Wolf Camp (Bear Naked 2)

Chapter 12, part 2

This was the third day, in what should theoretically be a five-day trek. They crossed Lake Agnes over that morning. Jay napped in a ball for the first part of the morning, and then watched out the side of the canoe as the lake narrowed into an estuary and eventually a river again. At the entrance to the river, they encountered two other packs, Mitch's and Brandon's.

Mitch glared at them as they approached. Everyone in his pack looked like they were in a bad mood.

"Is something wrong?" Tanner called with a malicious cheerfulness in his voice. "It's such a wonderful day to beat the pants off you guys."

It had turned into a beautiful day. The sun was warm but not hot and there was a slight breeze.

"Half rations," Olivia muttered. "Something got into our food supply."

"Which was your job to secure," Mitch barked.

"I did, just like the book said. Whatever it was, untied the knot and lowered the food bag. It absconded with almost half our rations."

Amanda looked down. Jay had dropped flat as soon as the other came into sight and was sprawled out on the bottom of the canoe. He shrugged up at her, a glint in his eye. She could almost read his thoughts, how should I know, I am only an otter?

"Serves you right, what ever it was," one of Brandon's pack spat out.

Amanda looked at them.

"They sabotaged Jerry's packs," the female went on. "We thought they got yours, too. We were surprised as hell to see you yesterday."

"And something got into our camp the first night and made off with our matches," the guy in front of her said. "It had to be them." Amanda glanced down and Jay gave her a genuine shrug this time. They hadn't done that.

Serves them right, then.

Out loud, Amanda said, "must have been raccoons. They are clever at untying knots, you know."

Olivia's eyes narrowed, but she didn't contradict Amanda.

"They did get our packs," Connor declared loudly, "but that isn't stopping us. We are roughing it and living off the land, and you know what? We are going to win. Because that's what a real wolf pack does, we make do and find a way through any obstacle, right guys?"

The entire pack cheered.

"We will see about that," Mitch growled. "Lean on those oars, guys." They began to paddle faster and pull ahead.

Connor glanced at Jonathan. Jonathan laughed. "Let 'em go. We got them on the ropes now. Let them run themselves down today, and we'll kick their asses tomorrow and coast in first the next day."

Brandon and pack weren't even trying to pull ahead. They were clearly exhausted. "Two days with no fire. We've been cold as hell, all night." Brandon said. "Guess I don't have to tell you guys that. You must be damn tough. We at least have our food. We've eaten everything that can be eaten raw. I don't know we are going to do tonight, or for the rest of the trip."

Connor leaned forward and rummage in the pack for a minute. He came up with a round canister of extra matches and tossed it across to Brandon.

Brandon looked at it and then twisted the top off. "Matches!" he said. He looked at Connor. "For us?"

"Sure," Connor said with a smile, "we've got a fire starter." He nodded at Amanda.

"You're a class act, Connor," Brandon said. He nodded ahead at Mitch's retreating back. "Whatever they say, you're a class act."

They pulled ahead of Brandon's pack slowly. Mitch's pack had disappeared from sight, and they didn't encounter them again the whole day. They knew from Brandon's pack that Jerry and his pack had turned back when they found they didn't have any supplies. That left two other packs. They had no idea whether they were ahead, behind, or if they too had been sabotaged by Mitch.

Despite the fact that they saw nothing of the others, the otters mostly stayed in animal form. They swam beside the canoes and caught the occasional fish, but they were not as actively engaged in finding food today. The river between Lake Agnes and Thunder bay was windy and had numerous portage spots, where they had to land the canoes and carry them over short falls or swampy areas that simply weren't deep enough for them. Sometimes the trail diverged from the waterway for a long time, and once their route actually led across dry land for a time.

At one of the shallow points, the otters stayed at the waterway and met them on the other side of the portage. While waiting, they dug mussels from the sandy bank. By the time the pack got around the portage, they had a sizable pile waiting. The entire pack cheered.