Free Journal by Craig Buckhout, Abbagail Shaw, Patrick Gantt Page B

mentioned more than once finding this plant or that which we then ate or
brewed to tea, I should explain here that I’m not an expert at this or
anything.  It’s just that about a year ago, I came across a paperback on edible
plants under the seat of an abandoned Ford pickup truck.  What am I saying,
they’re all abandoned now.  Anyway, I hung onto it for a while and tested it
out whenever I came across one of the plants pictured on its pages.  In that
way, I got to know a few plants that are safe to eat.  I only wish I’d kept the
book, because we’ve probably walked by a dozen other edible plants without
knowing it.  I ended up using it as fire starter on a day when heat was a more
immediate need than food.
    By
the time I got back, Anna and Gabriel had set up a lean-to shelter under a
large pine and were just about finished laying a bed of pine needles to sleep
on.  The temperature was maybe in the low 40s, and we were at an elevation of about
2,000 feet, so the only snow left on the ground was in the shade.  Also, we
were in a region that was a mixture of meadowland and forest, so the walking
was becoming easier and easier. 
    A
few other things should be mentioned, too.  The lack of food and almost
constant dawn to dusk walking was really taking its toll.  First, we all stunk
like a locker full of sweaty gym shorts.  I know I sure did, but there wasn’t
much I could do about it.  We were also dropping weight like mad.  I noticed it
most in my waist.  I was constantly hiking up my pants during the day and, as
I’ve mentioned, Gabriel seemed to be the one suffering most from it.  It looked
like his eyes had literally been sucked back inside his skull, and you could
see that just about everything he did was a struggle.  The thing that bothered
me the most, other than the weaWhile so engagedwotkness I was experiencing, were the headaches and
mild dizziness.  I suspected that we were all feeling the same thing, but there
was no talk about it.
    We
cooked up the last of the venison, not much of that, used more of the instant
coffee, and ate the Fiddlehead.  I started feeling better almost immediately
after, but I knew it wouldn’t last.  Tomorrow would be worse than today.  We
were now completely out of food.  There also wouldn’t be any hunting on our
part because of our fear that our pursuers were close.  I remember hoping we’d
find something to eat, the same way you would hope a broken leg wasn’t broken
or that you’d wake up in a warm bed, knowing all the time it really wasn’t
going to happen.    
    After
putting out the fire, we agreed we needed to return to our regular, all night,
watch schedule.  We weren’t looking forward to it, that’s for sure, but we
suspected our pursuers were somewhere nearby.  And as if to confirm our fears,
we heard a gunshot way off in the distance.  It seemed to be south and west of
us, but the way sound bounces around in the mountains, who really knew for sure. 
    ___________
    I
took over for Anna at about midnight April 7th and positioned myself a good one
hundred fifty to two hundred yards east of our shelter on the edge of a large
meadow.  It was a good position, or so I thought.  It was protected by a fallen
tree on one side, around which several new growth, four and five foot pines had
rooted, providing decent concealment.  Behind and to either side of me was a
rough semi-circle of other trees and brush that similarly hid my presence.   That’s
where I stayed long past when it was Gabriel’s turn to stand watch.  The way he
had been looking the day before, it didn’t make any sense to wake him.
    In
retrospect, my decision to let Gabriel sleep was probably a good one.  That’s
because in as bad shape as he was, and still is mind you, I’m not so sure he or
any of us would have survived.  I better explain that.
    Just
before dawn, in that hour when the temperature seems to drop another ten
degrees just to make every living creature