Chapter 6

Jack tucked the little chipmunk into the cloth pouch at his waist, but his feet didn't move. The sound reaching his ears sent a chill down his spine.

The brown bear in the distance was starting to wake up.

The viewers in the livestream were going crazy.

"Oh no, oh no, the bear's waking up!"

"Jack, run! What are you just standing there for?"

"Where's he gonna run? There's still a blizzard outside. Going out there is just as good as dying."

"Damn that chipmunk. Now what?"

Jack crouched in the narrow tunnel, his palms sweaty. He could feel his heart pounding as the red signal light began to blink.

He breathed in shallow gasps, his mind racing. Running was out of the question. The tunnel was too narrow to pick up any speed, and even if he made it to the entrance, the blizzard outside hadn't let up. Going out there meant freezing to death.

Then, out of nowhere, an image flashed through Jack's mind.

He reached into the cloth pouch at his waist and pulled out a handful of dried grass. His eyes lit up. He quickly twisted the grass into a long rope, laid it down in the tunnel, then backed toward the entrance and lit it with his torch.

"Is this guy out of his mind? Of all the times to start a fire, he picks now?"

"Isn't he worried the smoke will wake the bear up faster?"

"Wait, that doesn't look like ordinary grass."

The burning grass rope sent up a thick cloud of white smoke. Jack fanned it toward the back of the tunnel, where the brown bear was hibernating, and watched it drift in.

The plant was called fleeceflower vine. Jack had picked it while gathering rocks outside, and the only reason he'd kept it was because the moment he touched it, a prompt had appeared in his mind.

[Fleeceflower vine. Herbaceous plant. Effects: calms the nerves, promotes sleep. Works especially well on animals. How to use: burn it.]

Jack had originally planned to keep the grass for protection back at the shelter. He never expected it would come in handy so soon.

He stared at the white smoke, his heart hammering. This was a gamble. If it didn't work, he'd be face to face with a fully grown brown bear, and his life would be on the line.

Five minutes passed. The rope of fleeceflower vine was nearly burned out. Deep in the cave, the bear's breathing, which had been disturbed, slowly grew calm and steady again.

Jack listened to those long, even breaths and let out a deep sigh of relief. Then he just dropped down and sat on the ground.

The livestream viewers breathed easy too.

"Are we good? Is it over?"

"Can someone tell me what just happened?"

"Looks like the bear went back to sleep. Did that grass Jack burned actually do that?"

"Hey everyone, I study botany. That plant is called fleeceflower vine. It's a natural sleep aid."

"Oh my god, Jack knew about this?"

"I'm officially a fan. This guy is a genius."

Jack didn't see any of the comments. He just sat there for a moment catching his breath, then got up and made his way back toward the entrance.

On the way out, he didn't forget to grab the chipmunk he'd left behind.

Back at the fire, Jack set the chipmunk on a flat rock and picked up his axe to skin it and get the meat.

He worked carefully, trying to keep the hide in one piece. He stretched it over a stick and set it near the fire to dry.

The two small pieces of meat, each about the size of a palm, he wrapped up and tucked into his pouch.

The viewers watched and couldn't help but feel something.

"This is what real wilderness survival looks like. Making use of every scrap of meat and hide. Jack's doing it right."

"People who waste food should have to watch Jack and see how he does things."

"He should be okay for tonight, right? Jack's safe now?"

"He'll be fine. He's too good at this. He'll make it."

Jack put away the dried meat, set aside the cured hide, added more wood to the fire, and finally sat back down against the wall.

Outside, the sky was starting to lighten. The blizzard was dying down. Jack pulled the wolf hide over himself and slowly closed his eyes.

His axe and the fleeceflower vine were right beside him, within easy reach.

The darkness faded. When the first light of morning came through the air vent, Jack opened his eyes.

He got up and checked outside. The blizzard had completely stopped. He pulled down the waterproof tarp from the entrance and cleared away the snow that had piled up.

Once that was done, Jack sat back down by the fire, pulled out some of the jerky he'd made earlier, ate a couple of pieces, and took a few sips of water.

He had to leave. The bear could wake up at any time, and he wasn't willing to take that risk.

He packed up his things and dragged the sled out of the cave entrance. Before he left, he used his axe to carve a small, hidden mark into the cave wall.

He'd already made up his mind. When he won this competition, he'd use the prize money to buy this section of cliff.

He looked back one more time at the small opening, then turned around, grabbed the sled, and headed north through snow that came up to his thighs.

The blizzard had completely reshaped the landscape. Every path Jack had walked before was buried, and not a single footprint remained. He had nothing to go on but his own instincts to find his way.

After about two hours of walking, Jack found a new place to set up camp. It was on a sheltered slope at the edge of a pine forest. The ground was higher here, so snow didn't build up as much, and there was a thick layer of pine needles covering the ground.

Setting up a shelter here would be a lot warmer than the frozen ground before.

Jack made up his mind and got to work. He chopped down a pile of pine branches with his axe and built a simple lean-to. He spread his one waterproof tarp over the top and packed snow tightly around the sides. Out on the Alaskan tundra, you never had to worry about the snow melting.

The inside was small, just barely enough room for one person to lie down. Jack spread the wolf hide over the small bed he'd built from stacked logs.

Then he arranged all his supplies in the triangular space at the head of the bed, laying a piece of rabbit hide underneath first to keep the moisture out.

He built the fire at the entrance of the shelter, where it could both keep him warm and keep animals away.

By the time everything was set up, it was dark again.

Jack grilled a few pieces of wolf meat for dinner, finished with a bit of honey, and snacked on some pine nuts.

He even gathered a few pine needles and boiled them into a drink.

Watching Jack's setup, some of the viewers were actually starting to feel a little envious.

"Eating well, sleeping well, even got dessert and snacks. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was on vacation."

"Don't be jealous. Everything he has, he found by luck. You haven't seen how bad some of the other contestants look right now."

"True. Out of everyone in this competition, Jack's probably living the best life by far."

After dinner, Jack leaned against the post at the shelter entrance and looked out across the snow.

Then a helicopter appeared in the distance. Jack's eyes narrowed. He recognized it. It was the production crew's helicopter.

A moment later, someone jumped down from the aircraft.

"Jack, how are you holding up? I've got some good news. In three days, the show is launching a two-way livestream event, and we'd love for you to take part."

A two-way livestream? Jack blinked.