Struggle in the Wild(still not sure on the title)

Chapter 2, Acquaintance

A chilly wind awoke James with a shutter, and his eyes opened to snowflakes dancing about inside the small cabin illuminated by the early morning light. He quickly picked himself up and limped over to the skylight until he was standing in the beam of light, usually, the skylight was the entrance to the helicopter. Powdered snow crunched beneath his feet and he gazed to the sky to see nothing but white stretching out from the small metal square. The snowflakes drifted down to the ground being knocked about by gusts of wind and catching on the tall pines of the forest. He didn't want to think about what this meant, he couldn't confront the idea that he was stranded out here.

They would still come, the storm couldn't hold them off for more than a day. He could get out of this, this wasn't the end. All he needed was some food and shelter, hell maybe a flat area for the helicopter to touch down in. Tearing his eyes away from the snow James began searching throughout the helicopter for anything useful. There was a variety of backpacks in the back of the helicopter, he decided on a small daypack capable of fitting at least enough food for 3 days as well as medical supplies and a box of flares that he found beneath the co-pilots chair. 

He could've grabbed a bigger pack but he knew that he needed to restrict the amount of weight that he put on his injured leg. As he raised himself over the "wall" that was usually the floor of the helicopter and stood atop preparing to lower himself down, he slipped. James grabbed the sliding door of the helicopter in an attempt to stop himself but putting his full weight on the thin metal edge of the door caused the door to slice a deep gash through his left index, middle, and ring finger. Not expecting the pain made him slip and fall. Falling from a height of roughly six feet unprepared would usually result in some injury thankfully there was three feet of snow waiting at the bottom to greet him, still hurt. It was like falling on a cold, wet pillow that had concrete below it.

He could already feel the sore spots from where the bottles of meds had been crushed against his back, he would have to ice them later so that way he wouldn't have to add back pain to his already lengthy list of injuries. Reaching into the back of his pack he pulled out some pain reliever and took 4 of the small pills. Getting himself up with his damaged leg was tricky but not impossible, thankfully the helicopter was laying right next to him so he used it as support, he was lucky that he didn't smash some part of his body against it.

He had another injury to deal with so he ventured yet again into the helicopter to get the first aid kit, he set to work carefully washing the wound with some antibacterial soap then he tied a small bandage over the cut on each of his fingers so that way he still had relatively free motion with his fingers. After he finished bandaging his hands he put his gloves back on and carefully raised himself up onto the helicopter, this time he stayed on all fours and crawled to the edge of the helicopter fuselage and slid down. He pulled out his compass and decided that he would travel along the path the helicopter had taken on its way down and then he would head north towards a field he had noticed before the engine started having trouble. he began his trek at a steady limp with a soft reminder of pain every other step along the destructive path of the helicopter. As he walked he picked up packages of food that were mostly intact that had fallen during the helicopter's descent, occasionally he would have to drag himself over a few of the fallen trees that he couldn't easily walk around. Things were getting darker and darker as the snowfall began to thicken however his ability to see had not been affected yet. 

Though he was currently trapped in the wilderness it was still beautiful, snow-capped trees mountains all around him, he had never had this kind of opportunity to see nature in this way. He had been thrown into it without a choice, forced into survival without warning yet it still retained a sense of glory and all-powerfulness over him. The sun was just touching the horizon when he found the spot he was looking for, it was a wide clearing big enough for 3 or 4 helicopters to land simultaneously. He didn't know what time it was because his phone had been in his right pocket so it had gotten smashed along with his leg, but he figured it was around 9ish based on where the sun was. Since there weren't any tents in the helicopter he would have to build a lean-to. So he spent the next half hour of the good daylight left constructing a pile of pine branches that he decided to call a shelter. He laid himself out inside the thickest part and shut his eyes.