Shattered Trail

Chapter Sixteen

Just a note for this chapter: In this chapter, Antonia and all the others meet some characters who they define as “not normal” and “frightening”. These are not MY views on these people, I'm just making my characters have the general attitude towards these people that most had back in 1848.

Thanks! :)

Several days pass, and most of my waking moments are filled with things to do- a nice break from dwelling on what happened with Tobias. But the worst parts of my day are when I'm laying underneath the wagon, waiting for sleep to capture me. All I can think about then is how much I want to just get to Oregon, and escape from these people. And, of course, there's always the worry in the back of my mind that I might be let go of my job. But no, Samuel promised me that he personally would make sure I got to Oregon. And all I can do is pray that he meant that.

We've been traveling for nearly a month now, and I can notice a difference in myself. I'm quite a bit stronger. My whole body seems a bit firmer, and I get less out of breath climbing up hills and carrying the water buckets. This journey may be the key to getting a nice figure again after having Ada.

We haven't seen another soul for several days, and we're all feeling a bit lonely after visiting the fort and talking to other people besides the eleven of us. Abner seems to be the only one who isn't affected- “I'm used to it, girlie,” he replied when I asked him. “I've been doing this for so long, I don't even notice how lonely I am.”

Samuel and I haven't talked for a while, not since he told me the Tobias-oxen situation wasn't my fault. To be truthful, I'm a bit embarrassed to be around him now- I don't want him to think I'm just a weak girl. But he did see me crying, curled up in a ball on the ground- what else should he think?

I absently straighten a pin in my hair as I trudge forward on the muddy path. My boots are completely covered in mud, so much that I can barely see the boots themselves anymore- but they're held up surprisingly well. I do have another pair, once these wear out- but hopefully I won't need them for quite some time.

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Maudie clings to my hand as she slips a bit, and I notice then that she's lost a bit of weight, too. She's not nearly as pudgy, and her cheeks have lost quite a bit of their plumpness. She's been walking more, as long as I hold her hand, and I've been feeling the relief in my arms.

The sun is starting to get a bit lower in the horizon, and I can tell that we'll be stopping to set up camp soon. Maudie pull on my hand. “Hungry,” she pouts, barely audible.

“We'll eat supper soon, dear,” I promise, and her whole face lights up at the thought of eating.

Suddenly, Liza leaps out of her wagon, where she was resting. “Poppa says we'll be stopping soon,” she tells me. “I'm glad. I feel more exhausted today than usual.”

“Are you feeling all right?” I respond, but I'm not really concerned. Every single one of us has one day, about every two weeks or so, where we feel like we just physically can't move. Abner is the only one of us who hasn't- he calls it “toughing it out.”

“I haven't walked any less than six miles a day in over fifteen years,” he bragged one morning over breakfast. “Even Easter Sunday, Christ's birthday, the like. I tough it out- I do.”

“I'm fine,” Liza sighs, and we plod on silently for several more minutes, until the wagons begin to pull off the well-worn trail and into the tall prairie grasses.

“Thank goodness!” Liza exclaims when they finally roll to a stop. “I was beginning to think I was going to collapse any moment!”

Abner pokes his head out from the front of the Reed's wagon. “Have you considered toughing it out, Miss Chester?” he calls, and the serious look on his face makes both Liza and I collapse into giggles. Abner pretends to look stern, but I can see a hint of a sparkle in his eye, as well. As we laugh, for a moment, I let myself pretend that, just for once, I'm a normal young woman- not one on a desperate cross-country journey to find her her most prized possession- her own flesh and blood. A possession she never should have lost in the first place.