Chapter 3

Zelda came up out of the restless nap with a certainty something was not quite right. She and the Indian girl were sitting back to back so they wouldn't be attacked from behind. The Indian girl was still breathing deep and regular in a sound sleep so their plan to alternate watches didn't have much success at all.

She held the sharpened spear across her naked lap with the pointy end up at an angle. It looked like Running Eagle had dropped her hastily made weapon into the soft loam under their feet in the tangled brush. It had to be nightfall because the normally dark hiding place was even blacker than during the day. She could hear the sound of the running water a short distance away and regretted that she had decided against crossing the barrier and continuing their flight away from their pursuers. It was a confused moment when she started to second-guess her plan to ambush the lead pursuer and get his weapon to make the struggle a bit more evenly-matched and not the one-sided affair that had already sealed the doom of the other girls who had scrambled to get away from the hunters.

Even though she was young and immature, she had faced-down the harsh reality of a hard, cruel world and still was fighting to win out in the end. She had faced the ugly truth face down on the pool table in Desmond and Deshawn's clubhouse and learned a valuable lesson about never trusting unknown forces and retaining her dignity no matter how desperate the situation around her.

"Click ... click!"

She peered into the darkness knowing that was the sound that had awakened her from her much-needed snooze. It was faint and barely distinguishable with the sound of the water from below.

There was a slight movement directly to her front less than ten paces away. Either an animal or a two-legged human was slowly moving forward in the darkness. Her money was on the latter because the sound she heard sounded suspiciously like a rifle strap dragging on the ground. It was far too late to try to rouse the Indian girl because the shadowy form was so close now her only chance was to try a quick thrust with her spear and hope she hit a vital organ putting an end to any confrontation where she would be certain to be at a disadvantage with only a spear as a weapon.

Both of the girls were completely covered in the mud from the riverbank and only her eyes reflecting light would give her away. Fortunately, no light was in evidence as it was shortly after midnight and even the moon was unable to penetrate into the burrow hideout.

She could hear labored breathing now.

The hunter must be aware that he was close to his quarry because he was moving even slower now barely crawling in the soft dirt. It must have been his sixth sense that some people seem to have more than others and he was on his guard against a sudden appearance. She could see his outline now and when she discerned that he was peering back over his shoulder to make certain he didn't pass the girls in the dark, she lunged forward and planted her spear in the little triangle of white that she was certain was the "V" made by his open top button and gave her a target for her sharpened tip. She felt it hit home and softly enter deep inside hearing only a muffled gurgle as the blood jumped into the hunter's throat to strangle off his cry. He flipped over like a fish caught up by a gaff and his violent movement soon settled into a fetal pose of final rest and absolute quiet.

Running Eagle was awake now and she darted to the front to stick her spear into the hunter's already dead body just to be on the safe side.

They took his rifle and his small pistol along with some belts of ammo. As distasteful as it seemed, they stripped him and divided his clothing to hide their naked bodies after rinsing off the mud from the riverbank. She took the shoes because Running Eagle's soles were a lot harder and better suited to barefoot travel than her soft city heels. Neither of them wanted anything to do with his underwear since he hadn't had a bath for a few days, but she took his military shirt and Running Eagle donned his camouflage trousers and wrapped his scarf around her boobs to keep them from swinging when they had to run. His tiny backpack had good stuff like beef jerky and some first aid things that would make like easier as they moved through the wilderness. She let the Indian girl take the knife because she seemed well-suited to it and handled it with loving touch. Zelda always had a deep-seated fear of big knives ever since seeing a movie that had a bunch of cannibals running around chopping down tourists with their machetes.

Holding the weapons and ammo up over their heads, they waded across the fast-running river without much difficulty and followed the riverbank downstream on the other side because it was easy to navigate without heavy brush.

Before the sun came up the next morning, they had put a good distance between themselves and the pursuers who hopefully had not yet discovered the body of their comrade.

Shortly before mid-day, they came up on a shack of sorts just inside the tree-line with signs of being occupied. Of course, there was no electricity and it looked like the resident had also built an outdoor privy in the woods. Running Eagle warned her they had to be on guard against dogs because they would be able to get their scent with little difficulty if they were downwind. She hadn't thought about that and hoped that whoever it was; they didn't have any dogs for company.