Stranded

Chapter 4 : Food and water

"I don't know."

"Can't humans only go like 3 days without water or something like that? It's already been 1 day."

"Then maybe we should drink it and hope for the best."

I cupped my hands and dipped them in the stream. It was super cold. I drank the water from my hands. It tasted a little weird, but maybe that's just because there's sand and dirt in it.

"How is it?" Ross asked.

"Um... Kind of weird. But refreshing."

Ross did the same thing and drank some of the water.

"Yeah, it definitely tastes a little off. But maybe that's just because it's a stream," Ross said.

I drank some more water and then we walked back to our tent again. I checked my phone, just to see if I had a signal, but of course I didn't. And my phone was almost dead now.

"So what should we do now?" Ross asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we should see what other survival stuff is in the boxes."

"Good idea."

We both crawled back into the tent and opened the boxes. We found a second sleeping bag, an axe, a first aid kit, fishing line and hooks, a knife, and a water filter.

"Ok, this is good. We should've just looked at what we had. We can filter water. And try fishing if we get hungry enough. And we can use the knife to cut up the fish if we can catch any," I said.

"Yeah, and we can each have our own sleeping bag. Not that I didn't like sleeping next to you. But we were kind of squished."

"I agree. But it was definitely good last night because I was really cold. And being in the same sleeping bag let me steal your body heat."

"Ok, so what do you want to do? Get some water and filter it so we can drink it?"

"Yeah. We each have empty bottles from the airport. We can just fill those up."

"Alright."

We got our water bottles and went back to the stream. We were able to use the water filter to fill up our bottles with clean water. Before we went back to our tent, I drank a bunch of water and refilled my bottle because I was still super thirsty. Ross did the same.

"Why haven't they come to rescue us yet?" Ross asked, putting more sticks on the fire.

"I don't know. I haven't heard any planes at all today."

"Do you still think they're going to rescue us today?"

"I hope so..."

"Well... In case they don't, do you want to try fishing?"

"Sure. It's a good way to kill time too."

We took the fishing line and hooks and walked back down to the stream. We went where it was wider and deeper, figuring there would be more fish there.

"Go get 2 sticks," I said.

"Sticks?"

"Yeah, like 2 thick sticks."

"Ok."

Ross brought me 2 sticks. I sat down on the edge of the stream and tied the end of the fishing line to each stick so it would be easier to hold onto. Luckily the hooks had little fake fish on them so we didn't need any bait.

"Alright. I know we don't have fishing poles, but hopefully having it tied to the stick will help," I said, handing one to Ross.

"What's the plan?" He asked.

"I don't know. Throw the line in, wait and see if you get a bite, and then yank it as hard as you can."

"Ok."

I walked 15 feet down the river so Ross and I both had space and so our lines wouldn't catch each other. I threw mine in.

I was hoping this would be easy, but of course it wasn't. I was barely getting any nibbles.

I was getting very frustrated, and I think part of that is probably because I'm just so freaking hungry.

All of a sudden, I heard a big splash. I looked over at Ross, and he was completely in the stream.

I quickly wound up the fishing line and ran over to him.

"Riker, I got one!" He said, holding up his fishing line.

Sure enough, he had a fish. It wasn't a very big one. But it was more than I could catch.

I gave him my hand and helped pull him out of the stream. He was drenched and shivering.

"Come on. We need to get you back to the tent. You need to change and get out of those wet clothes before you get hypothermia," I said, taking his fishing line from him.

We walked back to our tent. Ross was shaking really hard by the time we got there. He got changed into dry clothes while I put more sticks on the fire.

"How did you end up in the stream?"

Ross sat down beside me on the ground, still shivering.

"I got a bite, so I pulled the line. But I lost my balance. And I didn't want to lose the fish. So I fell in the stream."

I sighed. This is kind of dangerous. He could get hypothermia.

I wrapped my arms around him, trying to warm him up faster. He shivered against me, which was making me worried.

"Are you getting any warmer?"

"Yeah."

"Sure?"

"I'm sure. Why are you so worried?"

"Because if you get hypothermia, we can't just call an ambulance to take you to the hospital."

"I'm fine, Riker. I promise. Do something with the fish."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because you're the big brother."

"Ok, fine..."

I set the fish down on the ground. I got the knife from the emergency kit, and then hesitated.

"Do something," Ross said.

"What do I do?" I asked.

"Kill it."

"How?"

"I don't know. Cut its head off."

I took a deep breath and chopped its head off.

"What should I do now?" I asked.

"Throw the head in the fire so it gets burned up and any bears can't smell it."

I picked up the head and threw it in the fire.

"Now stab it with a stick and cook it."

I took one of the sticks from the pile and stabbed it through the fish.

"Here. You cook it. I did everything else," I said, handing it to him.

"How do I know when it's done?"

"I don't know. I've never done this before."

"Fine. I'll just guess."