She puts her hands on her hips like she just can’t believe she’s stuck with my incompetence. “Really? You didn’t even pack a tent? I’m not staying out here on this island for days or weeks without at least basic shelter. We are both going to die.”
“Stop being dramatic. We aren’t going to die. I was a Boy Scout, remember? I know how to survive in the woods for years without anything but a knife. And I have a lot more than a knife on me.”
“I don’t think your handgun is going to help much with hunting, Langston.”
“Maybe you can bore the poor creatures to death with your incessant whining.”
“I wouldn’t have to whine if you didn’t kidnap me and leave us stranded on an uninhabited island!”
I walk through a bush, pushing a branch back hard and then releasing it just as Liesel walks through. She catches it with one hand to avoid it hitting her face.
“Real mature,” she says, pushing it back to walk through behind me. When she releases it, though, her hand is bloodied from the thorns on the branch.
“Your hand,” I say, holding mine out.
She shakes her head.
“You need to clean it out and bandage it; you wouldn’t want to get an infection in the middle of nowhere, would you?”
She glances around, and then a smug smile tric
kles over her lips. She hikes off the trail I’ve made and yanks a couple leaves off a nearby bush, then stomps back. She takes her water bottle, pours water over her wounds and applies the leaf to her hand.
“There. This is an aloe vera leaf; it has medicinal powers. No infection.”
I study the leaf closer. “Looks like poison ivy to me.”
Her eyebrows jump up, and she goes to remove the leaves, but my heavy chuckle stops her.
“I hate you.”
I snicker. “Right back at you.”
She stomps past me deciding to take the lead, which is fine by me. I can enjoy her ass so much better from this angle. But I do end up having to duck a lot to avoid branches hitting me.
“And as for your kidnapping comment—I didn’t kidnap you, just held you to an arrangement we had.”
She huffs, jumping over a fallen tree trunk. “One we made when we were five. I don’t think that counts. This is kidnapping, and as soon as I get back to the mainland, I’ll make sure you are punished for everything you do to me.”
I look at her with a dark expression. “I didn’t think you were patient enough to wait to punish me until we get back.”
“You’re right, I should punish you sooner.”
“It’s getting dark; we should find a spot to sleep for the night.”
Liesel wipes the sweat from her brow, and I know she’s relieved to not have to walk any further tonight.
We are maybe twenty minutes or less from the house with air conditioning, a nice bed, a shower—all the things Liesel craves.
But I’m the cruel bastard who is going to make her sleep in the dirt, in the heat, with mosquitos swarming.
“Start collecting firewood, I’ll work on the fire,” she says.
I like it when she’s bossy, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to let her be in control. “Do you remember how to start a fire? I’m guessing you haven’t been camping since we were kids?”
“I can start a fire—just get the wood.”
I hold back a smile as I collect wood and underbrush to start a fire. As warm as it is now, the first rule of camping under the stars is having a fire. Nights can get cold, and it will keep any wild animals from coming too close.