I slashed the metal against the flint for what seemed like the ten millionth time. A single bead of sweat dripped down my nose and paused just long enough to catch a ray of sunshine before dropping onto my feeble pile. Spark, smoke, hope…. spark, smoke, hope….. for an hour now. I simply couldn’t tease a fire out of thin air. My hands were cramping from holding the flint and the tiny metal razor of my survival bracelet was cutting into my fingers.

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