Supernatural Fresh Meat

FIFTY-SEVEN




Sam put up Bobby’s tent and got him inside his sleeping bag. Snow continued to fall, blanketing the tent fly as soon as they got it set up. He’d finally convinced Bobby to put his warm clothes back on. Bobby grew quiet, sitting very still.

Sam took the opportunity to gather kindling and logs in the dwindling light. He found a few dry sticks and pine needles and was incredibly grateful to find a box of waterproof matches still in his pack. He moved nearer the tent, gently laying out all the pine needles around the smaller twigs. His whole body shook with the cold. His fingers barely worked. As he struck the match and willed the pine needles to catch, his mind flashed back to ‘To Build a Fire,’ which he’d read in fourth grade. They were not going to suffer the terrible fate of Jack London’s character.

His trembling hands got a match lit and when the pine needles caught, it was the most glorious flash of light Sam had ever seen. It swept through the collection of kindling, and slowly he added more and more sticks and eventually a few logs. They hissed and sizzled, wet from the snow, but they still burned.

He got Bobby out of the tent and sat him in front of the fire. Filling his water bottle with snow, Sam set it close enough to the heat to melt the contents. Then he offered it to Bobby, who welcomed the drink. Sam took a few swigs, too. Slowly the warmth spread to their faces and hands. Bobby wriggled his fingers in front of the flames, then winced when his wrist gave him grief.

They sat in silence, drinking more water. Sam occasionally got up to find more logs. The snow cascaded down, hissing when it hit the flames. Utter quiet hung in the forest.

When he was sufficiently warmed up, Sam put up his own tent, laying his sleeping bag out, then returning to the fire.

Bobby met Sam’s eyes. “Thanks for back there.”

“No problem.”

“Kind of lost my mind.”

“It was the cold.”

“Yeah.”

They subsided into silence again, the only noise the occasional growl of Sam’s empty stomach. Neither mentioned food or how hungry they were. They both knew that as soon as it was light, they would set out again.