“We’re low on water. I was going to go get some, and check on the traps.”
“You look tired. Why don’t I go?”
Mandy shook her head. “You stay here and keep an eye on your sister and mom.”
“You sure?”
Mandy nodded. “I need to walk a little. Clear my head, and all that.”
James didn’t say anything for a moment. This was the way conversations had been going—slowly. The four of them really hadn’t talked much in the last few days. Short and brief conversations were the norm. They were too exhausted and hungry to chat. And they were worried about what would come next.
Mandy hadn’t eaten much, but she tried to ignore the pains in her stomach.
“You going to get the water first?”
“I’ll check the traps first, then come back for the water.”
They still had water in their water bottles. What they needed was food.
“You have the gun?”
James nodded.
They had two handguns with ammo. Max had taken his Glock with him, and the ammo had been stolen from all of Georgia’s hunting rifles. There wasn’t much ammo left, but so far they hadn’t had to fire a single shot.
Hopefully it stayed that way.
Mandy gave James a nod as she set off into the woods. She didn’t have much with her. Just her clothes, her gun, and her knife.
It’d be better, of course, to have more with her. A fire starter, a compass. Definitely a water bottle.
But the reality of the situation was that if something happened to Mandy while she was gone, then James, Sadie, and Georgia would be out of luck. They didn’t have duplicates of their essential gear, so if the one fire starter they had was lost, that was it for the rest of them.
Mandy walked in the opposite direction from the road, heading deeper into the woods.
Many of the leaves had started changing. Some of the trees were already bare. It was always a quick process, the changing. Mandy remembered that before the EMP, she’d gone through many autumns without even noticing the change.
But now, she was more connected to nature than she’d ever been. Mandy still didn’t feel at home in the woods. She felt out of her element, but she also felt safer here, with no one around, than she would have anywhere else.
Mandy’s thoughts turned to Max as she walked. What would he be eating? Would he even make it there with the injuries to his leg?
Up ahead, Mandy recognized a mark that Max had cut into the bark of one of the trees, indicating that a trap was nearby. Max had set them up. They’d caught nothing since he’d left.
But today was Mandy’s lucky day. Up ahead, she saw that the stone that’d been propped up had fallen. Of course, it was possible there was nothing inside, and that it had fallen by accident.
Mandy put her ear to the stone, and heard the unmistakable sounds of a small animal in the pit. It could probably smell her, and certainly hear her, and it sounded as if the animal was thrashing around, while squealing. Probably a squirrel.
As far as Mandy was concerned, it wasn’t a great trap. Sure, it had worked, and she’d take what she could get as far as good went. But Mandy’s problem was that the trap hadn’t actually killed the animal. She’d have to do that herself.
Mandy looked around and selected a fist-sized stone that had some weight to it. She tossed it in her hand, getting used to the weight.
She crouched down, holding the stone up in the air, ready to strike the squirrel as soon as she lifted the stone that had trapped it in the pit.
Mandy’s face was grim and serious before she suddenly broke into laughter. She hadn’t laughed in a long time, and it felt strange.
Before the EMP, she never would have believed that one day she’d be in the forest, so hungry that she was ready to bash a squirrel with a rock.
Mandy used to be the type of person who practically had a panic attack if she thought she’d run over an animal. She’d look sadly at dead animals on the road. She’d never had a dog or a cat of her own, but she’d wanted one.
And now she was about to smash an animal with a rock.
The laugher faded, and the grim determination returned to her face.
Mandy lifted the rock as quickly as she could.
Sure enough, it was a squirrel.
Maybe Mandy imagined it, but she thought she saw terror in the squirrel. It froze.
Mandy struck, her arm moving down as fast as she possibly could.
She hit the squirrel in the head, crushing its small skull.
Mandy had been lucky. She could have easily missed it.
But now she’d done it, and now she had to deal with the aftermath.
Her aim had been good. She hadn’t mashed much of the body. To her own surprise, Mandy didn’t feel squeamish about the squirrel brains, which were completely visible now. She was too hungry to be squeamish.
Mandy scooped up the squirrel, making sure not to let any of the skull’s innards spill out. They were edible, after all.
Mandy put the squirrel in the pocket of the oversized button down shirt she wore. It’d been one of Georgia’s, since Mandy hadn’t actually owned much practical clothing before the EMP, and she certainly hadn’t thought to take warmer clothes with her when Max had burst into her apartment and saved her life.
Mandy checked the other traps before heading back to camp, but there was nothing.
“Any luck?” said James, coming up to her as she approached camp.
Mandy pulled the squirrel out of her pocket to show him. His face lit up. “Looks like we’re eating good today.”
“Don’t get too excited. There isn’t that much meat, and your mom’s going to get most of it.”
“I know, trust me.”
“How’s she doing?”
“About the same. She woke up, but she’s asleep again.”
“That’s good. She’s got to rest.”
“She’s sleeping a lot, though.”
“You worried?”
“Of course I’m worried.”
“She’ll pull through. She’s a strong woman. As tough as they come.”
James nodded. “Trust me, I know. But our situation isn’t getting any better. I thought Max would have been back by now.”
“Me too,” was all Mandy said. “Come on, you can help me with this squirrel. Maybe we can make a soup out of it.”
“Why a soup?”
“Half the protein in an animal is in the form of collagen. All those ligaments and things will turn into gelatin if we boil them in water, but they’d be hard to eat on their own. And there are minerals in the bones that will leach into the soup.”
James nodded.
“The only problem is I don’t have any idea what I’m doing. I’ve never skinned a squirrel before.”
“Here, give it to me. Couldn’t be much different from a deer, right?”
It turned out that skinning a squirrel was quite a bit different from a deer. For one thing, it was much smaller, and the knife work had to be more delicate and careful.
Mandy watched as James used her Mora knife to do the best he could.
Sadie came over, looking worn out and sleepy. Her hair was a mess. She’d given up trying to keep it tidy and combed. She nodded at them.
Mandy half expected Sadie to say the squirrel with the mashed skull was gross, but instead she said nothing at all.
“How’s your mom doing?”
Except for sleeping, Sadie had barely left Georgia’s side. She was the one who was always there for her, and Mandy had had to tell her that she couldn’t sleep in the Bronco with her mom because there wasn’t enough room for Georgia to stretch out properly.
Sadie shrugged. “She’s asleep again.”
“I’m going to go see how she’s doing. Maybe she’s awake and needs something,” said Mandy.
James was concentrating hard on the squirrel, and Sadie was too sullen to respond.
As Mandy peered into the Bronco, it was clear that Georgia wasn’t asleep. Mandy opened the door.