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Sky wandered through the forest, taking care to tread lightly. Her journey was rough but nothing she couldn’t handle. The skin around her eyes creased as a sneer appeared on her face while thinking, When will they realize that things would go better with me around helping. What if something happened to Troy, then what would they do?
An evil thought popped into her mind. I could confront Troy and convince him to give the position to me and if he doesn’t, maybe... She let that thought drop. She wasn’t that vindictive and certainly not a murderer, but the resentment she felt at being left out was eating at her soul. She needed to be wanted and appreciated, to know that she was good enough to lead a party across the mountains. But Thomas felt Troy was better suited to lead the group and wouldn’t even entertain the idea of her being the leader. Just the thought of it caused her face to turn red. Her fists clinched so tightly that her nails bit into her skin and drew blood.
Realizing that she was allowing her emotions to control her, she took in deep breaths and calmed herself. She knew she needed to maintain a cool head because one slip up and the group might discover her.
Since Troy had discovered the old settlement before she did, she had to locate another means of sheltering from the elements. Luckily, she found an outbuilding that was just right for her small frame and meager belongings. She made camp, ate some dinner, and spied on the group. While gazing down at the old buildings, she noticed Kaden with his bag on his shoulder, and it appeared he was headed out. She kept a close eye on which direction he was going to make sure he didn’t accidentally run into her. She didn’t want to be found just yet.
Kaden loaded an empty bag and slung it over his shoulders and holstered his pistol on his right hip. He then headed out on his foraging trip. He hiked close to the river’s edge, scanning the small trees and bushes for any sign of willow. He was sweeping back branches and looking around trees trying to find the willow bushes he thought would be nearby. The only thing he got for his efforts were scratches on his hands and arms and occasionally his face. With legs feeling like lead and his brain fogging from weariness, he gave up and headed back to camp. Rounding a bend in the river, a site he had apparently missed on the way through earlier popped out at him. A tired smile crept onto his haggard and stubbled face. He had found a willow bush. He knelt, pulled out his knife, and began carefully slicing the bark away from the branches. Once his bag was full of willow bark, he tied the top shut and replaced his knife back in its sheath. Satisfied with the haul he had just made, he stood, grabbed his bag, and returned to camp. Once he got back, he could clean the scratches on his body and put some salve on them. He was pleased that he found the bark, anything to help Lisa with the pain.
Entering the building, he laid his bag down with his other belongings and then went to check on Lisa. “Hey there. How’s the arm now?”
Lisa swiped some of her messy black hair out of the way and frowned. “It still hurts like crazy. Just shifting around to get more comfortable sends me in a tailspin of pain. Isn’t there anything else you can give me?”
“Sorry, Lisa, but there isn’t. I collected more willow bark and should have more of that pain medicine made soon. I wasn’t able to find the yarrow which does a better job.”
All the air in Lisa left her lungs as she let out a huge sigh and hung her head in defeat. There was no beating the pain other than time
“I hate to do this, Lisa, but I need to check your arm and see how it’s doing.”
Lisa yanked her head up, tears streaming down her face, and shook her head side to side. “Please don’t.”
“I have to. I need to make sure circulation is good and that there’s no swelling. I promise I’ll be as gentle as possible.”
Without a word, she shifted and Kaden leaned over, took a hold of her shawl, and carefully lifted it out of the way so he could get a better look at her arm. Then he gently prodded around the splint and wrappings to check and make sure they weren’t too tight. Satisfied that the splint was doing its job and wasn’t too tight or too loose, he moved on to her hand. Pressing her fingernails, he watched as the color returned. He rose to his feet. “It’s looking good. The bones seem to still be set, and the swelling isn’t too bad. However, I don’t think you should go anywhere for a while.”
Lisa protested, “But we have to keep going. Thomas is already upset that it’s taken us this long.”
“Sorry, he’s just going to have to deal with it. If not, then you and I will stay behind till they return.”
Alarm flashed in her dark eyes. “Oh, no! I’m not staying out here alone with you as the only source of getting food till they get back. Nope.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Kaden moved off to locate Thomas. He stepped out of the building, throwing his hand up to shield his hazel eyes from the bright sun, and saw Thomas, Troy, and Doug by a smaller building. Picking up his pace, he headed their direction, waving his arm to get their attention.
Troy waved back. A moment later, Kaden had joined the group. “Thomas, I need to speak with you.”
“Can it wait?”
“No, it can’t.” Signaling for Thomas to follow him over to a more secluded area, he walked away, hoping Thomas would follow.
“I’ll be right back, guys,” Thomas said to Troy and Doug and followed Kaden. “What’s going on that it can’t wait for me to finish what I was doing?”
Feeling somewhat chastised, Kaden still lifted his chin high and spoke his mind. “It’s Lisa. Her arm is doing okay, but with the elevation and terrain we still need to climb, I’m recommending we wait here for at least three weeks. That will give her arm more time to heal, and the pain should be pretty much gone by then. I don’t want her slipping out there and having worse happen than a broken arm.”
Anger flashed in Thomas’s eyes and washed across his face like a shadow. Clenching his fists, he then said, “Kaden, we’ve already taken too long on this trip. Heck, we should have been almost there by now. Now you’re saying we need to camp here for three weeks minimum. Can’t it be two weeks?”
“I’m sorry that the trip hasn’t gone well, but this is the wilderness and things happen. And, yes, I’m recommending we stay three weeks, though if her arm is doing better in two weeks we can consider leaving earlier. Besides, we have a great shelter, and I need to continue to do some foraging. We could also use more meat in our diet. With all these buildings, we should be able to build a proper smoker to smoke any meat we get.”
The color returned to Thomas’s face as he listened to all the pros of staying longer. “Fine, I’ll let Paulette know that we’ll be delayed even further. I’ll also address the group later about this matter.” Thomas stormed away.
“What was that all about,” Doug asked when Thomas returned.
“It’s Lisa. I need to let the group know that we’ll be staying a little longer here,” he replied.
“Oh.” Doug decided not to push for any more answers for the moment.
“Troy, Doug, we need to look at building a smoker, either out of one of these smaller buildings, or from the scraps,” Thomas stated.
“Okay, I guess we should take a better look at what’s here and then take it from there,” Troy replied.
The three men headed toward the other buildings on the property, looking for something that might make a good smokehouse. However, each building they looked at was too dilapidated or too big to be useful. Thomas’s mood was dour, and the guys really wished they could find something that would work to pull him out of his nasty mood.
An hour later as Doug rounded a building that was falling over, he spotted a small building just off to the corner and quickly headed in that direction to check it out. He saw that somehow the roof was mostly intact, and, although the walls had some missing boards, it looked as if it could work for the smokehouse. “Hey, guys, over here,” Doug yelled.
“What did you find?” Thomas asked as he came to a stop next to Doug.
“I think, with some minor repairs, we could transform this into a proper smokehouse. What do you think?”
Thomas circled the small building, examining the outside walls and the roof carefully. He went to the door, grabbed the handle, and pulled on the door. The door was jammed, but after some insistent tugging, he was able to pull it ajar. Sunlight shone through the doorway giving him a glimpse of the inside but not enough to see the darker recesses of the building. “Hey, Doug, can you get a candle and bring it in here?”
Doug looked through his bag and found several candles and a fire starter. Striking the fire starter while Troy held the candles, he lit them each with the spark that emanated from the fire starter each time he struck it. Troy handed one candle to Thomas and one to Doug. With candles in hand, they each entered the small building and inspected the entire area.
The floor was made of some sort of flat rock-type material, but a lot of it had either buckled from the disaster or crumbled over time. They all thought the rock and dirt would make a great base for the fire pit and that the rubble could be used as a fire ring.
As they left the building, Thomas said, “This looks like it’ll do. We’ll start looking for scrap boards from other buildings to fix the walls so they are airtight and replace the two windows with boards. We also need to fix the roof and add several small beams across it inside to hang the meat. Let’s head back to the main building so I can let everyone know what's going on.”
An hour later, everyone gathered inside the main building to hear what Thomas had to say. “As you all know Lisa fell a few days ago injuring her head and breaking both bones in her right arm, causing some delays in our progress. As it is, we have one final push to get over the mountain, and the terrain can be hazardous as we get higher up. With that in mind, Kaden has recommended that we stay put for two to three weeks to allow her more time for healing.”
There was a rustling of clothing and feet and murmuring going on among some in the group. “Thomas, if we stay here, don’t we risk having to travel in hotter temperatures on the other side. I heard Troy talking about his trip awhile back. It didn’t sound pleasant,” Anton complained.
“Yes, we risk having to travel in warmer temperatures than we are used to, but the welfare of the group is the important thing.”
Paulette shifted by his side. Tilting her head, she looked at him from her seated position and said, “I have to agree with Thomas. We need to make sure everyone can travel before we head out. I’ve been stuck here for over a year now, so a few more weeks isn’t going to make a difference.”
“Thanks for the support, sweetheart.”
“Fine, so we stay. What are we going to do?” Anton asked.
“First, we need to fix a small building we found to make it airtight. Once we do, we can smoke any excess meat and take it with us when we leave. After the building is ready, we can send out our hunting party to secure us some food.” Thomas paused for a moment reflecting on the journey so far. “We also need to work better as a group. Each person will need to pick up the slack and do his or her part in making our stay as comfortable as possible. Besides, it’s not often we get to climb the ancient mountains and stay in an old-world building,” he said with a chuckle. Thomas then gave each person assignments and tasks.
Troy insisted that Anton help him and Doug with the smokehouse, hoping that keeping his hands busy would keep his mouth shut. The guys had spent several hours locating enough sideboards, frame boards, and other materials to shore up the old building. They worked diligently through the day, using rocks to hammer old rusted nails into the boards to keep them in place. Since they didn’t have the tools to pull the old windows out, they found larger pieces of flat, thin wood to cover the window openings and used moss to stuff into any cracks, making it as airtight as possible. Once the outside was completed, they took a break to eat a late lunch.
Sitting by the fire, Anton commented on the work. “Wow, I have never worked so hard in my life,” he said while smiling. “I learned a lot about how to fix a building, that’s for sure. Thanks, guys, for letting me help today.”
Troy and Doug looked at each other, then back at Anton, shrugged, and Troy said, “No problem. However, we need to finish the firepit and inside beams before dinner tonight.”
Anton smiled. He seemed eager to get back to work. Troy realized they had found something for him to do after all.
They finished their lunch and headed back to work. Anton was the first to arrive and had the candles lit and placed strategically inside by the time Troy and Doug arrived. Troy was pleased to see Anton’s initiative.
“We need to move the rubble around and make a medium-height firepit. I figure we use the larger pieces on the bottom and work our way up with smaller and smaller pieces. There should be plenty of holes for the smoke to escape from the sides since the pieces won’t fit perfectly.” Troy paused a moment, then looked at Anton and Doug. “How about you and Anton work on the firepit, and I’ll go see if Paulette can help me with the roof beams.”
“Okay,” the guys said. Doug and Anton got busy moving the heavy rubble around, trying to make a firebox, or, in their case, a haphazard fire circle. While they busied themselves with building the firebox, Troy stepped out to find Paulette.
Seeing her over by the main building, Troy jogged over to her and asked, “Hey, are you busy with anything at the moment? I could use some help over at the smokehouse.”
Paulette smiled and replied, “No, I’m not busy. What kind of help do you need?”
“I need someone to help me put the beams up for hanging the meat.”
“Okay, sure. I can help you with that. I learned a bit of carpentry from my dad when I was a kid. Besides, I think I can swing a rock.” Her dimples crinkled as she laughed.
“Thanks.”
Troy and Paulette had worked for several hours fixing the roof and getting the beams evenly spaced for hanging the meat. Exhausted, all four of them stood back and admired their work. They went down to the river and washed their hands and faces. Clean and refreshed, they wandered back to the main building for dinner and talked for a while before calling it a day.
