Surviving Raine by Savage Shay

Author:Savage, Shay [Savage, Shay]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Shay Savage
Published: 2013-05-19T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12 - Food

A few feet from the lean-to, Raine and I sat on large palm leaves around a fire, popping bits of the first cooked food we had consumed in weeks. The cooking fire was nothing but hot red coals now, and since we were done with the actual cooking, I threw a couple of green palm fronds on top of it, creating a column of smoke.

“Why did you do that?” Raine asked. She had finally calmed down enough that she was no longer sniffing, and her breathing was steady again. I still didn’t understand why she freaked out on me, but at least she seemed okay now.

“It will help keep the bugs away,” I told her. “It’s good for keeping other animals away as well, though I don’t think there is much here besides those tiny little lizards. They aren’t even big enough to eat. We should still always keep the fire going, especially at night.”

“I thought I’d never eat cooked food again,” Raine said with her mouth full. “I can’t believe how much better it tastes!”

She was right; it did taste a thousand times better. It would be easier to digest, and maybe she’d get a little weight back. I didn’t like how thin she was and wished I knew how to cook better so she would eat more. After we made some progress with shelter and water, I’d have to find something more carbohydrate-rich for her to consume.

“I’m a pretty shitty cook,” I said with a shrug. “Too bad Alejandro didn’t get stranded with us. He could make most anything taste good.”

I considered how life on the raft might have been different had Alejandro been there and decided I could put up with my own cooking. For starters, there hadn’t been enough water for two. We’d all be dead by now if he had been there. I had more selfish reasons as well and realized I was not at all sorry to have been put in this particular situation with Raine alone.

“What do you think happened to them?” Raine asked softly.

“No way to know,” I responded. “It’s best to assume they got on the lifeboats and were picked up. All of the boats had been launched,” or were lost, I thought but didn’t say, “by the time I got topside. There wasn’t anyone else on the ship but me by then. At least, I couldn’t find anyone else.”

“What are we going to do now?” she asked. “I mean, do you have any idea where we are?”

“I have a guess,” I said. “There’s a decent sized island chain north of Venezuela. I think we’re somewhere along there, just given currents and how long we’ve been in the open water.”

“Are any of them populated?”

“Lots of them,” I confirmed. “This island looks pretty small, but once we get a little more settled in, I can explore a bit. There might be a settlement or at least some evidence that people come here sometimes.”

“What if you find someone?”

“I’ll hope that they speak Spanish,” I said.

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