Page 40 of Fourth Point Of Contact

“Making a pot for us.”

“Out of bark?”

Grinning, I bent the bark enough to make a pouch, then went in search of some twigs. “We’re going to boil water.”

“In bark.”

“Yep. It’s a thing. Didn’t you ever learn about this?”

She shook her head slowly, watching as I cut small slices in the ends of the twigs to make clothespins out of them. Then I tucked the sticks over the ends of the birch, keeping them together and forming a pouch.

“See?”

“That is so cool.” Her eyes twinkled as she stared at the contraption. “So, we just pour water in there and drink it?”

“No, we’re going to boil it so it kills the bacteria. Technically, I could make a filter also, but I don’t want to impress you too much.”

“At this point, I’ll take water that doesn’t make me shit myself.”

“Well, we don’t have any garbage cans around here for you to shove it into,” I noted, earning me a smack to the arm.

“Just get me some water.”

“And food,” I added. “We’ve already been walking for a while. I have no fucking clue when we’ll come across civilization.”

She shot me a curious look. “Aren’t men supposed to say they know exactly where we are and how long it’ll take to get to our destination?”

“If we were in the city, sure. But we’re in the middle of the Catskill Mountains. You’d know I was lying if I said that.”

I found a relatively clear area and started building a fire. The sooner I got this water boiling, the sooner we’d feel better. “Alright,” I said as I got the fire going. “I’m gonna grab the water now.”

Heading back over to the stream, I took directly from the trickle of water falling from the rocks and filled the pouch. Then I set up some sticks to act as a holder for the pouch and balanced it over the fire.

“Keep an eye on this. I’m gonna see if I can find a rabbit.”

Her nose twitched in disgust, forming a cute little wrinkle between her eyes. “Rabbit?”

“It’s like chicken,” I reassured her. That’s what everyone said about wild animals, so I figured it worked for this as well.

“And what am I supposed to do?”

“Make sure the fire doesn’t spread.”

I got up to leave when she stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Hey, you know, don’t take too long.”

“Scared?” I smirked.

“Well, I’m not exactly a country girl.”

“Noted. I won’t take too long, but I do need to look for the guys.”

“Okay. I’ll be here.” Her smile was forced, but she didn’t complain.

“Hey, I’ll get us out of here. I promise.”

“People get lost in the mountains all the time.”

“Not all the time,” I reassured her. “Besides, I have a fancy tracker in my arm that lets my guys know where I am. They’ll find us before we starve to death.”

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