Chapter 9 - Five Days Without Food
That night, Mian finally told Silas how the five days had begun.
She and Atseli had escaped the freight camp during a storm.
They carried no food because guards searched supply rooms.
For five days, they walked.
They melted snow.
They slept beneath trees.
On the third night, Kai stopped crying.
On the fourth, Luli did.
They believed both babies would die.
Then they saw smoke from Rattler Creek.
Three houses refused them.
At the fourth, a woman offered water but would not let them inside.
Then someone told them about the widower beyond the ridge.
“The angry one,” Mian said.
Silas raised an eyebrow.
“That's how I'm known?”
Atseli smiled.
“Also stubborn.”
“Better.”
Mian continued.
They reached his door believing it was their last chance.
“If you say no…”
She looked at Luli.
“I sit in snow.”
Silas understood the rest.
She had planned to die holding her daughter.
He stood abruptly and walked outside.
The idea overwhelmed him.
Atseli followed.
“You saved them,” she said.
Silas stared at the stars.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I opened a door.”
“Sometimes that is same thing.”
Those words stayed with him.
The next morning, wagons arrived from town.
Food.
Lumber.
Blankets.
People who had once avoided Ward Ranch came to help.
Mrs. Ardell brought a cradle.
“My daughter used it.”
Mian touched the wood.
“For Luli?”
Mrs. Ardell nodded awkwardly.
“Yes.”
Mian hugged her.
Mrs. Ardell froze.
Then slowly hugged back.
Silas watched from the porch.
Rattler Creek was changing.
But Voss had one weapon remaining.
At noon, a rider arrived carrying a federal warrant.
Silas read it.
His stomach tightened.
The warrant accused Mian and Atseli of theft, assault and kidnapping.
Kidnapping.
Of their own children.
Voss had produced men claiming the babies belonged to families at his camp.
Silas looked toward Mian.
She began trembling.
The law was coming.
May you like
And this time, Voss intended to use it against them.
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