Danger on the Oregon Trail

Chapter 5

Beth climbed down from the wagon. She'd slept well and had awakened earlier than normal. Michael was still asleep underneath the wagon and she hurried into the trees to relieve herself before he woke up.

It was beginning to get light out as she made her way back to the wagon. Her first thought was to let Michael sleep as long as possible since he had probably stayed up late keeping watch, but when she reached him, she realized that his eyes were already open.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She said.

"You didn't," he said, getting to his feet. "I thought I heard-," He stopped, glancing over his shoulder. She had a strange look on her face as she stared off into the distance. In the direction of the other wagons.

It was hard to make out in the dim light of morning, but there seemed to be smoke coming from right about where the other wagons would have camped for the night.

"What the heck?" he muttered, moving around the wagon to get a better view.

"You don't suppose it's just their campfires, do you?"

"That's too much smoke for a campfire, or even several campfires. Something's wrong." He said. "Stay here."

She opened her mouth to object, but he was already grabbing his rifle from under the seat of the wagon and hurrying toward the smoke.

Beth stood there for a moment before picking up her skirts and running after him. "I can't believe he would just leave me behind!" she muttered to herself.

Michael crouched down as he moved closer to the top of the low bluff, ducking behind several low bushes. There were several trees blocking his view as he peeked up over the bushes and he was just about to move to a better position when Beth stumbled to her knees next to him.

"What are you doing here?" he snapped. "I told you to stay with the wagon!"

"I was scared!" she cried. "I didn't want to stay there all by myself!"

"Fine, but stay behind me!"

She followed him into the trees, ducking down behind him whenever he stopped. They reached the tree line and he held his hand out behind him to motion her to stay.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Don't look." He managed. "Go back the way you came, now!"

"Michael, what do you see?"

"Go! Now!" he nearly shouted at her.

She scrambled to her feet and ran back through the trees. She could hear him directly behind her and she didn't stop until she had left the cover of the trees. "What was back there, Michael?" she demanded, stopping so suddenly that he had to grab a hold of her to keep them both from tumbling to the ground.

"You don't want to know. All I have to say is we should get moving right now and hope whoever those men were, they're not still in the area." He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the wagon.

"No!" she jerked away from him. "What did you see? Why aren't you telling me?"

"Beth, you don't want to see it. Let's go!" He turned, thinking she would follow him. It only took a moment for him to realize she was no longer behind him and he turned to see her stomping back towards the woods.

"Beth!" he shouted, running after her. He caught her by the hand once, but she slipped away and he dove after her, twisting to keep her from getting hurt as they tumbled to the ground. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What is it you're not telling me, Michael?" she asked, staring up at him with wide eyes.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "There's nothing left, Beth," he said. "All the wagons are gone; burned."