Chapter 8
They’d left the truck in the late afternoon and it was getting close to dusk when Nathan finally stopped. He’d have to give it to Haley, she had pushed through. She hadn’t complained, had requested a stop only once when she’d been winded from an ascent, and had carried the backpack throughout. If he hadn’t paid attention to her trim figure before, he’d know she was in shape now, with the amount of walking they’d done.
He’d had this bald in mind when they’d started out. The natural cleared area offered a couple of advantages and one disadvantage. The disadvantage was obvious as they stepped out of the trees. The wind that blew through the low scrub brush was chilly even in the summer evening. Now, with the late spring weather, the mountains became almost cold after nightfall. With the constant wind, they’d need to get into some cover before dark.
Still, he needed that bald. It was surrounded on all sides by the dog’s hell of rhododendron, impossible to penetrate unless you cut through it. The opening he’d led Haley through moments ago was defensible, easy to set traps in, and best of all, the only way in or out of the bald. While there may be a danger to them, the safety of a good night’s rest for Haley far outweighed the cost.
Haley looked exhausted but didn’t complain when he asked her to fill their water bag from the small spring he knew was in the middle of the pasture. She struggled to remove her pack and when he stepped forward to help, she raised a hand. “I need to do it myself.”
He watched her kneel then lean back and let the pack fall away from her shoulders. As she stood, her back to him, he could see the sweat staining her shirt where the pack had lain against her. She had to be on her last ounce of strength and he almost took back his request when he remembered the look on her face as she’d asserted herself. She needed this. Somehow, he knew she needed to be strong enough to do the tasks he asked of her.
He looked down at Sampson, who was sitting on his haunches, looking as fresh as he’d been when they’d set out. “Watch,” he said to the dog and Sam shifted into an alert sit and stayed.
Nathan set about making the area as secure as he could in the short time before nightfall. The traps he set were crude but effective and he took care to hide them well. Ephram had had the same training he had. He’d know the things to look for. The difference between them, Nathan hoped, was that Ephram hadn’t been living in the bush since he’d returned from the desert.
With traps set a klick away from the opening, one about a yard from it and then just inside the entrance, he called Sam to him and showed him the traps, giving him the commands to avoid the area. Then he set about working on the campsite. They couldn’t risk a fire, so he found the ready heat MREs he’d asked Hank for and set about activating the heat pouches in the entrees and made the drink pouches ready for the water Haley would bring. Then he found the highest and most sheltered bush that grew in the bald and laid out the tarp then set the sleeping bags on it. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but hopefully it’d be dry. As he watched Haley make her way through the dusk, he saw stars pop out above her. The rain that morning had cleared away and hopefully, they’d have a dry night. He’d not checked the forecast before they went down the mountain and now, he regretted it. He didn’t like the idea of Haley exposed to the elements and hoped a freak cold front wouldn’t come through in the next few days.
Haley eased down onto one of the bedrolls and sighed before holding out the bag of water. “Do you think it’ll be okay to drink this?”
“In a few minutes, it will.” He accepted the container and within a couple of seconds dropped a tablet into the liquid. “It won’t taste as good as the stuff you buy in town, but it’ll do the trick.”
She grimaced. “Chemicals?”
“Yeah. I have another purifier, but it takes some time and we need to get some fluid in our systems now. I’ve got some food warming up and then we’ll turn in. How are your feet?”
“Sore but okay. No blisters.” She gestured toward her feet. “I’d love to take my shoes off but I know from experience not to until I go to bed.”
“Go ahead. We won’t be walking anymore tonight.” He sank into a crouch and checked the temp on the food pouches. Almost there. “I have chicken enchiladas or beef stew. Take your pick.”
She looked at the pouches and frowned. “In that?”
He nodded. “Again, not as good as what you’d get in a restaurant, but it’s got the calories and it’s warm, if not hot. And then we’ll bed down.”
She chose the chicken and he handed her the box with the MRE inside. At her blank look he smiled. “It’s in the pouch.” He demonstrated opening the box of stew, pulling out the heat pouch and showing it to her before replacing it. He’d replaced the pouch in the box after activating it and now took the packet of beef stew out of the pouch and ripping it open. “I have salt and pepper packets and some hot sauce if you want. It helps sometimes.” He gestured toward the bandana he’d opened on a small rock. Arrayed on the cloth were paper packets of salt and pepper as well as a small bottle of hot sauce and one of mustard. When Haley had opened her own pouch and sniffed it, she gingerly dipped the plastic spoon he’d handed her and tasted. After salt and a little pepper, she tried again and nodded. “You’re right, it’s not restaurant quality but it’s still pretty good.”
He’d opened a pouch beforehand to cool and now cut the whole chicken and vegetable pouch open and put it before Sampson. “Go ahead, boy,” he gave the dog leave to eat and Sampson started lapping up the food.
Relieved that his two charges were satisfied, he set to eating his own meal, adding a liberal amount of hot sauce. Beef stew would never be his favorite meal, but it was edible. They also had a protein bar each and then he offered her coffee or tea. “Will it help with the taste?” she grimaced as she took a sip of the treated water. At his nod she chose an herbal tea. He’d frowned at the box of fruit flavored leaves when they’d unloaded the supplies but figured Hank’s wife Sophie had had a hand in the order. When Haley sighed at her first sip, he figured the extra weight of the tea was worth it.
Haley had waited to remove her shoes until after they’d eaten. Now, she realized, she needed to answer the call of nature. In nature. Perplexed and a little embarrassed, she glanced around them. “Um. I need to--. Um,”
Nathan gave her a blank look then his face cleared and he nodded and gestured to his left, where the pasture sloped downhill a little. “How about over there? I’ll be busy clearing the dishes.” He held up the pouches with a quirked mouth.
She smiled, “And I was going to offer to do the dishes.” She stood, trying to hide the stiffness in her knees and back and then made her way to the designated bathroom area with Sampson trailing after her. “Do you need to go too?” she asked the dog and could swear he grinned up at her as he loped along. She chuckled and kept walking. As she did, she realized she was tired but not as worried as she had been when they’d begun their trek earlier. She trusted Nathan. He might have been trained as a soldier, a man who went into battle and was trained to kill, but he was also a good man. Somehow, she knew that.
Once finished with her business, Haley and Sampson walked back to their camp. No tent, no light, other than the stars and half-moon that shone above them. No noise other than the rustle of wind through the brush and the odd click or chirp. And she wasn’t afraid.
Nathan had rolled out the sleeping bags side by side and she sat on the smaller one, shaped like a bullet. “It looks snug,” she said and figured she’d not be able to put her feet out of the covers like she did normally.
“It’s a mummy bag.” At her slightly horrified look he chuckled. “It conserves heat. You’ll be surprised at how chilly it gets at night, especially at this elevation.”
“So why is your bag not a mummy?” she asked and gestured toward the more rectangular shape he was seated on.
“I don’t like close spaces,” he said, focused on removing his own shoes. Haley studied him. She might trust him, but she didn’t know anything about this man, other than he was a soldier.
She removed her shoes and put them beside her sleeping bag, socks tucked inside the shoes. Nathan held out a drawstring bag. “Put them in this and close it up tight. I’ll put it in my bag.”
“Why?” she said as she complied then handed him the tied cloth bag. As he tucked it in the bottom of his sleeping bag, along with his shoes, he grinned at her. “Your shoes are warm, warmer than the outside. Small creatures like to hide in shoes at night.”
She quickly tucked her legs in the mummy bag and zipped it up to her waist. As she glanced around the meadow, she whispered, “Do they like crawling in sleeping bags too?”
“You’d know it if they tried,” he said with a low laugh. He zipped up his own bag and then laid down. As he did, he looked at her. “You did well today, Haley.” He patted Sampson, who’d flopped onto the tarp beside him.
“Thanks,” she said as she scrunched down into her bag, zipping it up to her chin and tightening the drawstring around the hood of the bag. She hadn’t planned on having her head enclosed when she’d first laid down, but now, after what he’d said about creatures--. She fell asleep looking at the stars and wondering about small crawling things.
The next morning Haley awoke to the smell of coffee and the rustle of someone moving around. It was still dark but there was a faint light in the sky that might be dawn. She’d never been outside at sunrise and didn’t know what it looked like.
She glanced at Nathan, who was putting on his shoes. “Good morning,” he said and smiled. “You slept well.” He reached into his bag and handed her the drawstring bag with her own running shoes.
She nodded then asked, “Didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I did.” He sounded a little surprised. “Here are your shoes. I’m going downhill for a minute.” He stood and strode to the part of the meadow designated the bathroom and Haley quickly turned away and studied the dawn. It was a little lighter, with a deep pink color on the horizon, she thought. As she put her own shoes on, she looked around and saw a couple of bags upright on the tarp beside them. Inside, mist and what looked like steam filled out the plastic bag and she realized it was the heat pouches Nathan had heated their supper in last night. She hoped the morning offering was a little more flavorful than the previous offerings. She glanced at Sampson, who was sitting on the tarp, looking at her. “You as hungry as I am?” He responded with a doggy grin, his tongue lolling. She reached out and patted his head and he leaned into her hand.
After she’d gone down the slope, they had coffee and oatmeal with raisins and Haley complimented Nathan on the breakfast. “This wasn’t an MRE, just instant oatmeal,” he said with a smile.
She scrapped the last of the porridge from the plastic bowl and sighed. “It was good. Better than I have at home.”
“Food’s always better outside,” Nathan said. “Unless it’s in a war zone.”
She started to laugh then sobered. He’d know, wouldn’t he?
“My turn to do the dishes.” She glanced around at the camp. “How do I do the dishes?”
He laughed. “Wet a paper towel with the water and wipe.” At her frown he gestured, “We won’t be using the bowls much so it’ll have to do.”
“No soap?”
“No evidence,” he said and she realized they needed to leave as few signs of their presence as possible. After she’d wiped down the bowls and spoons, she found an alcohol wipe in the first aid kit and quickly wiped it over the utensils before stowing them in the backpack. She folded the wipe inside the towel and pushed them in an outside pocket. They rolled the sleeping bags up and tied them together then folded the tarp. Nathan eyed the flattened ground around them and frowned but didn’t say anything. Haley started to offer to muss up the grass but figured it might not help so waited while he went back where they’d come in the night before. After several minutes he returned and shouldered the backpack then waited for her to lift her own into position. “Where are we going today?” she asked and he motioned in a broad manner. “That a way.”
“Okay, lead the way,” she said and patted Sampson who stood beside her.