“And throw on more rubber,” Phil added.
“—and maybe pray a little,” Ronnie said. If this didn’t work, what else was there left for them to try?
“Ronnie?” Phil asked softly.
“Yes?”
“How long can people live without food and water?”
Phil must have been reading his mind, Ronnie thought. He’d been asking himself the same question. “Seems to me I read that people live longer without food than they can without water.”
“That’s good, because we have plenty of water.” Phil switched off the flashlight. Some light leaked through the cracks around the door of the ash box.
“Seems to me we ought to purify the water before we drink it,” Ronnie said. He opened the door a bit to peer inside at the fire. The rubber was burning slowly and the pieces that were now in the fire should last for quite a while.
“The heck with all that trouble,” Phil answered. “In an emergency like this we can drink the water the way it is.”
“It should be sterilized—if we can find a way to do it,” Ronnie insisted.