Chapter 12: Hicks Can Have Good Ideas, Too
Being stuck in the woods with Ellis wasn't that bad. He had a good idea with the sticks and leaves. Don't get it confused though, Nick could have thought of that too; but the kid was quick on the draw with this one.
The "Burrow", as Ellis calls it; wasn't as bad as Nick originally thought it would be. It was big enough for the both of them to crawl in and lay down comfortably. The floor being a heap of dead leaves. Not the softest thing around, but it sure beats sleeping on snow.
The roof was a canopy of branches. It was difficult to figure this part out at first, being there no string or supplies to keep items held together in their packs. Yet again, Ellis thought quickly; breaking off all newly, not yet fully grown branches from the trees. The kid could climb. Though it was a bit annoying having to dodge the falling branches. They were hard to break, green and flexible on the inside. They used pocketknives to carefully split the sticks into many green stringy bits; using that to tie the sticks together for the roof.
Next on our list was a fire. They would need it for food and heat. The two then set out to find rocks hidden under piles of snow. Using these to form a circles around the fire, keeping the flames from spreading. They gathered up enough leaves and sticks to keep the fire going through the night. Nick and Ellis sat around the fire for a while, just talking. The conman heard all kinds of stories about Ellis, his family, and that damn Keith. Though the hick wasn't the only one speaking this time. Nick would chime in with the occasional comment or short story of his own; always being sure not to divulge too much information to the other.
The night eventually faded into a calm quiet, Ellis long went off to rest up for when he had look-out. The sky was clear over Nicks head. He sat on a log by the fire. The trees branches making a perfect opening, revealing all the stars and the blackness of the night. A few critters would skitter along dead leaves, a cricket would chirp, or the fire would crack and pop. Other than that there was a dead, unsettling silence.
Nick soon got that cold, lonely feeling that he was long since used to being on his own. The kind that made your chest tighten up, feeling almost empty. His eyes were trained to the fire as if the flames would lap out and scoop him up at any moment. times like these made him think. He hated that. It also made him forget. forget all the horrible things hes done, all the things he had saw. But that one troubling thought stayed glued to the back of his brain. Was there really any hope left in the world. Was there really a way out? Or were they all just trying to postpone the inevitable. The fact that they were all really damned.