Hatachet audiobook chapters 5 and 6

Chapter five his eyes snapped open hammered open and there were these things about himself that he knew instantly he was unbelievably viciously thirsty his mouth was dry and tasted foul and sticky his lips were cracked and felt as if they were bleeding and if he did not drink some water soon he felt he would wither up and die lots of water all the water he could find he knew the thirst and felt the burn on his face it was mid-afternoon and the Sun had come up over him and cooked him while he slept and his face was on fire would blister would peel which had not helped the thirst made it much worse he stood using the tree to pull himself up because there was still some pain and much stiffness and looked down at the lake it was water but he didn't know if he could drink it nobody had ever told him if you could or could not drink Lakes there was also the thought of the pilot down in the bloob with the plane strapped in the body awful he thought but the lake was blue and wet looking and his mouth and throat raged with the thirst and he did not know where there might be another form of water that he could drink besides he had probably swallowed a ton of it while he was swimming out of the plane and getting to shore and the movies there we showed the hero finding a clear spring with pure sweet water to drink but in movies they didn't have plane wrecks and swollen foreheads and aching bodies and thirst the tour at the hero until he couldn't think Brian took small steps down the bank of the lake along the edge they were thick grasses and the water looks a little murky and they were small little things swimming in the water small bugs but there was a log extending about 20 feet out into the water of the lake a beaver dropped from some time before with old limbs sticking up almost like candles he balanced on a log holding himself up with the limbs and teetered out past the weeds and murky water when he was out where the water was clear he could see no bug swimming he kneeled on the log to sip to drink a sip he thought still worrying about the lake water I'll just take a sip but when he brought a cup and to his mouth and felt the cold lake water trickled past his crack slips and over his tongue he could not stop he had never not even on long bike trips in the hot summer been this thirsty it was if the hot the water were more than water as if the water had become all of his life and he could not stop he stooped and put his mouth to the lake and drank and drank pulling it deep and swallowing great gulps of it he drank until his stomach was swollen until he nearly fell off the log with it then he rose and staggered tripped his way back to the bank where he was immediately sick and threw up most of the water but his thirst was gone and the water seemed to reduce the pain in his head as well although the sunburn still cooked his face so he almost jumped with the word spoken aloud it seemed so out of place the sound he tried it again so so so here I am and there it is he thought for the first time since the crash his mind started to work his brain triggered and he began thinking Here I am and where is that where am i he pulled himself up once more up to the bank to the tall trees without branches and sat again with his back against the rough bark it was hot now but the Sun was high and to his rear and as he sat in the shade of the tree in relative comfort there were things to sort out Here I am and that is nowhere with his mind open and thoughts happening it all tried to come in with a rush all of what had occurred and he could not take it the whole thing turned into a confused jumble that made no sense so he fought it down and tried to take one thing at a time he had been flying north to visit his father for a couple of months in the summer and the pilot had had heart attack and died and the plane had crashed somewhere in the Canadian North Woods but he didn't know how far they'd flown or in what direction or where he was slowed down he thought slowed down more my name is Brian Robeson and I'm 13 years old and I am alone in the North Woods of Canada all right II thought that's simple enough I was flying to visit my father and the plane crashed and sank in the lake there keep it that way short thoughts I do not know where I am which doesn't mean much more to the point they do not know where I am they meaning anybody who might be wanting to look for me the searchers they would look for him look for the plane his father and mother would be frantic they would tear the world apart to find him Brian had seen searches on the news seeing movies about lost planes when a plane went down they mounted an extensive search and almost always found the plane within a day or two pilots all filed flight plans a detailed plan for where and when they were gonna fly with all the courses explained they would come they would look for him the searchers would get government planes and cover both sides of the flight plan filed by the pilot and searched until they found him maybe even today they might come today this was the second day after the crash no Brian frowned what was it the first day or the second day they'd gone down in the afternoon and he'd spent the whole night out cold so this was the first real day but they could still come today they would have they would have started the search immediately when Brian's plane didn't arrive yeah they probably come today probably come in here with amphibious planes small bush planes with floats that could land right here on the lake and pick him up and take him home which home the father home or the mother home he stopped he stopped thinking it didn't matter either on his dad or back to his mother either way he would probably be home by late night or early morning home where you could sit down and eat a large cheesy juicy burger with tomatoes and double fries and catch up with a thick chocolate shake and there came the hunger Brian rubbed his stomach The Hunger had been there but something else fear pain had held it down now with a thought of the burger the emptiness roared at him he could not believe the hunger had never felt it this way the lake water had filled his stomach but left it hungry and now it demanded food screamed for food and there was he thought absolutely nothing to eat nothing what did they do in the movies when they got stranded like this oh yes the hero usually found some kind of plant that he knew was good to eat and that took care of it just ate the plant until it was he was full or used some kind of cute trap to catch an animal and cook it over a slick little fire and pretty soon he had a full eight course meal the trouble Brian thought looking around was that all he could see was grass and brush there was nothing obvious to eat aside from about a million birds and the beaver he hadn't seen he hadn't seen animals trap to trap and cook and even if he got one somehow he didn't have any matches so he couldn't have a fire nothing it kept coming back to that he had nothing well almost nothing as a matter of fact he thought I don't know what I've got or haven't got maybe I should try and figure out just how I stand it will give me something to do keep me from thinking of food until they come to find me Brian had once had an English teacher a guy named Perpich who was always talking about being positive thinking positive staying on top of things that's how purposed put it stay positive and stay on top of things Brian thought of him now wondered how to stay positive and stay on top of this all purpose would say is that I have to get motivated he was always telling kids to get motivated Brian changed position so he was sitting on his knees he reached into his pockets and took out everything he had and laid it on the grass in front of him it was pitiful enough a quarter three dimes and nickel and two pennies a fingernail clipper a bi billfold with a $20 bill in case you get stranded at the airport in some small town and have to buy food his mother had said and some odd pieces of paper and on his belt somehow still there the hatchet his mother had given him he'd forgotten it and now reached around and took it out and put it in the grass it was a touch of rust already forming on the cutting edge of the blade and they rubbed it off with his thumbs that was it he frowned no wait he was gonna play the game might as well play it right per pitch would tell him to quit messing around get motivated look at all of it Robeson he had on a pair of good tennis shoes now almost dry and socks and jeans and underwear and a thin leather belt and a t-shirt with a windbreaker so torn at hunger hahnemann tatters and a watch he had a digital watch still on his wrist but it was broken from the crash the little screen blank and he took it off and almost threw it away but stopped the hand motion and lay the watch on the grass with the rest of it there that was it no wait one other thing those were all the things he had but he also had himself Perpich used to drum that into them you were your most valuable asset don't forget that you were the best thing you have Brian looked around again I wish you were here Perpich I'm hungry and I'd trade anything I have for a hamburger I'm hungry he said it aloud in normal tones at first then louder and louder until he was yelling it I'm hungry I'm hungry I am hungry when he stopped there was a sudden silence not just from him but from the clicks and blurps and bird sounds of the forest as well the noise of his voice and startled everything and it was quiet he looked around listened with his mouth open and realized that in all his life he'd never heard silence before complete silence there'd always been some sound some kind of sound it lasted only a few seconds but it was so intense that it seemed to become part of him nothing there was no sound then the bird started again and some kind of buzzing insect and then a chattering and a cawing and soon there was the same background of sound which left him still hungry of course he thought putting the coins and the rest back in his pocket and his hatchet in his belt of course if they come tonight or even if they take as long as tomorrow the hunger is no big thing People of God for many days without food as long as I've got water even if they don't come until late tomorrow I'll be all right lose a little weight maybe but first hamburger and a malt and fries we'll bring it right back a mental picture of hamburger the way they showed it on television and commercials thundered into his thoughts rich colors the meat juicy and hot he pushed the picture away so even if they didn't find him until tomorrow he thought he'd be all right had he had plenty of water although he wasn't sure if it was good and clean or not he sat again by the tree his back against it there was a thing bothering him he wasn't quite sure what it was but it kept chewing at the edge of his thoughts something about the plane and the pilot that would change things ah there it was the moment when the pilot had had his heart attack his right foot had jerked down on the rudder pedal and the plane had slid sideways what did that mean why did that keep coming into his thinking that way nudging and pushing it means a voice in his thoughts said that they might not be coming for you tonight or even tomorrow when the pilot pushed the rudder pedal the plane had jerked to the side and assumed a new course Brian could not remember how much it had pulled around but it wouldn't have been having to be much because after that with the pilot dead Brian had flown for hour after hour on the you course well away from the flight plan the pilot had flied many hours maybe 160 miles an hour even if it was only a little off course with that speed and time Brian now might be sitting several hundred miles off the side of the recorded flight plan and they would probably search most heavily at first along the flight plan course they might go out to the side a little but he could easily be three 400 miles to the side he could not know could not think of how far he might have flown wrong because he didn't know the original course and he knew how much they had pulled sideways quite a bit that's how he remembered it quite a jerk to the side it pulled his head over sharply when the plane had swung around they may not find him for two or three days he felt his heart beat increase as the fear started the thought was there but he fought it down for a time pushed it away then exploded then it exploded out they might not find him for a long time the next thought was that was there as well that they might not bet they might never find him but that was panic and he fought it down and tried to stay positive they searched hard when a plane went down they used many men and planes and they would go to the side they would know he was off from the flight path he had talked to the man on the radio they would somehow know it would be all right they would soon find him maybe not tomorrow but but soon soon soon they would find him soon gradually like sloshing oil his thoughts settled back and the panic was gone say they didn't come for two days ah say they didn't come for three days even push it that four days he could live with that he would have to live with that he didn't want to think of them taking longer but say four days he had to do something he couldn't just sit at the bottom of this tree and stare down at the lake for four days and nights he was in deep woods and didn't have any matches couldn't make a fire there were large things in the woods there were wolves he thought and bears other things and the dark he would be in the open here just sitting at the bottom of a tree he looked around suddenly felt the hair on the back of his neck come up things might be looking at him right now waiting for him waiting for dark so they could move in and take him he fingered the hatchet at his belt it was the only weapon he had but it was something he had to have some kind of shelter no make that more you had to have some kind of shelter and he had to have something to eat he pulled himself to his feet and jerked back the back of his shirt down before the mosquitoes could get at it he had to do something to help himself I have to get motivated he thought remembering purpose right now I'm all I've got I have to do something Chapter six two years before he and Terry had been fooling around near the park where the city seemed to end for a time and the trees grew thick and came down to the small river that went through the park it was thick there and seemed kind of wild and they've been joking and making things up and they pretended that they were lost in the woods and talked in the afternoon about what they would do of course they figured they'd have all sorts of goodies like a gun and a knife and a fishing gear and matches so they could hunt and fish and have a fire I wish you were here Terry he thought with a gun and a knife and some matches in the park that time they decided the best shelter was a lean-to and Brian stood out now to make one up maybe cover it with grass or leaves or sticks he thought he started to go down to the lake again where there was some Willows and he could cut for braces but it struck him that you how to find a good place with lean-to and so he decided to look around first he wanted to say near the lake because he thought the plain even deep in the water might show up to somebody flying over and he didn't want to diminish any chance he might have of being found his eyes fell upon the stone ridged to his left and he thought at first he should build a shelter against the stone but before that he sited to check out the far side of the ridge and that's where he got lucky using the Sun and the fact that it rose in the east and set in the West he decided that the far side was the northern side of the ridge at one time in the far past it had been scooped by something probably a glacier and this scooping had left a kind of sideways Bowl back in under a Ledge wasn't very deep not a cave but it was smooth and made a perfect roof and he could almost stand in under the ledge he had to hold his head slightly tip forward if its front to keep from hitting the top some of the rock that had been scooped out had also been pulverized by the glacial action turned into sand and now made a small sand beach that went down this little edge of the water in front and to the right of the overhang it was his first good luck no he thought he had good luck in landing but this was good luck as well lucky needed all he had to do was wall off part of the bowl and leave an opening as the doorway and he would have a perfect shelter what's stronger than a lean-to and dry because the overhang made a watertight roof he crawled back in under the ledge and sat the sand was cool here in the shade and the coolness felt wonderful to his face bruised already starting to blister and get especially painful on his forehead with the blisters on top of the swelling he was also still weak just to walk around the back of the ridge and the slight climb over the top and left his legs rubbery it felt good to sit for a bit under the shade of the overhang and the cool sand and now he thought I just had something to eat anything when he rested a bit and he went back down to the lake and drank a couple of swallows of water he wasn't all that thirsty but he thought the water might take the edge off his hunger it didn't somehow the cold lake water actually made it worse sharpened it he thought of dragging in wood and to make a wall on part of the overhang and picked up one piece to pull up but as arms were too weak and he knew then that it wasn't just the crash and injury to his body and head was also that he was weak from hunger he would have to find something to eat but before he did anything else before he did anything else he would have to have something to eat but what Brian leaned against a rock and stared out of the lake what and all of this was there to eat he was so used to having food just be there just always being there when he was hungry he went to the icebox or to the store or sat down to a meal with his that his mother cooked oh he thought remembering a meal now oh it was last Thanksgiving last year the last Thanksgiving they had as a family before his mother demanded the divorce and his father moved out the front in the following January Brian already knew the secret but did not know it would cause them to break up and thought it might work out a secret that his father still did not know but that he would try to tell him when he saw him the meal had been Turkey and they cooked it in the backyard and the barbecue over charcoal with the lid down tight his father had put hickory chips on the charcoal and the smell the cooking turkey and the hickory smoke had filled the yard when his father took off the lid smiling the smell that had come out was unbelievable and when they sat down to eat the meat was wet with juice and rich and had the taste of smoke in it he had to stop us his mouth was full of saliva and his stomach was twisting and growling what was there to eat what did he read or seen that told him about food in the wilderness and there been something a show yeah a show on television about Air Force pilots and some kind of course they took a survival course all right he had the show coming into his thoughts now the pilots had to live in the desert they put them in a desert down in Arizona or someplace and they had to live for a week they had to find food and water for a week for water they had made a sheet of plastic into a dew gathering device and for food they ate lizards that was it of course Brian had lots of water and there weren't too many lizards in the canadian woods that he knew of one of the pilots had used a watch crystal as a magnifying glass to focus the sun and start a fire so they didn't have to eat the lizard's raw but brian had a digital watch without a crystal broken at that so the show didn't help him that much wait there was one thing one of the pilots a woman had found some kind of beans on a bush and had used them with her lizard meat to make a little stew in tin can she found that she had found being lizard stew there weren't any beans here but there must be berries they had to be berry bushes around that's what everybody always said well he'd actually never heard anybody say it but he felt that it should be true there must be berry bushes he stood and moved out into the sand and looked up at the Sun it was still high he didn't know what time it must be at home it would be one or two if the Sun were that high at home at 1:00 or 2:00 his mother would be putting away the lunch dishes and getting ready for her exercise class no that would have been yesterday today she was going to see him today was Thursday and she always went to see him on Thursdays Wednesday was the exercise class and Thursday she went to see him hot little Jetson hate worked into his thoughts pushed once moved back his mother didn't had begun to see him and force the divorce Brian wouldn't be here now he shook his head he had to stop that kind of thinking the Sun was still high and that many had some time before darkness to find berries he didn't want to be away from his he almost thought of it as home shelter when it came to be dark he didn't want to be anywhere in the woods when it came to be dark he didn't want to get lost which was a real problem all he knew in the world was the lake in front of him and the hill too at his back and the ridge he lost sight of them there was a really good chance that he would get turned around and not find his way back so he had to look for berry bushes but keep the lake or the rock Ridge and sight at all times he looked at the lake shore up to the north for a good distance perhaps 200 yards who is fairly close they were tall pines the kinds with no limbs until very close at the top with a gentle breeze sighing in them but not too much low brush 200 yards up there seemed to be a belt of thick lower brush starting about 10 or 12 feet high and that formed a wall he could see not see through it seemed to go on around a lake thick and lush Lea green but he could not be sure if there were berries they would be in that brush she felt as long as he stayed close to the lake so he could keep the water on his right and know it was there he wouldn't get lost when he was done or found berries he thought he would just turn around so the water was on his left and walked back until he came to the ridge and his shelter simple keep it simple I am Brian Robeson I have been in a plane crash I'm going to find some food I'm going to find some berries he walked slowly still a bit pained in his joints and weak from hunger up along the side of the lake the trees were full of birds singing ahead of him in the Sun some he knew some he didn't he saw a Robin and some kind of sparrows and a flock of reddish orange birds with thick beaks twenty or thirty of them were sitting on one of the pines they made much noise and flew away ahead of him when he walked under the tree he watched them fly their color a bright slash and green solid and in this way he found the berries the birds landed in some small taller willow type of undergrowth with wide leaves and he started jumping and or the birds and the birds started jumping and making noise at first he was too far away to see what they were doing but their color drew him and he moved toward them keeping the lake in sight on his right and when he got closer he saw they were eating berries he couldn't believe it was that easy it was if the birds had taken him right to the berries the slender branches went up about 20 feet and were heavy drooping with clusters of bright red berries they were half as big as grapes but hung in bunches much like grapes and when Brian saw them glistening red in the sunlight he almost yelled his pace quickened and he was at them in moments scattering the birds grabbing branches stripping them to fill his mouth with berries he almost spit them out it wasn't that they were bitter so much as that they lacked any sweetness had a tart flavor that left his mouth dry feeling and they were like cherries and that they had large pits which made them hard to chew but there was such a hunger on him such an emptiness that he could not stop and kept stripping branches and eating berries by the handful grabbing and jamming them into his mouth and swallowing them pits and all he could not stop and when at last his stomach was full he was still hungry two days without food must have shrunk in his stomach but the drive of hunger was still there thinking of the birds and how they would come back into the berries when he left he made a carrying pouch of his Turin windbreaker and kept picking finally when he judged he had close to four pounds in the jacket he stopped and went back to his camp by the ridge now he thought now I have some food and I can do something about fixing this place up he glanced at the Sun and saw he had some time before dark if only I had matches he thought looking ruefully at the beach and lakeside there was driftwood everywhere not to mention dead and dry wood all over the hill and dead dry branches hanging from every tree all firewood and no matches how did they used to do what he thought rub two sticks together he tucked the berries in the pouch back in under the overhang and the cool shade found a couple of six after 10 minutes of rubbing he felt the sticks and they were almost cool to the touch not bad he thought they didn't do fire that way he threw the sticks down and disgust so no fire but he could still fix the shelter and make it and make it hear the word safer came to his mind and he didn't know why more livable kind of closed it in he thought I'll close it in a bit he started dragging sticks up from the lake and pulling long dead branches down from the hill never getting out of sight of the water and the ridge with these interlaced and wove wall across the opening of the front of the rock took over two hours and he had to stop several times because he still felt a bit bit weak and once because of stomach and once he felt a strange new twinge in his stomach a tightening rolling too many berries he thought I hate too many of them but it was gone soon and he kept working until the entire front of the overhang was covered safe for a small opening at the right end nearest the lake the doorway was about three feet and when he went in he found himself in a room almost 15 feet long and eight to ten feet deep with a rock wall sloping down at the rear good he said nodding good outside the Sun was going down finally and then the initial coolness the mosquitoes had come out again and clouded in on him they were thick terrible if not quite as bad as in the morning and he kept brushing them off his arms and until he couldn't stand it and then dump the berries and put the torn windbreaker on at least the sleeves covered his arms wrapping the jacket with darkness coming down fast he crawled back in under the rock and huddled and tried to sleep he was deeply tired and still aching some but sleep was slow coming and he did not finally settle in until the evening cool turned to night cool and the mosquitoes slowed then at last with his stomach turning on the berries Brian went to sleep

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Rating: 4.5085835 out of 5

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Id: UIk04bruadE

Length: 30min 59sec (1859 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 02 2016