Weayaya: The Sunset Woman

Chapter 15

Yvonne
1868?

The wagons went as fast as the animals could take them. The sound of shouting men and women filled the prairie as we rode to try and escape. The people fear Indians, that was plainly seen, but I wasn't sure if they were all that scary.

As my mind wandered and the wagons surged forward,  I could see people following us.

I knew what I heard the previous night were human sounds, and Gideon kept the gun beside him for a reason. He said he had book knowledge...that he knew stuff, and we needed it for a reason.

I could barely remember the history lessons I had learned in school regarding the West, and regarding Native Americans.

"Indians!" A voice shouted from nearby.

Then, gunfire.

More shouting, screams, and gunfire.

The wagon hit a large bump and I felt my body fly against the backboard that was like a trunk door on a car. I cried out but took a deep breath. As I looked out, I saw that the group seemed to have seven men on horseback, riding after us...after the wagon train.

My eyes caught those of one of the men.

His features were angular, his skin was tanned by the sun, his hair was dark and long. His eyes were like charcoal.

He was Native...they were all native. Some had paint on them, some had on what seemed like normal clothes.

The shrill scream from the wagon running next to us yanked my attention away from them.

My head turned as arrows flew into the wagon.

I saw the man driving it filled with arrows. The wagon began to veer off and the woman jumped from it...just before it crashed and rolled. The woman who had been running... was crushed as the wagon rolled over her. Her body was limp and the wagon sat overturned. The animals were free.

"Yvonne!" Nettie pulled me back into the wagon. "Stay in! Stay down!" She held my body down and we latched onto each other as more screams and shouts filled the morning. The wagon kept rushing forward. Screams and shouts and gunfire. From our position, I could see Gideon firing occasionally, but he was more focused on escape.

His eyes locked with mine...only for a moment...before he took another shot at the men on horseback.

Just then, an arrow whizzed past our heads and stuck in the corner of the wagon. Nettie screamed. I managed to crawl over and escape Nettie's hands. I removed the arrow from the wood and threw it out of the back of the wagon.

My eyes again met with the man from before. His eyes seemed like a memory.

Suddenly, the wagon again hit something in the ground and it threw me and the others in the air. I shrieked as my body fell back onto the wood. The back of the wagon flew open and Nettie grabbed my dress to keep me from falling out.

"Evie!" She screamed, grabbing onto me. "Hang on!"

I yowled as an arrow flew past me, narrowly missing Nettie. "Nettie! Help!" I couldn't contain myself.

My eyes saw the fast pace of the wheels...and everything they crushed under them.

I was petrified, but I realized the wagons back wooden bar had protect us from arrows. That's why Nettie said to stay down.

Another arrow whizzed by me and narrowly hit Nettie.

Her mother yelled, covering her two younger children.

"Damnit!" Gideon cursed.

I reached out to try and grab onto the back of the wagon, to try and close it and protect everyone inside...but I couldn't reach.

At that moment, Jim took a sharp turn and the wagon barely managed to keep steady.

Nettie and the others in the wagon slammed to one side. They all cried out in fear and pain. Nettie released my dress and my body flung forward. I fell from the wagon, but somehow managed to grab onto the top of the wooden backboard that acted like a trunk. Arrows littered it and I could barely hold on, but I gripped onto it as the wagon continued to go as fast as it could.

My feet weren't touching the ground and my body swung like a rag doll in a child's arms.

"Help me!" I cried, "help!" I tried to pull myself up but to no avail...even swinging my body was worthless.

"Evie!" Nettie shrieked as she came back to her sense and  reached out to try and help me back into the wagon.

She couldn't reach me well and tried to grab onto the wood to pull it closed and then pull me in.

"Hang on!" She called.

Her mother dragged her back in the wagon. She screamed and thrashed, but her mother didn't move. Muriel stared at me hanging on for dear life, trying not to fall from the wagon.

"Muriel!" I cried out, "help me!"

She look coldly at me and then looked out at the men on horseback. She leaned out a bit and hit my fingers and I gripped on.

"What are you doing!?" I yelled, "stop it!" I was loosing my grip.

"Go!" She beat my fingers, "get away!" She hit them again.

"No!" Nettie cried, "Ma!" She tried to pull her back in the wagon, but it was in vain.

She yanked the backboard thing and my fingers slipped.

I shrieked the loudest I've ever shrieked as my body flung backward onto the ground.

"No! Evie!" Nettie yowled as the wagon rolled away. "Pa! Stop! Evie fell!" I heard.

"Can't stop Nettie! I'm sorry!" He continued on.

"What?!" I heard Gideon shout, "Yvonne!" He cried, but his voice was far away.

Their voices were all far away.

My head and heart pounded as I laid flat on the ground. The sun beat down on me.

The sound of hooves surrounded me, closer than the voices of the Hayes family.

My mind clouded as I stared upward mindlessly, the pain in my head and heart enlarging and my consciousness failing.

I heard voices, and then some hooves disappeared, going far far away.

I could still hear the sounds of a horse...and then a man.

He stood above me, staring for a moment.

Blackness over took me as the man stood above...reaching out to me.

His face seemed familiar.