Page 54 of Guarded By Them

“Will do.”

I was aware of how suspicious we looked—a group of people in cabin country, suddenly interested in camping and with no gear of our own. We divided up, taking each individual aisle, knowing we’d cover more ground that way and be in and out quicker.

We walked down the aisles, scanning the shelves for supplies. I was mindful of what Ryan had said about not weighing ourselves down with the unnecessary. I picked up a small gas burner and set it back down again. We could live without hot food and drinks for a couple of days.

Water and food, however, we couldn’t do without. We also needed sleeping bags. It got cold at night, and hypothermia could kill as easily as anything else.

Ryan found the backpacks—a couple of larger, seventy-liter ones for us, and a slightly smaller, fifty-liter one for Rue to carry.

“Pick out some changes of socks as well,” I told them, “and some decent footwear. Getting blisters is no joke.”

This was all going to be expensive. Not that it mattered. We had the cash.

“We need a first aid kit, too,” Rue said. “Dillon’s bandage needs changing, and we want to be prepared in case anyone gets hurt.”

The knot inside my chest tightened at the possibility of any of us getting hurt, or even more hurt than we already were, but she was right. “Good thinking.”

The possibility of losing any of them was my biggest fear. I’d been through that kind of pain once before in my life, and I didn’t think I had it in me to do it again. It had taken completely reinventing myself just to get through each day. It was true, I’d been completely alone back then, but now, even though we had each other to support, I wasn’t sure if losing one of us would unite the rest of us in our grief, or if we’d constantly be reminded of the hole the other person had left, making the pain unbearable.

I hoped we’d never have to find out.

Our phones would be useless out there. There would be no service for navigation, so we had to go old school. I selected a good regional map and a compass, too. Getting lost while out in the middle of the woods would be no joke.

We carried our items to the counter.

Four backpacks, four sets of boots, four fleeces, a whole bundle of socks and flashlights. On top of that, we also had four bedding rolls and sleeping bags, and to that we added bottles of water and ready to eat pre-packed camping meals. We’d eat them cold, but that was fine. It was all sustenance to keep us going.

The young guy behind the counter gave us a nervous smile as he rang up the items. His eyes flickered from side to side, as though he didn’t quite know where to look, perhaps wanting to focus on the job while also not feeling like he should completely remove his line of sight from us.

“You folks heading out hiking?” he asked.

I nodded, a swift jerk of the chin. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Make sure you take a gun with you. This is moose and bear country.”

I thought to the handgun currently wedged down the back of my pants. “That won’t be a problem.”

If only hungry bears were our biggest issue.

“You want bags for all this stuff?” the young man asked.

“Nah, we’ll just load it up here.”

There was little point getting carrier bags when it all had to go into the backpacks anyway. I paid in cash, and the others stepped in to claim their items. We stuffed the backpacks with the clothes, food, and water, and then strapped the sleeping bags and mats to the top. I helped Rue adjust the straps on her pack, and Dillon did the same for Ryan, and then we swapped.

Dillon grinned at us. “Well, we sure do look the part.”

The backpack dwarfed Rue.

I frowned at her in concern. “That’s not too heavy for you?”

She jumped around a little, wriggled her shoulders and stomped her feet. “No, it feels fine.”

Dillon cocked one of his thick, dark eyebrows. “You look like a turtle. Like if you fell over backwards, you wouldn’t be getting up again in a hurry.”

She poked her tongue out at him. “Good thing I’ve got you guys to pick me back up again, then.”

“What about you, Ryan?” I asked the other man.

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