Road Trip

V

Day 33

 I could still feel Jensen wrapped around me early the next morning. I inhaled deep, taking in the natural musky scent that wafted off him- it almost felt like I was curled up next to him in a real bed again. Though that was only wishful thinking. Jensen began to stir in his sleep so I knew it was only a matter of time before he'd wake up. 

 I figured if he'd be awake soon I should begin making something out of the limited resources we had left. I skillfully slid upwards, out of his grasp and the sleeping bag to search through what little food we had left. I gave him a slight kiss on the top of his head and began my search. I'd found a package of apple and cinnamon oatmeal in one of the bags and figured I could make that up for him. 

 I knew the package of oatmeal wasn't much for him but it was something to keep him going the next couple days. 

 "Are you sure you ate?" He asked. I nodded in response, knowing that he'd hear it in my voice if I verbally told him I had even though I didn't. The look on his face made it look like he wasn't completely convinced but I must've believed me enough because he finished the latter half of the little packet. 

_ 

 There was a major lack of heat throughout the entire day. Even hiking down the steep partial forested mountain couldn't bring heat to my body which began causing concern to myself but to avoid bringing anymore worry to Jensen, I refused to mention anything. 

 It had to have been a little past mid day based off the brightest point in the dull sky. "I'm calling it here. We're taking a break." Jensen declared. I stopped just before ramming into his backside, "Why?" I questioned. 

 He dropped his pack to the ground with a deep thud. "I can hear you wheezing from behind me and I've known you long enough to know that you have no medical breathing problems. What the fuck aren't you telling me?" I could practically hear the frustration dripping from his words.

 We were so close to being through this journey that there was no possible way I could let him pull the trigger on the flare over my health. I came out here to test my body and skills and that's what I was going to do. "Nothing's wrong with me. I've been out in the wilderness for four weeks so I'm exhausted but I'm fine." I replied. He threw his head back in frustration, "You and I both know that's bullshit, Kait! We've done road trips and marathons, and even jumped out of a goddamn plane and you've never been so physically dead and drained, something's not right." 

 I knew he was right about everything he'd just said. I was crouched down, catching whatever breath I could. "You're right, not everything is alright but did you really expect me to be as healthy as I was when we began this?" I asked before he could continue on his miniature lecture. 

 He was fed up with me and I knew that but rather than giving up and being upset at myself for being so close and not finishing, I wanted to push through- even if that meant I had to go to the hospital after this is over. 

 Jensen sighed into his hands before crouching down across from me. "You know how important to me you are, I'm just trying to make sure you're doing as good as you could be." I felt bad for keeping everything from him. I looked down before meeting his eyes, "I know. I greatly appreciate it, I really do, but I'm fine." I couldn't look at him for the last few words. 

 He stood up and held out a hand for me to take. I gladly accepted and pulled myself back to my feet before we continued trekking forward. 

_

 As dark began to crawl closer and closer Jensen and I started thinking we needed to find somewhere to set up a makeshift tent for the night. We both noticed the neon pink ties around tree limbs and bushes that signalled we were nearing the end of this five week wilderness survival. 

 "On the plus side, this pink tie is on a blueberry bush," Jensen motioned to the neon string. I couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief. 

 By the time we had everything set up and secured for the night, it was almost completely dark out which would make searching for wood a little extra difficult. "I'm... I'm gonna...," I got a little dizzy momentarily, "I'm gonna go collect as many of those berries as possible," I stated before beginning to walk which proved to be a troublesome task. I almost landed flat on the ground. 

 "Yeah, no. I don't think that's going to be happening. You're going to spend the rest of the night in your sleeping bag." Jensen ordered. I didn't even have the strength to fight him on that. "You're dehydrated and need to get your sugars up. I'm going to get some water and berries for you and it all has to be finished before you sleep. We'll skip the fire tonight." Again, I couldn't fight anything he said, I knew he was right with it all. 

_

 After the berries and water, I felt like sleep was rapidly creeping up on me. Because I could no longer keep my own body heat, Jensen was wrapped tightly around my tiny frame with his sleeping bag unzipped and over top of us. I was curled up facing his chest listening to his heartbeat as he quietly sung 'Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd. 

 Between my chills and teeth chattering, I mentioned that he should sing more often. He had a deep and rough voice that made any song sound magical. He chuckled and said, "If you make it through this trip conscience, I'll see what I can do."