Chapter Thirteen
Abby’s eyes fluttered awake as she registered movement in her arms. “Hey, you,” she whispered, smiling at the furry bundle trying to scurry around.
She sat up and gathered Matilda close to her breast. “Good morning,” she said as she kissed her.
“I see you’re up and at ’em.” Relief washed through her at Matilda’s liveliness.
Maybe now she would eat. “Let’s go find the others, shall we?
And show them how well you’re doing this morning. ”
Abby kicked open the makeshift door, squinted against the brightness of the day, and scooted out to find Whit by the fire, perched on the log, carving what looked to be another spear.
“Good morning,” Abby said, bringing Matilda with her to the fire to sit across from Whit. “Where’s Boyd?”
Whit kept scraping, face stone-like.
“Whit?”
Abby glanced around but saw no sign of Boyd. She swallowed the ball in her throat as she realized something must be wrong. “The old spear not up to par anymore?”
“Oh, it’s fine,” Whit said. “Or at least it was last I saw it.”
“You lost it?”
Whit finally stopped working the sapling. “Of course not. That son of a bitch Boyd took it, along with all our fish.”
Abby grew dizzy. She gripped Matilda tighter for some sort of grounding, but it didn’t help, so she released her between her outstretched legs. “You mean, he’s—gone?”
“Like the wind.” Whit threw the stick down, sheathed her knife, and then collapsed her head in her hands to run her fingers through her hair.
“Whit I—I’m so sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say. She’d trusted Boyd for the most part. Thought he was an okay guy just down on his luck. She’d been kind to him and pretty much insisted that Whit be as well. She’d hoped he would remain kind to them in return.
“Yeah, well, sorry’s not going to get us anymore smoked fish.”
Abby stroked Matilda, feeling like the whole thing was her fault. Had she listened to Whit…what? Who knows what Boyd would’ve done had they both been hostile toward him. It could’ve been a lot worse. But she wasn’t about to say that aloud.
“What can I do to help?”
Whit looked up, sighed, and rested her hands on her knees, causing her black hair to fall down below her shoulders and gleam in the firelight. Her dark amber eyes glinted against her olive skin and Abby found herself breathless at her raw beauty.
How can someone look so good when mad?
“You can stay here and watch the camp while I try to catch more fish today.”
“We’re staying then?”
“We have no choice, do we? If we leave, we risk starvation. Besides, I don’t want to be close to Boyd’s trail. If he’s heading north, like we’ll be doing, I want to remain as far behind him as possible.”
Abby nodded. “Makes sense.” She picked up some of the birch twigs from the night before and offered them to Matilda who began to nibble. “Look, Whit. She’s eating.” Abby smiled, but Whit didn’t seem to be in the mood for any good news. She was still reeling from the sting of what Boyd did.
“Forgive me for not celebrating,” she said as she knelt to pick up the sapling. “But I have our survival on my mind.” She jerked out her knife and began working the spear again.
“I understand,” Abby said softly. She glanced over to the small pile of mushrooms and berries.
Boyd had left them, and the pot. “How about I make us some breakfast?” She leaned over for the water bottle, which thankfully, had been in the shelter with them, and poured a little in the pot.
Then she stirred in the berries and mushrooms and placed them on the cooking rock on the fire.
“It’s not IHOP or anything, but it will do, right? ”
Whit grumbled.
Abby gave Matilda more twigs and a few blueberries and then retrieved the all-purpose knife from her pocket and extended the blade. She crawled to her knees, careful to go around Matilda, and stirred the food as it cooked.
“I wonder how the mushrooms will taste with the berries?” she asked, mainly to herself. But Whit surprised her by answering.
“Surprisingly, the combination’s not too bad.”
“No?”
“No.” She chewed her lower lip as she shaped the spear.
“So, you’ve had it before?”
“Many a time.”
“On your guided tours?”
Whit stilled, blade poised, midair. “I guess you could say that.” Then she started cutting again. “But I don’t want to talk about that right now.”
Abby wanted to ask why, completely confused, but she refrained.
“Okay.” She figured the whole Boyd thing had really upset her to where she didn’t want to talk much at all.
It was just as well, because Abby felt guilty enough and she really didn’t know what else to say to try to make the situation any better.
Boyd had seriously screwed them. He’d taken nearly all their food and delayed their chance at going for help.
Hopefully, they could make that up today and leave tomorrow, without any more issues.
Abby continued to stir the berries and mushrooms. “You ready for this? It’s hot.”
Whit shook her head. “In a minute. I want to finish this first.” She planted the spear in front of her and examined the two points. Then she shoved a small piece of wood down between them as she’d done when making the previous spear and continued sharpening the ends.
Abby forked a mushroom, now coated in berry juice, and slid it off the small blade into her mouth. “Mm, you’re right. This isn’t bad.”
“Finally realized I was right about something,” she mumbled.
The comment, though said lowly, penetrated. Abby flushed, the guilt now fully surfaced. She knew she should let the dig go and not respond, but she couldn’t stop herself. She had to let Whit know how badly she felt over the whole thing.
“Look, I know I was wrong about Boyd and I’m sorry. I’m really very truly sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t do us any good.”
“I’m aware of that. But it needed to be said nonetheless. And as for what would help…I’m at a loss. Maybe you can tell me.”
Whit eyed her, though only momentarily. “You could listen to me from here on out.”
Abby stifled a scoff. “You know, I’m usually a pretty good judge of character.”
“Not out here you aren’t.”
“I was wrong about Boyd, I admitted that.”
Whit finished with the spear and looked at her. Her eyes were now afire with conviction. “I’m not just referring to Boyd. I’m referring to everyone and everything that we might encounter.”
“I see, so I’m to assume that I know nothing.”
“Yes, when it comes to this journey and this wild country, absolutely.”
“So, I’m to defer to you.”
“If you want to survive.”
“My God, you sound arrogant.”
“I’m right. There’s a difference.”
Abby did scoff this time and Whit grabbed her spear and stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To catch us some food.”
“Aren’t you going to eat breakfast?”
But Whit had already walked away, leaving her alone with Matilda, who had happily hopped a few steps away from her as well.
“Guess you’ll be off too, huh? Now that you’re better.”
But the hare turned and remained relatively close, eating more of the berries.
Abby settled down next to her and stroked her back.
“It’s just me and you, kid. What shall we do?
” She looked to the smoker and noticed the lack of smoke and the sloppiness of the stacked doorway.
“Maybe I can work on that. Get it ready for some more fish.”
It couldn’t be that difficult. She stabbed more mushroom and a bit of intact berry and ate, giving some to Matilda too.
Then she tried to relax and finish her breakfast before she got started.
They had a lot to do today and she was intent on helping wherever she could.
Now more than ever, she felt like she had to prove herself to Whit, who obviously thought she was a complete idiot when it came to…
well, anything. She had to prove her wrong.
“I’ll show her, huh, Matilda?” She scooped her up and nuzzled her cold little nose. Then she hugged her to her chest and got lost staring into the fire.
* * *
Sometime later, she set Matilda aside and rose to clean the pot.
Just as she was about to pour water into it and go dump the remnants into the creek, she thought of Whit.
“I’ll be right back,” she said to the hare and set off for the pebbled shoreline.
She was surprised to see that Whit wasn’t in her usual spot and it took her a moment to locate her.
She was standing farther down shore, balanced and ready to strike.
Abby froze as she did, and she brought the spear out of the water with a flailing fish on the end.
Abby hurried to her, unable to suppress her grin.
“You caught one!” It appeared to be a large trout, its colorful skin sparkling in the sunlight. Abby walked up next to her as she was removing the fish from the spear.
“Caught two others as well,” Whit said as she placed the trout in a new tidal pool she’d made. Abby saw the other fish in the water and surprisingly, her mouth began to water.
“Those look good,” she said. “Guess I’m getting hungry.”
“We’ll eat soon,” Whit said, grabbing her spear to stand at her perch. “I want to see if I can catch a few more first.”
Abby held out the pot. “I thought you might be hungry, so I brought you what was left of the berries and mushrooms.”
Whit eyed the contents and plucked a mushroom. “Thanks.”
“I’ll just leave it here next to you.” She waited for Whit to say something more, but when she didn’t, she walked away, back toward camp.
Once there, she spotted Matilda exploring near the shelter, thought about wrangling her in, but decided against it.
If she wanted to hop away and go live her life, she should.
She shouldn’t try to keep her. Feeling a little sad at the thought of losing her, she got to work on the smoker, hoping to busy her mind as well as her body.
First, she rebuilt the fire, using the birch Whit had previously gathered, and leaned back on her haunches to observe the smoke the wood created.
Then she rebuilt the entryway and adjusted the branches up top.
When she was finished, she observed the whole structure from a distance.
“Looks pretty good to me,” she said.
Whit still wasn’t back, and she wasn’t sure what else she could do to help. Other than gather more mushrooms, she could think of nothing. Then she spotted an errant berry on the ground. “I could pick berries. Just put them in my coat pockets. What do you think, Matilda?” But the hare was gone.
Abby sighed and willed herself to accept that it was for the best. What would she do with a wild hare?
She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets, massaged the quartz she’d kept, and turned in a circle, trying to decide which direction to go.
She finally headed back to the right of the shelter, feeling like she knew this area best. She wouldn’t go far and she wouldn’t stay long, but she had to do something to help prove herself worthy.
Now if only Whit would notice.