Part 9 (1/2)

Moving slowly through the woods, he listened for anything against the background of the forest and only heard birds. Picking up the pace, they soon found the pond and Amanda immediately went into hysterics. ”Water Moccasins are going to kill us all,” she whined.

”We slept by water for two nights and you didn't freak out,” Nathan said.

”That was a river,” she said.

”Amanda, it doesn't matter. They were around and we are still alive,” Nathan said and she froze.

”They were there and you didn't tell me?” she gasped.

He looked at John. ”Did you know they could've been around?” he asked.

”Yeah, I saw one,” John replied.

”I don't know if I like you anymore, John. You should've told me,” Amanda popped off.

Not in the mood, Nathan shook his head. ”Amanda, we are in the wilderness, kind of. Animals are going to be out here. We are in their home,” he said, speaking slowly.

Looking around on the ground, she said, ”Tell the Water Moccasins and Copperheads to go away then.”

”What about the rattlesnakes?” Jasmine asked and Nathan shook his head no.

”A what kind of snake?” Amanda gasped, and Nathan just sank to his knees.

Jasmine put her arm around Amanda. ”It's okay, if you look where you step you'll be fine,” she said, leading her to a spot under a big oak tree.

”I'm sorry about telling her about the snake, Nathan,” John said, walking over to him.

”That's fine, I saw four,” Nathan said, burying his face in his hands.

”She's from the city. Why is she so scared of snakes?” John asked.

”I have no idea,” Nathan said, shaking his head. The two dropped their packs and took off Ares' pack.

Jasmine was holding Amanda's hand as they walked back over to John and Nathan. ”I'm going to show her that if you look carefully you can see them,” Jasmine said.

”Tried that,” Nathan said. ”No further than twenty yards from me and don't get near a rattlesnake or let Ares near it. I'm not in the mood.”

”I've walked the Appalachian trail twice,” Jasmine said.

”Ares has been around a bunch of snakes,” Amanda piped in.

”I'm not talking about snakes, I'm talking about things that use guns and walk on two legs,” Nathan popped off. Seeing Ares jump up upon hearing the word rattlesnake,' Nathan groaned, knowing Ares could find a rattler in about five seconds flat. He reached over and patted Ares till he sat down then chose his next words carefully, ”I'm not kidding about the other' snake. Leave it be.”

”Oh sorry, didn't think about that, and if I see a rattler I'll leave it,” Jasmine said.

Jasmine led Amanda around the area and they didn't find any snakes. Nathan wanted to tell them to look under a log they walked by but kept his mouth shut. They came back and Amanda was smiling as she sat down. ”We looked and didn't see any,” Amanda announced proudly.

”That's good. Let's get camp set up,” Nathan said emotionlessly.

”You're just jealous because we can look for snakes as good as you can,” Amanda said with a smirk.

”Yep, that's it,” he said.

”We couldn't find one, so there's none here. Not even you can find one near us,” Amanda challenged him.

”Yep, sure can't, can we set up camp now?” Nathan asked in a flat voice.

Jasmine looked up at him. ”There's none around here, Nathan,” she a.s.sured him.

Speaking like a computer, he said, ”Yep, there's none here.”

”You can't find one so just accept it. We can find one if it's around,” Jasmine said.

”You're that sure?” Nathan asked, way past irritated.

”I'm positive,” Jasmine said proudly.

Spinning around, Nathan grabbed his tomahawk, headed over to a sapling and chopped it down. ”Oh s.h.i.+t,” Amanda said, standing up and thinking about getting up on Jasmine's shoulders.

”Amanda, we looked. There's none here,” Jasmine said as Nathan stormed by them with his stick. He walked over to a rotten log they'd walked by twice and kicked the log till it rolled. Then he stuck his stick down and lifted it with a snake on the end. Jasmine got to see and feel the Amanda snake experience as she screamed and climbed up on Jasmine's shoulders even though Jasmine was sitting down.

Nathan walked over with the snake on the end of the stick. ”Amanda, what kind of snake is this?” he asked.

”COPPERHEAD!” she screamed.

”Amanda, that's enough,” Nathan snapped, and to his surprise she shut up. She was sitting on Jasmine's shoulders looking at the snake and it looked p.i.s.sed off. Ares just stayed sitting down. He didn't like that particular chase and chew toy.

Nathan took the snake away from camp and let it go. He walked back over, picked up his rifle and stopped in front of Amanda, holding out his hand. ”Come,” was all he said. Amanda climbed off Jasmine's shoulders and grabbed his hand. He gave her the stick and led her off. Jasmine watched them go, then stood up and motioned with her head for John to come along as she followed them.

Not willing to turn down Jasmine for anything, John jumped up and joined them. Nathan worked with Amanda for three hours. At first he did the searching, finding a lot of snakes. Then he made her look and in the end she found three snakes on her own and even picked up a gra.s.s snake. It was close to dark when they returned to their packs, but for the first time since she'd seen the snake cross the road Amanda didn't feel terrified of them.

They all took turns on watch having hopefully experienced the last Amanda snake freak out, but Nathan wasn't going to hold his breath.

Chapter 6.

Day 12 With his back against a tree, Nathan waited on his coffee to percolate as the sky started to slowly lighten. Hearing movement, he turned to see Jasmine sit up, rubbing her eyes. She turned and saw Nathan watching her and smiled at him. Nathan couldn't help but smile back. She stood up and stretched out.

Sucking in a breath, Nathan quickly looked away, feeling his heart race and all sense of grogginess flee from his body. That girl has got to wear some clothes when she goes to bed, Nathan thought, forgetting about the coffee. The Id in him was demanding another look as his Super Ego said no. Super Ego won but it was a close match. Seeing the coffee up in the gla.s.s k.n.o.b, Nathan s.n.a.t.c.hed up his cup and poured it full.

”Can I have some?” he heard a whisper in front of him. He just motioned to the pot, not looking up. ”Thank you,” Jasmine whispered and he just nodded. Risking a look, he saw she had on shorts and a s.h.i.+rt. When he looked up, she was grinning at him. ”Is John rubbing off on you?” she asked coyly.

”Nooo,” he stressed. ”You stood up naked catching me totally off guard. I was averting my eyes out of kindness and morality,” Nathan said. He said it but he didn't believe it.

”I had on a bra and panties,” she said in a smarta.s.sed tone.

”You need to check again,” he said.