Surviving the Fog (14 page)

It rained lightly off and on that afternoon,
and then it stopped just as they were making camp.   Once
they were in their makeshift tent it began raining again, only now
it rained much harder.  They were thankful that there was no
lightning.  They passed the night cramped but dry.

Early the next morning, the knocking sounds
of a white headed wood pecker woke them.  They continued their
journey into the dark green forest.  At noon they stopped to
eat, and then they spread out to look for game.  Jacob had
taught them how to make snares.  By the end of the day, they
had caught four rabbits and five grouse.  They placed their
catch in doubled plastic bags and built a fire.  They roasted
two of the rabbits for dinner to save the food they had brought
with them.

Although the wet conditions made them
uncomfortable, it was fun to sit around the camp fire and talk.
 It was the usual boy talk, about animes and games they liked,
and about the various attributes, mostly physical, of girls that
they liked.  Sometimes they talked about their lost homes and
families, but this tended to depress them.  They stayed up
later than they should have, and then they crawled into their
sleeping bags when it began to rain again.

The next morning it was still raining, and no
one was much inclined to hunt.  Still, the cramped conditions
in the tent forced the restless boys to get out and look around.
 It was almost noon, and Howard was striking the tent, when
Nathan came running into the area calling, "Howard! Howard!"

"What is it?" Howard asked.

"There's a lady back there," Nathan said,
pointing to where he had been.  "I think she's dead."

Chapter Six Howard and Jean

Quickly, Howard called the rest of the boys,
and they followed Nathan through a thick patch of brush.  Ten
minutes later, they came to a clump of small redwood trees.
 In the midst of the trees, they saw a human form lying face
down on the ground.  The long reddish hair indicated that it
was, indeed, a female.

Howard kneeled next to the body and turned it
over.  As he did so, it let out a painful groan.  She was
a young woman, and Howard saw that she was wearing the uniform of a
United States Forest Ranger.  Her uniform was filthy and torn,
and there was a smell about the Ranger that suggested she had not
bathed in a long time, or else she was sick.

One of the redwoods had a partially hollow
area at its base.  The boys carefully moved the young woman
into the hollow so that she was out of the rain.  There was
room for one other person in the hollow, so Howard crept into the
space.  He stared at her helplessly, not knowing what to
do.

He said to Ahmad, "Give me your canteen."

Ahmad handed the metal container to Howard.
 Carefully, Howard pressed the canteen to the woman’s lips,
and he let a few drops spill into her mouth to see what would
happen.  Seconds later she coughed, swallowed, and then tried
to raise her head toward the canteen.  Howard tipped the
canteen a little more, and she began to drink thirstily.  She
took several swallows, and then she lay back.  Her eyes opened
for an unfocused moment, and then they closed.  She fell
asleep.  Howard shook her, forcing her to wake up.  He
made her drink some more water, and then he allowed her to lie back
and sleep.

"What are we going to do with her?" Ahmad
asked anxiously.

Howard thought for a moment, and then said,
"You three go back to camp.  Tell Mike what happened.
 I'm sure he'll send someone to help.  I'm going to stay
with her.  Leave me all the food.  Eat the other rabbits
tonight.  Try to hurry tomorrow, but be careful.  Nathan,
Kevin, I'm putting Ahmad in charge."

"He is in charge?" Nathan questioned Howard,
giving Ahmad a dubious glance.  Kevin grimaced.

Howard's eyes flashed.  "Ahmad is a
Spear," he said fiercely.  "If you guys give him any trouble,
Mike's gonna kick your asses, and you'll never get to go anywhere
again."

"Hey, just kidding, Howard," Nathan answered
hastily.  "We know the rules."  Kevin nodded.

"Better get moving, Ahmad," Howard said.
 "Good luck."

"You too," replied Ahmad.  "And don't
worry about Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb.  If they give me any
trouble, I’ll blow them up with a flashlight.  Just kidding,"
he said to the startled twins.  He and the twins quickly
vanished back the way they had come.

When they got back to their gear, Ahmad
changed the plan slightly.  "I'm going to take some food,
water, and two sleeping bags back to Howard," he explained.
 "You guys are going to have to share a bag tonight."

"All right," the twins said.  Ahmad
hurried back to Howard.

“I brought you two sleeping bags," Ahmad
explained, "Yours and Kevin’s.  He and Nathan can share for
one night."

"Thanks, man," Howard said gratefully.
 He had not thought of that.  Ahmad left the food and
water and disappeared through the brush.

Howard turned to the woman.  She was
asleep, and she seemed to be breathing normally.  He wondered
if she was just extremely fatigued.  She was thoroughly soaked
from the rain.  There was not enough room to make a fire in
their shelter, and it was raining again outside.  He decided
to put her in one of the sleeping bags.

Howard unzipped a sleeping bag, and he
positioned it by her feet.  He removed her shoes and socks.
 He started to tug the sleeping bag over her legs, but then he
stopped.  Her pants were soaked.  Should he remove her
pants?  He quailed at the thought.

You have to do
it
, he told himself sternly.
 
You can't put her in the bag while
she's wet.
 He felt his heart start to
pound as he unbuckled her belt.  He hesitated, and then he
pulled her pants down.  Trying to avoid looking at her, he
carefully lifted her feet one by one, and pulled off her pants.
 Next, he unbuttoned her shirt and awkwardly pulled her arms
out of the sleeves.  He wondered if she would suddenly awaken
and beat the crap out of him.  Finally, he had her shirt
removed.  She was soaked to the skin.

Now he faced a terrible
dilemma.  Should he remove her underwear?
 
I can't do it,
he thought.  
It's not right.
 She will kill me, or Mike will hang me
.  
Still, maybe he should.
 If only it were dark
.  He looked
outside.  It would be hours before darkness set in.  He
needed to get her warm and dry.

He argued with himself for
minutes, before he thought
what if it was
me
?  
Would I
want her to take off my briefs
?

He finally decided that if their positions
were reversed, he would want her to get him dry, however she did
it. So, he shut his eyes and removed her underwear.  He had to
open them for one minute, as he studied how to unclasp her bra.
 Then with his eyes still shut, he hastily pulled the bag up
over her legs.  Then he lifted her using one arm under her
back, and he pulled the bag over her hips.  Eventually, he got
her all the way into the sleeping bag, so that it was up to her
neck.

Howard felt exhausted.
 He thought he had never worked so hard in his life.  He
took off his clothes, climbed into the other bag, and he slept.
 When he woke, the sun was low in the sky.  It had
stopped raining.  He got out of the bag, and he put on his
damp clothes.  
Note to
Mike
, he thought,
always take an extra set of clothes on these trips.

Howard crawled out of the tree and stood.
 He stretched and walked around for a few minutes.  Then
it began to rain again, and he crawled back into the shelter.

The woman began to make waking noises.
 As he watched, her eyes fluttered open.  She seemed
dazed.  Howard took a piece of bread and held it to her lips.
 She bit into the bread and then weakly tried to lunge forward
for a larger bite.  He had brought a thermos of powdered drink
which he helped her to drink.  That was all the energy she
could muster.  She lay back and fell asleep again.

The sun went down, and it got cold.
 Howard shivered even after he was in his sleeping bag.
 He thought that it was the coldest night of the season, yet.
 He used his flashlight to check on the woman.  She was
shivering, too.  Howard thought about climbing into the bag
with her, but there was not enough room for the two of them.
 It was difficult, but he managed to unzip both bags and then
zip them together.  He was probably already in a lot of
trouble anyway, he decided, so he took off his damp clothes except
for his briefs, and he got into the combined bags.  He lay
there next to her for a few minutes, but she did not stop
shivering.  Now thoroughly alarmed, he pulled her into his
arms and held her.  Soon, she stopped shaking, and Howard felt
her relax.  Once, she sighed in her sleep.  Gradually,
his eyes closed.  He slept, woke up, and then fell asleep
again.

When he awoke, there was a dim light in the
sky.  He was still holding the woman.  Trying to be
quiet, he crept out of the bag.  He looked out of their
shelter.  It was still very cold, but he crawled out, so he
could stand and stretch for a minute.  His body was sore, and
he felt very tired.  He crawled back inside the tree trunk.
 He looked at the woman and froze.  Her eyes were open,
and she was staring at him.

"Who are you?" Her voice was
as icy as he felt.  
Another red
head
, she noted,
seeing his long hair
.

"I'm Howard."

"I'm naked," she said indignantly.

"I'm really, really sorry about that," Howard
answered hastily.  "You were really wet.  I mean really,
really soaked.  So I thought that I should..."  He
trailed off.

"You thought that you should take my clothes
off.  Wasn't that nice of you?"  She scowled at him.

"I'm sorry.  I thought that was what I
should do."

"Where are they?"

"What?"

"My clothes!"

"Uh, look over here.  See?  I got a
stick, and I hung them on the stick, and I leaned it inside this
tree.  I was hoping they would dry.  But they
didn't."

"And my underwear?"

"I put them in your pockets."

Howard could see that she was thinking over
his words.

"Are there any others with you?”  Her
suspicion was like a shield.

"Not now.  I sent the others back to our
camp to tell the Chief that we found you.  I'm sure he will
send help.  You looked kind of sick, so I stayed with
you."

"Hmm..."  She continued to stare at
him.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.  "I have
some food.  What's your name?"

She seemed to relax slightly.  "I'm
Jean.  And yes, I’m very hungry."  Howard gave her a
sandwich, an apple, and a can of tiny wieners.  She ate them
ravenously, and then she drank a bottle of water.

"I've got more," said Howard.  "But
maybe you should wait for a little while before you eat again.
 Do you have any food?"

"No, I haven’t eaten for three days now, I
think.  I managed to get water.  Where did you find me?"
Jean asked.

"Right here, outside this tree.  I
didn't want to move you, so we put you in here.  Then I sent
the other three for help."

"How soon will they be back?" she asked.

"They’ll get back to our camp late today.
 I imagine the Chief will send someone tomorrow.  They
should be here the day after tomorrow."

Time enough to obtain some
information
, Jean thought.
 
There is time enough to decide
whether or not I should get the hell away from here. If he is not
lying to me about the time it will take them.

"Tell me about your camp," Jean said.

So Howard talked about the camp.  He
told her about the Lodge that they were building.  He kept
mentioning someone he called, ‘the Chief,’ which she took to be the
man in charge.

At one point, she heard Howard mutter, "I
hope he doesn't hang me for this."  Her heart raced when she
heard that.  She feared the worst.

"You don't mean that, do you?" she asked.
 "He wouldn't really hang you, would he?  I mean, it's
not like he has actually hanged someone, has he?"

Howard looked at her.  "Yes," he replied
seriously.  "He did hang a man.  And I helped him.
 But the man killed two of our people, and he raped two of our
girls.  But no, I know he won't hang me.  He might be
pissed at me though."

Damn it
, thought Jean.  
What have I got
myself into?
 "What will he do to
you?" she asked.

"I don't know," Howard said darkly.
 "Maybe have the Spears smack me around some.  Serves me
right, I guess, for taking off your clothes."

Jean was bemused to hear this.  "He
might have you smacked around for taking off my clothes?" she
asked.

"Maybe.  He's got pretty strict rules
where girls are concerned."

"Is he the only one who decides what happens
in your camp, or does the majority rule?"

"Oh, he's in charge.  There's no doubt
about that.  But he usually asks other people for their
opinion.  He's got, like, a Council of people that he always
asks.  I'm on it.  Most of us are the Spears.  We
vote on lots of things.  And our girlfriends get to vote
usually.  And a couple of girls are on the Council, too,"
Howard related.

"So your girlfriend gets a vote because she's
your girlfriend," Jean stated.

"That's right.  Not
that I have a girlfriend," Howard added.  
And I'll probably never have one after this,
he thought gloomily.