Page 43 of Wilderness Daddy

Chapter Nine

Landon

At five a.m. the next morning I jump into the seat of my truck. My brother is half asleep in the passenger seat beside me.

“I’ll stop for coffee on the way, bro.”

“You better, Landon. Otherwise I may fall asleep and drive your baby off the mountain.”

“An extra-large with an espresso shot it is,” I say, but what I think is something completely different. My truck is not my baby, Akari is.

I start the truck and run through a checklist in my mind. Hatchet, check. Fire steel, check. Hunting knife, check. Hooks and line, check. Cooking pot and water canteen, check. Cell, action cam, and solar battery charger.

I’m set.

“Sure you want to do this?”

“Never been surer,” I answer dismissively while looking over my shoulder to back out of the garage. Akari flashes in my mind’s eye and I gather and release a breath, feeling a heaviness in my chest.

“It’s supposed to get cold this weekend, like really cold. You don’t even have a damn sleeping bag.”

“No, but unlike you, baby bro, I know how to survive out there.”

He grunts. “But you don’t have to. We sell top of the line sleeping bags meant for minus twenty. And really good tents.” He smirks at me. “I even know the owner so I can get you a discount.”

“That would completely defeat the purpose and you know it.”

“Landon, bad shit can happen out there and you don’t even have a satellite phone. People go up there, experts, and they don’t come back.” My brother’s face holds concern and I clap him on the shoulder.

“I’ll be fine. You’ll be checking on me weekly. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll take the emergency GPS spot detector and some bear spray.” I have both in my glove compartment. The GPS allows me to send an okay message to let people know I’m safe. “It’s actually a good idea. People who follow my videos can also check my location.”

“Yeah, that’ll help, but take a bloody gun, dude.”

“That’s cheating.” I pull into the Tim Horton’s and get into the drive-thru lane. “I’m caving on the bear spray as it is.”

“No, that’s smart! You’re damn stubborn.” Grant crosses his arms.

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