Andrew resheathed his knife and ran towards his previously thought dead brother. He wanted to give him a big hug, but Jonathan put his hand up as if to caution against further approach.
“Wait, little brother, I think I hear something. Wait right there. “
Andrew didn't hear anything, but trusted his brother, writing it off as if it was the excitement distracting his senses.
“ I ain't hear nothin’ watcha on about?”
“Think I hear a wolf,” Jonathan explained. “Reckon ya oughta head back to your camp and get that deer there back with ya.”
“Wait, you know about my camp?” Andrew asked with a sudden sense of suspicion.
“I know what I taught ya, and you ain't made it out here this long without one. There's no time right now, get goin’”
“You know where to go?” Andrew questioned.
Jonathan pointed to the ground behind the sled.
“ You ain't gonna be hard to track down. Go, I'll head it off,” he assured his younger brother before showing off his 8 inch massive hunting knife. “GO!”
Without another word, Andrew turned around and ran towards his sled, grabbing it by its straps. If there was a wolf nearby, he would be a prime target, and he had to get as far away from there as fast as possible. After about ten minutes of rushed jogging, he felt confident enough that his brother had done his job well. The only hope then was that Jonathan would find the blood trail before the snow covered its trail, or before it became too dark.
Before he knew it, nighttime had fallen, and the fear had become full on dread after having not heard anything from Jonathan so far. Even worse, Andrew failed to put a marker indicating which was the safe route across the lake. This would have been fine if it were still daytime, but the dark made it hard to tell, and there was little sense in risking too wide of a territory. Too many broken points in the ice and it would eventually become impossible to cross at all.
Taking his sweet time, Andrew moved as cautiously as possible to avoid being surprised by the existing cracking in the ice. He wished it were safe to even USE a flashlight if he even had one, but that would put him at too much a risk. Of course it would make the task of helping Jonathan find his campsite without being able to see the trail of blood, but if anyone from the lab were looking for him, it would be a beacon of doom for Andrew AND Jonathan.
Fortune, however, was not on his side this evening. It seemed that Andrew had gotten a bit too close to the previous crack in the frozen lake. The telltale sounds of ice breaking inspired Andrew to move with all his available energy across the ice in the same way he managed to move last night. He had considered himself lucky that the only consequence of this mistake was that there was now a giant hope on the sheet of ice covering the frozen waters below. Waters that Andrew hoped never to experience.
Having crossed the lake, managing not to have a heart attack, Andrew made a mental note not to forget to mark the opposite side next time he left camp. He even made a point to gather rocks to remind himself not to cross from that side again. Andrew knew that, the more marks he left, the more likely he was to be found by those psychos back at the lab. That didn't matter. At least, no more than him surviving long enough to move farther away from home.
Halfway back to his cave, Andrew heard the same animal noises he heard last night, except they were closer. Louder and more aggressive. This inspired a sprint and a quick embrace of his knife. He watched every corner of his route looking for a sign of the animal, but he couldn't figure out where it was coming from or what it was. The truth was, as many survival tricks his brother showed him, Andrew had never experienced much of the Great Outdoors.
Once he arrived at his campsite, Andrew turned around and expected to have to fight for his life. To his relief, he heard no more noises from any animals. Just the usual sounds of the night. Deciding that the dangers were past for now, he started his routine of getting today's haul ready for bleeding. Fortunately, much of the blood had been drained on the way to camp, so the trough was not as full as it could have been. This would help to avoid that animal coming to find his cave.
Andrew spent the next half hour hanging the deer to bleed out, skinning the hares from last night, and cooking the hares. He hadn't expected Jonathan to be alive, much less here in this neck of the woods. Still, the fear that Jonathan might not find the campsite was inspiration enough to explore the woods across the lake to try to find him again. No getting around the fact.
Another hour had passed, and still no sign of Jonathan. The idea to go out and look for him crossed Andrew's mind, but the fact that it was snowing was clue enough to understand that someone as survival savvy as Jonathan would be shocked up somewhere he already knew because he would have known to expect the snow. Always was the smart one in those subjects. Eventually, Andrew decided to go to bed.
Morning arrived, and Andrew barely remembered finishing his tasks from the night before. All he could remember was the idea of seeing his brother again. An idea that was not fulfilled. Still, that meant that he had a hare to eat for breakfast, and he would be able to cut off a small chunk of the deer to prepare for lunch. Half for him, and half for Jonathan.
It was about 1500 Hours by the time lunch was prepared, which did not give Andrew much time before night would fall. Still, he knew he had to try. Jonathan was the only brother who stuck around, since their oldest brother, William, had moved to go to a job out of town.
Andrew never blamed him for this, but he would have appreciated having help around the farm after having given up his baseball career to take care of his father. To make matters worse, his father went on to work with William, which left Andrew doing even more work around the farm. “So much for personal goals,” he always told himself, bitterly.
After a safe journey through the woods, despite the constant worry for something to attack him, he arrived at the frozen lake. He had to spend some time clearing snow away to find the markers he had in place, but he eventually found them. From there, he stuck to a direct route across the lake and relished in the fact that he didn't have to bring the sled this trip.
While he was crossing the ice, he heard splashing coming from the water to his right, where the hole in the ice sheet was. Knowing the risks, he had to rush that direction and see if it was Jonathan splashing around. It didn't take but a few strides for him to realize that the source of the splashing, as well as the noise the last two nights, was a brown bear. A brown bear that now had its life in danger.
Andrew knew that there was no way he had the strength to pull a bear out of the water, but that was a detail he hadn't even considered until he was already safe at shore. Besides, even if he could, it was likely that the bear would eat him if he managed to get it out of the water.
Once he came to grips with himself,he wandered a short distance away from the shore and called out for Jonathan every five minutes. He continued this process for about three hours after night had fallen, and was finally prepared to call off his efforts. After making his way towards the lake, he was surprised to find Jonathan at the shore, with a frustrated look on his face.
“This is where you've been? This where you been hidin’ out?” Jonathan demanded from his brother.
“Been workin’ out for me well enough, given what you taught me an’ all that,” Andrew replied curtly, proud of what he'd accomplished based on what he'd been shown.
“Guess I outta see whatcha got goin’ on before I judge too harsh. C'mon now. Show me whatcha got.”
Andrew was taken aback by his brother's initial disapproval, but hoped that his camp would be enough to win Jonathan over. However, that took an immediate turn in the wrong direction, because the bear had done more damage in Andrew's absence than he had realized. This almost caused the pair to walk in a dangerous direction across the frozen lake.
“YOU KIDDING ME?” Jonathan shouted at Andrew for almost getting them killed. “You almost cost us our lives! How have you been living this long?”
“Them holes in the ice is new. They ain't been there but maybe a coupla days, now.” Andre mw explained, but Jonathan felt the need to interrupt.
“Nunna that matters now, let's just cross this lake and we can figure it out later.”
The rest of the walk across the frozen lake was safe, as was the trip back to camp. Andrew had finally remembered to offer Jonathan his prepared lunch on the way back to the cave, but Jonathan insists on waiting til then are safe and sound before getting any food out.
Once they were safe back at the camp, Andrew put their meals on a table and told Jonathan he could eat when he was ready.
“Not a bad setup,” Jonathan confessed. “Unfortunately, I can't stay. Gotta make sure my own food cache is looked after, ya get what I'm sayin’?
“Yer telling me that, after all this time, yes just gonna up and leave?” Andrew asked his brother angrily.
“Just for the night. Got my own needs to tend to, but I'll start getting things moved over here since you got something more stable. Long as you're more careful with that lake, that is.”
With that, Jonathan took off like a bat out of hell and was out of sight in a matter of moments. Andrew trusted his brother, and hoped that his presence would mean a prompt escape from their current predicament.
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