The Ravaging

Chapter Sixteen

"We need to stop somewhere," I say, barely keeping my eyes open despite Viola's crying. "We've been in this river for hours, and all of us could use some rest."

"Let's see if we can get just a little bit further," Finn says, looking like he is about to pass out himself, but still managing to keep rowing. "I want to get us as far away from the monsters as possible."

"Finn, I swear to god, we have to stop," I say, voice coming out harsher than I was intending. "We can't continue to run if we drown in this river from sleep deprivation. Besides, it is better if we rest. We can run away faster and even defend ourselves better if we aren't dead on our feet."

"Alden..."

"Finn!" I exclaim, turning around so that I can see him, a hard glare on my face. "I am not fucking around anymore. Paddle the goddamn boat to shore."

He looks like he is about to argue, but when I just raise a brow at him, he lets out a long sigh, turning the boat slowly and letting us float over to the bank.

The brothers follow behind us, landing their own kayaks next to ours. Jacob stumbles as he stands too quickly from the boat, and Danny catches him with an ease that speaks of familiarity.

By the time that I manage to push myself out of the kayak, Viola is screaming even louder than before. Her little arms and legs are flailing around in her distress. Finn unclips the baby bag from the kayak, handing it over to me, and I take it without a word, too irritated with him to say anything.

"Viola, it's alright," I say, voice soft. She doesn't seem to believe me, though, and just continues to cry. Harry trudges after me, stumbling on his feet.

At least the ground is dry, and there hasn't been a cloud in sight all day. But, knowing our luck, we will more than likely experience some showers during the night.

Opening the baby bag, I pull out the slippery changing pad, laying it on the ground before setting Viola on top. As quickly as one can with a squalling infant, I change her diaper and get her bundled in her pajamas before swaddling her the best I can with a blanket. She quiets down a little bit but not too much. Pulling out a bottle, I pour some water into it from my own water bottle. It is warmer than usual, seeing as I had it sitting between my thighs while in the kayak.

Once everything is all mixed together, I pull Viola close to me, calming her down a little bit before giving her the bottle. From experience, I have learned to not try and get her to eat while in the midst of crying. It just makes her more agitated and less likely to eat. It takes a couple of minutes, but her cries finally calm, more like sniffles instead of close to tears. She easily takes the bottle, eating greedily.

Guilt floods through me when I try to think of the last time she ate. Sometime before she went to bed, about a half a day ago. She must have been starving. I should have made us stop sooner, not being able to juggle her in the kayak. It was too much of a risk to really do anything other than hold her close.

But at least we will be able to rest here for a little while. My eyes are starting to feel gritty, and I am barely keeping myself upright at this point.

Someone walks up behind me, resting their hand on my shoulder and making my eyes snap back open. Looking up, I see that Finn is looking at me with a worried expression.

"Come on, Alden, time for you to get some rest." He helps me to stand up since I can't use my own hands that are preoccupied with Viola.

My brows scrunch in confusion once I turn around because an entire camp has been set up during the time that I had been taking care of Viola. Exhaustion must be getting the better of me because I had apparently lost track of time and had not even heard the others.