Out of the Wild: A Wilderness Survival Thriller

by Hunt, Jack

  “Frank!” Callaway bellowed, lifting his hand. “Everyone okay?”

  Even Frank looked a little perturbed.

  “Uh. Henry’s injured, broken leg, we have one fatality but beyond that… I guess.”

  They waded over through the water. Callaway was carrying a first-aid kit. Upon reaching the shore, Callaway muttered something to Paul and pointed up at the drone. Paul got on a device and stepped a short distance away. A second later the drone shifted up and zipped over the tops of the trees toward where the wreckage was, out of sight but still within earshot.

  After an uncomfortable greeting that amounted to a handshake, Callaway beckoned them to lead the way. “We thought for a second we’d be stuck here for the night,” Frank said. “I couldn’t find my PLB, and the ELT was destroyed.”

  “Well, you’re okay now. We’ll get you out of here. You okay, young lady?”

  Kara nodded. “So you heard the mayday call?” she asked.

  “That’s right,” he said, not looking at her.

  As they came out into the clearing where her father was, Callaway stopped and looked at him. “Mr. Shaw. How are you?”

  “I would say better for seeing you but I think you know that’s not the truth,” he replied while grimacing in pain.

  Callaway chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect any different.”

  Above them the drone buzzed and maintained its position, no doubt capturing footage of the wreckage and the rescue. Kara glanced at Paul who had a smirk on his face. “Well, let’s take a look at that leg of yours,” Callaway said, and he dropped down. His lips pulled back, an expression of concern. “That’s not good.”

  He stood up and looked up at the plane.

  “That one of your damn drones?” her father asked, looking up.

  “That would be it. Though that’s just one of the smaller ones. Mostly used for video. You have that to be thankful that we found you. It’s the way of the future.”

  “And the downfall of pilots.”

  “Oh, let’s not be so quick to judge, they can and will coexist alongside each other, Mr. Shaw.”

  “Excuse me,” Kara piped up. “You’re here to get us out, right?”

  He angled toward her. “That’s right, my dear.”

  “Well, maybe we can save this chitchat for the journey home.”

  He laughed. “Right you are.” He clapped his hands together, capturing their attention like he was about to perform a magic trick. “Here’s what we’ll do,” Callaway said confidently as if he had full control of the situation. He turned and with two fingers made a gesture to Paul, who unzipped his jacket and took out an 8 x 11 brown package and handed it to him. Callaway removed a pen from his top pocket.

  “What the hell are you playing at?” Frank asked.

  “Of all people I think you know, Frank. Mr. Shaw here is going to sign the paperwork. Once he’s done that, we will get the hell out of here. How’s that sound?”

  “This is out of line!” Kara said. “My father is…”

  As she approached Callaway, Paul stood in the way.

  “No tantrums right now, please,” Callaway said, raising a finger. “Business first, young lady. So how about it, Mr. Shaw, you ready to get out of here?” He took out the paperwork from the brown envelope and crouched down beside him, clicking the pen. “I just need you to sign here, then your daughter will sign here, Frank signs here, and we can be on our way.”

  Her father replied through teeth-gritting pain, “Like I told you last night. It’s not happening.”

  “Oh come now, Mr. Shaw. This is not the time to play games. What I’m offering you here is the best of both worlds. You get to continue to run your business under your name, keep all your employees employed, even operate out of the five locations like you used to.”

  “Well, that’s rich of you. And you?”

  “We benefit from the connections you’ve made throughout Alaska and expand our territory. It really is a win-win situation.”

  “Not for Alaska it isn’t.”

  Callaway snorted and shook his head. “If it’s not us it will be someone else. Change is on the horizon. Oil pipelines, drones, the future is here and there isn’t a damn thing you can do to stop it. So you dislike us. Get in line. But let me make something crystal clear here, what I’m offering you is a way to avoid bankruptcy, keep your business and save face. This is bigger than you, Mr. Shaw.”

  “Go screw yourself!” her father replied looking away. “You arrogant prick.”

  Callaway stood up and glanced at Frank. “Pity. And you, Frank? What do you make of your partner’s stubbornness?”

  Frank was the first to step forward and sign off on the paperwork as her father looked on in bewilderment. “Please, Henry. I just want to get out of here.”

  He handed back the paperwork. Callaway glanced down and nodded.

  “And you, young lady?”

  Kara looked at her father and he was slowly shaking his head. She lifted her eyes toward the drone then back at Callaway. “You really are a piece of work.”

  “So they say,” he replied.

  A moment of contemplating, taking in the gravity of their situation. As much as she hated this guy, there was more at stake here. Maybe the lawyers could hash it out later. Right now, her father needed medical treatment. “He’d get to keep his business?”

  “Of course. Same name. Same employees. It’s a merger. You guys know this business better than us. Well, at the moment.” He chuckled and Paul joined him. “Listen, I know his health is declining, I know about the memory issues,” Callaway said.

  Henry gave Frank a stern look and Frank dipped his chin in shame.

  “Your father will need money in his old age. Care homes cost a lot. And he still has many years ahead. I doubt you have enough, am I right?”

  She wasn’t in debt on a level beyond what a few years of working couldn’t wipe out, but she might as well have been. Her bank account was near depleted and unless she got out of here, that job interview that was meant to happen would slip by and she’d be back at square one, hustling, and she’d already spent years doing that. There was far more at stake than her father’s ego. His failing health would eventually force him to a care home and with the business not what it used to be, it wouldn’t just be him out of a job. She looked at Frank. While she would have had her father’s back in an instant, this wasn’t a game and they didn’t have options. They were stuck in a remote part of the Alaskan wilderness and this bastard knew it. As much as she resented the way he was going about this, and even questioned how the crash occurred, she had enough common sense to realize that clinging to ego could cost their lives. Still, what was to say they wouldn’t fly out of here without them after they got those signatures?

  “I’ll sign it,” she said.

  Callaway smiled.

  “Kara,” her father spat.

  “You’re not dying out here and I won’t stand by and let you do that to yourself.” Having said that she turned to Callaway. “I will sign it once we are back at the lodge. You have my word.”

  “No. That’s not how this works, young lady. We’ve already gone down that path and frankly, I don’t see him changing his mind. No, it gets signed now and then we all fly out together.”

  She pointed to the drone. “And you get to be the big hero.”

  “Hey, someone will, might as well be me,” he said, chuckling. “Besides, it will cement in the mind of those resisting change how important this work is. And it will demonstrate the effectiveness of my business model to the FAA.”

  “Who’s to say if we signed off you wouldn’t leave us here?” she asked.

  “Lady, if I wanted to leave you here I could but I need more than a signature. Hell, if that was all that mattered, I could just wait until your father’s business folded but I need your father’s goodwill, his connections, his ties within this community. This isn’t just about purchasing another asset, it’s about building relationships, winning the hearts and minds of the Al
askan people, and who better to do that than a man who already has? The man who stood beside a woman who is known throughout these parts as championing their rights. Who better than a man who has spent his entire life getting to know these families, lodge owners, and villages?”

  She looked at her father and although she understood his stance, his reluctance to embrace change, and his hatred for what this man stood for, she was also aware that time was ticking and every hour they spent out here reduced the odds of survival.

  “Give me the pen,” she said, beckoning with her hand.

  “Kara, no. Please.”

  “We’re not dying out here.”

  “You’re making a very wise choice,” Callaway said.

  “Yeah, whatever.” Kara scribbled in several areas as he indicated. Once it was done he turned to her father and offered him the pen.

  “So, Mr. Shaw. Just you to go. How about we get this signed, we shake on it and get the hell out of here?”

  “How about you go screw yourself!”

  “Dad.”

  “No. I won’t do it. I would rather die out here than be a pawn in his game.”

  “Henry,” Frank tried to chime in but her father wouldn’t have any of it.

  “No. I won’t sign. If you want to bask in the glory of demonstrating your drones then take us out of here, but you’re not getting one damn thing from me,” he said, folding his arms and grimacing in pain.

  “You know, I thought you were smarter than this,” Callaway said. “You think I’m egotistical but look at you. Willing to not only let yourself, but Frank and your daughter go down with you. This is your last chance. Sign the paperwork.”

  Her father said nothing. He was done talking.

  “Fine. Do it your way, Mr. Shaw.” He turned and gestured to Paul. “Let’s go.”

  Frank looked frightened. “Henry. Sign the damn papers.”

  “I won’t do it.”

  “You stubborn sonofabitch.”

  Frank hurried to catch up with Callaway and Paul as they strode back to the plane. Kara stood there looking down at her father, dumbfounded. So much going through her mind. She knew this was as much about her mother as it was about him. But she was gone and despite the way Callaway had gone about this, he was right, there was no stopping the future. Technology was changing, the new way business was being done was phasing out the old. And soon her father wouldn’t have the wherewithal to know what he had signed and what he hadn’t.

  She took off after the others, hoping to appeal to Callaway.

  When she reached the shore, Frank was already in a heated exchange.

  “That wasn’t the agreement. I signed the paperwork. Let me go with you.”

  “It was all of you or none,” Callaway said, turning into him. “Find your own goddamn way out.”

  Frank grabbed hold of Callaway but Paul intervened, striking him in the face and knocking him to the rocky shore. Kara dropped down beside Frank out of concern as he clutched a bloody nose. “You bastard! You can’t do this,” she said, lifting her eyes to Callaway.

  “I didn’t. Your father did,” Callaway replied. “All he had to do was sign some papers.”

  “That was his choice. You can’t leave us here,” Kara bellowed as they continued to make their way into the water.

  She bounced up and headed toward them but Paul withdrew his Glock and aimed at her. “Back up!”

  Lifting her hands, she stopped and watched as they waded out.

  “I can get him to sign it. Please,” she said, again appealing to Callaway.

  Callaway turned and looked at her. “If you could have, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” And with that said he made his way over to the plane. Above her, the drone zipped into view and rose above the lake, the last ray of hope preparing to go with them. She balled her fists, anger rising. Kara gritted her teeth as she backed up. They climbed into the Airvan, and Callaway buckled up and looked out the sliding door before closing it. The engine roared to life and the propeller spun into a blur.

  She watched as the plane maneuvered out and prepared to go from one end of the huge lake to the other.

  In a moment of pure anger, she lost it and spotted the flare case still leaning up against the tree where she’d left it. Kara hurried over and took out the gun and three ammo shells and loaded one in. The engine got louder and as the plane began to reach the far edge, she ran along the shore until she was ahead of it as it prepared to turn and take off.

  She lifted the gun and fired at the plane but it did little. As the plane turned and began to pick up speed, she loaded another and fired again, this time the flare exploded in a bright light before it. The plane blasted through and continued to pick up speed. Kara loaded the third and fired again, this time the outcome was different. It struck the front of the plane just as it lifted out of the water. There was an explosion of bright light, then the pilot lost control and jerked the wheel, or the flare hit the propeller, it was difficult to know.

  Suddenly, the plane banked hard and came down further ahead, the tip of the wing hitting the water first, followed by the rest of the plane in a huge boom that caused the water to explode around it like a whale had breached the surface and gone back under. Instantly it broke apart.

  Panting hard, she came to her senses.

  Shit. What had she done?

  Her intent wasn’t to bring it down, only to unleash anger over their complete disregard for their lives, then again, maybe it was to cause harm.

  When the water settled, rippling out, she looked on as the plane cabin quickly sank.

  Seconds later, desperate faces emerged, Paul’s then Callaway’s. Paul had his arm around Callaway’s neck and was swimming backward, yelling at them, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

  Fear caught hold of her, the reality of what she’d done.

  Would they have really left them behind? Had it just been a ploy to get her father to sign? Kara backed up and felt Frank’s hand on her shoulder. “Head back to your father, I’ll handle this.”

  “Frank.”

  “Go! I’ll handle this.”

  She turned and took off back into the forest, only glancing behind for but a second to see Frank wading out into the water to help Paul. When she made it back to her father, he peppered her with questions, having heard the boom of the plane. “What happened? Where’s Frank?”

  Just as she was beginning to tell him, she heard Frank yelling.

  “Paul, no!”

  Seconds.

  “Where is that bitch!?”

  Followed by heavy footsteps charging toward them.

  Paul burst into the clearing, his clothes waterlogged, a look of death in his eyes. “I’m going to fucking kill you!” Yelling ensued as he ran at her and lunged, grasping her as Frank tried to intervene. Paul had his hands around her throat and was shoving her back when Kara kneed him in the nuts then fired off a right hook to his face. He cried out in agony and dropped. Frank got between them, hands outstretched, then took hold of Paul and tried to control him but it was like wrangling a wild bear.

  He threw Frank out of the way like he was nothing, and then rushed again.

  “Enough!” a voice bellowed as Callaway stumbled into view, panting hard, placing a hand against a tree. “Enough,” he said in a lower voice. “Leave her be.”

  Seething, only a few feet away, Paul stopped.

  Had it not been for Callaway intervening she wasn’t sure he would have backed off. He was like a rabid dog and Callaway was the chain that yanked at his neck. Still, she could see from the look in his eyes that he wasn’t done with her.

  15

  The threat was real. Although Callaway had called off his dog, that didn’t mean he wasn’t ready to lash out. After catching his breath and straightening up, he wrapped his arms around himself, shaking from the cold. A howling wind blowing through the trees, combined with the disappearance of the sun behind gray clouds, was threatening to kill them. If they didn’t get warm fast, they
would be dealing with hypothermia. Callaway patted his pockets, fishing into them, searching for something.

  “Looking for that pen of yours?” her father joked.

  Callaway ignored him, he was in no mood. “Paul. Where’s the lighter?”

  “Where everything is… at the bottom of the lake,” he snarled, not taking his eyes off Kara. He too was shivering hard. Callaway looked at the others then took out his cell from his pocket, one glance and he tossed it angrily at a tree. It was not waterproof.

  “Do you have matches?” he asked.

  “No,” Frank said, wiping blood from his face. “But we have a flare.”

  “Is that meant to be a joke?” Paul asked, gritting his teeth as he stuck his hands under his armpits and bounced up and down trying to get warm.

  “There’s only two left and I think we need those,” Kara said. A look of desperation spread and she saw her moment to bring calm to a building storm. “But I can start a fire.”

  “With what?”

  She reached into her pocket and took out the Leatherman. The specific one she had was a Signal, it contained a removable ferrocerium rod. She twisted out the knife and glanced at Paul as if making it clear that he had better bury the hatchet with her or she was liable to take things to the next level of crazy. “We just need to gather the wood we collected earlier, and I’ll use some bark from the trees for kindling.” She tucked the knife back into her pocket and proceeded to collect what she needed under the watchful eye of them both. Minutes later she returned, and Frank had already gathered smaller sticks and piled them up beneath larger branches they’d collected. They’d cleared an area and surrounded it with rocks. Kara dumped everything she had into the middle and used the back of the saw against the ferrocerium rod to strike and create hot sparks. Within seconds a flame burst to life. She looked up at the two of them as they began to strip out of their wet clothes and lay them near the fire.

  As she looked away Paul commented.

  “Oh, darlin’, you can look if you wish.”