Chapter Nine Jacob

Jacob is sent to spy on Eagle's Nest, but along the way he meets a young woman.

Chapter Nine

Jacob

      Ralph stopped, and he placed Comet and Star behind him.  He was frightened.  The animal's coat was dirty, and its ribs were showing.  Ralph thought that the animal might be starving.  He wondered if it would attack.  How would he stop it, he thought?  It would surely go for Comet.
      "Star, you need to be ready to take Comet and run to the house," said Ralph calmly.  "I'll try to stop it."  

Ralph wished that he had brought his spear.  The big cat stopped a few paces from the trio.  Its tail was twitching.

      "I'm scared, Daddy," whimpered Comet, sensing that something was amiss.
      "Are you ready, Star," asked Ralph without turning.
      "Yes, Dad," she replied.
      She took Comet's hand firmly.  As young as she was, she could tell what was about to happen.  The huge cat would spring.  Ralph would try to wrestle with it.  She and Comet would run as fast as they could to the house.  Would Ralph die?  She had a moments regret that she had never told him that she loved him.
      Then Star heard a yell.  The cat's attention was diverted.  Ralph heard the sound of his own spear whizzing by his head.  The cat leaped back as Ralph's spear landed at the very place that the large cat had been crouching.  The cat turned and fled as Nathan and Kevin, panting and out of breath, reached the trio.  They were carrying their spears.
      Ralph took a breath.  His legs were shaking.  Comet was clinging to his leg and crying.  Regaining his composure, Ralph reached down and picked up Comet.  He turned around to see Star sandwiched between Nathan and Kevin.  In the distance, Mary who had been running to them with her shotgun, slowed to a walk.  Everything is all right, he thought.  My family is safe.  Comet stopped crying.
      Ralph looked at the twins.  "Thank you," was all he could say.
      They blushed, but they were pleased.  "We were coming to get you," said Kevin.  "I had your spear, because we wanted to practice throwing."  Ralph looked back at the place where the mountain lion had been.  Dead center in the ground was his spear.
      "Who made the throw?" he asked.  Kevin raised a hand.
      "You pass," said Ralph.  The twins laughed.
      "That was mostly luck," admitted Kevin.
      Mary was almost to them.  "Are you all right?" she asked anxiously.
      "Everything is all right, Mary," Ralph said.  "These guys saved the day."
      Later, the girls were excited to hear the story, and they were disappointed that they had been feeding the chickens and had missed the action.  They oohed and ahhed over Star's account of the two heroes.  Suddenly the two boys, once thought of as dorks, gained a new status in their eyes.
      In private Star told her mother, "Ralph is the real hero.  He was going to fight that mountain lion, so that Comet and I could run back to the house."
      Mary hugged her daughter.  "I know, honey, I know."
      A few days later, Mary called everyone together.  I'm going to the Lodge tomorrow.  I'm going to take a load of food to them."
      Ralph was worried.  "Do you think that you can get the wagon down the road?  The snow will be deep in some places.  And why am I not coming with you?"
      Mary shook her head.  "I'm not going to take the wagon.  I'm going to ride one of the horses and lead the other.  I'll be back the day after tomorrow."
      That night, Ralph grumbled about her trip, not liking it one bit.
      Mary laughed.  "You're just worried about your woman who you think is doing something that should be a man's job."
      "You got that right," he grumped.
      At the crack of dawn as Ralph looked on anxiously, Mary waved goodbye, and leading a horse loaded with food, she spurred the horse that she was riding away from the farm.
      The going was not as bad as she had feared.  There was only one rather deep snow drift to get through, and the horses made it easily.  Taking her time, she made her way along the muddy road until she came to the road coming down from the logging camp.  She turned right onto this road and began the downward part of her journey.  Before noon she came to the gravel road and turned right towards the kid’s camp.  As the sun was sinking in the west, she was about to pass a tree when she noticed a noose hanging from a tree branch.  Looking closely, she saw the top half of a skull poking through the snow beneath the noose.
      The sun had just gone below the horizon, when she crossed over the hill and came to the camp.  As the horses made their way down the hill, she could see the logging machinery and the large yellow bus in the parking lot.  On the other side of a narrow wooden bridge spanning a swiftly running stream, she saw the rough built Lodge, the A-frame cabin, and the deserted dining hall.

Mary rode her horse down the road until she came to the bridge.  Then she dismounted, and she carefully led the horses over the narrow bridge.  Continuing on foot, she began hailing the Lodge.  After a few calls, the door opened and people poured out.  She was quickly surrounded.

      "Wait a second," she said raising a hand.
      There was quiet.  She looked over the group.   There were two adults, several older girls and boys, and some younger kids.
      "On my way here, I passed a tree with a noose hanging from it.  There were bones underneath.  If my children had been with me, they would have seen that gruesome sight.  Now, which one of you is responsible for leaving that person unburied?" Mary asked.
      The two adults glanced at one another, and then they looked away.  The older kids shuffled their feet or looked at the sky.  Then, hesitantly, one of the smaller kids meekly raised his hand.
      Mary stared at him in disbelief.  "You're Mike?  You are the one that Ralph calls, the Chief?"
      "Um...yes."
      Mary sighed.  This was not what she had expected.  "Well then young man, would you please bury that man?"
      Mike gave her a stubborn look that she had often seen from Comet and Star.  “I left him there as a warning to anyone else who might be thinking of harming my people.”
      Mary nodded.  “I understand.  That’s what Ralph said.  But a few bones on the ground are hardly a warning to anyone.  It’s time to bury him.  Please.”  She watched as the boy turned his head toward the direction of the Hanging Tree.  He was thinking.

"All right," the boy replied slowly.  He turned to the adult man.  "Hector, take a crew and bury him tomorrow.  That is, if the weather is okay," the boy added firmly, and in that last sentence Mary caught a glimpse of the iron in the individual.

      "Got it, Chief," the man said.
      "Thank you," said Mary politely.  "I brought food, but I need to sleep here for the night."
      The kids eagerly helped Mary unload the horses and put the food in the almost empty freezer.  Then they took Mary inside their Lodge and showed her around.  Mary was amazed at what they had created.  Hector was given most of the credit.
      "It wasn't my idea though," he said.  "I just took their idea and improved on it."
      "Man, for what you had to work with, you did good," Mary said.  She was led to a room with a double bed.
      "You can sleep in here," Mike said showing her to his room.  He slept in a bunk that night.
      "Thank you," Mary replied.
      Erin held an impromptu revue that night in order to show Mary how they had entertained themselves during the long winter.  There was singing and skits and jokes and Hector played his harmonica.  Then Mary excused herself and went to bed.
      The next morning was clear.  At dawn, Hector started his truck, and with a group of boys smothered in their heaviest clothes and blankets, he went to bury the bones of the man under the noose.
      A few hours later, Mary saddled her horse, and she led the two animals over the bridge.  She rode up the hill, and then she turned to acknowledge the waving kids.  She disappeared over the crest of the hill as the burial detail was returning.
      "She's a nice lady," said Yuie.
      "Yes, she is," agreed Mike.
      "And now we know that our people at the farm are all right," said Rasul.
      Gradually, the snow melted.  It lingered in the deep woods and on the mountains above them.  The road to the Brown farm became passable.  One day, Mike, Jacob, and Hector hiked up to the farm.  Hector had warned Mike that they needed to save their fuel for major projects and emergencies so they did not take the truck.  They stopped for the night at the turnoff to the logging camp, and then they continued on the next day.
      That afternoon, as they neared the house, the inhabitants came out.   The older kids were excited to see their friends.  Comet and Star trailed along behind Mary.
      "Who's them, Daddy?" demanded Comet.
      Mike raised his eyebrows as he looked at Ralph.  "They are friends, Comet," answered Ralph as he lifted the young lad.
      The girls had to have hugs.  The boys were more reserved, but they were very happy to see everyone.  Mary greeted Jacob cheerfully.  She invited everyone inside, and despite their protests, fed them dinner.  Afterwards, she showed them the farm.
      "We need to decide what kinds of food I can provide that will stretch the furthest.  Personally, I think that the best thing I could do would be to plow a large portion of your meadow, and sow it with wheat, alfalfa and oats.  You have more land in your meadow than I have in my fields.  In the fall, I can cut everything with the combine, and then leave the combine there.  We've got to avoid moving the machinery as much as possible to save on fuel.  We can use the wagon to move the food from your camp to our farm, or to move it from our farm to your camp.
      "Here at the farm, I plan on planting potatoes, winter squash, peas, beans and lettuce.  Those crops, we can harvest by hand, although I would need you to send some kids to help.  I don't think that we will get great results from beans, but they are important to supplement whatever meat your hunters can provide.  I'll keep on growing cucumbers, summer squash, and tomatoes in containers in the solar room so that I can get some vegetables to you as soon as possible.  I believe that I can provide enough grains and vegetables for everyone.  And we will have milk, although we may have to do without for a year.  Our new calf is a bull, but it will be at least November before he can cover our cows, so I don't expect to be able to provide you with milk next winter, unless we have a low snowfall." She stopped.
      The campers were overwhelmed.
      "Wow," exclaimed Mike.  "Mrs. Brown, you're like a super mom or something.  I can't believe how you planned this.  I just don't know...” he trailed away, unable to express himself.
      Mary smiled at him.  "I'm a mother and a decent farmer, and I have the skills that you need.  That's why I'm doing this.  But I will need your help to succeed."  The campers gratefully voiced their thanks and their eagerness to help.  Together with Mary and Ralph, they talked well into the night as they made plans for the coming year.
      The campers spent the night in the loft of the barn.  The next day, they helped Mary load the wagon with more food.  By noon they were ready to leave.  Ralph drove the wagon.  The campers walked beside it.  The twins were going with them, but the girls were staying.  They talked to Mike about it.
      "Mrs. Brown said that we could stay if we wanted to," began Kylie.  "I mean, we miss our friends back at camp, but..."
      "But, we like it here, Chief," added Paige.  "And Mrs. Brown needs us.  And Comet and Star need us."
      "It's okay," Mike assured them.  "You're free to come and go as you like.  And we'll be up here pretty often, so we'll see you.  And you can come visit us whenever you want."
      "Why can't I go, Daddy?"  complained Comet.
      "You will be the only boy left, so you have to stay, Comet," replied Ralph.

Comet did not think much of Ralph's reasoning, but his grumbling subsided for the moment.  Standing beside his mother, sister and the girls, he waved goodbye.  Slowly, the wagon rolled away from the farm.

      The heavy load required them to travel much slower than they normally would have.  At one point, the wagon got stuck in the soft mud of the dirt road.  The campers had to push it out of the mud.  They stopped for the night at the junction of the logging road and the gravel road.  Early the next morning, they continued their journey.  By twilight they came to the camp.  It was a cold night, so they left the food in the wagon and unloaded it early the next day.
      Ralph was anxious to get back to the farm.  He said goodbye to his friends.  Then he looked at Kevin and Nathan.
      "Men," he said.  "I truly appreciate everything.  I'm sorry I was such an a*****e at first."
      "We should have helped you more, Ralph. We're sorry, too," Nathan responded.  Ralph shook hands with Kevin and Nathan, and then he turned to Mike.
      "I have an idea," he said.  "I'm going to miss the help that those two gave me.  I was thinking that you might be willing to send another pair.  Actually, I was thinking that it would be a good idea for a lot of the guys to get some experience on a farm.  Maybe, you could send a new pair each month.  It might come in handy in the future."
      "Yeah, that is a good idea," said Mike.  "All right.  I'll send Tyler and another guy up there in a week or two.  The girls will want to have a chance too, Ralph."
      "That’s fine.  I'll be seeing you, Mike."
      "You're staying with Mrs. Brown?  For good?" Mike asked.  Ralph nodded.
      "Then I'll see you around," Mike said with a smile.
      They shook hands.  Ralph climbed on the wagon.  He left the parking lot, and drove up the hill.  Mike watched until he disappeared.
      Jacob was able to kill a deer that week, but he was not happy about it.  "This is the worst time of the year to be killing deer.  This is when they're mating," he explained.  "The bucks I kill will not mate and sire foals."
      "Bad karma," agreed Rasul.
      Mike asked Jacob to come in for a talk.
      "I’ve been thinking about those people at the Retreat that Jean came across," he explained.  "I've been thinking about the sheep."
      "Be nice if we had some," said Jacob.  "We could breed them.  We would have a steady source of meat."
      "But it didn't sound like a very pleasant situation," said Mike.  "It might be a good idea to scout the area.  Do you think you could find the place if Jean gave you directions?"
      "Maybe.  She was in bad shape when they found her.  I wonder if she remembers the way," replied Jacob.
      "She doesn't," responded Mike.  "She only knows the general direction.  We know it's to the northeast about two weeks away, and we know where she was found.  Would you like to go take a look?"
      "Can't hurt to look," Jacob answered.  He left that day.
      Mike called for Tyler and Gabby.  "You two are breaking up."
      "We are?" asked Tyler.
      "Yes, for April at least.  If you want to get back together after that, it's up to you," Mike said.
      Gabby sighed.  "It was fun while it lasted," she said to Tyler with a grin.
      Some of the kids asked Mike if the solar panels could be moved back onto the dining hall roof so that the showers could be made to work.  Mike was enthusiastic about the idea so he consulted Hector.
      “I can do that this year,” agreed Hector.  “But once Kathy and I get the roof fixed and the shingles installed, we’ll have to permanently set the solar panels in place.”
      Jean was teaching her students to find edible plants.  She would have like to have gone with Jacob but her knee was hurting her.  Teaching was tiresome, and she felt like she needed to get into the forest by herself.  She wanted a break.  A few days after Jacob left, her knee felt much better.  The next morning, she told Howard that she was leaving, and that she would be back in a day or so.
      "You're going by yourself?" he asked.
      "Yeah, just for a day or so," she repeated as she picked up her gear.  She gave him a wink.  "You'll survive."
      "No," Howard said.  She looked at him.  He seemed tense.
      "No, you won't survive?" she asked.
      "No, you can't go.  Not by yourself," he replied.
      "What?" she asked.  She did not understand what he was saying.
      "I said, no, you can't go overnight into the forest.  Not by yourself," he replied firmly.
      Jean stared at him, and then she sat her gear down.  She crossed her arms. She was not smiling now.
      "Look, Howard, I care about you.  I don't know, maybe I even love you.  But, I go where ever I want, when ever I want.  You need to understand that," she said.
      "You said that you would obey me," he replied.
      "What?"
      "You said that I could have one time when you would obey me.  Whenever I wanted.  Well, I want it now.  I'm saying that you can't go deep into the forest overnight by yourself.  You said you would obey me one time.  This is that time.  Obey me."
      Jean frowned.  Had she really said that?  She tried to remember.  She had a sinking feeling that he was right.  

"I wasn't feeling well then," she temporized.

      "You said that your word is good. Is it?" he asked.
      That made her mad.  "You're damn right, my word is good," she snapped.  "So I can't go into the forest by myself, huh.  So what, you are going with me?"
      "I can't leave right now," he replied apologetically.
      "I can't believe this," she said, grinding her teeth.  "A fifteen year old boy can go alone into the wilderness, but a twenty four year old United States Forest Ranger can't?"
      Howard winced but said, "Sorry."
      Jean was furious.  "S**t!" she yelled.  She kicked her gear and stormed out of the room.  Howard listened as she slammed the door of the Lodge.  Howard went to talk to Mike.
      Later, Mike asked Jean in for a talk.  He was living in Chief’s Headquarters again.
      "I screwed up by sending Jacob out alone," he said bluntly.  "Howard is right.  We can't afford to lose either you or Jacob.  When he gets back, I'm going to ask him to hunt and scout with you.  I don't mean that you have to stay together in the forest.  But, you do need to stay close enough to find one another and to help each other if something goes wrong."
      Jean gave him a curt nod.  "All right.  If Jacob agrees, I'll do it."
      Howard had fled to the relative safety of the dining hall.  As sunset approached, he gathered his courage, and he went back to the Lodge.  He pulled the canvas curtain back and cautiously looked in.  Jean was lying on the bed.  She looked over at him.  She was not smiling.
      "All right, you had a good idea.  I'm still pissed at you," she said.
      "Can I come in?" he asked hopefully.
      She debated with herself.  "Come," she replied.
      Cautiously he entered the room.  "Mike said that we could have his room, if we want," he said.
      Interested, Jean asked, "Really?  That would be nice.  I'd like us to have our own room.  I bet Desi and John would like it, too."
      "I can move our beds now if you like," offered Howard.
      Jean got up.  "Why not?" she said.  They moved their stuff into Mike's old room.  Afterwards, Jean was noticeably more cheerful.
      Later that night, Jean purred and said, "Oh, Baby, that was nice.  I like what you do to me."
      "So, you're not mad at me anymore?" Howard asked as he rolled over and lay on his back..
      "No.  Hell, I'm the one who gave you a one time obedience card," she mumbled as sleep began to claim her.  "Can't blame you for playing it."  She yawned, closed her eyes and snuggled up to him.
      After a moment of silence, she faintly heard him ask, "Can I have another obedience card?"
      "Sure," she mumbled as she drifted off.
      Jean woke the next morning.  She felt great, but something was nagging at her.  In her mind, she replayed her last conversation with Howard.  Her eyes widened.  Abruptly she turned to him.  He was already gone.
      "Howard!" she yelled.
      Outside the Lodge, Howard heard her yell.  Smiling, he continued down to the dining hall.  He hoped that Jacob was going to be okay with his plan.
      Jacob was moving along a ridge of land between two mountains.  He expected to walk for another week before he found the mountain retreat.  The light snow last night had turned into a light drizzle this morning.  There were only a few trees here, but the brush was heavy on this ridge.  At times Jacob was forced to backtrack and take another path.  Jacob thought that he recognized current, gooseberry, and plum shrubs from what he had learned in Jean’s class.  The shrubs were sending out new leaves.  There were only a few stunted juniper trees among the shrubs.
      Ahead, Jacob noticed another thicket.  As he passed, his senses suddenly heightened, and he became fully alert.  There was something in the thicket.  What was it?  Jacob stopped, and he made a point of drinking from his canteen.  Turning slightly, he could see in the corner of his eye a hint of cloth in the bush.  Not an animal then, he thought to himself.  It was a human trying to hide.
      Deciding, he turned suddenly and strode towards the thicket.  His body language made it quite clear what he was about.  As he drew near, a person sprang out of the brush holding a short thick club of wood.  It was a young woman, not that much older than Jacob.
      "Get back!" she cried.  "Get back."  She shook her club at him.

Her eyes were wild, and there was almost a palpable smell of fear from her.  She was panting, barely able to contain herself.  Jacob thought that, at any moment, she might turn and run blindly away from him.  Her long brown hair was dirty, and her face was streaked with grime.  She appeared to be wearing two pairs of pants under a skirt, and her upper body was layered in several garments.  Her worn out tennis shoes had holes in the toes.  She was carrying some blankets and a large purple bag.

      "Get back!" she repeated.
      Jacob stopped.  They stood there facing each other.  Then Jacob sat down on the ground and crossed his legs.  The woman regarded him warily.  She stepped back.  Jacob remained motionless.  She took another step back.  Jacob did not move.  She turned around, and she began walking away from him.  She was going the way that he had come from.
      When she was almost out of sight, Jacob stood up.  He looked down the path to where she had disappeared.  He turned, and he looked the other way, to where he had been headed.  He wondered what Mike would do if Mike were here.  He thought that he knew what the Chief would do.  Giving the path to his task one last look of regret, he turned to follow the woman.
      Lily was scared.  She thought that she had hidden well, but the man had noticed her.  At least he had not attacked her immediately.  Would he leave her alone?  It was doubtful.  She hurried along the path.  If she could get far enough ahead, perhaps she could find another hiding place.  She looked at the sky.  It was still early in the day.  

After an hour of walking, she came across a patch of thorn bushes.  Carefully trying to avoid the thorns, she crept into the bush.  She waited.  Less than ten minutes later, she saw him coming along the trail, not hurrying.  When he was a few paces from the thicket, he stopped.  Lily held her breath, and she kept perfectly still.  The man turned, and he walked ten paces back.  Then he sat down.  He took a drink from his canteen, and then he settled himself.  He waited.

      Lily drew a breath.  He knows I'm here, she thought.  She needed the rest, so she waited five minutes, and then she crept out of the thicket.  She stood, holding her club in front of her.
      "Go away!" she said adamantly.  "Go away."
      "Are you hungry?" the man said.
      "It doesn't matter if I am," she replied.  "I'm not trading my body for food."  She backed away, and then she turned and loped swiftly away from him.  Jacob waited a few minutes, and then he followed her.
      Lily tried to pace herself.  Don't exhaust yourself, Lily, she thought.  Another part of her said that she was already tired.  She was very tired.  She found another hiding place.  She waited.  Once again the man noticed her and sat down.
      She left the shelter of the thicket.  The man remained seated.  She wondered if she could attack him suddenly with her club.  She rejected the idea.  That would place her too close to the man.  Except that he was not a man.  Now that she had her fear under control, she could see that he was younger than she had thought at first.  He was a teenager about seventeen or eighteen years old.  Still, he was dangerous.  She had learned that truth during the last year.
      "Are you thirsty?" he asked.
      "I told you.  I'm not trading my body.  Not for food.  Not for water.  Go away.  You're wasting your time."
      When he stood, she turned and fled down the path.  Her panic had returned.  She wept as she ran.  She stumbled, kept her feet, and hurried on.  She was tired.  She was so very tired.
      Presently, she had to stop.  She bent at the waist, trying to catch her breath.  There was a pain in her side.  Listening, she could hear him coming.  She hid behind a tree.  He came to where she hid, and he sat down.  He opened his back pack, and he took something out of it.  He put something in his mouth, and he began to chew.  Lily's mouth began to water.  It had been a full day since she had eaten the last of the food that she had hidden from the men.
      The teenager looked at the tree that she was hiding behind.  She watched as he took something out of his pack.  It was a plastic bag.  Her eyes widened as he cocked his arm back and threw it at her.  It missed the tree by a foot, so that it landed behind and a little to the side of her.  Her heart was beating, but gradually she realized that it was not an attack.
She looked at the plastic bag.  It looked as if it had been repeatedly used.  There was something in the bag.  Cautiously, she picked up the bag and looked inside.  She found a roasted potato still in the skin, and a piece of brown bread.
      Was he trying to drug her?  She sniffed at the potato and the bread.  She didn't smell anything wrong, but that meant nothing.  It could be drugged.  Her mouth was watering, and a part of her body was demanding that she eat the food.  She convinced herself that he was trying to bribe her, and she wolfed down the food.  Let him try a bribe, she thought.  He wouldn't succeed.  She was not giving in as had some of the other women.  When she was finished eating, she regretted not saving some of the food for later.
      She felt better.  She took her water bottle out of her inner jacket, and she allowed herself two full mouthfuls.  She knew that she was becoming dehydrated.  There was some snow around the bottom of the tree.  Carefully, she wiped off the top layer.  She took some of the clean snow underneath, and she worked it into the bottle.  With a start, she realized that she had not looked at the man for a few minutes.  Anxiously, she glanced around the tree.  He had finished eating and was just sitting there.
      She left.  He found her.  They played cat and mouse for the rest of the day.  As the sun settled onto the mountains, they moved into a more wooded area.  Lily found three small fir trees growing closely together, forming an arc.  She sat down in the middle with her back to the center tree and waited.  Presently he found her.  He sat down.  He sat there for five minutes, and then he rose and left.  Lily was startled.  She wondered what he was doing.  Was he trying to work his way around behind her?  Perhaps he had given up.  She held her club on her lap.  Where was he?
      Her thoughts were giving way to panic again, when he returned.  He was holding a skinned rabbit.  Lily watched as he built a fire and a spit and roasted the rabbit.  When it was thoroughly cooked, he doused the fire and left.  She waited a long time.  She looked at the rabbit on the spit over the remains of the fire.  Was it a trap?  Finally she stood, and she moved away from her stronghold while gripping the club tightly.  She reached the rabbit.  She grabbed the spit and hurried back to her place of safety.  She held the club between her knees as she tore into the rabbit.  It tasted wonderful.  He had stuffed the rabbit with some kind of leaves that gave it a spicy aroma.
      Lily ate it all.  As she finished eating the rabbit, he returned.  She tensed.  She had eaten his food.  He would be angry and hungry, she thought.  She wondered if she should apologize.  No, she would not apologize.  If he got angry because she had eaten his food, well tough.  Maybe he would realize that she was not a nice person, and he would leave her alone.
      He didn't say anything, and he didn't seem angry or surprised that she had eaten his rabbit.  It was another bribe, she realized.  Night fell.  She leaned against the tree, and she covered herself with the blankets.  She pretended to sleep.  But her eyes were heavy with fatigue.
      Jacob found a soft spot on the ground without tree roots.  He laid his backpack and mummy bag down, and then he lay down on the mummy bag and used his backpack as a pillow.  He waited.  The woman was pretending to sleep, but her body was still tense.  Jacob enjoyed the twilight.  The wind was soft, and occasionally the leaves of the trees would rustle.  He listened to the sounds of the nightlife around him.  Crickets were chirping.
      He wondered about the woman.  He thought that she must be from Eagle’s Retreat.  At least he might bring back some information.  He had never seen, other than on television, someone so terrified.  Things must be bad at that Retreat.
      Presently, he rose and looked at the woman.  She was breathing deeply now.  He was certain that the exhausted woman was asleep.  He picked up his mummy bag, and he tiptoed over to her.  Carefully, he removed her club.  If she suddenly awoke, he did not want her to strike him accidentally or on purpose.  She did not awaken.  He regretted the need to awaken her, but the night was going to be cold so he had no choice.
      Taking a firm grasp on her blankets, he yanked them away from her.  With a cry of fear, she woke.  She saw him with her blankets, and more importantly, he was holding her club.  Incoherent cries came from her mouth as she shrank away from him.  Her hands curled into claws as she awaited his attack.
      Jacob dropped his mummy bag at her feet, and he walked away.  He placed the club by his backpack, and then he laid one of her blankets on the ground.  He lay down on that blanket, and he wrapped himself in the other blanket.
      After a while, Lily realized that he was not going to attack her.  At least not yet.  The pounding of her heart slowed.  She regained her senses.  Relief was followed by tears.  She put her head between her legs, and she silently wept.  She wept out of fear.  She wept out of anger.  She wept because she was so tired and so alone.  She wept for her friends who had died naturally and for those who had been murdered.
      Eventually, she collected herself.  She saw the mummy bag.  This was another bribe, she realized.  She got into the bag, and she slept.
      Lily awoke to the smell of food cooking.  The sun was just over the horizon.  She sat up.  The young man was roasting a fat grouse over the fire.  He looked at her.
      "It's ready," he said.
      She got out of the bag.  It was a sunny day.  A yellow faced warbler flew down from the green canopy, snatched something on the ground, and fled back to the sky.  Lily stood there trying to decide what to do.  Finally, she walked to the fire and sat down.  The young man tore a piece off of the bird.  No, he was an older teenager, she remembered.  

"It's hot," he warned as he handed the meat to her.  

Gingerly she took the piece and ate it.  He handed her another piece.  She ate that too.  Shortly, she realized that she had eaten all of the bird.  She looked at Jacob.  He was peeling a hard boiled egg.

      "Want some?" he asked.  

Lily shook her head.  Jacob fished another piece of bread from his pack, and he offered it to her.  She accepted and ate it.

      When they were finished eating, Jacob rolled her blankets and tied them with a piece of dried vine.  Then to her surprise, he handed the club to her.  He pointed down the trail in the direction that she had been traveling.  

"That way," he said.  He started to walk away.

      What should I do, Lily wondered?  Do I follow him?  If I don't, will he follow me?  She decided to follow him for the moment.  She could decide later if she should sneak away.
      They walked until she was tired.  She was about to ask him to stop when he paused.  He sat down, and she did the same.  He waited for ten minutes, and then he stood and resumed the journey with her following behind.  After a few hours, she was tired again.  Before she could ask, he stopped and they rested.  At noon they stopped while he hunted.  He caught another bird and roasted it.  They ate, and then they resumed their journey.  They walked and rested.  This pattern continued for the rest of the day.
      When night drew near, Jacob found the stump of a dead tree that had been hit by lightning.  It was hollow, but there was no way in, until Jacob made one with his knife and with his boot.  They crawled through the hole that he had made.  Jacob shared his food with Lily.  Then he started to unroll the bedding.
      Lily tensed.  All day she had been dreading this moment.  What would he do?  His bribes had been generous, she had to grant.  She was beginning to understand why other women at the Retreat had gradually succumbed to the subtle and to the not so subtle pressure from the men.  She imagined a woman from the far distant past talking to her.
      "This is the way it is," the woman would say.  "A man finds you.  He decides that he wants you.  He feeds you and he shelters you and he protects you.  In return, he expects to use your body for his pleasure."
      "I won't have sex with you willingly," Lily said abruptly.  "You'll have to force me."