The guide described the inner bark of the Lodgepole Pine as a survival food, rich in vitamins. Elias used a sharp stone to peel back a small section of the outer bark of a nearby fallen pine, scraping away the soft, cream-colored inner layer just as the book instructed. It was bitter and chewy, but it was fuel.

He spent the night huddled under a lean-to of pine branches, clutching the book to his chest like a talisman.

He flipped to the section on mushrooms. His eyes darted from a cluster of pure white fungi growing on a decaying log to the detailed sketches in the book.

With no cell service and his pack lost to the river, Elias sat on a damp log and opened the guide. His stomach roared.

Elias stared at the frayed cover of . The book had been his grandfather's bible, its pages stained with coffee and soil. Now, stranded in the dense, unfamiliar wilderness of the Pacific Northwest after a flash flood swept his campsite away, it was his only lifeline.