Chasing the Sunset

NINE

I woke to the sounds of birds calling above me. We ran the whole night, and ended up next to a river. We stayed there for the night. I sat up on my blanket and nudged Kyte, who was lying down next to me, on her shoulder to wake her.

She opened her green eyes and yawned. She looked through the trees at the sun and then sat up and crossed her legs.

"Good morning."

"You want something to eat?" I asked.

At that exact moment, Kyte's stomach made a loud growl. We both cracked up laughing.

"I guess so!" She grinned.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a pan, two bowls and spoons, matches and a can of spaghetti. I stood up, grabbed some dry leaves from the forest floor and placed them on the ground that we cleared of foliage. Kyte got a stand from her bag and placed it above the dry leaves. I put the pot on the stand, opened the spaghetti and poured it in. I then opened the box of matches, grabbed a match, swiped it across the side of the box, and it set alight. I placed the match on the dry foliage and our spaghetti got cooking.

"Mmm, thith is rilly good spagethi." Kyte exclaimed, with a mouth full of food.

"Wow, I grew up in the wild, and I still know manners!" I giggled.

Kyte swallowed. "Sorry." We laughed.

We gobbled down our breakfast, cleaned our cutlery and bowls, and packed up everything, so we could start walking again.

Just then we heard a groan and a crack of a tree.

And before we knew it, a grizzly bear was blocking our way.