Alive and Alone Read Online Free PDF Page B

the inner organs (heart, liver, kidneys) and all meaty parts of the skull—brains, tongue and eyes be kept as well.  David picked up the rabbits head, glanced at it and then threw it far out into the bush. I’m not that hungry yet, he thought as he fought down the urge to throw-up.  But, on another page it suggested he boil the meat he got and not roast it.  The chapter explained that he’d get more nutrition out of boiled meat than he would if he roasted it.  Roasted meat allowed the oils and nutrients to drip onto the fire, where they burned up and did him no good.  
    “I’ll boil all meat from now on and stay as strong as I can,” he spoke aloud as he closed the manual.
    As his meat browned over the coals, Dave started remembering Boy Scouting trips when he’d been active with his troop.  A few times they had gone on weekend camping trips and once a scout master had pointed out that pine needles could be used to make tea.  They’d tried some, but the tea had tasted bitter to Dave then, but he’d not been attempting to survive at the time either.  According to the scout leader, the tea would keep a person from getting scurvy and anything that would help him stay healthy he wanted.
    The young boy spent a good hour gathering up pine needles, but stayed near his camp as his rabbit cooked on the small fire.  Not once during the whole time was he ever out of sight of the flames of his fire, because he feared another fire would result in his death.  He knew he had to be responsible if he wanted to survive and return to his mother and sister alive.
    David had just sat down and pulled a rear leg from the roasted rabbit when he heard the sound of an aircraft.  He quickly placed the cooked meat on the log and ran to the area of the aircraft wreckage.  He screamed, jumped up and down, and waved his arms violently to attract attention.  The aircraft passed right overhead and David knew he’d been seen      or had he?
    The aircraft never changed course and what concerned Dave was the simple fact the aircraft did not rock its wings or give any indication he’d been spotted.  As the sound of the airplanes engines great fainter and fainter, and then finally disappeared into clouds off in the distance, he fell to his knees in the mud from the melting snow and cried.
    An hour later, as Dave sat by the fire, he realized he’d made no attempt to signal the passing search plane.  He knew, from flying with his father, it was difficult to spot things on the ground, even when you knew where they were.  He remembered his fanny pack, pulled it around, and started looking at the gear he’d saved from the fire by having it in the pack.  He pulled out a signaling mirror, the plastic whistle, and a smoke flare.   Darn it!  If I had been prepared, I could have used this smoke flare as the plane came near me!  Stupid!  Oh, please, let them come back this way.  Please, just one more time, he pleaded as he placed the mirror and whistle around his neck. He stuck the flare in his coat pocket for easy access.  He knew he’d just made a horrible mistake and he hoped it was his last one.

CHAPTER 4
    C OLONEL FRANK WILCOX sat at his kitchen table and sipped his hot coffee slowly.  It was early morning, his eyes were rimmed in red, and his hands shook from a lack of sleep as he spoke, “We flew right over Jim’s last known route, but we saw nothing.  While there was still some snow on the ground, most of it had melted.”
    Cathy, who had been staring into her cup, looked up and met the man’s eyes as she asked, “But, what about the ELT you told me about?”
    Frank shook his head slowly and replied, “Cathy, I don’t know why it isn’t sending.  I talked to my experts about that and they said the severe cold we had the last few days might have caused the battery to die or the transmitter might have been damaged on impact.”
    “If the airplane hit hard enough to damage the transmitter, wouldn’t that much force