Surviving Alone

Chapter 2: Make fire, find food

5 days after the crash I manage to finally finish building my shelter. I have been trying to make a fire since the day after the crash. I have figured out how to make a bow drill from a survival book I found in some debris. The survival book is gonna be a lot of help. It also told me how to make a snare trap and I'm going to try and make one. I know I need to make one to survive. Without this trap or a weapon I can't get any food.

Success!! While I was looking for what I needed to make the snare trap I noticed some small animal tracks. As I got closer I noticed they were raccoon tracks. After getting what I needed for the trap I was able to make the trap. The raccoon tracks were about 40 yards from my shelter so I set the snare about 10 yards farther. I'm hoping I can catch the raccoon with the trap or some type of animal I can eat. As I'm walking back to my shelter I notice for the first time, it's getting chilly. The bone chilling cold is only adding to my misery of being here. When I get inside my shelter I immediately start on the bow drill the hopefully be able to warm myself.

It takes me almost an hour to make a fire, but I finally have one. I have managed to find a metal bucket near the wreckage and go by the lake to get some water in the bucket. I grab some sticks on the way to make a make-shift stand to hold the bucket above the fire. When I get into the "Cabin" as I call it I put the sticks into the dirt and form the stand. Above the fire I put the bucket hanging from the sticks, while I'm waiting for the water to boil I decide to go and make a bed propped up above the ground, hopefully the bugs with stop biting me if I'm off the ground. When I get done with the bed it's nearly dark and getting even colder. I drink some water thinking about food and how good the water tastes. It tastes better than water has ever tasted. As I lie down on my bed my eyes feeling heavy I think of home and thinking of my warm bed. Within seconds of lying down, I fall sound asleep.

The next morning when I wake up I drink some water and go to check my trap. As I get closer to my trap I see something lying on the ground. It has a grey fur color and I start to think "Is it the raccoon?!?!" and I run up to it with tears in my eyes. I'm so happy it worked. I grab a rock holding it about the raccoon and hesitate, I think to myself, "I'm killing this helpless animal." After just holding the rock above the little raccoon, I strike down with great force and a hear a loud crack and the animal stops moving. I take the animal out of the trap and reset it. As I'm walking back I just cry into it's fur because I'm so happy I can finally eat. While walking back to my camp I think to myself, "how the hell am I supposed to gut this raccoon? But then I remember, I have the survival book!" When I get to camp I start to read the book and find the chapter on gutting animals and just follow the instructions. Man this is gonna be so good!

A few days later I'm sitting in my shelter and I hear a weird noise next to my shelter kind of like a pig snorting. As I walk out to see what it was I see a bear next to the lake about 30 yards from me. I start to scream and grab stuff to look big and I  to try to get it to get away. The bear turns around and stands on it's hind legs and just stares at me. It seems like it has been hours but it has only been a couple minutes. The bear starts walking towards me and I just freeze and stare at it in total fear. I slowly walk back into my shelter and grab my axe and the spear I made. When I get out of my shelter the bear is only ten feet away from me. As I turned around and looked at the bear dead in it's eyes I freeze in total fear. I point my spear and raise my axe and yell as loud as I could yell. Boom in an instant he runs away into the woods and is gone as quickly as he came.