“He probably moved a bit.” Katrina stood up and stretched before walking to the bunk bed.
“Aren’t we going to go out and see?” Mia pressed her face against the glass.
“The sun will be up in three hours. We can go look then. I’m not chasing a wounded animal, who could snap me in half, in the dark.”
“It was a kill shot.” Mia turned to glare at her.
“I’m sure it was,” Katrina yawned. She snuggled in her bed under the warm blankets and quickly fell asleep.
*
The sound of water was everywhere in the early part of spring. Water rushing through the creeks fed by the melting snow and crashing waves as ice fell from the trees. Katrina could almost hear the evaporation of the snow underfoot turning into mud.
She fired up the chainsaw and sliced down a few young aspens. Dreya helped to pull them over to the house until Mia came running out of the forest yelling for her to stop. The girls used the wood to line a garden bed in the sunniest part of the yard. They turned the soil, looking for rocks and roots to dig up.
“We will have to do this again in a few weeks, and we will have to figure out a way to keep the critters out, but it’s a start,” Katrina said as she beat the dirt from her gloves.
“Do you think we could add a room to the cabin?” Dreya said as she unconsciously placed her hand on her stomach. She did that a lot now.
“We can try.” Katrina smiled.
Dreya returned a grateful smile to her friend. “Just a little extra space. Nothing big.”
*
Katrina walked through the woods tagging trees that she would cut down over the summer. They’d need to stock up for the winter again. Once the snow melts, she thought, I’ll see if Tom will loan me a truck so I can bring the rounds back to the cabin.
Maybe he will also know about carpentry. She looked up at the tall pine in front of her. I don’t have the slightest clue how to build an addition to the cabin. The baby is going to need space. My dad would know how to do that.
Katrina sighed as she walked over to the ridge to look over the valley below. I really hope he is okay. And James? Thinking of James ripped at her heart. She touched the fly in her pocket that she always carried. They had to be okay.
The snow in the valley was beginning to subside. Soon they would be able to fish downstream. The ice wasn’t as strong anymore, so they didn’t chance ice fishing. Maybe she would see if Tom knew where a spare fly rod was. She could practice on it.
Katrina used her last strip of material to tag a tree and turned to walk back to the cabin. Between the snow burned pine branches the sun shone through and she felt the warmth on her face. Looking up at the blue sky, she saw a V of black shapes moving across the horizon. Too graceful to be drones, she thought as she squinted to make out what they were. Birds, Katrina smiled. Hope.
Chapter 27
“Someone’s coming.” Mia ran across the valley to where Katrina stood fishing. Katrina stepped away from the rushing creek to listen. An engine, tires crunching dirt roads and rock.
“You think it’s Tom?” Mia whispered.
Katrina shook her head. “He doesn’t know where we are. I never told him.”
“Would Lark come back?”
“I wouldn’t think so.”
“What about your dad?” Mia’s tangled hair had grown long over the winter. It was caked in dirt. She had streaks of wind burnt skin mixed with mud on her face. The girl looked feral, Katrina thought. They probably all did. And like an animal accustomed to the wild, Katrina felt the urge to run.
“Let’s go warn Dreya,” she told the girl. “We can watch to see who it is.”
The two of them ran surefooted through the undergrowth. The flowers would soon bloom. There were bright shoots of new life poking around the melting patches of snow in the shade.
Dreya was in the cabin prepping for dinner. Her waist was just beginning to stick out of her pants, and she had sewn the bottom of a shirt to another in order to cover it.
“We have to go,” Katrina said as she ran inside. Dreya dropped the pan she was getting out and nodded. Mia grabbed the rifles and ammunition.
The girls quickly scampered up the hill on the other side of the creek. From there, they had a clear view of the cabin and road below. A military truck came driving up the switchback.
“Is it them?” Dreya whispered.
“It could be the government,” Mia whispered back. “If they found out we were here. Or Lark coming to get revenge.”
“How do we know?” Dreya lowered herself closer to the ground.
“Just watch and listen.” Katrina stared at the truck with hopeful eyes.
The vehicle crossed the makeshift creek bridge and entered the yard. It pulled to a stop in front of the cabin. Dreya grabbed Katrina’s hand and the girls held their breath as the doors opened.
“It looks like someone is here. There is smoke coming from the chimney.” A strange woman’s voice echoed up the hill as she stepped out of the vehicle.
Katrina bit her lip to hold back the disappointment. Dreya held her hand tighter.
Think. They know where we are. We need to go. Katrina began to slip into planning mode.
Mia positioned the rifle over the rocks to take a shot. “Tell me when,” the girl whispered as she put her eye to the scope.
“Of course she’s here,” Sgt. Major Floyd’s voice boomed out over the mountains. Katrina let out a sigh of relief as she squeezed Dreya’s hand and put her other hand on Mia’s shoulder. “But she won’t be inside now, will she?” He continued to yell. “Come on out sweetheart.”
James and Jayden climbed out of the truck followed by Cpl. Boulder who wrapped his arm around his wife. At the sight of them gathered there in front of the cabin, the girls took off running down the hill.
They slid on the gravel slope and splashed through the creek before coming up into the yard.
“Well look at these wild things,” the Sgt. Major laughed as he held out his arms. The girls ran to him and he scooped all three up in a bear hug.
Dreya broke away and pulled Jayden to the woods. Katrina looked at James leaning against the side of the truck.
“Yeah, yeah. Go hug him too,” her dad grumbled as he let her go.
“Hey,” Katrina said as she walked up to James.
“Hey.” He smiled. The lines of his face were worn and deeper than when he had left. He stood tall, but his eyes held a sadness she had never seen before. James reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear and smiled in the way that quickened her heartbeat. His touch left a lingering electricity on her face.
“Guess what?” Katrina returned his smile as she threw her arms around his neck. “I’m 18 now.” She kissed him hard enough to knock the rest of the world away.
Until Jayden’s happy scream of “Are you serious?” ruined the moment.
“What’s going on?” Sgt. Major Floyd turned toward the trees.
“Dreya’s pregnant,” Mia beamed.
The Sgt. Major ran a hand over his shaved head. “And this,” he said while pointing to his daughter. “This is why you aren’t allowed to have a boyfriend right now.”
Katrina rolled her eyes. “Come inside the cabin Dad. I have a lot to tell you.”
“We do need to have a talk.” Sgt. Major Floyd looked shaken as he glanced over to Dreya and Jayden. He walked up the porch steps and froze at the door. “Want to start with telling me where this mountain lion rug came from?”
“That was me,” Mia called as she jogged up to the cabin.
Katrina’s dad shook his head smiling as he went inside to sit down. He looked over at the shelves of food. “You girls have been doing well.”
“We’ve been supplementing with hunting and fishing,” Katrina said proudly. “We planned to start a garden soon.”
Mia nodded enthusiastically. “And build a smokehouse.”
Sgt. Major Floyd smiled. “Now that sounds like a good idea.”
“Speaking of plans,” Katri
na smiled at James when he entered the cabin and reached out to grab his hand. She didn’t want to let him go. “Want to tell me what the hell was up with yours?”
“What was wrong with my plan?” Her dad leaned back on the couch and put his hands behind his head.
“Making me a huge target in a World War seemed like a good idea to you?” Katrina glared at her father.
“Eh. You’re fine. Don’t be so dramatic.”
“Dad,” Katrina breathed out. “Enough with the sarcasm. This is serious. You put my life in danger.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if there was someone else I could trust and you know that.” Sgt. Major Floyd stood up and added more wood to the stove. “Did you clean the flue?” he asked.
“Don’t change the subject,” Katrina sighed. “What happened to you guys? We’ve been in the dark for months.”
“We pushed them out of Washington and rushed down to Barstow. We managed to hold them back and now they are licking their wounds in Pendleton. The plan is to push them back out to sea.” James laced his fingers through Katrina’s as he spoke.
“And what am I supposed to do with this information I have?” Katrina turned to face her father.
“Keep it,” he said to her. “Don’t tell anyone. Warner let me know how hard you worked, even though he was mad as hell about me sending you.” The Sgt. Major chuckled.
“I was mad too, Dad,” Katrina said. “But I know why you did it.” She sighed as she pulled James over to come sit with her on the couch. “Well what’s the plan now? What do we have to do?” James wrapped his arm around Katrina’s shoulders and pulled her against his chest. She felt the months of tension ease.
Sgt. Major Floyd looked away from his daughter and James as he picked up a book on the table to inspect it. “That part is up to you.”
*
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Project Dandelion: Resistance Page 12