Milo, Johnathan managed to squeeze into the troops, and we were finally ready to march to the bridge that Johnathan explained that Burnside wanted to take from the Southern militia.
No one seemed to notice my peg leg much, but when Milo, Johnathan, and I put ourselves into Burnside's corps, I heard a few soldiers behind me snicker a it, but Johnathan shot the soldiers behind me an evil glare.
Honestly, my self confidence did fall whenever someone commented on my peg leg, but whenever I put myself down, I told myself that it took me such little time to be up and walking again, which is really rare. I also boosted my confidence when I remembered that I, a woman, was fighting equally along other men who are probably much stronger than I.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the familiar golden hair of Evan tied into a neat bun, as it was starting to grow pretty long. I spotted his lavender eyes quickly glancing at me and then at my leg. He suddenly jumped back in surprise, and his face reddened to a deep cherry red.
Was he scared that I have healed after he shot me? I can't believe I'm siblings with this guy. I pictured myself rolling my eyes in my head.
***
Once General Burnside commanded for his troops to stop, I craned my neck to see where we have arrived to. On our side was the Antietam Creek, and a bridge lay a few yards ahead, brilliantly stretching over the calm river.
"Okay, troops!" Burnside bellowed atop his horse, his hands cupped around his mouth. "We're not going to charge across the bridge and chace the Confederates into the hills, we're going to cross the river!"
"What?" I whispered to Milo and Johnathan. "That doesn't sound like a very good plan..."
Milo rolled his eyes. "I'll go ask Burnside then."
He then raised his hand and stood on the tip of his toes so Burnside could see him. "General? Why are you making us charge the river? Isn't that a bad tactic?"
General Burnside pursed his lips and glanced from left to right in thought. "You do make a good point, Private. But it'll be cute if we did this a little differently."
Before Milo could angrily respond, Burnside commanded, "Charge!"
We couldn't protest after Burnside commanded us to attack, so we did as we were told. Milo, Johnathan, and I began to run with the rest of the Northern militia to the bank of the Antietam river.
***
I almost tripped into the river, but Milo helped my jump in safely. We began to trudge through its cold waters, our rifles in our hands and ready. I shot any Confederate soldier on sight, or possibly scaring them and making them run away if I somehow missed the shot.
As I slow-jogged through the Antietam river, a bullet flew next to my head. I jumped sideways in shock, collided with Johnathan, and we both crashed into the slow-running river.
"Ah!" I screamed, the water streaming onto my face. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, Johnathan! I didn't mean to-"
Johnathan chuckled as he lifted me out of the water and set me back down. "It's okay, you weirdo."
I glanced toward the bridge, hoping that no Confederate soldiers would be guarding it. To my surprise, the bridge was free of soldiers. I was finally able to escape the river that almost made it impossible for me to walk.
"Guys!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "The bridge is open! Let's cross it! Hurry!"
Milo and Johnathan both gazed at the now empty bridge. As if we all communicated telepathically, we all charged out of the river and headed toward the bridge.
Several other soldiers noticed the bridge also, and they started following us out of the river. After a few moments, almost half of Burnside's troops were charging the other direction toward the Confederate-free bridge.
"What are you all doing?" Burnside shouted as he turned his horse toward the troops. "You're all going the wrong way!"
The troops that headed for the bridge ignored his shouts of confusion. I did also because his tactics were well, uh, horrible. I honestly think that risking the lives of the soldiers by crossing the river instead of the bridge so it would be "cute" is a bad war tactic.
As we charged across the bridge, we shouted loudly to try to scare the Confederates away. We all traveled in one giant wave, and we all moved as one large soldier instead of hundreds of individual small soldiers.
The few Confederate soldiers that guarded the other side of the bridge attempted to shoot at the wave of Union attackers, but they quickly gave up and fled into the hills.
"We're doing it!" I said happily to Milo and Johnathan at my sides.
The wave of Union troops began to pick up speed. We started to quickly jog, and our shouting grew louder. The huge wave also split up into a few more groups, each one tackling a section of the land on the other side of the bridge.
With only a few shots fired, the Georgian Confederate army receded into the hills nearby.
I ran over to Milo and Johnathan with a happy smile planted onto my face, and I ignored my slight limp. "Guys, we did it! I'm happy that we disobeyed Burnside." I slight chuckle was hidden in my sentence.
"I'm too, but we should hurry back before any other Confederate soldiers come," Johnathan added seriously.
"Johnathan's right," Milo commented, nodding his head in agreement. "We should head back."
With Milo's final words leading us off, we all ran back to where we came from just in case any Confederate soldiers chose to attack us while we were celebrating.
***
Once Milo, Johnathan and I escaped the bridge at Antietam Creek, we decided to set up a small tent that was hidden in the dense forest by a small church on top of a hill that served as a hospital for soldiers.
I was the first to enter our small tent, and I crashed onto the floor and instantly fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.
***
I'm not sure how long I slept, but I felt extremely refreshed. I sat up and glanced at Milo and Johnathan who were softly snoring at my side. I quietly stood up and tapped Milo and Johnathan's shoulders.
Johnathan stayed sound asleep, but Milo began to stir. He blinked slowly and absent-mindedly yawned before fully escaping DreamLand. Milo sat up and rubbed his temples in exhaustion with both of his hands.
"Good morning, Milo," I said softly, a smile strewn across my lips.
"Ugh, why did you wake me up so early?" he groaned in annoyance. "I was in the middle of a good dream."
"I don't know," I shrugged, making Milo a bit more angry at me. "It's just weird how it's all quiet today."
Johnathan suddenly shot upward, his eyes widening in surprise. "Oh my goodness!" He shouted.
He then blinked in confusion just like Milo did, his eyes scanning his new surroundings.
"What's going on?" he asked, his voice trailing off from exhaustion.
I chuckled and took a biscuit out of my pocket. "Well, good morning to you too, Johnathan."
The crunches I made on my biscuit were strangely loud, considering that just yesterday my shouting was drowned by what seemed like thousands of gunshots outside.
"Hm," I said through my biscuit. "I wonder why it's so quiet outside."
Milo smiled in hope. "Please let this battle be over. We can't have Angel lose another leg."
Him and Johnathan laughed at Milo's joke as I pouted angrily.
"There's no time for jokes!" I snapped, not trying to sound angry. "I mean, we should just see what's going on."
I crawled over to the front of our small tent and peeked outside at the small church at the top of the hill.
To my surprise, the Confederate and Union soldiers weren't shooting each other. They were all clumped together in one group, and it looked like they were talking.
"Since when did they stop fighting?" I tried to say happily. It came out as more of a snarky remark. My face reddened in embarrassment after I realized how my sentence sounded.
Johnathan ignored my tone of voice. "I'm not sure. I heard that the two sides had some type of truce or something."
Milo smiled and crawled out of the small tent. "Well, what are you two waiting for? I actually kinda want to mingle with some of the Confederate soldiers and see what's going through their heads."
He then ran off to join the remaining Union and Confederate troops that were chatting and getting to know each other.
Johnathan and I exchanged confused glances.
I shrugged, trying to hide a small laugh. "I guess we should probably go follow Milo, then."
"Sounds like a good idea," Johnathan chuckled in return.
He led me out of the tent and we made our way through the dense forest to follow Milo.
***
Once Johnathan and I finally reached the small church on the top of the hill, I was able to get a better view of the happy scene around me. Both Union and Confederate soldiers talked with each other about topics that ranged from their loved ones to their favorite food that they miss. Others exchanged items like drinks and food that the other side didn't have.
My eyes swept from left to right as I finally spotted Milo.
"I'll be right back, Johnathan!" I told Johnathan as we separated and I ran toward my friend.
When I finally joined Milo, he greeted me with a happy hello and introduced me to a familiar face.
"Amber?" I asked as I noticed her trademark golden curly hair, tan skin, and sky-blue eyes.
Amber appeared way better now than when I found her back in the cornfield. Back at the cornfield, she was too weak to even move her hand, and a large bullet hole in her forehead caused tons of blood to ooze out of her body and onto the grass below her.
Now, she still had the long gauze wrapped around her forehead with a small circle of blood around her initial wound, but she had something that she didn't have before. A smile was settled onto her lips, and her smile basically stretched from ear to ear.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked with a slight smile.
Amber nodded and tapped her forehead. "It's just a bit sore, but overall, I'm feeling way better than I did before. What about you two-"
Her eyes were drawn to my left leg, and she suddenly hopped backward in surprise.
"Y-y-your leg!" She stuttered in shock. "W-what happened?"
I rubbed my neck awkwardly and glanced at the wooden peg connected to the base of my knee. "Uh, I kinda-sorta got shot by my twin brother while we were at Sunken Road."
Amber placed her hand on her chin and stroked it in thought. "Hm." She didn't necessarily want to remind me of how my brother almost killed me. "So, are you feeling better?"
I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. "Yes, actually. I've been feeling way better than at the time I was shot."
Milo smiled and shoved his way into the conversation. "Hey, at least no one else that we know of was hurt-"
Milo's soft voice trailed off in my mind as I saw someone nervously kicking the dirt in front of him. Like always, he was extremely recognizable. He was family, so I could obviously pick him out in front of a crowd.
It was Evan.
Again.
"Amber, I'll be right back," I said as I left her to speak with Milo.
I definitely had to have a little chat with Evan, because I desperately wanted to know why he chose to shoot me, even in the leg.
***
I stormed over to my brother, my arms crossed angrily. I understood that he was mad at me because I didn't have the same views of his, but it's just unlike him to go as far as shooting his own twin sister. At the greatest, he'd probably throw a small punch.
"Evan!" I shouted as I approached him. "We need to have a little chat."
He rubbed his neck awkwardly just like I did in during my talk with Amber, and his face began to look like a cherry. "O-oh, uh, okay."
I rolled my eyes in irritation and decided to beat around the bush. "Evan, why did you choose to shoot me in the leg?"
I stuck my left leg out, showing my new prosthetic as if I was proud of it.
Evan sighed deeply and then inhaled, his hand on his chest. "Honestly, Ev, I'm not sure what got into me. The adrenaline in me was just making me think. Overthink."
He glanced down at the ground beside him in shame. "I-I just, I don't know." Evan threw his arms at his sides, not knowing what to say. "I guess that ever since I figured out that you weren't on the same page as I was, I flipped out a bit. I just wanted us to be the same so we wouldn't separate.
"I guess my choice of getting angry at you just made us more distant, and I don't like that. I'm really sorry, Evangeline. I really am."
A tear then streamed down my brother's face, and he immediately wiped it away. "If I could take that moment back, I would. I wish I didn't think that stupidly. Ugh. It's just so hard to explain."
I sighed and smiled a bit. I was clearly happy to see Evan finally being, well, Evan. Knowing my usual forgiving and understandable self, I forgave my brother. "It's okay Evan, I forgive you."
I stopped him before he opened his mouth to speak. "Good thing you didn't kill me or paralyze me. I would've never forgiven you." I faked an angry expression to scare him a bit.
When Evan's face flushed in embarrassment and shame, I quickly wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly.
I giggled and wiped away an emotional tear from my cheek. "I still love you though, Evan,"