Kristi rested on her back and observed the stars. The doused fire only had a few embers pulsing from beneath the ash; they would soon be extinguished when they ran out of fuel and oxygen.
She located the Big Dipper and the North Star, then traced out Orion and Pegasus with her eyes. Next, she located Cygnus, the swan. Cygnus was her favorite constellation, probably because she loved the myth of Cygnus.
A long time ago, two heavenly friends, Cygnus and Phaeton, challenged each other to a race around the world. The two friends ran too close to the sun, burned, and fell to the Earth. Phaeton was trapped underneath the roots of a tree at the bottom of a deep river. Knowing Phaeton would drown if he weren’t rescued soon, Cygnus pleaded with Zeus to help him save Phaeton. Zeus offered to transform Cygnus into a swan so that he could save Phaeton; however, if Cygnus was turned into a swan, he would lose his immortality. Cygnus agreed to this bargain and Zeus placed Cygnus the swan in the night sky as a reward for his selfless act.
Ever so slowly, Kristi’s eyelids began to droop from exhaustion and she pushed herself up to go inside the tent when something moved out of the corner of her eye.
She froze, unsure whether an animal or a person caused the movement. Then she heard something rustle among the tall prairie grass and scanned the surrounding area with the eyes of a hawk. She saw nothing. After waiting for another ten minutes with no threat presenting itself, Kristi finally allowed herself to believe that she had imagined the sound and movement.
She quietly slipped into her sleeping bag and prepared for another bout of nightmares.
Teeth ripped into her arm. An animal was attacking Kristi. She was in a jungle and had been ambushed by a lion, which didn’t make sense since lions don’t live in jungles.
“This is just a dream,” she said.
The pain in her arm convinced her otherwise.
Huge moths swarmed around her, attracted to the blood spurting from her wound. They landed on Kristi’s arm and started licking her blood with fuzzy feelers. She squirmed, but the paw of the lion pinned her in place. Then, before her eyes, the moths started morphing into bats with golden eyes. They chittered and clicked.
“Wake up, Kristi!” she commanded herself.
She closed her eyes, counted to ten and reopened them. She was still in a jungle surrounded by a swarm of bloodthirsty bats and a lion.
A nearby plant reached out its tendrils towards her. The tendrils caressed her so lightly she didn’t even feel them until they suddenly tightened around her body. Kristi felt woozy from blood loss and her pathetic attempts to free herself from the vines were next to useless.
Other plants extended their roots and vines from overhead dropped and started to cocoon her. Soon, she became enveloped in a layer of plants. Each breath she took was a struggle and she had to fight for the shallowest gasp. She was suffocating.
Spots danced in her vision.
She was falling,
falling,
falling.
“Ah!” Kristi jolted awake.
She trembled all over and couldn’t stop the shivers that racked her body. That was one of the worst nightmares she’d had so far. She could usually wake herself up from a nightmare if she was aware of it, but for some reason, she hadn’t been able to do so this time.
“Are you alright?” Troop poked his head inside the tent. “I thought I heard you yell.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Just a nightmare.”
Kristi let out an involuntary shudder and massaged her right arm, which was feeling sore. “Where are Jaiden and Chelsa?”
“They went to get more water. Hopefully it won’t take them as long as last time.”
Kristi yanked a brush through her tangled hair and tied it back into a ponytail. Then she swirled some liquid toothpaste around in her mouth, cringing at the artificially minty flavor and spat it out behind a shrub. Morning rituals taken care of, Kristi disassembled the tent, which was something she could do.
Taking the tent apart is a heck of a lot easier than putting it together, she thought.
They ate a hasty breakfast and were back in the saddle again. Jaiden instinctively steered his mount beside Chelsa and the two intertwined their hands between them; Kristi swallowed down a small lump in her throat. She couldn’t help but feel a bit cast aside from the original trio.
Ghost, as if sensing her distress, turned around from his perch behind Chelsa and gave Kristi a look that read, “What did you expect? Hot guy meets badass girl. It’s a recipe for romance.”
“Your hair is dark brown,” Troop said, breaking Kristi out of her thoughts.
“What did you just say?” She wasn’t sure if she heard Troop right.
Troop motioned towards her hair. “Your hair is dark brown, not chestnut.”
My hair must’ve started to grow out if my natural hair color is showing at the roots. “Yeah. I might have to re-dye it soon.”
“I like your hair dark brown. It matches your personality more.”
“You haven’t even known me for a week and you’re already judging my personality. And it’s up to me to decide whether I re-dye my hair or not.”
There must’ve been a bite to her tone because Troop pretended to shield himself from her verbal attack. “Whoa, no need to get all fired up.”
Kristi made an exasperated sound and moved Flurry into a slightly faster speed to get ahead of Troop. To her aggravation, Troop didn’t seem to get the message she wanted to get away from him because he followed close behind.
“Have you ever heard of personal space?” she said out of the corner of her mouth.
“Have you heard of being friendly?”
“Just leave me alone, will you?”
“You’re upset that Chelsa and Jaiden aren’t including you now that they’ve both been hit by Cupid’s arrows, aren’t you?”
“I’m upset because a certain twerp won’t leave me alone!” Kristi exclaimed a little too loudly.
Jaiden turned around and looked back at them. “Is everything alright? Kristi, I hope you’re not arguing with Troop again.”
“He’s the one that started the argument,” Kristi said under her breath, but Jaiden heard it anyways.
“Be nice,” he reprimanded her, then turned around once more to talk to Chelsa.
Don’t tell me what to do, Kristi bitterly thought to herself.
chapter twenty-seven
“To be honest, I’m surprised the government hasn’t tracked you down yet,” Troop said.
“Why? Do you want us to get caught?” Kristi asked.
“No. I’m just surprised that there has been no sign of the government searching for you if you guys are wanted.”
“What about the posters? Or the news-screens?” She challenged. “And we also almost got caught by the Homeland Security Helicopters before you joined us.”
“Fair enough,” Troop said. “But I’ve seen what the government is capable of when they’re hunting someone down. It’s almost as if the government is allowing you to escape from them.”
Kristi shook her head in disbelief. “Why would they do that?”
“You’re right. My theory doesn’t make sense. I guess I’m over thinking matters.”
Kristi squinted off into the distance about a hundred ahead. There seemed to be something big lying on the side of the road. “Chelsa, what’s that object up ahead?”
“Seems like some sort of vehicle that’s been turned over.”
As they neared the vehicle, Kristi could make out that it was an overturned merchant’s truck. The truck’s windows were shattered and the inside looked like it had been ransacked. There was no doubt this was bandit work. She didn’t want to think about what happened to the poor driver.