SS13?
Emma finished drying the dishes from breakfast and put them away. Wish I knew more 'bout fixin' things, she thought, looking out one of the cracked windows. She had been brought up to be a proper lady and that sort of thing was 'a man's job.' If she'd had her choice, though, she would have been proficient with a hammer and nails rather than a needle and thread. She dried her hands off on her jeans and as she watched the men loading the wagons. On the other hand, I'm glad I'm well outta that, she thought, noticing one particular crate take two men to lift, visibly straining the whole time. Grumble as much as she liked, being a woman meant she got all the easy work, and most of the time that suited her fine.
She exited the main house and went to the bunkhouse to get her belongings, mainly just her rifle, her knife, and a backpack containing some miscellaneous supplies for the road. The rifle went into some loops designed for it on the backpack, the backpack went onto her back, and the knife was put in the sheath on her belt. "Mornin'," she said to Grygor with a tip of her hat as she passed him on the way back to the main house. She hooked her thumbs in her belt and leaned on the wall near Amos Dryman in time to hear Murray mention Merrick. That's a snake in the grass if ever there was one, she thought. In her opinion Alistair even looked like a snake. It was probably the coldness of his eyes.
"Thanks for lettin' me come along, Mr. Dryman," she said. She'd worked there for some time but she had expected him to tell her to stay behind with his wife when the drive started. She could understand him not wanting another mouth to feed or body to look after on the trail... but on the other hand she was the best cook on the ranch by a wide margin, and her argument for going ('you wanna eat bad cookin' the whole time, or my cookin'?') had managed to sway him in the end. Truth be told she probably wouldn't have minded too much staying on the ranch with Mrs. Dryman and looking after things, but she was bored and wanted to come along simply for the adventure of it. Even if no one had ever come back from the forest they planned on going through. Actually, that was part of the fun; she'd hate herself forever if she sat out at home while the rest of these yahoos working for Amos got a reputation for being the first to make it through.
"What's the plan for the day?" she asked, turning her attention back to Mr. Dryman.