Page 19 of Green Ravens

He accepted the small chunk of meat he was offered but waited until Oakley took a bite.

Sawyer rolled his eyes when Oakley made no expression to indicate if it tasted good or gross.

“How’s it taste?”

“Like chicken,” Oakley grumbled indifferently.

Sawyer put his piece to his nose first, but all he could smell was burned wood. At least it wasn’t pungent. His stomach clenched at the thought of his first bite, but he closed his eyes and sank his teeth into the meat.

Under the char, the meat was tough, like jerky, and had a weird, nutty-fishy flavor.

“I haven’t been in the brush that fuckin’ long to have forgotten the taste of chicken, Oakley.”

Sawyer tried to chew as little as possible and hurried to swallow, not letting the snake linger on his taste buds.

“This is at least forty grams of protein. We’re lucky because we’re gonna need it.”

He knew that was right.

“I’m not complaining. I’m just letting you know that your description is way off.”

“Noted.” Oakley smirked, then took another healthy bite, smacking and chewing happily as if it were filet mignon.

Once he’d stomached all he could, he waited for Oakley to smother the fire. Apparently, there was no time to allow their food to digest because Oakley pulled out his compass.

He walked as though he knew exactly where they were going. But all Sawyer could see was an endless stretch of trees, vines, and bushes.

Periodically, Oakley would collect a few leaves from certain plants and stuff them in his pockets.

When he asked what they were, all the chief would say was, “They’re necessary.”

Maybe they were souvenirs.

To be honest, he didn’t give a fuck.

Sawyer was exhausted. He was thirsty, and his feet hurt almost as much as his face and neck. It took every ounce of strength he had to not ask Oakley for a break.

These boots werenotmade for walking, well actually they were…but they no longer felt like it.

Sawyer gave a big, hairy spider a wide berth until he saw it was hovering over a bush full of berries that looked like little tomatoes.

He loved tomatoes.

“Wait, Oakley.” Sawyer was swatting away the scary arachnid with his swatter, “I want some of these tomatoes.”

“No! Stop!” Oakley grabbed his wrist a second before he could pick the first one.

“Jesus.” Sawyer jerked like he’d been backhanded. “What?”

“Did it dawn on you that I may have passed those berries for a reason, Sawyer?”

“I thought maybe you didn’t see them.”

“I know they look like tomatoes, but they’re not. They’re very poisonous, and there’s not exactly a poison control center out here or a stomach pump. For fuck’s sake, man. If I don’t touch it, you don’t fuckin’ touch it.”

Oakley began to walk away, taking hard steps as if he were beyond angry.

Sawyer caught up to Oakley, clutched his shoulder, and spun him. He got in his face, almost close enough for their noses to touch.

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