MissTaken: Ch9

     If you haven't read the previous chapters, I recommend you go to this page which has links to all the chapters as I post them. 

Chapter 9

It was quiet as they continued following the river. The going was slow, and the girls were miserable. They all took turns helping Sarah, but they were struggling and needed frequent breaks. Their energy was depleted because of the lack of food, water, and sleep. Apart from Jessica, their shoes and clothes were inappropriate for hiking. Their shoes hindered their steps and their feet and ankles ached. Their clothes exposed their skin to burning sun.  Even Jessica struggled to remain calm and optimistic as the day wore on. They desperately needed to make it to the cave. They needed clean water and food.

After a few hours of walking in silence, Alyona started singing, to pass the time.

“What language is that?” Jessica asked.

“Russian,” Alyona said. “It is an old folk song.”

“It’s pretty. Do you speak Russian?”

“Yes, it’s pretty common in Ukraine. Maybe half the population can speak it.”

“What does the song mean?”

“It’s about a clumsy little bear walking through the forest. He’s picking up pinecones, and one hits him on the head, so he gets angry and stamps his foot.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Sarah, said.

“It’s for little children,” Alyona replied, “like ‘This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home?’”

“Oh,” Sarah flushed, “sorry.”

Alyona smirked and waved it off. “Eh. Lots of things don’t make sense in this world.”

“That’s the truth.” Sarah muttered.

Leticia pointed to a tall peak in the distance. “Are we… are we going, all the way to there?”

“No, not that far, about half that distance.”

Leticia sighed in relief.

“Why do you ask?” Jessica asked.

“So far!” Leticia exclaimed, casting Sarah a concerned glance. She slumped her shoulders and fanned her face. “So hot. So tired.”

“Does this river go there?” Alyona asked.

“No,” Leticia pointed to the right of the peak. “There.”

Alyona looked puzzled. “Why then you think we’re going there?”

Leticia squinted, trying to think of the right word. “Mine.”

“Your what? The mountain? You own the mountain?”

Leticia shook her head vigorously, then turned to Jessica again, “Is…mine? Mina?”

Jessica chuckled, “Yes, ‘mine’ is correct. The word has more than one meaning. Mine can mean something that belongs to me, so mia in Spanish, or it can also mean a place where you look for gold, or diamonds or other valuable minerals—mina.”

Leticia smiled and nodded,.

“What are the words in Russian?” Jessica asked Alyona.

Alyona pointed at herself. “Moy,” then she pointed toward the mountain peak, “shakhta.”  She chuckled and shook her head. “English is very tricky.”

“Oh right.” Jessica smirked. “You don’t have any Russian words with two meanings?”

“Many,” Alyona conceded, “For instance kosa, means braid, or… what’s the word. It’s farm tool for cutting grain. Grim reaper carries it.”

“Scythe,” Jessica said.

“Yes, scythe.”

Jessica chuckled. “The Grim reaper carrying a braid.”

“And in Spanish, papa is potato and also pope!” Leticia offered, giggling.

“I had a friend,” Jessica began, “He was learning Spanish—his whole family was. His dad was a leader of a congregation for his church, and there was this Spanish family—they invited them over for dinner.”

“So, they are getting ready to eat and the dad turns to one of the daughters, and he decides to try out his Spanish. He goes to ask her if she is hungry but instead of saying ‘tu tenga hambre?’—do you have hunger—he says ‘tu tenga hombre?’—do you have a man!”

Leticia gasped, then giggled, covering her mouth and blushing. The other girls laughed as well. For the next hour everyone seemed in much better spirits, and they managed to cover almost as much distance as the previous two hours.

The sun was brushing the tops of the mountains when the girls reached the bottom of the hill leading to Jessica’s cave. Sarah had all but collapsed in the last hour, so Merideth, Alyona and Jessica took turns carrying her piggyback. Leticia repeatedly apologized to the others for being too small to take a turn. Jessica let her carry the backpack, which seemed to make her feel better.

It took all four girls working together to hoist Sarah up the steep face and into the cave. They collapsed, sweaty, dusty, and exhausted on the cave floor, moments before the last sliver of the sun dropped behind the mountains.

* * *

The sound of retching woke Jessica early the next morning. Sarah was curled in a ball at the cave entrance, dry heaving.

“Is there any clean water?” Meredith asked groggily. “She’s dehydrated, we need to get fluids in her.”

“I will get some boiling in a few minutes,” Jessica said. She grabbed her dirty water container and started to the entrance. As she looked out, she froze.  

“What is it?” Meredith asked, eyes wide with fear.

Jess whipped her head around and raised a finger to her lips. Dropping the water container, she grabbed the bow and a couple arrows which were leaning against the wall near the cave entrance and slipped stealthily out.

What a stroke of luck! There, right at the base of her hideout near the river was a lone deer.

“Settle down Jess,” she muttered under her breath. “Now is not the time to get buck fever.” She moved to the drop and crouched for stability. She nocked an arrow on the string and placed it against the bow, using her left hand as the shelf. She inhaled deeply and drew the string back with her right hand, anchoring the arrow gently to her cheekbone. Exhaling, she sighted in on her target—an area just above and slightly behind the visible front leg.  She held her breath near the end of the exhale and released the string.

The deer raised up and looked toward her, startled by the slap of the bow string. By the time it registered danger, the arrow had found its mark, cutting through the side and sinking into the animal’s heart and lungs. The deer sprang into the river, leaping towards the other side. One jump. Two. Three. It collapsed, motionless on the other side of the water.

Elated, Jessica scrambled down the hill, nocking another arrow. She approached the downed animal, feeling the exhilarating shakes from the adrenaline surge, and fired into the heart again at point blank range to ensure the animal was dead. It would be a terrible day for her if it jumped up and started thrashing around while she was in the middle of slitting its throat.

Satisfied it was dead, she reached to her belt feeling for the sheath containing the SOG. Her hand found the hilt, and she flicked the release on the sheath with her thumb. Gripping the handle of the SOG firmly, she withdrew it, dropped to one knee, and set to work field dressing the carcass. Using the tip of the blade, she cut the anus loose. Then she cut open the abdomen from the hole she had created around the anus up to the middle of the front legs. Reaching into the opened cavity, she pulled the gut sack loose and out of the body. She reached deep into the cavity with the knife and severed the esophagus, separating the innards from the body.

Jessica froze, regarding the gut pile with chagrin. “Maybe I should have hauled this deer somewhere I could easily bury and dispose of the guts, instead of just dumping them out on the rocks …”

She shrugged. Too late now. She pulled the backstraps out of the cavity and set them aside, then she set herself to the task of skinning the deer.  The hide would be useful. She had made a pair of moccasins from the hide of her first deer. She and her dad had tanned the hide. She tried to recall the items they’d used in the process. She could use the deer’s brain to tan it.  She’d need lye as well. She could make some with wood ash. She’d need an acid too—urine would probably be the easy option—but that would have to wait. The current goal was to get the hide off and get the meat chilled. She’d break it down and put it in the baskets she’d made to sink it in the river. The girls would at least have a few good meals now. And maybe Leticia could help identify some edible vegetation. Jessica felt the corners of her mouth rising in a genuine smile. She began to hum to herself as she worked.

“How can I help?” Alyona came up beside her, walking barefoot on the rough ground.

 “Oh, rats, I totally forgot about the water.” Jessica looked at Alyona and grimaced, “Poor Sarah. Did you see that container I had? I think I dropped it on the cave floor.”

“This one?” Alyona held up the container Jessica had failed to notice in her hand.

Jessica nodded sheepishly, “Would you please fill that with water from the creek and dump it into log with the hollow in it? Do that two or three times, until the cistern is …two-thirds or three-quarters full.”

“Okay,” Alyona set to work gathering water while Jessica finished butchering the deer.

Jessica loaded the basket with the skinned meat and was just getting ready to sink it in the river when she paused. The backstraps she had set aside were going to make a nice meal this morning, and she’d pull some more out in the evening to cook, but it would be nice to have something to snack on between meals. Was there anything could she do for that? Maybe if she dried some out, she could create a rough form of Jerky. That would serve well if they needed to leave the camp as well.

She pulled one hind quarter back out, setting it with the back straps. The rest she sunk in the river. It was worth a try.

Jessica hauled skin, hindquarter and backstraps to the cave. She placed the backstraps on a rock near the fire to cook. Then she began cutting the hindquarter into thin strips, which she hung over the fire to dry. She added a bit of green material to the fire to create some smoke. That would help keep flies off until the outside was dry enough. She could sun dry it the rest of the way. Not jerky exactly, but it would keep well enough.

All the girls were awake and staring hungrily at the sizzling meat.

“Patience, ladies. Let it finish cooking.” She left them staring at the venison while she went out to rinse her hands and the knife in the river.

When she returned, she sterilized the water in the cistern using her collection of hot rocks, then she cut the back straps into equal portions and divided them among the girls.

“There’s no seasoning,” she apologized, “and it is likely to be pretty gamey, but it’s protein.” The girls ignored her as they devoured the chunks of charred flesh. Had they been fed by their captors, or was starving them also a part of the ‘breaking in’ process?

“How do people get to that point?” She pondered aloud.

“To what point?” Alyona asked, her mouth full of meat.

“Sorry. Didn’t realize I said that out loud. I was just wondering how people get to the point that they are okay with treating other human beings so terribly. Something to be used, abused, exploited, and discarded.”

Alyona shrugged, “It’s just business, no?”

“It’s people. Their own kind!”

“Most people are like wolves.”

“Wolves?” Jessica frowned.

“How you say … predators. Survival of fittest. If a wolf is hungry enough it will eat its own pups. For these men, we are their food, nothing more. They catch us and sell us. Other men pay them so they can use us to satisfy … another kind of hunger. Is all about hunger, yes? Hunger for food, hunger for breeding, hunger for hunting. You enjoy hunting, yes? It excites you?”

“I don’t hunt people!” Jessica scowled.

Alyona shrugged, “Your parents taught you not to. Some parents don’t teach. Some learn life has higher meaning, and for others, life is survival of strongest. You protect yourself; you protect your pack. Everything else is food or enemy.”

“People are different,” Meredith disagreed, “They can choose, they don’t have to be driven by instinct.”

“Bah!” Alyona snorted, “People are different in that they can belong to more than one pack at a time.”

An uncomfortable silence fell, and the girls turned their attention back to satisfying their hunger, consuming the last bites of meat with subdued eagerness.

Jessica distracted herself from the uncomfortable conversation by grabbing several of the thicker pieces of cordage she had made and began coiling them in a flat oval. She used thread-thin pieces of cordage to bind the structure. Holding it to the bottom of her foot, she shaped it and used more thread to fix the shape. Once satisfied, she started another one, using the first one as a template.

Leticia watched her curiously, “What is it?”

“It’s a sole for a shoe.” Jessica held it to the bottom of her foot again to demonstrate. “I’ll make some straps, probably from the rabbit pelt I have back there. So, I guess they’ll be sandals, not shoes.”

Leticia nodded and continued to watch as Jessica worked.

“You want to try?” Jess offered, pointing to the small pile of cordage. Leticia looked at the pile, then back to Jessica, Jessica nodded and pointed again. “Go ahead. You try. Intentas.”

Leticia took some pieces of the cordage and began shaping them the way she had watched Jessica do. It took a few tries, and a little coaching from Jessica, but soon Letica had a pair of soles fit to her feet.

The rest of the day passed quietly, Meredith nursed Sarah, who looked on the verge of death, too weak to move. While working on the sandals for the girls with Leticia, Jessica had taken a break to roughly carve a small, crude bowl, which Sarah could vomit into. Alyona assigned herself the job of shuttling it down to the river to empty it. She would also occasionally make short trips to a vantage point where she could see downriver, looking for any sign the men might be following them.

In spite of the relatively lazy way the girls spent the day, sleep came easily when night fell.