chapter 48

It sat in unharmed glory amidst foil-covered meals scattered in fanciful patterns with bits and pieces of Toby’s backpack. Typical man, she thought with experimental exasperation, leaving the woman to clean up the mess. She gathered Toby’s clothes and shook them free of snow. She stuffed them into her pack and then started putting the foil-clad meals on top. With a little organization, she was able to put most of the undamaged food in her backpack, but there was no way she would be able to stuff anything more into it. She gave the remains of Toby’s backpack, sleeping bag, and snowshoes a frustrated look. It wouldn’t have bothered her so much, except this was a wilderness area and they weren’t supposed to leave anything behind. She looked closely at Toby’s backpack, but it had been ripped to shreds. The gun had taken Damage, too. She didn’t know much about rifles, but she suspected that they needed a straight barrel to work right. She hit the jackpot, though, when one of the pieces of