The venom left Kate's right breast numb. I cross-cut the fang marks with my knife, spitting out mouthfuls of tainted blood.
"Am I dying?" Her whisper trembled.
"Not today." I rinsed the wounds with our precious water.
When she sat up, a blush crept across her cheeks. "Could you... stop staring?"
I grinned, draping my shirt over her shoulders. "Now we're even."
Her laughter sounded like wind chimes. "Pervert."
The hour-long trek back to camp ended with Emma's glacial glare. "Firewood gathering looks... intimate."
Kate yanked the dead viper from my belt and flung it. Emma's scream echoed through the palms as she bolted.
Daisy startled us all—skinning the snake with terrifying precision. Her knife work suggested muscle memory from another life.
"Where'd you learn that?" Emma whispered.
Daisy just blinked.
Inside the wreckage, I braced against Emma while hacking apart the instrument panel. Wires sparked as I severed them—our best shot at ignition.
Back at camp, Kate held up salvaged copper strands. "This'll work?"
"Positive." The wires sparked, igniting gunpowder sprinkled on Emma's silk scarf. Flames licked at our makeshift tinder.
Emma shrieked as fire engulfed the fabric pile. "Don't smother it!"
Ten minutes later, I returned with a sapling to feed the blaze. Kate took one look at my singed eyebrows and howled with laughter.
"Mirror," Emma gasped between giggles, tossing me her compact.
The reflection showed a soot-blackened face with patchy hair. "Well, there goes my modeling career."
"Don't worry," Kate teased, "your personality was always the real deal-breaker."
Evening brought sizzling steaks on heated stones. Daisy proved unexpectedly adept at cooking—flipping meat with military precision.
"Trade with me," Emma demanded.
Kate slammed her plate down. "Stop exploiting her!"
The argument escalated until distant screams cut through the night. We raced back to find Jack Krause impaled in our food pit—branches protruding from his thigh.
"Just wanted fire," he groaned.
"Kill him!" Emma shrilled.
Daisy stepped between us, slowly removing her shirt. Moonlight sculpted her torso as she pleaded, "Mercy."