A few hours later, I began to realize that Eli had some standard skills. He’d surveyed the landscape, using the basic signs to find a small stream where we’d filled up water bottles. We still had to boil the water, but Eli had managed to use his knowledge to find it. Grudgingly, I had to admit that he really was interested in primitive survival. I’d taught him some advanced skills, like how to make an underground still if he couldn’t find an obvious source of water, and a few more ways to get drinking water in other climates. He listened, which made my irritation with him fade away a little. I’d expected him to scoff at everything I said or the things I tried to teach him. Instead, it had been exactly the opposite. Eli Stone seemed to suck up knowledge like a sponge, and he asked a lot of intelligent questions. “What are these?” he asked as he stopped on the hiking path we’d been following back to camp. I came to a halt next to him, reaching for his hand as he went to touch the small fruit bush. “Be careful,” I warned as I gripped his fingers…