Chapter 7
BPOV
Early the next morning, I just laid still letting Sofia sleep a little longer while I thought of what we should do today. I thought the first thing we should do is go hunt. It would allow us to walk around the area a little more but I could also teach Sofia some things; even though she didn't have a weapon to really hunt with I could at least show her some traps and game trails. With that plan in mind I woke her up and we set off into the woods; this time going north, then I planned to circle around toward the west and back to the house. Within the first few minutes I came to a stop and turned to Sofia "When you're walking, try to walk heel to toe in a slow rolling forward motion. Bend your knees like this and give it a try." She started doing it and was doing ok for wearing some pretty shitty tennis shoes that seemed a little too small for her, except she kept looking at her feet. "You got to keep your head on a swivel and look around you all the time, not looking down where you're going to put your foot next. You plan ahead as you observe the ground in your path. If there's a stick you don't want to step on, try to pace it out in your steps so you can avoid it without actually looking down. That way you're always aware of what's around you instead of being distracted by your feet. We need to try and find you some new shoes, preferably a decent pair of boots; it will help a lot with staying quiet. Go ahead and practice, don't worry about it you don't get it right away. I've had lots of practice and that's all it will take for you is some practice; well and a decent pair of shoes, are those hurting your feet?" I asked; they looked way too small for her, I bet she dreaded putting those suckers on in the morning. She nodded her head slightly, "These are the only shoes I had back at home", she hesitated and told me "They aren't too bad; you don't have to waste time looking for shoes for me." Ugh this kid, either too concerned with finding her group or worried about putting me out by having to scavenge for her. I was banking on the latter, not that she didn't want to find her group; but she reminded me of my old self, too selfless to care about her own needs if it put anyone else out. Plus I know she was lying out her ass about those shoes not hurting her feet. "Sofia, I'm going to say this once ok, and I hope you realize it's the truth. I wouldn't have said something if I didn't mean to follow through with it. Now I can't guarantee we will find something that fits you but I do intend to look. Even after we get you back to your group, you'll still need new shoes, so we might as well look while we're out and about anyways. Also, don't pull that selfless shi… uh.. stuff with me; I know exactly what you're doing because I used to be the same way. You're worried about putting me out by having to look for some shoes when that's not the case at all. I want to look for them to make things better for you; it's not a hassle for me. We need to look for supplies when we pass somewhere suitable anyway. You got to tell me when you have a problem Sofia. We need to be a team. It's important for me to be able to help you. Having proper footwear is a must now days, especially if you need to run for a long time. I catch you wincing every now and then; not to mention your laces look like they are about to burst. Help me help you, I'm not a mind reader you know" I cringed at my own reference, thinking about Edward's gift. She seemed a little embarrassed I called her out on it, but I needed to address this now instead of later. So I continued on, "Please Sofia, you have to open your mouth and let me know when something is up. I'm not going to get upset if that's what you're worried about. If anything, I am kind of relieved to have some sort of task to accomplish, and someone nice to talk to. I've been alone for a while now so I might now be that great at conversation but you are never bothering me. If you have a question, ask it. If you need to stop and take a break, just say so. We can be a good team Sofia, but we have to communicate. Ok?" "Yes" she answered me confidently. "OK, so is there anything else bothering you that I should know?" I asked, raising my brows. She looked down for a few seconds, but then looked back up to me, " I kind of have an itchy spot, maybe a rash, under my arm. It's starting to get sore." She answered quietly lifting her shirt slightly. After looking around and checking our surroundings, I bent down to take a look. I could tell it was fungal. I bet she has been wearing those clothes for a while and her little dip in the creek didn't help matters; her clothes probably had small traces of mold growing in them causing the rash. Looking around again, I took off my pack and pulled out the small first aid kit I carried with me all the time. Taking an alcohol wipe I cleaned the area; then I took an aspirin and crushed it in the lid of my canteen, adding a few drops of water to make a paste. I then scrubbed the entire area with the paste, letting it kill some of the fungi. While we were out, we needed to find some fungal cream, either hydrocortisone or something for athlete's foot would even work. We would also need to find a few sets of clothes for Sofia or some vinegar to sanitize the ones she has on now. Turning back to face her, I let her know what it was, "You have a small fungal rash. I'm glad you told me this soon so it doesn't get any worse and we can fix it. We just need to find you some more clothes before it starts to spread to other parts of your body." "What's wrong with my clothes?" she asked looking down at them. "Well, they are probably growing more mold right now. You have probably been sweating in them for a few days, yea?" She nodded. "And then you were also soaking wet when I found you; then we just set them out to dry instead of washing them. It's like a greenhouse for bacteria to grow, the warm humid areas. Don't worry, I was already planning on finding you some more clothes to wear, and if we cant find any, we need to look for a bottle of vinegar." I said, sharing what I could so she could prevent the same thing from happening in the future. We started to walk again; I cracked a smile as she started practicing walking like told her without me even having to remind her. How could her group not see the potential she had to learn these types of things? Not to mention how dire of a need it was for her continued survival. She was doing very well for someone just starting. She turned and looked over at me, seeming to think about what she was going to say before asking "How do you know all this stuff? What did you use to do before?" I was surprised she asked as blunt as she did, not that I wasn't expecting her to ask, but I thought she would skirt around the subject for a while before coming out with it. I was glad she felt comfortable enough to ask. "Well, a little over a year ago, I was just finishing high school. I didn't know what I wanted to do yet, but my friend Alice, the girl with the short black hair from the picture you saw, encouraged me to keep busy. She wanted me to enroll in an EMT course, and at first it was terrible. I used to faint at the sight of blood." She gave me a shocked disbelieving look, so I continued on "Yea it's true. I also used to be accident prone and ended up in the hospital more than I care to count. I could trip over a flat surface. I eventually got over the blood thing after a few incidents in class, I set my mind to it and I finish my certification at the top of my class. I had also enrolled in some classes to learn about plants in North America. I was just trying to fill my time since I hadn't picked a major for college yet. I used to want to be a writer but after graduation I just seemed to lose interest. One week, Alice got this brilliant idea to go to a prepper's type survival camp for some girl bonding time… Oh, it was terrible. I had already known how to shoot my bow, but hunting was something that took me a while to figure out.. I threw up at least three times trying to prepare my first rabbit." I admitted feeling a little embarrassed. She laughed a little about that and kept on smiling as she walked.
We had ended up searching a couple of the houses we came across. I showed Sofia how to properly clear a house before looking for supplies. She did really well, though I killed any of the dead we came across. I would have to let her try to do it herself soon, it was an important thing to be able to do. She seemed willing to try, but it was me that was holding her back. I'll admit, I was terrified for her, but I needed to get over it and get on with the teaching. We had found quite a bit of stuff, I had even found a small pack for Sofia so she could have some of her own supplies. Dividing the food between the packs, me taking the heavier things, I made sure she had some first aid stuff as well. She had even found some clothes and another pair of tennis shoes that fit her. They weren't boots but they were way better than what she had. I had her go ahead and change so she could get rid of those moldy clothes. Since she had found more than one set of replacements, we just tossed the old ones. We still hadn't found any sign of her group yet, nor had anyone happened upon us. On the way back to the house, I pointed out how to identify some game trails on the ground and what type markings were left on the ground. I pointed out where a deer had been through recently, probably running because some branches where broken in its path. We picked some berries' and I had managed to get two squirrels. Sofia didn't look enthused about my catch, but meat was meat. I showed her how to set a couple snares as well and the proper locations to try. She seemed to absorb the information like a sponge. We would check them first thing in the morning. After dinner we both washed the best we could with some buckets of water from the tub. I told her tomorrow we would stop at the creek at some point for a real bath. She needed to be able to fully wash to make sure she got rid of that fungus and kept it away. I showed her how to apply some cortisone cream we had found earlier that day, and put it back into her medical kit so she could continue treatment. We had had a pretty busy day and after listening to my iPod for a while, she fell into a deep sleep. I got up once more to check the perimeter and then passed out as well.
This Chapter was a little slow, but I promise the next one will have some action in it. I just wanted to make sure Sofia has some survival skills and you could witness some of their bonding. The next chapter might have two different POV's, still undecided. I feel like this might have slowed the story down too much, was this just an unnecessary chapter? Let me know what you think.