and a horse called Straton

Chapter 7

Caitlyn followed the broken branches to the hawthorn tree. She looked north and saw the paddock. She smiled a little. Her face was still red from crying. She hated this - happy one second, sad the next. 'I need to get a grip!' She internally growled.

The run had helped, but it made her red face redder. She began to walk to the paddock, not snapping branches because there were only a few trees between the hawthorn plant and the large paddock. She had brought her shirt to use as a bag again.

She sprinted the rest of the way to the long grass. Once she got there, she was completely out of breath. She looked down at her covered legs, she was certain with all this running she was going to be an athlete by the time she was found.

Being found. She tried to put that out of her mind, if she thought about it too much - she would end up just thinking about that and not surviving.

Caitlyn began to rip up the grass but found it ineffective for the tough grass. It was still green but quite thick. She then got her knife out and began to cut away at it, trying to keep them at long, even lengths, she could always shorten but not lengthen.

Once she had cut all her shirt would wrap around it looked much like a bushel. She decided to try and run the whole way back, she wanted to get fit so that she could get around quicker and so that if she got sick she would be able to fight it better.

She managed to sprint the first 200 metres then slowed to a gentle jog then began to walk after around 700 metres.

Caitlyn tried to cover the grass to it wouldn't dry out then found that was not going to work. She got a piece of grass and tied it around the rest. She then used the long tail to attach the bushel to the bank of the creek.

She placed a heavy rock on the tail to let the grass soak for a bit. She also put the long sleeve of her shirt under the rock and the bodice over the grass to stop it yellowing.

"Ok, Straton, I'm going upstream." He just snorted in response. Caitlyn leant down and hugged him then started to jog upstream. She didn't realise how far she had gone until she came across willow trees! Willow trees were nothing like the scenery back at her 'base'.

She tore down as many branches as she could carry. Then she took off her jeans and tied up the branches with them.

Once she got back, she put the branches in the creek with the grass and jogged over to Straton. "Hey boy!" He whinnied in greeting, as if to say 'what on earth took you so long?' She smiled sadly, worried for him again as she looked at the wound. It still looked bad but it was better.

She sat for a little, just resting to make sure the branches and grasses were nice and pliable. She pulled the bushels out of the water and tried bending them, they were both quite bendy, the grass similar to spaghetti and the willow branches to thick shoelaces.

She laid them next to her in the shade so they wouldn't dry out too much. She pondered what she would make first and decided on a mat. She laid down two willow switches and tied 20 lengths of grass to both branches. She then began to weave grass through the strings.

Her fingers ached and had grass cuts by the time she got to the end. In the end, it was about a metre by metre. She got a bit of an energy burst once she finished. From excitement she assumed.

She knotted the ends of it and pulled the sticks out. It was a good mat, though a little loose. She tied it in the water to keep it nice and soft.

As Caitlyn was walking back to make more mats! She noticed the two thin saddle blankets she used. She halted immediately. 'I could make the roof and a wall out of that for now, until I build a stronger shelter!' She thought to herself. 'Or maybe this one will be strong enough.' She thought wishfully.

She then had another thought. 'I could make some walls out of grass mats, mud and rocks!' She began to celebrate at this new onslaught of ideas that had come from her seeing the saddle blankets.

She quickly set about finding some sturdy branches. While she was looking, a thought crept into her mind that she had blocked out. 'Luke loved me?' She didn't understand, 'why would he love me? I mean, I'm plain, there's noting special about me.' But she also knew he hadn't been lying.

The tears were hot on her face as she walked without really taking in her surroundings. The sun began to head towards the earth and Caitlyn guessed it was around 3 in the afternoon.

She had managed to find 6 strong branches. She wiped her brow and opened her food store. There were some dried black berries and a couple of hawthorn fruits. But there were a lot of witchetty grubs. She got some out and considered how to cook them.

She walked over to her old man's beard, got some twigs and some larger branches to light her fire. She put the old man's beard as tinder and used the fire lighter in her survival knife to set it on fire.

She saw a spark come out but it died. She struck again but it died. She tried a few more time until eventually a little ember started to glow. A smile spread across her tear stained face at the little flame of hope.

A/N
Hi guys! I'm so sorry it's late! I've had the flu, yayyyy.... Not