The Wilderness | Teen Ink

The Wilderness

April 14, 2009
By Nic Schroeder BRONZE, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
Nic Schroeder BRONZE, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

I was on my way to the best football camp in the country. It was in the middle of the Great Outdoors, in Oregon. I was selected out of thousands of people, because how good of a middle linebacker I was. I am also about 6’ 3’’, so that helps a lot. I have been waiting my whole life for a chance like, this it would wreck my whole summer. Then the worst thing in my life occurred…
Bang! Bang! Bang! The engine in the two person plane just broke down. The pilot reached behind him and pulled out what looked like a backpack.

“Here strap this parachute on!” The pilot yelled at me.

“What is going on?!” I yelled back.

“We’re going down! the two main engines just broke down. Were both leaping out of the plane in a few seconds.” He told me.

“Can’t you fix it?” I questioned him.

“Not in the air!” he answered me.

While he and I put on our parachutes I was scared to death! I have never jumped higher than ten feet off the ground. This was about 700 feet above ground. How am I going to do this?

As I peeled my door open the pilot told me to wait five seconds then open the parachute. The last thing he said to me was “You will be fine John.” Then I jumped.
“One, two, three, four, five!” I hollered to myself as I was free falling. I opened the chute and it wrenched my whole body when it opened up. I thought I broke my back. When I looked down there was tons of trees. “How was anyone supposed to find me?” I asked myself.

Thud! I whacked a tree. I fell further down after that. Then I came to a halt in the middle of air. What was going on? Then I remembered about my parachute. As I glanced up it was stuck on a branch. My arms were coming out of the straps and I was about to fall to the ground. Then I dropped.

I tried to sit up, but my back and head hurt so much I couldn’t move an inch. Then I felt myself getting very tired. I tried to stay awake as long as possible, but once it got dark I was gone.

When I woke up I still had the headache. I had mosquito bites all over my body. I couldn’t help myself from itching them for 20 minutes. As I sat up my back cracked all over the place. It was gross! Then I remembered I was out here all alone. “How am I going to get to that football camp?” I said to myself.

Wow, was I hungry. I wondered around and came upon a lake. I went over by it to get a drink of water. The water didn’t taste that bad, but it just made me even hungrier. I needed to find something to eat. So I decided to go look for some berries or something edible. Instead of berries, I came upon an apple tree about 200 feet away from the lake. I ran up to it to eat as many apples as I could.

They tasted amazing! It felt as if I were on my couch at home, crunching on an apple, and watching some ESPN. Then it hit me. If I ever wanted to do that again I had to get my butt in gear and find away out of this place.

I started walking back by the lake and maybe build a shelter or something. I took a couple steps, and I heard this loudest roar ever. “What could it be?” I wondered in my head as I was scared to death. It sounded like an animal that weighed a ton. I looked behind me. It was a huge black bear! I pondered about standing there and hopefully he would just walk away. He knew I was there though. He stood up on his hind legs, and roared at me. I took off as fast as I could. There was no chance I was going to get away from this beast. I decided to sprint up a hill, that I came upon as I was scurrying away from the bear. When I was in the middle of the hill I turned right. I sprinted as fast as I could. When I turned my head to peek behind me, the bear was rolling down the hill. He must of slipped on a loose rock and went for a roll down the hill. He wasn’t going to catch me any time soon.

I couldn’t go back towards the lake because there was an angry bear near it. I walked up the hill to see if there was any civilization near. As I gazed over the forest I saw smoke rising from the trees. That must be where the plane crashed. There might be a supply kit in the plane! I started to jog towards it. I was so excited!

When I reached the plane, I got on my hands and knees and took a peek into the plane. I only saw one thing in there. It was a bright orange box. “That must be it!” I whispered to myself. I reached in there and pulled it out as fast as I could. I opened it up and only found some vitamins and a flare gun. A FLARE GUN! If a plane flies over I can shot it, and the plane will save me. I would be on my way to football camp.

Well I decided to walk for about another hour or two. If I walked for that long I might find a city or some kind of civilization. If I would find some people they could call the police or someone that could help me. That would be great, because I am so hungry at the moment.

I walked for about and hour and a half. Guess what I uncovered! I found a canoe! It was under a big tree. I was going to go under the tree to get some rest. I went under head first, and bonked my head on something very solid. I was questioning what it was so, I reached under and pulled out a canoe. The only bad thing about it was that there is not a river close by. At least not that I have saw, but there must be if someone would leave it here, in the middle of nowhere.

I asked myself if I should drag the canoe behind me. It would take a lot more energy, but I decided it would be a good idea just in case I found some kind of river or lake. If I came by a river I could start rowing down it and I would be moving a lot faster than I was now. Also if I saw an animal I could try to throw an ore at it to get some food.

I trekked for about an hour and found a small rabbit sitting in the middle of an opening. I grabbed the ore and got as close as possible. I was about five feet away when I decided I should take a swing at it. I swung, and smashed it right into its head. I finally had something to eat.

I tried to make a fire with the metal side of the canoe and smashing a rock onto it. I thought it might make a spark. Nothing happened. So I decided just to eat the meat raw. I will save some of it for later. The meat was awful.

After I ate I decided to go to sleep. It was pretty dark out so I thought it was a good time to try to get a catnap.

I really didn’t get much sleep because the mosquitoes were nipping at me the whole night. At least I got a little sleep. I thought I should walk for as long as I could. I wasn’t that tired any more, but I sure did need something to drink. My mouth and throat were so coarse I couldn’t even swallow my own saliva.

I heard some rushing water.
“Water!” I yelled out to no one.
I really needed it so I ran as fast as I could when I was dragging the canoe. Then I noticed it. It was a huge waterfall. The water appeared so tasty at the moment.

When I got right next to the river I dropped to my knees and drank as much water as I could, until it hurt to drink any more. Then I decided I was going to try to canoe down river. I threw the canoe in and I stepped in.

Right when I jumped in, the river threw me right on my back in the canoe. I worked my way upright, and started paddling to keep the boat straight. “It must calm down after awhile,” I told myself. Right when I turned the corner I saw it!

It was a police car sitting right on the shore! I called to him and he told me to get over by him as fast as possible. I could finally go to my football camp, and see my parents. Finally, I was saved!


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