Stonebrook High School

Chapter 41

vvv Going to have this line pasted at the beginning of all my chapters now xD vvv

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The twin brother looked at the pile of leaves he had amassed and the carefully arranged sticks he set up inside a neat circle of rocks. When had he gotten so much done? Seemed like only two seconds ago he had walked away from Gabriel and Lukas.

He sighed. No matter. He just had to set up a stand now. Worrying about getting some food in their stomachs was better than reminiscing in the past.

Oh, how he missed that little pig so much.

You need to move on, Jesse told himself, thrashing his head with his hands. It's in the past. You can't do anything about it.

With great difficulty, he pushed his nostalgia to the side and grabbed some larger sticks. He cut off the end to make a crab-claw shape and did the same with another. The two sticks were wedged into opposite sides of the campfire and another stick was rested on top.

There. Now to wait on Lukas with the other things. Then they would search for food.

Should he light the fire? He looked around as if someone were watching him, waiting for him to light it so they could scold him for wasting energy. Maybe he should ask Gabriel first.

"Gabriel," he said, waddling up to the Warrior by Magnus and Axel, "should I light the fire now? It's still light out, but having the fire would be nice. Also, we need to find food."

The older man nodded and he glanced at the Rogue and the fan. "Can you two search for food? Make sure it isn't sketchy or poisonous." Surprisingly, they said okay and walked outside to forage for berries and bugs.

Then he turned back to Jesse. "Go ahead and light it. It's better you start now as we don't exactly have a way of starting the fire." Gabriel bent down and picked up a rock. "Maybe you can try and make a bow drill. You know what that is, right?"

"Y-yeah. I haven't practiced my survival skills lately, but I think I can manage..."

"Alright. I'll go with those two. Can't trust Magnus won't set the whole forest on fire." The Warrior walked away and Jesse snickered as he tried to imagine the scene.

After some scavenging around for the right materials, he set to work. First, the male set down a dry birch plank, setting a leaf under it. He carved out a small hole with a cut next to it. Then, he shaped a large stick into a spindle size, making one end sharp and the other a bit duller. For the bow, he borrowed Lukas's bow as it seemed to be just the right size and shape. Wrapping the cord around the spindle, he set it on the hole and rested a rock with an indent on top of the spindle. Aggressively but gently, he swept his arms in bowing motions as if he was playing the violin and tilted the bow downwards.

It took him a few tries, but Jesse was finally able to produce the coal out of the birch plank. Before he went any further and made more, he set up a tinder bundle with a few leaves, random moss he found, and bark he scraped off from the spindle. The bundle was carefully shaped into the form of a bird's nest. Pushing it to the side, he returned to the bow drill, moving his arm back and forth.

More coal came out in its recognizable black powder shape and he turned the spindle vigorously, arm starting to tire out from the repetitive motion. Regardless, he continued, and the coal eventually started to smoke.

A large smile formed on Jesse's face as he realized he accomplished something very difficult. Not everyone was able to smoke the coal in the first 15 minutes. Carefully, he used the leaf underneath the plank to pick up the burning coal and place it in the middle of the tinder bundle. He fanned it with his hand, allowing the small embers and smoke to spread; once it seemed to sustain itself, he picked up the bundle with cupped hands and held it close to his face. A steady stream of air escaped his mouth and the smoke was increasing, eventually covering his face. A few coughs forced him to move the bundle away from his face but grin in triumph as he watched it catch fire.