AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nodded.
Keeping an eye out for a natural spot to set up camp, they didn’t stop, not until twenty minutes later when they found a nice, flat area. The ground to their left had leveled out and seemed to slope down in the distance.
He said, “This looks like a reasonable area.”
She walked a little farther to where the trees opened up. “Not over here.”
He joined her. The ground didn’t slope—it dropped about ten feet in front of them.
Chloe pointed at the sky. “We should get that shelter up quickly. That looks like a nasty storm brewing. What do we need?”
“Since we have a tarp, let’s find three decently-long sticks to act as poles. We’ll also need wood for a fire.”
It didn’t take Josh long to find good poles. And as Chloe gathered firewood, he lashed a tripod together with the paracord. Using the shovel, he dug small holes for the poles and set them in. He then wrapped the tarp around them, leaving enough of a hole at the top to let smoke escape. This wouldn’t be the most camouflaged shelter, but it would be the most effective at keeping them warm. The temperature was already dropping, and he could feel in his bones that it was going to get colder as the night progressed.
Between the dark, ominous clouds, the sun was setting over the expansive gorge before them, and if it weren’t for the threat of a mysterious kidnapper or the hunger ravaging his stomach or the looming storm, he’d take Chloe to his side and enjoy the view with her. But too much hung in the balance right now. Possibly their lives.
Lightning streaked across the sky.
He turned to Chloe. “Better get that fire going.”
They worked together to build a little fire inside the tight space of the teepee.
As the first drops of rain fell, Josh grabbed the backpack and climbed in the teepee with Chloe.
He found the matches and prayed that the fire would start.
It wouldn’t.God, please, we need the warmth.
Chloe shivered on the other side of the unlit fire.
He tried striking the match until there was nothing left of the match to strike.
Chloe handed him another match.
“I guess.” He tried again. It wasn’t like he didn’t know how to start a fire without a match, but if this worked it would be a lot easier since he was sorely out of practice.
When he struck the second match for a third time, it finally lit.
“Yay.” Chloe gave a little clap with her fingertips.
They took care to get the small fire blazing.
“That is so much better.”
He smiled at her. “Agreed.”
The rain now pelted the sides of the tarp, and thunder echoed against the rock faces of the mountains.
Josh scooted around the fire and wrapped his arm around Chloe. “Are you doing okay?”
“My toes hurt. If it weren’t so cold, I’d take my shoes off.”
“You could always put those socks on.”
“No thank you. I’d rather get frostbite and need to have you use that saw to amputate my toes.”
He threw words around in his head, trying to figure out how to ask the question that had been burning in his mind since the hat incident yesterday afternoon.
