by Allan Joyal
"Someone had to cook more meat," she told me when she noticed my gaze. "And this axe is the only other item we have that allows someone to hold the meat over the open flame. The knives would only work over coals, and even then you might get burnt."
I heard someone grunt behind me. Turning around to see who it was without moving the spear was difficult, but I turned to find Martha and Lydia approaching. Martha had one last steak speared onto a knife.
"How much longer for your steak, Ron?" she asked me as she sat down next to Steve.
I lifted the spear to pull the meat out of the flame. The side that had spent the longest in the flames was blackened in several places, but the other side was barely cooked.
"I'm not sure. I've never tried to burn meat over an open fire like this. It looks like I need to put the one side back in for a few minutes."
Following my words, I spun the spear to put the uncooked side of the meat down and lowered it back into the flames. The hissing of the juices boiling out of the meat soon joined in chorus with the cracking of the burning wood.
"Yuck!" Elizabeth snorted. "You expect us to eat that? I thought we still had sandwiches. Besides, think of what you are eating. It was some defenseless forest creature. That's just awful that you are eating it."
I glanced over at Heather. During the walk, she appeared to have taken charge of the coeds. As soon as I caught her eye, I nodded slightly and then bobbed my head towards the trio. Heather smiled.
"Al, you've been carrying the one bag of sandwiches. Why don't you give one to Elizabeth and anyone else who wants one?"
Al must have been surprised because there was a long moment of silence. Then with measured and slow words, the young man spoke. "Why? And who should get one?"
Heather sighed. "Why would be because they won't keep anyways, and some of us might not be ready to try the native foods. Who should be anyone that asks for one. Don't ask me, though, I'm looking forward to trying this meat."
"Not a vegetarian?" I asked.
Heather turned to look at me. She flashed me a big and sincere smile. "Hell no! If nature wanted us to be vegetarians our molars would be up front to better chew plant fibers. Our digestive system isn't designed for extracting all the nutrients from plants either."
"Awwww," Esme spoke. I noticed she had a slight accent. It was clear she was much more relaxed now than back in the clearing when we first arrived on this world. "But what about the fact that killing the animals so we can eat them causes the animals pain?"
I looked over at Esme to see that she was smirking. She got up and walked over to me. With gentle pressure she got me to lift the spear and pull it from the fire.
The meat was still sizzling, but I could now see that the outer layers were all darkened to a deep brown or black. "It's done," Esme said. "Anyone got a way to cut it?"
Martha giggled. She slid over by me and pulled the cooked meat from the end of the spear. She was holding this meat in her left hand when she thrust the knife she was still holding in her right hand against the spear, leaving the steak that had been on the tip of her knife skewered by the spear.
She pushed the spear down, so I lowered the new steak into the fire. Beside me, Martha was holding the steak in her left hand and had the knife in her right. She held the steak up towards Esme. "Grab a section and hold and I'll cut you a piece. I'm afraid you'll have to eat with your hands."
"Note to self," I muttered. "If we do find a town, get everyone some utensils."
"Do they even use those here?" Lydia asked as Esme used a thumb and index finger to gingerly grab a corner of the cooked steak. Martha then pulled her hand away. Once there was some tension on the meat, she made a cut that separated the section Esme was holding from the rest. As her knife completed the cut, Esme was left with a strip of cooked meat that was about two inches wide. The rest of the steak slumped down to lie against Martha's arm.
Martha hissed in surprise and pain. With her free hand she pulled the steak away from her arm. The skin beneath glowed red.
"Yuck!" Victoria said. "That arm is going to be a mess."
Martha shrugged and held the steak up to Victoria. "We have a pool and stream right over there I can use to wash my arm after we eat. Right now I'm hungry."
Victoria took the steak even more gingerly than Esme had. I could see Martha struggle for a moment to get tension on the steak, but soon she was sawing away.
William was making gagging sounds. "You guys are eating Bambi and just sitting there calmly. I can't believe this. You came from a civilized country! What kind of freaks are you?"
The coeds looked around. There was some kind of unspoken communication between them. Except for the cracking of the fire and sizzle of cooking meat, there was silence. Finally Natalie turned to glare at him. "Look, I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted from what just happened. The home and future I dreamed about is far behind us. I watched people slaughtered for no reason, have hiked unknown miles through a forest, and am now going to sleep under the stars rather than in a nice comfy hotel room in Daytona. We're lost. And I don't know about you, but I'm very hungry. I didn't even see the creature all that closely. I do know that the meat smells wonderful, and my stomach is growling in anticipation, so why don't you take that dry sandwich and choke on it."
The other coeds nodded in agreement. With the immediate issue solved, I turned my head to see how Heather was doing with her portion of the cooking. To my surprise, the blond coed had the axe out of the flame. The side of the meat that had been facing the flames was grilled to a deep black. Heather blew on her fingers for a moment and then reached up to lift the steak from the axe spikes and reverse it, quickly putting it back on the spikes before blowing on her fingers a second time. After a quick tug on the meat to make sure it was secure, she returned the axe to the fire.
"A shy flower she is not," Steve whispered in my ear as he noticed my gaze.
"None of the coeds seem to be doing too badly," I said as I scanned the group by the fire. By now all the coeds had gathered near Martha and were accepting slices of the cooked meat. Victoria, Lisa Little and Al were also there. In fact the only members of our group who had not gathered by the fire were Eddie, Elizabeth and William. I looked around and found them settled by the same log they had crashed at when we reached the clearing. Each was eating a sandwich and drinking from a water bottle. I did not hear any words said but I did notice that they had turned their backs on the rest of the group.
"Hey leader, check the meat!" Lydia cried.
Startled, I looked back at the fire to see that the steak on my spear was putting out some near black smoke. I pulled it from the fire and saw that a small almost unseen pocket of fat was boiling away. The one side of the meat was blackened.
Martha looked over at it. I could see that the first steak was gone, but that several of the group had not yet eaten. "Let me see it," she said.
I pulled the spear back. The metal near the blade was quite hot, so I had to stand and retreat before I could put the steak in front of Martha for her to view. She lifted the sides of the steak and looked closely at the burn marks. A couple times she poked one of the darker spots with her knife. Finally, she made a couple of cuts to remove the pocket of fat. The pocket was thrown away into one of the thickets ringing the clearing. Then she pulled the steak from the spear and reversed it, putting the unburnt side towards the fire. "Put it back in, unless anyone wants one side of their meat very rare."
No one spoke up so I returned the spear to the fire. Heather then walked up with the axe and its now blackened slab of meat. "I think I kept it in too long," she said.
Martha shrugged and pulled the steak from the axe. "No harm, it will just be tough and dry. At least I hope so."
Steve snorted and brought the last slab of meat over. He pulled it from the knife he was holding and firmly affixed it to the axe spikes. "I can take the axe and cook the last one," he told Heather.
Heather smiled and handed the axe to him. "Deal!" She then dashed over
to Martha to claim the next slice of meat.
The next minutes were spent cooking the remaining steaks and then waiting while Martha cut strips to be eaten. I waited until everyone except Steve had their first taste and then finally accepted a slice.
The meat proved to be a bit dry and tough to chew. The flames and heat had cooked out almost all the juices, and the meat was dark brown all the way through. None of us had identified any spices, so the only flavorings had been the smoke from the fire and the open air. Even then it was hard to compare this to any steak from Earth. There was a slight almost citrus tang to the meat, and I found myself wondering what the creature ate to give the meat that taste. At least I could not say that it tasted like chicken.
The slow pace of the cooking and eating gave me time to take a closer look at the group. I found myself considering what little I knew of each of them from the single day spent with them.
Steve I knew well. He was tall, athletic, and brave. He had been a starter at tight end for his high school team as well as an active member of several service organizations. He and I had a friendly rivalry over who would have more sales for Hughes each quarter. Thanks to his good looks and disarming manner, he usually won. The only issue was that he tended to avoid leadership. Here he would be an excellent right-hand man, but I knew he would rarely come up with new ideas.
Beyond him sat Lydia. She had found a cloak and was huddled inside it. I was not too surprised by this; in fact my only surprise was that she was not right next to me. She had been raped while on a sales call for Hughes. Gregory Hughes and I had kept her from completely self-destructing after that horrible incident. Her attacker was arrested, but she lost almost all trust in men after that incident and feared crowds since her attacker's wife had assisted in the attack. Back at the office surrounded by people she knew very well, she was a feisty contracts administrator who was supremely confident and capable. Here, I only hoped we could find more people she could relax around.
The reminder of what Lydia went through had me look over at Eddie. His bulky obese body was now slumped against the log. From the way his head was tilted it was clear he had fallen asleep. This did not surprise me as Eddie rarely exercised. During the hike here, he had been the last to every major obstacle, and more than once he asked for the group to rest despite the slow pace we were setting.
The other two who were near him bothered me. Both were dressed in extremely conservative power suits. Perhaps if either had relaxed, I might have said they were attractive, but both had kept their faces in firm scowls throughout the day. Now Elizabeth had pulled a makeup kit from her purse and was actually touching up her face while William fought with a tablet computer. Neither paid any attention to the group by the fire.
A giggle near the fire drew my attention back to the rest of the group. I found Albert and the secretary Lisa Little feeding each other small pieces of meat they tore off the strips they held. It was a cheerful and playful game where one would hold the meat just out of reach until the other snapped at it. The rest of the group was clearly enjoying the antics, and there were occasional calls for more.
The fire's warmth and light had clearly helped cheer up the group. I could see brown haired Natalie gossiping with Lisa Rhodes. From what little I could hear, it appeared that back on Earth, Lisa and Natalie had shared several classes and were comparing professors and instructors.
Jennifer was sitting next to them, but it was clear by her posture that the young lady was miserable about something. I was going to say something when Victoria noticed my gaze and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't," she whispered. "I talked with her a bit on the hike here. She expected to meet her high school sweetheart on the beach today. I guess they went to different colleges, but met during every vacation and break. She was positive he was going to propose to her on the beach at the bonfire."
"Oh my," I whispered back. "Will she recover?"
I turned to look at Victoria. Earlier I had only acknowledged her name and the strong accent she had. Now I noticed that she was an attractive woman in her mid-twenties. The one-piece swimsuit she was wearing covered far more than the bikinis of the coeds, but it still pushed up an impressive cleavage. She noticed that my gaze had drifted down and poked me.
"No. You are a handsome man, and you've done a good job leading us, but I'm not the one who wants you the most. At least not right now."
Shocked, I turned my head to look at her, but Victoria merely shrugged and walked over to Jennifer. I could see her put her arm around the distraught coed.
With no more answers than I had before, I looked over at the last two coeds, who were now sitting together and chatting. Esme was closer to me. I reflected on how her black hair fell in curls and rings down her back and her now quite noticeable French accent. She was chirping happily to Heather, who was brushing her blond hair back to keep it away from the flames.
"I hate the fact that my mother might never see me again," I heard Esme say over the crackle of the flames. "But I won't miss the prick who claims he's my father. The stupid sack cheated on my mother every chance he got. Fortunately mother figured it out before she returned from France."
"You grew up there?" Heather asked.
"Born there and raised there until I was sixteen. Fortunately mother always planned on returning to her hometown in Tennessee, so she made sure I was an American citizen by birth. Father was some dumb waiter she'd met in Paris."
Heather nodded. "I was lucky I guess. My parents are simple Nebraska farmers. They are still together and to the best of my knowledge never looked for sex outside their marriage. They love each other and complete each other."
Esme giggled. "Ah, if your father is like that, he must be the man who inspired the line Tom Cruise spouted in that insipid movie about the romantic sports agent."
Heather groaned and shook her head before pulling my sport coat tighter around her body. I had finished the one slice of meat Martha had given me and looked over to find that she had one more steak still uncut.
"What should we do with the steak?" I asked.
Martha shrugged. "It's cool enough that it will keep until morning. We can have it for breakfast."
There were groans from everyone around the fire, but Albert nodded. "That's probably best. The sandwiches are pretty much gone. With the steak, we can probably give everyone breakfast, but that will be it."
I sighed and looked into the growing darkness. The woods were quiet now except for the crackle of the fire and an occasional outburst from the road above. From what little I could comprehend, the other group had noticed the fire but could not see the path to reach us and had not figured out how to start a fire with the items they possessed.
"Tomorrow we better hope to find a town or something. We need more supplies and information," I muttered as I walked over to the packs and dug out the bedroll.
"Yeah, if the natives to this place speak English," I heard either Eddie or William mutter as I spread the bedroll near the fire. Once I had it set up, I lay down.
My actions seemed to signal to the others that it was time for sleep. Steve and Lydia engaged Victoria in a whispered conversation as the others found flat spots near the fire to spread out cloaks. They split into groups of two or three while Steve found a comfortable rock by the fire to sit on. I was shaking out a cloak to lay over me when Lydia dropped beside me and pushed her back into mine.
"Don't read anything into this," she hissed. "I'm here because it's warm, not because I want anything else."
I reached back with my right hand and gave her a gentle pat. "I understand. I just hope that someday you can find a man to love."
There was a sharp snort. "I trust you, respect you and even love you, but there's no lust there. It's better that we remain friends. But I need a warm body to sleep against, and you are the only man I trust right now. I need that now with Eddie around and obviously in one of his moods."
No reply seemed necessary. I brushed my right hand back to gently acknowledge
Lydia's statement and then curled both arms under my head to provide a pillow. With the warmth of the fire and the gentle whisper of an evening wind blowing through the trees, I closed my eyes, and slept.
Chapter 2: Realizing That It's Real
Bright light and a warm feeling on my cheek woke me. I listened for a moment and noticed that the fire no longer crackled. I was still under the cloak, but noticed a change. When I had fallen asleep, Lydia was behind me, but had her back to mine. Now a female body was almost wrapped around me from behind, pressing her breasts into my back. And it was no longer just the two of us. A second body was just in front of me, and a pair of arms encircled my neck. I opened my eyes to see a head of light blond hair and immediately recognized Heather.
I tried to extract my body from the arms of the two women. Both murmured in their sleep, but allowed me to sit up and look around. I noted that it had been Lydia lying behind me.
Others in our group were just starting to stir. As I walked over to the remains of the fire, Al got up from a stone near the path that had brought us to the clearing.
"Nothing approached during the night," he said, "and there have been no insects or birds so far this morning."
"What about our friends on the road?" I asked, pointing upwards.
Al shrugged. "That's why I'm here right now. Victoria, Steve, and I noticed that you were tired, so we arranged to have someone awake and watching during the night. Each watcher has passed on the information that they did get a fire going up there shortly after everyone started sleeping down here. From the story being passed between each sentry, everyone up there was stressed and tired and not thinking very well. There were a few arguments that we overheard. It sounds like one of the lawyers from New York is in charge, and he doesn't accept any threats to his authority. They also must have found some alcohol on the bodies at the crossroads. There was a bit of drunken revelry late into the night."