by S A Ison
God damn Aiden and Leo looked like fat cats, and so did the women. They looked a bit thinner, but nothing like his group. All he could find were fucking worms and it was all he could do to choke them down. The green stuff wasn’t even filling, they needed meat. He had set snares and traps, but nothing had been caught. He’d found the traps sprung, but nothing inside. He’d found blood on one, but something must have taken his prize.
These two fools were absolutely useless, Matt had said he could fish, but had nothing to use for fishing. He’d tried to catch fish with his hands but had completely screwed it up and scared the fish away. Thank Christ for all the waterfalls, they at least had fresh water. It had taken them four hours to get a fire going, because Carol had let the fire go out, he’d wanted to beat the shit out of her, and all she did now was cry and it was wearing on his nerves.
Even Sam was crying, the two were pathetic. Vana just stared into space a lot, zoning out. She refused to go hunting or even gathering food. He’d had to smack her around to make her go out. She came back with some useless grass.
If Carol wasn’t crying, then she was bitching all the time, and he was sick of her. It was like fucking a bag of bones. Vana was the same, both useless to him. Maybe they could harvest the girls, he’d have to talk the guys into it though, he knew they’d throw a shit fit. Well, maybe not Sam, he was a bodybuilder and he was losing muscle mass quickly. He’d see about talking Matt and Joey into it on their way home. He looked up the trail and was surprised he didn’t see Leo and Aiden. They had just disappeared.
“Where the hell did they go?” he asked both men.
Joey and Matt looked at each other and shrugged, “They started walking back. Guess they didn’t want to hang around.” Matt said sullenly.
“Let’s head back too, there ain’t shit none for us here. I have something to bring up and before you guys say no, I want you to think about it.” At their nods, he continued.
“If I’d have known Abby and Dan were going to kill themselves, I’d have done it for them. See, we could have eaten them, and I’m talking lots of meat.” He saw the look of horrified revulsion on their faces, but they said nothing.
“I know, you don’t have to tell me how gross and horrible that thought is, trust me, I agree. But I’m so god dam hungry. We are eating roots, and worms, and bugs and I’d like to have real food, real meat.” He said and looked at them, their eyes turning to speculation now, the revulsion taking a back seat.
“So, this is what I’m thinking. We take the weakest person, before they lose too much more weight, and we kill them. That should give us enough food for a good week or better. We can’t feed everyone, but we can feed ourselves.” He said in an oily voice and smiled when he saw their smiles.
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Henry and Bruce were fishing, both quiet and in their own thoughts. Then Henry asked, “you got family Bruce? Kids I mean? Wife?”
Bruce shook his head, “no, just didn’t seem to be the right time or the right girl. I’m really glad though, Jesus, poor Gabe, man, he is crushed.”
“Yeah, Gabe’s a good man. You think maybe the US did this? Bombed China? And we just got caught in the middle of it all?”
“I don’t think so Henry, I mean, that would be like starting world war three. And it would be crazy for North Korea to do it, they would be caught up in it as well. But they don’t give three shits about their own people. Maybe it was that solar thing Aiden mentioned. Maybe the whole world got screwed. Everything stopped. Wouldn’t that be something?” Bruce said and pulled the line in, a five-inch fish thrashing around. He threw it behind him, there were seven fish, ranging from four inches to ten inches.
Henry wanted to experiment with drying some of the fish. Everyone was racking their brains for long term food stores.
“I guess it really don’t matter what it was. We are stuck here, and I’m just glad it didn’t happen while we were flying in the airplane, man oh man, that has always been my biggest fear, a plane crash. Ever since 9/11.” Henry said.
“Yeah, that would be a shitty way to go. Did you see how thin Connor, Matt and Joey were? I thought all you guys were like experts at the survival game.” Bruce said, pulling in another fish, this one almost ten inches, he smiled and showed it to Henry who grinned and smacked him on the back.
“I think each of us has some level of expertise. I’m good at catching fish, starting fires, building things with my hands, you know, like huts, platforms, those kinds of things. I have no clue what Connor or the other guys are good at. The rest of us seem to be doing pretty good, even you guys are starting to catch up with the survival game.” Henry said smiling.
“Yeah, even Christian has stepped up to the plate, I never thought he would ever do anything but sit on his ass. Did you hear Marla talk to him that morning? Holy shit, it was so friggen great. She scared the t-total shit out of him. He isn’t quite the douchebag he used to be. He is actually busting his ass and not bitching. I felt bad for him when Leo came back, he just kinda fell apart.” Bruce said, all humor gone from his voice.
“Yeah, that’s rough. I’m not sure why I’m not as bothered as I should be. I guess because this place is actually really nice. Once we have enough to eat, and don’t have Connor trying to steal our stuff, life isn’t too bad. I mean, I’m still fishing.” Henry laughed.
“That’s true, we don’t got to pay no more taxes. That is good, don’t have to worry about government, and all that, the economic deficit, fake news, pollution, cause this place is pristine.” Bruce said.
“Yeah, I was getting the hell taxed out of me. Man, I was in debt with the boat and all. One of the reasons I was trying to win the money here. Over fishing, all that. Now, we just fish enough to keep us going. If we can find more meat, that would be great. How did you like the snake Hunter brought in? That was a big bastard. You know that is going to be some good eating.” Henry laughed and threw another fish into the pile.
“Sure, I don’t know what kind of snake it was, but the thing had to be as big around as my forearm, huge. I’ve never had snake before, but I’m willing to try. I was also thinking about making a gigging stick, we can see if we can find us some big frogs.” Bruce said, smacking his lips.
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Grayson had been tempted to follow Dan and Abby over the cliff and into the waiting arms of the gorge. Even now, his legs tingled to take the leap. The others had departed and he was alone now with the mist. His eyes narrowed. Connor was trouble. Even he could see that. Maybe he should have rushed the man and taken him over the edge as well? They could have both plunged to the bottom, to join Dan and Abby.
He’d not done it though and Grayson didn’t know why. Why was he so reluctant to take the leap? Some small part of him knew that he was fracturing. He wondered which was worse, being crazy or living alone in this place? Or living with those people, Connor, Carol, Matt, and Vana? He shivered at the thought. He’d rather be dead than have to deal with them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Aiden put on his freshly washed clothes, it felt good. He’d just taken a bath with the soapberries and felt clean for the first time in days. He then began to wash his other clothes, it was a small pond, and he wet his clothing and laid them on the bank of the pond and began to rub the berries into the clothing.
It lathered up a bit and he scrubbed the armpits of the shirt, he’d put some fine sand in it as well. Sarah said that would help too. It did and it took no time to clean the shirt. She’d come earlier this morning to do her bath and laundry. They were going to main camp later, it had been a little over a week since their last trip in, and the trip to the gorge.
They’d not talked much about Abby and Dan, though he knew it bothered Sarah. It bothered him to an extent, but these were new times they were living in and they had to adapt, there was no choice. They were adapting very well too. They had begun to establish a daily rhythm.
He squeezed out his shirt and started in on his underwear and socks. He didn’t know what he would do once they
wore out. The heals of his socks were already getting a little thin. Cheap, everything was cheaply made anymore. Easily replaceable, but no longer. Once the socks were gone, they were gone for good. He thought that perhaps he should start going barefooted, start to toughen up his feet and save his socks.
If it got cold, he’d need his socks. Now his mind was fixed on his socks and he let out a breath. Christ, he needed to get a grip. He laughed at himself. Maybe Sarah could knit him a pair of socks out of grass and he sniggered and thought perhaps he might suggest that to her, just to see the look on her face.
At least cleaning his socks and underwear was faster, and then started on his jeans. Those were a pain in the ass and heavy. But he had to admit that the material would last longer than cargo pants or a lighter material. His thoughts returned to Connor, and he shook his head, the bastard had turned so quickly, had gone primal so fast, well not primal as much as perhaps his true colors came out.
Did anyone ever know someone? His wife had been sad and depressed, but he’d have never guessed in a million years that she would have stabbed him, nearly killing him. He then wondered about Sarah, she was incredibly sweet and caring, smart and intuitive. She was exactly how she was when they’d first met. She’d changed subtly, but they all had, adapting to the new danger and the new situation. Had it only been three weeks since they got off the plane in China? They’d been here a little over two weeks and it was as though life had slowed.
The minutes now ticked by slowly, there were no distractions around, no TV, no movies, no computers, games, smart phones to text and to chat. There were no interruptions in their lives, it was all there, every conscious moment.
Here in this primeval place, there were real feelings, real connections, real conversations. Real emotions, real everything. Every utterance was magnified. Every action purposeful and at times planned out, so as not to waste time. Time had become precious. Time to hunt, time to start a fire, to cook. To wash and to bathe, to make tools and weapons.
Their lives weren’t so busy that they couldn’t relax, because they did. But they also had to make sure that they planned for the future. Nothing was free here, it was gained by muscle and sweat. If you didn’t do it, you didn’t have it.
He stood, shaking out his laundry and hung everything over a bush. Though the pond was a distance from the cave, he and Sarah agreed to do a lot of outside activities away from the cave, in case someone saw them. They wouldn’t want to be near the cave and give away their true location. She was now making a ginger and berry tea for them. She’d bathed first.
They’d been up and practicing since dawn, he had fashioned a spear chucker, the actual spear was seated into it and when he launched the spear, the cradle launcher gave the spear a longer throwing distance and more force behind the throw. He had made Sara a slightly smaller one, so she could better control her aim.
They’d been target practicing for hours and had both become good at it. She’d also woven from long grasses and fronds, a container, a long cylinder or quiver to hold their spears and had also woven a strap to go across their chests. They each only had three spears, since it was difficult to find straight and heavy limbs. They’d used saplings, and those were good, but it took time to find the correct length and balance.
He’d sharpened the spear’s ends into sharp points and had blackened them in the fire and reshaped and sharpened the tips once more. He hoped the fire would harden the tips. Four likely spears had broken and not done very well. It was a learning process, but would give them an advantage over fast game.
He found Sarah at the small fire and she looked up and smiled at him. He grinned back, and studied her face, the weight had fallen away from her, and though her face was thinner, it was very pretty and now a deeper golden color. Her long bright red hair had been pulled back and braided, she’d formed a comb from a prickly plant, its bark covered with nasty two-inch spikes. She’d sanded the spikes down with a rough rock and bled all over by the time it was done. He’d tried the comb out, but because his hair was short, it raked painfully across his scalp. She’d laughed at him.
“Looks like your comb works great, your hair looks smoother. Is the tea ready?”
“It does work pretty good, but I might have to dull the spikes a little more, it kind of rakes a little too hard when I comb, but at least I can comb. And yes, tea is done and cooled.” She grinned up at him.
They had to drink from the small pot since they didn’t have any cups. “I was thinking about trying to make some stoneware. I’m not sure how to do it, but I figure if we can make a small kiln, we can try. I would have to find some mud that would work. I saw a YouTube video about this guy who makes all the primitive houses and things. It’s so cool, he even made tile for the roof of a hut house.” She said.
“Yeah, I think I know who you’re talking about, I think it was called primitive technology. I saw some of the videos, really cool stuff. I think we can do that. I can use green wood to maybe make a housing frame and build a fire in it, maybe we can dig a pit to hold the heat in better. We can put your stoneware in it and then cover it with hot coals.”
“Yep, I think that was how they did it. Now I want to do it.” She laughed, her cheeks turning pink and her eyes shimmering in the light.
He looked at her and thought she looked like she belonged here. How was it that she was so at ease, and that Carol and Vana struggled and Abby killed herself? What was the difference? Was it because of him? Because he brought something to the table as well as she did? Their combined knowledge helped both of them. They balanced each other out, and though each day would bring struggles and challenges, Aiden knew they’d make it, deep in his gut, he knew they’d make it.
“You know, it’s good to hear you laugh, not because you haven’t but because you can. I was thinking about Carol, Vana and Abby. They seemed so miserable here, and yet, you, me, and some of the others seem to do better. Do you think it is because we hold some knowledge on how to survive?” Aiden asked, he was curious to know what she thought.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m afraid, but I’m only afraid of the people, not of our surroundings. I know if push came to shove, I could survive out here by myself, we have water, and food, though you bring the meat.” She grinned, and she took a sip of the tea and continued, “but I also think that maybe the others came here only for the money, not really expecting to have to work at surviving here.”
“They would have tapped out in the first few weeks, and of course me, you, Leo and the others would have just kept going. I think it is also about the human spirit, the desire to survive. Here we are drinking tea, as if it were a nice Sunday afternoon. We have a full larder in the cave. There isn’t a lot of extra junk, but it is healthy filling food. Maybe they thought that someone else would get them through the competition.” She speculated.
“Maybe, but Connor and Matt confuse me, I’d spoken with both before we’d even gotten to this place and both seemed capable. Yet you saw how they looked. Do you think they were just bullshitting me?”
“I don’t know Aiden, but maybe they, like Leo and the rest, didn’t have knowledge about some of the plants. There are snakes galore and we could live off of those, so I just don’t know. Maybe they are too lazy to get out there or maybe they just don’t know how to work together, it’s just beyond me.”
“I guess we should head to main camp, I brought the empties with me, so we can fill up on water on the way back. How is your stone knife?” He asked, and watched as she took it out. He’d made her a four-inch stone knife. The shape of the rock he’d found had been right. He had hammered it with a bigger rock to chiseled it down to something more lethal and though it wasn’t perfect, she could still use it.
It wasn’t all that sharp, because the edges weren’t thin, but she could stab the shit out of someone and it could cut, but it would leave a very jagged wound, which wasn’t too bad if you’re wanting to hurt someone. He’d taken the hide of the rabbit skin and he’d attached the wet hide to
a stout piece of wood. The rock fit into a small depression in the wood and he’d wrapped the leather around it. Once the skin had dried, the rock was seated firmly in the wood handle. It was incredibly crude, but it would work. He’d shown her some self-defense moves in close combat, the day before.
“If someone is coming at you, let them get close enough to ram the knife up into their throat. The gut would be harder to do, since that knife isn’t sharp enough to penetrate muscle. But hit the neck and throat, and your chances are better. Then go for the eyes as fast as you can. An attacker can’t hurt you if they can’t see you and they will be more concerned about their eyeballs being torn out than hurting you.”
“Show me again.” She’d said and she had attacked him over and over and he had attacked her. He also showed her if someone came up behind her and put their forearm around her neck.
“You grab their wrist with the closest hand, and put the other hand under their elbow. Pull down on the wrist and shove like hell on the elbow until you hear is snap. While they are down, you kick the shit out of them in their face.” He said grinning. It had been a little awkward and when he was holding her in his arms, his forearm across her neck and her body held close to him, he’d become very aroused, he was sure she noticed, but she’d not let on.
He figured it was normal, they’d become extremely close in the last couple of weeks. Neither had anyone waiting for them, and so he’d let himself feel. He didn’t want to push himself on her though, but he could tell that she was also attracted to him. He put that thought aside for now, since they needed to be on their guard going to camp. She carried the stone knife in her back pocket, and he told her to keep it dry, since if the leather got wet, the stone would come out.
“I think when you make your stoneware, that you make a bowl that we can boil resin in. Then maybe pour that over the handle of your knife and see if it will harden. That way, you won’t have to worry about the stone dropping out.” He suggested.