James awakes to complete nothing, and for a moment he thinks he has gone to join the Lord. He opened his eyes, felt the aching of his body, and peered through the smoke swirling above his head and saw the twisted metal surrounding him like a cage. He forced himself to his knees and began to crawl towards the light of what he hoped was an exit. As he pulled himself through the blinding smoke, he felt his hand plunge into the snow. James emerged from the aircraft, the initial shock of the crash began to wear off as he collapsed into the snow.
He turned to look back at the crashed helicopter and remembered the pilot, Oakley, screaming at everyone to brace themselves. He remembered when the tree smashed through the window and tore Oakley apart. As he laid on the ground, he remembered his mission, his training, his duty to save the innocent to the best of his ability. He forced to his feet and submerged himself back into the smoke of the helicopter, looking for any survivors. He flattened himself with the floor and began crawling, spreading his arms and legs out as far as possible in order to cover the most ground. His right hand brushed along a jacket, he moved closer and felt around what he assumed to be a corpse. Padding his hands along the body he eventually found the head and placed two fingers on the neck and began counting... there was no pulse. He continued his crawling and found another body with no pulse, he moved on into the cockpit. There was something wet splashed out on the floor that he presumed was blood. Bits of wood were splintered throughout the cabin from what he could tell. He felt one of the pilot seats and began reaching up until he felt the plushy exterior of a winter coat, he continued reaching up but stopped when he felt hard bark where a human head should have been.
After he realized that he was the sole survivor, he exited the helicopter and made his way to the treeline then began to think about his own wounds. The adrenaline rush was starting to fade and when he tried to stand he felt a searing pain, and his right leg buckled under his weight and he crashed into the snow. Something must be broken, he needed to get to the emergency aid kit so that he could set a field cast. If he could get to the emergency supplies that were stored in the helicopter, he would be able to stay in the debris of the helicopter and recover, maybe even get rescued. He would have to address any burns or cuts later when he found the first aid kit, with any luck the metal shell surrounding the first aid kit had protected the items inside from the fire.
The black smoke flowing from the helicopter was starting to fade as the gasoline was burned, after about 20mins the last wisp of smoke escaped. As he dragged himself and his leg to the remains of the helicopter, he began to see the destructive path that it left as it came crashing through the tree line. It looked as though God had taken his finger and dragged it along the snowy forest leaving behind nothing but splinters and upturned earth. The helicopter wasn't in any better shape, it was flipped onto its side and half of it was buried in the snow. The rotors that he could see were bent and broken, and the tail of the aircraft had been snapped off of the fuselage like a twig off a tree. He knew that there were emergency rations inside the storage compartment and when the tail was broken off the supplies and rations had been flung throughout the forest. From where he was limping along he could already spot 4 boxes that hopefully contained the rations that he needed. He and the other four men who had been on the helicopter were members of the Elison Air Base SAR unit. He had just been shipped there and he hardly knew anyone at the airbase, that was part of the reason for the training mission, yet he could only remember the name of the pilot. They had been stocked up with supplies and medical equipment like they were on a real mission, good thing too because he may be dependent on those supplies.
His slow painful walk finally brought him back to the burned husk of the helicopter, he slipped inside and began searching for the first aid kit. It didn't take long for him to find the burnt aluminum box that contained a never-ending supply of band-aids and more importantly a splint. The container was still warm to the touch as he cracked it open and retrieved the splint. After he got comfortable with his awkward set up he proceeded to take the long aluminum pieces and strapped them to the sides of his leg using the hard fabric provided. It hurt to straighten out his leg but once he fastened it in place, he got used to the pain.
Once he felt satisfied with his splint he went to work applying gauze and bandages to the few burns he had. He then put gauze and band-aids on the small cuts he could reach and took 2 servings of pain meds so that he could walk around without a jolt of pain from each step. He sat in the corner and started to think about what he needed to do next. He shoulda' taken the meds after he had a plan. Ideas swirled throughout his mind, every time an idea began to form it would slip back into the abyss of his drugged mind, "Fuck it," he shouted in frustration, I can't think, I need sleep. He hobbled to the rear of the helicopter and found a sleeping bag that was strapped in place and smoothly unrolled it. Before he slept he went to his knees and prayed for his fallen friends who had perished in the crash and would never rise again, once he finished he collapsed into a dreamless sleep.
YOU ARE READING
Struggle in the Wild(still not sure on the title)
AdventureA young Search and Rescue agent survives a helicopter crash in Northern Alaska and struggles to escape from the wilderness and is kept there by a seemingly constant snowstorm.
