She spat a few more times and bit one of the roots she dug up. That helped the burning and she continued looking. She sniffed flowers, and found several rhododendron hedges, they were massive and beautiful.
There were lilies near small ponds and she squatted and dug around in the water for bulbs, something like watercress. She bit into the plant, it was a little spicy hot, but good. It would go well with any kind of meat they could find. She stuffed them into the pockets of her windbreaker, which had become sodden.
She also found wild chives, and picked those as well. She ran into Aiden and he held up a headless snake and grinned, it was nearly four feet long. “That isn’t venomous is it?” she asked
“I don’t think so, I cut the head off when I found it. It didn’t have a spade shaped head, just long, and we have protein. Did you find anything?” he asked.
“I found some tubers, they taste a little like potatoes, so I think if I boil them, they should be good. I also found some grasses that taste like onions, I think they are wild chives, and I found watercress which should be great with the snake. The wild onions have tiny little bulbs on the bottom, but I think they will be good cooked with the roots. Oh, and don’t eat the orange berries, they’re poisonous. I also found ginger root, so I can make ginger tea for us as well.” She grinned.
“I’m going to take this back to our cave and keep looking. I saw a rabbit like rodent so I’m going to see if I can set a snare for it. If we can keep several days of meat handy, I think we’ll be okay.”
“Sounds good, I’ll keep looking around. I wish I knew the plants better, there is much I really don’t know, unless it is a tuber or berry, I just don’t know.” She complained.
Aiden shrugged, “All we can do is all we can do. Oh, and I made you this.” He handed over a long stick he’d been carrying. She took it and looked at it, it had a very sharp end to it. She looked at him questioningly.
“It is so if you see a snake, you can stab the head, if you can kill it, that’s more food, or if you see another small animal, and can stab it, we can eat that.”
“Dude, you’re really hoping big here, but I’ll try. Just don’t hold your breath. Maybe if we can find a pool of some kind, we can fish. See you in a bit.” She said, raising her stick in salute. She watched him disappear into the trees. She heard someone shouting below, she didn’t know who it was. She was wondering how Grayson was doing with Carol.
¤¤
Aiden laughed to himself. She was a spitfire, that was for sure. He was impressed. Sarah had already found food. And this wasn’t even her country. They at least had dinner for tonight, it was a good sign. If they could keep their momentum going, they could keep up their calorie intake and therefore their strength. When they started doing competitions, that would come in handy.
Hopefully if they could catch fish and frogs, that would add protein to their diet. He was glad she wasn’t shy about going out on her own. He scratched at his beard and looked around. He wished he could shave, but that wouldn’t be happening for at least two months. At least he hoped. He could hear the birds around him and the air was crisp and clean. It was so different from Virginia. Though, going into the mountains was a lot like this place. But here, it seemed more primitive. He felt at home here and it gave him a peaceful feeling.
He was sure Sarah had a lot to do with that. He was sure he’d not feel so sanguine if Carol were his partner. Christ, poor Grayson. That poor bastard didn’t stand a chance. He sighed heavily and began walking. He’d like to find that big ass rodent, he was sure it would be good eating.
¤¤
Christian and Marla Eastan sat in camp chairs drinking instant coffee. The camera men were off with the contestants filming. Marla was reading on her tablet, she had a solar charger, and was glad she’d brought it. This was the first time she’d been away from the real world. She’d been told it would be a four-day trek, but she’d not been prepared for a twelve hour walk each day.
She felt almost like one of the contestants. Thank god she’d worn her running shoes, if she’d have worn anything else, she’d have been crippled. She thought she was lucky her feet hadn’t gotten swollen from all the walking. She’d tripped a couple of times and nearly twisted her ankle.
It was nice of the people in production to let her know the extent of the walking, not. She didn’t know if they didn’t tell her on purpose or they just didn’t realize that no vehicles could come out this way. It didn’t matter now, they were here. She’d passed out last night, it was all she could do to keep her body from sagging. That would have been embarrassing.
Even Christian had been done in. She’d caught him taking a nip from his flask from time to time and wondered how he’d gotten it past customs. She was glad she didn’t have to try to
