Chapter 2

Caroline Ames casually wiped the soot laden rain from her brow, shifted her weight back to her makeshift crutch and hoisted the satchel full of lichens, mosses and mushrooms over her non-crutch shoulder.   She skillfully limped back towards  what she fondly referred to as her "barge", successfully swatted a few mosquitoes and  quickly slipped their remains into her mouth, thankful for the much needed protein they provided.  Se didn't mind if the blood she tasted was hers.  In fact, she preferred to think it was.

The barge was not much more than two canoes strung together with twine, duct tape and whatever the hell else did the job.  The seats had been removed from the larger canoe; its bed was lined with tattered blankets layered on top of whatever foodstuff Caroline could gather.  This is what Caroline now referred to as the "living room".  The smaller canoe was where Caroline sat wen she wanted to pilot the barge somewhere other than where she was.  She kept the guns, ammo and dynamite in it.

Caroline hadn't used the guns in some time.  It's not that she wasn't in need of protection, but she hadn't hoisted a single gun in the entire time she had started to look after Sebastian.  It must've been at least a year, maybe two since she had taken him under her wing.  And how he had grown in that time.