Dirty Little Secrets(112)

At this point, I was actually starting to enjoy our little adventure. I just wish it hadn’t started the way that it did.

Our campsite that night was actually pretty comfortable. Some long-ago avalanche or something had tumbled boulders along the valley we were currently in, their humped forms slouched and worn after who knew how many years of weathering. After carefully checking the wind, Wes had us set up our lean-to on the calm side of a pair of boulders that had come together into a kind of V shape. With our fire going, it was halfway decent, although I was still cold.

Using sticks, Wes and I roasted our snake meat over the fire, looking for all the world like we were roasting marshmallows. Sadly, the meat was bland, like unseasoned chicken, until Wes broke out another ration pack and mixed the meat with the stuff inside. It was weird eating spaghetti, meat balls, and snake with a seasoning of Tabasco sauce, but it was filling, and I went to bed with aching feet, a full belly, and the strong arms of the man I loved around me.



Wesley





We kept up our travels for the next day. I was impressed by how little complaining Robin did and how quickly she adapted to the rigors of cross-country travel. She got really good at identifying edible bushes and plants, although she was always careful to double check with me. We gathered as we hiked, always keeping our eyes and ears out for any sign of humanity.

The silence and isolation, which I had craved so much when I was trying to get my head right after a mission, had become both a bonding agent for us and a frustration. Our food supply was okay for a while, but the fact was, our vacation had turned into a survival scenario. While part of me wanted things to never end, to just live in the wild with Robin and play mountain man, we both knew that our plane would have been missed by now and that search parties would be starting to comb the mountains. Unfortunately, unless the pilot had made a last-second radio check-in, there was no way they’d really know where to look for us.

We kept going, not pushing the pace too quickly. As long as our foraging skills were going along, we were in no danger of running out of food, and the mountains were providing well for us. Because I didn’t want to take the time to try and hunt or trap, our gathering was limited to berries, nuts, and roots, although the snake did help out. I didn’t want to have to slow down anymore by being forced to trap or fish for our food. I couldn’t even let myself think about what our parents were going through.

I was moved the next afternoon, the day after the snake, when Robin used my cooking kit to warm up some water. We had stopped early, maybe only three in the afternoon, because the map showed a gap in the forest that I didn’t want to have to try and camp in overnight with no defense against the wind or any weather.

After setting up our lean-to and getting the fire going, she started fussing around, making me curious. When I asked her what she was doing, she shushed me away, telling me to go get some more wood for our campfire. Intrigued and somewhat confused, I wandered off, getting another armload of wood. It took longer than before, since I had picked a spot with fewer trees nearby, but when I returned, the walk was worth it.

While I was gone, Robin had used the warm water, a spare t-shirt from her bag, and a small bar of soap to give herself what could best be described as a field bath, or perhaps a quick wash up. She had even bitten the bullet and used straight water from our drinking bag to rinse and then wash her long hair, although it had to have felt freezing to her as she washed.

When I came back into our camp, I found her just pulling her fresh change of clothes on and brushing her hair out with a small comb that we had kept as part of our toiletries kit along with our toothbrushes. I had to stop, a few pieces of wood falling from my hands as I looked at her. Robin was kneeling next to the fire, but without her boots on, looking into the crackling flames as she quietly hummed to herself, brushing her lustrous hair as she went. I had never seen her more beautiful as she smoothed her hair out until it was fully combed through and hung over her right shoulder in a single long, slightly twisted cable. It was only after she finished and put her comb down that I found the ability to walk again and picked up my dropped wood to come closer. “You look beautiful,” I said, making sure to not startle her. “I mean, absolutely gorgeous.”

Robin blushed and smiled at me. “Sorry, but after three days of walking, I needed to take a moment to just clean up some. I like sharing the sleeping bag, but last night was a bit funky, you know?”

Setting down my load of wood, I nodded. “One of those things I kind of forgot about with so much other stuff on my mind. Have I really been that stinky?”