Newsies One-Shots

Treksies Part 4 of 5 - The Women's Pull

Contrary to the morning before, Davey's eyes popped open the next morning and had no intention of shutting. This was annoying, the past couple days had been exhausting, and now Davey couldn't sleep it off? 

Not wanting to disturb his trek brothers, Davey quietly left the tent and went over to his family's wagon. He didn't know what time it was, but it was nearing dawn. Davey's bucket was right near the edge of the wagon, so he opened it and dug through in hopes of finding his deodorant. Obviously no one had noticed, but it had been missing the previous day.

"Hey," a voice came from the other side of the wagon, nearly scaring Davey out of his skin. 

"Oh, Jack," He sighed with relief, "what are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same," Jack chuckled, "couldn't sleep?"

"Nope," Davey sighed, "but that doesn't answer MY question,"

Jack chuckled again, "Come with me," he walked off toward the side of the hill.

Davey hesitantly followed him behind a tent, but when he saw what Jack was looking at, he understood. The sun was JUST peaking over the horizon, and the sky and the silhouettes created the most incredible sunrise Davey had ever seen.

"Woah," Davey whispered, not wanting to wake up whoever was in the tent next to them.

"I figured I missed this yesterday, so I had to force myself out of bed to see it once," Jack shrugged and sat down so that his feet were hanging off the steep edge of the hill. Davey was a little hesitant to get that close to the edge, but he convinced himself to sit next to Jack and watch the sunrise. 

As the sky slowly got brighter, Davey and Jack didn't speak, they just watched silently. That was all it needed to be.

Both of them jumped when once again reveille rang through the campground.

"We'd best be going, don't know what'll happen if we're caught," Jack stood up and then helped Davey stand up. 

"Remember to wear sunscreen today, okay?" Davey said.

"Of course," Jack sighed.

Breakfast that day was the same as the previous day, and much like the previous day, after breakfast they packed up their handcarts and got ready to leave again.

"Race, drink something OTHER than Gatorade today," Spot told Race, "I swear, in however many years, when you die, your autopsy is going to find ridiculous amounts of ELECTROLYTES,"

"Electrolytes are important, but you need WATER, too," Sarah added, "by the way, what have you fellas heard about the women's pull?"

"Nothing, what's that?" Race asked.

"All of the girls are going to work together to get all the handcarts up a hill," one of the leaders explained.

"So it's real?" Katherine blinked, "this is a REAL thing that's happening?" 

"Yep," the leader nodded, "I hope you're ready,"

Katherine and Sarah groaned. Why did they insist on torturing the girls like this?

That day started very much like the previous one. This time, Jack and Davey's company was in the middle, so they waited around a bit for the front group to get a fair amount ahead of them, giving everyone time to apply sunscreen and bug spray before they started the walk.

Their day started with a slow decline, which was a little tricky with the handcarts, but everyone would agree it was better than the uphill portion of the previous day.

As always, they stopped several times for bathroom breaks and a spiritual thought, but there was one time that was particularly daunting. They stopped right in front of a particularly tall and pretty steep hill.

"Before we start the lesson, we need all of the boys to take their things out of the wagons and join us at the top of the hill," One of the male leaders called out to the crowd, "we're going to be taught separately this time,"

Walking up that hill carrying just their own buckets was hard enough for the boys, so all Davey, Jack, and the others could think about during their lesson was how much of a struggle this would be for the girls, and they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. 

That's my sister, Davey looked down at Sarah, and I can't do anything. 

"Alright, boys," one of the leaders said at the end of the lesson, "I need you all to make two lines on either side of the trail, make room for the girls and the handcarts. Then, take off your hats. These women deserve our respect,"

They deserve more than our respect, Jack thought, reluctantly removing his hat and allowing the hot sun to beat down on his face, they deserve our help.

All of Katherine and Sarah's friends stood together, watching the girls at the bottom of the hill.

"Are you girls ready?" Sister Milan asked the girls.

"No," Katherine and Sarah replied simultaneously. 

"Well, get ready," Sister Milan shrugged.

"I guess we should just be glad it's not that ONE hill from the first day," Sarah chuckled nervously as she picked up the front of a handcart, Katherine joining her. They watched a group of five girls in front of them push their handcart up, slowly, but surely. When they were around a third of the way up, Katherine, Sarah, and two other girls began pushing their handcart up.

Every step they took seemed slower than the last. Even without all of the boy's stuff, this incline and the lack of people made this by far the hardest part of the journey so far.

Davey wanted so badly so jump up and help his sister. Sarah was putting on a brave face, but Davey could tell she was struggling. Davey felt a tear sting his eye, then another, and soon tears were trickling down his face. Glancing around, he could see that almost all of his friends were the same. 

But it was incredible, as soon as Katherine and Sarah made it to the top, they turned around and went to help another group. Davey felt almost as if he could feel his sister's pain as she pushed cart after cart up the hill. 

That was when he realized that his friends weren't the only ones crying, but every guy at the top of that hill was crying. Of course they were, they were watching their sisters, cousins, and friends struggle. This was the moment they got the closest taste of the misery the pioneers felt so long ago. 

Eventually, Sarah and Katherine just about collapsed soon after reaching the top with what must've been their sixth cart. Their friends wanted to run to help them, but they had to stay rooted to their spot. 

Fortunately for the girls, one of the leaders began handing out ice pops to them. A more than deserved treat for what they'd been through.

When the final cart was brought to the top of the hill, the boys all ran to the girls to make sure they were okay. Davey and Sarah shared a long embrace, Davey never wanted to see his sister struggle that much again. 

"Glad THAT'S over," Katherine was still breathing heavily, "I thought my lungs were going to give out a few times, there," 

The top of that hill was where they had lunch, and a little while later they started walking again.

"Glad today is our last day of walking," Ashton told Katherine a little while into their walk, "we're getting to 'Zion' today,"

"Oh thank goodness," Katherine felt more genuinely happy than she had been the whole trip.

"We just have to cross a river first," Ashton added.

Katherine groaned. Of course there was a catch.