Alex had been working herself so hard. Harder than Lily had expected from a person unfamiliar with the physical requirements of primitive living. Normally, Lily would’ve never suggested a person expend massive amounts of energy transporting rocks from one place to another, but she needed to build this firepit, and digging in the compacted earth was about as tough as hauling rocks anyway.
The small fire she’d kept going to keep the lurking animals at bay, stave off the chill at night, and boil the water from the stream was great, but they had yet to find a type of wood that didn’t burn incredibly fast. This type of firepit would help it last longer and reduce the amount of smoke rising from their camp, hopefully concealing their location from any aliens who may have attempted to follow them. The early stages of setting up a primitive camp were always tough, even tougher when she didn’t know the materials she was working with. Her growling stomach urged her to move faster, knowing a search for food would be next on the agenda. The few charred alien minnows they’d managed to catch had been underwhelming, to say the least.
“Anything usable?” Alex asked, watching her sort through the collection of rocks. When Lily didn’t immediately answer, Alex plopped down and pulled out a few rocks herself. “I think these ones might be good, yeah?”
Lily’s brows rose in surprise as she examined the proffered rocks. She beamed up at Alex, marveling at how quickly the girl caught on to everything she’d taught her. They’d escaped the bunker two days ago, and during that first night alone together, Lily hadn’t been sure of Alex. She tended to complain a lot, but Lily had soon learned her complaining was just something that made her feel better. A way for her to expel her negative energy and stay motivated. Alex attacked every challenge Lily threw at her with a determination to prove her worth that rivaled Lily’s own.
Alex studied Lily’s proud expression. “Yeah? I did good?”
Lily nodded. “I think you did good. Let’s see.” She raised her hammerstone and struck it against the smooth, lavender stone.
A razor-sharp flake separated from the rock, and Alex leapt up, pumping her fist and dancing around the fire. “Yes. Yes. Yes!” she howled before collapsing on the ground again. She shook her head at Lily. “I was getting really sick of lugging rocks up here.”
Lily bared her teeth in an apologetic wince. “Now that we know what type of rock will work…”
Her grin faded, and she let out a groan. “You magic that into a knife, and I go back to the quarry.” Alex bit the inside of her cheek, breathing deeply, then lifted back onto her feet.
Lily tried to contain her laughter as Alex shuffled away, grumbling and cursing under her breath.
***
“You can’t be serious!” Lily wheezed and clutched her ribs.
Alex was laughing so hard, tears streamed down her face. “Why would I lie? It was terrible. I was in my room, and I thought Ray had come over and used his new key to surprise me, so I got completely naked, not one scrap of clothing, and I put a rose between my teeth like we’d joked about the night before, and…”
They both laughed harder. Lily’s head was pounding.
“Then this big, oozing, purple thing with spikes coming out of its head appeared. And for just a second, I thought it was Ray dressed up like some weird sci-fi monster.”
Lily sipped warm water from the piece of wood she’d hollowed into a bowl. “What did you do?” She handed the bowl to Alex.
“I took a beat and thought about whether I was into Ray enough to deal with his weird fetish, of course! That’s when it sprayed me. Thank God the thing had enough sense to pick up my clothes from the floor after it knocked me out. I’m thinking it’d already gathered other humans and figured out that we normally wear clothes. Could you imagine me running through this place naked?”
Lily erupted in laughter again, reveling in how good it felt. For the past week, they’d been miserable. Using everything she knew, along with some educated guesses and a ton of luck, they’d managed to find a suitable shelter, build a stable fire, and disinfect enough water to not die of dehydration anytime soon. They’d also taken a big risk and started eating red fruits from a nearby tree. Lily had been against it at first, but after days of hiking through dense forest without any food and without any luck catching an animal using one of her snares, she’d conceded the reward outweighed the risk.
She’d been relieved and overjoyed when the fruit had not only proven safe to eat but had also given them a burst of energy, hinting they were much more nutrient dense than she’d initially assumed. They’d still need to find other sources of food at some point, but at least they wouldn’t become malnourished in the meantime.
Eventually their laughter subsided and they sat in amicable silence, bellies full of the tart fruit. The cave alcove they’d set up camp in was warm and cozy from the crackling fire. Lily stared into the bright green flames as Alex used a small stone to etch something onto another perfectly round rock.
It seemed an eternity ago that she’d been relaxing in her own backyard in Portland, staring into another fire. Only, that fire had been normal and mundane compared to the flickering green flames of the one she’d grown used to building on this planet. It must be some chemical in the wood that does it.
After a good amount of trial and error, they’d finally found a type of wood that burned slowly, allowing the fire to need tending every few hours rather than every few minutes. And as an added bonus, the green fire also had an odd, crisp, minty scent to it. Both Lily and Alex’s morale had been greatly boosted after they’d taken their first smoke baths and gone to sleep smelling fresh and clean.
There’d been a learning curve, but Lily was coming to realize this forest was quite bountiful. The frayed vines she’d noticed on her first night here had turned out to be trees, oddly enough. Instead of dropping seeds, it seemed these trees had saplings that grew downward, then sprouted roots and burrowed into the soil when they were low enough. Lily had marveled at the different stages of tree growth while hiking through the forest their whole first morning here.
Although still much sparser than she’d have expected, she saw in the light of day that there were in fact many types of odd-looking plants growing on the forest floor, but they tended to swarm the bases of the trees. Most plants, in fact, appeared to feed off the trees in some way.
It made sense the more she thought about it, considering the trees had the most access to sunlight. Vines with bright flowers, giant fuzzy fronds, and a plethora of other small greenery engulfed the trunks of the trees as if Mother Nature had gotten a little drunk and generous with her plant life Bedazzler. Even the young saplings, whose roots had not yet touched the ground, had small air plants and flowers attached to their lengths. Winged insects with fuzzy bellies and cheerful dispositions buzzed happily around the trees at all hours of the day and night. Lily enjoyed the lulling sound, while Alex groused about the noise nonstop, always swatting the creatures away, whether they were anywhere near her or not.
The large leaves that dominated the forest canopy were round and sturdy, almost the texture of leather. After examining a few decaying leaves, quickly being covered by bright green moss on the ground, Lily had used a thin sapling as a rope and inched to the canopy high above to gather more.