I Bless the Rains

"I didn't say anything at the time, but I was puzzled when you put toilet paper in the sack with the trade goods, but I quickly saw your wisdom. We got a whole basket of fruits and vegetables for it."

"Tell him about the other bad man," Kira said.

Akeela was hesitant, but Cabot was insistant.

"Spill it, Akeela," he said, "What happened?"

Akeela still hesitated, but another stern look from Cabot got her talking.

"We were having a hard time bargaining with the meat merchant. He didn't seem to be interested in anything that we had, he just kept giving us strange looks. We were starting to leave when he tried to get me to go into the back room with him, grabbing my arm. I pulled my arm away, said I'd go hungry first.

"He just laughed, grabbed Kira, saying, 'Maybe this little thing will be more cooperative.'

"I leaped up, put my arm around his head, bending it back and put my knife to his throat. 'If you want your head to stay on your neck you will take your filthy hands of my friend!'

"He immediately released Kira, but I kept ahold of him while Kira and Mora gathered the dried goat. 'Leave the coins,' I said, 'We're not thieves.' I had the girls leave the shop and threw the shopkeeper to the floor, giving him a small scratch to remember us by. 'Remember this the next time you try to take advantage of someone,' I said, then left the shop to meet up with the girls.

"I didn't know if he might have some friends around, so I got us out of the village right away."

"Wow, Akeela," Cabot said, "very impressive, maybe I should be more careful around you!"

Seeing the sad look in her eyes, Cabot softened.

"Relax, Akeela," he said, "I'm just teasing you; I know that I will never give you any reason to act like that with me.

After their best meal in several days, they settled down for some needed rest. Jema once more snuggled under Cabot's arm and with Kira and Mora cuddling together, Akeela found herself the odd woman out. Once again feeling the unfamiliar pangs of jealousy, she moved to Cabot's other side and startled him by matching Jema and snuggling under his other arm.

As she dropped off to sleep she thought about how hard it must have been for Cabot to trust them, and that maybe she should return that trust.

That stop seemed to be a watershed for them, and they became more of a team, looking out for each other. As a symbol, Cabot dug out a couple of large safety pins so that Akeela could pin her shirt together, though, truth be told, she was beginning to enjoy flashing her tits at him.

As they went along, they shared their stories, getting more comfortable with each other's language. Cabot told them about growing up in New Mexico with his architect father and professor mother. Their stories were, unfortunately, quite familiar to Cabot; they were refugees living in a village that was overrun by rebels, and would probably be camp whores if Akeela and Franklin hadn't rescued them.

Cabot found Akeela intriguing. Her light skin showed her to be non-native, and his curiosity eventually got the better of him.

"So, Akeela," he said, "what's your story?"

She hesitated a moment, then began.

"My great grandfather was English and my grandmother on the other side was French; that's where I get my light skin. I've got a Political Science degree from Moi University, and I thought I was going to save the world." She gave a derisive laugh. "Now I'll be happy if I can save myself and these little girls."

"Do you have any family?" he asked.

"My parents were killed in a car crash, and I have a younger brother."

They walked quietly for a while, foraging as they went. While they had some success hunting small animals (and avoiding large ones), there were many days that they were lucky to find some fruits and berries.

On the seventh day after they encountered the village, Cabot took a chance on a shot and killed a Lichtenstein's hartebeest. The girls, except for Akeela, knew all about butchering an animal, and they soon had the meat divided between them. They left the offal behind and walked a couple of miles before setting up their little camp. Knowing that the meat would spoil quickly in the heat, they set the loins roasting over a small fire and fashioned drying racks out of nearby shrubbery. Akeela felt a little useless and sat quietly, watching the others work, helping when she could.

She felt miserable and alone, and before she aware that she was crying, she looked up to see four concerned faces looking at her.

"I'm okay," she said, before jumping up and walking away from them.

Cabot looked helplessly at the girls, who made motions with their hands, urging him to go after her. He found her at the edge of the trees, looking off across the open plain, leaning against a tree.

He walked up beside her, and though she was aware of his approach, she made no acknowledgment.

Cabot had no idea what he was doing, so he awkwardly put his arm around her.

"Akeela, are you going to be okay?" he asked.

He felt her slight form tremble for a moment, and he started to pull his arm away. She grabbed his wrist, keeping his arm in place and stepped in front of him, burying her face in his chest. He wrapped her in his arms, feeling tremendously uncomfortable, but hanging tough.

"Yes, I'm going to be okay," she said. "I'm a little out of my element here, Cabot. I've been such a fool, and I've just had nearly everything I thought was important swept out from under me. I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life. All those things I thought were so important are nothing. All of a sudden, I feel useless. The only thing I can do is march along every day, hoping we get out of this alive and try to start over somewhere."

Cabot was beginning to enjoy feeling her warmth against him and struggled for words. "I think you need to find some new important things," he said. "I think those three girls back there are pretty important, don't you?"

He felt her nod her head and her curls bobbed. "Yes, they're very important," she said.

"We have to get them out of here," he said. "I never thought I'd feel this way, Akeela, but I love those girls. I don't even give a damn about the story. If we can just get them out of here, get you out of here, that's all that matters to me right now."

She looked up into his face and he was lost in those huge brown eyes. They searched his soul and she seemed to come to some decision.

"You love them? Do you love me, Cabot?"

He couldn't speak and felt her hands reach up to tangle in his hair. She pulled him down and they kissed. His heart was hammering in his chest, and he tasted the puffy pillows of those incredible lips. The kiss went on and she felt his hands sliding down her back, cupping the cheeks of her butt and pulling her tightly against him. She melted in his arms, molding herself to his body and they were consumed in a fire.

The spell was broken by giggles behind them. Cabot pulled away and she stood on her tiptoes, kissing him again before she let go. He turned, face flaming, to see the beaming faces of the girls, peering from behind a tree.

"Shoo," he made motions with his hands and they fled giggling back toward the camp. Akeela laughed at his obvious discomfort and slipped one strong arm around his waist. They walked back toward the camp with her hip bumping against him with every step.

He was embarrassed around the girls at first, but their happy chatter soon had everything back at ease. They stayed there that night and the next day, waiting for their meat to dry enough that it could be packed without fear of spoiling. The afternoon of the next day, Kira took the canteens and went to the nearby stream to fill them.

She was filling the last of them when she heard voices approaching from the opposite side of the stream. She gathered up the canteens and hurried back to the camp. The others looked up when she came bursting out of the scrub, panting and wild-eyed.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Akeela asked.

"There are men coming," she said breathlessly. "We must hide."

They put the fire out quickly, gathered their belongings and faded into the brush. Silently, Cabot took Akeela's clips out of his pocket and gave them to her. "I should have done this last week," he said. "Sorry about that."

She smiled at him and slapped one in place. He dug in his pack and pulled out a pistol. He put the magazine in and handed it to Kira. "Do you know how to shoot?" he asked.

"No, sir, I do not," she said.

"This keeps it safe, he said, showing her the button. When you want to shoot, push it this way. Point it at what you want to shoot and squeeze the trigger."

She nodded her understanding and took the gun. "Akeela, let's see what they're up to," he said. "Girls, stay here and don't move. Keep quiet and we'll be back, okay?"

They nodded and Cabot and Akeela slipped into the bush. They moved very slowly as they approached the stream. Three men, armed with assault rifles like Akeela's moved into view, clad in desert camo and they were studying the ground.

"They're tracking us," Akeela whispered.

Cabot nodded. They watched and followed the three-man team until they came to where the camp had been.

"Cabot, we have to do something before they find the girls," she whispered fiercely.

"Take the one on the left," he said. "Three shots; I'll take the other two. If anyone is still up, shoot them. Count of three."

He nodded his head three times and nine shots rang out. Three bodies lay in the dust and they approached, warily. Akeela watched as Cabot prodded them with his toe. They didn't move, and she watched in horror as he put one round in each temple.

"Why did you do that?" she cried.

"Double tap," he said, then grinned. "Don't want them coming back as zombies."

She threw herself into his arms, sobbing, and he held her close until she recovered. "I'm sorry, Akeela," he said. "We couldn't risk them finding us, or even missing us and reporting back that they had seen some sign of us."

Her curls bobbed. "Yes, I know, but I hate this, Cabot. I just want out of here!"

"Hang in there, kitten," he said. "These didn't get us and we're lucky together, I can tell."

"Girls! You can come out now," he called. "It's okay."

The three girls emerged from the brush and they left, giving a wide berth to the bodies. They walked until it was pitch dark and the girls were stumbling with weariness before Cabot called a halt. They built their thorn hedge quickly, and fell asleep, Cabot sandwiched between Mora and Jema.

When they woke up, the girls were still shaken, including Akeela. Cabot decided that breakfast could wait, and settled in with Akeela and the three girls all tucked in next to him.

All too soon, the call of nature and hunger forced them to struggle to their feet and attend to their needs.

Shortly before they were ready to travel, Cabot gathered the girls together, and knelt down in front of them.

"Girls," he said, "I know you've seen some terrible things, but I'm guessing that's the first time you've seen killing up close and personal?"

The three younger girls slowly nodded, Cabot glanced over to Akeela who just shrugged.

"I don't want to scare you," he said, "but this probably isn't the last time we are going to have to fight."

He paused as the three girls tried to come to terms with what he had just said; Mora was barely holding back her tears.

"If we run into trouble again, I want you to do just what you did yesterday, hide wherever you can."

Reaching into his pack he handed each girl a knife.

"I don't expect you to fight with these; you will probably only get hurt."

"What should we do with them, Cabot?" Kira asked.

"If anything should happen to Akeela and me, the bad men may come looking for you."

The girls looked terrified.

"They'll be too big and strong for you to fight, and you don't have the training anyway, but you can still hurt them. Hold the knife like this..." He showed them how to let their arms hang naturally at their sides with the knives hidden behind their legs.

"They will probably be over-confident and careless, thinking that you're easy prey. Let them think that; let them get close to you. Don't worry about looking scared, the more scared you look, the more unaware they'll be.

"When they get as close as you dare, lash out like this," as he demonstrated a slashing move at Akeela's neck as the girls jumped.

Pulling Akeela aside, he whispered some instructions to her and she pulled out her own knife, holding it as he had shown the girls. Stepping back in front of the girls with Akeela, he continued.

"You may not be able to reach his neck, or it just may be too dangerous. In that case, do this..."

As he reached for Akeela, she slashed upward at his crotch, cutting his pants.

Cabot stared at Akeela for a moment, then whispered to her, "That was a little too close for comfort!" then turned back to the girls.

"I guarantee you, I don't care how big a guy is, you cut him there and he'll be out of action. If you have time you may want to slash his throat, but at the very least you may have bought yourself the time to escape."

The girls were still in a bit of shock, but once he and Akeela calmed them down, they spent time practicing the moves. They obviously would never be expert knife fighters, but at least it would give them a fighting chance. Cabot wouldn't say it aloud, but he also thought that if they put up enough of a fight, they wouldn't be worth the trouble to rape; the alternative was grim, but at least they wouldn't suffer.

Fortunately, they ran into no more patrols, and reached Lake Tanganyika with only a couple of days with poor foraging.

Cabot's GPS indicated that they were still in Burundi, but fairly close to the border. They had no choice but to take shank's mare south along the lakeshore.

The next day they came upon a small village, and Cabot had then carefully skirt around it. Even though they still had a couple of hours of daylight, Cabot had them stop and make camp.

"Cabot," Akeela said, "Why are we stopping? We have lots more time, and aren't we too close to the village?"

"That's exactly why I want to stop here," Cabot said grinning.

Akeela was getting a little perturbed, she was nearly stamping her foot.

"Cabot, will you PLEASE tell me what's going on?"

Cabot decided to have mercy on her.

"I'm going to wait till it gets dark, sneak back there and see if I can steal us a couple of canoes."

"No, you're not," Akeela said.

"Wh... What do you mean, 'No?'"

"Well, not without me, you're not," she said, laughing.

"Oh, no, you're not! It's much too dangerous."

"That's exactly why you need me. It'll be too difficult to take two canoes at once, so you'd have to make two trips, doubling your chances of getting caught. Our best chance is to go together and each take a canoe."

It almost killed Cabot to admit it, but she was right. Akeela just stood there grinning, with her hands on her hips, watching Cabot considering what she said, knowing that he'd have to agree with her. Finally, Cabot gave a curt nod and they returned to the girls who had prepared the camp.

While the girls were busy doing other things, Akeela spoke quietly to Cabot.

"What are we going to do about the girls, Cabot? You know they won't want to stay alone, Jema, in particular, is very clingy with you."

"I know," Cabot said, "We'll probably have to wait until they're asleep. It'll probably help if we go later anyway, the village will be quieter."

"We should tell Kira," Akeela said. "We don't want one of them waking up, realizing we're gone, and making a fuss. If we tell Kira, she could keep Mora and Jema calm until we get back."

Cabot agreed, and kept Mora and Jema occupied while Akeela took Kira aside. When they came back, Kira had wide frightened eyes, but she didn't say anything, just sat very close to him. He could feel her trembling and hugged her slight frame up against him. She lay her head on his shoulder and he could feel the trembling stop. Jema noticed, and came to take up an identical position under his other arm.

Glancing across the fire, he saw Akeela's eyes, dark liquid pools as she looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. She smiled, and he raised one eyebrow, shrugging. She chuckled and turned away.

They prepared and ate their dinner, the two younger girls blissfully unaware of Cabot and Akeela's plans.

Once the girls were sound asleep, Cabot and Akeela gently extracted themselves and quietly made their way away from the camp and towards the village. As they neared the village, Cabot motioned for Akeela to stop.

"Wait here," he said, "If I'm not back in ten minutes or if you hear any trouble, get back to the camp, don't wait for me."

"No, Cabot! What will I... we do without you?"

"Survive. I know it will be hard, but what chance do the girls have if we're both captured?"

Grudgingly, Akeela hid among some trees, awaiting Cabot's return. She wouldn't have thought it possible, but she was developing some real feelings for the man. First of all, he was white. Akeela wasn't racist, she simply had never been attracted to a white man before. Then, he was crude and violent, but it was just those qualities that had brought them this far. She still hadn't gotten over how he had destroyed her illusions, either.

Just as she was about to give up, she heard someone approaching. She drew her knife and held her breath; when she saw it was Cabot, she almost threw herself into his arms, but held herself back.

Cabot noticed her hesitation, and was pretty sure what it was all about, but kept his thoughts to himself.

"We're in luck," he said, "I found a couple of canoes in a dark corner of the village. There are even paddles with them. We should probably move quickly before someone comes back for them."

Akeela agreed, and they set off quietly towards the village.

Cabot was relieved that the canoes were still there and there was nobody around. With Akeela's help, he pushed one canoe into the lake and held it while she climbed aboard, then pushed the other one in and climbed in. As quietly as they could, they paddled south towards their camp and beached the canoes as close to the camp as possible. Cabot used his machete to cut some brush to hide the canoes, even though he knew they would conceal them from a determined search. He and Akeela made their way back to camp and were relieved to see that the girls hadn't stirred.

The next morning, they woke the girls up early, telling them they had to move right out. Cabot had no idea how long it would be before the canoes would be missed, and wanted to be as far away as possible. The girls took care of their business, then Akeela and Cabot led them to the canoes.

As Cabot uncovered to canoes the girls got excited, and Akeela had to calm them down. Kira and Mora got in one with Akeela, and Jema got in the other with Cabot. They shoved off quietly, and headed south. Cabot had them move as far from shore as practical to avoid any patrols along the shore.

When the sun started to go down, Cabot had them head to shore to look for a good place to camp for the night. By the time they found a good spot, it was too late to forage, so they had to use some of their precious supplies.

Near midday the next day, they saw a town in the distance. Cabot's GPS indicated that it was Kigoma, Tanzania. They had made it! They were out of Burundi. They were still a long way from the end of their journey, but it was a significant milestone. They paddled a short way past the town and found a reasonably safe place to beach their canoes.

Cabot and Akeela sat down to discuss their options. One was to simply continue in the canoes down the lake. While this was the simplest path, it would be very grueling and take a long time. The other was to try to book passage on one of the boats that traveled the lake. While this came with its own share of difficulties, they agreed that it was their best option.