Chapter 21 - On the Road Again
Ila hid in the trees with Emori as Murphy lay deadly still in the road. A traveler with a cart was approaching him and Emori's grip on her knife tightened. Ila's eyes narrowed as she, too, tightened her grip – but hers was on the gun that fit snugly in the back of her pants unbeknownst to both her companions, still. The traveler sat down his cart and poked at Murphy, who Emori had covered in blood to make him look dead. Emori climbed out of the brush silently as the traveler began to untie Murphy's shoes. She held her knife to the man's throat.
Ila worked her way down the tree, keeping alert of their surroundings. Once she made it to the ground, Emori had already knocked out the traveler and Murphy had started to put his shirt back on.
"I still don't understand the purpose of stealing from others. Is this really necessary?" Ila questioned the two.
"Only if we want to live," Emori replied.
"I think we can manage without the expense of other's. From my experience, these things typically come back to haunt us," Ila suggested.
"Relax, I do this all the time," Emori tried to reassure her.
"Yeah, and karma's a bitch," Ila murmured to herself, "Haven't we had enough bad luck?"
Emori sorted through the cart as Ila made her way over to Murphy. She began to wipe off the blood and mud from his face from the water in her canteen.
"We'll be okay," Murphy also attempted to reassure her.
"We'd be okay back at our camp…with our people," Ila reminded him, "You've been having us dance around camp for ages. Why aren't we going home?"
Murphy stared at her sadly, frowning, disappointed.
"You really think things are just gonna be okay if we go back? We don't even know what we'd be going back to. Who knows how much has changed?"
"Yes, but so have we," Ila urged him, "Murphy, these are our people. This is what we've been trying to go back to for the past three months! I can't throw all that away when we're so close!"
"She's right," Emori stated, finishing up stuffing her bag with what was in the traveler's cart, "Thelonius took my brother to your camp and believe it or not, I still care about him."
"He was going to kill you!" Murphy shouted.
"He's my brother, and I have to go find him," Emori continued.
"Fine," Murphy gave in, "Go ahead. I'm not stopping you. But I'm not going near that nutjob."
"You're being unreasonable," Ila sighed with concern, "You can't just go off on your own!"
"Watch me!" Murphy began to walk off, taking a backpack. He was furious. Steaming.
"Murphy, please don't do this!" Ila called after him.
"Let him go," Emori held her back.
"But-"
"He'll be okay, and as far as I've noticed, you two always end up back together somehow, anyway."
Ila stared at Emori for a moment, sadness sunken into her eyes as tears began to flood over her eyelashes like a waterfall. She bit her lip hard to hold them back and managed to peel back her emotions. She turned back to watch Murphy disappear into the forest. She could not stand to see the sight and suddenly gave out a sharp, helpless scream.
"Come on. Let's go," Emori pulled her in the opposite direction and wrapped an arm around her waist. Ila looked back and Murphy was gone. She grabbed her arm tightly and began to dig her nails in. Bruises would certainly appear in their places.
"What am I doing?" Ila shook her head incredulously. She brushed off Emori with an aggressive shove, running back for Murphy. Emori watched her in confusion before chasing after her, but couldn't keep up as she took off at a run into the forest. Ila's senses actively listened, alert for any danger around her. She began to slow down and checked Murphy's trail. She was still on it. Clumsy. He'd be caught by grounders in no time if even she could track him.
The afternoon sun began to creep up over Ila's hanging head. She was tired of chasing after this asshole already. Just like before the bunker days. It was a bittersweet feeling that Ila chewed the inside of her mouth on. She suddenly perked up when she heard a branch snap. Someone was coming up the road. She pulled herself off of it and into the forest line, clapping a hand over her mouth to contain her breathing. She spotted Emori across the road, hiding herself until suddenly disappearing. Ila peeked down the road and saw a group of men with a cart…and Murphy, faking dead on the ground before them. She pulled out her gun and aimed. One man took Murphy up abruptly by the hair and lifted him to his feet.
"Where are the two girls?" the man demanded.
"Their gone," Murphy answered, exhausted with struggling, as though he had already given up.
Ila pulled the trigger but the gun only clicked – jammed.
"Shit," Ila looked at her gun, panicked and snapped her attention back to the grounders. They heard. Murphy began to make a fuss to get their attention back but one was still insistent on Ila's trail. Ila stood up and snuck down off down the road, toward the grounder cart silently. As some were distracted with the sound Ila made a few feet back, others preoccupied with Murphy, Ila snuck her way under the covers and disguised herself with the supplies in their cart.
"How does a member of skaikru come across the holy symbol?" one of the grouders asked Murphy.
"Put him in the back. We're taking him with us," another grounder suggested. Murphy caught sight of Ila settle into the cart and stopped struggling. The grounders brought him to the back of their cart where they threw him in, slamming him into Ila.
"Ow," she accidentally mumbled under the covers.
"Ow, geez. Could you be a little more gentle?" Murphy coughed sarcastically to cover up Ila's voice. He was heavy against her and breathing was a struggle under the burlap blanket. The cart finally took off down the road again.