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Author's Declaration: I wish to assure the reader that every single character in this story, even if most briefly mentioned, is well above the age of 18.
Author's Note: Unlike the other stories I have posted on Literotica, this one is not short but instead is a fully fleshed out novella. While highly erotic and dripping with the taboo of incest, I have taken my time in creating what I hope are much more believable and three-dimensional characters. If you're looking for a "quick fix," I recommend one of my shorter stories. If you're interested in taking your time, then read on, my friend, and enjoy.]
"The trick," I said, scraping my knife briskly against the flint, "is to make sure you have your larger twigs and pieces of wood near you once you get the tinder ignited. It's a little embarrassing to get your fire started and then remember you still need fuel to keep it going!"
The small group around me chuckled then offered their expected noises of delight and amazement when I finally got my sparks to ignite the small bundle of dried pine needles. I bent over and blew gently on the embers to bring them to a fine glow, then began placing some twigs and larger pieces of wood onto the small licks of flame.
"And
voila
," I said, "man makes fire. Now, it's your turn."
I stood and watched them disperse, three couples. It was my latest survivor school class. So far my A-students were, surprisingly, among the oldest students I'd ever had, both in their mid-sixties, but both absolute troopers in the harsh summer conditions. They got their fire going in about five minutes. The other two couples weren't quite as adept. There was a nerdy-bookish duo in their mid-forties, and a young silly pair of lovers in their early-20s. (I could say "young" and "silly" because I was comfortably in my 30s.) The young couple was somewhat quarrelsome, too, which was surprising. I was hoping it wouldn't get worse as the stress of the hike mounted. All of them, however, had good credit lines, and they'd all paid the healthy fee to hire me, their survival guide, for a seven-day trek through this particularly unpopulated section of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Just to get here we'd had to hike over 10 miles. As everyone in my group was already in fairly good shape (it's a survival school, not a fat farm) and had left with full bellies, the hike had been quite pleasant. But now, several hours in, they'd had little food and few breaks. They would soon be in full survival mode, but this was what they'd paid for, so spirits were still somewhat high. It would be interesting to see how they digested their share of the large rattle snake I'd trapped, killed and skinned for dinner this evening. All of our meals on this trek were going to be only from what nature could provide. By the end of this journey we would each burning upwards of 4000 calories per day yet ingesting little more than 500. If they knew what was good for them, they'd enjoy—or at least appreciate—their snake supper.
Eventually, with only a little coaching from me, everyone got their fires going, each proud that not a single match or drop of lighter fluid had been used. And as I suspected, they ate their roasted snake meat with only minimal squeamishness. The evening was made all the more enjoyable when I produced my hidden canister of single malt Scotch whisky, just enough for the seven of us to have a couple of small shots. I told them that this was the last bit of booze they'd be enjoying for the next six nights.
Earlier in the afternoon I'd shown them all how to make simple lean-to shelters with pine branches, sticks and pine needles for padding, and eventually the couples began settling into their rudimentary shelters. Well, that one young couple had gone off somewhere. I'd assumed they'd just been eager to fuck each other in the wild outdoors and I certainly couldn't blame them. We were in pristine country: forest, lakes and mountains untouched by human industrialization. But I was wrong. I saw the girl, Karin, wander back into the camp area, alone.
I asked her, "Where's David?" Her husband.
"Who the fuck cares?" she replied.
I looked at her, surprised. She was a cute girl, about five-and-a-half feet tall, short brown hair, brown eyes, nice teeth. Though slightly chunky, Karin had a nice round ass and full, milky breasts, which I'd noticed right away. But she'd come here with her husband. Kind of hard to hit on a girl in a situation like this.
Catching my stare Karin said, "Oh, he's just over there, near the edge of the lake. He's okay."
"Good," I said. The safety of these six people was my absolute priority.
"It's just," she said in a whisper, "he can be such an
asshole
sometimes!"
I nodded. They'd had a fight. That wasn't exactly uncommon when couples were subjected to the stress of survival training. I was just surprised they were at each others' throats on the very first night, but their tepidly argumentative attitude toward each other earlier today had foreshadowed this.
"Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to vent."
"No worries."
She looked at me up and down. She said, "You're pretty easy-going, aren't you, Cal?"
"I suppose."
We locked eyes. Something connected there, I was sure. Admittedly, however, I was the first to look away. Having spent a lot of time often alone in the wilderness these last few years, I'd pretty much lost the ability to flirt or seduce. My "people skills" were very rusty. If something was going to happen here, I was shying away from it like a novice.
"Well," she said at last, "I'd better get back to my little shelter. You said we were moving on at dawn, right?"
I managed to glance back to her face. "Yeah."
Karin reached for my arm, turning my watch so she could see the time on its luminescent dial. It was a little after nine. Her fingers felt nice. Christ, I hadn't been laid in a long, long time.
She said, "We'd better get some sleep." Giving me a strange look.
"Yes." All I could stammer out.
She moved off and I watched her full round ass, trying to determine if she was wearing a thong despite being in the wild. I hoped so. Then again, what did it matter? She'd be settling down with her asshole husband, I'd be bedding down alone, as usual, as always....
* * *