A/N: Krys, the story's complete and I'm posting one chapter a day.
Daniel came out of his reverie and found that he was at the oasis. He dragged the stretcher out of the wadi and found a slightly raised area about fifty feet away from the edge of the gulley that was fairly clear of rocks and cactus. He set the stretcher down carefully and checked on Arwen. She was still out. He knew it was time to wake her and get some more water into her. He went through the routine with the canteen and the condom again until she had finished all the water along with a couple more antibiotics and aspirin for the fever.
He sat and drank the rest of the water in his canteen and then stood. He walked down to the oasis and filled both canteens again, wishing for something larger so he could make fewer trips. Maybe when he captured an animal he could make a water bag from the skin.
His next priority was to make a shelter up here. He knew they'd be cooler down by the oasis, but he'd seen a desert flash flood come with only a few seconds warning. Everything in the wadi could be washed away in minutes and he didn't intend to take that chance.
He began looking around for branches long enough to use as roof supports. He wanted to leave the poles in the stretcher alone just in case it was needed again. He quickly found a dozen branches that were about 10-12 feet long. He could frame a round hut and tie them together at the center, fasten more poles at right angles to those, creating a framework to which he could attach palm branches. He gathered all the material he thought he'd need over the next hour and began constructing the hut, tying it all together with fishing line that was in his survival kit.
He stopped every hour to give Arwen water and to eat a couple of times during the night. What he wouldn't give for a good pot of coffee right now. Even instant would be great.
Day 3
By the time the sky began to lighten with the oncoming dawn, Daniel had completed the hut. It was about ten feet in diameter and not quite tall enough for him to stand up straight in the center, but it would provide shade from the sun. He retrieved the backpacks and dragged Arwen into the hut just before the sun peaked over the hills in the distance.
Daniel looked at his watch. Seventeen hour long nights. Wow, that means the days are thirty-one hours long! It also meant that he'd been working almost non-stop for seventeen hours. His muscles screamed at him to go lay down someplace and let them rest. He checked Arwen one more time, gave her some more water and another morphine tablet. Next time he woke up he'd need to see if she could eat something. It had been almost two days since she'd eaten. He laid out his sleeping bag and collapsed on it, exhausted.
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Daniel woke up, looked at his watch, and was amazed that he'd slept almost ten hours. He glanced over at Arwen and saw that she hadn't moved again all day. It was still bright daylight and Daniel figured it would be about four more hours before the sun set. He decided to get her to drink some water and then let her sleep until dark.
He began the now familiar routine with the canteen and condom, splashing some water on her face and t-shirt, still trying to get her temperature down. He gave her a couple more aspirin and antibiotic pills and let her slide back down to deep sleep.
He decided to inventory their supplies so they could ration food until he could begin catching some of the local small animals. He dumped everything out from both packs in a pile and rummaged through. His Berretta with several clips, his digital camera with extra batteries and cards, two medical kits, two small emergency kits – kept in their pants pockets in case they became separated from their backpacks – enough MREs for two weeks – he also had several energy bars and she had a couple of chocolate candy bars – two sleeping bags, two spools of fishing line (one partly used to build the hut), one Swiss Army knife – a present from Sam one birthday – several empty journals each, various pens and pencils, reference books, archeological equipment for a dig – just a few things – two mess kits, one small cooking grill, two Bowie knives, one small pot for boiling water, soap, shampoo, razors, several extra large handkerchiefs, and two changes of clothes each.
They were in pretty good shape if she would get well. She'd been asleep now for most of three days and he was really getting worried. He put things back in the packs, leaving out the medical supply kits and one journal. He began to write about what had happened during the past few days when he'd been too busy or too tired to write.