I sit back and reflect on the events of the past few days. The fire the smoke, the gunshots. I sit there while staring at the fire hearing it go “crackle, crack” and start to weep. I am in the middle of a forest in October; all I have is matches, a pocket knife that has a compass in the handle, some food, a canteen of water, and my wits. I want to fall asleep but am afraid too, fearing what the night brings in this unknown terrain. I go through who I am and hope I wake up from this horrid dream. My name is Brian, I am a paratrooper, or was, my ship was shot down, I think I’m the only survivor. I pull myself together and start to think. I don’t know the first thing about survival, but I do know how to hunt with a bow. I laugh to myself; I don’t have one, and don’t have a clue how to make one.
The next day, after a sleepless night, I start to attempt to make a bow; I cut off a tree branch and start to crave it into a bow shape with my knife.
“It’s no use!” I scream out loud. My voice startled me. It kept on slipping and in the end the shape I got looked like the beavers got to it and tossed me their scraps. Then something dawned on me.
“The ship!” I exclaimed. “I never thought about looting the ship!” I started off with the few possessions I had, and left for the ship, that I believe crashed north.
I walked for about two hours or so before it started to get dark. Then my stomach rumbled.  Food. I totally forgot about it when I tried to make a bow and in all the excitement of the ship idea. I took out some beef jerky and guessed I had food for at least two more days. I finally felt comfortable to sleep or more like “shut down” after staying awake for an hour or so.
I woke up in a cold sweat; I had a dream that I was being chased by some beast. I shake my head to get it out of my thoughts, I have worked to do. I set off for north, but when I turn a tree I see something that I never think I would ever see again.
“Leon? Is that you?” I ask carefully. He jerked his head up.
“Brian?” He responded surprisingly.
“Yeah, it’s me” I replied. He stood up walked over and gave me a GIANT bear hug.
“I..was...worried...that...you...were...done...for!” He said in between sobs. Whether of sadness or joy I could not tell, probably both. He let go and we sat down and just sat there.
“We should find the ship and see if there are any supplies left in it.” I said
“Yeah,” he replied, “that’s a good idea.”
We started off north not knowing where life would guide us, but we kept going north. Then that’s when we found it, the smashed up ship.
We started to rummage through the rubble that's when we found a M16A2 with a grenade launcher. It had about 400 extra rounds and 5 grenades.
“We can use this to hunt.” stated Leon.
“No, we should use this if we are attacked by a bear or something, not a good idea to hunt since we could make a bow.”
“Maybe you’re right. But till then let's use it to hunt till we can get a bow.”
“I guess.”
“Hey, just curious, what all do you have?”
“Not much. All I have is some food and water. Oh, also the pocket knife they gave all of us.”
“Me too,” he paused, “We should start hunting.”
“Then let's get to it.”
We started off not knowing the game in this area, hoping Deer were in the area. At first we all we could see were, well, no game. Maybe a bird here or there, but nothing good. Then we sat down, we sat in silence, then we saw it. It was a deer. It was a male, and very big. Leon, who had the gun, slowly raised it, and aimed for its eye, BANG! He fired and got a direct hit!
“Nice shot!” I exclaimed.
“Thanks. I think it was a lucky shot.”
We walked over and started to gut the deer. By the time we finished gutting the deer it was almost dark.
“Should we set up a watch system?” Inquired Leon.
“That’s a good idea. I’ll take first watch.”
That night was a, somewhat peaceful night. The stars though. Oh. They are beautiful. They look like a thousand diamonds in the sky. It was like looking through a window to Heaven. At about two in the morning Leon awoke and we traded spots.
A lion chasing me. Blood shot eyes and an angry roar. DEATH. That’s what it roared. It was my worst nightmare. DEATH. I never thought about it, that I may die here.
“Brain, are you ok?” said Leon with a concerned look on his face.
“Yeah, just had a fitful dream.”
“Sure seemed like it. You were moaning and crying. I let you sleep until I couldn’t take it. Plus I didn’t want you to miss the sun rise.”
I look to the east and oh my gosh, it was so pretty. No that's not strong enough of a word it was alluring.  It breathtaking.
“Beautiful right.” Leon said after a few minutes of admiration of the sun rise.
“I’m speechless.”
“Me too. Let's just sit here for a minute.”
After about thirty minutes or so we cooked some meat and had a small breakfast.
“So, what should we do today?” said Leon
“I don’t know, what do you think we should do?” I replied
“Let’s try to get a shelter together.”
“Good idea.”
We set off to find a good spot for a shelter. A cave or an alcove or, something. We didn’t have any luck till about five in the afternoon. We found a small overhang. It is about five feet long and four feet wide.
“It’ll keep us dry if it rains.” I said.
“Hey, how much water ya got left?”
I looked down at my canteen.
“Not much” I said with a frown.
“Me too, hope it rains soon.”
It better. I thought to myself because if it didn’t in the next few days, we would run out of water. Then we set up camp had a quick dinner and went off to bed.
“Brian!”
“Yeah,” I said half asleep
“LISTEN!”
I listen as well any half-awake person could. I heard a soft noise. It was constant, but grew louder and louder
“It’s a ship!” cried Leon.
“GET DOWN!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, and jumping over him.
They were Nazi bombers. Leon was new, so he didn’t know much about the sounds of the ships.
After they left Leon protested, “What was that for! We could have been rescued!”
Getting off of him I said, “The ship was an enemy bomber. If they found us we’d be good as dead.”
After a slight pause he said, “Well thanks; I guess I owe you one.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it.”
But I was worried. The ships may have seen us, and who knows what would happen then. I tried to hide this from Leon. I didn’t want to worry him too much. We made a breakfast and watched the sun rise.
“I could get used to this.” I told Leon
“Me too.”
“I think we should try to find water today,” I told Leon after a few minutes.
“I agree.”
So after about twenty minutes or so we left to find water. We left a series of arrows in the trees to help find our way back. After about an hour or so of searching we found it. A cool spring. It was so clean and cool it seemed like water from the fountain of youth. We would stay young and healthy forever. We drank some water and filled our canteens. Then followed the arrows back to our make shift “home.”
“We had a lucky find today.”
“Yeah Leon, we did.”
“So when are we going to make a bow?”
“I totally forgot! How much meat do we have?”
“About twenty pounds left.”
“Well that gives us about two days to make a bow.”
“Then what are we waiting for!”
Back at camp we got some good birch wood limbs that could be made into a bow shape. We whittled away for about five hours before I got an acceptable shape.
“You should finish the bow, and I’ll make the shafts and find the tips.”
“If you find flint bring all of it that you find back here so when we run out of matches we can use the flint to get a flame going.”
“I will.”
Then I was alone. This gave me time to think of what we should do next. How to get rescued. Well, we’d most likely be found by the enemy since it is their forest. Unless the plan for attack to drive the enemy out wasn’t going to happen till. I froze. It was tomorrow. They would be coming by here if they succeeded, and the enemy to challenge them.
“I found some flint and good arrow shaft wood.”
“Leon. Tomorrow is when the big attack is going to happen!”
“Oh Yeah! They might find us!”
“Or the Nazis.”
“Your right.”
“Let’s keep the gun lose, just in case if we need to use it.”
“Alright. Let’s both stay awake tonight. Just in case.”
“I agree.”
That night we both dreaded the next day. What it might bring. If we would die.
DEATH. The dream comes back. It was a lion. Leon.
Then at about five in the morning, we heard gunfire, screaming, bombs going off. It got closer.
“ACK!” I screamed. A hand grabbed my shoulder.
“Wer bist du!” The man yelled
“Er ist ein Amerikanischer!”
I got punched in the gut.
“AHHHHHHH!” I hear Leon screaming followed with the rat atat tat of the gun.
“Der Amerikanische freund! Töte ihn!”
But they were too late. Leon got them before they even shot a bullet. We sat for a minute.
“Thanks.” I said out of breath.
“Well I owed you one.” He said with a smile. I smiled back.
Five hours later the troops found us and we were sent to the medics. I didn’t pay attention to what was happening, I was just glad to be back.

Five years later
I still am in awe at the luxury of life today. I was only stranded for a few days, but it takes a toll on you.
         “You know, I actually liked being stranded. I felt alive, in touch with myself.” Leon later told me.
         “Me too.” I said back.
 That is why we are going on a yearlong camping trip in the Canadian forests.