It had been another one of our public battles. Which ended in Olivia slapping me. When I said I’d retaliate, if she was a guy, Eve had offered to take her place. No lie, I was slightly intimidated.
“I’m pretty sure she did, too.”
“So, this is his place?”
“To get away,” I said.
“Away from what?”
I laughed. “I’m pretty sure neither of us wants to know.”
I took stock of the place. Not big, just a single room, maybe two hundred square feet. The fireplace ran along the back wall and came with a supply of wood stacked to the ceiling. A hook swung out from the side of the fireplace that could be used to hold a kettle for boiling water, or a skillet for heating food.
One rolled sleeping bag was in another corner, along with a heavy extra blanket. Two sturdy wood chairs were situated in front of the fireplace. He must have had Eve in mind when he stocked this cabinet.
On the opposite wall there were two large storage cabinets. One had a padlock on it. The other was unlocked. I lifted that lid and found what I expected. A couple cans of food, dried meats and one cup of noodles that could be cooked just with hot water. Plus a kettle, a pot some basic utensils. Soap, toothpaste. There was even a deck of cards. Something to help pass the time.
“Do we need to find the key for this cabinet?” Olivia asked, pulling on the padlock to see if it would open.
“My guess? That’s guns.”
“Oh.”
I was looking at what probably amounted to two or three days of food. Enough, assuming the storm broke, Cal and the crew made it to the rig and realized Olivia and I weren’t there then started searching for us and found us quickly.
Not enough if the storm went on for a few days, or if Cal didn’t find us quickly.
“I wouldn’t worry about it for now,” I told her.
I had no doubt the key was here someplace in easy reach. However, I also didn’t want to open that cabinet up and find some crazy shit like a bazooka. It might freak out Olivia. I would deal with it if we ran out of food. I could hunt grouse but with this weather I might be more likely to set snares for rabbits.
“I’ll get the fire started.”
I worked with the dry wood cut in various sizes to burn more easily. A flint was close at hand. It had been a while since I’d used one, so it took a few tries before I got it to fire. I let one of the smaller pieces burn hot then gradually moved it so it lit one of the larger logs. In a few minutes, a fire was burning hot.
“You did it!”
I hadn’t realized Olivia was sitting behind me in one of the chairs monitoring my progress.
“Yes, Olivia. I know how to make a fire,” I said sarcasm dripping from my tone. Mostly to cover my own annoyance that it had taken so many tries with the flint. There was something about failing in front of her that didn’t sit well with me.
I sat on the other chair and waited for the heat in the cabin to build. We were going to need water, but I would deal with that eventually.
“I was paying you a compliment,” she said her arms crossed over her chest.
“It’s not a compliment when you’re born and raised in Alaska. I learned how to make a fire before I learned how to tie my shoe laces.”
I sat back in the chair and relished the heat that slowly spread through the room, my core temperature still low from my trek through the water.
“You’re from here?”
“Not here. Big Lake, which is not too far north of Anchorage.”
“I didn’t know that.”
It sounded like that bothered her. Not knowing where I was from.
“Why would you know that?”
