Chapter 10

December 4, 2013, 49 miles west of Bonner's Ferry, Idaho

The sun was peeking over the hilltop to the east when Josh woke up. He stretched and then tried to disentangle himself from Molly so he could relieve himself outside. That woke Molly. She rolled over and greeted Josh with a kiss.

"You ready for your birthday present?" she asked. She snaked a hand between their bodies and rubbed his hard-on."

"Bathroom first," Josh gasped as she rubbed his erection. Molly let go of him. "You're insatiable, you know..."

"A girl knows what she likes," Molly retorted. "I like you. Come back quick."

"I can do that." Josh threw some clothes on and hustled outside to take care of business. Most unusually, he was able to use a real pit toilet instead of squatting outside in the woods like normal. That was good. The morning was chilly.

Josh returned to their tent, stripped and rejoined Molly in their sleeping bag.

"Oh! You're cold," Molly gasped as Josh's hands touched her body.

"Sorry."

"It's OK. I'll get you warmed up soon enough," Molly replied. Josh tried to keep his hands off Molly as he shimmied into the tight bag, face to face with Molly. The pair kissed for a bit before ratcheting things up. Josh warmed up enough that Molly enjoyed him caressing and fondling her breasts. A few minutes of foreplay left Josh and Molly ready for intercourse. The pair fumbled around until Josh was straddling Molly before he thrust his hard cock into her body.

"Mmm ... nice," Molly breathed as she felt the long, hard shaft skewer her. "Nice and slow until I get used to that big dick of yours."

Josh couldn't help but smile when Molly called his cock big. What guy wouldn't? Josh pumped slowly at first. Molly cooed and sighed as he screwed her.

"Little faster," Molly directed. "Mmmm ... yeah ... like that." Molly's commentary continued as Josh thrust in and out. "Yeah ... faster ... harder now..." Josh continued pumping in and out. "AAEEEeeeiiii..." Molly squealed when Josh managed to rub hard against her clittie. "Again..." Molly gasped. "Do my clittie again ... Pppllleaseee?"

That was an easy request to honor. Josh was pressed tight against Molly's body by the tight confines of the sleeping bag they shared. Her hard nipples bored holes into his chest.

"OOOooohhh..." Molly moaned. "Fuck ... fuck me!"

Josh leaned down and gave Molly a kiss while he continued boffing her. "You do like to talk during sex, don't you?"

"I can try to be quiet," Molly responded.

"No don't. I like the way you tell me what you like. You make it so easy for me to try to please you. Not all the girls I've been with expressed themselves so clearly."

Josh chuckled as he remembered his first serious girlfriend and the way the two of them fumbled together as they learned how to have sex. He never knew if Heather enjoyed what they were doing or if she was enduring it to keep Josh satisfied so he wouldn't look elsewhere for another girlfriend.

"Oh yeah..." Molly gasped. "You're hitting my clittie nearly every time. Keep it ... Ooohhh ... UP!"

Josh concentrated on bumping his pubic area and rubbing against her clitoris with each thrust. Molly gasped for breath as the feelings overwhelmed her.

"FUCK!" Molly gasped. "Fuck ... fuck ... fuck me..." Molly's words lost coherence as she grunted and begged Josh to continue plugging her hard and fast. "OOoooooooooohhhhh ... fff ... ffff ... fu ... ffffuuuc ... FUCK!"

Molly's eyes glazed over as she let herself go the ecstasy. Molly hugged Josh tight to her body as she shook and squealed from her orgasm. Her pussy throbbed and pulled at Josh's bare cock as he tried to keep up his rhythm. He growled, poked his cock hard into Molly's body and let go. The euphoria engulfed Josh as his semen welled up out of his groin, shot through his cock and splattered out inside Molly's desperate vagina.

Josh collapsed on Molly as powerful spurts drained his essence into Molly's body. Josh managed to roll the two of them onto their sides in a tangle of sweaty limbs and bodies. Both lay still and panted as they tried to recover their senses.

"Thank you for the wonderful birthday present," Josh commented. "It's the nicest thing anyone ever gave me."

"Wow!" Molly gushed. "That was great for me too."

"I appreciate you telling me what you enjoy when we do this," Josh said. "You make it easy to satisfy you. Not all the girls I've been with let me know if I was doing OK or not."

"Their loss," Molly laughed. "I learned after my second boyfriend to be demanding. Jared was bit of an asshole in many ways but he was very good in bed. I decided after I dumped him that I better let my guy know what I liked if I wanted to enjoy screwing."

"I guess we should get moving this morning," Josh sighed. "I figure we have around fifty or sixty miles to go – four to six days to go to get to Bonner's Ferry. AFSRC seems to think there's a good chance we'll find friendly forces there."

"Yeah, we should get moving," Molly agreed. "I guess we can find out what these Chinese MREs taste like."

"Yeah, we can," Josh responded. "It's them or we break out the Ratatouille MRE."

"Pork fried rice sounds a little better for breakfast," Molly answered as Josh unzipped their sleeping bag. They dressed quickly and packed their things. The morning was bitingly cold – around twelve degrees. The heated pork fried rice was odd for breakfast, but it was warm. The energy bar in the Chinese MRE was actually pretty sweet and tasted good.

Low clouds moved in overnight. They hovered just above the peaks of the surrounding mountains. Josh and Molly would hear helicopters operating off to the west but couldn't see them. Josh assumed it was the Chinese reoccupying the Boundary Dam. The pair loaded their packs and headed south along the paved road for about three and a half miles. They followed a gravel road east that paralleled Slate Creek. They steadily climbed the valley between Boundary Mountain and Crowell Mountain.

Josh and Molly found two cabins and a spring in the mid-afternoon. Josh's maps showed little water ahead on the trail after they left the cabins until they climbed over Crowell Ridge. Josh decided that it would be best to take advantage of the shelter and rest there that night. They had been pushing hard to cover the miles the past few days on too little sleep.

Both cabin doors were padlocked shut. A sign indicated they were rental cabins operated by the National Forest Service. Josh used a rock to bash the lock on the nicer of the two cabins. Josh and Molly looked in when the door swung open. They were surprised at what they found.

The door opened into a family room furnished with nice chairs and a couch. The large stone fireplace dominated the great room. The left side of the cabin had a fully appointed kitchen and dining area. Walls closed off the back half of the cabin.

Josh and Molly stepped inside and shook their boots off on the mat inside the door. Josh surveyed the room, noting the stove was fired by gas. The two ceiling light fixtures had gas mantles.

"See if you can get a fire started," Josh suggested. "I'm going to look around and see if the cabin has a propane tank. I think we might have light and a working stove tonight."

"You're better at building fires than me, but I'll give it a try," Molly agreed.

Josh went around to the back of the cabin. The hillside dropped off rapidly behind the cabin. He found the propane tank near the southeast corner of the cabin. He opened the valve to turn the gas on. The first snowflakes were drifting down when Josh returned inside.

Molly hadn't got the fire started yet. Josh lit the gas lights inside. He and Molly could explore the lit cabin better. Molly found a small bedroom behind the partition wall with the living room.

"Holy shit! This place has a real bed and everything," Molly exclaimed as she ran her HAND across the blanket on the bed.

"Really? That'll be nice for you tonight."

"For us," Molly responded.

"I wonder what is upstairs," Josh mused as he climbed the steep, open wooden steps outside the bedroom. Josh shone his flashlight into the upstairs room. It was an empty loft with some boxes in the back. Josh headed downstairs again to rejoin Molly.

"This must be a great place for a family vacation in the summer," Josh commented. "Mom and Dad sleep downstairs. The kids have a great loft above to sleep in. Do you need a hand getting the fire started?"

"I've got it," Molly answered. "I needed time to get the tinder ready. I'll have the fire blazing in a few minutes."

"I'll see if I can get the shutters off the windows so we can have a little light in here."

"Sure, Josh," Molly agreed quickly. She paused and then laughed. "I've come a long way haven't I? Who would have thought I would know how to build a fire a month ago?"

"You have done well," Josh replied. "Better than I expected a cheerleader to do." He chuckled. "I guess I've learned a lot too. Don't judge a girl by her pom-poms."

"You're bad ... very BAD," Molly teased as she headed for the pile of firewood.

Josh headed outside to open up the shutters that protected the cabin's windows. The wispy snow flurries from a few minutes earlier had grown to large clumps of flakes dropping from the sky. Josh decided he had chosen wisely that afternoon to knock off hiking early. It looked like they might get a good snow storm that evening.

Molly had a small fire of tinder and kindling going when Josh returned inside. She was feeding larger pieces of kindling onto the little fire. Josh stared at her for a moment as she worked. In spite of the grime from the past two weeks in the wilderness, Molly was quite attractive. Back in high school she would have been way out of Josh's league. He never would have found the courage to ask a cheerleader out, even if he hadn't been in a long term hissing match with Linda Nye, the cheerleader who made it her personal mission to make his life hell in school.

Josh realized he had been blessed that afternoon when he bumped into Molly back in Sedro-Wooley. Molly Lawrence was good looking and seemed to care about him. She had an inner toughness that he hadn't expected when they met. Linda Nye would have absolutely died out here in the wilderness – not metaphorically, but literally. She did not have anything like the toughness and smarts that were allowing Molly to survive ... and that was assuming she didn't irritate and enrage Josh to the point where he'd kill her just to end her nagging and bitching.

This cabin was a great place for him and Molly to clean off the accumulated two weeks of dirt and grime with bandana baths. Josh decided they could use water as they settled in.

"I'll go out and see if the spring is still flowing," Josh offered. "Give me the big pot and your canteens so I can fill them.

"Sure, sounds good," Molly agreed.

Josh found the blue blazed trail behind the second cabin. He followed it down the hill about fifty yards to a small spring. He had to crack the ice in the small pool at the spring, but he had no problem filling up with water.

"You aren't going to believe what I just found," Molly gushed when Josh returned to the cabin. She held open a kitchen cabinet door and pointed to the sign. "The cabin is stocked with emergency rations in case of inclement weather. Please use what you need. You can reimburse the N.F.S. at the district office when you check out of the cabin. The rations are kept in the metal trunk in the loft."

"Reimburse the N.F.S.?" Josh chuckled. "They can dock my army pay for it."

"Let's go see what's for dinner," Molly added enthusiastically. They grabbed their flashlights and headed upstairs to search the loft. They located the large metal trunk quickly. It was stocked with enough freeze-dried or dehydrated food to last a family of four a week. It contained a mixture of Richmoor, Mountain House and Harvest Foodworks products.

"Thank God we don't need to eat that Chinese crap now," Molly gushed as she sorted through the contents of the trunk.

"It isn't that bad," Josh countered.

"They're fine, when that is all you have," Molly insisted as she waved a packet of food around. "We have lasagna tonight. None of the rice and shit for me."

"Lasagna sounds good," Josh agreed. "We can sort through this trunk after dinner and restock our packs. We'll leave behind any of the Chinese MREs we don't want, in case someone else gets stuck back here and needs rations."

Josh and Molly headed downstairs, boiled some water and reconstituted the lasagna. It was a much better meal than the Chinese MREs. They relaxed and watched the big clumps of snow fall outside as they enjoyed their meal. The wind picked up and howled through the eaves of the cabin by the time they finished dinner. They made the raspberry crumble they found upstairs. The sweet treat hit the spot.

Molly stoked the fire and then relaxed on the couch facing the little blaze. Josh gathered up his maps and spread them out on the table. The opportunity to study the route that evening in a well-lit cabin was too good to pass up. Josh spent about forty-five minutes fine-tuning his planned route for the next few days and working out which river crossing they would head for – Creston in British Columbia or Bonner's Ferry in Idaho.

"Got it all worked out?" Molly asked when she wandered over to check out Josh's plans.

"I think so."

"What do we have coming up?" Molly asked.

"We have a set of mountain peaks tomorrow," Josh explained as he pointed his intended route on the map.

"6885? That's the height of the mountain, right?"

"It is," Josh confirmed.

"We're really going to climb up to the top of a mountain that tall after in this storm?" Josh hadn't looked outside since dinner. The snow was pouring down. The wind was blowing it horizontally past the cabin's windows.

"OK, maybe not tomorrow," Josh conceded. "We'll be climbing it the next day we can hike. I think we got lucky ... real lucky that we came across this cabin tonight."

"No doubt about it," Molly agreed. "What do we have after we get across these mountains? Do we have another damn river to cross?"

"We have at least one more big one," Josh replied. "It's the Kootenai. "Our choices are to head into Canada and cross at Creston, about eight miles north of the border or to head for Bonner's Ferry, about 22 miles south of the border. I think we should head for Bonner's Ferry. The SRC [Air Force Search and Rescue Center] says it is American held." Josh pointed his proposed route over the mountains to Upper Priest Lake, down along the lake to Priest Lake and then east to the town of Bonner's Ferry.

"Isn't this more mountains?" Molly asked as she pointed at the brown squiggles on the map. "7,000 feet elevation? Wouldn't we do better following around to the bottom of this lake to this little town?" Molly pointed at the lower end of Priest Lake and the town of Coolin."

"Coolin is a vacation town," Josh explained. "I expect they've evacuated that town by now, what few winter residents it might have. We're better off going for one of the larger places ... like Bonner's Ferry."

"And climbing over these ... uh..." Molly asked as she pointed towards the 7,000 foot high series of mountain peaks.

"Selkirk Mountains," Josh added. "We're not climbing to the top of them. We'll head up this valley and go between the peaks. The elevation at the pass by these lakes tops out around 5,800 feet. If we plan our camping spots right, we don't have to camp anywhere near that high in elevation again."

"That's a relief," Molly said. "We did enough of that already. Do you think our chances are good of finding safety in Bonner's Ferry?"

"We'll see," Josh answered. "Don't get your hopes up yet, but the signs look promising. The whole time we've been hiking east, the Chinese have been flying east over us. They haven't done that since we crossed the dam last night. I think we might have a chance of getting to safety at Bonner's Ferry if we don't see any Chinese transports or helicopters go east over us."

"How long do you think it will take us to get there?" Molly asked.

"Four to six days, if the weather isn't too bad."

"That's a relief!" Molly exclaimed. She smiled and added, "I know, don't get my hopes up. Be prepared to hike further. You make no guarantees."

"You are getting it," Josh teased. A particularly fierce gust of wind rattled the cabin's windows and drew their attention to the storm blowing outside. "I wonder how bad it is out there."

"I'll see soon," Molly replied. "I need to pee. Did you see if these cabins have an outhouse?"

"It's on the east side of this cabin," Josh answered. "You'll like it. It has a seat, four walls, a door and a roof. You'll love it."

"I'm sure I will," Molly agreed. She snorted. "I can imagine what my girlfriends back at school would think. 'Sitting in a dirty, smelly outhouse and considering it luxurious.' They'd think I was crazy ... at least until they had to spend a month peeing behind the bushes."

"It's all context," Josh answered. "A lot of things are changing because of this damned war."

"Muddle through and do your best to survive," Molly said. "I've learned that from you, Josh." She gave him a big smile. "I am very grateful for what you've taught me."

Molly put her coat, hat and gloves on and stepped outside. She stuck her head back in the cabin almost immediately. "Get your stuff on. You need to see this."

Josh got dressed for the outside and then joined Molly on the porch. The wind had momentarily died down. The snow fell in large clumps. Josh and Molly stared out at the still scene. The valley dropped off steeply below them. It was blanketed with over a foot of fresh, powdery, brilliant white snow. The white decorated the boughs of the pine trees.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Molly whispered against the stark quiet of the forest.

"It is," Josh murmured back.

The pair stood on the cabin porch and admired nature's beauty for a couple minutes before nature forced Molly to answer its call. Josh headed back inside. The pair relaxed and cuddled on the couch in front of the fire. The romantic setting had the expected effect on the young pair. Cuddling led to kissing, which escalated to more. Eventually they shared their bodies.

Josh built up the fire when they finished lovemaking. The pair headed to bed where they tested the strength of the old bed with another romp. The bed held. Josh fell asleep, more deeply satisfied than he had ever been on a birthday.

--oooOooo--

December 5-7, 2013, Cabin along Forest Road 3155, 6 Miles west of Boundary Dam

The unrelenting blizzard continued pouring snow onto the mountains of northeast Washington. Molly and Josh had no choice but to stay at the cabin until the storm passed. Josh guessed the wind gusted to 30-50 miles an hour. They couldn't estimate the snow depth. The wind whipped whatever snow fell to the ground into immense drifts. The road by their cabin had a six to eight foot drift across it. The valley echoed with loud cracks as the weight of snow snapped the limbs on the pine trees.

Josh and Molly stayed inside most of the time, except to get water or go to the outhouse. They had plenty of firewood to keep the cabin warm. The National Forest Service's chest of emergency rations had plenty of food to allow them to wait out the storm. Josh found a dutch oven in the cupboard. He taught Molly how Scouts used the big cast iron pot to bake things. The ration chest had a supply of flour, baking powder and dried milk. Josh made biscuits to go with the freeze dried seafood chowder one evening.

They heard the distant rumble of avalanches four times while they were storm-stayed at the cabin. The hills in their immediate vicinity weren't steep, so Josh felt they were safe staying in the cabin. What they would find once they got hiking again after the storm ended would be an entirely different matter.

The two days of enforced idleness was good for Josh and Molly. They needed the rest. Out of shear boredom, Josh measured the length of the route they traveled since they left Sedro-Woolley twenty-eight days ago. Josh figured they had done around 395 miles, mostly on foot since the night after the failed attack.

Josh and Molly spent a lot of time cuddled together on the couch, enjoying the romantic fire warming their cozy cabin. The time and the place, as well as the enforced idleness, led to quite a few romps in bed for the couple. They took advantage of the warm setting to bathe. Molly loved when Josh washed her hair. Josh savored having the half-dressed teen wash and then massage his back and shoulders. They ended up in bed making love.