Apophis by Lentzski Eliza

Author:Lentzski, Eliza [Lentzski, Eliza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781494733049
Amazon: 1494733048
Goodreads: 20262037
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2013-12-18T23:00:00+00:00

We walked single-file in silence. I didn’t know our destination and that made me uneasy. But I steered us west and kept moving, ever mindful that Hot Spring’s hostile residents could be tracking our steps at that very moment. There was no hiding our steps in the crunchy, stale snow, however. The best we could do was use each other’s foot impressions to lessen evidence of our existence and not make too much noise tromping through the woods. The longer we could walk hidden by trees, the better. They’d offer us cover from any bandits roaming the streets and we’d have better luck finding shelter for the night than in the long stretches of flat prairie. I bent my head and hastened my step, eager to leave Hot Springs and its residents behind.

“Sam, I’ve gotta stop,” Nora’s thin voice sounded behind me. “I can’t keep going.”

I stopped and hooked my thumbs beneath the straps of my backpack. I took stock of our surroundings. The woods were fairly dense; it seemed as good of a spot to stop for the night as any. Plus, I was getting tired, too – not that I’d ever admit that to Nora.

I shrugged out of my pack and let it drop to the powdered snow. As soon as the ground covering fluffed up around my discarded bag, I realized we were in trouble.

“Shit.”

“What’s wrong now?” Nora snapped. I could tell she was ready to crumble. This little bit of bad news might push her over the edge, but she was going to find out sooner or later.

“My dad’s backpack had our tent in it. I don’t suppose…” I trailed off because I honestly expected the worst at this point.

Her eyes were as large as plates – big moon eyes like a cartoon character. “My dad had my tent, too. He wanted to lighten my load.”

“Mother fucker,” I cursed again.

“Sam.” Nora’s voice wavered on my name. “What are we going to do? It’s getting colder – there’s no way we’ll make it to Idaho sleeping in just our sleeping bags.”

I nodded. She wasn’t saying anything I didn’t already know. We could try to tough it out in the open, just bundled up in our sleeping bags. It would really be a test to see how true those sub-freezing thresholds were. But trying to weather a snowstorm or a particularly vicious windstorm in nothing but a sleeping bag would be foolhardy and suicide. We needed something more permanent. I could always build a shelter out of fallen logs like a rough log cabin. It would provide just enough of a wind break to keep us warm enough for survival, but constructing such a structure every night would take too much time and drain my energy, and I doubted I’d be able to find enough wood in the vicinity appropriate for such a task.

My thoughts went back to a cave I’d spotted just a few moments prior to Nora’s plea to stop for the night. If it was deep enough and empty, it would do the job for tonight.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.