I thought about what was Robin’s biggest challenge as I walked through the trees, recognizing it was her footing. At least that was something I could help her with immediately. I reached for my hip where I had my survival knife, a much heavier duty Bowie knife that I had kept with me since my days in Iraq. Sure, I had taken some ribbing from the guys about copying movie stars, but the fact was, that knife had saved my life more than once. I looked around for what I wanted, finding it pretty quickly. It was the Canadian Rockies, after all, and pine trees were pretty much everywhere. I grabbed the sapling and cut at the trunk, hacking it down in about two minutes.
When I came back out of the grove, I saw Robin sitting on a rock with a worried look on her face, and I kicked myself again. She had to be frightened being left in the mountains by herself. I noted to myself not to ever do that again without telling her what the hell I was planning.
Carrying the sapling over, I showed it to her, alternating between the saw tooth back and the razor-sharp blade to trim it quickly to the proper length. “The wood is a bit green, so it’s going to be springy,” I explained as I handed it over to her, “but it should help with footing and stability on some of the rockier ground.”
Robin set the staff I made aside and got to her feet, wrapping her arms around my waist and laying her head on my chest. “I’m sorry,” she replied. “I’ve just been so frustrated that I’m slowing you down so much that I let it out against you. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Whatever had been wrong between us evaporated, and I squeezed Robin tight, knowing she didn’t really have anything to apologize for. I could have found ways to help her maximize what she could do, but that wasn’t really on my mind at the time. It was new territory for me.
In the Army, I had been a grunt, part of a squad, never really in charge of anyone. After that, my work has also been pretty solo, taking care of myself more than worrying about other people. Stepping back, she kissed me on the cheek, and then on the lips. “Thank you,” she said.
Before she could go on, I lifted her chin and kissed her again, my fingers stroking through her hair.
“You don’t have anything to apologize for. We were supposed to be here on kind of a vacation. I had planned on teaching you some outdoor skills, but nothing to this magnitude. But anyway, I think we should start gathering food for dinner. That grove had some bushes that looked pretty good for getting some berries, and I bet we can find some other stuff if we look around. The wild is full of food, we just have to look for it. How’s that sound?”
I watched as a smile crept up Robin’s face, lighting her up and making her even more beautiful. Robin is sexy when she’s mad and sexy when she pouts, but she’s absolutely angelic and amazing when she smiles. “Okay. Although if you don’t mind, I might just munch as I go. Lunch of crackers and cheese spread was kind of weak, if you know what I mean.”
I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I agree. And the only rule I have is that if you want to eat one, you have to put one in the bag.”
“What bag are we going to use?” Robin asked, shouldering her pack and picking up her walking stick that I made. The limb was about two inches around, and fit her hand well in her glove. I didn’t think she would need it much, but it seemed like it was helping her as she walked. Sometimes, even a placebo is helpful, and I knew it also helped her with her sense of safety. I’d seen Robin practicing martial arts when we were in high school, and she was pretty good with the staff, although against a grizzly bear we’d both just be snacks. I wasn’t going to tell her that, though.
“The plastic outer bag from the rations,” I replied to her question, fishing the thick plastic out of my cargo pocket. “We can forage as we go, and stop about an hour before sunset to set up camp and gather the materials we need for the night. We’ll get to the lake tomorrow.”
“What about water?” Robin asked as we headed toward the grove of trees. “I thought that was a problem.”
“We’ve got two canteens full of snow, those soda bottles as well, and still that one liter bag that is about half full of water. We won’t be taking any baths tonight, but we can make it to tomorrow.”
Leading her into the grove, I took her over to a bush I had identified earlier, showing her the small berries. “They’re pretty late in the season, but these are related to blackberries,” I said, taking one and popping it in my mouth. The first bite was sweet, almost too sweet, and I wished I had picked them about two weeks prior, when they would have been a bit tart as well.
“First rule for any berry or plant is to smell first. Our noses are one of the main ways we have to detect things that are dangerous to us. After that, a small bite, which is then spit out. If you still feel good after ten minutes, you can start to gather to eat later. I already know these really well from prior trips up to this area, so we can eat and gather at the same time.”
Taking her bag, Robin gathered and ate handfuls of the sweet dark berries, until the juices trickled from the corners of her mouth. I followed suit, both of us chuckling and feeling like kids again as we enjoyed both the sugar rush and the fluids. I knew how to keep going even if I am a bit dehydrated, but Robin didn’t. The fluid was helpful. We filled about half of her bag before the bush looked picked clean. She stowed the bag in one of the outer pockets of my pack, while I stored mine in hers, since it was easier to reach than taking our own packs off. We then resumed our trek, almost casually strolling through the woods while I pointed out various food sources and forest animals.
“The diet the forest can provide is actually really healthy,” I taught as we stopped and picked up pine cones. “Like the nuts here. They’re full of good fats and proteins, and we can use the cones themselves as fuel for our fire tonight. They make a great fire starter. They burn hot and fast, though, so we can’t use them all night. But a couple of dry cones make a great base for any campfire.”
“It seems like a lot, but also a bit boring,” Robin said as we kept going. I tossed my pine cone aside, knowing there were plenty more as we went along. “This doesn’t seem like it would be very interesting after a while.”
“It can be, but to really get the variety we’d need to start to trap and catch animals too,” I answered. “Once we hit the lake, I’m going to make sure to do some fishing, or see if there are any freshwater mussels.
The walk continued, leaving the small grove and making our way down another rocky patch where Robin used her walking stick. The sun was low in the horizon, and I looked around. “All right, I’d prefer to get to that next crop of trees if we can,” I said, pointing toward an area about a mile away. “The trees will provide better cover than this open ground. We don’t want to be in the wind if we can help it.”
“Then we better pick up the pace,” Robin said, tightening her grip on her walking stick. “It’s just a mile, I can make it.” She surprised me with her determination.
I watched her carefully, but she looked more energized than before, so I led the way, picking up the pace, until the two of us practically gobbled up the mile distance, taking less than thirteen minutes, which is pretty good even for soldiers over open terrain. The ground allowed us to lengthen our stride until the trees approached. I stopped on the edge of the trees, looking around.
“Okay, maybe another fifty meters, but not all the way in. We need to find a relatively clear space. I don’t want to start a forest fire.” I wanted to get deep enough into the trees that any wind that picked up during the night or any snow would be blunted by the overhead branches, but not so deep that I thought we would be disoriented in the morning.
“Yeah, that would be bad,” Robin said, following me in. I quickly found what we wanted, two trees that were about six feet apart, with an open space in front of them. Setting my pack down, I took out the ponchos and cord, making a quick lean-to that stretched back almost eight feet, and was about four feet high. Running cord on the sides, we created sides to the lean-to by leaning fallen branches and other materials, creating wind breaks on thre
e sides. While I finished the lean-to, Robin went around gathering fallen wood, trying to limit it to dry branches and wood that wouldn’t pop and explode. The dim light inside the woods made it difficult, and I heard her stumble twice on her way back to the camp site.
“I was getting worried” I said, when she returned with her double armful. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just got a bit turned around,” Robin replied, laying the wood down. “Now, I hope you’re going to teach this Apache how to make a fire.”
“I will, but I’m not going to be rubbing sticks together,” I said with a chuckle, reaching into my pocket. There is a time for jokes, and there is a time for getting stuff done. Maybe another time I’d teach her how to make a fire without matches. “One of the things that comes in all of those ration packs, besides toilet paper, which you should really hang onto, is a pack of matches.”
While she was gone, I had cleared an area and scraped out a shallow depression in the forest earth using a small gardening trowel, making a fire pit. With Robin’s wood, I carefully laid dry leaves and pine needles in the center, along with a very dry pine cone that kind of acted like the center pole of a circus tent. Making a small mound, I took about half of the match book and put it inside the pile. It was overkill, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. Taking one match, I started the fire, carefully feeding it small twigs until we had a good flame.
“The thing that a lot of people screw up,” I explained, feeding the flames, “is that we rush too much. The use of chemical fire starters and charcoal makes it easy, really. At that point it’s hard not to start a fire, although I’ve seen plenty of people who can even screw that up. With natural materials, we have to go slowly, and give the fuel plenty of air so it can burn. It’s why a lot of people like to blow on the fire, although you can easily blow too hard and blow it out. Eventually, we start adding larger pieces of wood.”
It took me close to fifteen minutes, but by the end, we had a cheery campfire ready, with a large stock of wood laid up nearby. “If you can, spread out the sleeping bags and pads,” I asked as I brushed off my knees. “I’ll go get more wood. We shouldn’t need it, but if we hear any animals, a larger fire will keep them away.”
While I was gone, Robin worked, laying out our bags and arranging them pretty similarly to the way we had them the night before. I was gone about five or six minutes at most, gathering up another fat armload of wood. When I came back, I saw that she had zippered our bags together, a warm feeling spreading through me at the sight. We had only had sex once, and I will admit that the entire day was one of the best of my life, even with the little spat we had, but seeing Robin arranging our bags like that was the icing on the cake. Stepping back into the firelight, I dropped my armload on the ground and inspected her work. “It’s good, but turn the heads sideways. I’m going to sleep on the far side tonight, and you can sleep closer to the fire.”
Robin blushed slightly and nodded, adjusting the bags. I got out our gathered food and one ration pack, dividing it up between us, making sure Robin got the yummier bits. “If we keep this up, food is going to be no problem,” I happily said, handing her half of the gathered berries and other food, along with part of the packet of rations. “I’d save a chunk of the berries for the morning though, rations alone suck for breakfast.”
We shared our dinner while gazing silently into the fire. It felt normal, a lot like the vacation I had originally planned, and the fire added a nice touch to the atmosphere. “Thank you,” she finally said, crunching on the last bite of her cracker.
“For what?” I asked, chewing on a berry. “For getting you lost in the Canadian Rockies?”
“For being brave enough to love me, even when I didn’t want to admit the truth,” Robin said, kissing me. “Now, are you joining me in the sleeping bag or what?”
I could kiss Robin forever, but my body needed something else right then. Grinning, I shook my head. “Not yet. I gotta take care of nature’s call first. Thankfully, I can pee standing up.”
Robin laughed. “Well, regardless, no offense, but as much as the spirit is willing, the body is weak after that hike. I will most likely be asleep when you get back.”
Kissing her quickly, I chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, me too.”
As I wandered off into the darkness, I kept close, just far enough away that I had a bit of privacy as I peed against a tree. I could still see Robin though as she pulled off her boots and stripped down to her thermals, rolling her clothes into a pillow that she stuffed into her jacket. She was learning quickly, and her brains were becoming an asset. It took me three nights as a soldier to figure out that same trick in the field. She was shivering when I came back, but still dropping off to sleep when I joined her. I wrapped her up in my arms and buried my nose in her dark, beautiful hair. I don’t know how much longer I was awake, but it wasn’t long, although I am sure I at least kissed the top of her head before sleep overtook me as well.
Chapter 6
Robin
I woke up the next morning as stiff as a board. I felt positively ancient, and most of my body was groaning in pain, especially my legs and my lower back. This is what hiking all day felt like? How in the hell was I supposed to even get out of our sleeping bag, let alone make my way down a bunch of lakes to civilization?
My groan of pain woke up Wes, who was about the only good thing about that chilly, clear morning. His right arm was still around my waist, and I appreciated the feeling of his strong arm around me. If we had been in a regular bed, I would have been all over him, a day’s worth of grime and sweat on us or not. As it was, even thinking of turning over to kiss him filled me with pain.
“Stay here. I’ll get the fire going, and we can at least warm up and eat breakfast,” he said as he got up. Somehow, he was able to slither his way out of the top of our shared sleeping bag without opening the zipper, and I was able to greet the morning with the sight of my six foot four, very handsome stepbrother squatting down to start the fire, his nicely toned ass just about two feet from me, wearing nothing but some thermal underwear and combat boots. I reached out and pinched it, laughing when he started and jumped up, mock outrage on his face. “Hey, that’s sexual harassment!”
“Emphasis on the ass,” I retorted, snuggling deeper into the bag. With him gone, the temperature difference was already evident. “Now, are you going to get the fire going or not?”
Wes did, finding some embers and coals deep in the bed that were still warm. He nursed them back into a small fire, nowhere as big as last night, but still helpful. From there we divvied up our so-called breakfast and got dressed. I was surprised when he didn’t start packing his gear immediately, however, but instead went over to a clear section of ground, calling me with him.
“Warm-ups,” he instructed. “Our bodies aren’t used to this right now, and we need to make sure we don’t pull a muscle or something. There isn’t exactly a medic or even any Advil around if we need it.”
“You’re joking,” I replied, rolling my eyes as he shook his head. “You’re serious?”
“Totally. Come on.”
What followed seemed like agony at first, even though I do warm up whenever I go to the gym. I always hated doing them, though. I knew it was necessary, but I thought it made me look silly. Starting with gentle high knee stepping, we swung our arms, twisted our torsos, and even did some jumping jacks and squats before he was satisfied. I have to admit, by the end I didn’t feel elderly anymore, just a bit worn out. You’d be amazed at how much of our modern feeling of refreshment depends upon a shower and coffee.
After the exercise, Wes and I broke down our campsite, which thankfully didn’t require a lot. I was responsible for burying the fire pit with lots of dirt, since we didn’t have any extra water and we didn’t want to start a forest fire. It was harder than it seemed at first, and it took me a while to scrape up enough dirt that wasn’t filled with pine needles, sticks, and other easily burned material to bury the fire well. I did have to laugh when
Wes helped by peeing on the fire after I had tossed some of the dirt on it. Chalk up another advantage to his having a penis.
We started off slow, Wes keeping his eyes out for more food supplies as we walked. We had covered about three-quarters of the distance he had originally planned, and we guessed we had about a ninety minute walk before we reached the first lake that he had targeted on his map. I was glad we were pretty close, because I was already a bit thirsty and looked forward to filling our water bottles with water drawn through our filters.
About thirty minutes after we started, Wes stopped, holding up his fist in a sign I had seen in enough movies to know it meant stop. I was about three feet behind him and froze, not sure what he wanted me to do next. Turning his head, he grinned at me and held a finger to his lips, waving me forward. I stepped forward carefully until I was right next to him. “Look about a hundred meters in the direction I’m pointing,” he whispered, gesturing with his hand. “We’re lucky we’re downwind of him, or else we’d never have gotten this close.”
Following his hand, it took me a moment before I recognized what I saw. It was a majestic deer, in full late autumn splendor, his antlers wide and full. Watching him munch on the bushes nearby, I was awestruck. It was so different than watching on television. Even though he was farther away, I could see details that you never really notice on TV, like how his fur was clumped on one side, or how his muscles seemed to be constantly trembling. The moment only lasted a minute or so before something made a noise, and the buck looked around and noticed us. I took a step back in surprise, and that was all it took for him to take off through the woods. “That was amazing.”
“Next time, don’t move. If he doesn’t smell you, he won’t notice you,” Wes said to me with a smile. “They see by detecting movement, not pattern. Stand as still as a statue, and you’d have a chance of him walking right up next to you.”
Dirty Little Secrets: A Stepbrother Romance Page 28