THE PASSAGE

THE HUNT

Chapter 38

I quietly make my way down the trail towards the creek. When I get near the edge of the woods, I find a downed log and decide it's an excellent spot to sit and wait. From here, I should have a good shot. I aim the rifle towards the end of the animal trail, steady the barrel on a small sapling for support and look through the scope, ensuring I will have a clear shot later. I had observed previously that those deer stop and look for danger before proceeding to the creek. I will try to get a shot on one when they stop.

I sit quietly, as Toby instructed, and keep looking up the hill for any signs of movement. The sun is just starting to peek over the horizon. I watch a fox squirrel eating a nut in a nearby tree, fragments of discarded shell falling to the ground. In the tree above me, a bird lands, greeting me with a morning song.

After about thirty minutes with no sign of deer yet, I get hungry and eat the beef jerky that I packed. As I eat, my mind drifts to thinking about all this change my life has taken in such a short time. Crazy is what it is, just plain crazy. Only a few days ago, I was a communist in Brooklyn. Now I'm sitting on a log, hunting my own food, and I don't even know where I am. Crazy. I'm a nursing mother now. Crazy, crazy. And to think that there's a whole other world out there, Solstice's world, with people in it whose lives mirror our own. And this is only the beginning, according to Solstice. The four of us are probably here for the rest of our lives. I'll never see Brooklyn again, my parents, and my siblings. Word is probably out by now that I'm missing. The police may even want me for murder.

My thoughts stop when I spot movement up on the hill, and I get ready. I see the first one descends, then the second, then three more, and then the one trailing behind. The position where I am sitting is about forty yards away from where I'm hoping they will stop briefly. I stay frozen and imagine myself invisible as I watch them walk down in a single file, trying hard to ignore how cute they are, reminding myself that we need the food or we'll starve. Just as I suspected, as soon as they get to the edge of the woods, they stop and observe their surroundings. I take a shot on my best target and drop him.

Minutes later, I'm still hovering over the dead deer, trying to decide if I should go and get Solstice now or attempt to field-dress him myself. I grab the knife out of the backpack and decide to attempt it, and then I see Solstice walking in my direction.

She stops near me and looks between the downed deer and me. "Jamie, you did very well. I was already planning a stew."

"Yes, but now comes the hard part."

"It's not that hard. I'll show you." She reaches into the backpack and pulls out the hatchet. "You need to learn anyway. I wanted to tell you that Toby and I got that door open on the back of the cabin. Well, he told me what to do, and I did it. Guess what we found inside?"

"I have no idea. What?"

"Two bows with quivers of arrows, two axes, a shovel, a hatchet, a pick, two buckets, and other hand tools. Toby and I think they are probably prospector's tools."

"Prospector's tools? That's odd. Do you think they were able to come here for the purpose of prospecting?"

"No, I don't think so. I think the same thing that happened to us must have happened to them. Those tools explain how they were able to build the cabin. And guess what else we discovered?"

"What?"

"They dug out a small cellar down there, probably to keep food. I jumped down in it, and it feels cool enough to keep meat for a while."

"Solstice, that's good news. I was wondering how we were going to keep the leftover meat from spoiling during the day. And the bows are excellent news. At some point, we are going to run out of bullets if we are here long enough. Are they functional?"

"Toby says the strings on both show age and wear, but he thinks he can repair them later."

"That's wonderful. Ammo doesn't last forever."

"You see," she says, "things will work out for us here. We'll adapt."

Would we? Sure, we could probably survive, but surviving and adapting are two different things. We'll just have to wait and see how things go.

Solstice and I manage to gut and skin the small deer and cut off a hind quarter for a stew today, and I manage not to throw up. On the way back to the cabin, Solstice points out several patches of wild onions, then shows me a couple of trees that produce that nut similar to pecan, like the one I saw recently. She says that she will cook for us if I will dig up some onions and pick some nuts, and I gladly agree.

We get back to the cabin to find both Toby and Cain asleep, with Cain cradled in the crook of Toby's arm.

"Aw, look, Solstice, don't they look so cute like that?"

"Yes, I think that they have taken a liking to each other. Toby has not let Cain go since you left. I think that they are both exhausted."

After Solstice shows me the storage room, we wrap the leftover meat in one of the tarps, then put it in the cellar. I go out in search of onions and nuts, leaving Solstice to start cooking. Once I think that I have collected enough of each, I go to a spot I noticed earlier that appears to be a good spot for cracking nuts. It is a large boulder with a smaller rock lying on top of it. I wonder if the previous occupants had used this spot to crack nuts also.

The nuts crack and peel easily, much more so than a traditional pecan. When I finish peeling the ones I picked, I decide I don't have enough because I had already eaten a good portion of what I had peeled, so I gather more. When I finish cracking and peeling the second batch, I walk back towards the cabin. When I get there, I see that Solstice is already browning the meat in the cast iron pot, and it smells delicious.

Solstice instructs me to cut up the green onions and also the nuts. I do as she says, and then she stirs them into the pot with the meat. After a while, she adds water and puts the lid on the pot. We try to be as quiet as possible so that Toby can get some rest. So far, we haven't woken him or Cain.

"Solstice, how long before that's cooked?"

"Probably a couple of hours."

"Good grief, I'm starving."

"I was thinking that while this is simmering, we could go to the creek and bathe. I have noticed that the water in the creek is always warm. I also need to wash out my dress."

I look at Toby and Cain and conclude that they will be okay. Toby seems strong enough now to handle Cain. I'm sure we won't be gone very long.

I nod at Solstice, then stuff two towels from Dubois' camp in the backpack and sling the rifle over my shoulder for protection. And then I remember the can of shaving cream. We can use that as soap, so I grab that too.

"Okay, let's go."