Page 30 of Fresh Flesh

Maisie

I had thoughtthat my cave would be warm enough on its own. I quickly realize that is not going to be the case.

If I don’t do something soon, I’m going to freeze to death. I try to keep moving, rubbing my hands together vigorously. I even do a round of push ups, but that just means I drag in more of the freezing cold air into my lungs, making my throat sore in the process.

Exercise isn’t going to save me. I need to figure out a way to make it warmer in this cave, or else try and find another shelter.

The prospect of going out into the mountains, trudging through ever deepening snow in search of a larger cave that may or may not exist makes me shiver just on principle. I wonder if there might be any cabins out here, one that was abandoned by humans before the conquest of Earth?

Perhaps there are, but I have about as much chance of finding one as finding a needle in a haystack. The snow has covered up any possible trails or roads that might lead to such a cabin. My best bet is to figure out how to make this cave a better shelter.

My first thought is to start a fire. I remember someone telling me once that you could start a fire by rubbing two sticks together vigorously. I head out to look for firewood and find out that all of it I can find is sodden or frozen solid. No point in even trying, and worse, I’ve wasted a lot of body heat coming out in the snow in the first place.

Okay, next idea. How do I make the cave warmer? If not for the wind which blows in through the entrance, it might be survivable…I need to cover the entrance somehow.

My first thought is to sacrifice my poncho. If I could affix it to the entrance somehow, then maybe it would keep out the cold. Then my own body heat could build up inside of the cave.

I don’t want to take off the poncho, though. I’m not wearing a lot underneath. I was in the south a few days ago, I’m not even remotely acclimated to this weather.

Then I get an idea. I can cover up the entrance with branches, especially those with a lot of foliage.

I use my trusty sharpened rock and carve off branches one by one, before dragging them up the hill to the cave. It’s surprisingly hard work. I warm myself up with the exercise, but now I’m hungry and thirsty.

A mouthful of snow solves the second problem. As for the food, I guess I’m just out of luck for the night. After what seems like hours of work but is probably only a fraction of that, I have enough branches to sort of cover the entrance.

I go inside the cave and arrange them from the interior. One by one I put one of the springy branches into place, using the tension provided by the limb itself to hold it steady. After a lot of work, I have sticky sap on my hands and I’ve totally covered the cave entrance. It’s nearly pitch black in here, only a tiny amount of light coming in between the cracks.

But on the plus side, it’s noticeably warmer already. After a while I even open up my poncho because it’s grown too warm.

I’m not about to move the branches, though, not even for a tiny breeze. I’d rather be hot than cold.

I have to figure out what I’m going to do if I survive the night. I guess I might as well go to California and go through with the original plan. I mean, if my three Grens were going to find me, they’d have done it by now, right?

At some point, I drift off to sleep. My brief oblivion is blessedly dreamless. I’m awakened by the sound of someone outside my cave.

Instantly I catch my breath in my throat. It has to be a Gren, right? If not a Gren, then a wolf or a bear or something else that wants to eat me.

Damn it. My foliage barrier might keep the cold out, but it also makes it abundantly clear that someone is hiding in this cave. No animal could have arranged this.

I look around for some kind of escape, but there’s no escape. The cave narrows down to a tiny space that’s far too small to crawl through. I can’t go out the only exit, so I’m stuck in here, awaiting the inevitable.

I know it’s inevitable. I know that I’m going to be caught. And yet, I still scream whenever a green, scaly hand thrusts through the branch barrier and gropes through the darkness toward me.

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