Tohbi Ohoyo

Survival

The wind battered the only shelter Kaitlyn had. Water dripped onto the shivering girl, but the makeshift roof had kept the majority of the rain off of her. Sunny had found a place very near by to rest underneath a thick tree canopy. Kaitlyn pulled the damp blanket further around her, and made sure her feet were up off of the floor, and on the saddle.

One thing Kaitlyn had forgotten in her time of rush, was to lay down pine straw inside the shelter. The floor of her hut was muddy, and with every drop of rain coming through the roof, it just became more wet and mushy. At least the pine needles would have kept the mud down.
Kaitlyn sighed, and leaned forward, her head on her knees, and tried to find sleep. She sat there for hours.

Her mind kept running through her plan. She knew that she needed to find civilization quickly, because she could not live off of a small portion of bread and salted pork for much longer. Soon berries would be ripe, but that was still another good three or four weeks from then. Kaitlyn did not know what she could eat and what she could not. It was going to be tough, but she would make it.

She could spear hunt or fish. If she tied the end of her fathers knife to a long sturdy pole, she could catch fish in the river.

Kaitlyn was confident in her ability to keep shelter and food, but when it came to protection from animals, and even the cold, she was not so sure.

This was a new situation for her, and she had to learn quick, or die trying.
The rain had eventually died down into a drizzle, and Kaitlyn exited her small hut to look for Sunny in the last rays of the freshly emerging sun.

When the horse was located, Kaitlyn took a rope from the saddle bag and tied Sunny to a tree nearby, so that she could reach grass, shade, and the river when the sun rose the following morning.

Kaitlyn gathered sticks and found flint. When she found wood dry enough, she would start a fire to keep the early spring chilliness away.

Kaitlyn tore down wet pine needles and lay them in the floor of her hut. Soon, she had enough to provide some cusion for sleeping. The runaway placed her head on the saddle seat, covered her body with the damp blanket, and drifted to sleep.