Patriots in Need are Patriots Indeed: Part One

“You can open your eyes now,” Trevor said, pulling my braid. That was an annoying habit he had started recently. “It’s over, and we’re here!”

He sounded so excited. How he could pull that off when everything had been going wrong was beyond me. Past Trevor decided to come along on our next trip “for the fun of it” as he put it…and I thought one Trevor was bad enough. Now I would have to deal with two of them.

Nevertheless, I opened my eyes a crack. When nothing exploded, and I got a peek at the scene in front of me, my eyes widened to their full extent.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Trevor chuckled gleefully.

We were standing behind some trees on a hill that overlooked what appeared to be a camp of some sort. Nothing about the scene appealed to me, and I suddenly realized how cold it was. I looked around me and saw for the first time that everything was covered in snow!

“W-where are w-we?” I asked through chattering teeth. “A-and w-why did you b-bring m-me here?”

“Late seventeen hundreds,” Trevor replied, “During the Revolutionary War.”

“W-war?” I asked, not liking the sound of it. “I thought y-you said it w-would be safe!”

Trevor waved my concern away. “Of course it will be. We just need to keep 4T-2 -and us- from Mykola’s hands.”

“He makes it sound so easy,” I heard Dominick mutter from right behind me.

Glancing up at him, we shared an understanding smile. I was becoming a lot closer to my new brother, and the time we spent together on the Mayflower helped me learn a lot about him.

Trevor seemed to have either not heard him or was choosing to ignore him.

Past Trevor was looking around him in delight. “Hey, this is great! I’ve always wanted to come to this time period. I’ve never met George Washington in person before. We are going to meet him, right?”

I was surprised when Trevor glared at his past self and didn’t seem at all pleased with the added enthusiasm. “Just be quiet, ok? I’m trying to think.”

“What’s the matter with you?” Past Trevor demanded with a scowl.

“You haven’t exactly been a huge help,” Trevor replied with an equally dark scowl. “You forgot that you put 4T-2 in a grain barrel? How could you forget such an easy hiding place?”

Past Trevor folded his arms sulkily. “I got hit in the head, remember?”

“Only because you started a fight with Mr. Standish! Honestly, you couldn’t keep from saying stupid things like ‘we’re not going to drown, you don’t have to worry about it’?”

I decided it was time for me to intervene. “Stop it Trevor,” I said, “Both of you.” I added when they continued to glower at each other. “If we want to stay away from Mykola, which I’m assuming you do, than we need to work as a team.”

My brother nodded. “Let’s just focus on being safe.”

I smiled and did my best to look enthusiastic. “So where are we off to now?”

“Let’s go meet General Washington and his army!” both Trevor’s exclaimed at once, forgetting their fight in their eagerness. I smiled. This was exactly what I had hoped would happen.

They took off on a run down the hill and with a hopeless shrug I joined them with Dominick not far behind me.

~oOo~

When we entered the camp, I looked around me. Tents were being put up for the night and clusters of soldiers stood shivering around tiny camp fires. I only guessed the men were soldiers because of what Trevor had said earlier; otherwise I might have thought they were tramps.

One soldier in ten had boots, one in three were going barefoot. The others had “shoes” made of rags. They’re uniforms were in tatters, and most of them looked as if they hadn’t eaten in days, which I learned later was true. In short, they looked miserable.

“So…” Dominick asked. “Why did we come here again?”

I looked at Trevor. He was gazing around him with tears in his eyes. “We’re going to help them.” He said finally, his jaw setting in determination.

“After meeting General Washington?” Past Trevor asked hopefully.

Trevor glared at him. “No. Right now!”

Past Trevor rolled his eyes. “I was just asking.” 

“Trevor…” I elbowed him. “Don’t be so hard on him.”

“Ok, ok,” He muttered, darting one more glare at his Past Self. He looked down at me and his face softened visibly. “He just gets under my skin when he acts so selfish.”

I nodded. “Let’s just forget him for a little while and help these soldiers out.”

Trevor’s old grin spread across his face and he pulled on my braid. “Sure thing.”

~oOo~

Both Trevor’s had gone off with some soldiers to hunt for some sort of bird to eat. I volunteered to stay at the camp fire and tend the sick soldiers. Dominick said he would stay with me too, and Trevor agreed. We all knew it wouldn’t be good for me to be by myself. No matter how many soldiers would be there to protect me. There was the constant worry that Mykola might show up, and there was no way I was going to be by myself when he came.

The soldier I was helping right now had had a bullet go through his arm. The bandage was old and filthy. My stomach turned as I unwrapped it to wash it. It looked horrible. Dominick handed me fresh bandages and I gave him a grateful look.

The soldier had light, wavy hair and the beginnings of a beard, but he didn’t look much older than twenty, despite his face being gaunt with hunger.

“What’s your name?” I asked, trying to keep his mind off the pain and my mind off of the festering wound.

“William,” He muttered between clenched teeth. “William Samuelson.”

“I’m Marin,” I replied, closing my eyes briefly to keep myself from fainting. “How long have you had this wound?”

“About…” He paused and grimaced when I poured heated water over the bullet hole, “…six weeks.” He finished.

I groaned. This was not going to be easy. I gave him some of the brandy that the soldiers kept strictly for the sick. He swallowed some, coughed, and then gripped his wounded arm with a moan of pain.

I poured some more hot water over the wound, impressed by William’s ability to keep himself from crying out in pain. Once the wound was clean, it looked a lot better. Gently, I rewrapped it in clean bandages and gave the soldier a warm smile.

“I think that will make it feel a lot better,” I said, doing my best to be encouraging.

William gave me a weak smile, and then closed his eyes. That was good. He needed sleep.

I moved on to the next soldier, making a mental note to get them some broth as soon as possible.

The line of soldier’s seemed to get longer as I worked down it. The more soldiers I helped, the more I noticed needed help. Most of them just needed their wounds washed and new, clean bandages, but some were in bad shape. I did the best I could, but there were so many soldiers that were dying, or already dead.

Dominick proved to be a huge help. He knew a lot about wounds, and helped me dress them properly. He elected five soldiers to bury the dead, another five to feed the sick broth. This saved me a lot of time.

Suddenly, beside me, while I was giving William another spoonful of brandy, I felt a hand being laid on my shoulder.