Dangerous Allies // Cato Hadley

Part 12: Day in the woods

After only one hard smack the fish was limp in her hands.

"Congrats." Eve clapped. "Your first kill of the games."

It was a sick joke, but they both laughed none the less. Any chance the girls had to smile was taken without hesitation.

Two large fish were tied to the end of Eve's spear when they walked into the cover of the woods.

"This looks as good a place as any." Eve stopped in front of an old oak tree.

She knew it couldn't have been more than a few days old in the engineered forest, but it was strong and would work as a wall to cover their backs.

"If you want to find some wood I'll dig a fire pit." Eve offered.

Finch nodded before disappearing into the woods.

She dropped to her knees and began driving her shovel into the ground.

It was half a foot deep when she grabbed a handful of leaves. She crumbed them and watched as they drifted down wind.

She started a second hole upwind, where she connected them underground.

Finch was back in less than an hour with armfuls of wood. "What's this?"

"It's how we built fires on the cliffs back home." She explained. "Wind goes in the hole and feeds the fire."

She fiddled with the tinder she had been working into a ball. "They're hot and hard to see."

"I wish they would have taught us that at training." She huffed.

"I guess they didn't want us to be too good at hiding." Eve rested her chin on her knees.

"I have some matches." Finch said.

Eve extended the nest to her. "Would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure." She chirped.

She dropped the burning nest of tinder into the hole and Eve covered it with some of the sticks Finch collected.

They continued to feed the fire as Eve cut into the fish. "Do you want the head?"

Finch's eyes grew wide and she shook her head.

"Kidding." She smiled.

Every time her father cleaned the fish he caught for dinner, he would ask if she wanted the head. She would squirm similarly to the way Finch did while his laugh bellowed through the house.

"You were right about not being able to see the flames." She said. "Or smoke."

"Everyone will be able to smell these fish once they start cooking, though." Eve said.

"The trees are so thick that it should be quite difficult for anyone to pinpoint our location." Finch stated.

"I hope you're right." She sighed.

Eve laid sticks over the hole and placed the fish to cook over them.

She was right about the smell.