Woman Overboard

Chapter 15 : Tired (2)

Jaiye

August 31st, 1820

(11:53 AM)

Jaiye hated everything about this.

He hated the scent of mud and the haze of steam around him. He hated the pressure of his brother's arm around his shoulder as he struggled to stay upright. He hated the sound of sticks and leaves crackling under dozens of weary feet, the feeling of walking on busted blisters.

It seemed like Afiba would never let them stop. "It's only been a couple hours!" she would yell if anyone asked for a break.

True, they had only been walking for two and half hours, but they were long, scorching hours. The forest grew sporadically denser at times, only to open up in a canopy of searing sunlight the next moment. Many of Aless's men already sported cherry red sunburns on their faces and arms and had taken to smearing mud on themselves to combat the sun.

Jaiye could feel his own face heating up, even if he wasn't going to burn. He and Reece had shucked their shirts hours ago, but he still felt like the sun was wrapping him in a thick, wooly blanket and sticking him in a furnace to sleep.

Reece and Jamie marked the first sick men of the hike. Abigail took their illness as a harbinger of the future and began warning everyone about drinking water and resting and staying in the shade -- only, they couldn't.

Reece stopped to upchuck every few minutes, and his face had blanched to a sickly yellowish brown. He leaned more heavily on Jaiye by the minute as the hungry shadows of illness chewed away at his strength. He was beginning to sap Jaiye's energy as well, but he couldn't very well let go, could he?

He knew Reece needed a break. Jaiye did, too, for that matter. And if Afiba knew what was good for her, she would too.

Right now, the flame of rage was reignited in her. She alone remained zealous and eager to rip through the forest and fight to the death. No one seemed to be moving fast enough for her.

He understood. His gut told him, what are you doing? Go faster! Save them! Only, his body refuted, slow down, or you're going to die, too. Jaiye thought of a string of the mantra Abigail had told him that doctors followed: primum non nocere. First, do no harm. If only Afiba would abide by the same rule.

"Jaiye," Reece rasped. He detached himself from his brother, falling straight into a tree trunk. Bracing himself against it, Reece beckoned him closer. Jaiye stepped aside, letting the others pass him by.

"You a'ight?" he asked. "Ye ain't dyin' or nothin', are ye?"

"No, no." Reece waved his words away. "I just need a rest, is all. Get Afiba for me, kay? Tell'er we gotta stop soon."

"Yea," agreed a voice from behind them. Jaiye turned to see a white boy with a cloth over his head limping toward them. Jaiye couldn't remember his name but recognized him as the young cabin boy from The Elizabeth. "I think I might collapse soon."

He looked like it, too. His face was bright, shiny red with sunburn, coated with a film of sweat. His legs shook underneath him and his lip trembled as he spoke like he might break down in sobs at any moment. He looked so pitiful, Jaiye had a strange urge to hug him.

He didn't. Instead, he nodded and said, "Sorry, but that girl ain't stoppin' anytime soon."

Reece pulled on his shoulder. "Oh, c'mon, Jaiye. She'll listen to you! Jus' ask."

The pack had already pulled a good distance ahead of them and Jaiye was growing apprehensive that they might not be able to catch up. Pedro and Edwin were still behind them, bringing up the rear with the lifeboat full of supplies. Back on The Brookes, Reece and Nia had rigged it up with wheels, but they didn't work very smoothly on the forest's choppy floor. The men ended up dragging it behind them like a stubborn ox in a field.

He pulled Reece's arm back over his shoulder. "Fine," he agreed. "I'll ask 'er, if we e'er catch up to 'em."

So they set off again, Reece walking with his full weight leaned on Jaiye and the cabin boy limping along beside them like a wounded puppy. Reece extended his arm to the boy, letting him lean on it to steady himself.

It took them ten minutes to get back to the pack. Even then, they were trapped in the back row of the crusade, nowhere near their hellbent captain. Jaiye called her name, but she didn't turn around.

After a minute or two of stumbling along behind the others, Jaiye finally took action. He was tired of Afiba shoving their needs aside in place of those who were already lost. He wanted to shake her and remind her that she still had him, still had Reece and all the others who loved her. Was she willing to lose them, even if the sacrifice might be in vain?

He grabbed the arm of the man in front of him. He turned, revealing his identity: Charles, whom Jaiye had known since they were teenagers in the rice fields. "Take him," Jaiye demanded. He shoved his brother toward Charlie, who managed to catch him although Reece's muscles were twice the size of his. Jaiye patted his brother's shoulder and said, "Be righ' back."

Jaiye barrelled his way through the crew, his legs burning from the long walk. "Afiba!" he yelled. "Afi! Don' ignore me!"

After what seemed like an eternity of looking at her sweat-drenched curls from behind, Afiba finally turned to face him. And she did not look happy. She fixed him with a cold, mean stare, stopping in her tracks. The men jumped on the chance to rest and immediately stopped with her, slumping against trees and sinking to the marshy ground.

"What?" Afiba snapped. "Whaddaya want, Jaiye?"

He glared back. "A break," he replied. "Don' ye see, we got people sick already! And I ain't just gonna let ye kill my brother. He needs a rest."

Afiba's eyes widened, flitting from Jaiye to Reece and back again. His heart sped up as she stepped toward him. She radiated hatred and something like madness. He could tell the heat had gotten to her, or maybe she was just drunk with guilt. "What're you sayin'?" she growled.

Jaiye stepped closer, too. He remembered their kiss, that one beautiful moment of contentment before they were thrown once again into this abysmal pandemonium. He wished he could get back there, back to where the world seemed simple and his path was laid out clearly before him.

But, Afiba didn't feel the same. "I'm sayin'," he shot back, "that you ain't doin' nobody no good, the way you's been runnin' things. Dontcha think, Aless? Ain't she killin' us?" He looked to Aless for support, pleading her to back him up with his eyes.

She stepped forward, placing a hesitant hand on Afiba's shoulder. Afiba jumped but didn't push her away. "I think Jaiye is right," Aless said in a soft voice. "We're all tired. I think a break could do you some good, too."

Afiba shrugged away from her hand, glaring at Jaiye as if she hadn't even heard. "Either ye stay with us," she growled, "Or ye go back. Your choice."

She turned on heel, walking at an even more sole-splitting pace than before.