Endure Series (Book 2): Enduring The Journey:

by Kinney, K. D.

  She was curled up on her side sobbing when Ben brought the baby over to her.

  He set the car seat down in front of her. “Listen, we aren’t going to hurt you or the baby. But I need to make sure you aren’t hiding any other weapons because my friend and I don’t want to get hurt either.” He looked her in the eye so she’d know she could trust him as he waited for her response to see if she was going to cooperate.

  She managed to stop crying when she turned her head to the side so she wouldn’t have to look at him and nodded.

  The girl was young, perhaps late teens or early twenties. Her long light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. It was so long it covered her shoulder when he looked inside her jacket for anything that she could use to hurt them. She glared at him with her hands up in resignation when he found a knife. He knew she was ready to deflect his hands if he made her uncomfortable. She didn’t need to. He was as respectful as he could be under the circumstances.

  When she let her guard down when he was done, she looked weary as she sat up. Her green eyes were dull when she looked at Ben. She was short but was built like she could handle life in the Yukon, or like she belonged there, square shoulders and sturdy. For someone so young, she looked like she was ready to take on whatever came her way and too many trials had already crossed her path. Perhaps it was because one side of her face was bruised but the discoloration looked like the bruises happened days ago. The baby cried with renewed intensity. She looked like she wasn’t too sure what to do about it.

  “What are you doing out here at this hour? Are we on private property?” Nate asked.

  Ben leaned against the side of the Ranger to steady himself while he looked for a protein bar. He pulled one out and tried to bite through the frozen block while he waited for her response.

  She shook her head as she massaged sore muscles while rocking the car seat. The baby calmed down a little. “Man, that hurts. I want one of those.” She rubbed her chest. “What are you doing out here? Did he send you to find me?” She was skittish as she looked down the road before she eyed Ben’s protein bar. “Do you have one of those you can spare?” She wiped her eyes dry and clenched her jaw. “I don’t live out here. I had some car trouble and no one knows where I am. It’s best if it stays that way.” She was able to stand and swung the car seat. The baby quieted down.

  “Why did you do that? Threaten us? Doesn’t anyone around here know how to be civilized? I thought Canadians were supposed to be polite and friendly.” Nate stuffed the taser in his pocket.

  “Young lady, I feel bad that I hurt you but you were about to do something you’d regret.” Ben made eye contact with Nate and raised his eyebrows wanting to know if he was okay.

  “She was ready to shoot. That was a risky move.” Nate let out a long exhale. “I was telling you the truth. We want to help you out. But we aren’t giving up our rig to nonsense like what you just pulled.”

  She sighed. “I see that now. You have to understand, I’m desperate and have been stuck out here for too long with no hope of anyone finding me and my baby. I wasn’t thinking things through.” She peered inside the cover. “Did you see my duffel bag where you found her?” she asked.

  “I did but I was more concerned about rescuing this little one.” He wasn’t going to admit to her he was too injured to carry it and the baby.

  She shook her head and the corner of her mouth turned up. “I can see that you’re hurt because of how you’re standing. That’s why you passed out. How bad is it?”

  “No. First you need to tell me your name. I’m Ben.” He rummaged through their bag of food. He held the protein bar out to tempt her with food so she’d answer.

  “I’m not bartering with you.” She acted like she was going to walk off but instead extended her hand to ask for it. “I’m Natalie. My baby girl, Lilly, is two months old. When my car broke down a couple of days ago, I pushed it into the trees near the river down the road. It’s not far.” She pressed her fingers against her eyelids to stop herself from crying again before she went on. “I stayed put because someone I know has been chasing after me. I could have walked back into town but it was too soon. The first night I was fine. It was too cold last night, though. I was scared Lilly was going to freeze to death even though I’ve had her inside my shirt next to my skin the whole time. I just put her in the car seat when I heard you guys coming down the road. I had been praying for guidance to find a way out and that’s when I heard you. I shouldn’t have been able to hear anything, not from that far away with all the fresh snow. I thought I was imagining it at first so I went to see for myself. I was going to shoot out a tire on your trailer if you kept going. Then you stopped and kept the engine running so I caught up to you and was waiting until I could tell how many men I was dealing with. I thought about asking for help but I was too scared.” Her eyes widened when she realized how much she’d revealed.

  “Well, fortunately, you didn’t shoot out our tire because then we wouldn’t be offering help. That is if you want help from us or do you just want to wait for the next unsuspecting vehicle to come by so you can carjack it?” Ben asked.

  “There won’t be any other cars unless they’re lost. There’s been no one out here for two days at least.”

  “Where were you going?” Nate asked.

  “I left Haines. It’s actually a port town in Alaska. I’m not Canadian. Haines Junction is where the only road out of Haines meets the main roads to the north and south. I wanted to go to Fairbanks where my brother is living now but I heard when I got to the junction that the border is closed. It’s not closed near Haines. But they are more worried about the potential for invasion right now. I couldn’t afford to get stuck in a tiny Podunk border town in that forsaken area with someone after me. Now I’m heading south to Fort Saint John where my uncle and aunt live. It’s in the blackout zone but I know they have the means to get by. They have a farm and they’re always stocked up on what they need especially before winter.” She was bouncing the car seat with more energy than what was required for hushing her baby. The little one started to fuss again. Natalie looked back at the baby and went back to gentle swaying.

  “We are heading south. I will have to check the map to see how out of the way that place is where you’re headed. If it isn’t too bad, we might be able to help you get there,” Ben said.

  “I heard it’s bad where the power is out. You aren’t going to want to go out of your way to help me. I’m sure desperate people are going to be all over this setup you have.” She started shivering. Ben realized he was too.

  “If we are taking you anywhere, we need to make room for you first. It will be a challenge to find enough room for the car seat too. We don’t have a lot of heat either.” Nate was pointing at suitcases while he tried to figure out placement. “I’m Nate, by the way.”

  “I’m Natalie.” She chewed on her lip. “I can wear her if I have to. I’ve been doing that the past couple of days to keep her warm. I don’t like the idea of driving on snowy roads if she’s not seat-belted in, though.”

  “If we had a girl, we were going to name her Natalie.” Nate smiled warmly at her before he went back to figuring how they were going to make room for two more on their journey. She seemed to relax some when she smiled back. “There’s not a lot of room as it is. We can maybe part with one of our gas cans now. But we still won’t have a lot of room. Not if we want to keep things dry. We can stack some of our suitcases on the back. I just didn’t want our stuff getting wet or muddy. I’ll see if I can find something to wrap them in. You probably have stuff too. Some of it will have to be stacked on the other seat. You could strap the car seat in and then we’ll put you in the middle. I’m sure it’s going to be a tight fit for you.”

  “I can’t be all that picky, can I?” She rested the handle of the car seat carrier in the crook of her arm and blew on her hands while she rubbed them together.

  After she finished her protein bar, Ben handed her a bottle of water. He closed his eyes and r
ubbed his arm. It felt oddly squishy. He slid his hand under his shirt. It was bleeding again. His fall must have opened it back up. Natalie’s eyes widened when she saw how bloody his fingers were. He picked up a handful of snow to clean it off.

  “Why are you bleeding like that? Oh wait, you didn’t tell me why you passed out. It’s because of that, isn’t it?” She all of a sudden seemed wary.

  The protein bar didn’t help his lightheadedness. “I was stabbed hours ago when we were trying to get away from some lunatics in a white truck and yes, I landed on it and I’ve lost a lot of blood today.”

  Her face went pale. “Umm, where was that?”

  “Outside of Beaver Creek. There were so many vehicles parked there. I’m sure the town was out of gas. So we figured they were after our stash in the trailer.”

  “Did they follow you down here?” She wrung her hands as she looked down the road where they had come.

  “They were ahead of us after our last encounter. We aren’t sure where they wound up. There were several white pickups in Haines Junction in the small section of town we went through. Then we accidentally missed our turn and wound up out here. Apparently, it was someone else’s plan we go this way, miss the action in town and find some excitement out here instead.” Ben smiled at her. “I know things like this don’t happen by coincidence. We were meant to find you.” His head started to swim so badly he needed to sit down.

  “Perhaps it wasn’t just so you could come to my rescue. I think I can help you too.” She walked around to the other side of the Ranger to climb in the front seat.

  Nate tried to stop her.

  “I’m not going to take off. I just need to set the baby down out of your way so I can get my bag and help your friend. I’m a nurse. I’m still a little green so I didn’t bring much with me. I was in a hurry when I left but I might have something.” She waited until Nate nodded for her to go ahead.

  She didn’t waste any time once she retrieved her bag. Nate rearranged the back to make room for her and the baby while she examined the sticky stitches on Ben’s forehead. They passed her inspection. She cleaned it up a little more. He didn’t realize there was a bloody mess there too. Ben had to take off his coat and remove his button-down shirt for her to get to his arm. He was shivering the second the cold hit his body.

  It was oozing blood all over again. He was shocked to see streaks of blood on his chest and all the way down his arm.

  “I know this is going to make you miserable with cold but I need to press snow on your arm to help stop the bleeding and clean it up so I can see what I can do. It’s such a mess, I can’t tell how big the wound is.”

  Ben nodded and worked on keeping his body from shuddering from the intense cold.

  Nate helped rock the baby in the car seat in between rearranging all their gear.

  “I think she’s cold.” Nate peered inside the carrier. “Or is she hungry?”

  “She’s probably hungry. I haven’t had enough to drink and she’s nursing a lot for some reason. I need to clean him up then I can take care of her. Ben said you had a pretty decent first aid kit? Do you have any actual materials for stitches?” She asked.

  “No. Just those tape ones and I guess they didn’t hold up.”

  “I’m sure it opened back up when he fell. Do you have more? And do you have anything that’s clean that I can dry his arm off with?”

  “We’ve used quite a few clean socks already.” Nate dug around trying to find something for her to use.

  “I have something that will probably work in my bag.” She rubbed more snow on his arm and chest to clean him up. “Dried blood is nasty and itchy. Can you tell me where I can find a clean shirt for him?”

  Nate disappeared behind the Ranger leaving the baby to cry.

  “My name is on the tags on my suitcases back there. I’m not the best packer. Both of my bags have shirts in them.” Ben tried to stop his jaw from trembling. “Please hurry.” He kept his arms close to his body while she hunted and tried singing to her baby to calm her. “I could hold her for you,” he said through chattering teeth.

  “She’ll be okay. She already has a temper when she doesn’t get what she wants.” Natalie dried Ben’s arm.

  “Sorry for abandoning my post with the baby. I have some water heating up and it will be nice to have something warm to drink too. We have some hot chocolate packets in there, don’t we?” Nate asked.

  “I think so.” Ben brought his legs up to his chest. She finally had a shirt. Before she let him put it on, she pulled out a sanitary pad from her duffel bag. “I’m going to tape this over it.” She pulled out the horse wrap from Nate’s kit and checked to make sure it wasn’t too tight.

  He put on his shirt and it didn’t help much. The material was freezing cold. His coat wasn’t any better.

  When Nate handed out cups of hot chocolate, they were quiet while they enjoyed the heat on their hands and it helped warm Ben’s core.

  Natalie struggled in the backseat while she worked on freeing herself from her coat and the baby from the car seat. She was anxious as she looked at them both while they were ready to help until they realized she was waiting for them to leave her alone so she could feed the baby.

  “Umm, do you have any other blankets I can use?” she asked.

  Nate handed her the one he had been using inside the sleeping bag.

  “Once we get to the river, I have some more things I would like to get out of my car.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “I know you don’t have a lot of room. It’s all I have and I have more blankets too.”

  Ben looked at Nate. He masked whatever he was feeling as he glanced over at Ben.

  “Of course.” Nate cleared his throat when he turned on the Ranger and they were off.

  “You’re sure it’s not going to start?” Ben asked Natalie when they found her car.

  “Yes. Something happened to the radiator. I don’t know if it was intentionally sabotaged before I left but it lost all the water and antifreeze so my engine seized up. Now the battery is dead too.” She looked at Ben with a vulnerable intensity that made him look away. “You won’t leave me behind somewhere if things get weird, will you?” her breathing picked up and she gripped the blanket that covered her and the baby. “How do I know you’re not like…” She stopped. “I can’t believe I just got in this thing and decided to trust a couple of strange men.” She was frantic for a moment as she rested her baby against her shoulder. The little one started to cry. Natalie was reaching for the door handle as Nate stopped the Ranger.

  Ben quickly managed to turn himself around to stop her, jarring his arm in the process. He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes so he wouldn’t yell. He grabbed the shoulder of her coat and she was ready to fight even though she only had one free hand. Her baby was wailing.

  “Hey, we told you, it’s okay. You’re safe with us. Think of the baby, you don’t want her to freeze, right? We have plenty of supplies. We’ve already made room for you. We aren’t going to do anything but get you to safety. If anything happens, we won’t leave you behind unless you want us to,” Nate reassured her. “And then, I doubt we’ll be able to leave you unless we know for sure you are both safe.”

  “How do I know, really know?” She wanted Ben to let go but she waited for an answer, her eyes were wide and tears fell down her cheeks.

  “I guess you don’t know. You have to take our word for it. And trust your gut,” Ben said and tried to smile. “I have a wife and five daughters that I’m desperately trying to get home to. I’m scared for them. Like I’d be scared for you if we left you and that tiny little girl here to fend for yourselves. I don’t know you but I feel the same concern towards you as I would feel if you were one of my daughters. I’ll be honest, I’m still concerned you might try to take off with this UTV and leave us behind. So I’m worried just like you are. I choose to trust you, though. And you’re out of options. The only other choice you have is to go back to the freezing cold car and stay put. How has that been
working for you?” He wouldn’t let go of her coat until she relaxed in her seat. “I believe my oldest daughter is a smidge younger than you. She just started her first year in college. I have one in high school, two in junior high and the youngest is in elementary school. They are in Boise. I haven’t heard from them since everything went down. I don’t know how they’re doing. All I want is to get home. But right now we are prepared and willing to help you first.”

  She rubbed the tears away from her eyes and settled the baby back in her arms to feed her again. “What about you? What’s your story?” she timidly asked Nate.

  “I have a farm in Montana. My wife is there managing on her own but my two grown sons live nearby and are always there to help her. It probably isn’t as scary for them as it is for Ben’s wife and girls. I don’t live near a big city, much less a big town, and I don’t have daughters but I can imagine how hard it is for them all if everything has gone to hell like we’ve heard it has.”

  Natalie turned her head to the side. “You think it’s bad everywhere? I mean, I’m wondering if it’s wise to go to my uncle’s house.”

  Ben and Nate looked at each other. “We don’t know how bad it is in… what did you call it? The blackout zone?”

  “Yeah. I just heard rumors in town. But no one could find out much of anything.” She had calmed down considerably as she started burping her baby. “Can you hold Lilly with your good arm, Ben, while Nate helps me get my stuff?”

  “I’d be happy to.” Ben adjusted in his seat so he could hold a baby without straining his bad arm.

  She was hesitant to hand the baby off to him.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve held many babies in my time and I know what I’m doing. I will manage fine with one arm. Get what you can and hurry so we can warm up and get a move on.”

  Once Natalie headed off to the car and he was left with the baby, he finally got a good look at the little one. She had a head full of thick black hair and when she did look at him, she had the darkest long lashes and brown eyes. Her skin was darker than Natalie’s. She was a pretty little baby with round chubby cheeks. She rooted at her hand until her middle two fingers were in her mouth. She closed her eyes, content that someone was rocking her gently.