The Runaway Wife

Chapter 10

The rocks the blonde had mentioned appeared shortly and beside them was a small group of tents that held women, children, and soldiers. None of the people seemed to recognize Jacelyn when she approached so there was no way of knowing what to do now. If the blonde chick hadn't grabbed her and pulled her into a nearby tent, she might have stood there looking dumbfounded for hours.

Inside the tent she'd been forced into rested a table surrounded by the woman and two men. One of the men had white hair and a beard that made him look very wise and mature. The other was a young man with dark hair and brown eyes that almost looked black. He must've been the one who was arguing with the female. On the table lay a map of the country covered with red and blue dots, the red symbolizing the dragons and blue likely representing her husband's control since it far outnumbered the red. Next to the map was a picture of Jackie, her husband, her daughter, and her in-laws.

"You said you wouldn't bring her here," the boy was muttering angrily to the old man. "She's endangering everyone here, including my family."

Her? Did he mean . . .? Jackie backed up a little bit, feeling bad. She didn't want to hurt anyone. She'd just wanted to escape.

"Shut up, Skylar," the girl replied angrily, slamming her hand on the table for effect before turning to Jacelyn and smirking the same way she had at their last meeting. "She won't be staying here for more than five minutes."

The boy frowned and crossed his arms, allowing her to speak.

"My name's Jylie," she said, holding her hand out to the runaway and flashing a real smile. "Not Julie. I hate it when people call me that. I'm the Red Dragons' queen and I'm going to be getting you out of here."

Hearing that she was a queen shocked Jackie. Did a rebellion group even use terms of anarchy to refer to their people?

Seeing the look of confusion on the girl's face, Jylie smirked again and explained. "I'm talking about chess. You know. The queen is the powerful one who does all the dirty work for the king. Anyway, ignore what I said. I was trying to sound smart."

"Oh."

"I'm taking you to a more secure location." It looked like she was planning to leave right now without giving Jackie a chance to catch her breathe. "And, on the way if I do anything weird, just ignore it, okay?"

The wife hesitated, staring at the hand Jylie was offering. Where were they going? The glares that boy was shooting her made it obvious that she wasn't trusted or liked. What if they planned to lock her up or torture her or something worse?

Seeing Jackie's doubt, the blonde lowered her hand. "I was in the same boat as you once. Married a crazy man . . . didn't turn into a genocidal maniac until after I'd married him, though. Anyway, it's a long and interesting story that I won't ever be telling you so . . ." She smiled and reached out her hand again. "I'm just asking you to trust me here. I actually . . . see a lot of myself in you."

The moment of silence as Jacelyn tried to decide was interrupted by the crunching sound of approaching trucks and the firing of a gun. John's men had found them and possibly her. Great. Fantastic. Wonderful. All that running and for what?

Jackie glanced behind her, catching a glimpse of the vehicles before Jylie grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the tent. Skylar and the old man, whose name was Captain Abigail, ran to join the people in the camp and help fight the attackers.

"This way!" Jylie ran through a crack in the rocks, pulling her new friend along with her. A few children followed since this was the escape route for everyone. The kids ran past them into a small tunnel under the rocks where they'd be safe from the gun fire and explosions. As soon as the fighting ended, they'd come out and escape to a safer place. Jylie and Jackie, on the other hand, were going in a different direction. They needed to head toward the road. At least, they would be but something was slowing Jacelyn down.

Behind them, Jackie could hear gunshots and some of the rebels yelling out of both anger and pain. It was a sound far worse than nails on a chalk board or a cat's howling. The screams and cries from the men echoed in her ears and she started to break down. Collapsing to her knees, she gripped her ears tightly, trying to block out the noise. For years she'd turned off the news on the television because she wanted to ignore what she husband was doing. She'd wanted to pretend that everything was okay; that nobody was dying or getting shot at. But they were and she hadn't done anything to help.

"Jacelyn!" Jylie's yells sounded muffled, like she was far away or lying face down in snow or something. Jackie didn't respond. She couldn't.

"Oh for . . .!" The blonde grunted in frustration and pulled the runaway wife to her feet. When she'd left her husband, every bone in her body had been broken and she'd been unable to walk for months. This chick had gone on a pleasant little boat ride to escape her man and now she was the one acting weak. "Stupid! You are not going to collapse on me now you annoying little--"

"I'm fine." Jackie snapped out of her daze and pushed her savior away. She was trying to tell herself more than Jylie that everything was okay or at least would be someday. "Let's go. Where are we going?" She straightened and stared at the blonde. "Where are we going!?" she repeated, louder this time.

The quick recovery caught the woman off guard but she wasn't shocked for more than half a second. "One of your husband's trains runs through this forest--" she started to explain.

"Are we going to ride it?"

The woman smirked. "No. We're going under it. It's the last place he'd think to look since his men are probably riding that train right now. The closer we are to that clod and his army, the safer we'll be. It's the last thing he'd expect. Ha!" She laughed, then snapped back into her serious mode. "Let's go."