twelve

Sana did much better as they followed the stream up river. She slept better. She ate better, and she smiled more. Romero loved her smile. And a few days later, they came to where the stream began, the river on the map. It was mid fall and all the trees had lost their leaves. Yet there were still plenty of green, green grass and evergreen trees. It was so good to be outdoors.

Sana wondered if they were far enough away for her cell phone to work, if the battery wasn't dead.

Romero pointed, "It looks shallow enough there to pull the hood across."

Sana was relieved to see that where Romero was pointing was within her line of sight. Then Romero's head suddenly snapped to the west.

"What's wrong," Sana asked him. "Did you hear or see something?"

"I think I heard a twig snap in that direction," he pointed. "But there are so many trees... In the desert there wasn't anything to interfere with my line of sight or interrupt sound waves before they reached my ears... I'm not sure how close someone or something could get to us before I detect it."

Sana slipped her fingers through his fingers and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sure you'll still hear or see anything dangerous long before it actually gets close enough to hurt us."

Romero hoped Sana was right. New-faces all received physicals that included eye exams and hearing tests. He knew his vision and hearing was much superior to a normal human being with perfect vision and hearing. He wasn't conceived. He had no mother and father. He went through most of the same training other new faces did: behavior, interaction and manners recordings, simulations that taught him to drive a vehicle, perform CPR, dance, how to take care of and use at least a dozen weapons. Some things he enjoyed learning like how to take care of sick people. Some things he didn't enjoy like the weapons training. He was pretty sure they based new-face career training based on what seemed to come easiest to the individual new-face or what they actually did best at when going through their basic training.

"After we get on the other side," Sana asked, "can we set up camp early and call it a day? It's so pretty here."

"I don't see why not," answered Romero. "It sounds like a good idea to me." While they've been along the stream, Sana has been walking beside him nearly the whole day. She's been taking nearly an hour nap after lunch. They didn't have a particular destination. They had discussed whether or not it would be safe to try to get to a city and try to contact her parents. They didn't know if that major had gotten approval for Sana to leave the mall. Then there was the fact that Romero had killed one soldier and wounded two others.

They had decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. For Sana, it meant that she would most likely never see her parents and brother again. But at least she and Romero were together and free of the mall. They hoped that the natives that inhabited this area were as friendly as they heard and would help them learn to survive out here properly. They were already running low on food. For Romero, this wasn't a problem. He was photosynthesizing sunlight, but Sana wasn't.

They crossed the river and picked a spot to set up camp. Romero spotted some apples still hanging on a tree even though the leaves were long gone. Some fresh fruit would be good for Sana. So after setting up the tent near a fallen tree, Romero climbed the tree and picked some apples.

When Romero sat down next to Sana on the fallen tree they'd made camp by, he noticed her shivering slightly.

"Are you cold" he asked her.

"A little," she admitted. "We spent days in the desert where it was so hot during the day, I didn't want to move." She teared up, "I don't know how you dragged me behind you day after day all day in that heat. If our survival depended on me, we'ld be dead already… It's fall here. It's significantly cooler because winter is right around the corner. It'll be just as cold here at night as it was in the desert, maybe colder... And when it snows..."

Romero wrapped a blanket around her and hugged her. She was worried and scared. She had a better idea survival wise of what they were up against than he did. But he was sure he had plenty of useful information. All he did before he met her in his spare-time was read non-fiction on everything from the human psyche to books on various forms of wild life and outdoor life. He had never been outdoors, so he had been fascinated with it.

"I'll collect some wood and make a fire," he told her.

"How are you going to do that," asked Sana. "We don't have a lighter, matches or even flint and steel."

"I'll just have to use friction," he told her as he got up and began to pick up and break up branches from the fallen tree they were sitting on.

"Friction," Sana said to herself. It could work.

Sana watched Romero. She liked to watch Romero. He was a living breathing work of art to her. She watched him considered a long branch and wondered what he was thinking. He didn't break it up. He sat it aside. She watched him dig a shallow pit then arrange wood and dry leaves in it. He sat on the ground by the shallow pit and used his feet to hold a piece of wood. Then he selected a slender straight stick. He put one end of the stick on the wood between his feet and used his hands to spin it back and forth extremely fast.

Sana watched fascinated as it began to smoke. Then he had a small flame. And in less than five minutes he had a cozy fire going in the shallow pit.

"That would not have worked for me," Sana told Romero, "And I wouldn't have thought of it."

Romero sat back beside her and asked, "Better?"

"Yes, much better," she answered gratefully and gave him a kiss. "Now, what are you planning for that branch?"

Romero was looking over the branch that was longer than Sana was tall. "I was thinking it would make a good spear."

"A spear," repeated Sana curious. "What are you going to do with a spear?"

"I was thinking I might be able to spear some fish for you."

Sana bit into an apple thoughtfully. "That's not how my dad goes fishing, but I suppose it could work."

"Did you ever go fishing with your father," asked Romero.

"When I was little," answered Sana nodding, "but I really didn't like the fishing part. The best part for me was the time spent with my father part. Carson really loves to go fishing with our dad. They go real early every Saturday morning. Sometimes they don't come back with anything, but they always have a good time."

"I don't know if I'll have a good time fishing," responded Romero as he began to sharpen one end of the branch. "I just need a way to keep you fed."

Sana yawned, "I'm going to take a nap."

Romero accepted a kiss from her. Then Sana ducked down into the tent and slid into the bedrolls. She tried not to let things like they didn't have any clothes other than what they were wearing, let alone winter clothing, worry her. As far as she could tell, they had already beaten the odds by surviving this long. She drove all the details from her mind so she could rest. Romero concentrated on turning the branch he'd selected into the perfect spear.

Romero had never whittled or carved anything before, but it didn't take him long to have a perfect looking spear. He peeked in on Sana. She was sleeping peacefully. The plan was to head south along the river. But immediately, he wanted to try out his spear. He was hopeful he would get lucky and catch a couple of fish. And their campfire would keep predatory animals in the area away from Sana while she slept.

Romero needed a spot that was deep enough to have fish in it. Where they crossed was nice, wide and rocky, but extremely shallow. They had taken off their shoes and socks and the water had been very chilly when they crossed. He was sure he could probably turn over some rocks and find some frogs or toads, but any fish there would probably be too small to make a meal out of. So, he walked downstream a little ways and found a spot where the water was deep enough for fish. And as he stepped up to the water, he saw quite a few fish swimming about. He slipped his socks and shoes off again and stepped down into the chilly water.

The fish scattered as Romero stepped into the water. From this, he knew he would need to stand very still so the fish would come back nearby him. And slowly as he stood there as still as a statue, the fish began to swim near him again. He decided to ignore anything that looked too small to make a meal out of.

He missed his first try which frustrated him because all the fish scattered again. He determined his timing was off as he waited for the fish to swim close enough again. But he didn't miss the second time. Romero stared at the fish for a moment as it flopped on the end of the spear. He wasn't sure what kind of fish it was, but he felt it was of adequate size. Still, he decided to get a second one.

Sana awoke needing to pee urgently. The smell of fish cooking hit her nose as she crawled out of the tent. As she rushed over by a tree to relieve herself, Romero was tending two fish he had spitted on a stick over the fire. Sana had questions, but she had to pee first.

At least she actually peed this time and didn't just trickle. It made her angry when it felt like her bladder was about to burst and all she did was trickle. And what she wouldn't give for some toilet paper or napkins or something to wipe herself properly with.

"Smells good," Sana told Romero as she washed her hands in the river.

"I hope it taste okay," he told her. "We had cooking classes, but they were in a kitchen. And the fish we did once was already filleted. I wasn't sure how to go about preparing to cook them. But I was able to scrape off the scales with a knife. I kind of felt bad because they were still trying to breathe while I was scraping off their scales. But the removal of their internal organs wasn't too difficult."

"You should have woke me up," she told him, "I know how to clean and gut fish. Don't like doing it but I can."

"Well, I'm sorry if they aren't very palatable. We don't have anything to season them with," Romero apologized.

Sana shrugged, "At least they didn't come out of a can. And these are pretty big, my dad would be jealous."

"I got lucky and noticed some potatoes that I've got in the pot," Romero informed her, "They're pretty small and there's only four. Maybe I should have dug around some more..."

"With two huge fish, we don't need much else," Sana told him. "Found potatoes too, you are a regular Mr. Survival. Are you going to eat too? I doubt I can eat both of those."

Romero dug out the tin plates from the jeep, "I am a little hungry," he admitted. He wasn't getting as much direct sunlight here with all the trees. But at least he had a way to keep Sana fed.

After days of nothing but canned soup, the fish really hit the spot. Sana would have liked some butter and lemon, but she was licking her fingers anyway. Romero was surprised that it turned out pretty tasty. And he was relieved that Sana at well. She consumed her whole fish and three of the four potatoes. And when he couldn't finish his fish, he was happy she had the appetite to finish it.

He kept his eyes open for edible vegetation as they followed the river south. He spotted a rabbit one day and asked Sana if she ate rabbit. She shrugged and informed him that she never had, but she'd heard it taste very much like chicken. Romero had quickly hurled his spear through the air. Romero and Sana both ate rabbit for the first time. By the end of the week, Sana's belly was protruding enough that one could easily see she was pregnant and she couldn't button or zip her pants.