Earth(45)

"Oooohhh," said the man. "Sorry – didn't realize. Well, have a nice day!" He turned and walked away.

That was easy. Already Erika was proving useful.

The sound of his zipper and a steady stream of liquid hitting dirt got me moving. Up and over the hill, another ditch greeted me. There was at least privacy from the camp. I chose one end of the area and hesitated. My bladder, aching with the need to empty itself, suddenly turned shy.

I waited until the women that were there left, then relieved myself. No splashing – score. I stood and zipped up my pants. I turned, planning a route back that avoided my puddle and any other suspicious wet spots, when a procession of prisoners crested the hill.

Tethered waist to waist with actual shackles and chains, they were all Earths, guarded by other Earths at a ratio of two to one. I recognized the one on the end as the girl crying after she had been captured in the forest. More specifically, she was one we had picked up in Evansville.

After they made their way down the hill, finding their spots in the ditch as best they could, I walked over to them. I jumped, pretending to avoid a nastier part of the ditch, and ran into her.

"Oh, sorry." I put my hands on her shoulders, steadying her. Under my breath, I whispered, "Are you okay?"

She turned, eyes going wide when she saw my face. "You!" She glanced down to the blue band of material on my arm. "You're with them?!"

"Hey – no talking to the prisoners!" One of the guards pointed her finger at me.

I smoothed my face over. "I ran into her – I was just saying sorry."

"Fine. You said it."

"And now I have to pee – again."

The guard put her hand on her hip and looked me over.

"I have a big canteen," I said, pulling my zipper down.

The guard shrugged and walked away.

"You. Bitch."

I turned back to the girl; her eyes were on fire, face flush with anger.

I grabbed her arm pulling her down so we were both squatting. "Shh! Please, I'm not with them." I glanced at my armband. "Well, I am. But as a spy."

She raised an eyebrow. "We followed you here; we trusted you! And now look where we are."

"Listen, I'll work on it. I've lost my powers but I'll find some way to get you out of here. Remember—"

"All I remember was your baby screaming; giving us all away. Once the fighting started, I got a quick glimpse of you hurling a fireball toward me, then running after your kid without a second thought for us!"

She stood and glared down at me. "You remember who you are, and why you're here."

"Prisoners up!" The rest of the chain gang stood at the guards command and were ushered away before I could get in another word.

Who I am? I'm a mother for Christ's sake! What mother would've done it differently? I pulled up my own pants for a second time and walked away with crossed arms, kicking rocks as I went. I took in a deep breath and cleared my head. I tried to put myself in her position. I couldn't very well pick up people along the way and abandon them at the first sign of trouble.

I sighed. Maybe I'll be here longer than I thought. Besides, Bee was safe for the moment, and I could always check up on her.

With my bladder taking up significantly less room in my midsection, my stomach began to rumble. Erika had deprived me of food for fear of it coming back up all over one of her tents.

I followed my nose again, this time to the kitchens. There were several fires going. On top of them lay pieces of meat, skinned and splayed out. Unidentifiable from where I stood, but probably rabbit and squirrel for the most part. Maybe some birds. It smelled delicious.

I stretched, biding my time to observe how exactly food procurement worked. A long line of Elementals held empty plates. They stopped at one table, spoke to a woman sitting behind it, and she checked lists marking something off.

Dang, they’re keeping track. If my name isn't on the list, how am I going to get food?

I made my way over to sets of long logs laid in parallel rows. Several groups of people were eating. I picked up an empty plate, then sat on a log one group just vacated. They left behind several scraps of food. Dirty or not, I put them on my plate.

I walked back over to the lines where they dished out food, skipping directly ahead to the servers, and squeezed my way in between two others in line. "I'm sorry. Excuse me." I looked directly at one of the servers. He wiped sweat from his forehead with his shirtsleeve and frowned.

I cleared my throat. "I dropped my plate – is there any way I can get another serving?" I displayed the dirt covered roll as evidence.

He glanced at the roll, then back at me. "No seconds."

Someone down the line shouted, "Come on lady – no cuts!"