah's back. Leah whipped to the side, jerking her gun up and aiming it at Carol. River pulled her gun out. And the two women sidestepped away from each other, making it impossible for Leah to shoot them both without being shot herself. River kept moving until she was sure that Wren and Mika also had a clear shot from their hiding place.
"You're the fucking spy," Carol accused. "You've been passing information back to the bitch that killed my son."
River watched nervously as the two women stared each other down. Leah wasn't making any attempt to deny Carol's accusations. Which meant they were most certainly true. River shook her head slightly, not able to stop herself from wondering why the hell Leah did this to them. They'd been nothing but kind to her, taking the woman in as one of their own. River wondered if she'd been with Alpha from the start, or if she had some other motivation behind her actions.
River didn't fire her gun when Leah spun and darted around the side of the barn. But Carol did, pulling her trigger 3 times and only nearly missing the woman before she disappeared.
"Carol! Stop!," River hollered. Carol was charging after the other woman, intent on killing her. Not that Leah didn't deserve it, but they just fired off a loud gunshot in the middle of whisperer territory. If the dead weren't already after them, the living would be. And River liked her head where it was, firmly attached to her neck. She cursed under her breath and took off after Carol. From the footfalls behind her, she knew Mika and Wren were running with her. The trees whipped past, branches scraping at their clothes and hair. Carol fired her gun again. And River nearly slammed into the other woman, glancing over Carol's shoulder just in time to see Leah disappear inside the mouth of a cave.
This time, River didn't just warn Carol to stop. She grabbed the back of the other woman's shirt and attempted to physically drag her backwards. "Fuckin' stop! Carol! Yer gonna get yerself killed!" Carol jerked from her grasp, swinging an elbow into River's arm as the fabric of her shirt ripped at the seams. River cursed, much louder this time, as Carol took off at a full run towards the mouth of the cave.
Running full force into the cave felt like a trap. But when Carol ran, River still went after her. She could hear Mika and Wren hollering after them, telling them both to stop. River knew she was making a mistake. But she didn't know how bad a mistake it was until she felt the ground give out under her feet. She hit the dirt and rolled, wincing in pain at the twisting sensation in the wrist she landed on. As she was wrapping her other hand around the hurt wrist, she heard the low growl of walkers. River rolled onto her side, gasping and scrambling back and away from the edge of the rocky platform.
"Well, I guess we found Alpha's hoard," Wren grumbled, climbing onto her feet and brushing the dirt off her clothes.
The cave was dark. But they were close enough to the entrance that some light was still filtering in. River heard a yip of pain and looked up. Unlike the rest of them, Mika caught herself on her way down the incline. She was hanging on to the rough edge of a rock with her fingers, her body pressed flat against the wall of boulders. She was strong enough that she would have been able to pull herself back up. The problem was that Leah was at the top of the ledge, stepping down on the young woman's fingers.
"Fuck you!," Mika cursed, moving one hand and trying to get some leverage with the other.
"Get the fuck away from my daughter," Carol warned, pointing her gun at the woman.
"Go ahead," Leah taunted. "You'll cause a cave in and save me the trouble of killing your asses." River felt a stab of fear ripple through her as Carol cocked her gun. River reached over, snatching the weapon away.
"She's right," River hissed. "We'll be buried alive in here."
Another yip of pain and Mika was sliding down the side of the rock wall. Wren moved, putting her arms up. She only managed to half catch the other girl, but she did ease Mika's landing slightly.
"What do ya want?," River asked, looking up at Leah. The woman was still standing at the edge of the drop off, staring down at them. So she must want something. River was about to say something else when she saw a second figure appear next to Leah. In the dim light it was hard to disconcert her facial features. But her bald head made it easy to guess her identity.
"I'll tell you what we want," Alpha drawled, her high-pitched voice echoing through the cave. "We want you to watch each other die down there. Then you'll join us as members of my army."
Alpha smiled down at them for another moment, enjoying their reactions to her threatening words. Then the woman turned and walked out of view, gesturing for Leah to come with her. But Leah remained, smiling down at Carol.
"Oh and by the way," Leah added, giving Carol a wink, "...I fucked your husband."