NOVEL NEXT 2.3 Camping
We had been walking for almost an hour and hadn’t seen much in the way of civilization. I was starting to wonder if we were going the wrong way. We did our best to follow the map, but in an age of technology, it was so much easier to use GPS. It wasn’t that I never wanted to use a map. We just never really needed one.
As we walked, I switched between watching where we were going and looking at Taylor. I felt terrible for her. I remember her telling me one time that she had never been camping, so this was a new experience for her. It didn’t pay off being pampered as a child. I could never understand why being rich meant missing out on things that were great bonding experiences.
The sun was starting to go down as we continued. Soon there wouldn’t be enough light to see where we were going. We needed to make a camp of some sort. I found a spot just off the path that looked like an excellent place to sleep for the night. We didn’t have any camping gear, so we would have to sleep on the ground and hope that it didn’t get cold tonight.
“Hey, I know that we need to find this girl, or at least that guy and Maddison, but it won’t be good to try and walk in the dark,” I said. Taylor stopped and looked at me. I could see the worry in her eyes.
“But where are we going to sleep, Angel? It isn’t like there is a hotel around here,” she said. I could hear the panic in her voice, but nothing could be done about the situation.
“I am sorry, love, but we are going to have to sleep on the ground. There isn’t much we can do about that. I can try to find some wood to make a fire so that maybe we won’t be cold, but that’s about all we have,” I said. She looked around as if she was looking for something or someone. I didn’t need to read her mind to know what she was worried about. She was worried that someone would come to mess with us in our sleep.
“What if…” she started, but I placed my finger against her lips.
“We should be fine here, love. And besides, it isn’t like we can’t defend ourselves. I am pretty sure that this world isn’t like ours back home. We should be fine for the night.” I reassured her. Reluctantly, she nodded.
“I will go get some wood and stone. Why don’t you try to clear the area of sticks? Then see if you can gather as much dead leaves as possible. It won’t be like laying in a bed, but it will be more comfortable than just laying on the hard ground,” I said.
“Alright, but please be careful, and don’t be gone long. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you again,” Taylor said. I kissed her cheek and then headed into the woods a bit to look for decent-sized sticks and logs. I could use one of my feathers to cut the logs down, though it would take a while. What I wouldn’t give for an ax or hatchet.
As I walked through the woods collecting sticks, I could hear running water. It was either a creek or a small river. I followed the sound until I came to an opening in the woods. It was a river. I watched as the water calmly flowed. At least we would have water for drinking and perhaps be able to bathe tomorrow. I hated the idea of a cold bath, but beggars can’t be choosers.
When I got back to the site, I looked like Taylor had set up some logs that she found to be makeshift seats. At least we didn’t have to go straight to bed. I placed the stones I had gathered in a circle then placed the wood. I was fortunate enough to have dad teach me how to start a fire in the woods when you don’t have matches. I took some of the leaves that Taylor had gathered and put them under the wood, then picked up the two flint stones I had gathered and struck them together as sparks flew. It took a few times to get the leaves to catch, but soon we had a fire.
“That was amazing. I heard about people starting fires without any traditional means but never saw it in person,” Taylor said, amazed at what I had done. Sometimes I wondered how she could be so smart but know so little about certain things. If we ever got back home, I wanted to punch her parents in the face.
“I found a river, not that far from here. We can wash up in the morning. It will be cold, but we will be clean,” I said. Taylor looked at me with excitement.
“You found a river, that’s awesome. I am not too keen on having to take a cold bath, but I don’t want to walk around all dirty either,” Taylor said as she watched the fire. As we sat there, hunger hit me. We had been walking all day and hadn’t really had anything to eat since that tavern in the village we left. There was still a little bit of daylight left, and we would need to eat.
“Tay, I am going to have to go hunting. We need to eat, and neither one of us have anything that we can eat,” I said. She looked at me and blinked. She looked surprised. “What, I’ve been hunting with dad. Remember, I wasn’t always a girl.” I said.
“It’s not that. And by the way, I know girls who go hunting, so let’s not be stereotypical. I’m surprised you called me Tay. No one had ever called me that before,” Taylor said as she shook her head.
“I’m sorry if that was the wrong thing to call you. I was just in the middle of the thought,” I said. I hoped that Taylor wasn’t upset with me. It was an honest mistake.
“No, I’m not upset. It was just surprising,” Taylor said as she played with her tail. It was so cute when she did that. You’d swear she was addicted to touching it like it was her way of knowing that it was real. Looking down at my own tail, I smiled. I may not have wanted this change in the beginning, but something about it just felt right. I wondered if it was the influence of the goddess that lived inside me or my own amazement. I decided that it was probably a mixture of both.
I headed back into the woods, hoping that I could find something that would at least sate our hunger to get through the night. It was quiet. You could hear the occasional bird in the trees, but I wasn’t hunting for a bird. Unless I found a turkey or a duck, hunting for a bird was pointless. There wouldn’t be enough meat on them to really feed anyone.
The sun was almost down, and I hadn’t really seen much wildlife activity. Annoyed, I decided to go to the river. If there was a river, there had to be fish. When I reached the bank, I was relieved to see some fish swimming. I wasn’t huge on eating fish, but I didn’t really have a choice in this predicament. Summoning my bow, which felt weird, materialized in my hand because it was unlike in my biped wolf form. I waited until a fish got near me, then pulled back on the string. Remembering what my dad taught me about the difference in where we saw the fish and where it actually would be, I released my arrow, sticking the fish. I had to move quickly so that the current didn’t carry it away.
After impaling another fish, I headed back to camp. Taylor was resting against the log she was sitting on, probably so that she could warm up by the fire.
“I bring fish for you, my good lady,” I teased as I laid them on the other log. I didn’t want to sit in fish, but I didn’t want to lay them on the ground.
“Ironic, you bring a catgirl a fish. Are you trying to be coy?” she asked, then laughed. I guess it was kind of right on the nose. I couldn’t help but have a laugh myself.
“I didn’t really find much else, so fish is all we got. Once I clean em, I can cook em,” I said as I summoned my wings. Pulling one of the smaller feathers from my wing, I used it to clean the fish. I never really liked skinning fish, but dad always said that it was my job if I was going to catch them.
After cleaning the fish, then getting rid of the waste, I set up 2 sticks so that the fish was hanging over the fire just enough to cook. When the fish was done, we ate and talked about the experience she had while I was in the coma. I was amazed at how much she learned. And she seemed genuinely excited about all of it. It was nice to see her so happy. When we were finished with our fish, it was time to get some sleep. I stacked some more stone around the fire, then dug two small ditches, just big enough for us to lay in, and put some of the leaves in the bottom of them. We laid in our ditches and pulled the rest of the leaves over ourselves.
“Good night, my love,” Taylor said with a yawn. It was an image that never got old. I always wondered how I got so lucky to have a girl like her in my life.
“Good night, my angel,” I said. I heard her giggle then she looked at me.
“No, you’re My Angel, “ she said, referring to my name. I smiled, then closed my eyes. Hopefully, tomorrow we would be able to find some proper camping equipment, or at the very least, materials to make it. Slowly drifted out of consciousness. The last thing I heard before passing out was the sound of her purring.
