Flames of the Forgotten

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Rummy!" Jax declares with a boastful smile that I stick my tongue out at.

"Again? I was saving up for a straight!" I whine as I toss my cards down on the table

"Give it up, baby. You might be brilliant, but no one can beat me at rummy."

I narrow my eyes as I pull the cards in towards me. "I never back down from a challenge, one more."

"You won't win," he taunts. "I've played a million games of this out here."

"By yourself?" I ask as I pull the cards all in towards me.

"Yup," he says with a small snicker. "I'd even move from chair to chair and taunt myself."

I giggle. "Well, at least you weren't making friends with the squirrels."

"You're going to have to get over that," he warns. "They are going to be a big part of our diet now."

"That reminds me. We still have to go look for the traps." A smile forms as an idea comes to me. "Let's make this more interesting and say the winner of the next hand gets to take on that task."

The Halloween blizzard continued for four days, not that we minded. We spent the days off making out, cuddling, and playing cards. Did I mention making out? It was almost like we were actual teenagers for a few days, but then the snow stopped, and reality set in quickly.

Jax said he'd seen blizzards out here, but never one that lasted for so many days so early into the season. We should have had another three to four weeks to prepare for winter. Mother Nature cheated us with this one.

Priotoires had to shift in the wake of so much snow. We think we got about two feet, but some drifts are much larger than that. We're really lucky Jax got the elk when he did. If not, we'd be four days behind on hunting, too.

The snow over our wood pile was the first thing we needed to focus on. The tarp Jax has been using is tattered and useless even more so now. We can't have all our wood wet and frozen all winter.

We dragged everything except a small stack to the bathhouse and then spent a day looking for more. Now that it's gotten colder, we burn through so much more. We'll have to keep looking for wood to add to our supply, and I imagine it'll be a lot harder now.

After the wood was handled we had to venture out west to the lowlands to salvage what we could of the kale. Sadly, it wasn't ready to harvest yet; it still needed a few weeks, but the snow crushed it, so we took what we could.

We did set a few new traps around the camp, but seeking out the old ones has to happen. No way do we want to lose all that wire, but digging for them is going to suck, big time.

"I'm going to win, Sam. This is a risky choice."

"Third time's the charm, I feel it," I declare.

****

"Ugh, so much snow," I whine as I dig through the mess.

Despite my best efforts, I could not beat Jax at rummy, and I really shouldn't have made that bet.

I've been looking for the traps all morning and have only found a small handful for all my efforts. This chore sucks. I wish I'd have left markers or something, maybe when I reset them I'll do that.

Luckily, it's not as cold as it has been. The sun is shining, making the snow look all glittery and pretty, and there is no wind today. I'm really glad I have such warm winter wear. It's almost too warm, but I don't dare take my coat off like Jax does when he gets sweaty.