Taken

Chapter 13

Beef and I seemed to have the collective idea of taking turns to watch over Dana the entire night just to make sure she was safe. One could never be too careful.

The morning was spent in quiet conversation as we walked along the river like routine. It had been three days since Dana's cougar joined our group of survivors. The two seemed to work as a team now. They would leave us halfway through the morning, and come back just after midday with a large tow of killed game or other edible foods for the group.

The girls had started to look less pale and sickly with the abundance of food. Even Felicity looked much less boney. I didn't think I could see her ribs so easily anymore. The energy from the group increased as well. They began to feel excited for what Dana and her cougar would bring back that day and how they could roast it.

I could hardly think about what we did before the cougar showed up.

Today, Dana was in the front with us again with the cougar by her side. Every now and then she would brush her fingers against its neck in comfort. The cougar would purr or raise its shoulders to press against her hand as she did so, oddly reminding me of a house cat. The thought made me chuckle again, earning another glare from Beef.

"You and your damn chuckling..." she grumbled. However much she tried to hide it, I could have sworn I saw a hint of a smile on her lips. Maybe my giggles was just that infectious.

The river was growing wider day by day and I was starting to get an irrational fear of the unknown variables that would come from it. Wider rivers meant stronger currents and it would be next to impossible to help someone if they fell in the steadily growing rapids and deeper banks on our side.

Today, the river decided to weave back and forth like a snake and at one point during midday we reached a new challenge.

The river was split in three sections and if we wanted to continue, we'd have to cross the perpendicular split off section in order to continue north. I looked at the water as a pinch of fear started to clamp onto my heart. Maybe that's why I was growing so uneasy. Our travels had started to become easier ever since Dana's cougar solved our greatest problem.  The lack of fear in the others was making me anxious. And now, here was our latest challenge- laughing at us because we relaxed before we reached the edge of the woods- literally.

Dana looked back at me concerned. "Are we going to cross Nibs? What do we do?" She asked. Others started to follow her stare and looked to both Beef and I with a growing fear.

Beef held up her hand to silence the crowd. She and I set our younger girls down from our backs and made our way to the waters edge next to the split off point. Beef crouched down on the rocky surface, reaching deep down to touch the water. Her hand tested the current for a moment before she grabbed a rather large rock and threw it in towards the middle of the river, watching it plop out of sight.

"It's way too deep to wade in. See there?" She pointed out to the section where the ripple of the rock plopped and I nodded. We looked at each other trying to decide what to do before turning and looking at our surroundings for other options.

The river split off section went as far west as I could see but was quickly enveloped in the trees out of sight. There were no large rocks to help with the crossing this time either. I sighed and stuck my hands in my worn dirty pockets.

Was this really where our trek would end? Was this as far as we could go? No safety in Hope's promise, merely a river junction with no hint of civilization in sight besides three large mountain caps in the far distance?