Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Jake smiled and pressed his forehead to mine. “Callie will try to eat from Adam’s plate.”
Yeah, she always did that. Didn’t matter if we served the exact same food in the exact same spots on the plates. She went after her brother’s food, just dug her fist right in there.
I laughed silently. “Sam will try to teach her right.”
She was a good big sister.
Jake gave me another squeeze and kissed my neck. “I prefer our dinners, that’s for sure.”
Me too.
“I’m gonna be fine,” he murmured. “You know how I get. I brood a little—”
“A little?” I grinned and nudged him back so I could look him in the eye.
“I’ve gotten better,” he defended. He couldn’t hide the mirth.
“You have,” I conceded. I kissed his jaw. “You’ve realized that coming to me to talk actually works.”
“Sometimes too well,” he chuckled. “You make me feel so good that I agree to dumb shit like survival trips to Alaska in the middle of winter.”
Oh, pffft. It was gonna be like a honeymoon.
“It’s just a little snow.”
“Roe! Do you remember when you said it was gonna be just a little snow?” Jake yelled over the howling wind.
“You really wanna do this now?” I shouted back over my shoulder.
The bastard was getting it all on film too, because of our dumb bodycams. I had one strapped to my beanie, and Jake had his attached to his parka.
There would be bloopers.
How did one define a complete whiteout? Because I could barely see Kyle and Logan trudging through the snow ten feet ahead of me. They were our wilderness guides, currently showing us the way to our hunting cabin. We had to walk in each other’s footsteps because the snow was so deep.
Sometimes, I had genius ideas.
This wasn’t one of them.
Holy fuck, I was freezing.
The closer we got to the cliffs, the tip of the peninsula, the shorter the trees became around us. They couldn’t stand up against the harsh winds out here.
We arrived after what felt like three hours but was probably more like forty-five minutes, and I’d never been so torn between ice-cold and blazing-hot. My legs were fucking killing me, my fingers were icicles in my mittens, my body felt sticky with sweat, and I couldn’t feel my face.
I kicked snow off my boots and followed Kyle and Logan into the cabin, which really looked as nondescript as we’d been told. A wooden cabin with a single window, a stone fireplace, and stone floor. Absolutely nothing waited for us inside, beside some dried leaves and dust. I estimated the room was about twelve by twelve feet. The logs they’d built the cabin with were thick and solid, and I was sure we’d be all right once we got a fire running, but there really was nothing else. No insulation, no second layer of anything.
I removed my beanie and my face-covering, and I could practically read Kyle’s and Logan’s minds. They thought we were crazy. They probably thought we wouldn’t make it either.
“So…this is it,” Logan said.
“Looks g-great.” My teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.
Jake came in last and closed the door, taking away most of the light. The little window next to the door wasn’t much help.
Logan flicked on his headlamp and angled it upward.
Okay, thanks.
Kyle eyed me skeptically. “Do you know how to use the flare gun?”
Right, he was immediately thinking about when we needed rescue.
“I put it in my mouth and pull the trigger,” I said.
Logan and Jake chuckled.
Whatever. I wasn’t entirely happy about coming off like a helpless city kid. I got it, I got it, Logan and Kyle did this professionally. They couldn’t be much older than Jake, maybe a couple years or so, but they exuded experience and didn’t wear brand-new clothes that’d been sponsored by a flashy brand. Kyle even wore boots that looked like they’d been handmade by Natives.
I was gonna prove myself, though. One month, let’s fucking go.
I was scrappy.
“Listen,” Logan said and removed his backpack. “We know y’all said you were gonna gather your own food and all, but it’s gonna be dark within the hour, and you’ll be busy collecting firewood.” He dug out a container and a paper bag and extended it to me. “It ain’t much, but you need to eat.”
I peered into the bag, and a delicious smell reached my nostrils. Some smoked meat?
“It’s caribou jerky,” Kyle said.
“And sandwiches.” Logan nodded at the container.
“Thank you,” Jake said with a nod. “We appreciate it.”
We’d actually brought a couple energy bars for our first night, though this certainly beat that. We’d packed insta-coffee for two cups too, and a fucking stick of butter. Because yeah, we needed fat, carbs, and protein.
Kyle and Logan went through our safety procedures once more, and we listened dutifully. We knew how to contact them in an emergency. We had a radio, we had the flare gun, we had a GPS tracker that could send a signal to them.