Chapter 21 – Rising

Through the twelfth day and into the thirteenth, the Walkers made their way across a country none of them had ever thought they'd see – at least at that time anyway. They'd rode their horses through the shallow waters of both the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. Winding their way around the irrigation ditches and marshes with the tall grass. Earlier that morning they'd had quite a scare then gunfire was heard about a mile from the trail they were on, which wound it's way across the plains and hills towards the north. Before long, the hazy silhouettes began appearing in the distance.

"There they are." Jadia said softly, pointing to the large shapes. "In those mountains."

Robert took a deep breath as he stared at them for a moment. They looked to be about 20 or 30 miles away, and rose gradually as they went further inland from the Persian Gulf, rising to higher peaks off in the far distance. He and Kitty had pulled ahead of the group and rode aside Jadia and Sabriya. The night before they had camped in a secluded marsh along the banks of the Tigris, watching the flat-bottom boats glide past in the moonlight.

That night, Rebecca barely slept at all. When she did sleep, she dreamed of Justin. He was there with them, kneeling beside her. He was dressed in his uniform and had his gun in his hand. He didn't say anything, but just stood there and stared at her. She reached out for him, and as she did, she blinked. When her vision cleared, he was gone. Nora was awake when Rebecca suddenly awoke from her dream, hyperventilating and pale as stone. She'd spent the rest of the night in Nora's arms, drifting in and out of sleep, trying to rest. Now, Rebecca had fallen asleep twice against Nora's back as they rode across the desert.

Julia wasn't having as hard of a time dealing with the situation, but was choking over another fear. Although she was terrified over the thought of being a Widow, it didn't stop her from retaining her focus. She thought about Tommy almost every waking moment, finding herself on a mission to abide to the request he'd given her. His soft words repeated in her mind frequently, scaring her by forcing her to think they might very well have been the last word's she'd ever hear from him. "Be Brave, Be Brave." His voice repeated in her mind. She wasn't angry at what he'd done, she was angry at the situation. How could this have happened? She'd been thinking of it ever since the night it started. She wasn't angry at Justin either, she couldn't be. He'd saved a child's life, and as a mother she was proud of him as well. She was angry at the war nobody seemed to want. Coming to Iraq and listening to Jadia and Sabriya talk about it had given her a whole new outlook on the war then she'd gotten from watching it on TV. She wasn't scared or angry because she knew about what militant groups like this were capable of. She remembered she was at work when she saw on TV in the break room on CNN when a kidnapped soldier was executed in a video. Now both her husband and brother-in-law were facing the same thing.

Robert rode alongside Jadia, leading the group northwards to the mountains. All he could think of was how brave these two had been. Here, two twelve-year-olds had taken on obstacles most adults never even attempted to face.

"Mr. McAllister?" Jadia asked.

"Yes?" Robert responded.

"In America, do they think all of us hate them?"

Robert hesitated at answering that, but didn't want to lie to her either. "Yes." He said solemnly. "A lot of people think everybody here does."

"But, at the same time," Nora interrupted from behind them. "A lot of people don't. I've always known no matter where you go, not everybody is going to think or act alike. They might to certain degrees, but they can still think for themselves."

"That's right, Nora." Robert added, looking back to Nora, then to Jadia again. He could tell she was becoming nervous, as was Sabriya.

"You know, it's okay to be scared." Robert said softly, looking at the two girls as they looked back at him in confusion.

"How, Why?" Jadia asked puzzled.

"Think of it as the first step-a stepping stone of sorts." Robert said, his voice labored. "It pushes you towards the next step."

"What's the next step?" Sabriya asked.

"Taking action." Robert responded. In his own mind, his memories were bouncing back almost 20 years, to the Gulf War. He thought about the helicopter crash. He remembered the look on the pilot's face, and in his eyes. He remembered seeing determination, the kind that cannot be shaken off or discouraged by anything easily. "There are two choices in the second step; you can go forward or you can go back."

Jadia didn't quite understand it, but she did understand what she wanted to do.

"I want to go forward." She said. "I want to find them"

Robert smiled at them to give them reassurance. "We will. We will."

They rode in much silence for the rest of the day, and by the time the evening came around, they noticed the horses were going slower and their breathing became labored. The air was getting thinner as they ascended up into the hills before the mountains. Already, large rock formations of black, red, and brown stone were protruding from the earth. There were no trees, no signs of human life anywhere. The gravel road had not been used much since the British Occupation. Kitty had read about Iraq's political history, and was familiar with a few industries they had brought to the middle east. She'd seen pictures of tunnels and mammoth caves being cut into the rock as they checked for mineral deposits. Along the path, the only trace of human activity they could see at that point, they came to a large rock wall rising from the ground. Beyond it, they saw how the landscape changed as large rocky hills rose from the desert and towards the sky. Kevin spotted a cave nearby, where they found a small underground spring, that trickled a small amount of water from the higher elevations and dumped it into a shallow pool on the floor of the cave. Jadia laid her map down on the floor of the cave as the Walkers quickly circled around her. She found where they were on the map, roughly 7 or 8 miles from where the old mine was. Sarah kneeled beside her with a flashlight, shining it dimly onto the map, as the sun was going down now. They had officially entered the mountain range, and from there they'd have to go on foot, because the paths were not cleared well enough for the horses to travel on. In addition to that, the horses weren't used to the altitude and probable wouldn't be able to adjust to the thin air. The group would have to go the rest of the way on their own. After finding the water was clean, Nora and Kitty quickly filled their water bottles as the others unloaded all their weapons off of the horses.

"Scotty, do you still have the radio?" Robert whispered, putting on his brown leather coat as it began to get colder.

"Yeah." Scotty answered, tapping the bulge in the pocket of the cargo jeans he was wearing. The army had plenty of them and had given each one of them at least one pair. They were worn by people doing undercover patrolling, and were good to use at night because of their neutral tones. They'd also been given dark grey denim jackets, which they'd each kept tightly rolled up in their bags, as instructed. The worn look was also a bit harder to make out at night. While the others got ready, Sarah had beaten them to that stage and was now standing near the face of the cave. After a moment, Nora joined her.

"I'm starting to understand why he never talked about this place." Sarah said softly but firmly, holding her gun in one hand and standing it beside her. Nora looked at her daughter's face and noticed how much she looked like her father.

"You have his war face." Nora said. "You're probably going to need it."

A few moments later, the team filed out of the cave. They'd tied their horses up inside of the cave before heading back to the opening in the rock face they'd come to. Robert lead the line, with Jadia at his side. Kitty followed with Sabriya, followed by Nora, Rebecca, Julia, Sarah, Scotty, and Kevin. When they came to the opening in the rock, something already stood out to them, even in the increasing darkness.

"This was manmade." Kitty stated, pointing to the sides of the ramp that had been cut through the rock up to the next elevation level. "The rock was blown out." Both sides of the ramp had some areas where the wall had been smoothed down, but there were other areas with large dents protruding further into the wall. As they walked, flashlights dimly in hand, Rebecca noticed something else in the rock. "Wait, stop!" She whispered sharply as she stopped and crouched down. One by one, everybody stopped, trying to be silent and keeping their flashlights low as Rebecca slowly pushed away at the large amount of sand and debris that had piled up over the years. After a moment of digging, she found a long metal object running up and down the ramp from the mountains back towards the desert. "They're railroad tracks." She said, looking up at the group. Robert and Kitty now could see the thin outline of two steel girders underneath the rubble. They poked out at some areas, but the tracks could be seen going up into the hills. Jadia looked at her map and saw where they were, and where the mine was. She noticed there was a thin dotted line connecting the two points.

"If the tracks turn to the left at the top of the ramp, then the path marked on the map shows where the rail lines once were." The team continued up to the north. "Yes, they do turn." Robert told Jadia, then stopping to dig for something in his pack quickly.

"Robert, what are you doing?" Kitty asked. Before he could answer, he pulled out another piece of gear he'd been able to track down. The group watched as he pulled an old helmet from his pack and mounted it on his head. He then flipped a funny shaped contraption from the visor and what came together was a pair of night vision goggles. Jadia and Sabriya looked at the funny machine in amazement, but the others just stared for a few moments.

"Where did you get that?" Kitty whispered.

"At the base." Robert answered. "They're the same kind as the ones I used in the gulf.

Kitty scoffed and crossed her arms. "Pardon, have we met?"

"This was the only one they were willing to give us." Robert said, turning them on and stepping back as his eyes adjusted to the light from the cameras. "This isn't the time to whine, Kitty." He looked at the team once more, took Jadia behind him, and slowly began following the tracks into the mountains. Kitty followed with Sabriya, her gun still in her hands. Nora took a deep breath to settle her nerves as she continued walking. Rebecca followed, her Quiver over her shoulder and her arrow mounted on her arm, arrow ready. Julia had her pistols tucked in her belt as she followed, Sarah had her gun over her shoulder.

"Hey, watch that thing!" Scotty snipped that thing as he ducked just before Sarah hit him in the forehead with it.

"Oh, sorry." She whispered as she began walking in a quiet march. Scotty and Kevin both looked out over the darkening desert and the orange sunset, which was beginning to fade into a deep red.

"Go ahead, Scotty." Kevin said, motioning for Scotty to go ahead of him. "I'll cover the rear."

Scotty said nothing, but just leaned over and kissed him quickly before joining the line. Kevin took one last deep breath of his own and started walking thinking of the possible outcomes. He'd either come out with two brothers, come out as an only son, or not come out at all. Either way, he was going in.

To Be Continued…..