Madix
We have exactly one tent, three sleeping bags, some canned food, a box of MRE’s, flint, a pot, canisters of gasoline, ammo, dog food, a tarp, rope, the clothes that we packed, and the letter we forgot that Sheriff April gave us to give to Remi. She glared at it for a minute, like somehow it was going to bite her if she touched it, but eventually, she just snatched it out of Brant’s hands and shoved it into the back pocket of her cutoffs. We’re at a higher elevation now, and the air is cooling more and more as the sun dips further towards the horizon, so her cutoff shorts are definitely not weather appropriate, but hell if I’m going to suggest she change. Her legs look too damn good, even if they are attached to a whole lotta crazy.
“Okay, we’re not going to be able to carry all of this, so let’s prioritize what we need,” I announce.
“Food, water, the tent and sleeping bags, ammo, the tarp, and the rope should come in handy. We can cut back on the clothes we bring to make room for the heavier stuff like the food and dog food,” Theo suggests.
“We honestly don’t need the food,” Remi chimes in, and we all turn to look at her. It’s clear by the expressions that the other guys are giving her that they think her suggestion is just as ludicrous as I do. “I can hunt,” she insists. “I’m guaranteed to get squirrels and some rabbits, but there’s always fish if there’s a stream nearby and even bigger game if we’re lucky, like elk or deer. There’s no point carrying all the heavy cans of food or those nasty MRE’s when I can get us fresh meat and maybe even some veggies every night. Just sayin,” Remi concludes.
I stare at her for a couple of seconds before dumping my pack of clothes in the back of the totaled SUV and start filling the now empty bag with cans of food. Remi rolls her eyes at me and shakes her head.
“No offense, but I’ll take...” I turn the can I’m currently holding in my hand to read the label. “Bean and bacon soup oversquirrelany day.”
“Suit yourself,” she replies, her tone light and nonchalant. “But you don’t know what you’re missing with fresh meat.”
She reaches for the duffle that Theo finishes packing for her and opens it to start investigating the contents. The guys begin to empty their bags and fill them with the items that seem like the biggest priority. I divide the pack of water bottles between the four of us and grab the few empty bottles rolling around the back that we can fill up.
Remi unbuttons her shorts and then proceeds to slide them down her long, smooth legs. Without preamble, she bends over, giving me a nice view of her ass, and stays that way as she unties her shoes. All three of us are stuck frozen, watching the view and appreciating the black panties that cover her luscious ass cheeks.
Once she gets her boots off, Remi snags a pair of black leggings and pulls them on. When she stands back up, she looks over and catches the three of us gawking at her. A sweet smile sweeps across her lips, and then she turns back to what she’s doing and pulls on a pair of olive-green cargo pants.
“Good thing I was mostly packed,” she tells me pointedly. “If I didn’t have my favorite pants with me, we would’ve had a problem. I take these on all my favorite adventures,” she says as she buttons the fly.
I watch as she attaches a leg holster to her belt loop and pulls out a Glock. She checks the weapon over, gives a satisfied humph, and then secures the gun to her thigh holster. Then she digs into her duffel, finds a rifle, and slings that over her shoulder. The whole look suits her. When she glances up and catches me still watching her, I quickly look away.
The guys and I layer up with clothing for the impending cold that we can all feel creeping quickly into the air, and Brant puts a long sleeve shirt on Puddles to try and keep her nice and toasty. Her fur coat is her best line of defense, but I never say anything when it comes to Brant and the way he dotes on Pud.
The guys and I carefully pick through our bags, packing only the essentials, and I make sure we have plenty of water and food that isn’t too heavy to carry. I keep just one more pair of pants, two more socks, two shirts. The rest of the clothes, I ditch. I make sure everyone has water, and Brant carries extra for Puddles. It’ll be heavy, but we have to make sure we have plenty of water in case we don’t find a source. If it rains, we can always use the containers to catch the rainwater, but we can’t count on it.
Theo makes sure we all have a pair of rubber gloves and masks, just in case, and I pack the first aid kit in my bag, along with some extra ammo. When we’re all packed, Remi hoists her bag over her shoulder, and I frown when I see that it’s half empty. “You can carry more than that, can’t you?”
“Don’t need to,” she says with a shrug. “I told you, I’ll set traps and hunt wild game. It’s what I’ve done the entire time I’ve been up on the mountain. I have extra clothes, ammo, and water. That’s all I need. I don’t need to be weighed down with cans of food,” she tells me with a willful expression.
“If you don’t manage to catch anything, then that means you’ll have to dip into the reserves that we packed, which is fine, but four packs of food are better than three. You should grab at least a few things.”
She straightens her shoulders and lifts her chin to a stubborn tilt. I cross my arms and widen my stance. We stare each other down, and I don’t know what I want to do more; shake her until she gets some sense and listens to me, or grab her by the ass and fuck her against the nearest tree. Why does she get my blood pumping so goddamn hard?
“If you need help carrying your unnecessarily heavy bag, I’m happy to come to your rescue. You just say the word. But I’m not going to make things harder on myself by lugging around shit we don’t need.”
“Stop being so stubborn,” I snap.
“Stop being so bossy,” she volleys back.
Theo looks between us and rolls his eyes as he grabs the cage where the opossum and rats are still sleeping soundly inside. “Can you two not argue right now? Madix, let her do her thing. Remi, you know it turns him on when you get all challenging and shit. Stop teasing the poor guy.”
I blink in surprise and cut my glare to a grinning Theo. “Shut the fuck up.”
He holds up his hands and starts walking, while Brant ignores the entire thing and studies a watch/compass and the map that Sheriff April provided us with. “Alright, let’s get going. We’re losing daylight.”
Remi looks over Brant’s shoulder for a minute. “There’s a stream a bit north from here,” she announces, and falls into step with Theo as we all start to move out. “I think we can hit it before dark, and we can camp there and refill our water reserves. There should be plenty of game trails down that way, too.”
“We should follow the road,” I insist.
“But my way will be faster,” she argues.
I huff out a sound of annoyance as I take up the rear behind Remi. It’s not so that I can watch her ass as she walks. Nope. Definitely not.
“Like the view, Mady?” Remi says over her shoulder, catching me. I quickly wrench my eyes up. Dammit.
