Shifted By The Winds Read Online Free PDF Page A

my friends.” She flashed them a confident smile. “It’s time for an adventure.”
    Carrie gave her a look of gratitude as she ran down the stairs and unlocked the door. The night was still muggy and warm, but the searing heat had disappeared with the sun. She took a deep breath of dank air that somehow felt better than the cloying air that had embraced her all during the day. She pushed away the instant yearning for the plantation that swamped her as she waited for the other women to join her on the landing.  They all looked hopefully down the road, but there was no evidence of a horse and carriage. The road, bustling all through the day, now seemed ominously empty. Something had happened to keep their driver from returning. She hoped he had not come to any harm, but she couldn’t worry about that right now.
    “Which way?” Alice asked, her eyes wide with fear, but her face set with determination.
    Carrie was glad she had watched the sunset so she had a feel for the direction they must go. “We’ll go right,” she said. It was an unspoken agreement that kept everyone from mentioning they would have to walk over six miles on unknown roads through the dark night to get home. Linking arms with Janie and Florence, Carrie set off. She kept her head high and her step confident. Showing the fear she felt would only make them more vulnerable.
    They were barely two blocks from the new hospital when they heard a triumphant yell and the sound of breaking glass.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
Chapter Two
     
     
     
     
     
    They whirled around just in time to see the first flames shoot from the windows.
    Carrie ran straight back toward the hospital. She heard people laughing as children danced with glee on the hill, their tiny shadows flickering in the light of the growing inferno. They reminded her of little ghouls. “No!” she screamed. Her only thoughts were of the patients who so desperately needed a place to recover from cholera. It didn’t matter that most of them would die — they needed a place to live out the remainder of their lives in dignity, and they needed a place where they might have a chance to survive.
    A large group of men must have been hiding when Carrie and her friends left the building. As soon as the girls were out of range, the men had tossed in their homemade firebombs of rags, sticks, and kerosene. Carrie groaned as she envisioned all the new beds and supplies burning up in the blaze. She ran faster. There was no plan in her mind — she simply knew she had to do something.
    She gasped when a strong hand grabbed her arm and stopped her dead in her tracks. Frightened, she struggled to free herself. “Let me go!”
    “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t do that.”
    In spite of her fear, Carrie was intrigued by the polite, firm voice. She turned her head to stare at her captor. The man gazing back was not much older than her. His face was tight with tension, but his eyes held nothing but concern. “I have to stop them,” Carrie gasped, starting to struggle again. “You have to let me go.”
    “You can’t stop it,” the man said tersely.
    Carrie felt a surge of hope when she saw a group of firemen rushing toward the blaze, their wagon clattering loudly as it swayed around the last corner. She sagged with relief. “The firemen will save the hospital!”
    The man scowled, but didn’t refute her words. He just held her firmly in place as her housemates ran up to join her.
    “Carrie! What are you doing?” Janie scolded. “You can’t possibly think you could put that fire out.” She shot an anxious look at Carrie’s captor, but seemed simply grateful someone had stopped her headlong dash.
    Carrie watched as growing flames leapt from the windows and marveled at the heat she could feel reaching out to her from a block away. She hoped the hospital wasn’t too far gone to save, but she had a growing awareness of the danger