can sense rain

Then, instantly — in just that part of a second — he changed. Completely. He became, suddenly, what he’d been before at the lake. Part of it, all of it; inside all of it so that every… single… little… thing became important.
  He didn’t just hear birds singing, not just a background sound of birds, but each bird. He listened to each bird. Located it, knew where it was by the sound, listened for the sound of alarm. He didn’t just see clouds, but light clouds, scout clouds that came before the heavier clouds that could mean rain and maybe wind. The clouds were coming out of the northwest, and that meant that weather would come with them. Not could, but would. There would be rain. Tonight, late, there would be rain.
  His eyes swept the clearing, then up the edge of the clearing, and in those two sweeps he knew — he knew the clearing and the woods. There was a stump there that probably held grubs; hardwood there for a bow, and willows there for arrows; a game trail, probably deer, moving off to the left meant other things, porcupines, raccoons, bear, wolves, moose, skunk would be moving on the trail and into the clearing. He flared his nostrils, smelled the air, pulled the air along the sides of his tongue in a hissing sound and tasted it, but there was nothing. Just summer smells. The tang of pines, soft air, some mustiness from rotting vegetation. No animals. At least, nothing fresh.
  Derek had seen the change, was staring at him. “What happened?”
  Brian shook his head. “Nothing.”
  “Yes — something did. You changed. Completely. You’re not the same person.”
  Brian shrugged. “I was just… looking at things. Seeing them.”
  “Tell me,” Derek said. He took a notebook out of his pocket. “Tell me everything you saw.”
  “Right now?”
  “Yes.”
  “Shouldn’t we let the pilot go first?”
  Derek turned as if seeing the plane for the first time. “Oh, yes. I almost forgot. He has to get back. Let’s unload, and then he can go and you can tell me—”
  “No.”
  “What?”
  Brian had made the decision just as he dozed off in the plane and it had settled into his mind while he slept. He knew it was the right thing to do. “We’re not going to unload.”
  “What are you talking about?”
  Brian looked at the lake, the clearing, the clouds. Seven, eight hours to rain. “I mean, if we unload all that gear — everything but the kitchen sink, like you said — this whole business will be ruined, wasted.”

...

Brian looked at the sky. “It’s warm afternoon now, but with evening the mosquitoes will come and we need smoke to keep them away until coolness in the morning. And we need shelter because it’s going to rain in about six and a half hours.”
  “Six and a half hours?”
  “Sure. Can’t you smell it?”
  Derek took a breath through his nose, shook his head. “Nope. Not a thing.”
  “You will,” Brian said. “You will. Now, let’s… get the ball rolling.” And he set off looking for a fire stone.

Chapter 5


The rain came about eleven.
  Derek had time for one quick joke.
  “You said it would be six and a half hours — it’s almost seven.”
  Then it hit them and there was nothing but water. The clouds had come quickly, covering the stars and moon in what seemed like minutes and then just opened up and dropped everything on them.

Chapter 7