Woman Overboard

Chapter 16 : Navy (3)

Danielle

September 1st, 1820

(11:12 AM)

Danielle didn't like the mud, but Reece wouldn't let her take it off.

He said she had to wear it or else her skin would burn even worse than it already had. She asked why he and Nia didn't have to use it, but he only waved her away and went on walking.

Her feet still hurt but not as unbearably as before. Where Afiba had been leading her crew at a heel-blistering pace, Reece allowed them to meander along and take frequent breaks. Since he and Jamie were sick, they needed the rest.

However, none of them wanted to stay in the poisonous forest any longer than they had to, so they tried to keep moving.

In her head, Danielle couldn't stop replaying the last time she saw her mother. Dani had been watching from yards away, peeking out from behind a tree as Reece embraced Aless and she hugged him back. She had been seized by the urge to sprint forward and spring into her mother's arms.

She regretted listening to her brain instead of her heart. What if she never saw Mother again? What if that was her last chance to hug her?

Well, it was too late now.

"Hey, anybody getting' hungry?" Nia asked, jolting her out of her thoughts. The pain in her feet and skin came back with renewed vigor as reality settled around her again.

Jamie stumbled over a tree root, reaching out for a tree to break his fall. "Uh, yeah, a little," he answered.

Reece reached back to help him. "I could eat," he answered, choosing a stick from the ground for Jamie to use as a crutch. The boy gratefully accepted. "How's about you, Dani?"

In reality, she could have eaten a team of oxen. "I suppose," she said with a shrug.

"Alright," Nia said. "We'll stop in a min' or two-- wait." She held out a hand to stop Danielle from moving forward and used the other to put a finger to her lips.

Startled into silence, Dani watched Nia survey their surroundings with the alertness of a guard dog.

"Hide!" she hissed suddenly. "Under the bushes, go, go!"

Danielle was about to ask why when Reece swept her away from the ground with one arm. He flung her over to Nia who had already hit the ground. She pulled Dani under a prickly tangle of underbrush, clamping a palm over her mouth.

There wasn't much room under there, but she and Nia slid back even farther to make room for Jamie and Reece. Nia frantically scraped leaves in front of the opening where they came in. Dani could feel her heart racing where her chest overlapped Dani's back.

She squinted past the leaves, trying to see what Nia was so freaked out about. "Nia--?"

"Shh!"

Danielle heard the crackling of sticks and leaves under walking feet. She froze, letting Nia draw her closer. The footsteps grew louder but still sounded a safe distance away.

" . . . hope they did," she heard a deep voice say. "I'll be damned if this was all for nothing."

"Eh, the flare should be enough," replied a more gruff voice. "If not, it'll be their fault instead of ours. Don't worry about it, Johnson. They'll call us heroes when we get home."

"If we get home."

Reece caught Nia's eye and mouthed, navy?

She replied with a nod, mouthing back, The King James.

Danielle didn't know what that meant, but she felt more uneasy with every step these people took toward them. Running in the other direction seemed like the best plan to her, but when she opened her mouth to suggest it, she remembered Nia's hand blocking her mouth.

A new voice joined the conversation. "But the militia's after them, right?" it asked. "We shouldn't have to fight?"

The gruff voice replied, "That would be correct, Hopkins, but you can never be sure with these militia folk. They do what they feel like, you know? They aren't trained army men like you and I."

Danielle could feel Nia shaking beside her. As the men drew nearer, she made her breathing shallower. Dani tried to follow suit, but her breaths came out in ragged puffs anyway. She curled up right against Nia, something she wouldn't have normally done because first, she hardly knew Nia, and second because the ground was scratchy and dirty. But right now, she didn't care. Nia seemed to understand. When Dani tucked her head into her neck, Nia just draped her arms over Dani and let her hide.

"That's true," added Johnson. They sounded too close for comfort, now. "They're farmers, the lot of them are. I'd be surprised if they didn't fight with pitch forks and rakes!"

This drew a couple dry chuckles from the pack. Danielle could hear something rumbling along behind them, making the same chopping and groaning noises that the food boat had made when snaking through the narrow paths of the forest. She supposed it was their own provision mechanism. Whatever it was, it made her even more anxious than before. She imagined it as a giant wagon, ready to mow her down if she made the slightest sound.

Soon, the sounds seemed to be right on top of them. Danielle stopped listening to the conversation and instead focused on holding her breath. It seemed to take forever for the noise to fade. And even when it did, Danielle couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to stay still. How did she know that the world outside these bushes wouldn't be filled with danger at every turn? She didn't, so she stayed curled up against Nia for as long as she could until the woman finally had to drag her back into the sunlight.