by Chris Bostic
The drone finally sailed off like a kite to the east. I breathed a sigh of relief and let go of Katelyn. She wrapped her arms around my chest and rested against me a while longer. I wasn’t complaining, but it was time to go. Even so, I might’ve lingered before finally pulling her to her feet.
“Let’s hurry up and get that water.”
Katelyn searched for her voice and offered a feeble, “Okay.”
We gathered up our buckets and hurried off down the hill. It wasn’t as difficult to hike down as I had expected. Other than having to constantly force myself to slow down, it wasn’t like I had to pick out footholds or pay much attention to my footing in general.
I noticed Katelyn was continually checking the sky. Of course, I was too.
“It’s gone, don’t worry.”
“Yeah, right,” she retorted.
“Alright, that was a dumb thing to say.”
“Kinda, but I know what you mean.” Katelyn raised her voice to be heard over the sound of rushing water. A pile of rocks also let me know the stream was straight ahead.
Katelyn took the lead, stepping out onto a rock in the middle. The water was rolling off the mountainside, skimming over the flat stones and dropping in shallow pools. It wasn’t escalator tall like the steps I’d climbed by the old church, but it still surged and dropped around bigger rocks like any other stream.
I positioned my bucket below one of the drops and the miniature waterfall filled it in seconds. As soon as the next one was done, I set the buckets aside and took a minute to splash my face. The water was so impossibly cold.
“That feels so good.”
“It’s freezing,” Katelyn replied.
She stepped daintily off the rock, trying to keep her boots out of the water. I cupped a handful and threw it at her, soaking her shirtsleeve.
“Zach!” she shrieked. “That’s not cool.”
“Not cool at all, is it?”
She sat her buckets on the side of the stream and splashed me back. “Real funny.”
I splashed her again, and she skipped out of range.
“Just trying to cool you down,” I called after her.
“No, thanks.” She hid her body behind the nearest tree, keeping watch. “I’m cool enough.”
I surprised myself by saying, “No, you’re smokin’ hot.”
She blushed and fully retreated behind the trunk. All I could see was a soaked sleeve. Afraid I might’ve offended her, I slunk tentatively toward her.
“Katelyn?”
She burst from behind the tree and ran faster than I expected for the buckets. While I whirled around helplessly, she snatched one up and showered me like a football coach after the big game.
“Dude! That’s so not cool.”
“Not cool at all, huh?”
As she stood there looking all proud, I stalked over and tried to grab her. She kicked half-heartedly as I wrapped my arms around her waist and threw her over my shoulder.
“Oh, you’re gonna get it now.”
“Zach, stop!”
“You started it.” I carried her toward the stream, and stepped out onto a rock as her voice got louder.
“Did not! You did.”
“I guess I did.” I slung her off my shoulder, letting her feet settle on the rocks. I extended a hand and said, “Truce?”
“No way.” She shoved me playfully, and I staggered backwards. As I started to fall, I grabbed her wrist. My butt slammed into the stream bed, cold water knifing through my pants. I folded onto my back as Katelyn crashed on top of me.
I spun her to the side, soaking her as thoroughly as she’d done to me. She came up sputtering.
Before she could curse me, I pulled her to her feet and dragged her out. My teeth chattered from the few seconds we’d been in the frigid water.
“Truce?” I said again with a grin.
She smacked my hand away, but quickly returned the grin. “Promise?”
“Sure.”
I grabbed her hip and scooted her closer to me. Our lips met, putting warmth back into my frozen body. A lot of warmth. Our clothes were stuck tighter than diving suits, but I worked a hand underneath her sopping wet shirt to run my fingers along her side.
She twisted her body to complement mine, and we laid back on the stream bank. A rock poked me in the side, and the bare dirt turned to mud underneath us.
We were warmed up, but soaking wet and a different kind of filthy.
I tried to run a hand through her hair to expose her neck, but the wet strands were matted. Brushing as much to the side as I could, I kissed her below the ear.
She moaned softly, hands pressed against my chest.
“Maybe we should get back,” I whispered in between kisses.
“Tell me more about smokin’ hot first,” she purred, and arched her back.
“You mean dripping wet?”
With a quick move, she rolled me onto my back and straddled my waist. She sat up, staring down at me with those suddenly bright, yet brown, eyes. “Tell me.”
I pulled my eyes from hers and ended up staring at her t-shirt. It was stuck tightly to her chest like Paper Mache.
She lifted my chin back to her face. “You were saying?”
I made her wait for it. She was probably a second away from a harrumph before I finally whispered, “Soggy or not, still the hottest girl I’ve ever seen.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
She sprang to her feet and offered me a hand up.
I was a swirl of emotions from the whole episode and barely managed to say, “That’s it?”
“Yeah. We need to get back…remember?”
She flashed that perfect smile before heading back to the stream to refill her bucket. I watched her every step of the way, admiring the way her clothes stuck to her in all the right places.
Her boots squished as she came back toward me, and mine joined the racket as we headed up the hill. It was a brutal climb, and we stopped several times before finally reaching the top.
At the last stop, I said, “We should go get water again sometime.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?”
I smiled. “I hope that little trip helped take your mind off things.”
“Yeah, for a while.” She paused before adding, “Thanks. And thanks for bringing it up again.”
“No problem.”
With a full bucket in each hand, we couldn’t lock our fingers together. We closed the last of the distance back to camp, and arrived side by side to the curious looks of our fellow campers.
Maddie was the first to come over, accompanied by a group of surgically attached kids that had grown from one to four.
“What happened to you two?”
“Tough climb,” I said. “Sweated my ass off.”
“Yeah.” She eyed us distrustfully. “I don’t think so.”
“We need to go drop off the water,” I said, and pushed our way to the kitchen area, trailed with snide remarks and kids asking Maddie if they could go swimming.
CHAPTER 35
Katelyn ran off to her tent to change clothes while I made a couple trips bringing the water buckets over to our camp cooks. The old woman looked at me suspiciously, but didn’t offer up more than a simple word of thanks. I took that as my cue to get far away from the kitchen before she put me to work.
“You gonna change?” Katelyn asked as she reemerged from her tent to find me standing there.
I shrugged my shoulders. “They’ll dry out.”
She figured out the problem, and asked, “Do you have anything else to wear?”
“Not really…well, maybe some jeans.”
She sized me up. “Wait here. I’ll get some of John’s.”
“Thanks.”
I sat on a picnic table and watched Katelyn scamper off in her new pair of pants and a dark colored shirt. It was long sleeved but rolled up to her elbows, a good choice to keep away the evening bug attacks.
As I waited, I noticed Maddie had all th
e kids gathered around a couple picnic tables. They were tracing leaves onto scrap paper using dirt clods. A pretty clever way to play without crayons, I thought.
Jonas was part of the kids’ group again. Despite the fall, he was doing well. I didn’t notice a bandage, and enjoyed a bit of a small victory.
I heard Katelyn coming from the sound of flip flops smacking her heels. It was a curious footwear choice for roughing it in the woods. She dumped an armful of clothes on the table.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked. Pick whatever you want.”
“Thanks.”
I leafed through the pile and ended up with pants that were a little wide in the waist and a couple shirts that would work. First, a plain brown undershirt, then a dark green wicking type with long sleeves for bug protection.
“Underwear?” I asked, though not really serious.
“I’m not touching his stuff,” she said with a grin. She pointed at a pile of backpacks and duffel bags. “It’s back there if you really wanna share.”
“Uh, no. Good call.” I stood to go to the tent to change when I remembered one last thing. “How about socks?”
“Yeah, I can do that.” She hopped up. “But only if they’re clean, right?”
“Right on.”
I went to Katelyn’s tent and stripped down to my compression shorts. I’ll give Mom credit for making me wear those. Other than with wet jeans, they were great at preventing chafing, and that was vital when hiking long distances. They’d dry out quickly too.
I dressed swiftly and scooted over to let my feet hang out the entryway. They were pale, but only slightly wrinkled. Nothing to worry about, though I didn’t have fresh boots. Mine would take forever to dry out.
Katelyn tossed me a pair of thick wool socks, which were also perfect for hiking. They might even keep my feet from getting too nasty wet.
She squeezed next to me in the doorway and reached behind us to grab something.
“It’s either these or flip flops.”
I looked at her hands at first, but quickly turned to her face to see if she was joking. “Seriously? Bunny slippers?”
“I’ll wear ‘em if you won’t.”
“Not much of a choice there,” I replied, and she scowled. It was playful, I hoped. “I don’t think either one is gonna fit…thankfully.”
She peeled off a pink flip flop and pulled on a slipper with long, bouncy ears. “They’re super comfy. Really soft.”
It was funny how every time I thought she was tough, she turned back into a girl again. A gorgeous girl, with curls that bounced as she pranced in front of the tent showing off her slippers.
“Your mom seriously let you bring those?”
“Sure…well, not that I really asked her,” she answered with a grin.
“You’re gonna get ‘em dirty.”
She slumped down next to me. “That’s okay. I mean, nothing lasts forever.”
Her unassuming statement applied to so many things that I visibly cringed. Everything slowed down. The sound of kids playing disintegrated in a swirl of dark emotions.
When the pause became too long, I finally stammered, “I guess not, huh?”
“I never was one for special blankets or teddy bears or all that,” she explained softly. “Though I’m really starting to miss home already.”
“You have no idea.” I tried my hardest to beat back the shadows that threatened to creep over my mind again. I cleared my throat and spoke more encouragingly, saying, “We’ll get back there someday.”
I clung to that belief like a lifeline, as unlikely as it seemed. I knew once hope was gone, I could easily spiral into a cold, depressing winter.
“I hope you’re right.” She turned to look at me. “We’ve got movies to watch, plenty of couch time. I always loved just thinking about having summers to hang out.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing now,” I joked.
“True, true. You know, you’re pretty good at looking at the bright side?” I considered those words while she paused for a moment. “I wish I’d met you earlier. It was tough moving to Knoxville in the middle of high school.”
“I’m sure. I couldn’t have done it.” I was certain of that, but something about what she’d said didn’t ring true. “But you…you’re so popular.”
“Not really. I mean yeah, I can talk to people or whatever, but I’m not real good at making friends. You know, close friends.”
“I’m sorry.”
She waved away the apology. “No, it’s not that. I’m fine.” She stared blankly across camp. I remained mesmerized by her sad eyes. “I survived. You know it was kinda weird having to bring John with us as old as he is. And then starting some new school when the whole country’s gone crazy.”
“So why’d you guys move?”
“My dad’s job. We were in Nashville, but it was somehow a promotion to move to Knoxville. Seemed kinda backwards to me.”
“Maybe,” I said with a chuckle. Nashville was certainly a flashier city, though the Smoky Mountains had to be an upgrade in the scenery department. “You don’t like it here?”
“It’s pretty and all, but I don’t know, it’s…”
“Never mind. That was a dumb question. With the world this screwed up, how could it be better anywhere?”
She took my hand and squeezed. “Don’t go getting all negative on me now.”
“I’m trying not to. It’s hard, though.”
I looked away to focus on the kids gathered around Maddie. She was scurrying between tables, giving advice and compliments as the little ones worked on their art project. I’d never noticed it before, but she seemed like a natural teacher. If things ever got straightened out, I was certain she’d end up teaching elementary school someday. Maybe kindergarten or first grade.
Katelyn must’ve followed my gaze. “Your sister’s really nice, huh?”
“Yeah. Yeah, she is.” I smiled at the thought, but quickly changed to a chuckle. “Totally hopeless out here in the woods, but not from a lack of Mom trying.”
“What do you mean?”
“My parents are, uhm…preppers.” I swallowed a lump building in my throat, and it settled with all the other rocks in my stomach. “Well, at least my mom is. Dad just goes along.”
I couldn’t believe I admitted it, though I supposed it was more than obvious by then. I watched Katelyn out of the corner of my eyes, but she didn’t immediately react. At least not the way I expected.
“And you think they’re crazy?”
“And embarrassing.” Horribly, horribly embarrassing.
“Let me tell you a secret.” She leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Both of my parents are preppers too. They’re just newer at it.”
“Really?” While they seemed like serious people, nothing obviously painted them as the crazy doomsday prepper brand to me.
“To be honest, they’re not that outdoorsy. They’re citified preppers.”
“Then why aren’t you hiding out in the city somewhere? Maybe locked up in your basement and scavenging supplies from abandoned buildings.”
She smirked and said, “Sunning Bear and some other lady convinced Mom to hide out in the park.”
Marisol. I flashed back to her sprawled in front of the church, and cleared my throat to shake off the image.
“My mom helped do that?”
“Yep.”
“I mean I guess I knew they talked on the computer. The way they greeted each other it seemed like they were old friends.”
Katelyn shrugged. “That’s the prepper site forums, I guess.”
“Yeah.” I gestured around the camp, and couldn’t help but admire the organization. Everything we’d survived so far was pretty remarkable, but I still had to give my parents one last jab. “Bunch of kooks, huh?”
Katelyn smiled and leaned her head on my shoulder. “I guess we were wrong.”
“Yeah, but we don’t need to tell them that.”
CHAPTER 36
The afternoon did
n’t exactly fly by. At one point, I’d dozed off and woke up to find Katelyn helping Maddie with the younger kids. It was close to dinnertime, and they were gathered in the open space between tents playing some kind of relay-type games like a school field day.
Egg toss was the current event. Fortunately, Mom wasn’t around to see that. She’d have freaked if she saw us wasting the precious few eggs we had left. The older lady and her husband were chill by comparison. Though they probably should’ve been starting supper, they sat at a picnic table at the edge of the competition field and cheered on both teams. The other two adults were nowhere to be found.
Maddie was so relaxed. She had a giant smile as she ran back and forth between the groups giving them encouragements. Katelyn was right behind her, looking mildly harried by all the activity, but definitely having fun. It had to feel good to laugh for a change.
I sat back and watched Jonas’ team win the egg toss before pulling my boots on and climbing to my feet. The socks helped, but the moisture instantly seeped through them. Rather than groan, I laughed at the thought that I could literally pickle my feet if I added some of Mom’s special salt to my boots. She might’ve even been impressed, given her penchant for nasty concoctions such as the pickled eggs, green tomatoes, and okra.
My muscles ached as I strolled across the camp toward the teams. Maddie was talking to Katelyn about what to do for the next game. They startled when I said, “How about three-legged races?”
“Whoa, Zach!” Maddie clutched a hand to her chest. “You’re back from the dead.”
“About time,” Katelyn added. I noticed her subtly slide over closer to me, and my hand almost involuntarily stretched out to grab hers.
“We’ve done sack races,” Maddie said, finally answering my question.
“How about the wheelbarrow thing?” Katelyn looked at me curiously, so I added, “The one where you hold their ankles and the wheelbarrow kid uses his hands to kinda like crawl.”
“Oh, that. Yeah, I know what you mean. I don’t think they’ve done that one yet.”
“We can try it,” Maddie said. “You wanna help?”
“Sure,” I said begrudgingly. I poked Katelyn in the side with my free hand. “You’re my partner.”