Surrender

Ethan James' POV

 Ethan James' POV:

  I hear murmurings so I decide to keep my eyes shut and pretend to be asleep. I try to hear what they're saying, when I finally catch some of the conversation.

" ... and also Ethan's father."

I finally decided to open my eyes because I was starting to get hungry. Also, I was afraid that Carlton and Alfred would realize that I was awake and that I was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Where am I?" I asked, which was actually a question that was going through my mind.

I seem to have startled them but Alfred quickly recovered and said, "We are currently at a station."

"A station?" I asked, confused as to how my surroundings definitely did not look like a station. Instead it looked like a small church.

Carlton must've noticed my confusion as he whispered, "We're using the path of the Underground Railroad."

Now, it made sense of how this place was a station. But then I tried to remember why I was here. I was bringing Carlton with me to treat my mother, but then why are we here? I quickly started to get up but Carlton said, "Where do you think you're going? You still need your rest."

"No, my mother needs attention more than I do. So please Carlton, let's get to my house as fast as we can so that we can treat her," I said, but when I looked at Carlton, his face was full of sorrow.

Then it hit me with full force. My mother, and my only sister killed. I started to feel dizzy as all went black once again.

When I woke up, I was woken up by hard pushing.

"Hurry up, we need to go now," was all that I heard.

Gunshots. I finally opened up my eyes to see Alfred fall to the ground with a wound on his chest. He didn't even scream, he only looked to me and smiled.

I was about to scream, when my mouth was blocked by a hand. I looked up to see Carlton's eyes full of fear as he looked to me. His eyes told me everything as I realized: the Confederates discovered this station.

He started pulling on my arm so that I would get up to run. I didn't really need any encouragement as fear was a plentiful source of energy, as I started running as fast as I could out the back door while pulling Carlton along. I looked back, which was a big mistake. I looked to see Edwin's frozen, pleading face as it was lying on the floor detached from his body.

I felt sick, but Carlton pushed me which brought me back to my main purpose: Escaping alive.

Carlton got on his horse, as he pulled me behind him. He quietly said, "Giddy Up", as the horse started to trot. He started to, wait why is he talking to a horse? I would have laughed at Carlton's way of communicating with horses, but when I heard gunshots behind us, my laughter died inside my throat. But surprisingly enough, the horse actually started to gallop. I would've thought that it was impossible to go at this speed, but Carlton's horse proved otherwise.

The gunshots were faintly heard from behind us, until they weren't heard at all. As all was silent. As our surrounding, we were also silent. Both deep in our own thoughts. I was thinking that I should rescue my father. I was about to ask Carlton this when he said, "Since you don't have anywhere to go, I will bring you to my house as a Union friend. I will bring you to your father. We shall discuss our plans on how he will escape."

No words came out of my mouth as I was full of gratitude so I only nodded.

The ride didn't seem very long but when I looked up, I saw the sun setting. Then I remembered, how we were riding when the sun was rising and now its setting. This made me also think of how our friendship deepened so much in only two days.

When I looked at Carlton, I silently made a vow that I promised to keep until my last breath, I will never harm you even if it costs me my life.