The Sun Shall Cry Tears

Chapter 2

 We travel through the jungle for most of the day, up and down, over fallen trees, under fallen trees. It was hard for us all but we had to do it. It was either this or die. And I like life. We got to a small river we had to cross. The soldiers were helping where needed. Lena was across in front of me and I was crossing with the help of Doc, he took my hand as he said, "Go easy, doc. Watch your step." I was then passed from Doc to Lake, I think his name was, I think that's what the other soldiers were calling him. Lake took my hand and said to Doc, "I got her." Lake then took the little girl from me and passed her up to another soldier that I don't know the name of. It's slow work but we are getting there. We sit for a bit for everyone to catch up. Lt. Waters comes over and says to Lake, "Lake, on point. Relieve Flea. Let's go." Lake then leaves to do as he's told.

Lt. Waters then asks, "How many kids we got?" The soldier named, Zee, said, "We got two kids, one baby." Lt. Waters then says, "All right, you two, stand up. We're gonna carry some kids. Stand up. Here we go. Come here. You're gonna carry him. Pick the kid up." Lt. Waters asks one of the women, "Ma'am give me the baby, please?" Lt. Waters goes to pass the baby to one of the men, that man being Arthur, when another steps forward and says, "He hasn't spoken since he was 9." Lt. Waters then says, "He doesn't need to know how to speak to carry a baby." Then handed the baby over to Arthur and says, "Carry the baby, sir." When Arthur doesn't, he then says, "Take the baby, sir." He doesn't take the baby. Lt. Waters proceeds to say slowly "I said take the baby." I then walk up to Lt. Waters and take the baby from him. Lt. Waters walks away, I stand there as Arthur approaches me and takes the baby from me, and carries her.

We continue to travel into the night, we are all struggling, we are not used to so much walking plus, we can't see all too well with it being so dark. We are all very tired and I think we all could do with a break. Lena looks at me and says, "We need to stop." I say "I hear you." Lena walks up to where Lt. Waters is helping people across a fallen tree and says, "Lieutenant. We need to stop. Lieutenant!" Lt. Waters says, "I heard you. We can't stop. Behind schedule. Come on." I walk up next to Lena and say, "These people need to rest. and we have a child who needs medication." Lt. Waters just holds out his hand and says, "Let's go. Let's go, doctors." Lena and I just look at him, Lena takes his hand and climbs over the tree. He then reaches his hand out to me; I look ahead and climb the tree with no help. If he's gonna be an asshole then I can be a bitch.

I keep walking, and as I reach the man, whom I still don't know the name of, he stops me and says, "Ma'am, we gonna take 30." I nod in thanks and keep walking. We then all sit down and take a break. Lena and I make rounds to check that everyone is ok. A child begins to cry which I know means the little girl is getting her medication. All of a sudden, Lt. Waters grabs our attention and says "Dr. Kendricks, Dr. Beckett, come with me, right away. come here." We quickly follow him away from everyone as he says, "There's danger on the trail. You must do everything you can to-- Listen to me! You must do everything you can to keep that baby quiet, you understand me? Whatever it takes. Go now." We then rush over to the baby to try and calm her. They move us along to keep us out of the way of the danger that is nearby. We get herded into a small clearing; I sit on the ground right up at the edge of the bushes.

One of the soldiers is lying right in front of me but I can't see who it is in the dark. They then tilt their head back towards us and I notice it's Red. He very quietly says "Shhh" to us, and we both make eye contact. I don't know if he notices that I'm scared but I am, I'm petrified. He then tilts his head forward to watch for the danger. We all sit as quietly as we can, waiting. We can hear the movement and can hear the people talking but I can't see anything. The little girl started to make a noise, and we all looked over to see Arthur cover her mouth to keep her quiet. We keep sitting, waiting until finally, the soldiers gave us the all-clear, that whoever that was, is away. Lena stood up and all of a sudden, a man walked by. Luckily, Lt. Waters covered his mouth before he could alert the others and killed him. We continue with our little break, Lena and myself doing our rounds.