Anthony Newman - American Survivor

“Joe, I’ll go in the bedroom if you want to take a bath. We can leave the door open, so I get some heat. I promise not to peek, “She said with a mischievous grin on her face.

“I think I’ll take you up on that. Washing out of a bucket is better than nothing but a good hot tub bath is much better, “he said as he placed a bucket of water on the stove to heat.

Madison replied, “Here, I’ll help you empty the water and fetch clean water for your bath.”

“I’ll just use your water. It looks pretty clear to me, and frankly, I’m too tired to lug the water, “Joe answered.

“Are you sure? I hate for you to use my dirty water,” she said very sincerely.

“Madison, if that’s the worst I have to do to stay reasonably clean then I’m a fortunate man to take a bath after a beautiful woman,” Joe was smiling then quickly frowned when he realized he was flirting back with her.

Joe poured the hot water in the tub and Madison left for the bedroom. Joe stripped down and soaked for several minutes in the soothing water before he began scrubbing two weeks’ worth of dirt off his body. He finished his bath and then dropped his clothes in the tub to wash them. He put on his spare clothes and said, “Madison, I’m dressed now. You can come back in the room.”

She didn’t answer so he poked his head into the room and saw she was sound asleep in the middle of the only bed in the cabin. He had planned for them to both share the bed, but he would sleep in his sleeping bag. The couch was actually an ancient futon that was crappy at best. He tried sleeping on the futon and found it so lumpy it killed his back, so he placed his sleeping bag on the floor in front of the fire and went to sleep.

About midnight Madison woke up and didn’t see Joe, so she got up and walked into the living room and saw him on the floor still awake.

“Joe, get up and come to bed. I’ll stay on my side and won’t attack you.”

“Okay, you fell asleep in the middle of the bed, and I didn’t want to disturb you,” Joe said as he gathered his sleeping bag and joined her on the bed.

Joe woke up in the morning spooning Madison with her head resting on his arm and his other around her waist. He lay there thinking two weeks ago, she was a happily married rich woman without a care in the world, and five weeks ago, he was getting married to his high school sweetheart. It then dawned on him that this woman could teach survival lessons to the Special Forces. She had tried wiggling her assets at him to no avail then switched to the helpless girl who wanted to learn from the big strong man.

Joe liked the thought of a beautiful warm body next to him in the morning; however, he was pissed about this woman’s tactics. He was not in the frame of mind to be manipulated ever again.

He lay there for over an hour thinking about how to proceed with Madison’s training and how much to let her know about his real situation. He knew she would use him to get what she wanted so he convinced himself that her companionship and help around the cabin would make it worth his effort.

Joe felt her stir and played possum until he heard her close the bathroom door. He jumped out of bed, dressed, and quickly placed several logs on the fire. He stirred the embers until he had the fire going again.

He looked outside and saw there was a new carpet of white snow on the ground. This frightened him because someone could easily track them if they went hunting with snow on the ground. He needed to go back to the other cabin to check on it and bring some more food back but didn’t want to take the risk.

“Madison, we need to stay close to the cabin today due to the fresh snow outside. Normally I’d be hunting since it’s easy to track animals in the snow, but it’s also easy to track humans, and I’m worried about people walking through the area and some bad guys that drove through here a couple of days ago. I think they are the same people that killed your husband and kidnapped you and the other women,” Joe informed Madison.

“Well, it’s not all that bad; I see a deck of cards on the shelf along with a couple of board games. You could even teach me some survival skills while we’re stuck in our home,” she smiled.

Joe caught the crap about our home, and it made him mad that she thought he was dumb or horny enough to buy everything she said.

He thought for a minute and replied, “That’s a good idea. We can train you how to set rabbit traps and then how to skin and gut what we catch. We can even build a rough smoker and smoke the meat at night.”

He gloated when the smile washed off her pretty face, but then she cheerfully said, “That sounds yucky to me, but I want to contribute and not be a drag on you so I’ll kick myself in the butt and do what you tell me to do. Let’s get after it once I warm up some leftover venison for breakfast.”

“Okay, that works for me. I have a couple of things to do while you fix breakfast.”

Joe took another letter from his coat pocket and began to read.

Dear Joe:

I know you are a good person because I spent so much time with you during your formative years and our weekly chats. Don’t become jaded because she fooled around with your best friend. Life is a bitch, and sometimes you have to laugh and move on. You will find the love of your life one day, and she will be faithful to you. Don’t settle for anyone that comes along, be picky and don’t settle for less than you deserve. You will know she’s the one when you think about her every day and can’t live without her and she feels the same way about you.

I hope my letters are as helpful to you as they were to me. Oh, yes I did have to add several notes after I heard about the Explorer incident. Karma is great. You need to forgive those two and thank God, your friend took that cheating bitch from you before she took half of what you own in a divorce. LOL

Joe felt someone behind him and caught Madison staring over his shoulder, “Joe what are you reading? You were laughing, and it caught my interest.”

“My Grandma died a few weeks back, and we were very close. She left me a series of letters to open over the next two years along with the land you are standing on. I just wish she’d left me a mansion with a good furnace,” he laughed.

Madison said,” She must have been a very special woman.”

“She was very special to my Dad and me. We were the closest to her, in the family, and I miss her every day. The letters help soften the grief of losing her. Now that the world has turned upside down the letters help me muddle through the day,” he said with a tear running down his cheek.

Joe opened the door to see it was snowing and walked out of the cabin to fetch more firewood when he was surprised by Bennie jumping on him.

“Hey big boy, how are you doing?”

Joe petted Bennie and scratched behind his ears. Bennie ran to the front of the cabin where Joe found a dead rabbit. Bennie had brought a present to Joe that morning and then ran away back home. Joe watched him disappear into the woods thinking about the woman with the black hair. Then he noticed something that scared the crap out of him. The dog was leaving tracks everywhere he went.

The snow quickly covered the tracks, so there wasn’t any danger today, but he was concerned the dog might lead the wrong people to his door.

A few days later, the weather had warmed, and the snow had melted. Joe had to get out of the cabin and clear his head. Madison hoovered around Joe trying her best to get him interested in her until he was so fed up he just had to escape.

“Madison, I’ll be gone for a while,” Joe said as he packed his backpack and rolled up his sleeping bag.