could always dig his way out. At times off and on, he’d take the blade of his knife and poke it through the hole he had for ventilation. He wanted to make sure he continued to breathe clean and fresh air.
It was many long hours later before Dave noticed the light from his ventilation hole had grown from black to a light gray. He was shivering from the cold and knew he had to get up and continue moving toward the smoke he had seen. At least as he moved he had been warm and though he had survived a bad blizzard, the young man felt anything but lucky. When he pushed the metal away from the entrance to his shelter, he noticed it was difficult to move, but after a few minutes of struggling, it fell to the side.
As soon as he stuck his head from the shelter, he saw the overcast sky with low gray clouds and the threat of more snow. As soon as he had crawled from his shelter, he stood, stretched, and felt his whole body ache. He was sure some of his body pain was still from the airplane crash, though he suspected most of it came from sleeping poorly in the cramped spaces of his shelter.
David snapped the fanny-pack around his waist and remembering the sunglasses in his coat pocket he pulled them out and put them on. While the sun showed no hint of making an appearance at all this day, he felt the glasses might cut down on the wind in his eyes. The day before the blowing wind had caused some irritation to his eyes and he wanted to prevent that from happening again, if he could. Taking one quick glance around the open nothingness that surrounded him, he moved off once more, keeping the mountain over his shoulder.
The snow was mid-calf deep and every few minutes the young man had to stop and rest to avoid overheating. By the end of the day, both legs ached and he was very hungry. It had taken all of the will power he had not to eat the last energy bar he had in his pack. The only positive aspect of the whole day he could see, as it began to grow dark, was he now had a campsite in a thin grove of trees. As well as he could tell when he decided to stop for the night, the trees grew thicker a little further along, but he was simply too exhausted to go on. He quickly gathered some firewood, started a small fire, and made a crude shelter using the limbs from some of the smaller trees. With his shelter and fire taken care of David sat on a small log to relax. It had been a very tiring day for him.
As his canteen cup of pine needle tea boiled on the hot coals of the fire, he felt a pain in his right foot, near the toes. He removed his boot and was surprised to find the flesh white and shriveled up as if he’d been in the bathtub too long. The cause of his pain was cracked skin under his middle toe. Unsure what to do, he took his boot from the other foot and placed them both to dry near the fire, resting both feet on his boots. He wished he had some clean and dry socks to put on, but they had burned in his shelter fire. Instead, he laid his damp socks on his pack near enough to the fire to heat but not burn.
The snow had started again, but it was once more a lazy snow and it didn’t concern him nearly as much as the blizzard the day before. While he was still very much alone, there was comfort in having a fire and being in the trees. As he placed another log on his small fire he thought, I wonder what my mom and sister are doing right now? I’ll bet they are having a great meal and worried about us. Dave never felt the wet tears run down his cold cheeks as he unconsciously stared into the dancing flames of his fire. His only answer was the snapping of the damp wood as it dried in the flames.
CHAPTER 9
“C OLONEL WILCOX , this is Sergeant Barnes with the weather shop. I was asked to inform you that the weather break we have will last close to five hours.” A voice on the phone said to Frank Wilcox as he sat at his desk.
“Thank God, and thank you as well Barnes.” Wilcox
It was many long hours later before Dave noticed the light from his ventilation hole had grown from black to a light gray. He was shivering from the cold and knew he had to get up and continue moving toward the smoke he had seen. At least as he moved he had been warm and though he had survived a bad blizzard, the young man felt anything but lucky. When he pushed the metal away from the entrance to his shelter, he noticed it was difficult to move, but after a few minutes of struggling, it fell to the side.
As soon as he stuck his head from the shelter, he saw the overcast sky with low gray clouds and the threat of more snow. As soon as he had crawled from his shelter, he stood, stretched, and felt his whole body ache. He was sure some of his body pain was still from the airplane crash, though he suspected most of it came from sleeping poorly in the cramped spaces of his shelter.
David snapped the fanny-pack around his waist and remembering the sunglasses in his coat pocket he pulled them out and put them on. While the sun showed no hint of making an appearance at all this day, he felt the glasses might cut down on the wind in his eyes. The day before the blowing wind had caused some irritation to his eyes and he wanted to prevent that from happening again, if he could. Taking one quick glance around the open nothingness that surrounded him, he moved off once more, keeping the mountain over his shoulder.
The snow was mid-calf deep and every few minutes the young man had to stop and rest to avoid overheating. By the end of the day, both legs ached and he was very hungry. It had taken all of the will power he had not to eat the last energy bar he had in his pack. The only positive aspect of the whole day he could see, as it began to grow dark, was he now had a campsite in a thin grove of trees. As well as he could tell when he decided to stop for the night, the trees grew thicker a little further along, but he was simply too exhausted to go on. He quickly gathered some firewood, started a small fire, and made a crude shelter using the limbs from some of the smaller trees. With his shelter and fire taken care of David sat on a small log to relax. It had been a very tiring day for him.
As his canteen cup of pine needle tea boiled on the hot coals of the fire, he felt a pain in his right foot, near the toes. He removed his boot and was surprised to find the flesh white and shriveled up as if he’d been in the bathtub too long. The cause of his pain was cracked skin under his middle toe. Unsure what to do, he took his boot from the other foot and placed them both to dry near the fire, resting both feet on his boots. He wished he had some clean and dry socks to put on, but they had burned in his shelter fire. Instead, he laid his damp socks on his pack near enough to the fire to heat but not burn.
The snow had started again, but it was once more a lazy snow and it didn’t concern him nearly as much as the blizzard the day before. While he was still very much alone, there was comfort in having a fire and being in the trees. As he placed another log on his small fire he thought, I wonder what my mom and sister are doing right now? I’ll bet they are having a great meal and worried about us. Dave never felt the wet tears run down his cold cheeks as he unconsciously stared into the dancing flames of his fire. His only answer was the snapping of the damp wood as it dried in the flames.
CHAPTER 9
“C OLONEL WILCOX , this is Sergeant Barnes with the weather shop. I was asked to inform you that the weather break we have will last close to five hours.” A voice on the phone said to Frank Wilcox as he sat at his desk.
“Thank God, and thank you as well Barnes.” Wilcox
Similar Books
