Alone, Together

Chapter Two

   I stroll along the bank, Adam matching my long stride. His eyes are fleeing across his pale, dull face, as he tries to spot the 'rock of his dreams'. Adam explained to me, very carefully and profusely, how if you cook your meal in a bowl you're more likely to get more vitamins and fuel. Even though I think he's either a giant nerd or a giant nutjob, I decided to tag along with his search. And we've been unsuccessful so far.

"Dammit!" Adam curses under his breath. "Why is no rock eroded?"

"I knew you were a huge nerd." I tease, nudging Adam's shoulder roughly. He looks at me with a smirk.

"You've changed a lot in four days," A grin spreads across Adam's face.

"Changed how?"

"Changed from a snotty, bratty white-girl into a hard-working survivor."

I give no comment.

"Maybe a hot, hard-working survivor," Adam adds, a teasing grin spreading across his face. I groan, giving him a shove before sticking out my tongue.

"I'm kidding!" Adam protests, amusement high in his voice.

"And being a pervert!" I retort, "And, you shouldn't be kidding. I'm a hottie and you know it."

Adam rolls his eyes with a snort as I stride away, my hands on my hips. But, since my eyes were gently closed, I feel my toe caught under something. I sprawled onto the ground onto my face with a yell of surprise. I hear Adam's footsteps patter in the sand, quick footsteps until I lift my head with an irritated expression.

"Nice job, hottie." Adam muses.

"Shut up," I grunt.

I get up and brush the sand that loosely clung to my shirt. But, some specks still clung like ticks. I let out an irritated grunt, glancing at the thing that flung me to the ground.

It was a large, round, thick rock, with a carved out caved middle. I kneel down to run my fingers along the rim of the carve. It felt gritty, almost as if I was touching large droplets of sand. At the bottom, tiny pebbles of gravel had built up with dust and a bit of seaweed.

"It's perfect!" Adam whispers, gripping his fingers around the rock. I laugh at his amazed face before gripping the base of the rock as well. I hear Adam let out a hiss of pain as we lift with our legs. But, the rock felt like a good 50 pounds. Soon, Adam let go, shaking his fingers as he left me plummeting to the ground.

"You bi-"

"Sorry. I got a cut on my finger." Adam apologizes.

I just huff and grab the base of the rock again. Adam ducked his cut finger into his palm and gripped the rock again. Slowly, it lifted from the ground, making debris fall from the bottom of the rock. I let out a gasp of surprise as I saw a dead bug slowly roll from the bottom of the small boulder. Adam laughed at my disgusted expression. I groan, rolling my eyes as I heaved the rock back to the camp.

***

I had dropped the rock Adam and I had heaved back. It left a mark on my hands, I'll tell you that. I say we carried that rock for about half a mile. And, that might not sound like much, but it feels like forever.

The camp is great, honestly. The Camp-Making patrol did a really good job. They found planks of wood and tied them together with a long, strong, flat leaf. They placed the tied planks against a palm tree, leaving a small, hollow cavern inside.

Then, they uprooted brackens, brambles, and bushes, and made a back wall for insulation. After that, they laid more of those long, flat leaves over the brackens.