Yellow Part II

Lily Bell is nearly four months pregnant when she is taken captive by the Cheyenne when out riding with Eva. At four months pregnant she looks much farther along than she is and for some strange reasons she is spared well her friend is stabbed in the stomach. Arriving back the camp of her enemies Lily soon begins to realize she will have to do whatever is necessary to ensure the survival of her child.

She is taken in by a cranky old woman she soon calls Hag in her mind. Her clothes are torn off and she is given clothing to wear much similar to the ones the Indians around her are wearing. And soon a routine develops that has Lily wanting nothing more than to get away.

Mending clothes with needles made of bone and struggling not to run away even as she is taught to skin and to cook. The only light among the camp is a small white boy she meets. He comes up to her one day with long chocolate brown hair and skin as dark as the Indians themselves and introduces himself as Matthew or Dog Star as he is called by the Cheyenne. He was taken captive some time ago and become her guide and the only light. He tells her that she was not killed only because of the child she is carrying. So keeps her head down and relies on Mattie (she refuses to call him by the name the savages have given him) to be her guide.

And soon she is treated with a cautious freedom that puzzles her and she begins to let her guard down. That is her first mistake. She gets too friendly with a woman and is then smacked across the face by a brave. The bruises on her face she sees in the nearby stream remind her that they are the enemy. Almost a month into her captivity Lily is dragged out of her tent and is taken out of the camp by the same brave who hit her. He rapes her in the mud by the stream and smacks her once more. But the entire time he does nothing to her stomach but soon it become an almost daily routine when he hits her or rapes her.

Lily considers suicide but knows she can't when Mattie finds her one day and runs crying into her arms. Gone is the boy who was strong and almost callous with her. In his place is a nine year old boy who has found someone like himself and someone he can cling to.

And as the camp constantly moves Lily begins to lose hope that they will ever be rescued. Her life in Hell on Wheels seems like years in the past and Cullen Bohannon seems almost like a memory.

She begins to lose weight even as her stomach grows larger and as Hag forces her to work harder and Mattie refuses to leave her side the rape continues and as the bruises appear on her face and arms.

It is only one morning when Lily is almost eight months along she is snapped out of the trance like state she has been in for the past four months when she is washing clothes in the stream one morning and looks up and sees him.

Cullen Bohannon stands before her as clear as day and the look in his eyes tells her to never give up. Her hands reaches for him as she stands on her feet. She almost reaches his hand before she collapses and blacks out.

She is delirious for the next week as her body battle a fever. She almost loses the baby and it seems Hag is almost concerned about her but Lily knows she only wants the baby. She has learned from Mattie that the brave who beats her lost his wife and child months earlier and that Hag is his mother. Lily knows as soon as the baby is born she will be dead. The brave considers it the ultimate revenge that he will raise her child to hate the white and if it is a boy it will kill all of those of the pale skin.

Mattie stays by her side and judging by the bruises and his limp arm she knows the appeal of raising him as one of their own has lost its appeal to the Indians. It is the night after a bonfire and at the crack of dawn that rescue finally comes.

Lily awakens to the gun shots and drags Mattie to her and strikes when Hag has her back turned to the entrance of the tepee. Lily uses the heavy bowl that she has been forced to make abuser supper with the hit to woman once at the back of the head and then to the neck when she is startled. As she falls Lily continues to hit her until she sees the blood and hears the crack of her neck.

Lily then grabs the large knife at the woman's waist, struggles to her feet, crushes Mattie to her side, and simply waits for whatever will come. But whatever comes Lily will kill anyone who tries to harm her or her child or the boy at her side.

It seems to take forever but finally the screams die and silence reigns. A shadow soon is seen coming around the tent with a gun. Lily simply takes in a breath and readies herself for anything. Anything turns out to be a certain southern man who flings open the flap of the tent with his rifle at a ready to shoot.

His eyes widen upon seeing her covered with blood and the dead woman at her feet. Lily simply stares back at him but something inside of her breaks as the knife clatters to the ground. Releasing her hold on Mattie she waddle to Cullen who meets her half way. Careful of her protruding stomach he moves to hold her by Lily will have none of that. She knows what she wants now and she does not care if he likes it or not.

She grabs the back of his collar and brings his head down so their lips meet. It is fierce and awkward and she forces his mouth open with her tongue. He does not respond for a moment and she continues to plunder his mouth anyways. But soon his hand moves to the back of her neck and the other to her waist. He brings her closer gently but with a possessive push.

His tongue meets her own and soon their duel for supremacy as their teeth clatter her grip on him tightens. When she has to draw away for breath Cullen moves his lips to her neck when he begins to nibble and then bite and suck. After what seems an eternity he moves back to her mouth for a simple kiss before cupping her cheeks and resting his head against his own. No words are said but she knows everything he has to say.

Soon she turns red back to Mattie and introductions are made. Exiting the text she holds onto Mattie's and Cullen follows suit. She is packed up into a wagon with Joseph and Elam in the front while Cullen sits aside his horse. A band of Indians follow them that turn out to be Sioux who were convinced by Joseph to attack the camp in exchange for guns.

She arrives back at Hell on Wheels to see Eva alive and well and Durant racing towards her. But he stops when Cullen comes up behind her with his hand possessively on the small of her back and the other onto her belly. She is checked out by the doctor and told she is lucky to be alive as well as her baby.

That night clothes are found for Mattie and Cullen moves all of their things into his tent. And that night with Mattie asleep dead on the cot beside them she falls asleep in the arms of Cullen Bohannon. Her life is nowhere near perfect but Lily thinks if this is all she ever gets that would be find with her.