The Treasure of Death Valley by Pascal Francine

Author:Pascal, Francine
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2016-01-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Somebody, anybody, please let me out! Elizabeth thrashed and turned. Even in her sleep she realized she was just dreaming about being trapped in a meat locker, but she couldn't seem to wake herself up.

When she finally opened her eyes, she realized why the dream had felt so real. She was freezing. The fire had died out in the night, and somehow her sleeping bag had become further unzipped. Her T-shirt and shorts hadn't provided much warmth inside her drafty bed.

"What happened to the fire?" Heather asked groggily.

"I guess it wasn't strong enough to last the night," Elizabeth admitted.

"No wonder it's colder than Antarctica! Brrrrr!" Jessica burrowed down into her bag.

"It's not that easy building a fire, is it, Wakefield?" Bruce said with obvious enjoyment.

"There wasn't enough dry wood around here," Elizabeth responded. She knew it was a lame excuse, but she couldn't resist defending herself against Bruce's provocation. She looked to the others for support.

"I see wood all over the place," Bruce said, rising up on his elbows. "In fact, I predict it'll take me no more than five minutes to build a fire so that we can at least have some hot oatmeal for breakfast." Bruce glanced at his high-tech digital watch and climbed out of his sleeping bag.

"Thanks, Bruce. We owe you one," said Todd.

Elizabeth caught Todd looking at her and shaking his head. She thought of how she had refused his help with the fire the night before, and she wondered whether he was still brooding over that. That shouldn't have made him so mad—he's probably just grouchy because of the cold, she decided.

Within minutes Bruce had started a roaring fire. They all ventured out of their bags to dress and get breakfast. Elizabeth gobbled some oatmeal while she planned the day's journey. With their dwindling water supply, finding a water source was the first priority. The map indicated a stream in the general direction they were going, although it looked pretty far away. She managed to calculate a route that would bring them there by nightfall. At least I know I'm good at one thing, she thought grimly.

After they'd eaten, they broke camp and divided the gold into six parts. Nobody even mentioned leaving half the gold behind, Elizabeth realized with a stab of guilt. But after the struggles of the day before and this morning's fire fiasco, she wasn't in the mood to have everyone yell at her again. So she said nothing and packed her stash.

Elizabeth was the first one to finish packing. She snapped the last buckle and heaved the pack onto her back.

"Yowww," she said out loud, reeling under the weight. Todd was just lifting his pack, and she noticed his knees were buckling underneath him, too.

"This extra gold sure adds weight, doesn't it?" she said.

"You got that right," Todd answered, adjusting his shoulder straps.

Bruce lifted his pack a few inches off the ground and dropped it. "Jeez. I'm not carrying that on my back," he said.

"What are you planning to do?" asked Jessica as she folded her pajamas into a pocket.

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