CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
On Monday afternoon, Jessica swung her backpack over her shoulder and pulled the front door shut behind her. Ethan’s red Jeep idled in the driveway. She drew in a breath and smiled. Getting lost in the woods with Mark tonight sounded a little bit scary and a whole lot exhilarating. Maybe it was crazy, but she couldn’t wait. It had been almost a week since her “sibling intervention,” and she was starting to think Bren and Nicole were on to something with their plan for her and Mark.
“You know you don’t have to go to this much trouble to get him in the sack,” Ethan said from the driver’s seat, grinning at her.
She shot Mark a look, but he kept his eyes straight ahead. No way he’d spilled the dirt on their relationship, which meant Gabby must have done the honors. So much for keeping things under wraps, but after her conversation with Nicole and Brennan, she wasn’t sure she cared. “No sacks where we’re going, Ethan. Get your mind out of the gutter.” She winked at him as she climbed into the backseat of the Jeep.
Ethan laughed himself silly while Mark remained stony-faced. Jessica just shook her head as she buckled her seatbelt. They drove out of Haven, not so far from the spot she and Mark had camped beneath the stars to watch the meteor shower. Ethan guided the Jeep down a dirt road that became little more than two tire ruts in the earth, pulling to a stop when they reached the end.
“Have fun, kids,” Ethan said. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Mark shot him a look before stepping out of the Jeep. Jessica climbed out of the back, slinging her backpack over her shoulders. Mark had brought a pack of his own, larger than hers and with a tent rolled beneath.
“Isn’t that cheating?” she asked as they stood there, watching Ethan drive away.
He shook his head. “Many hikers who get lost have basic camping supplies. We’ll go over how to build a shelter, but we’ll be sleeping in the tent tonight.”
“Okay.” She wasn’t going to argue about spending the night in a tent with Mark versus lying on a bed of leaves and sticks. “So how does this work?”
“Well, we’re going to operate as though we’re lost hikers, more or less, although I’ll know where we are the whole time, and I’ve got a sat phone in my pack that could bring the cavalry our way should we need it for any reason.”
“That’s good to know.”
“So the first thing we’d want to do in any version of this scenario is take stock of our supplies.” He set his backpack on the ground. “I’ll also go over a few things that are helpful to have, things you might not usually keep with you, but after you’ve spent the night roughing it without them, you’ll remember to pack in case you ever face this scenario in real life.”
“Okay.” She crouched beside him, watching with interest as he went over all the things he had packed—and she wasn’t sad to discover he’d brought food for them either. She hadn’t exactly been looking forward to foraging for leaves and berries for dinner.
“One thing you always want to keep in your backpack is a compass,” he said, holding his up. “And make sure you know how to read it.”
“I know how to read a compass.”
“You’d be surprised how many people don’t. It’s easy to get turned around out here. If you’ve got a compass, you can at least keep yourself walking in a straight line. What you don’t want to do is wander around in circles while search and rescue are trying to track you. Generally, you want to locate a water source—which is never too far away out here—make shelter, then stay put and wait for rescue.”
Jessica nodded. “Got it.”
“I’ve packed us enough water for the trip, but we’re going to start by searching for water because if this were real, you wouldn’t know how long you’re going to be out here. Now where do you think we should look?” He paused and looked up at her.
“Um.” She looked around. Aside from the barely visible path Ethan had taken to drop them here, all she could see were trees in every direction. Dense trees, and lots of them. “We could look for someplace with better visibility, like a hillside. Or climb a tree.”
“Good thinking,” he said. “And be on the lookout for the type of terrain where you find water, often a ravine or a valley. Also worth mentioning, always tell someone before you go hiking. Let them know where you’re going and when you expect to be back. If no one knows where you are, no one’s going to come looking for you.”
“Right.” She followed him into the woods, cringing inwardly as she thought of how often she struck out alone in these woods without telling anyone. With the dizziness and other problems she’d been having lately, she needed to put an end to that practice.
“If no one’s looking for you, and you’re not in a well-hiked area, then staying put probably isn’t your best option. You want to find water and follow it. Streams and rivers always flow downhill, and people tend to build stuff near them so chances are, if you keep following the stream, you’re going to find help sooner or later.”
“Makes sense,” she said.
Mark kept talking, pointing things out as they walked. He showed her deer tracks that might indicate they were near a water source and what kind of vegetation to look for.
“Are we going to eat any of this stuff?” she asked with a smile, fingering a leafy bush as she walked past.
“The best rule of thumb out here is that if you aren’t one hundred percent sure what it is, you shouldn’t eat it. You can survive a long time without food, and you can cause a lot more harm than good when you start foraging for yourself. But yeah”—he turned and gave her a smile—“I can show you what to eat if you want to be adventurous.”
“I do,” she answered without hesitation. Both on this excursion and with Mark. She was counting on tonight bringing them closer, in more ways than one. He’d been distant the last few days, spending more and more time out here in the woods by himself. Maybe coming out here with him today would help her better understand this side of him. They walked on, crunching through the thick bed of fallen leaves. The air was crisp and cool today, and she was comfortable in her fleece jacket and knit hat.
Mark stopped. “Listen.”
She did. The wind rustled through branches overhead, and a bird squawked somewhere nearby. But there in the background…the faint babbling of…
