“You’re the one from the ranch.”
“That’s right boy. Here’s your chance for revenge.”
George felt his anger rising, tried to calm it, but Jenny and the town receded in his mind. All he could think of was his father, and he reached for his pistol.
***
Soldiers filled every road that led toward the river. Rifle fire clattered in the distance, and they were careful never to run in the open for very long. Turning a corner, they found a woman from the town lying face up with her blouse covered in blood. Jenny’s hand rose to her mouth, and as her grandfather pulled her away, she tried to put the thought from her mind that she’d caused that woman’s death. She needed to focus on getting to safety across the river, but she couldn’t find a way, and worse, the sun had retreated leaving only the moon’s light to guide them.
“This isn’t going to work,” the mayor said after they narrowly avoided a patrol by ducking into an empty house. He rubbed his leg, grimacing in pain, “They’ve got this town locked down. No one is getting east.”
They sat in silence for a couple minutes, trying to figure out their next move.
Then Jenny spoke up, “Well, we know we can’t go east, but what if we go west and then south, and…”
“Cross the river farther down. Good thinking Jenny.”
Her grandfather checked the street, then led them away from the fighting until the town’s buildings thinned and woods filled the landscape. The moon’s light guided them through the trees and across the old highway. As the ground sloped toward the river, Jenny’s spirits rose, but when they reached the bank, everything changed.
“That river must be two hundred feet across right here,” her grandfather said.
“I don’t see any boats,” she sighed.
“It’s alright,” the mayor said, “we’ll just keep going south until we can cross. It’s not the hardest thing…”
“Stay where you are!” a voice called.
“The Texans!” the mayor cried.
Jenny went cold. They were trapped, and she knew what the assemblyman would do to them if they were caught. Without warning, muzzles flashed and bullets slapped the water behind them.
“Into the river!” she cried. “We have to get into the water!”
The mayor and her grandfather looked at her, then leaped from the bank. Jenny followed, feeling the dark water pulling her under. Its chill grip climbed her throat, then over her face, but she kicked and rose back to the surface. Muzzle blasts roared from behind her, gouts of fire lighting the shore. Her clothes were weighing her down and her hands were going numb. She tried to kick and swim to control herself, but the current held her too tightly. Blinking in the muddy water, she tried to find her grandfather and the mayor, but she couldn’t see them in the night. And as she spun into the cold and the dark, exhausted and sinking, she thought that it had all been for nothing, that everyone she cared about was being carried away.
Thank you for reading Fifty Years of Peace: Part 1 of the Abrupt Dissent Series.
Burning Bridges: Part 2 of the Abrupt Dissent Series is available here, and Part 3 will be available in the summer of 2014.
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Fifty Years of Peace (Abrupt Dissent Series) Page 14