by Marion Myles
“Think about it,” she pressed. “And decide what you want to do, but either way, I’m heading out of here tomorrow morning.”
She spent the afternoon organizing for the journey. She cut out her portion of the food and placed it in the blue nylon bag. The bag had a nice long strap, and she figured she could maybe tie it low on her back…or worst case, drag it behind.
After some thought, she decided the textbooks themselves were too heavy. Using the Swiss Army Knife, she cut free thousands of pages and packed them in between the clothes to use as fire starters.
Doing everything with one hand was slow going, but eventually, she sat back, satisfied she was mostly ready. In the morning, she would roll her sleeping bag and the extra clothing into a tarp and tie it to the bag. Hopefully, it would stay nice and dry while she walked. At night she could use the tarp to cover the ground under her sleeping bag.
As the day dragged on, she became more anxious while imagining walking alone through the acres and acres of snow and ice. She slowly ate her daily Dove bar and thought about which direction would be her best option. All she remembered of the area was that the forest and mountains stretched for miles north and south with a narrower distance going east to west.
Narrow was, of course, relative. She figured it must be about sixty or seventy miles across. The problem was, she had no way of knowing her exact location. It would be a total blow if she was currently ten miles from the border of the forest and decided to walk in the opposite direction. Sleep on it, she advised, when the dithering back and forth started taking its toll.
The wind picked up in the afternoon, blowing in through the tarps and dropping the temperature inside their enclosure to the point where she was shivering. When she shuffled over and attempted to tie the ends of the tarp more securely, Liam lent a hand.
“Thanks,” she said. “I think I’m going to try and light a fire to get some of the chill out.”
Using her heel, she dug out a large bowl-sized depression in the snow on the floor of the plane. She cut out more pages from the textbooks and started crumpling them up.
“Don’t. Let me braid them. It’ll make them burn slower,” Liam said.
He staggered several sheets in a row and rolled them into a long tube then repeated the procedure making a second one. Flattening out the tubes of paper, he placed one end on top of the other and folded it back before bringing the bottom tube over and folding again. He continued until he ran out of paper. The end result was something that looked like a mini paper log.
Rebecca cut more sheets loose from the book, and Liam sat cross-legged beside her, weaving the paper logs until they had a small pile.
“Where are the empty covers from the books you already gutted?”
She passed him one. Taking several of the paper logs, he stood them on their ends and leaned them against one another like a teepee. Then he placed the cover of the textbook over the lot of them. Finally, he fished out a single sheet of paper from the pile by Rebecca, crumpled it up, and carefully pushed it in between the logs.
Reaching into her coat pocket, she pulled out the lighter. “You ready to light this baby up?”
Liam grinned and took the lighter from her hand. “Hell, yeah.”
He crouched down and lit the crumpled piece of paper. In seconds, it was engulfed, and the flames licked up, catching along the paper logs and spreading until there was a nice little blaze. The textbook cover was slower to catch but soon it, too, was burning.
“Oh my God.” Rebecca leaned toward the fire pit and held her good hand out to catch the heat. “That feels amazing.”
He sat beside her again and pressed his palms toward the flames. “I never knew the Pathology of Cardiac Disease could be so useful,” he said.
“Me either. It’s funny. Those books were expensive, and I treasured them like my babies. But when it comes down to the choice between a bit of warmth and another freezing night in my sleeping bag, I didn’t even hesitate. We should have a celebration smoothie, don’t you think?”
“Man, I wish we had coffee. Wait. Wouldn’t it be awesome to heat some water? I’ll bet the smoothie tastes fifty times better when it’s hot.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. What can we use though? The plastic containers won’t work.”
Liam scrambled up. “Hang on. There’re lots of pieces of metal around. How about if we set the container on a chunk of metal?”
“I think the bottom of the plastic will melt. Unless…” She waved her good arm in the air. “If the metal was rounded, we could put some water in it first and then the Tupperware so it would act more like a double boiler.”
Liam was already rummaging around near the back of the plane by the tarp and muttering to himself while he picked up various pieces of debris from the crash.
“Bingo.”
He held up a piece of twisted metal. It was more or less in the shape of an elbow. Opening the tackle box, he found some fishing line. Over by the wall of the plane, he dug through the dumped out contents from the Tupperware containers until he picked out several fishing hooks. He set three of them around the edge of the metal container, fed the fishing line through their eyes and routed it up into a fourth hook in the middle so he could stand and dangle it over the fire.
“Here’s some water,” Rebecca said, returning from her sleeping bag with two Tupperware containers full of melted snow.
“Hot damn, it’s working,” Liam said, dipping his finger into the water a few minutes later.
Rebecca sighed. “I literally can’t wait. Come on water. Heat faster.”
“This is actually pretty good,” Liam said when they finally sat back with their warm, mocha protein drinks.
“It’s better than good,” she said, grinning and taking another sip.
He unzipped his coat and blew out a breath. “Other than digging the grave, this is the warmest I’ve been in days.”
“Me too. We should put another log on and maybe that second cover.”
“I’ve got it,” he said.
When he’d seen to the fire, he sat again and gently shook his drink before taking another sip.
“Say, how’d you know to do that thing with the paper?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I used to go camping a lot when I was a kid. My best friend, David, and his dad were really into it, and they usually took me along. Every time before we left on a trip, David and I would sit up and make those paper kindling logs to take with us.” He paused. “You really think leaving is the best idea?”
Startled, heart picking up speed, she glanced at him. “I do. I know it seems decent here because there’s shelter and food, but the food won’t last, and once it’s gone…” She gestured to the tarp. “There’s not much to eat out there.”
“Yeah. I noticed.”
“Right now we’re eating the bare minimum to keep us going. I don’t know about you, but I’ve already lost a lot of weight. Which means every day we’re getting weaker. Once the food runs out, we’re royally screwed. I don’t want to wait until then to start the trek.”
“But it’s winter, and we don’t know where to go. Plus, you’re all wrecked up with your arm. You really think you’ll make it out on foot?”
“I have to believe I will,” she said fiercely. “I guess I’d rather die trying to save myself than sit up here and do nothing.”
“I still don’t know,” he said, staring into the fire.
She resisted the urge to try and talk him into it. If it went badly, she didn’t want that on her conscience, and she also didn’t want him coming under duress and resenting her every step of the way.
“That’s fine,” she said. “If you’re more comfortable staying with the plane then that’s what you should do. No hard feelings, okay?”
“You should take the lighter,” he said.
“Okay, thanks.” His generosity had her battling back tears. “And you keep the Swiss Army knife, the gum, and the cough candies.”
He poked at
the fire with a piece of metal, stirring up the ashes. “I say we burn more shit.”
“I guess we might as well. I can only carry so much, and you won’t have any way to light it once I’m gone.”
They sat for hours pulling apart more books and feeding the fire. Liam went outside and rolled the tarp back at the front of the plane so the smoke could escape. When he returned, he brought more snow and added it to the ground around the fire where it had melted away. Then he sorted through his remaining clothes and set aside a small pile to dump on the blaze.
“Are you scared?” he asked.
She blinked. “Yes. Very.”
“And you’re still going to go?”
“I have to. Sitting here day after day, I feel like I’m failing myself.”
“I feel like that all the time,” he mumbled.
For dinner, Rebecca decided they should split another hot mocha drink to go along with their chocolate bar and trail mix. It was sort of a goodbye, and last supper all rolled into one.
“How’s the detox going?”
“Okay, I guess. I’ve had worse, that’s for sure. Probably since I’d only been drinking for a few days since the last detox, it wasn’t so bad. I’d kill for a drink though.”
“Actually, I wouldn’t mind one either. Not whiskey though. I could go for a couple of rum and Diet Cokes. Something to take the nerves away and help me sleep.”
When she went out to pee for the last time before calling it a night, she stared out into the darkness. Tomorrow night she’d be somewhere out there. The sky was clear and filled with more stars then she could ever remember seeing. She hoped the weather would hold at least for the first couple of days.
Inside, it was so incredibly cozy. Liam had tossed a few more things on the fire, and the flames leaped up, spreading warmth. She glanced around, taking in their sleeping areas, the neat piles of clothing and the Tupperware containers filled with snow and ready to be melted. Liam’s stacks of chocolate bars and portions of trail mix sat over by the far wall.
All of a sudden it seemed crazy to leave this safe shelter. That’s the fear talking, she thought. But fear was there for a reason. It functioned as a built-in safety mechanism. And in this instance, maybe the fear was right.
She shook her head and crawled into her sleeping bag. No more debating. The decision had already been made. Come first light, she was packing up and leaving.
Sleep was fitful at best. Her shoulder throbbed, her ribs continued to protest every time she accidentally lay on them, and overtop of the physical discomfort, her mind whirled. Still, she reasoned it was best to lie quietly and enjoy the warmth and basic comfort for as much of the night as she could. The fire had gone out sometime earlier, but she imagined it was still giving off residual heat.
Across the way, she heard Liam tossing and turning. It didn’t seem he was getting much sleep either. He coughed and sat up, then made his way outside. It was still dark. The tarp fluttered and snapped in the wind where he’d untied it.
She drifted, sleep dropping close enough to touch but never staying. After a while she glanced across the plane, realizing Liam hadn’t returned. He’d been out there quite a while. Too long really for a middle of the night bathroom break. She started to unzip her sleeping bag but paused when she heard the crunching footsteps outside the plane.
He stepped in, pulling the tarps together and tying them securely.
“I’m coming with you tomorrow,” he said.
Her heart hammered in her chest. “Okay,” she said. “But why?”
He wrapped himself up in the blankets. “I don’t want to die alone.”
Chapter Twenty
In the morning, they lit another fire and heated water to use for making the mocha drink. It was impossible to predict where they might spend the night and unless they made it down as far as the tree line, there would be no proper fuel for burning.
It didn’t take Liam long to pack up his things. They also decided to take the bigger tarps to use on their shelters as well as all the remaining clothing since it might be useful for any number of things.
Rebecca was wearing running shoes which weren’t ideal, but there were no other options. Lucky Liam had a pair of sturdy boots in his bag. They each layered on several pairs of Liam’s socks, pulling them up over their pants for extra warmth.
Since she only had a thin pair of yoga pants and no long underwear, Liam suggested she wear a pair of his jeans over everything. He helped her into them and rolled up the bottoms so she wouldn’t trip.
“Would you mind?” She gestured to the borrowed long johns holding her right arm in place. “It feels pretty loose.”
“Sure.” He undid the knot and repositioned her arm until it hung nice and high with the hand resting near the opposite shoulder. “That should hold you.”
“I wish I had a bandage or some tape for my ribs,” she said.
“We don’t even have duct tape,” Liam said, shaking his head. He glanced around the plane. “Should we leave a note to say where we’re going?”
“That’s a good idea except we also don’t have a pen.”
“I can use the ash from the fire. So, which direction are we headed?”
“I hadn’t figured it out yet. Now that you’re coming, I think it’s something we should decide together.”
They went outside and looked across to the neighboring mountain. The sun was a few inches above the peak and shone directly into their eyes.
“If we go that way and don’t find anything down in the valley, we’ll then have to go all the way around that mountain.”
“Yeah. My thoughts exactly,” she said. “Yesterday, I walked beyond Rory’s grave and up the slope to the other side. There’s a lot more valley over there, but I still couldn’t see anything. I wish we had binoculars.”
“And a compass.”
“Off in the distance, there’s another mountain. Can’t we just head toward that?”
“Sure. To begin with. But I think we’ll want to make certain we don’t veer too far north or south. And once we get down to the trees, it’ll be harder not to wander off line.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“We’re decided then? We’re going to head west?”
She nodded and smiled. “Go west young man.”
Dipping his fingertip into the remnants of the fire, Liam wrote ‘Gone West’ on the paper. “What’s the date?”
“Um…let’s see. I think this is day eleven, which makes today January twenty-first.”
He added the date, spread the paper on a seat, and weighed it down with the metal container they’d used to heat the water.
“Okay, let’s load up and get out,” he said.
Adrenaline coursed through her when they walked up the rise and looked out over the valley to the west. It had remained clear through the night. With the sun shining behind them, everything looked fresh and new in the brilliant light. For once there was barely any wind. She could only think this was a good omen for their journey.
Yesterday, she’d gone up for a better view, but today they turned left and started down. She carried the blue bag, but now it only contained tarps, some of the clothing, and her sleeping bag. Liam had moved the heavier items to his duffel.
With every step, they sank in snow up to their thighs. Liam led, cutting a trail of sorts, but even still, Rebecca found the going tough and frequently stopped to catch her breath. Her legs were cold but the rest of her was boiling hot, and she unzipped the jacket and took off her sock mitts. Before long she was covered in sweat.
Since neither of them had a watch, it was hard to gauge how long they’d been walking. Their original plan had been to stop every hour to rest and drink water, but the sun was almost directly above them before they took their first proper break.
Retrieving the Tupperware container she’d stuffed inside her shirts, Rebecca sat in the snow and drank. Beside her, Liam lay back and closed his eyes. After a minute, she did the same. It was heaven to lie th
ere in the soft snow with the sun on her face. Neither of them spoke.
Sometime later, she jolted awake. Turning her head, she saw Liam was still asleep. Her body trembled with cold, and she couldn’t feel her feet.
“Hey, we’d better get going,” she said, patting his arm.
He groaned and opened his eyes, blinking against the bright light. “How long was I out?”
“I don’t know. I slept too. Aren’t you freezing?”
He sat up and rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah. I am. My legs are tingling. And not in a good way. Okay. I guess we should get moving.”
They trudged on, and the sun slowly swung around until it shone into their faces, making Rebecca’s eyes water. The glare off the snow was blinding, and she kept her gaze down, focusing on Liam’s footfalls in front of her.
They couldn’t walk directly down the mountain. There were sheer drops and sections of rocky outcroppings that were too hard to navigate, so they wound slowly left and then right, with the distant mountain shifting in her perspective. Standing on the lookout yesterday, she’d figured it would maybe take a day or two to reach the valley.
When she turned and looked behind, she realized they’d probably only gone down a few hundred feet from the crash site. If that. At this rate, it could take days just to get off this damn mountain. Don’t think about it, she ordered herself. Just keep walking.
They didn’t stop until the sun had set in the far distance. Since they were still so high up, there was little in the way of shelter. After searching around, they found an area scattered with large rocks. Using his hands, Liam scooped out a depression in the snow beside the sturdiest boulder.
He carried some of the small rocks over, and Rebecca unrolled one of the tarps so he could anchor it above their sleeping space. They added a second tarp on the side and then spread out two of the smaller ones on the snow. Using the extra clothes as a mattress, they laid the sleeping bag on one side and Liam’s blankets on the other.
It was almost fully dark by then. Rebecca set a Dove bar and some trail mix on each of the beds and filled the empty containers with snow, before brushing off her legs and crawling into the sleeping bag.