🌵STUCK IN THE DESERT WITH U🌵

*Eight*{Criss's P.O.V.}

The next morning came, and neither of us had much energy to get up, and knowing that we were completely out of food now, I knew I had to do something, somehow find something for us to eat, because I heard her tummy rumbling most of the night, not to mention I was hungry as well, but I could manage not eating, but she needed something, anything I could find. I hopped up and let her sleep as I searched...but when I came back all I could find was cactus fruit, I wasn't sure it was even edible or not, but Kc looked at them and said if we cooked them over a hot fire for 30 seconds, and burn all the spines off of it, they would be edible, I also found a bunch of other weird type plants, but Kc quickly tossed most of them out saying they were poisonous. 

She did, however, keep two of the plants and told me what they were, the first plant she showed me was called Oxalis, or Wood Sorrel, and it was a starchy plant that kind of tastes like a potato and it could either be eaten raw or cooked, and it helped alleviate thirst. Then she showed me the second plant and told me it was called Purslane, it was a small plant with tiny but rather fat leaves, with light colored blooms on them, and she said it was edible, but it had a refreshing sour taste to it, then she added that her grandmother taught her and that she was a full blooded Indian that lived on the reservation. As she slowly held the prickly pear fruits over the fire and watched as the thick wax covering and spines burnt away from the fruit, then told me to hold the stick for a while so it could cool off, before eating it.

So while we waited for our very veggie meal to cool off, she popped a few of the Purslane flower petals into her mouth and ate them, I looked at them for a while, then decided I was so hungry I didn't care what I got as long as it was filling, and mindlessly popped a few of them into my mouth and chewed...then I looked at her and told her comically that they weren't half bad, once he got past the first couple chews. I handed her the stick with the cacti fruit then sat down beside her, as we slowly ate savoring every bite. Some of the plants we ate weren't the best tasting, but it was rather filling, after three days of no food. We only had one bottle of water left, and three sticks of chewing gum. but it was nice to have a somewhat full stomach.

I packed up our bedding and followed Kc, she was walking around checking out all the cacti that were around us, but after looking closely at each one she went around them and on to the next one...after watching her for a few minutes, I just had to ask her what she was doing...she without looking at me said she was searching for a very specific type of cactus, it was called a fishhook barrel cactus. Then she added that it was the only type of cactus that wasn't poisonous to collect water from. After a few hours Kc finally knelt down, and began digging...I dropped down, and quickly and rather goofily dug with her...I slung that sand everywhere, until I found roots, Kc stopped me from pulling them out, and looked for a hollow stick then gently poked it into the root and began to suck on the reed and grabbed our water bottle and slowly began to produce water from the root and into the bottle.

Even though it only filled the bottle partially, it was a lot more water than we had before...after we shared a few sips of it, I gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her how amazing she was. Onward we traveled hoping that within the next few days of traveling we would come up to anything that would tell us that we were heading in the right direction for civilization, like maybe a road. But I knew at that point I was just wishful thinking, but on the bright side, our traveling seemed to go a lot easier that day, and it seemed a little less hot, than it has been. The sun was making its way to the middle of the sky again and I knew it was about time to set up the afternoon camp, so we could get out of the hottest part of the day. After I set up one of the blankets for the awning, I crawled in with her, and laid beside her and gently touched her face, she was burning up hot, I put just a little bit of the water on my bandanna, and placed it on her face and head. As she slept I hoped and prayed that she wasn't coming down with some kind of sickness, because I had no way or idea on how to help her...and I was bound and determined to keep my promise to her...I was not going to let her die out here.

I held her close to me as I looked out of the opening of the awning I made, and noticed the winds coming up and changing directions, then I looked to the left and saw a very large dust devil/whirlwind...but it wasn't at all harmful so I just watched it as it blew past us...after a while longer I laid my head down and tried to get some rest, because I was sure Kc would want to get up before dark and move further to find a suitable spot for us to make our night camp, because now the nights were getting a lot more cold, as they were getting longer instead of shorter. It was official, I no longer knew how long we have been lost in this desert, but was very ready to be home with my family, indoor plumbing, food and lots of beverages. As I looked down at Kc, all I could think that I would miss, was waking up next to her every morning, and laying down next to her every night...and began to wonder if maybe she might have changed her mind about me.