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  “I’ll collect some rocks and put them in the cup. It will heat the water faster,” Tabitha offered.

  “No, it won’t. It will only contaminate the water,” Fred interjected.

  Tabitha glared at him as the others watched the exchange. “We’re boiling the water to make it safe. The boiling will kill anything that may be lurking on the rocks.”

  Fred was shaking his head. “Adding rocks isn’t going to make it boil faster.”

  Regan found herself smiling as she listened to the two bicker about the merits of adding rocks to the water. She personally had no idea who was right, but it was amusing to listen to them. Tabitha’s tiny stature compared to Fred’s much bigger size made them mismatched opponents. And Regan’s money was on Tabitha.

  “He’s never going to win,” Geno mumbled under his breath as the three of them walked out of their makeshift camp.

  Wolf chuckled. “I don’t think any man ever truly wins an argument with a woman.”

  “Hey, if you guys ever knew what you were talking about, you would have a chance at winning an argument,” Regan said casually.

  Wolf and Geno both made a choking sound in response and she merely smiled as she followed them. Her mind was already on the fish she hoped they’d catch. She’d even eat the damn fish head if it came to it.

  When they got to the river, she was happy to see some ripples indicating movement. Movement was a good thing.

  “We should have brought the hammock,” Regan grumbled. “It’s one of the main reasons I brought the thing on the show! I planned to use it for exactly this.”

  “We could make one,” Geno offered. “I saw someone make one on another survival show. Tabitha was always watching those,” he added.

  Wolf looked around the area. “That would be a good idea if we had more time, but I think we need to try a spear.”

  “A spear?” Regan asked. “That seems like a crapshoot.”

  “There’s three of us,” Wolf pointed out. “We can use our bodies to corral them into an area and jab them. We’ll use double-pronged gigs to up our odds,” he added, picking up a branch and holding it up. “You have that knife on you?”

  She pulled the knife out and held it up. “Of course, I do.”

  “Good. Start whittling down the point of a branch to make it sharp. Don’t make it too thin, though, it needs to be strong enough to go through a fish’s body without snapping,” he instructed.

  Regan picked up another branch that she thought matched Wolf’s. He shook his head. “Why not?” she asked.

  “That stick isn’t straight, and it’s too thin. You want a stick about two to three inches in diameter. Now, if you get a nice thick stick, we can use that to make a couple prongs, like you would for a frog gig.”

  Geno had been searching nearby ground while Wolf talked. He picked up a branch and held it up, asking for Wolf’s approval. Wolf gave a quick nod and Geno took the stick to Regan.

  “Here,” he offered.

  She handed him the knife. “Go ahead. I’ll look for another stick.”

  Geno took the knife and got to work on his spear.

  “Good,” Wolf whispered, coming to stand beside her once she’d stepped away to start searching again.

  “What?”

  “Don’t pretend that was no big deal.”

  She shrugged it off. “I’m trying.”

  “And that’s what is important.”

  Once they found some more suitable branches for Geno to turn into spears, Regan followed Wolf toward the water to seek out the most likely space for fishing. Walking up and down the riverbank, they looked for a place that would allow them to corral the fish.

  “There,” Wolf noted, pointing to a part of the river that widened. “See where it kind of forms a pool there?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “Let me check and make sure there aren’t any venomous snakes hanging out in the area,” he said, walking in that direction. Regan froze, not wanting to get near a snake if she didn’t absolutely have to. She’d watch from afar.

  Geno joined her, carrying three spears. “Let’s do this!”

  “Did anyone save their fishing line?” Regan asked as she took up a spear and eyed it, remembering their first challenge on the show. She had nearly cried when she’d lost hers in the bottom of some dark swamp after something large had bitten the hook and pulled the line right out of her hands.

  Wolf smiled as he approached. “I did.”

  “Why don’t we use that?” she asked.

  “Three spears give us better odds than a single hook floating in the water. We’ll try this way first. If it doesn’t work, we can try my line. I only have the one hook. Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” he cautioned.

  “Can’t we make another one?” Geno asked. “I’ve seen that on plenty of shows.”

  Wolf smirked. “You’ll see a lot of stuff on a lot of shows, but trust me, real life is very different. I mean, if we had some paperclips or safety pins, it would be easy enough to make hooks. Unfortunately, I didn’t pack those along.”

  “What about bone?” Regan asked.

  “I don’t have any extra bones,” he said with a grin. “The ones I have, I want to keep in my body.”

  She smiled at his joke. “Fine, we try this and then we try the other way.”

  As it turned out, spearing fish wasn’t easy, especially when the fish were tiny. They worked at it for close to an hour with plenty of near misses, but got nowhere. Regan was losing hope she would get any dinner, but they all needed a little something. It would help boost morale and give them the strength they needed for tomorrow.

  “Can we please use the hook and line?” Regan asked. “This isn’t working. It’s dusk. Isn’t that when the fish are biting?”

  Wolf sighed. “May as well try. We need to move upriver a little, to where it’s a bit deeper.”

  Geno stomped up the bank, clearly angry they had been failing so miserably.

  “We’ll get something,” Regan said, hoping to calm the big guy down. “If not, Tabitha will have a nice salad waiting for us when we get back.”

  “I need meat,” he grumbled.

  Wolf pulled the line and hook out of the small Altoids container he’d carried for it. “I’m going to go out on that branch hanging over the water. I don’t want to fish off the bank. I’ll never catch anything.”

  “Why don’t we tie the fishing line to one of our spears and use it like a pole?” Geno suggested.

  “We could, but let’s try this way first. That branch goes out over the water, and you see all those bugs flying under the tree? That will bring the fish up for their evening meal,” Wolf pointed out.

  Geno sighed. “Whatever works. I need food.”

  “If I get a fish, I’ll pull the line up and swing it to the bank for you to grab,” he told them both.

  Regan nodded. “Got it.”

  “What about bait?” Geno asked.

  “That’s where you come in. Dig around under those leaves and turn over some rocks to look for grubs,” Wolf instructed.

  “Grubs!” Regan shrieked. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

  He laughed. “I wasn’t supposed to help you. I coached you and told you to switch bait, remember? You were the one who didn’t seem all that interested in learning.”

  “You’re lucky I found those plants to eat.”

  “We all had trouble,” Geno commented. “I managed to get a couple small fish before I lost my hook and line.”

  “Well, I’m pretty good at this, so sit back and watch the master,” Wolf offered, gesturing for them to take a seat on the bank.

  Regan and Geno exchanged a look before stepping away from the river’s edge and watching Wolf work.

  “Got one!” Wolf announced a split second before he yanked the fish up and swung it toward the bank. Geno reached out and grabbed the line, quickly removing the hook from the fish’s mouth.

  They repeated the process several times, each time only sparing
a couple of minutes for celebration.

  “Your turn,” Wolf said then, looking at Regan and scooting backwards off the thick branch.

  “Oh, I better not. I know I don’t have the knack for it. You’re doing fine,” she said, shaking her head.

  “No, you do it. This branch is going to give out. Geno’s too heavy. It’s up to you.”

  She sighed. “Fine, I’ll try.”

  He slid a grub onto the hook and handed it back to her. “Go for it.”

  She crawled out over the branch before she laid on her stomach and dropped the hook into the water, holding onto the thin line and praying she didn’t drop it. Geno had stepped into the water and was trying to use a spear not far from where she was fishing.

  “Shh,” she scolded him. “What are you doing? You’re going to scare all the fish away!”

  “I’m hungry. Like Wolf said earlier, this is going to take forever. I’m increasing our take,” he said in his usual loud, boisterous tone.

  She gritted her teeth together and tried to ignore the man. “I got one!” she whisper-shouted when she felt a sudden tug.

  Wolf nodded. “Okay, pull it up slow—make sure it’s hooked on the line.”

  She pulled the string up, felt the resistance, and smiled. “It’s on.”

  “Good, now swing it my way.”

  She held her breath and pulled the fish out of the water, swinging the line gently toward the bank where Wolf was waiting. It was a tiny little thing, and Wolf called it a mosquito fish, but it was a fish. Thankfully, they were abundant, because the two-inch long fish wasn’t exactly enough for a meal.

  After the first fish, she felt more confident. It wasn’t that hard. Tedious, but relatively easy. Of course, Geno stomping all around certainly didn’t help in her opinion.

  “It’s getting dark. We better get back,” Wolf said after she’d caught a few more, these being closer to the six-inch fish that Wolf had brought in.

  Regan slid off the branch and stared at the ground where the catch was laying; all of it piled together actually looked like a good haul. “That looks amazing. I’m so hungry,” she said, staring at the pile of twenty or so fish they had managed to catch.

  “Geno!” Wolf called. “Let’s go. Help me carry these fish back.”

  Regan handed him the fishing line and hook so that Wolf could store them back into the small tin he carried, which he slid into the pocket of his cargo pants, zipping it closed for security.

  Geno picked up several of the fish, cupping them in his shirt as he held it out to cradle them, Wolf taking the rest. When they walked back into camp, Tabitha jumped up and ran to meet them.

  “You got food!” she exclaimed.

  Geno was grinning as if he was the one who had hauled it all in. Fred hobbled over to check out the bounty.

  “I’ll clean them,” he offered.

  Regan handed him her knife. “Please be careful with it.”

  “I most definitely will. Thank you,” he said, taking the knife as if it were a fragile egg.

  “I made us some makeshift beds,” Tabitha said, waving her hand to piles of ferns on the ground.

  “Good, that will help keep some of the bugs from feasting on us tonight,” Wolf said.

  “We’ve filled up two of the water bottles so far with purified water. I didn’t use any of the tablets,” Tabitha said, holding out the bottles to Regan.

  “Thank God, I’m so thirsty.”

  Regan handed the second bottle to Wolf, who drank a little before handing it to Geno. The water tasted horrible, but knowing it was safe to drink was all that mattered.

  “I ran it through some clean gauze to help filter out some of the chunky bits and dirt,” Tabitha added.

  “Thank you. This is great. I’m going to grab some of those big leaves we saw to cook the fish in,” Wolf said, handing the bottle back to Tabitha. “Regan, can you help me?”

  “Sure.”

  The two of them walked off in the fading light to pull down some leaves.

  “You did a great job earlier,” Wolf said.

  “Thank you. I wish I could have gotten more fish. I don’t think Geno splashing around in the water helped. He scared them away,” she grumbled.

  Wolf chuckled. “He didn’t only scare away fish. He also kept the alligators away.”

  Regan stopped walking. “Oh. I didn’t even think of that.”

  Wolf smiled in return, shrugging. “We were fishing during prime feeding time. I didn’t want to stop because we were doing so well, but Geno’s antics were actually a good thing.”

  She nodded her head. “Next time, we stop early. I don’t want to be an alligator’s dinner.”

  Wolf laughed again, more easily than before. The tension she had felt all day had finally evaporated. They all seemed to be more at peace, she realized, and had found their stride as a group. She knew it was probably short-lived, but that was okay with her. It was good enough for now.

  11

  Regan and Wolf were making their way back to the camp in near darkness when Wolf suddenly stopped walking.

  “What? What is it?” she asked, made nervous by the change in his demeanor.

  Wolf dropped to a squat and carefully moved around some dead foliage on the ground. Regan stared at the ground, trying to see what it was that had him on guard. It was too dark for her to see anything obvious, and he didn’t answer her, freaking her out even more.

  “What are you looking at?” she whispered.

  “It looks like we have something big roaming about,” he answered without looking up from the ground.

  “Something big?”

  “Yes. There are tracks here. Looks like a cat,” he muttered.

  “A cat? Like, as in, ‘here, kitty kitty’?” she asked hopefully.

  He stood up and looked at her. “Not quite a housecat, Regan. More like a large, dangerous panther.”

  “A panther?” she breathed out. “I thought they were on the endangered list?”

  He shrugged. “They’re rare, yes, but they’re still out here. We need to be careful.”

  “Be careful! Isn’t that what we’ve been doing? Snakes, spiders, alligators, and now panthers? What’s next?” she demanded even as he rose to stand beside her.

  “Relax, we’ll have someone stay on watch all night. We have those spears we made earlier. We can use those to defend ourselves if necessary, and we’ll make sure the fire stays lit, which will help.”

  Regan knew he was right, but still felt less than safe. Each minute that went by made her hate the swamp more. She was never going to visit another swamp in her life. She was moving to Arizona or somewhere completely dry. If she ever saw another boggy river in her life, it would be too soon.

  Together, they walked back into camp with the leaves they’d gathered. Fred had finished cleaning the fish, and Geno and Tabitha seemed to have made up. They were huddled together and acting like their normal selves.

  “Let’s get these cooked up!” Wolf announced as he placed the leaves down near the fish.

  Tabitha looked at Regan, then Wolf. The woman was not easily fooled. She could see the stress on their faces.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  Regan looked at Wolf for guidance. Did they tell the others or keep the information to themselves? Keeping secrets was her thing, but if she were in Tabitha’s shoes, she’d want to know. It was more dangerous to keep the information from the others, wasn’t it? They were in this together… at least, that’s what they kept telling her.

  Wolf took a deep breath, but then looked around and made sure he had everyone’s attention. “We need to have someone keep watch throughout the night.”

  “Why?” Geno asked. “Is there someone out there?”

  Wolf shook his head. “Not a someone. I think there could be a panther in the area. The tracks looked fresh. We may have scared it off, but I don’t want to take any chances. We’ll build up the fire before we sleep, and hopefully whoever stays on watch won’t have anything t
o watch for. Let’s eat and then get to bed.”

  Tabitha, Fred, and Geno got busy cooking the fish under Wolf’s direction as Regan stood by and kept a watch out in the woods. Because the fish were so small, it only took a few minutes to cook them in small batches. Regan and Wolf decided they would wait to eat, preferring to check the area to make sure there weren’t any further signs of a panther being brought in by the smell of cooked meat.

  “Save us some,” Wolf ordered, when Fred checked the first batch for doneness.

  He nodded his head, popping a small morsel into his mouth and smiling. “Perfect.”

  Geno didn’t wait to be offered his share, and quickly jumped up to sample the meal. The smile said it all, but Regan still preferred to wait to eat until she knew it was safe.

  “Should we set up some kind of alarm system?” Regan asked as they moved back into the surrounding growth.

  “It would be nice, but I don’t know how we could do it,” he said.

  “Maybe we could ask Fred. He’s full of ideas,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

  Wolf shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt to ask.”

  She looked around the area as they moved, trying to think outside the box, but came up empty.

  “It’s too soft out here,” she complained. “Nothing is dry. We won’t hear anything coming.”

  “We’re going to be okay,” he said in a low voice. “We stay vigilant.”

  “I’m holding you to that. If I get killed by a panther, I am going to be extremely mad,” she teased him suddenly.

  He chuckled. “You and me both.”

  She didn’t let herself think too hard about his comment as they continued circumnavigating the camp. They arrived back at the fire only to find that the others had already put themselves to bed.

  “Your fish are next to the fire, wrapped in leaves to keep them warm,” Tabitha said, propping herself up on her elbows.

  “Thank you,” Regan and Wolf said in unison.

  “I guess it’s us,” Regan whispered.

  He nodded. “We’ll eat and then you better get to sleep.”

  She shook her head as they sat by the fire. “I don’t think I’ll be sleeping at all.”