Surviving the Fog Read Online Free PDF Page A

that we could
even chop some of the longer trees in half."
    "We would probably have to build a rock or
wood floor first," Howard cautioned. "So that we could get the
bottoms of the cabins level with the floor of the cave."
    "Are you guys crazy!" groaned John. "How are
we ever going to move those cabins? Man, they are heavy."
    "They're bolted together," Howard explained.
"Take off the canvas tops. Unbolt the walls, and move them."
    "And maybe we could use the wood on the wall
facing the cave, to cover the rest of the wall on the side away
from the cave."
    "We'll call it, The Lodge," Yuie announced.
The boys looked at her.
    "Do we have to give it a name?" asked Pete,
grimacing.
    "Yes," she replied firmly.
    That's how it became The Lodge.
    John disconnected the stove by turning off
the gas valve feeding it, and then he removed a piece of pipe
leading from the valve to the stove. They found the barbeque, and
they moved it to the front of the dining hall just outside the
door. Then they trooped up to the cave to take a look.
    "This is going to be a lot of work," Pete
said sadly.
    "How about moving the cabins onto the ledge?"
Howard asked.
    "That would take up too much room in the
cave," John objected.
    "But we could set the back ends of the cabins
on the ledge," suggested Mike. "That way we would only have to
build a rock wall for the front side of the cabins."
    "The ledge is not wide enough for all five
cabins. We'll need to extend the sides," Yuie observed.
    The real problem, they soon realized, was to
convince the rest of the campers, or at least enough of them, to
help them. They decided to hold a meeting that night, to explain
their plan to the rest of the campers.
    The meeting did not go well. Except for Yuie
and an older girl who Yuie introduced as Desi, no girls attended
the meeting. Some of the boys stoutly maintained that their parents
would come for them soon. Others understood the plan, and they
could see the need to prepare for the winter, but they declined to
help. Ralph, who only showed up for a few minutes, jeered at their
group.
    But a few boys did take them seriously. After
most of the boys wandered off, most of them to their beds, the
group discussed their ideas. There were various opinions on how to
proceed.
    Eventually Mike said, "What we have to do
first is to decide what would be the best thing that we could do to
help us survive the winter."
    Immediately Yuie responded, "Get into
shape."
    "What do you mean," asked Mike, clearly
puzzled at her answer.
    "Just that weak people are not likely to
survive, and they won’t be able to help anyone else. Get into
shape. All of you should run with me in the mornings. By the time
winter comes, you will be healthy enough to survive the cold, and
strong enough to build our shelter." She said it defiantly
expecting scorn from the boys. They looked at one another.
    "That's not a bad idea," Mike said slowly.
"We could run a few laps around the track, and then we could
practice throwing our spears." The meeting broke up, and John
volunteered to escort Yuie and Desi back to their side of the
river.
    Yuie tried to explain the seriousness of
their situation to the other girls, but her arguments fell on deaf
ears. Except for Desi, the other girls refused to believe that the
campers were in trouble. Most of them thought Jacob had concocted
the story of the fog. Others, like Kathy, were allowing their fears
to paralyze them and either spent most of their days praying that
their parents would come for them or just weeping.
    “Why won’t they listen?” exclaimed a
frustrated Yuie.
    “They’re frightened,” Desi responded.
    Yuie looked at Desi. Up to now, she and most
of the girls had the impression that Desi was somewhat of a bimbo.
She always seemed to be flirting with one of the boys. She didn’t
have the nicest body and she wasn’t the prettiest girl in the camp,
but for some reason the boys loved to be around her. Usually
with their tongues hanging out , Yuie