Back To The Roots (REWRITTING)

7: Finding Home

They reached a small dirt driveway that twisted and curved it's way back into the woods and Kyla turned down it. They hadn't been walking down it that long when they reached an orange, rusty, metal gate set between two wooden posts. She didn't really know what the purpose of it was though because there wasn't a fence attached to it so you could easily just walk around it which is what they did. Maybe the point was to keep cars out? However that didn't make much sense either because the driveway ended giving way to more woods just a couple feet past it.

They'd just made it past the gate when they heard a loud neigh behind them. Josiah spun around and started to run towards them smiling from ear to ear. Jen grabbed his arm and immediately pulled him back. It was one thing when they'd been on the other side of the fence but without the fence what was to stop them from trampling her precious little boy?

"Oh no," Kyla said, running her hand through her hair.

"What do we do?" Jen asked, her voice became shaky when the horses walked up to them.

"Well, I could chase them off. But they might just come back... and as big as they are they could attract attention and lead someone right to us...," she said, thinking out loud as she reached up to pet the antsy mare.

Jen looked down at Josiah's pleading eyes then back at Kyla, "And if we take them with us?"

"We can't feed them, but they might be able to find enough on their own," she said with an unsure shrug.

"Would they hurt us? Would they hurt Josiah?" she asked. She was scared of them, but Josiah was totally lost over them, and Kyla seemed perfectly at ease with them.

"No, they're known for their calm gentle nature, perfect for children. If anything they'd become protective of him."

Jen looked down at Josiah again, "I guess it'll be okay if they go with us, besides we don't want them to lead anyone to us do we?" she said, smiling at him.

A huge grin broke out on his face and Jen immediately knew she'd made the right decision. Josiah walked towards them with his mother holding tightly onto his shoulders. She sucked in a breath when the horses lowered their head to him in beautiful unison. He grinned and reached out to pet them both. Kyla and Jen shared a secret smile.

Kyla looked up at the sky and guessed it was probably about midday, "Okay, we really need to get going. We have to find a safe place to sleep for the night."

"Okay, come on Josiah. You can pet them later baby"

"Are you sure they'll follow us?" he asked, looking back at them doubtfully.

"I guess we'll find out won't we." Jen said, scrunching up her nose and smiling at him.

Josiah took his mothers hand and they followed after Kyla. Several times while they were walking Josiah would look back over his shoulder nervously to make sure the horses were coming -not that he really had to as loud as they were- while he was doing he noticed they were ruffling through the leaves and finding grass to eat. He smiled to himself, Kyla was right they'd be able to feed themselves.

They'd been walking for a while when Kyla stopped to give everyone another break. This was their fifth one, and she agreed they needed them but she looked up at the sky nervously and wished they didn't. They needed to find a good campsite before dark and they were starting to get low on time.

"Okay y'all ready," she asked after they'd been sitting for about ten minutes.

"Yeah sure, let me just get Josiah," Jen said, standing up.

"Where'd he go?" Kyla asked, standing up.

She'd been too busy in her own thoughts she hadn't been paying any attention to her surroundings. Now that she looked around she noticed the horses had wandered off too. She wasn't worried about them though, the way they'd been following them they'd definitely be back.