Okefenokee

Rob didn't speak a first but then said, “They will be later, after dark. We need to have the tent finished by then. It shouldn’t be a problem, it’s only late morning so we have plenty of time. The fire will be there,” he pointed at a rocky spot. And the rain will run off in that direction so we won’t get flooded.” They went to work unpacking and erecting the huge tent.

Cyndi, “Good pick Rob. We will have lots of room in this,” she noticed as it started to take shape.

Mom collected small firewood on the perimeter as the forest was thick with ground cover making it nearly impossible to navigate. There were two natural game trails. The one they came on and another at the far side leading down the other side of the high spot. There were game foot prints all along them.

When the tent was erect Rob started the fire and pulled some larger dead tree debris out of the woods and nursed it until he had a blaze. At first they sat around it as it dried their sweat. Cyndi passed out water bottles and they refreshed their bodies.

Cyndi, “Rob, remember we binge watched a couple of survival shows. You seemed really interested. Now I know why. You wanted to be on one of them to compete with your skills didn’t you?”

“I confess. One thing I noticed though was many high level survivalist failed. Most of them need some comfort to survive. When they don’t have clothes and are sleeping without a bed or covers it wears on them. We are going to try to comfort ourselves with time. It will be rough as we begin here but we can’t fail, this is not a reality show. This is life or death.”

Mom listened with a solemn look on her face. She wasn’t that concerned. She felt she had lived a good life. What she wanted was to know her soon to be grandchild. It’s what will keep her going forward.

They went into the tent and unraveled sleeping bags. They needed to rest their tired eyes. The hard ground was going to take getting used to. The bag itself had some cushioning but not enough.

Cyndi crawled inside one but she couldn’t get to sleep, “I can’t sleep without a pillow Rob. Will you be able to make one for me?”

“I think so. After I bag a dear or maybe a pig I will use the leather hide to make something with some duck or goose feathers that will work.”

Just thinking about a down pillow caused her eyes to close as she moved closer to him and used his body as a pillow.

Mom heard something that sounded large going through woods, “Are there bear out here?”

“Could be. In all my time as a kid camping here in the swamp I never saw one directly but I have seen their scat. I’m thinking they eat pretty well here so they shouldn’t bother us. An adult male black bear could weigh up to 600 lbs.”

Later, Rob woke and went out to the fire. He maintained it with some chopped branches and sat. There were several large rocks and he sat on one of them. They brought some lawn chair furniture but it is packed on top of the RV. He thought about their need for water. He looked around. The bluff interested him. If he could only find a place where the higher water works itself down through the rocks. He walked over to and around it when his foot sunk it a little. It was wet. He followed it back to the rock wall and there was continuous water like a running faucet. He gathered the water bottles they drank from and refilled them placing them in direct sunlight. One problem solved. Hundreds more to go.

Cyndi made her appearance at the doorway of the tent stretching her arms. Then she joined Rob sitting on the rocks.

“You should be resting,” he said to her.

“I woke up cause my pillow was gone.”

Rob laughed, “Mom still sleeping?”

“Yeah, will let her sleep. She’s been through a lot for a fifty year old.”

Rob showed her the filled bottles, “I found a water source right over there.”

Cyndi, “And we can drink it?”

“I don’t see why not. The water is being filtered by all the rock and sand it travels through to get here. I am testing it. I drank a bottle already when I was filling them.”

They spent the next couple of weeks setting up a comfortable camp site and Rob made multiple trips back to the RV completely transferring the supplies. More weeks went by turning to months. They only heard the ham radio a couple of times when they first arrived with no new information. Forecasts of doom came in from all over the world. There were people out there but it seemed like they lost hope. They were still living alone among the remains of the pestilence. Their families gone. Rob’s clever idea had successfully kept his family alive and well. They were not experiencing the loneliness of others because they were together. He put the radio away after one ham operator made mention that his revolver would be his last comfort.

Cyndi’s bulge grew to completion and she had a baby boy at the wilderness camp now called home. He was named Robert Junior. They were all joyous of the new arrival. Time flew by for the family as Rob made furniture out of downed trees and other modernized utilities. With enough wildlife to feed them well, life became not so bad. They almost forgot the life they left behind as Junior grew into a young boy.