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metal, makes sparks. I don’t have any metal. But maybe…”
                  The sun was beginning to set by the time Merek found two rocks that actually worked together, and enough sticks and twigs and dried leaves to convince him that his plan might stand a chance. He had never seen it done before, but rocks were incredibly solid and he couldn’t think of anything else that might work.
                  So he was understandably shocked when the rocks sparked. It wasn’t easy, and there weren’t enough sparks to light the mess of dried wood, but still. Sparks. It wasn’t until Merek scraped the rocks together quickly that they sparked enough to finally light a tiny flame.
                  Which Merek promptly blew out due to his excitement.
                  He tried again, lighting the twigs and eternally throwing more on. The sticks caught and the fire grew in strength, prompting Merek to collect bigger sticks to feed it.
                  Finally, when the moon was in the sky, Merek put the fish on a stick and roasted it on the fire.
                  “I made a fire,” he remarked, “it’s little and terrible and took me hours, but I made a fire. So there’s something.”
                  Merek had no idea how long to wait until the fish was cooked, so he checked it every now and again. It seemed to drag on for days, until finally Merek was tired of waiting and took a bite out of it.
                  It was yet another bad decision.
                  He hacked, the taste so revolting he almost threw up the little there was in his belly. The skin tasted okay, but there was something under that layer that rolled on his tongue like a slimy bean.
                  Once he was done retching, Merek took his rock and cut open the fish. The head didn’t seem to have anything tasty in it, so he cut that off and tossed it aside. The skin was strange and kind of slippery, but it was, after all, a fish. Under the skin… was that blood? And what Merek was going to assume was fat.
                  “That explains the slimy taste. Disgusting.”
                  But under all that, there was a bit of meat there. Merek carved it out and started eating it, smiling as the food traveled down his throat. Finally, real food after who knew how long of nothing. He choked on a bone or two, but it was nothing serious.
                  “So, new plan. Build a better trap, and get into the good part of the fish before eating it. Sounds like tomorrow’s going to be busy.”
                  Letting the fire burn into the night, Merek settled himself into a nest of leaves and promptly fell asleep. He might do a bit of exploring tomorrow as well, see if he couldn’t find any civilization anywhere.
                  He fell deeply asleep about three seconds before the wind started to howl.
     

Chapter Four: Furry Friends
     
                  Merek’s first thought was that he had wet himself.
                  Such an event hadn’t happened in years, not since he was very young and his father didn’t let him drink anything for two days afterwards. So he was quite surprised when he felt liquid around his midriff.
                  Then he woke up, and realized exactly what the problem was.
                  It was raining, first of all, though he was sheltered from most of it by the trees. The stream, however, had no such shelter and the added water caused the stream to overrun its banks. Thinking quickly, Merek grabbed his staff and stone, backing away from the approaching water.
                  “Well…” he said thoughtfully, “that could have been about a hundred times worse.”
                  He should have known better.
                  The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.