Chapter
She was restless, had been for days. Ever since her love had vanished. Roland has made no attempt to recount the events of that day. Chris had grown solemn. She would not speak even to Jake. She seemed to almost float between worlds, a specter in her own right.
Jake would watch her as she moved around them; their pace had slowed greatly since she had joined them accommodating for her pregnancy.
Time passed slowly Chris returned to herself she and Roland began to have long discussions late at night when she couldn't sleep. None of the others knew what they talked about, and when Jake asked her she replied that Roland told her stories.
"Come on Jake, come down to the river with me." Chris pleaded late one afternoon. Jake smiled at her child like insistence, setting down the wood he had been gathering he followed her though the grassy plains.
It was more of a stream then a river really and it sparkled in the evening light, Jake knew she had no intension of swimming because she couldn't. She just wanted to watch the water, maybe stick her feet into the cool depths.
'Your really pretty.' Jake thought to himself as she watched a frog hop near the edge of the water. "Why did you want to come down here anyways?" Jake said sitting beside her.
"It's nice." She whispered dreamily her eyes distant and beautiful in the afternoon sun. "I like it when it's quite and don't have to worry about anything. It's like the world can fall away and there's only you and the soft whisper of the stream." Jake found himself staring at Chris as she spoke. Her words weren't really anything special but the passion behind them was so great. Jake had never met someone like her before.
"How's the baby?" Jake wandered as they sat, to afraid of the awkwardness that would settle over them if silence prevailed.
"Alright. It moves around a lot." She smiled. "Do you wanna feel?" Reaching out she grabbed Jake's hand, placing it over the rounding flesh of her stomach. Jake tried to refuse and pull away but it was to late. He heard her giggle softly. "Don't be scared. It's just a baby."
"A baby that has to die." Turning at the voice that had spoken. A tall man in a yellow and orange jacket approached them. Beyond him stood three young looking creatures, in hooded cloaks. The man grinned at Jake placed himself between Chris and the new comers.
"Low men." Jake whispered. He reached down pulling Chris to her feet, his revolver sliding into his hand. Standing before her, he prepared himself to kill them all if they came one step closed.
"Give us the girl and no one gets hurt." The low man yelled.
The ground trembled beneath them, the water rose from the stream at their side. The hooded creatures backed away from the flood of water, disappearing into the dense thicket of threes beyond. The flood of water crashed onto the shores drenching the low man who stood in front of them, his eyes wide. Jake took his moment of surprise to his advantage, firing three times. The man's head exploded into mush, splattering blood across the landscape.
'They wont take my child.' Chris thought defiantly, Jake nodded reading the words only to clearly. "Did you do that, with the water?" Jake asked as Roland and Eddie ran towards them. Chris nodded, her body growing weary, she slid to the ground.
"What's going on?" Roland demanded as he came upon the two. When they spotted the corpse, no answer was needed. The Gunslingers knew they were in trouble and who knew what it would take the get them out of it.