Kiamichi Reunion: Book Five of the Kiamichi Survival Series Page 7

  “Let’s head north a little more and see if we can cross that there bridge near Refuge. Surely we’ll find some food in Arkansas.”

  The other man agreed, and at the sounds of the two men walking away, Stevie raised up just a few inches and stared at their backs. The footsteps gradually faded. Helen waited until they could no longer hear any noise at all from the strangers, then stood up.

  Stevie leaned close and whispered, “Two of them. One tall, skinny guy with greasy blonde hair down to his shoulders, in a blue shirt and jeans. The other one was not so tall, but looked really muscular. He had on a hoodie, so I didn’t see his hair. His hoodie was gray, and he was barefoot.”

  “Wow, you’re very observant. Those guys sounded like hicks, but they seemed to know where they are, which is more than we knew. I’d say let’s follow them, but I’d hate to get too close and have them see us.”

  “I agree. That talk about finding ‘wimmin” didn’t sound very good. Our manly disguises probably won’t hold up if anyone gets a close look. So, what do we do now?”

  Helen gestured to the south. “I guess we put some distance between us and those men, and back away a little from the river, then find a spot to make camp. It’ll be dark soon and I don’t want to be too close to the river after the sun goes down. It’s probably a major thoroughfare on both banks for people moving north or south, plus there might be someone with a rowboat or a raft on the river itself. We should try to check it out early in the morning, after we take a close look at the atlas and see where the bridges are around here.”

  “You know, I don’t think we need to carry that whole atlas with us,” Stevie grinned. “We aren’t going to be visiting all fifty states. We could just tear out the pages we need, fold them, and save the trouble of trying to fit that big book in your pack.”

  Helen chuckled. “You’re right. I have a baggie in my pack we can put the pages in so they’ll stay dry. I guess all we need is the Arkansas and Oklahoma maps.”

  “I think we might need Mississippi, too. What will we do if there’s somebody on the bridge stopping people from crossing, or worse, waiting to take our supplies?” Stevie asked.

  “We’ll see what the situation is and won’t worry about what it might be. There could be someone blocking access to the bridge or lying in wait along one of the paths through the woods, ready to ambush any unsuspecting travelers. We’ll take our time and check it out carefully before we show ourselves. If it’s not safe, we’ll fade back into the forest and try some other place to get across that river.” Helen looked determined. “I haven’t come this far to start making mistakes that’ll get us into a bind. We take it slow and we don’t make decisions until we have all the information we can get.”

  ~~~~

  For the next several minutes, Helen moved silently through the woods, searching for a safe place to camp. Stevie followed, barely keeping Helen in sight, and frequently stopping to check behind them. The two women worked together like they’d been a team for years; circumstances and danger had made them both focus completely on their surroundings.

  Helen turned and gestured for Stevie to join her. “I think I found a good spot. Here’s a clearing small enough that it’s not noticeable until you get right up to it, and there’s lots of trees and undergrowth around it to help keep us out of sight. There’s room to sleep, but I doubt anyone could sneak up on us without making noise, especially in the dark.”

  “Looks good to me. How about we dip into our rations tonight, since we’re close to the river, so we don’t have to take any chances on being seen setting or checking traps?” Stevie shrugged. “Do you think it’s safe to have a small fire?”

  Helen frowned, then shook her head. “I don’t want to use up any more of our food unless we have to. I’ll set a few snares, and if we haven’t caught anything in the next hour or so, we’ll have to dip into our supplies.

  “We’ve taken chances having small fires inside barns, but I have a feeling we shouldn’t have one here. I don’t know why, but something tells me we’ve can’t be too careful. The light from a fire can be seen a long way off. I guess we can risk a Dakota hole, once it’s completely dark.”

  “Huh?” Stevie looked puzzled. “What’s a Dakota hole?”

  “Watch and learn, kiddo. This will be a good thing for you to know in case anything happens to me.” Helen glanced around the clearing. “There. First, we’ll scrape back any leaves and such, because we don’t want the fire to get loose. Then,” she paused to grab a gardening trowel from her pack, “we’ll dig a hole.”

  Helen continued explaining as she completed the first hole, then dug a smaller, slanted hole that sloped into the first one. Next, she pulled a few weeds and cleared around her creation a little more.

  “There. When it gets fully dark, we’ll start a small fire in the bigger hole. The smaller hole will serve two purposes: letting air in for the fire and giving us a way to feed small sticks into it. Now, let’s take care of our personal needs. If you need to poop, bury it so it won’t smell. You go first, then you can stand watch while I go.”

  Stevie nodded and stepped out of the clearing and behind a tree, looking around carefully before she unzipped. Helen listened and continuously scanned the area until Stevie returned, then slipped off for her own potty break, returning moments later.

  She grabbed three snares from her pack, then opened a side pocket and selected three small pieces of carrot. Noticing Stevie’s puzzled look, she explained, “I picked a few dehydrated carrots out of the soup packet the other night, so I’d have it for bait. I could use a little dab of peanut butter if I wanted to catch a squirrel, but rabbit sounds better. When I go back to check the snares, you can get the fire going in the hole. You need the practice.”

  Grinning, Helen disappeared into the woods, but came back in less than ten minutes. They sat on the ground near the Dakota hole, and relaxed a little.

  “It’s really quiet, isn’t it? I was just thinking about how it was before,” Stevie reminisced. “There was always noise. Cars, the humming of computers and air conditioners or heaters. Music, television, kids playing. Talking, laughing, and dozens of other sounds that we seldom hear anymore.”

  “Do you miss it? The noise, I mean.”

  “Not really. I do miss hearing music, but most of my friends played it way too loud. I miss the sounds of home, though, like Mom humming while she cooked or Dylan and his friends playing outside. But this is peaceful. I feel like there’s hope for the first time in a long time. I’m thankful I’m with you, He- uh, ‘Harry’. I miss Mom, and I worry about her some, but I tell myself she’s at peace now. I’m sure they killed her, and that’s easier for me to think about than the alternative, that they kept her alive to….” Stevie couldn’t continue.

  Helen patted her shoulder. “I know. I’d be very surprised if she’s still living. It’s sad to think of her as gone, but it’s best to accept that it’s probably true. You can’t go back to check, but maybe we can find out something when we get to Kanichi Springs. I’m sure someone there has a ham radio, and we’ll see what we can find out.”

  Stevie hung her head for a few moments, then swallowed hard. “I know you’re right. There’s nothing I could do to help her then, and nothing I can do now. I’m okay, really.”

  They chatted quietly for about an hour. Stevie noticed that Helen was fiddling with some green sticks. Finally, Helen scooted over to the Dakota hole.

  “I made a grate out of these thick green sticks woven together. It’s what our pot will sit on. Green wood won’t catch fire as quickly as dry wood. It’s just about dark now, so I’ll go see what’s for dinner.”

  Helen went to check the snares. She returned with a plump rabbit, which she used to give Stevie a lesson on skinning and butchering.

  Placing the pieces of the rabbit in a small pot with a little water and some dehydrated onions, she sprinkled a little salt and pepper on them, then put the lid on the pot.

  “It’ll take a little time to stew.”
Helen reached for her pack. “We’d better get settled in before it gets too dark to see. I’ll get our beds laid out, if you’ll gather more small sticks for the fire.”

  Stevie rose and started picking up kindling. By the time she had a decent pile, Helen had their beds ready. Stevie glanced at the two beds with surprise.

  “Why did you put them across the clearing from each other? I’m not complaining; I’m simply curious.”

  Helen grinned. “I guess it just felt like the right thing to do. If we get any uninvited guests in the night, they might not realize at first that there’s two of us. Just a precaution.”

  “Oh. That makes sense. Do you think we should hide our packs, or put them where any thieves will have to make a lot of racket to get them?” Stevie’s eyes searched for a good spot to stash the packs, then she glanced upward and smiled.

  “I have an idea,” she suggested. “Let’s use some of the paracord we have and hang them up in a tree. No, two trees. That way, it’ll be harder for anyone to steal them both.”

  Helen’s teeth gleamed white in the gathering dusk, as she grinned at the girl’s ingenuity. “Excellent idea, but let’s make sure we’re finished with them for the night before we do that.”

  They waited, talking a little, but mostly watching and listening for the sounds of other humans. Helen lifted the lid on the pot and turned the pieces of meat over.

  “The darkness will hide the smoke, and being in a hole will block most of the glow from the flames,” she explained.

  “The heat from the fire creates an updraft, which produces a vacuum in the hole, and draws air through the secondary hole. That makes the fire burn hotter than a fire on the surface would. We’ll just need to keep feeding the twigs in until the food is almost ready. We’ll fill the holes in when we’re through cooking, so anyone who comes along won’t smell the smoke.”

  Stevie grinned. “And if one of us gets up in the night, we won’t step in the hole.”

  After about twenty more minutes, Helen poked at the meat with a fork, then lifted the pot off the fire.

  “It’s done, nice and tender. We’ll need to eat this quickly. The aroma of food will carry on the breeze, and we don’t want to attract attention from any critters, two-legged or otherwise.”

  “What will we do with the liquid it cooked in?” Stevie asked.

  “We’ll share it once it cools down enough. There’ll be some nutrition in that water, and we don’t want to waste it.”

  ~~~~

  The two women settled into their blankets and each lay still, hoping sleep would come. They’d decided that one of them staying awake for a few hours, then waking the other to stand guard, would deprive both of them of getting the rest they needed. Their camp was in as secure a location as they could have found in the woods, and they’d heard no sounds that raised any alarms.

  After eating the entire rabbit and drinking the broth, they cleaned the pot and scooped dirt back into the Dakota hole, extinguishing the faint glow from the dying fire. They’d taken turns going into the woods to relieve themselves, then brushed their teeth.

  The moon provided a dappled light, just enough that they could move around a little. Stevie proved she had a good throwing arm by knotting paracord around a rock and tossing it up over a tree limb. Once they tied off her pack, she repeated the process with Helen’s paracord, lifting the second pack into another tree.

  With the Dakota hole filled and a soft, gusty breeze dispersing the scent of smoke and stewed rabbit, they settled in for the night. Stevie dropped off to sleep first, but Helen’s mind continued to jump from one worry to another.

  What if someone comes in the night? Will one of us wake up? We’re going to run out of food unless we use the snares or catch some fish. I hope I can teach Stevie enough that she can make it somewhere safe if something happens to me. I need to remember to tell her where Kanichi Springs is. Maybe I should give her a letter in case something happens to me, so my family will take her in. No, if she manages to get there, they’ll help her. I hope we don’t run into….

  Helen’s thoughts faded into slumber as her body’s exhaustion finally overpowered her mind’s racing anxiety. She slept deeply, dreaming of her children and grandchildren and the reunion she hoped would take place soon.

  ~~~~

  Helen jerked awake, disoriented for only a few seconds before she realized the hand over her mouth was Stevie’s. The sky showed only a faint tinge of pink in the east, but there was enough light to see Stevie put her finger to her lips and to detect the warning in the girl’s eyes.

  Helen sat up slowly and Stevie leaned to whisper in her ear. “Men. Maybe women. too. At least four, probably more, over to the west. I heard them.”

  Nodding, Helen reached for her rifle, which she had placed close to her pallet. Stevie already held hers, and Helen noted that the young woman had had the presence of mind to shove the Glock into her pocket, as well.

  Straining to hear, Helen caught the sound of voices and people moving through the woods, making little effort to be stealthy. Either they were numerous and well-armed enough to feel confident, or they were inexperienced and ignorant enough that they didn’t know they needed to be careful.

  Gesturing to Stevie, Helen crouched and crept silently closer to a cluster of trees near to the unknown group of travelers. Stevie joined her, and they peeked through the forest, trying to catch a glimpse of movement in the distance. It sounded like the group was only twenty or so yards away, moving south.

  Minutes passed, and the sounds faded away. Helen and Stevie stared toward the south for a long time, barely daring to breathe. Finally, Helen opened her mouth, took a huge breath, and shook her head.

  “Wow. That was close,” she murmured. “And that changes our plans.”

  “What? I don’t understand.” Stevie looked confused.

  “Those men yesterday went north. This group went south. To avoid them both, we need to figure out a new strategy. We wouldn’t want to catch up to either the two men or these folks. They might be perfectly decent people, but there’s no way to know without placing ourselves at risk.”

  “Oh, I should have figured that out. I guess I’m not thinking clearly yet. They startled me from a dream, and I didn’t know where I was for a few minutes. Yeah, I see the problem now. Maybe we should take a look at the atlas, then go check out the situation at the river. Maybe we could build a raft or ‘borrow’ a canoe or something. We have to get across the river, and it looks like there are too many people traveling along it to even hope the bridges will be safe.”

  “You were thinking clearly enough to grab your weapons and keep me quiet when you woke me. You didn’t need to think any further ahead than that at the time. You did well, Steve.”

  Helen jerked her head toward their beds. “Let’s gather our things and be ready to move, then we’ll check the atlas and figure out what to do.”

  Chapter Eleven

  January 4, near the Mississippi River

  “You know, we do need the map of Mississippi after all.” Helen glanced at Stevie and frowned a little. “You were right about not needing the whole atlas, and with people moving along the banks of the river, we might be in this state a little longer. I’m glad I didn’t throw it away already. It won’t hurt much to take two extra pages in that baggie.”

  “Yeah, but I sure hope we don’t need them. Once we get across the river, the hard part should be over. At least, I keep telling myself that. We haven’t had any major problems so far, and I guess I’m being negative, but I have a feeling it won’t last.”

  “You’re not being negative; you’re being realistic. Now, let’s sneak over and take a look at that big muddy river.” Adjusting the straps of her pack to a more comfortable position, Helen shrugged. “I truly don’t have a plan to cross the river. Until we know how wide it is and how fast the water is moving, we can’t really decide.

  “Let’s spread out a little, and approach very slowly. I’m not at all familiar with the river along
here.”

  Stevie nodded, and they crept out of their little clearing. Helen angled to the southwest until they were about twenty yards apart. Both women moved as quietly as possible, approaching the river’s edge and catching occasional glimpses of each other through the trees.

  Stevie reached the bank first and glanced over to see where Helen was. She spotted her head, sticking out of the trees, then her hand, frantically waving for her to get back.

  Without hesitation, Stevie stepped back, turned, and darted toward cover. After checking her surroundings, she began to slowly and silently make her way toward Helen’s position.

  She heard Helen before she saw her. Helen stood with her rifle at the ready, speaking to someone out of Stevie’s line of sight. Pulling her own rifle into position, Stevie crept around through the trees, staying low, until she could see who Helen was speaking to.

  It was a man with a beard, and long hair tied back with a string. He seemed surprisingly clean compared to others they’d seen, and he held both hands in the air, not so much like he was surrendering, but as though he was trying to reassure Helen that he meant no harm.

  Stevie brought the rifle up and made her presence known. “Mister, you better not try anything. If she doesn’t get you, I will.” Then she strode toward them.

  The man didn’t seem at all surprised to see her. She glared at him, and he nodded, trying to hold back a grin.

  “Hello, there,” he said softly. “I saw your friend here wave you off, so I was expecting you. You’re pretty good at moving through the woods. I only heard you once.”

  “Once is one time too many. I’ll work on that,” Stevie stated flatly.

  “Steve, I think this man isn’t a danger to us, but let’s reserve final judgment for a while. Look at him and tell me what you see.”