Mara shrugged. The night was moonless, black, and the dark pressed from all sides. The fire’s glow a small and flickering ring.

“Maybe we can take shifts,” James said. “Sitting up and keeping guard.”

“I’m not worried about it. I’m going back to sleep.”

He didn’t respond.

Mara lay down, but she watched James for a while. She wished he would relax. He made her more nervous than the darkness did. When she closed her eyes she could still see him, alert and silhouetted. In her dreams, he sat there all night.

6

On the second morning, Lenny came singing. Mara heard his voice from a distance and the crash of the crew that followed. Their footsteps seemed unnaturally heavy, until she remembered that the crew wore boots while the survivors were basically barefoot. As if animals weren’t already avoiding them; as if there was any possibility of sneaking up on prey. Not that hunting was Mara’s specialty, or that she had a weapon prepared, but she imagined she’d have a chance if the crew weren’t blasting a parade through the whole forest. Lenny was still whistling when he reached the fire.

“Guys,” he said. “Listen. Normally I won’t help you like this, so don’t get used to it. But I have a tip for you.”

It was cramped in the lean-to, and Mara needed to stretch, but she didn’t want to touch the others. She crawled onto the damp grass.

“You know that mountain there?” said Lenny. The survivors did, of course, but he waited until they looked before he continued. He didn’t just expect attention, Mara thought, but performance. In every way.

“One of the guys did some scouting,” Lenny said. “And you’ll never guess what he found.”

“What did he find?” said Kyle.

“Alpine strawberries. A whole slope of them, just ripe. And it’s supposed to be clear all day. Consider this information a gift from me to you.”

“I’ll go,” said James. “Is that all right? Can I go?”

Mara couldn’t tell who he was asking. She was already thinking about the taste of berries.

“Maybe there should be two of you,” said Lenny.

“I’ll go with him,” said Ashley.

“It’s farther than it looks,” said Kyle. “I don’t know if it’s worth the calories.”

“Not everything is about calories,” said Ashley. “Some things are about fun.”

If Mara said that, Kyle would be defensive. But with Ashley he just grinned.

“We can scout along the way,” said James. “Get a real sense of the area. It’ll be useful.”

“You should bring the pot,” Mara said. There was a silence, as if she’d said something confusing. “The pot of water. I mean, Ashley, I know it’s yours. But you should bring it to drink from. The rest of us can go without.”

“It’s not really mine,” she said. “We’re sharing our tools, right?”

Bullfrog sniffed.

The pot had a little broth left from the night before, just a slosh in the bottom, murky with ashes. Mara drank it in one gulp. “That’s good for me,” she said. “I’ll boil more water, and Kyle and Bullfrog can drink it. And then I’ll boil one more for you to bring with you. Give me forty minutes.”