Chapter 14

The next morning just as they were finishing breakfast, they heard the front door open and the sound of a pair of rambunctious boys entering, followed seconds later by another pair of feet.

“You boys should knock before entering.” Mike called after them, but knowing that it was of little use.

“Mornin guys. Don't worry about that, I told them to just enter.” Sam said as Mike and Marty entered the kitchen, a few seconds after the boys barged in and rushed out their good mornings.

“Morning. They should still knock though.” Mike shrugged.

“Nah, we're all friends here, and I don't mind. Hell it was the barging in of boys that got me my sons in the first place.” Sam smiled warmly.

“Huh!” Mike and Marty both said, so obviously the boys had not told their dads of the story, because they had been told, so the boys all told it to the men.

“Oh, that's an interesting tale for sure.”

“Yeah, it was the best day of my life.” Sam smiled brightly.

“Ours too.” The boys added with smiles just as large.

“Well, I think the store that we'll be wanting should be open soon, so should we head out?” Sam asked.

“Okay.” Everyone said.

Sam and the boys headed to their bedroom to get changed and dressed, because they had still been in their wet night diapers. They were out only a few minutes later and they all headed out, in the two trucks as normal. The store was not all that far away, so they made it there in only a few minutes or so and went in, they had just opened.

“Let's show them the bows first daddy.” The boys said.

“Okay. Now Mike, don't be alarmed at some of the prices that you see, they are not the only ones that they have here, they just like to keep the most expensive ones on display. I come here all the time, so I know the place well.” Sam warned.

“Oh, okay, thanks for the warning.”

“Wow, these are so cool, and you guys really have ones of your own?” Roland asked, because for some reason the boys had never shown off those particular toys, but then again Sam had warned them that there would be minimum of one week of no sex allowed, even between themselves, if they were ever caught playing with them without supervision, and the boys knew he meant it as well.

“Yep, you see that model right there on the top right, that's the one we all have, even daddy, but ours is the smaller junior sized version that they don't have on display here I guess, or maybe they don't carry it here.”

“Holy crap, it's like over a thousand dollars, that's really expensive.” Roger said in shock.

“Yeah, ours were really expensive, and we told daddy that we didn't want or need ones that were that much, but he told us that we would get to splurge a little and buy the best for once.” Teddy smiled.

“That's cool though, if you have the money, you may as well every now and then.” Roland said.

“Yeah, but we won't be doing that too terribly often, we don't want to blow all our money before we're old.” Sam said from right behind them, the adults had finally caught up.

“Oh, hi daddy, we were just showing Roger and Roland the bow that we have, but they either don't have the junior model here, or it's not on display.” Timmy said, pointing up at the bow they were referring to, but Sam had already known exactly where it was, because he had had his eye on it for some time before he bought one.

“Holy shit, that is expensive.” Mike gasped and Marty nodded.

“Yes, it is, but it is the best there is. You know what, you will only need to buy one, I will give my old one to one of the boys. I obviously don't need it any more, now that I bought the new one. It'll be a bit big for him, but it'll be fine. In fact, they still have the same model here, so if you wanted them to have the same, it only costs three hundred. Still pretty expensive, but a pretty good one for the money.” Sam offered.

“Well, I had been thinking of spending about that much between the two of them, so if you want to give them your old one, then I can spend that much on one of them. So yeah, that would be very nice of you, thanks.” Mike smiled.

“I wouldn't have recommended that you go that low anyways. To get anything half way decent, you pretty much have to spend a minimum of two hundred dollars, so this'll work out well for you.”

“Oh, I'll have to take your word for it, because I know nothing of this sort of thing. In fact that last time I was in a store like this was when my dad dragged me into one when I was about seven or eight. He was a big hunter, but I never could stand it. He at least never badgered me to go with him. He asked once when I was ten, what he said was the age that was appropriate, I politely said no, and he said okay, hunting is not for everyone. He didn't fish though, he hated the stuff more than I do, so I was lucky there. At least we did lots of other stuff together, he was nothing like Marty's dad.”

“Thank god for that.” Marty said.

“No shit.” Sam added.

“Okay, so you guys will buy the same model as daddy has, he can go and ask for that, so let's go find the backpacks and see what they have.” Teddy said.

“Okay, that works for me, we'll meet you there in a few minutes.” Sam said, and then he and the other two adults headed to the main counter to talk to the owner, while the boys searched the store for a few minutes to find the packs.

“Here they are. Wow, they sure do have a lot of them. Daddy said that we should just buy the best, and that looks like this one here. Hmm, it says good for youths from the age of about eight to thirteen, so that sounds like us, but man is it huge.” Timmy said as he spotted them first.

“Yeah, it is, but it looks like the right size.” Roland said.

“Okay, let's try it on then.” The trio said.

There wasn't enough there for all of them to try on, but realistically they didn't all need to anyways, so only two did. They all found that it was a perfect fit, but they had a hell of a time trying to figure out all the straps and just where they were supposed to go and how to do them up.

“Wow, that was tough to put on, but it's really comfortable.” Teddy said, he was the one of the three to have tried it on. Roger, who was the one of the two to have tried it on as well agreed.

“And it looks like the right fit as well. That's the same model as the one I have, so I know it's the best there is.” Sam said as they came up.

“Cool. So we need five of them, but there's only three on the rack. We hope that they have more of them.”

“I'm sure he will have, so grab those ones and we'll check. You boys go and find the knife display and teach the boys about what they need to know to choose the right knife. I trust you remember yourselves!”

“Yes we do daddy, but we'll ask for help if we need it.” The boys smiled.

“Good.” Sam said, and the boys took off, because they knew where to go, since they had seen the display case while searching for the packs. The adults took the three packs to the front and asked for two more.

“So, here's the knives guys. You want one that's a good size, has a few different blades for doing different things, make sure that they are good hardened steel blades as well, but you don't need them too big. Make sure that they also have a good locking belt case with them, because not all of them will have a case.” The boys informed.

Roland and Roger looked through the selection for a little while, right up until the adults came back to find them, but they couldn't make up their minds.

“We don't know which one to choose. They all look the same to us.”

“But they're not all the same. Read the cards to learn what each one is and what it's designed for. If it helps though, we have that one right there, and it's a really good one for the price.” Teddy said softly.

“Okay, then we'll take that one as well.” Roger said.

“Good choice.” The man behind the counter said.

“Thanks.” The triple threat said, because they had picked that one out without any help themselves. Mike asked for two of them and they were grabbed and packed up.

“So, did you guys already choose the arrows as well, and did you get a couple spare bow strings to go along with it?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah, I grabbed the boys the same quiver and arrows that you guys have, just makes it easier. I also grabbed them each two spare strings, you know how I feel about that. Mike nearly peed his pants though when he saw the prices on all that stuff.” Sam laughed.

“Well, I'm not used to spending this much money on stuff like this. Sure I can call up a supplier and spend fifty thousand dollars in under ten minutes, but that's business and I'll make it back three fold in a few days if I'm lucky.”

“No, I used to hate having to come here to replace my gear, because it always hurt so damned much, especially when I didn't exactly make a lot of money, but this was my only source of fun and relaxation, so it was necessary.”

“It'll be good for the boys to learn this stuff as well though. If I were to get stranded in the woods, I'd die very quickly. I have no clue about anything when it comes to this stuff, but most people really should. My dad offered to teach me, and I declined, but really, I should have I suppose.”

“Yes, everyone should at the very least take a basic survival course, so that they can survive a few days in case of emergency, but most don't. Maybe I'll teach you one of these days as well.”

“Maybe I'll let you.” Mike grinned.

“I might even take that offer myself.” Marty added.

“Cool. Well boys, was there anything else before we head out and get you all rigged up and getting used to your new heavy packs?”

“Do we have enough emergency rations?” Tommy asked.

“No, probably not. I'll ask for a case of the usual then, that should do us for a while. Great to have in the house anyways for just in case of emergency as well. Actually, you two need canteens.” Sam said, and then pointed to the twins.

“Uh daddy, we don't even have canteens yet.” Timmy pointed out.

“Really, I thought I bought you boys one each already!” Sam said, scratching his forehead in thought.

“Nope, don't think so anyways.”

“Well, not a big deal even if I did. Each of you go and find and grab two good sized ones, they're handy to have anyways.” Sam smiled.

The boys took off and were back a few minutes later.

“Okay, now anything else?”

“Um, nothin I can think of.” Teddy said this time.

“Okay, let's go do this.”

They all headed up to the front and the owner had everything piled and ready to go. Mike and his boys went to their pile and added the additional items to it and then paid, theirs was the first in the row. Sam and his boys added their items and then paid for their stuff as well once it was their turn. Once they were all paid up, and said goodbye, they headed out to the truck and just loaded it all into Sam's truck, all of them figuring that there was little point in putting it into both trucks. They headed towards home and Mike parked at their house, but he and his boys were over almost as soon as Sam and the boys were out of their truck.

“Can we try out the bows and arrows?” Roland and Roger both asked excitedly as soon as they came to a screeching halt.

“ 'Fraid not kiddo. Somehow I don't think our neighbors would be too thrilled with having a wayward arrow piercing anything in their yards. Although the one mouthy eighteen year old behind us might not be missed so much.” Sam grinned.

“Oh, yeah, I suppose that would be bad. How can we learn to use them then, and when?”

“We'll get plenty of chance to do that tomorrow, don't you worry none. Right now though we need to go and find everything that we will be taking with us and getting our packs done up. You boys need to get all of your packs loaded and properly fitted so that you can wear them a little bit today to get used to them.”

“Cool. Tell us where we need to go and we'll go get everything.” The trio said.

Sam spent a few minutes telling the boys everything that they would be needing, and where exactly each of the items were, and as soon as he said that was it, they were off. Each of them headed to a different place to get whatever item was there, and only minutes later they were back. As the boys were gone, the adults unloaded everything from the truck.

“That didn't sound like all that much stuff that you told the boys to get.” Mike stated simply as they were unpacking.

“That's because we will not be taking too much more than that. The only other things will be a few extra clothes, the cloth diapers and plastic pants, of which we have enough for your boys as well, and whatever we have in here.”

“Not sure how you're going to manage it all, but it sounds like you're used to it.”

“I wouldn't say used to it, but I'm comfortable with it. Every time I go out on a trip like this I learn just a little bit more, and take just a little less with me, but this is the bare minimum that you can really get away with. I'm not brave or stupid enough to go without the basic essentials.” Sam grinned.

“Don't you think that it'll be tough to take the boys all on a trip like this?” Marty asked.

“No, kids are far better at this sort of thing than most adults are. They'll have a serious blast and probably won't want to come back. We will be back home next Monday morning some time though, no matter what.”

“That's true I guess.” Mike said.

“Here you go daddy.” The boys all said as they brought their requested items.

“Here you go Sam.” The twins added.

“Great. It looks like you found everything with no problem. So, now we pack. Each of you is to grab an even two dozen emergency rations and put them in the secure pocket on the inside bottom of your pack. Next your sleeping bag goes in for those that are going to carry it, we'll add your clothes later, I've got the cookware, but the dishes can be split up between those that are not taking sleeping bags. Your quivers will attach to the sides of your packs with no problem at all, and could still be used like that. The rest of the stuff we pretty much just split up, but I'll take the tarp and the hatchet.”

The boys packed their few meager belongings into their packs as they were being told to do it, and almost as soon as Sam finished, so did they. It really was not too hard, considering just how little they had.

“Okay Mike, why don't you go and get the boys some clothes to wear. Get them good strong, free flowing clothes that are good and warm. They will need good sturdy shoes, lots of socks and underwear, a couple heavier shirts and a few lighter ones, some shorts and a few lighter pairs of pants. You will want to get them two jackets as well, one thicker one and one lighter one. Boys, the key here is layers, I'll teach you all about that. I'll go get your clothes now as well.”

“Okay.” Mike said and took off.

As mike and Sam were gone, the trio showed the twins how to string their new bows and how to use them, all without the use of the arrows. They showed them how to put their quivers on and off, how to retrieve and put back arrows, how to aim, how to draw, pretty much all the basics of their deadly weapons, yet still without ever putting an arrow to the strings. Marty just watched as the boys taught the twins as if they had been using them all their lives, and even he felt like he'd be able to use a bow and arrow now from just listening, and he'd never seen one before in his life, and certainly never held one. Both Sam and Mike made it back at about the same time, the only difference was that Sam had a larger pile of items, including the cloth diapers.

“Hey, are those cloth diapers?” Roland queried curiously.

“Yep they are, and these will be what we wear only during the nights so as to reduce waste while we're out. We won't be using them during the day though, because we don't have too may of them, and we won't have time to wash and dry them otherwise.” Sam answered and informed.

“Oh cool. We've never worn those before.” Roger said.

“They were pretty much all we used for the last many years, so we're used to them, but we actually prefer the disposables now that we get to use them, because they're actually more comfortable.” Teddy said.

“Oh, well that's cool. At least we'll get to say that we've tried them before.” Roland smiled.

“Okay boys, pack your clothes into your packs now. You'll have plenty of room to fit it all. You're going to want to put your knife sheaths onto your belts as well to get used to them, and then once you're ready, I'll come around and fit each of your packs onto you properly.”

“Okay.” The boys said happily, and then did as they were told.

As each one finished, Sam went and helped each one of them to put their packs on and adjust them perfectly, so that they rode and fit properly. It didn't take too long at all, but as soon as Sam finished with each one, they started to walk around to get used to it, also having put their bows and quivers on as well.

“Hey, this isn't too bad, it's pretty light actually.” Roland commented after about ten minutes.

“Just wait until you've been carrying that thing for an hour or two while going uphill. You won't be thinking that it's so light then, trust me. Don't worry though, we'll take plenty of breaks so that you boys don't get over tired or anything like that. We also won't be going too terribly far from wherever we decide to park the truck, maybe a couple miles or so. It'll still be tough though, believe you me.”

“We'll be fine.” The triple threat said happily, and the twins nodded their agreement as well.

“Yes, I'm sure that you will be.” Sam smiled.

“You boys look almost like you're prepared for anything. All you need is a sword and you'd look just like those wilderness scouts in my all time favorite story, the Kandric Saga.” Mike smiled.

“Wicked, we love that one too.” The triplets said.

“Me too.” Sam added.

“Neat. Glad to see we all have such good taste.” Mike grinned, Marty nodded.

“Well boys, I think that it's time to take your packs off and put them in the garage for the night, and then I think you two should go home and cuddle up to your daddies for the night, because you won't be seeing them for a week.” Sam smiled warmly, but Marty gave him an evil glare, the boys all cracked up.

“For Christ's sake man, I'm only just barely old enough to be their big brother, not to mention I only started puberty when they started potty training, so don't be making me their daddy.” Marty groaned.

Everyone else just laughed though. The boys did remove their packs and take them to the garage though, and the twins did go home with their daddies for the night. Sam and his boys headed into the house and made lunch, got comfortable, and sat around for the rest of the day talking and watching TV.

As previously arranged, the boys entered the house at five am the next morning raring to go. With them they dragged a barely awake Mike, but Marty was already at work. Sam and the boys had already been up for nearly an hour by then, preparing the few last minute things that they thought of during the night. The boys were all ready and raring to go, all of them in good clothes for a hike.

“If it had have been up to the boys, we would have been here almost an hour ago. They woke up at a few minutes past four and actually had the nerve to come in and jump on me. Thankfully I was still awake from Marty leaving for work, or they may not have made it here this morning, because they would be dead and I'd be going to jail.” Mike said dryly.

“We almost always wake up at four, so it's normal for us, but I could understand why that might upset you a bit.” Sam laughed. The twins just gave the classic who me look.

“It was a damn good thing that I was heavily diapered though, because when they both landed on me at sixty miles an hour, I'm not ashamed to say that they scared the piss out of me so bad that I leaked.”

“He even screamed like a little girl.” Roland giggled.

“Yeah, well you giggle like a little girl still, so don't be teasing me boy. And remember, I still know all of your secrets, and they could slip.”

“Yeah right, like what secrets?” Roland dared, but he should have known better.

“Like the fact that you still suck your thumb.” Mike said with a grin.

“Hey, I only do that when I'm scared or really sad.”

“Be that as it may, but remember, I know more, and more personal as well.” Mike grinned evilly.

“Fine.” Roland pouted.

“We'll talk later to get the juicy details.” Teddy said in a fake whisper to Mike, giving him a wink for added effect.

“He'll never tell, because we know lots of his secrets as well.” Roland said smugly.

“Like what? These guys already know all the ones that you boys would know about.” Mike said puzzled.

“Like maybe Marty isn't the only one that likes to dress up as a baby girl.” Roger giggled.

“Oh, well yes, there is that, but how did you boys know?” Mike blushed cutely.

“We saw you a few nights ago, your door wasn't closed tightly, and we sorta saw you for half a second as you walked past. We didn't stay to watch though, because that would have been rude.” Roland smiled softly.

“Well, thanks I guess, and not a big deal I suppose.” Mike shrugged.

“No prob daddy.”

“Hey, we all have our kinks right?” Sam grinned.

“Yeah, and I already know yours, so now you know mine as well.” Mike grinned.

“For sure. So, are you boys all ready to go then?” Sam asked possibly the stupidest question of the century, at least in the boys' eyes.

“Yeah.” They all said excitedly.

“Yeah, thought so. Well, you two go give your daddy hugs and kisses bye bye.”

The two boys went to their daddy and hugged and kissed him in more than a father son fashion, it was quite comical, because Mike was trying to push the boys away as they kissed him, but as he got one away, the other dove in. Sam and the boys were killing themselves laughing it was so funny.

“You boys are horrible, but I love you, now get lost.”

“Probably not a good thing to say to people that are about to go spend a week in a forest where there's nothing around but trees.” Roger pointed out smartly. Mike just stuck his tongue out.

“Oh, you want another kiss?” Roland asked giddily, Mike just sputtered, the others all laughed even more.

“Boy, you two really are horrible to me. I love you you two monsters, now go before I decide to ground you instead for a week.” Mike said, shaking his head in a cross between shock and amazement.

“Bye daddy, love you too.” The boys said.

“You keep my babies safe.” Mike warned Sam.

“No worries. They'll be every bit as safe as my boys, but accidents happen, but still, we'll be as careful as we can possibly be.” Sam smiled.

“Thanks. Well, bye guys.” He said and turned and headed out, a few tears leaking out from leaving his boys, something he had never had to do before, they had never been apart for more than a day since they were born.

“Well boys, let's get everything loaded into the truck and head out on our way.”

“Where are we going anyways?” Roger asked the burning question that they had all wanted to ask.

“No clue really, wherever the road takes us is good enough for me. What I usually do is grab the map from the glove compartment, close my eyes and point, and then head in that general direction and drive until I find a nice mountain to climb.”

“Cool, that's what we'll do then.” The trio said together.

All their packs were quickly loaded into the truck and as soon as they were in, they were gone. Teddy grabbed the map from the glove compartment, since he was sitting in front of it, opened it up to their area, closed his eyes and pointed. Sam looked over to see where he was headed, was happy with the direction, and headed that way. Once that was done, the map was put away, and that was it, that was all they used the thing for. They drove for almost three hours, all talking excitedly, happily about the trip they were taking before they decided that they were far enough from any sort of civilization, and already in a mountain, so they parked the truck. Sam wrote a note and put it on the inside facing out, telling anyone that came by the truck where they were heading and when they would be back out, so as to not worry too many people, unless the truck was still there the next day after they were supposed to be out, a very good trick he had learned from a friend of his. It made perfect sense in a safety measure, but did have the obvious downfall of telling thieves that they pretty much had an open reign on your vehicle while you were gone, but it was a worthwhile risk to take.

“Okay boys, packs on, make sure they are snug, but not tight, quivers and bows on, and then you get to lead the way. Just follow whatever trail you find, and we stop whenever you boys need to. We'll want to search for water first and foremost, and once we find that, then we search for a good camp site nearby.” Sam said.

They all got their packs on and the boys led the way. They kept to some good wide open natural trails, just following the land. Sam placed yellow ribbons every so often, so that they would be easily able to find their way back out, as well as took readings with his compass to remember their basic direction. They hiked for a little more than an hour, going steadily uphill, with very few breaks. The boys were doing surprisingly well. They were getting tired, but they kept pushing on. They were nearing the hour and a half mark when they heard the one thing that they wanted to hear most of all, the sound of rushing water.

“A nice creek, a good find boys. And if I have any say in the matter, this is just as good a spot to set up camp as any.”

“Cool. We just followed what you told us to look for, it wasn't all that hard.” His sons said.

“How do you find water, and what makes a good camp site?” Roger asked.

“You'll find that most natural paths will eventually lead to water of some sort, because the paths are created by animals, that's the first and biggest one. The next is to watch for the foliage. The denser it becomes, the closer you generally are to a good water source. Of course in this area that's difficult to see, because we technically are in a rain forest, so there's more than a little vegetation all around. Also watch the way the land moves, because remember that water always flows downhill, so if you find a ravine or something of that nature, you're almost always guaranteed to find water at the bottom of it.”

“Cool, that makes sense enough, and pretty easy to remember.”

“Yes it is. There are a few more points, but we'll go over those later. As for how to find a good campsite, that's even easier. You want to have a bit of a clearing, but have it well protected as well. You want it to be well away from any area that animals might come through, so well off their beaten path, that way we don't deprive too many animals of their water, because if we're here, they won't be likely to come. Next is that it should be pretty flat, but you also want it to be on high ground, so that if it rains, you don't get too wet. You also will want lots of natural elements around for you to live off of, of which we'll go over more later as well. All of that and more we have right here, so that's why this is a good place.”

“Cool. That's really good information as well, we never knew any of it.”

“And that's why you'll get to learn a lot, because you need to know it. There is so much more for all of you boys to learn. Our first chore though is wood and food. We're going to split up into two groups for this, so the utmost in safety is mandatory here. Timmy, Tommy, and Roland in one group, and the others are with me. If you see anything that would make a good meal, feel free to hunt it, but make damned certain of your target before you do so, and remember to look all around your target as well to make sure it's clear. To stay safer, we'll go in two different directions. With you three's abilities though, this will make things a lot safer, hence the reason I'm splitting you up the way I did. Collect any berries, fruits, vegetables and wood that you can find as well, Roger and Roland, you are not to touch your bows yet, nor are you to touch anything in the woods yet other than wood, until we teach you at least the very basics. I'm pretty sure that you're both smart enough to understand the reasoning behind that.”

“Yes sir, that we are.” They said.

“Good. Now, you three head to the north, meet back here in no more than one hour, but we'll keep in touch. Also, don't be going too far from camp, oh and you can take your packs off.”

“Okay.” The boys all said.

Everyone took their packs off, but put their quivers and bows back on, even though Roland and Roger would not be able to use them, they figured they may as well get used to carrying them with them. They all made sure that their canteens and knives were still attached to their belts, and then took off.

“Okay Roland, try and stay pretty quiet, so that if we see anything for lunch we can shoot it. We'll probably only go for rabbits or birds, that's all we're used to so far. Don't be afraid to cry and or puke when and if we do actually kill something, it's natural. It's still hard on us, but this is how we have to eat. Shit, we should have brought a pot or something with us to collect food in if and when we find it. Oh well, we'll just mark it and come back to it if we find anything after we make it back to camp for our first time.” Timmy said softly to Roland as they were walking away from camp.

“Okay. That sounds good to me.”

For almost half an hour the three of them just headed towards the north, searching out everything that they could find. They had found a bunch of firewood as they went, but they just pulled it out to the main trail, so that they could collect it more easily on their way back. They also found a few berry bushes, and an incredible wild potato patch that had a tonne of them in it it looked like. Their best find though came upon a family of three large grouse.

“You take the one on the right, and I'll take the one on the left.” Timmy whispered to Tommy, more for the benefit of Roland, because the boys had already decided this in their heads.

Silently they both drew their arrows and notched them, took aim, and at the exact same time, the two chosen birds were dead. The third hadn't even moved, it hadn't noticed its mates fall dead, so Tommy took aim with a second arrow and dispatched the third bird. Teddy instantly told Sam of the boys' kills, and they knew of Teddy's rabbit that he had bagged. That meant that they would have an excellent lunch and dinner. The boys had kept each other and the others with them up on exactly what the others were doing at any given time. Sam and his team had not been so lucky to find much of anything other than firewood, but they had found a lot of it, as well as a whole bunch of wood to build them a great shelter.

Roland and Roger both did surprisingly well with the killing of the animals, and Roland even helped to feather and gut the third bird, with the tutelage of the the other two telling him exactly what to do and when. He did retch a few times, he did have tears in his eyes, but that was mostly because it was really gross work, but he did it.

“You did great Roland. Just think, you'll have the freshest dinner you've ever known in your life. I think that we'll make a huge stew of rabbit and grouse, that should last us for lunch and dinner, and probably breakfast tomorrow morning. Hey Timmy, go and check over there and see if there's a nest. Three birds like that could mean a nest. It would be cool to find eggs as well.” Tommy said suddenly when he mentioned breakfast.

Timmy headed over to look, and sure enough, there was a large nest with a half dozen eggs in it. They were smaller than a chicken egg, but not a lot smaller.

“Cool, we have eggs as well. Hope they don't have babies in them, hopefully daddy knows how to check that.”

Teddy asked Sam right away, and said that he did, so Teddy told the other two as well, so they were happy.

They headed back to camp with their meal ticket and put it in the container that the rabbit had already been put in. They then each grabbed something to collect other food in and headed back out to collect it. They headed to the potatoes first, because it was the closest, collected a dozen spuds, and then headed to the various berry bushes and collected a bunch of them as well. As they were grabbing those, they spotted mushrooms that were edible, so those were grabbed as well. Sam happened to spot a patch of wild carrots, so grabbed a bunch of those as well, and Teddy spotted pine nuts, so grabbed some of those also. They all met back at the campsite a while later. So far the only thing that they had not brought back was fire wood, because Sam's team had mostly wood for their shelter there by then.

“Wow, this area is great for finding food. We'll have a great stew going, but we should probably get it going soon though daddy.” Timmy said.

“Yes, this is a great area for sure. Some areas are as good as this, others are better, but I've seen places where I literally had to resort to eating bugs and a few berries. It was a bad area, all the animals had eaten everything. And get those disgusted looks off your faces. If you're hungry enough, you'll eat almost anything.” Sam grinned.

“No thanks. I'll resort to the emergency rations before I do that, thank you very much.” Roger said with a barely concealed gag going on.

“Yeah, I have to admit that after the first time of doing that, and almost throwing up from it, I pretty much did the same thing. I did it though to try and not have to use them, but I will probably never do that again, it was pretty bad.”

“Yeah, well we're not that brave or stupid. We'll go and get some of the firewood we set aside and we'll be right back. You guys can get started on chopping everything up if you want to.” Timmy offered.

“Sounds good to us. Go for it.” Roger said, and the other two nodded.

They all went about their assigned duties, and within half an hour, they were pretty much ready to go. Sam showed the boys all how to make a fire pit that had a pretty level stone shelf for cooking on. They got clay from the creek bank and packed it all nicely to make a great cook area and fire pit, and then Teddy built a bow to start a fire from, and did that as Roland and Roger watched on in awe. They actually cheered when he managed to start the fire.

“Wow, that was really cool.” Roland said.

“You'll get to try it before too long, you'll get the next shot.” Sam smiled.

“Cool.” Both boys said.

As soon as the fire was going, the pot with their meat was put on the fire to cook, but it would take a while, because the stones underneath it would take a while to heat up, but they would stay a nice constant temperature.

“Okay, now that lunch and dinner is started, we need to build a shelter. For this we want to try not to use our rope that we brought, save that for more important things, so we'll have to make our own from the bark of the branches we have, and then we build. I'll teach you all how to do this, but it's a lot of fun to do, and is pretty easy as well.” Sam told the boys.

He then had to show the twins how to make bark rope, while the triplets just got started right away. With all six of them working hard on that chore, it didn't take all that long to get more than enough rope for their job at hand, and then they got started on a cool shelter. They just built a nice simple, but pretty large lean to design shelter, it would keep the wind and rain off them, which was all they really needed. It was covered with lots of pine boughs, and by the time they finished almost an hour and a half later, it looked pretty good.

“That's really neat looking, but are you sure that it'll actually protect us?” Roger asked curiously.

“Sure it will. If we have a nasty rain storm or something silly like that, then we'd probably get a bit wet, but a light rain and we'd never know it. Now we have everything here that we need to survive for a week with ease. Now, it looks like our meat is boiling, so we can probably add the spuds, carrots, nuts, and mushrooms to it, and then we can eat soon, because I'm getting really hungry.”

“Okay.” All the boys said quickly, all of them getting very hungry as well, but they knew that they had to wait, so had just pushed it back.

Half an hour later they were eating the good hot food, and as was promised to both new boys, it really was the best that they had ever had.

“Wow, that really was great. Thanks for bringing us Sam, this is the best, even though it was gross to kill and clean the animals.”

“Thanks, it was good, and you're very welcome. Killing to eat never really gets easy, but it does get easier. If you ever start to enjoy it though, shoot yourself in the foot with an arrow to remind yourself of a few important things, trust me.” Sam grinned.

“Um, sure. We would kind of have to know how to use our bows first though, can you teach us now please?” Roland grinned back.”

“Okay.” Sam smiled, and for the next hour, all six of them fired their bows and arrows at makeshift targets, Roger and Roland both taking to it just as easily as the other three boys had. It really was not all that hard to do, but it took time to gain accuracy, but the boys were already getting pretty good with that.

“That's really neat, but man my arms are getting sore now.” Roland said.

“Yeah, those bows are still a bit big and powerful for you two, but you'll get used to them. It's pretty hard on the arms though, damn good workout really. Well, we should probably search the area out a bit more and see what all we can find and mark it out for later use.”

“Hell daddy, our bows are pretty big for us too, and our arms always hurt after a while, but that sounds like a good idea. Do we have to wear clothes? If we can't wear diapers, then at the very least we'd like to go naked.” The boys asked.

“I suppose we could go naked, with shoes of course, but we'll have to be careful in the bush or we could all get scratched up a bit.”

“Okay.” The boys all said, and started to strip right away.

Sam started to strip as well, and once they were all naked and wearing only shoes, they all headed out. They had decided to just leave their bows behind, because they did not need to do any more hunting for the day. They decided that since it would be the easiest place to go, that they would head for the creek and follow it a bit and see what they could see.

While down at the water, they found a bunch of even better rocks for their fire pit, including one nice flat one that could be used for their cooking surface, it took Sam and two boys to just carry that one back to camp, and they were all sweating heavily from it. The others just grabbed other rocks that they could use for their fire pit as well. They headed back out after dropping that stuff off and continued to look around. The found themselves a large patch of wild onions, so marked that, they found more berry bushes and an apple tree, so marked those, found lots more fire wood, but just pulled it out and piled it in easy reach for later, and they found a really nice deep pool where they could probably swim.

“Can we try swimming right now daddy?” Timmy asked.

“Sure, why not. We're pretty much already ready to go swimming anyways. Be careful though, some of the rocks could be sharp in there.”

“Okay.” They all said together, as they were already taking off their shoes and socks.

Gingerly they all stepped into the cool water of the creek pool, all of them wanting the swim. They splashed and played in there for almost an hour before they decided that they were getting pretty hungry, so donned their socks and shoes and headed back towards camp. The fire was stoked back up, they had let it burn right down, the stew was put back on the rocks to heat up, and they all sat around the fire to warm up as well.

Heartily they ate their delicious meal, and in fact it was even more so now that it was able to sit for a while. Sam was glad that he had thought to grab the salt and pepper, because he had not cared in the least the last time he did something like this and had not even brought that, but he felt it really was a necessity now. They took their dishes down to the creek and washed them up quickly once they were finished, and they did finish it all as well.

“Well boys, now we just sit back and relax for the rest of the night.” Sam sighed after they were all finished.

“Don't you think that we should bring back some more of the firewood, because we probably don't have enough to last us the night?” Teddy asked curiously, Sam looked over at their pile, and realized he was right.

“Yeah, it looks like that might not be such a bad idea. Come on, if we hurry, we can all grab some and get back before it gets too dark out. You're going to want to put pants and shirts on though, or you will get scratched to shit.”

“Okay.” The boys all said.

They all threw on the nearest clothes that they could, most of them grabbing someone else's, with the exception of Sam of course, and then as soon as they were dressed they went and collected firewood. It had been a wise decision to pull the wood earlier, so that all they had to do now was to backtrack and pull it to their camp site. Each of them was able to grab a good sized load, so when they got back, they deemed it sufficient for the night, and sat around the fire.

It was almost an hour later, they had been sitting around the fire keeping warm and talking happily, it was almost completely dark outside now, so their only light was from the fire. It was the falling asleep of Roland, who when he fell asleep fell sideways onto Sam and snored away, that told the others that it had been a more than long enough day, and they were all good and tired, and that they really should head to bed.

“Come on boys. Pee on the fire, we should all have enough to put it out enough, and then it's diapers and bed. Two to a sleeping bag, as planned, and then we sleep, in other words, no playing around tonight.” Sam said softly to the boys after gently shaking Roland to wake him back up.

None of the boys even argued the point, because they were almost as tired as well. It had in fact been a considerably longer day than any of them had previously been used to, they had done a tonne of work, almost literally, and it showed on the poor boys. They all stood up, removed their pants entirely, because they would have to take them off anyways, took aim and peed on the fire. Seem checked to be sure that the fire was indeed out, and it was, so they all headed to their shelter, realized that they should have gotten their diapers before putting the fire out, because it was bloody dark under their cover with only the light of the moon, but dug through the pack that had them in it, and then they all helped each other out. They removed their shirts and socks, crawled into their sleeping bags with their sleep partner for the night, and all fell asleep in seconds.