The three companions were sitting near a hill taking a break and eating lunch: a bag of trail mix shared between the three of them and a protein bar each. The girls drank from their own stainless-steel, filtered water bottles. Samara and Leela had brought their own from the survival box Kalahari kept in the Blue Room. They bought a third for Kit so they would all have their own fresh water. They collected water from rivers and streams; the filters made it potable.
Kit, now finished with her food, was sitting on a boulder and picking at her teeth with her fingernails.
"Kit," Samara said, frowning, "use the floss."
The pre-teen rolled her eyes as she hopped down from the boulder. She went to the bag that had the floss and toothbrushes in it and pulled out a floss pick to use on her teeth.
"Anyway," Leela said, eyeing Kit with disgust. She had the map out and had been showing Samara the path to Port Thunder. They were following a river that led to the sea right by the town. "I think we only have about two or three days left before we reach Port Thunder."
"That's not bad, doesn't look too difficult from here," Samara said looking over Leela's arm while taking a bite of her protein bar.
"No, the terrain doesn't look bad. I think there are some small mountains—or hills as some people would call them—but looks passable."
"Yeah, that says the tallest mountain is only 1,500 feet." Samara pointed to a spot on the map.
"We could do that in a day, right?" Leela asked.
Samara shrugged. "Doesn't sound too difficult."
"Hey guys, look, I'm a vampire."
Samara and Leela looked at Kit, who had stuck two of the floss picks in her teeth to make it look like she had fangs. Samara laughed. Even Leela looked like she was trying to hide a smile.
After lunch, they shouldered their belongings and continued, following the river through the hills and trees until near sun down. This is what they had done the last several days. Their trip had been uneventful up until that point. Samara hadn't seen any more signs of Danteous.
But the moon wasn't full anymore either....
"I do feel like we're being watched every now and then," Leela had admitted to Samara one night when they were quietly discussing Danteous.
Samara had the same feeling, but they never saw anyone.
That night, they set up camp under a large oak tree. They unrolled their sleeping bags and arranged them around what would be the fire later.
Once camp was set up, the girls decided to brave the water for a bath. They hadn't washed their hair since leaving Midland and had only sponged off a few times during their journey so far. They took some of their supplies with them to the river and found a calm place to bathe. They gave the area a quick glance to make sure no one was around (they didn't see anything but trees) and stripped down to their panties and bras.
"This is going to be cold," Leela said looking at the water with disgust.
"Not as cold as it could be, at least it's been warm the last few days," Samara said as she knelt at the edge and dipped her hair in.
Kit ran into the water, splashing around like a Labrador. Leela curled her lip in disgust.
"It's not terrible," Samara assured Leela. "Pass me the shampoo bar."
Leela tossed her the bar of soap and then eased into the water, gritting her teeth against the chill. She dipped under the water quickly. They passed the soap back and forth until the three of them were clean.
"It's not as cold as it could be," Leela agreed, "but it's not exactly refreshing either." By the time she had rinsed the soap off, her teeth were chattering.
After a few minutes, they climbed out of the water and took turns drying off with the two small towels they had brought (they had forgot to buy one for Kit).
Samara wrung out her hair and then slipped into her dry clothes. Her skin was prickly with gooseflesh. She couldn't wait to get the fire going.
They gathered their things and made their way back towards camp..
"We'll need a fire as quickly as possible," Samara said, hugging herself as they walked.
"Yeah I can do tha—" Leela stopped short, holding an arm in front of Kit to keep her from moving further.
"Don't move," Leela whispered.
Some sort of wild animal was snorting around their belongings.
"What? It's just a pig," Kit said.
"That pig could rip you apart," Leela hissed.
"What do we do, just wait for it to leave?" Samara asked.
Kit bent down and picked up a rock. "Hey! Get out of here!" She threw the rock at the pig before Leela could stop her. The pig screeched in alarm. It charged at them.
"You idiot!" Leela cried as they dodged the pig's attack.
"Get into the tree!" Samara said to Kit while throwing the bag she had been carrying to the ground.
Kit ran to the nearest tree and began to climb it while Samara and Leela distracted the pig from her. The pig charged at Leela. She dodged so the animal turned to Samara.
"Go!" Samara yelled at Leela as she jumped out of the way.
Leela hesitated while the pig charged at Samara again, but after a second, she turned and ran to the tree Kit was in. She quickly climbed it and sat on the branch just below Kit and then yelled at Samara, "Come on!"
The pig had skidded in the grass and was getting ready to charge again. Samara took off towards the tree. She ran and jumped, grabbing for the lowest branch. It broke, sending her falling to the ground.
"Samara!" Leela yelled as Samara fell on her rear end. Leela raised her hand, ready to shoot the pig with a blast of lightning.
"Don't!" Samara yelled, raising her boot up as the pig charged into her. The animal rammed its head right into the hard heel of Samara's boot. It hopped backwards, looking confused. It shook its snout and grunted in irritation. It backed off, shaking its head and almost looking offended.
Samara breathed a sigh of relief as the pig sauntered off, thankful for its short attention span.
"Why didn't you want me to shoot it?" Leela demanded as she and Kit jumped from the tree.
"It's in its own territory, he was just defending himself," Samara said. Leela frowned. "I would have fought back if I had to," she added.
Leela shook her head, skeptical. "If it comes back, I'm going to kill it."
"We could make bacon out of him," Kit agreed.
"Have a heart, Leela," Samara said.
"Having a heart gets you stabbed in the back," Leela said to Samara, a little too sternly.
"I know what you mean by that," Samara said. She knew Leela was referring to Samara trusting Danteous before.
"You need to stop being so soft is all I'm saying. You're lucky that pig wasn't fully mature," Leela said, turning to walk back to the camp. She grabbed the bag Samara had dropped on her way.
"Why didn't you just kill it first thing, then?" Samara yelled at her back. Leela ignored her.
Kit looked at Samara and gave her a sympathetic smile and held out her hand. "Don't listen to her, she's grouchy."
Samara smiled and took Kit's hand. They walked back to camp together.
Leela didn't say a word as she started the fire. They passed around more dried fruit and nuts and strips of jerky for supper.
"I'm getting tired of eating this," Kit complained.
"Then starve," Leela replied, the first word she had said since the pig incident.
"I could go for some fish," Kit said, ignoring Leela. She stood up and stretched her arms and legs.
"That sounds nice, but we have no way of catching fish," Samara said.
Kit shrugged and started to wander away from the fire.
"Where are you going?" Samara said.
"I have to pee."
"Don't go far," Samara said. "Stay in our sight."
"Yes, mother," Kit said.
Samara looked at Leela, who was just finishing the last of her jerky. She took a drink of water afterwards.
"You still mad?" Samara asked her.
Leela shrugged. "I wasn't mad."
"Come on, Leela."
Leela sighed. "I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm not trying to be some huge bitch all the time. I'm trying to protect you. Compassion is great, but it can get you killed. Yeah, it was just a pig this time, but what are you going to do when we see Danteous again?"
Samara averted her gaze to the ground and shrugged. "I don't know," she said quietly. "That night in the cave, when I saw what he was going to do to Richard, I lost it. I attacked him. I knew that night that one day I might have to kill him ... but now ... I don't know if I'll be able to."
"You don't have to."
Samara looked up at her, seeing the fire reflecting in Leela's eyes. Leela stared at the dancing flames, her mouth set in a firm line. She was trying to be brave. But the pain in her eyes gave her away.
"Leela, you can't. That would eat you alive."
"He's not my brother anymore." She picked up a twig next to her and tossed it into the fire. "He hasn't been for years."
Samara studied her for a minute. She wanted to hug her, to comfort her, but hesitated because she knew Leela would probably push her away. After a minute, she decided to risk it and started to lean over with an arm out. Leela held up a hand.
"Let's not get all mushy."
"Sorry," Samara said with a soft chuckle. She looked off to where Kit had gone. "She's been gone for a while."
"Maybe she had to do more than pee."
"I better go check on her." Samara stood and Kit stepped out from behind a tree at the same time. She was carrying several old vines and tree branches in her arms.
"What's all that?" Samara asked.
"I'm going to make a trap."
"A trap?"
"For fish. Duh."
Samara looked at Leela, who shrugged, then reached for the bag that had their toiletries.
"I'm going to brush my teeth," Leela announced as Kit sat down and began working on her fish trap.
"Where'd you learn how to do that?" Samara asked Kit.
"They had us do all kinds of stuff at the orphanage, probably thought we'd all end up on the streets and need to know how to survive," Kit said bitterly, making a face.
"So you were at an orphanage." Samara said. Finally, she was learning a bit about her.
"Yeah."
"You didn't like it there." Samara said.
"No. Too many rules. And it was cold and dirty."
"What happened to your parents?"
Kit didn't look up from her work and only shrugged.
"I'm sorry, I know it's tough," Samara said. "My mom died when I was little and I have no idea where my father is."
At that, Kit glanced at her, maybe feeling like she could trust Samara since she didn't have parents either. "They told me they died before I could talk," Kit said quietly while she worked, tying the sticks together with the vines.
"I'm sorry," Samara whispered, twiddling her fingers. "What else did they teach you?"
"Mostly nature-type stuff." Kit said, still working. "Good plants and bad plants, how to tell if it's going to rain, which way is north. How to cook, how to fish, you know, the usual. No big deal."
"I think it's a big deal. Not many kids your age know how to do all that."
Kit grinned. "Thanks." Then she grew serious. "But I'm not a kid. I'm almost thirteen."
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were so old," Samara teased.
Kit grinned and held her chin high.
Once Leela returned, Samara took the toiletries from her so she could get herself ready for the night. It was Leela's turn for first watch so after her face and teeth were clean, Samara snuggled into her sleeping bag and let the sounds of the fire crackling and Kit's weaving lull her to sleep.
Halfway through the night Leela awoke Samara for her turn to take watch. She did her best to stay awake, but she found herself nodding off several times until the sun came up. A few hours later, she squinted at the bright morning rays and realized she had dozed off again. Then panicked because she realized Kit wasn't in her sleeping bag anymore....
Samara thought about waking Leela but knew what she would be met with if she did ("how could you have fallen asleep?" "You put us all in danger!"), so she decided to look for Kit on her own at first. Maybe the girl had just gone to relieve herself again.
If she didn't find her after a few minutes, then she would wake Leela.
Samara searched behind the nearby trees and among the brush, but didn't find her anywhere. Maybe she had gone down to the river to refill her water bottle. But what if something else had happened to her? Of course Samara's mind went to Danteous or one of the other dragons. She imagined one of them snatching the girl in her sleep.
But why would they? Kit had no magical abilities; they had no use for her.
Still, Samara worried....
That was until she climbed to the top of a hill and saw the river. Kit was there, bending down at the edge of the water near where they had bathed the night before. Samara breathed a sigh of relief and then ran down the hill.
"Kit! You scared me to death—" Samara stopped when Kit looked over her shoulder and put a finger to her lips to shush her.
Samara tiptoed the rest of the way to see what Kit was doing.
It had actually worked! The trap Kit had made last night already had one fish in it. Kit was holding it in the river against the stream so the fish would flow right in. Once she had caught another one, Kit lifted it out of the water, showing Samara two large fish flopping around inside.
"You did it," Samara said with a smile.
"Time for breakfast," Kit said proudly.
Samara wondered why Kalahari had never taught them how to make a fish trap....
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Image: Dianna Agron, (Samara) taken from Pinterest.