Stranded

Chapter 6 : Dinner

Chapter 6

Later...   

Riker POV

"Rik, wake up."

"Hmmm?"

"Wake up. I have dinner."

I grabbed my glasses and put them on. Ross was sitting near the fire and he had another fish.

"How are you feeling?" Ross asked.

"Not good."

"Still your stomach?"

"Mhmmm... I had to go to the bathroom again. I just feel really weak and shaky now. And my stomach still hurts."

"Well how about you try some fish and see if that helps?"

I crawled out of my sleeping bag and sat down next to Ross by the fire. He cut the head off the fish and started cooking it over the fire.

"Drink some more water," he said, handing me my bottle of water.

"You filtered it?"

"Yup."

I unscrewed the cap and drank some water. 

"I don't know what I would do without you right now," I mumbled.

"Riker, I'm just doing what you'd be doing for me if I didn't feel good."

"I know. But I don't know how I'd get through this without you."

Ross put his arm around me. I leaned my head against his shoulder, feeling really tired.

"Why hasn't anyone come to rescue us?" I asked.

"I don't know. I was thinking about that while I was fishing. Dad knows we were supposed to arrive yesterday. I mean, he was supposed to pick us up from the airport. So he has to know something's wrong. He'll figure something out, Riker."

I sighed. I'm just feeling really miserable right now.

"It's ok. I caught a fish. We're going to have dinner tonight. And we have water. And fire. Just relax. I'm taking care of you, ok?"

"Thanks."

I shivered a little. It's starting to get cold out again because the sun is starting to go down.

"Get closer to the fire," Ross said.

I scooched closer to the fire so I could warm up a little more.

"Hold this for a sec," Ross said, handing me the stick with the fish on it.

I held it while he went inside the tent. I was curious what he was doing. He came back out with the first aid kit.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to see if there's any medicine in here you can take for your stomach."

Ross started digging through it.

"How about Pepto?" He asked, handing me the bottle.

I gave him the stick back.

"Thanks, Ross."

"You're welcome. Hopefully it makes you feel better."

Ross finished cooking the fish and then cut it in half for us.

"Are you still scared to be out here?" Ross asked.

"Well... I mean, I'm scared we'll see a grizzly bear or moose. I don't know what to do if we see one. But I'm a bit calmer than I was yesterday because we have a tent, sleeping bags, a fire, a water filter, and a way to get food. So I know we're not going to die from the cold, lack of food, or lack of water."

"Good. You seem calmer."

"You do too."

"I think I surprised myself because I was scared we wouldn't be able to catch fish with just fishing line and lures in that stream. And then what would we do for food? So I guess I'm just surprised I was able to catch fish. And I'm surprised we're doing so well."

"You think we're doing well?"

"I mean, you said it yourself. We have a tent, sleeping bags, fire, water, and food. You might be a little sick from the water, but I think you're doing better. And neither of us have freaked out yet. I mean, we had a fight yesterday, but I think that was just because we were really tired and didn't have a lot of patience."

"I'm glad we have each other."

"Me too."

Ross hugged me super tight.

"We can do this, Riker. I don't know when they're going to rescue us, but we can survive until they do."

"I just hope it's soon because this is miserable."

I picked up my half of the fish and started eating it. It was really annoying to have to pick out the bones. But I was just happy to have food. 

Ross put some more sticks on the fire and then we got in the tent because it was getting really dark out. We got in our sleeping bags because it was getting really cold too.

"So what should we do tomorrow? Just keep filtering water and trying to catch fish?" Ross asked.

"And get fire wood."

"Yeah, I had an idea for that. We need like a million sticks because they burn up so fast. We have the axe that came in the emergency kit. We could try chopping down some small trees so we had some bigger pieces of wood that would last longer than just sticks. I mean, what else are we going to do all day?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. I think our first priority should be fish though. We need food."

"I agree. Or maybe I could fish while you chop some wood."

"Yeah, we could do that... I hate how scary it gets at night."

"Come closer."

I moved closer to Ross.

"I'm kind of scared too. But we have the fire. Animals don't like fire. We should be ok. And if either of us wakes up in the middle of the night, we should put more sticks on to keep it going."

"Ok. Sounds like a plan."

"Are you going to sleep now?"

"I'm really tired, Ross."

"Ok. Wake me up if you need me, ok?"

"Ok. Same for you."

"Ok. Thanks. Night, Riker."

"Night."