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Post by iamnobody on Jun 28, 2022 8:22:36 GMT -6
Oh yeah, I can relate to that.
CG, are you writing from personal experience?
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Post by solo on Jun 28, 2022 9:13:29 GMT -6
Bush crafted tongs and Boy Scout cooking... I can't wait for this heat to cut and to get back out there. Until then, I'll just keep reading (yeah and writting)...
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Post by CountryGuy on Jun 28, 2022 19:31:24 GMT -6
Oh yeah, I can relate to that.
CG, are you writing from personal experience?
No, more a combination of crap several friends and some cousins have gone thru. Just boiled down into our very own 'Karen'.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jun 28, 2022 20:58:20 GMT -6
-6-
Merv got to his feet and took the stick he’d been using for a fire poker and raked the fire together trying to bank it for the night and then added a couple larger pieces of wood, one seemed to still be pretty green so he hoped it’d slowly smolder and burn thru the night, maybe even make it through the night or leave them some coals to get it restarted in the morning. “Get your butts to bed, only a few hours of sleep if we’re going to be on the water when the sun comes up.” The other two groaned as they got up and headed towards their tent. Jimbo first detoured to water a tree at the edge of their campsite before heading back to his set up. Merv chuckled as he watched his two drunk friends crawling into their impossibly small tent, it reminded him of the cartoons where 20 clowns go into a tiny car. Merv himself struggled a bit to get his boots unlaced and popped off before he loosely tied the laces together and hung them from the end of his hammock ridge line. Finally ready, he gingerly sat then swung his feet up and in. He laid for a minute as he felt his head spin. Finally it calmed and he carefully zipped the bug net closed, snuggled into his sleeping bag and quickly dozed off.
As he heard the alarm on his G-shock chime he stirred and came to, turning the alarm off. It took a few seconds to recognize the unfamiliar surroundings and feel of being hugged in the hammock. Then he remembered maybe more so because of the cotton mouth and dull headache he had and he also felt like he still might still be slightly drunk. He laid there for a few minutes listening to the battle of snores going on about 30 feet from him in his friends tent along with the sounds of the surrounding forest and rolling river. As one of the guys really hit a few ripping snorts Merv was thankful he’d not heard any of it till now. “Thank God I slept through that racket.” He could feel the very cool morning air on his face, it had chilled off a lot last night. He figured the antifreeze they were drinking had kept them all from noticing.
He steeled up the motivation and energy to get out of his toasty cocoon, first reaching up and undoing the bug net and then cursing himself for not remembering to put his fleece jacket in the hammock with him last night so it would be warm and toasty at this moment instead of cool and slightly damp feeling. As he pivoted around and swung his feet over the edge he was glad to see his moccasins were below him on the small ground cloth he used like a floor rug. He slipped his feet in them and stood, quickly grabbing his fleece from his pack and slipping into it as a shiver hit him. He heeded the call of nature and quickly made his way to his favorite watering tree. With morning needs taken care of he went and grabbed his water bottle and ibuprofen so those would dissolve into his system in hopes of working on the sizable hangover thumping in his brain.
He figured he’d let Thing 1 and Thing 2 sleep a bit longer. Or at least as long as he could stand to listen to their snoring. He went over the fire ring and as he poked around a bit he was glad to see there was a decent amount of coals left amongst the light powdery ashes. A little tinder and kindling and in a few minutes he had flames going again but it’d take a while to get it rebuilt enough to warm up by. He grabbed his Jetboil from his pack and set it up on the picnic table before going to the truck bed and grabbing one of the gallon jugs of ‘spring water’ the guys had bought. He filled the stove’s pot, lit the stove and got the water starting to boil. He fished out some packets of instant coffee. It was from Starbucks, he wasn’t a big fan of their coffee but single serve packs of instant coffee could be hard to find at times and this stuff was pretty good for instant. He used to love the coffee bags from Maxwell House he used to get, they were an oversized teabag and made a pretty nice fresh brew but they must not have been big sellers as they seemed to be gone from the market.
As he’d just finished making his cup and refilling the pot for the next cup of water he heard one of the two knuckleheads stirring. He had bets on it being Matt as the lone snore he could hear sounded like it was his very own roommate. As Matt’s head peaked out of the tent, he looked like hell. He crawled out with his sleeping bag around his shoulders standing in his boxers and a pair of flip flops. “Dude, you look like hell” In a rough, gravel voice he heard Matt say “ahh good so I look like I feel. How the hell are you up and bright eyed? My back feels like I slept on a rock last night.” “See I told you, hammock makes all the difference. In about 3 minutes water will be done if you want some coffee. It’s instant so you can’t be choosy.” “Yaa coffee would be good…” Oh and I have some of these” as he held up the bottle of ibuprofen and gave it a light shake like a baby rattle. “God yes, you're a saint.” We'll put some pants on and get out here. Not long and sune will be up. Get some coffee in you and then will kick sleeping beauty awake.
Ten minutes later as Matt had about a third of his coffee in him and he was warming nicely by the growing fire Merv looked towards him and then the tent. “Think it’s time to wake your fellow camper? We can’t let him sleep the day and his hangover away, after all this early morning, on the water as the sun rises thing was his idea. So time for him to wakey wakey and get busy fishing. You go see if you can get him moving and I’ll mix up a coffee for him .”
About 20 minutes later they were all up, had their waders on and were geared up as they all topped off their mugs and headed down to the river. As they got there they could see the sky just lightening up to the east. Matt and Merv both headed towards spots they scoped out the night before and Jimbo slipped into the kayak and headed out for a spot he saw the night before that he thought would be a good one to check out.
By 8:30 they all had a good start on their daily limit and decided to head in for breakfast. They fried up the fish from the night before along with two from the morning outing, some bacon and then scrambled up some eggs. With full bellies and things cleaned up they all decided to head to some spots and agreed to meet back at camp around 1:30 for a late lunch. Jimbo paddled hard upstream wanting to get higher up with the plan to just float and check out any spots that looked interesting. Matt decided to work his way up the creek that flowed into camp and Matt worked his way down the river. There was to be an old cable bridge about a mile below them and he thought he’d work down to that and maybe cross over and work some of the other shore that would be in the late morning shade. When he got to the bridge he found that a huge tree on the other bank had fallen and tore the cables down on the far side so they were in the water on the far side. It looked to not be something new so he figured with budget and manpower cuts, it was probably low on the parks list of things to fix and repair. “Well damn. So much for that idea, guess I’ll fish on down this side.”
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Post by gipsy on Jun 28, 2022 21:45:21 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by kansasterri on Jun 29, 2022 11:10:16 GMT -6
I am really enjoying this story! It's good!
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Post by CountryGuy on Jun 29, 2022 12:03:14 GMT -6
I am really enjoying this story! It's good! Thank you, I appreciate your kind words as well as everyone else's and their likes
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Post by CountryGuy on Jun 29, 2022 13:05:33 GMT -6
WARNING! ADULT Language!
-7-
It took Merv longer than he planned to get back to camp so it was closer to two o’clock until he was coming back into camp. He’d not been paying attention as he came up the trail, had he been he’d have stopped sooner. Instead he walked into the campsite and found Matt on the ground. He ran over to Matt who was groaning, bloody and not moving much. As he was kneeling and starting to look over his friend his tunnel vision faded and he heard Jimbo yelling. He looked up to see him screaming at two guys “Put our shit back and get the f*** out of here you fucking theives!” He gave the guy closest to him a shove. Merv yelled “Watch out!” as he saw the other guy suddenly pull a pistol. It was too late, he watched as the guy smashed it into the side of Jimbo’s head. Jimbo dropped like a rock and when he hit the ground his head landed hard on a piece of firewood. Merv started yelling at them “Stop! What the hell are you two doing!?!” Merv froze as the one with the pistol raised it and pointed it directly at him.
“Don’t you play dumb with us asshole, we know it was y’all that near run us off the road this morn’in.” “What the hell are you talking about, we’ve been out fishing since sun up. We don’t know what you’re talking about? Why’d you attack my friends?”
As Merv took in more of the scene he realized that all his gear, his fly, hammock and pack along with their coolers, kayak and all of the guys stuff was packed in the bed of a red Ram, the way it was parked he could see the plate. As he looked back at them he realized the second guy now had a shotgun in his hand and was walking up to him. “We’ll teach you fuckers to run us off the road. You all owe us, all this fancy gear and your wallets should be a good start. Was you the one driving? Or one of these two bitches?” Merv wanted to cuss him or try to grab the shotgun but the other guy was off to the side with that pistol pointed at him.
Merv tried to take a breath and to try and diffuse the situation he said “ Look guys, take what you want but like I said we weren’t drive…” with that he got the butt of shotgun slammed into his gut knocking the air out of him and dropping him to his knees. As he bent over trying to catch his breath he thought he heard one say ‘how’s that Mervin’ as he took a second blow to the side of his head and dropped him on the spot. As he hit the ground he tried to curl up in a ball as he felt two pairs of boots go to town kicking him. One of the blows to his head shut out the lights.
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Post by iamnobody on Jun 29, 2022 13:16:11 GMT -6
If they called him by name, maybe his ex sent them?
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Post by gipsy on Jun 29, 2022 14:30:18 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jun 29, 2022 15:56:40 GMT -6
If they called him by name, maybe his ex sent them? Stop reading ahead Mr...
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Post by CountryGuy on Jun 30, 2022 21:18:49 GMT -6
-8-
As his eyes came open he wasn’t sure what he was seeing. It was dark but seemed brown and it looked sort of like rice. What? As he tried to remember what was going on and where he was he realized he was face down in the dirt. The little ‘rice’ pieces were actually old pine needles that covered the ground. He had total confusion and as he became more aware he felt intense pain. His head and face throbbed, his ribs felt like knives were stabbing into them. As he tried to push himself off of his face and up onto his side he was greeted with severe pain in his left hand. As his eyes tried to focus he could see his fingers looked misshaped and a couple were at odd angles. It took him almost 10 minutes to get his bearings and to try to remember where he was and why he was here, everything was a blank.
As he became more aware things quickly came back to him. The guys weekend, the two guys stealing from them, Matt and Jimbo being injured… Oh man… where were his friends… he tried to get up but his world was spinning and he crashed to his hands and knees and then violently hurled. He became slow and deliberate as he moved, not wanting another tsunami of nausea to hit him. He finally realized why it was so dark, he couldn’t really see out of his right eye. He thought to himself… am I blind. He didn’t remember the beating he took, having passed out during it. He moved around cautiously on his hands and knees. His memory jolted him to action as he recalled the robbery and assault… where are the guys? As he looked around he saw Matt laid out flat on the ground about eight feet from him. He crawled over to him as quickly as he could but it probably took him two or three minutes to do so as he’d lose his balance and fall over face first and face plant into the dirt.
“Matt! Matt? Hey bud, are you awake, can you hear me?” He reached for Matt’s bare leg and Matt groaned loudly… when he touched him “Yeah but I think those two broke me up pretty bad.” Merv started to realize that he was naked save his underwear so was Matt. “Try not to move man, let me try to take a look at you.” “Look at me, dude you need to look at yourself.” “Don’t worry about me. I just realized, the bastards stripped us to our shorts and it looks like they took everything and left us for dead.”
“Where’s Jimbo at Merv?” Merv looked around; that was a good question. Then the image of the pistol whipping Jimbo received and watching his head smash into the log came back to him. He glanced around till he saw the lump on the ground that was Jimbo. “Hang tight, I got to check Jimbo, they pistol whipped him something fierce.” As quickly as he could he crawled around the fire ring to Jimbo. As he got to Jimbo he at first was horrified thinking he wasn’t breathing but it was there but very ragged. He could see blood on both sides of his head from the two strikes, some was already dry and crusty, other places it was thick and gooey. “Jimmy? Jimbo? Can you hear me?” There was no response, he lifted an eyelid and from what he could tell with his own poor sight, his pupil was tightly constricted and didn’t seem to react. He was afraid to move Jimbo’s head for fear he might have a neck of spinal injury.
“How is he Merv.” “Not good man. His breathing is rough but I’m afraid to move his neck in case it’s broken. I saw that one guy pistol whip him and when he fell he hit the other side of his head on some of the firewood that was piled up. They stripped him naked too.” Well if they stripped him, I doubt those bastards were gentle about it. You know. Maybe it’d be OK to move his head if you think it’ll help him breathe?” “Yeah, maybe you're right, I mean an open airway is a survival priority.”
Merv reached out with his one good hand, sliding it under Jimbo’s neck. He gently felt for any bumps or deformation that might help indicate a break. Satisfied there was nothing he could feel he slowly and gently moved his neck to straighten it and then tipped it back slightly to help open his airway. Immediately he noticed Jimbo’s breathing ease and greatly improve. “That seemed to help him.” He was worried Jimbo’s head might roll to the side or something and constrict his airway. Merv didn’t have many choices other than some pieces of firewood. He slipped a piece of limb that was about three inches in diameter under the back of his neck where it would keep Jimbo’s head tipped back while preventing it rolling to either side.
With Jimbo laying there only in his undershorts Merv couldn’t see any other injuries. He knew his friends, and especially Jimbo, needed help and fast. Even though it was midday it was very cool in the deep shade of the forest especially with no clothes on. He’d have to take the truck and try to get help, no way could he load either of the other guys.
He started crawling towards the truck. If that seemed to take forever, trying to pull himself up on the tailgate seemed to take an eternity and every bit of strength and will power he could muster. As he got to his wobbly legs he leaned hard on the tailgate with his right arm, it was the only thing keeping him upright. The smell of raw gas hit him. As he looked into the bed all of their stuff was missing but there was a wine bottle with a rag around it in the bed and he could see a puddle under it. Now where the hell did that come from he thought. It took him a little to process that and then realized they apparently had tried to fire bomb the truck but failed.
Merv began to inch his way around to the drivers side of the truck wanting to get to the driver’s seat. His head was clearing more but he still felt nauseous. He realized the front and back doors were standing open and he could see beyond them that the hood was also up. He knew that could not be good. He leaned heavily on the side of the bed and he worked his way along towards the open rear door.
He’d not moved far as he was just passing the rear wheel well when he saw the rear tire was flat from a huge gash in the sidewall. As he got to the cab he looked in the rear door, nothing, everything was gone. He worked around to the front door and looked in. The keys weren’t in the ignition where they’d been left and the front seat was all sliced up. Next stop was going around to the front fender. As his view made it around the hood to where he could see the engine he knew it wouldn't matter even if he did have the keys. The SOB’s had ripped and cut any wires, hoses and the serpentine belt. Anything they could get to quickly they’d cut up. Then he could see that for good measure, they’d also sliced the front tire in several places. He felt rage build in him like he’d never known. “I’ll kill the bastards…” He knew how desperately his friends needed help, and fast, revenge would be served later and it would be cold.
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Post by freebirde on Jun 30, 2022 21:37:23 GMT -6
If they called him by name, maybe his ex sent them? Then again it could be the bartender that lost his 'sugar mamma'.
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Post by gipsy on Jul 1, 2022 6:40:29 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 2, 2022 12:47:21 GMT -6
-9-
He made his way back down the side of the truck to the tailgate where he paused. He would have sat on the tailgate but he hurt to bad to even try to boost himself up the short way onto it so he leaned with his lower back on the edge of it. He tried to get his mind clear but it was impossible with the pain, fear and anger he was feeling. He could feel himself trembling and he wasn’t sure if it was from all the emotion and adrenalin or if it was on set of shock or something. He evaluated the scene before him and what he knew. It was like those scenarios they used to always do back as a kid in Scouts. They’d give you some impossibly difficult scene with limited resources and say what do you do. Look at the scene, decide priorities, size up your resources and what’s available, make an initial plant, then act and adjust as needed.
The scene was bad, his two best friends were in bad shape. He was afraid Jimbo was going into, if not already in shock and had a potential brain injury. Matt he was pretty sure had a bunch of broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and hat thought more. They were all basically naked and even though it was a warm late summer day exposure and hypothermia would also be added threats as the day and evening progressed. They had no comms, no transport, they were miles from anyone and couldn’t walk.
As quick as he could, Merv stumbled back to the cab to take another look and to see if there was anything. The truck was already destroyed and this was life or death so Matt would have to forgive him if he tore it up worse. As he stood in the open back door he pulled his side of the Body Glove seat cover loose from the back seat, he’d have to go to the other side to get it fully off. Next he struggled to look under the seat. Under the rear seat he found a small first aid kit; it was one of those near worthless 46 pc things with mostly bandaids but he’d check it out. Under the driver's seat he found a ⅔ full bottle of water, he grabbed it and pulled the rear carpeted floor mat. He laid everything on the seat on top of the seat cover where he'd be able to pull it out on the other side.
While he was there he worked around the door and pulled the driver’s floor mat loose, tossing it into the passenger foot well and then did the same with the driver side seat cover. He carefully inched his way around the front end and looked at the motor, it was a torn up mess of wires and hoses. Maybe something there but not anything he could see of use right now. When he made it to the passenger side he did the same as he’d done on the drivers side, tossing the mats and covers into the back seat. He looked in the glove box but other than registration and insurance cards and an owners manual, there was only a dead flashlight.
His next stop was the rear passenger door where he freed the rest of the rear seat cover and used it like a big sling to toss everything on and then drag it out the door onto the ground. From there he pulled it around to the tailgate and paused to look in the first-aid kit. As he had figured, mostly all small bandaids of no use. He did find two packets of acetaminophen, an alcohol swab, small packet of triple antibiotic and a little fold up knife with a small cheap blade that reminded him of a razor blade. He opened one of the acetaminophen packs and downed the two tablets with a gulp from the water bottle. Even though it tasted like plastic, the cool wetness was welcomed. Easing himself to the ground he began a slow crawl back to Jimbo. He tried to hold his left hand and wrist to his side as he worked his way along, inching bit by bit. He’d pull his cargo up next to him with his right hand and then use it to support himself as he’d shuffle his knees forward one step and then repeat.
When he reached him, Merv again tried shaking Jimbo’s shoulder and calling to him to see if he got any reaction. Nothing. He was trying to recall from his memory what needed done. He paused for a moment trying to decide what resources to use where as he had two patients to help. He thought on it another minute then got moving.
Merv kneeled next to Jimbo and decided that he needed to move him. Again he was worried about neck injury but if he died from shock or exposure what would it matter. He gently rolled Jimbo onto his side, and up against Merv’s legs. It was hard as hell with one arm but thankfully Jimbo wasn’t a big guy. As Merv got him on his side he laid one of the long front mats on the ground under him and then gently rolled him back onto it. Merv hoped that would keep most of his core from contact with the ground. The mat was long enough that most of Jimbo’s back and rear end were on top of the mat and off the cool damp ground. He then placed the other front mat over his chest draping the skinnier end to where it covered his groin in hopes of trapping as much of his body heat as possible. Merv then gently lifted his feet and placed a piece of nearby firewood under Jimbo’s feet which raised them about 12 inches. “Hang tight buddy, I’ll be right back.” He placed everything into the rear seat cover and drug it along over to Matt, it looked like a floppy canoe or banana peel.
Merv crawled on, pulling his makeshift drag behind him as he made his way to Matt who was propped up against the logs they’d used as benches the night before. “How’s Jimbo?” “Not good man, I don’t know if he’s got neck or spine issues. Definitely has bad head trauma, those two blows he took to the head were bad. I tried to do what I could to keep his airway open and used the floor mats like blankets to cover him up. OK your turn. Here first take these, not sure they’ll help but they might. Here is some water but sip it. This is the only water there is so you need to make this last.” “What about you?” “I’m good, I had a sip.”
Merv looked Matt in the eye “Hey man, I’m not gonna bullshit you, this is probably going to hurt but we got to get you off the ground too, it sucks your body heat out. I need you to help me scoot this floor mat under your butt.” “Are you sure” “Yes, I’m sure” and trying to lighten the situation he added… “...besides, we wouldn’t want you to get those tighty whities all dirty sitting on the ground.” Matt tried stifling a laugh… “Oh damn, don’t make me laugh, that hurts like hell. OK but this position is about the only way that isn’t killing me and lets me breathe half easy.” “OK, I’ll try to be gentle. I’m going to fold this mat and then have you lean over to me and lift your butt cheek like you're gonna rip one and I’ll put this under you. Then we’ll have you rock the other way and I’ll unfold it and leave you sitting on the mat.”
With Merv’s jacked up left hand and Matt hardly able to move it took about 5 minutes, several screams and F-bombs and tears but they got the mat under him. Merv slipped the remaining rear mat under Matt’s legs to also keep them off the ground. Merv worked his way around so he could sit on the log. He grabbed one of the front seat covers and using the small first-aid kit knife enlarged the slit at the top where the headrest went. “Man I’ve only have had those a few months and you’re cutting them up.” “Yep, your eyesight is working. It’s this or let you freeze to death.” Merv then split the lower corners of the seat and a slit down each side bolster area to make a sort of hospital gown or apron shape. “Here, try to slip your arms in this to use as a cover up.” With that he helped Matt get his arms thru the side holes and then he slipped the headrest hole over Matt’s head and draped it out to cover him mostly from neck to knees.
Matt looked at Merv “Thanks, you're right, I feel a lot warmer already.” After a minute pause looking over at Jimbo he continued “What are we gonna do man? I mean we’re screwed, aren’t we?” “I’m not sure. I mean I hate to tell you, but those two trashed your truck so no way are we driving anywhere. In fact I think it looks like they tried to burn it but they failed. None of us are walking the twelve plus miles back out to the main highway. Let me get you guys covered up better, you both could be going into shock.” “Us? Have you looked at yourself? You look like hell.” Merv grinned “Naa that is just my normal handsome look. Now sit still and try to rest. I know it’ll hurt but try to force yourself to take deep breaths every dozen breaths. I’m pretty sure you have a bunch of busted ribs and maybe a collar bone and not sure what else. But force the deep breaths to help keep your lungs open.”
Merv did the same alterations to the other front seat cover. He then crawled on his knees and one good hand, dragging the rear cover with him to the woods where he raked it full of leaves. He returned to Matt with the seat cover drag full of leaves. He dumped the leaves all over Matt's feet and about up to his knees, covering him in about a foot deep layer of leaves. “What are you doing Man?” “I’m turning you into a debris shelter, the leaves will help insulate and trap your body heat.” Three more trips had Matt covered to his neck with leaves around his side and piled up behind him covering his neck and shoulders.
Merv was feeling zapped but he knew he had to keep moving. He filled the cover and crawled to Jimbo. He slipped the front seat cover over him and draped it across him before he began to pile the leaves. Several more trips and he had him covered the same as Matt, effectively building the debris hut right over top of Jimbo. Lastly he took the rear seat cover and tossed it over top of the leaf pile as a final heat trapping layer.
He drug his tired body back next to Matt. “I can’t build a fire for you guys since neither of you can tend it and besides there is gas fumes all over there by the truck. I don’t think we need more fireworks today. These leaves will help keep you warm.” “Wait, what about you, where are you going?”
“I was thinking and there is only one thing I can think to do. Like I said earlier we aren’t driving and none of us are walking so the only thing I can think of is swimming.” “What the hell are you talking about, swimming? You better sit down, I think you got hit in the head too hard also.” “Hear me out. We know it’s like 16, 17 miles by road to the main park. No one knows we’re here so they won’t even be looking for us till sometime next week when we don’t show up for work. The big beach area and campground at the park is about three and a half miles down river from us. I made it to the cable bridge this morning which is just short of a mile down. River looked good to there. So I’ll get in here and float my way down there to get help.” “Just take Jimbo’s kayak.” “Can’t, our friends decided they needed it more. Man, I still don’t get how they found us out here. They were going on about some BS saying we’d run them off the road this morning. Anyway, I can’t walk it, and can’t crawl it in my skivvies and this bum hand and my knees are already more raw than a cheerleaders on Friday night. The current is flowing pretty good so I think I can get down there fairly quick.”
“I don’t know man, that water isn’t real warm. You sure you won’t get hypothermia or something? Maybe you should take that seat cover and try to use it like a wetsuit, I mean it is neoprene.” “I know, but you two need it more than I do right now. Before I change my mind I got to go brother. I’ll give everything I got to make it and we’ll be back tonight to get you guys. You hang on.” “I will, you be careful.” “I will, and remember, make that water last. By the way, you’re a shitty travel planner. When this is over you owe me a bottle of Scotch and I mean the good stuff…” With that Merv smiled at Matt and turned and proceeded to crawl towards the river bank.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Jul 2, 2022 12:55:49 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by frankie on Jul 2, 2022 14:55:43 GMT -6
I love this story. Keep it coming.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 2, 2022 15:05:41 GMT -6
10
As Merv made it to the waters edge he looked at the sun. He estimated it was late afternoon, maybe 5 o’clock. He had about three hours of light left during this time of the year. He had to get there, he had to get there while people were still out and moving around so he could get their attention, he had to make it. If he didn’t make it, his friends wouldn’t make it. So, not making it wasn’t a choice. He said a prayer, asking God to protect his friends, to use him as a tool to bring them the help they needed. With that said, he slowly crawled through the cold slimy mud until he reached the water and then he kept going until he was out into deeper water.
The buoyancy of the water helped him somewhat stand up and stretch out. He hobbled further out until he had a short lived moment of panic when he hit the part of the river where he no longer touched. The river was wide and deep in this area so he got out to about the middle and floated onto his back and started slow back strokes helping to propel himself along faster than the river flow which was itself quite strong. Slow and gentle and every few minutes he’d look behind to make sure there wasn’t anything in the way. He’d been in the water a while and he could feel the cold but the slow strokes were helping to keep him warm. As he glanced over his shoulder he could see the broken cable bridge he’d come across earlier in the day. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been floating, maybe thirty or forty minutes. He felt optimistic as felt he was making good time.
As he approached the bridge he rolled onto his stomach and went into a slow side crawl. He could see on the one side where the cable dipped there were logs, branches and junk collected up. He was going to swim by until he saw a small jug. He swam over to investigate. It appeared to be a two or three gallon oil bottle. The lid was on it and it was intact and empty so he grabbed it and hugged it to his chest before continuing on his way using it like a little kid might use a paddle board. The additional buoyancy was welcomed. He kicked on.
He found it a curious feeling of how his limbs were cold in the water while he could feel his neck and head burning in the hot afternoon sun. As he kicked on he could feel his strength waning. He’d completely lost eyesight in his now fully swollen shut right eye and he kept his left hand hugged close to his side trying to use his left arm and elbow chicken wing style to hold the bottle under his armpit. He was getting exhausted, thinking how stupid he must have been to think he could float the whole way. He could tell the light was changing, the shadows growing longer. His anger at himself was growing, knowing he was failing, not failing himself but failing his friends. He tried to stroke harder with his right arm. He looked ahead wondering how much further it might be, was he even halfway? He had no way of knowing and his self doubt was screaming at him when he suddenly heard a familiar roar of an engine, a big V twin. It wasn’t right next to him but he knew it wasn’t far off. He must be getting closer? He could see the river seemed to curve about a half mile ahead. He tried to remember the map, the layout of the river. If only he’d looked closer that morning. But he had renewed energy. He rolled onto his back and started to stroke with more energy.
As he floated around the bend in the river he felt tears want to come but he had none left to cry. He could see, maybe 500 yards ahead, a sandy beach, swim buoys and a lifeguard stand. But his heart sank, there were no people in sight. No, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, he told himself. Now get there. He mustered the little remaining strength he had and tried to claw along at the water, foot by foot. 400yds, 300 yds, 75 yds, 5 yds… and then he felt his hand and knees touch the soft sand. He tried calling forward trying to see people, cars, someone… “help!” He fell onto his face in the sand, complete exhaustion. “No… can’t stop.” He wiggled and wormed his way onto the beach slowly getting his knees under himself as he tried to crawl. The sand ground on his tender knees but his blocked it out. He headed for the stand, it was a target, a goal.
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Post by gipsy on Jul 2, 2022 16:11:05 GMT -6
Thanks for the updates.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Jul 4, 2022 16:28:54 GMT -6
Loyalty to friends drives us to heroic levels
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Post by kiwibutterfly on Jul 5, 2022 19:16:55 GMT -6
LOOKING FOR MOAR!!!!!
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 7, 2022 20:46:04 GMT -6
Sorry, was away for the 4th and then had to travel for work this week. I'll try to get next piece up tomorrow. Thanks for bearing with me.
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Post by gipsy on Jul 7, 2022 21:12:11 GMT -6
We are a persistent bunch
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 8, 2022 11:06:06 GMT -6
11
Bre was finishing up her day and checking things back into the lifeguard shack when she realized she’d left her clipboard on her stand. “Dang it.” the teenager said out loud to herself. I better go get it or Ranger Barnes will be on me about it if I don’t turn it in before I go home. This was Bre’s first season working at the park beach during her summer break. Her family lived only about 15 minutes from the park so it was an easy drive, easy work and it paid pretty well compared to some of the summer jobs her friends had.
It was getting cool so she slipped on her hoodie and then headed back down to the beach to quickly grab the clipboard. She quickly crawled up the ladder like steps and grabbed it from under her chair. As she turned to go back down something caught her eye against the color of the sand. She started and almost screamed as she realized it was a person. “Sir… Sir, the beach is closed, you can not be here after dusk... Sir?” She was nervous since it was getting dark and this man was here and not responding to her. Was this some sort of trick she pondered? Her Dad was always telling her to always be aware of her surroundings as there are plenty of bad people just looking to take advantage of a pretty girl.
She cautiously walked towards him, pulling her small AA Maglite from the pouch on her belt. As she got closer and clicked it on she could see the man was only in his UnderArmour briefs and he was wet and coated in the sand which had caused him to blend so well. “Sir… Are you OK?” She took a deep breath and walked next to him before kneeling down. She didn’t know if he was playing possum or hurt or what. As she reached out she shook his shoulder, he was ice cold. A groan escaped him. She tried to get him rolled over “Sir can you hear me, I’m a life guard. Can you talk Sir? What happened Sir?” He was a big guy and it took all she could muster to get him rolled onto his back. When she shone the light on his face she couldn’t emit a sound that was part scratch and yelp, the condition of his face was shocking to her.
It’s a body… or a person… Oh my God he’s hurt bad, she thought to herself. “Hang on Sir, I’m going to get you help.” Somewhere in her mind her training started to kick in, switching into emergency ‘life saver’ mode. She started to sprint away but paused and pulled off her sweatshirt and dropped it across his torso. The shirt was tiny on his big torso but at least it was something to help keep some warmth in. She sprinted at a dead run to the small storage shed that also doubled as the lifeguards office.
Once inside she realized she was still clutching the clipboard which she promptly flung onto the shelf that served as their makeshift desk. She grabbed the walkie talkie out of the charger base, keyed the mic and yelled that she needed help, that she had a possible drowning victim on the beach. She was requesting dispatch immediately roll an ambulance. As the call came in Ranger Barnes initially thought the young teenager was being dramatic until he heard the abject fear in her voice. He also knew that she was level headed for her age and not the normal type of teen to be over dramatic.
It seemed like an hour to Bre but it was only about 20 seconds till she heard the older man’s voice come back “Bre, you need to slow down, I couldn’t understand anything you said.” “I’m sorry…” she gulped for air and tried to slow herself… …be professional she told herself, trying to calm herself. “I have an emergency at the beach, I just found a man that appears to have washed or crawled up on the beach… He’s unresponsive at this time and has heavy injuries to his face and I believe is possibly hypothermic..”
“I’m rolling towards you right now, just hang in there Bre…” Ranger Barnes jumped into his pickup, hitting the lights and siren and flying out of the maintenance yard where he’d been filling up the truck. Bre grabbed the large first responder bag, a large LED floodlight and the radio and tried to run as quickly as her ninety five pound body could drag the heavy bag. As Barnes drove he followed up to confirm with their central dispatch that could tap them into the local county 911. He had them roll units for a potential drowning victim and followed up that was unknown at this time if there might be others in the water.
As Bre got next to him she dropped to her knees and turned on the 1500 lumen floodlight, it was like daylight. As the light sat it cast shadows and she could quickly see the trail of his drag marks in the sand where he’d crawled from the water. As Barnes got close to the beach he jumped the curb and drove across the lawn towards the beach. He could see the light Bre had so it was easy to find her. He pulled as close to the sand as he dared, aiming the headlight in the direction and he thru them on high. There in the light he could see his young teen lifeguard kneeling over what looked to be a naked man. He noticed there was a blue jug of some sort laying next to him. Barnes was on the radio as he sprinted up next to her, directing the incoming units on where to go and how to best park at the scene.
He could see it was a man in only a pair of underwear face down in the sand. He felt for a pulse and it was there but feeling weak, the skin was wet and ice cold. He notified the incoming ambulance and dispatch that they should get the life flight unit in the air and headed to them. Bre had already pulled out a blanket and was tossing that over the man. Bre blurted out “He has slow shallow breathing and a weak pulse.” He quickly jumped to his feet and ran back to his truck grabbing the first aid bag out of the backseat of his truck along with the wool blanket under the back seat. As he rejoined her, he had her assist him in evaluating the patient and helping to get him better onto his back and to begin treating for shock as he looked for any wounds. The entire time they both kept talking to the man hoping he might say something. Barnes was worried that they might be looking at a possible boating accident due to the condition of the man’s face and that made him worry there were others in the cold, ink black water.
As they inspected the body they could see the bloody and swollen face and the left hand and fingers in unnatural positions. They immediately covered him back up, put one of the med bags under his feet to elevate and made sure his airway was clear and open. Barnes dug in his kit, retrieving some oversized hand warmer packets, that he activated and began one on top of the blanket but in the man’s groin, wedged in, down between his thighs. He then did the same with packs in each armpit.
Barnes was worried about possible additional victims. “Sir, can you tell me what happened? Were you alone? With no response and timing critical, he opted to try a smelling salt. He had Bre break it and hold it to the man’s upper lip while he responded to the dispatch and aircrew on where best to land the helicopter. As Bre wafted the ampule under his nose she was surprised at the fast response, almost immediately he started mumbling and trying to set up. “Sir. Sir, it’s OK, keep calm and stay laying down. Sir you’re injured and we have help on the way.” Before they could again ask if there were others or what had happened Bre heard him faintly say “no…” They looked at each other questioningly. “Not me, friends… dying need helicopter…” They tried getting him roused a little more with another salt… “upper campsite, other side of river…robbed… beaten…” With that Merv went out fully. The Ranger quickly put the words together and was on the radio to one of the other units he knew was up closer to the end of the park. He told him to move it as there were potentially two critical victims needing assistance.
Ten minutes later the deputy Ranger was on the radio yelling for assistance, telling them he needed life flight, for 2 victims, one responsive the other not, both appeared to be in bad shape. Barnes made a snap decision and radioed the incoming aircraft off and for them to divert to the new location the Deputy would provide. He looked at Merv…”Your buddies must be in bad shape for you to have done this… Don’t worry, help is on the way to them, now, you be strong and hang in there with me.”
Over the next couple hours the park became a frenzy of flashing lights, ambulances, Rangers, State Police Troopers and gawking campers trying to see what was going on. Bre was a basket case. After Merv was loaded in an ambulance and on the way to the regional trauma unit she lost it and cried for almost 5 minutes. When she finally calmed down a State Trooper got her statement while Barnes sat by and listened. The Trooper said she could go home and she got up on shaky feet to head for her car. “Bre, you stay here, you’re not in the right mind to drive. I called your parents to let them know why you weren’t home and that you were safe but that I thought your Dad should pick you up and take you home. He should be here about any minute. go home.” “Thank you… was all she could muster… it kept going through her mind, would he make it? Had she done enough? So much for a simple low stress summer job.
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Post by sniper69 on Jul 8, 2022 11:29:46 GMT -6
Awesome addition to the story. I can hardly wait for more, much much more of this excellent story.
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