"Is it ok?" I asked. "Sorry I don't have two dishes. I hope you don't mind the pot?"

Alpine shook their head, "It's fine. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate it."

I gave them a little smile, then looked to my side and asked "What do you think Lia? You don't have to eat it if you don't like it."

The three of us were sitting on the mostly-flat ground next to the car. Alpine was hunched down across from me, eating from the pot I prepared the food in. I had my blanket folded up under me as I sat crosslegged, and Lia was sitting on the edge of the blanket next to my right hip.

My little fox friend leaned closer and cautiously sniffed the contents of the shallow bowl I had resting on my thigh. After a few seconds she dipped her head down and scooped up a bite of my breakfast. She ate it, but didn't seem eager for more.

"Are you..." Alpine hesitated as they stared. "You're going to share your food with your pet fox? You didn't bring uh, fox food? Dog food? Sorry, I don't know what foxes eat."

I suppressed a smile, "She's not my pet. I only just met her last night, though I saw her lurking around my campsite a day or two before-hand."

They frowned, "So you're just offering food to a wild animal? You know that's dangerous."

"Yeah," I sighed as I scooped up another forkful of reconstituted scrambled eggs and bacon. "She's not a pet, but she is my friend. And from the look of it she's not that keen on freeze-dried food. Or at least, I don't think she's too happy with the breakfast option."

"It's too hot," Lia finally responded as she looked up at me with her head tilted to one side. "And too salty."

I nodded, and after swallowing I responded "Ok, sorry Lia. Next time I'll put some aside for you before I season it, and you can try it once it's cooled down."

Alpine was staring again, as they quietly munched on another spoonful of eggs and bacon. They looked like they wanted to comment, but instead they just kept eating.

It wasn't long before we both finished breakfast, and I wiped down my bowl and the pot, along with the cutlery. Then I started packing it all back up, along with my little gas stove.

As I was doing that Alpine asked, "Before you pack everything away, maybe we can have a look at the supplies? Take stock, figure out exactly where we stand?"

"Sure," I agreed.

I started pulling stuff out of my pack, and my wolf-kin friend took out some little bags and packages they had tucked away in their jacket's many pockets. In just a minute or two we had all the food and related supplies spread out on the hood of the car.

In terms of meals I had two plastic tubs nearly full of dehydrated food mix. One was beef stew and the other was chicken alfredo with pasta. A third tub contained the scrambled egg and bacon mix. I also had a box and a half of granola bars and a bag full of hard candies. Then there was a jar and a half of instant coffee, and plastic containers of powdered whitener and sugar, and finally a few pouches of fruit-flavoured drink crystals. And some condiments, like salt and pepper and some hot sauce.

Alpine had two bags of home-made trail mix and a couple emergency ration bars. And both of us had bottles of water purification tabs.

"So what do you think?" I asked as I watched them check over everything. "Is this ok? And what's the plan?"

They nodded slowly, "This is fine. I'm worried it might not be enough? If we're covering fifteen miles a day we'll be burning a lot of calories, so we'll be hungry."

"It'll be more of an issue if we're splitting this three ways," they added as they glanced at Lia who was standing next to me.

"I can't imagine she's going to eat anywhere near as much as me or you," I pointed out. "And for that matter I doubt I'm going to eat as much as you either? I definitely won't be eating as much as I used to. Anyways Lia can probably hunt right? And for that matter we might be able to forage?"

Alpine nodded slowly, then continued "Water's another concern. Not that there isn't lots of it around, but all I've got left is a single canteen. The rest of my containers went with all my other gear. That leaves us with your containers, which won't be enough for two or three of us. That means we need to stay near sources of water, which may be an issue. Especially going through the mountain passes, the water's going to be below us."

Finally they nodded towards my feet and sighed, "And I'm still worried about you being able to cover rough ground like that?"

"I'll probably be fine," I replied. "I can't explain it, but I covered at least a kilometre last night barefoot, and a lot of that was completely off-trail."

They frowned, but finally just nodded and accepted it. "Nothing we can do about it right now. So last thing I guess, what else do you have in the pack? What sort of gear or equipment?"

"I've got my trail knife here," they added as they gestured to a large belt-knife at their hip. "And maps of the trail from Gaspe to Amqui of course, plus a distance table. Then there's my compass, a couple fifty-foot spools of para cord, and a flint and magnesium fire-starter."

I blinked at them, "I thought you lost all your gear?"

Alpine shrugged, "I lost the rest of my gear, I keep the most important stuff on my person."

"Wow," I didn't know what else to say. Then I gestured at my pack, "I've got a pocket knife, some rope, first-aid kit, some clothes that don't fit me anymore, camera and phone that don't work anymore, and the usual personal things? Toothbrush, soap, towel, that sort of thing. And a travel sewing kit."

"Don't suppose you've got a razor in there I could borrow?" they mumbled quietly as they eyed my pack.

I smiled, "Actually yeah I do have one. It should still work too."

Alpine's cheeks went red as I grabbed little toiletry bag then pulled the razor out.

It looked like a little battery-powered electric, but I held it up and demonstrated, "It has a pull cord and a flywheel? Just give the cord a good steady tug and the blades spin for about a minute before you have to pull it again."

"Seriously?" Alpine laughed as I handed it to them. "It's like a little lawn mower for your face."

Then they blushed again as they got serious and admitted, "Thanks though Tori. I really hate facial hair..."

I found myself staring at them as two thoughts danced around my mind. On the one hand hating facial hair didn't necessarily mean trans girl, but it sure was a familiar sentiment. And on the other hand, Alpine didn't actually have any facial hair. I couldn't even see any trace of hair under the skin. That was the main reason I wasn't sure what pronouns to use for them, and for that matter they never did tell me either.

Meanwhile the lack of whiskers seemed to be news to Alpine, judging by how their eyes widened as they ran a hand over their smooth chin and cheeks. They half-whispered to themself, "What the..."

The two of us stared at each other for a few awkward seconds, then they handed the razor back and mumbled "Guess I don't need it after all?"

"Me neither," I grinned. "Not since last night. I'm still kind of giddy about that."

Alpine's eyes flicked up and down over me as they nodded, "Right. That's pretty damn cool, to be honest."

I was left wondering if I just heard some envy in their voice. I wasn't sure what to say or how to respond after that, and the two of us ended up standing there for a few quiet awkward seconds.

"Anyways," Alpine said after clearing their throat, "We should probably pack everything up and get moving? Unless... I've already checked all the vehicles that the earthquake damaged. We could break into the rest and check them too? We might find some more supplies or gear we can use."

They admitted, "I hate the thought of taking someone else's supplies, but it's potentially a life and death situation. And we have no way of knowing if anyone will ever come along to claim anything here."

"Yeah," I frowned.

We ended up looking in the windows, but neither of us found anything conclusively useful, so we agreed not to break into any of the vehicles. With just the one pack there was no way to distribute the load evenly between us, so we loaded almost everything up in my pack. Some stuff we rolled up in the blanket, then used rope to tie the ends and fashioned it into a sort of sling that could be worn across a shoulder.

Alpine insisted on taking the heavier load, they hoisted the pack up on their shoulders and got the straps all set.

Meanwhile I pulled my hoodie back on, then wore the blanket so it hung from my right shoulder down to my left hip. It worked ok after I adjusted it so the rope was between my boobs instead of squashing one of them.

"This way," I said, as I took the lead.

We set out north-west from the parking lot, retracing the route me and Lia took the night before. It was north of the actual trail, inland through the woods and away from the former lake-shore. It wasn't long before we reached that pond again, and I was positive it had grown. I could swear it was twice the size we saw the night before.

"I'm just going straight through this," I commented. "I think it's too much work picking through the trees and everything to try and go around."

Alpine watched with a frown as I started wading into the pond. Meanwhile Lia set out around the north side of it again, like she'd done last night. And after a half minute or so my wolf-kin companion followed my small fox friend's example, and started trying to work their way around the pond.

By the time I got to the middle the water was up to my knees, but I didn't mind. It was still kind of warm, like a pool in the summer. I pulled up my hoodie so the hem was well clear of the water, and my cut-off shorts weren't in danger of getting wet either. Then I continued my way across without any trouble.

Lia joined me a moment later, and the two of us waited another seven or eight minutes for Alpine.

"Ok maybe going through would have been faster," they admitted. "But I'd have had to take off my boots and pants first or they'd end up getting soaked. Then I'd be putting them back on again on this side, so it really didn't cost any time."

We all started moving again as I smiled, "It's fine. Though we're going to have to wade through a creek in between Lac Thibault and Lac Côté, you won't be able to go around that one."

"Mmm," they made a noncommittal sound as we kept moving.

I wasn't really trying to keep track of time or our pace, but it felt like we were covering a lot of ground. By my estimate it probably wasn't even nine in the morning when we reached the trail next to the north-west corner of the former lake shore.

It was pretty much the same place I'd stopped last night after my transformation, and I ended up pausing again as I surveyed the area in the daylight.

We had a clear view of the impossible mountain from here, and I was positive the circle of water around it had grown overnight, a lot like that pond by the parking lot.

"We could have cut across the top of the lake and saved practically all that time," Alpine commented. "We just spent what, an hour picking through dense rugged forest when we should have just walked across the lake bed."

They were frowning at me, like they were obviously questioning my judgement.

I shook my head, "Lia said it's dangerous to get too close to the lake and the mountain."

"Dangerous how?" Alpine asked in a challenging tone. They gestured, "There's a guy out there now, how dangerous can it be?"

I looked, and sure enough about four or five hundred meters from where we stood a solitary man was slowly making his way across the lake bed. He was moving with a limp, using a hiking stick for support as he walked. His back was to us, he was obviously heading for the parking lot we'd just left.

It wasn't hard to guess he'd been injured during last night's quake, and I didn't see a pack or anything so he probably lost or abandoned his gear and supplies.

Lia sat down by my feet and all three of us watched the man. He was probably less than a hundred meters from the shore of the new round lake, when we saw a surge of light come up from the depths.

Just like last night, the surge became yellow lightning that started to climb the side of the impossible mountain. Unlike last night, it only got a few dozen meters up before it suddenly lashed out sideways and struck the injured hiker.

It happened too fast to really know for sure what I saw, but the impression I was left with was a flash of light and a spray of red blobs and torn clothing. And the man was gone, the only evidence he'd been there at all was the hiking stick and scraps of wet fabric on the drying lake bed.

I was left staring at that spot as my heart raced. I wasn't even sure what happened, but I had no doubt I just witnessed a man's death. And I was equally positive that normal lightning didn't do that. Yes lightning killed people, but no it did not make folks explode.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," Alpine stated quietly, once they found their voice.

"Yeah," I agreed whole-heartedly.

The three of us turned and followed the trail, happy to put more space between us and Lac Thibault and that impossible mountain.

It wasn't long before we found that creek I had to cross last night. And like the pond and the lake, the creek had grown. By this point there was a definite trend and I stated "There's more water. The pond, the lake, now this? It was a creek last night, now it's like a small river. It was less than ten meters wide last night, this is at least fifteen meters across now."

Luckily it still wasn't moving very fast, it didn't look dangerous. Alpine took a minute to get out of their boots, and they rolled up their pant legs as high as they could. Lia couldn't find any way to cross, the fallen tree she used last night didn't reach both sides anymore.

"Come here little sis," I told her, then scooped her up in my arms. I led the way across, and the water only came up to my knees in the deepest part.

Alpine followed my lead, and commented "It's not as cold as I expected."

"I noticed that too," I replied. "Not gonna complain though."

When we got to the other side I let Lia down and she went off ahead to scout, while my other companion stopped to dry their feet and put their boots back on.

I noticed they seemed to be having some trouble with the footwear, it took them a few tries to get the hiking boots done up tight. I didn't comment though, and while they were doing that I took the opportunity to top up our water containers. I figured running water was safe, but to be sure I popped purification tabs in each jug.

Once Alpine was ready we started moving, and Lia turned up to walk alongside us again. It was only a few minutes after that when we came across my former campsite.

Alpine had us stop there while they had a proper look at my ruined tent. Apart from the big hole I cut in the side it actually wasn't in bad shape, and they decided it was worth keeping after all. Some of the poles were broken, but my wolf-kin friend said apart from the hole it was still waterproof and would work as a shelter. It took a few minutes to get it folded up then it was added to the pack.

Before we got moving again we both drank some water since we were stopped. Then when everyone was ready we all set out once more.

It turned out to be a false start though, after only a hundred meters Alpine apologized, "Sorry Tori, I gotta take a moment here."

They set the pack down then moved off the trail a half dozen meters and stepped behind some trees. I already had a good idea what they were doing, but hearing their zipper confirmed it.

I waited quietly next to the pack, but Alpine seemed to be taking a little longer than expected. After a minute or so they spoke up, and there was something odd in their voice. Like embarrassment, maybe confusion, and their voice was quieter than normal.

"Uh Tori?" they asked. "Totally random question, but how do girls pee in the woods? Is there a technique or a trick to it or something?"

That put a blush on my cheeks and left me grimacing, "Honestly I'm still figuring that out myself? I didn't think I'd need to worry about that problem for a few more years. So far I've just been like, squatting and leaning my back against a tree for balance."

I was still blushing, but my grimace shifted to a curious raised eyebrow. I couldn't help wondering why that in particular would be on their mind, so I went ahead and asked. "Why'd you want to know that?"

"Um," they sounded a little more embarrassed and I could hear them moving around out of sight behind the trees. "No reason?"

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