"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." -William Shakespeare
An entire day passes by, with a lot of Carrie, Curtis, and Jamie quietly planning while Rayna and I play with Timberlake, but also a lot of Jamie freaking out over things in the plan that apparently aren't that big of a problem because Carrie soon calms her down. By the look on his face during these times, I don't think Curtis likes Jamie- or being in a cabin full of girls, for that matter -very much. As the sun is setting on our third night in the mountains, I'm nibbling on a peach Jeb brought when Rayna starts sneezing. Carrie breaks away from plan-writing to tuck her in before she gets too sick.
"Carrie, she can take care of herself." Jamie says frustratedly. "I think we have more pressing matters."
"I know, but I don't like seeing a teenager get sick and not have someone to take care of her." Carrie says.
"I'm fine, really." Rayna says, nose red. Carrie lets out a huff.
"Alright, but Norma," She turns to me. "You keep an eye on her." I nod. I don't know much about taking care of anyone but myself, but I do walk over, wrap a blanket around her shoulders, and make a decision.
"I'll find firewood." I offer. Although I really don't want to and the idea of being alone in the woods is terrifying, I think it's time I help instead of just sit around.
"In the morning." Curtis says. "Don't want you getting sick from cold, too."
"Okay." I say.
"Speaking of morning, I think Jamie needs some sleep." Carrie says. Jamie doesn't even argue, just yawns; it's definitely true. She hasn't slept since we came up to the mountains. She climbs into an upper bunk above Rayna, and soon falls asleep.
"I'll take g- watch." Curtis avoids saying "guard", which doesn't help my uneasiness of trusting him. However, my sleepiness wins over my nervousness, and I doze off within minutes, assuming Carrie is safe in bed.
Pounding on our cabin door in the middle of the night causes me to jump up, hit my head, then fall out of bed. Before given any instruction, I throw all our spare blankets over Rayna to hide her, then sit at the end of her bed to block her from view even more. Jamie jumps out of bed holding her knife, and Carrie is already standing.
"You guys expecting anyone?" Curtis asks.
"No!" Jamie says frantically. Curtis grabs his gun and readies it, then reaches slowly for the door handle. He opens it, and I tense, trying to keep from running to hide in the bathroom.
But instead of guards, or even worse, Gorgol, stands two people, beat up and bruised, that I know. Nick and Avery.
"We need help." Nick says. Jamie motions for more explanation. "Guards." He's almost completely supporting the more-injured Avery, who looks limp. She has makeshift bandages wrapped around her head, and I can tell Nick was in a hurry when he applied them.
Nick and Curtis help Avery to a bed, and lay her down. Her nose looks broken, her eye is swollen, and her entire body is bruised. Curtis and Carrie starts examining her and Nick for the most serious damage, when Rayna starts getting out from under her blanket. Jamie subtly shakes her head, and Rayna ducks under again before being seen by Nick or Avery. I wonder why; can we really not trust them? Or maybe Jamie is waiting to reveal Rayna when their injuries are tended to.
"So, what's going on?" Jamie asks Nick once Carrie doesn't need anymore of Curtis' help with Avery and he's cleaning a bad cut on Nick's arm.
"We were in town, and not too openly or anything, we were staying elusive," Nick explains. "But a guard saw us, said something to another one, and claimed that someone had said we stole from them, which we didn't. I think it was just an excuse, because they dragged us into a clear part of the suburbs where no one saw them attack us. Then, we came here because it was the only place we could think of that we felt safe going to."
"It's over a day long journey from the Capitol to here." Jamie says. "Oh, no."
"Honey, hand me an extra blanket." Carrie says to Jamie. Jamie grabs one off the top, accidentally exposing Rayna's hand, which I swing my legs on top of to hide, then she jerks her hand back under. Nick notices my odd movements, my doesn't say anything. A sudden stab of sympathy for Rayna goes through me; terrified, trapped underneath nine, well, eight now, blankets. This realization also makes me recognize exactly how much Jeb gave us. Hm.
"Hand me my bag, Curtis." Carrie asks. He grabs her pack from her bed, and hands it to her. She reaches in, pulls out scissors-as she did bring her sewing items from the market -and cuts off a strip from the blanket! I'm befuddled as to why, until she starts wrapping it around Avery's head. I actually look at the wound, which is a mess of blood and ick. I shudder, hating the sight of blood. Luckily though, it's soon covered, and she lovingly brushes a strand of hair from Avery's forehead.
"Is she gonna recover?" Nick begs as Carrie covers Avery with the blanket.
"Yeah, but she's gonna need time." Carrie says. "Wounds like that don't heal right away. We'll make sure she eats in the morning, but right now she just needs rest. And you do, too, unless you'd like some food first?"
"I'll sleep." Nick says. He hops into the bed nearest Avery, and falls asleep before anyone can hand him a blanket. He must be exhausted from carrying Avery all this way.
"Rayna?" Jamie says. Rayna sits up, and sighs.
"I thought I'd never get to come out." Everyone returns to our beds, except for Curtis of course. I look around; seven people. That also means there are five beds left. This is becoming very real, very fast. I sigh, stare at the bed above, which Carrie is sleeping in, and wait to fall asleep.
I don't even remember falling asleep, but when Carrie wakes me up to help her collect firewood, I don't feel well rested. She grabs my arms and pulls me out of the bed, and tosses a piece of bread to me.
"Eat up darling, that's breakfast." She says, almost sympathetically. As if it's her fault we're fighting. "It's called a baguette, but usually they're smaller." I nod thanks and munch on it as she rummages through her possessions for something. Soon, she turns back to me, and tosses a pair of homemade mittens. They're quite comfortable as I pull them on. As I finish my peach, she wakes up Curtis to guard, and Rayna rolls awake.
"Good morning." Carrie greets.
"Where are you going?" Rayna asks.
"To collect firewood." Carrie responds.
"Oh." Rayna glances at the ground, then back up. "Can I come?" Carrie hesitates, maybe unsure if having Rayna out in the open when the entire country is hunting for her is the best idea.
"It'll be fine." Curtis assures us. "No one's around for miles." Carrie looks quickly at Jamie's sleeping form before nodding.
"Alright." She grabs another pair of mittens and hands them to Rayna. "Let's go."