Day 1

The Pain!! My chest and limbs pump a liquid lava through my body, agony blinds me from my surroundings. I Scream and cry out which causes me to swallow water.

My consciousness goes fuzzy but soon another shot of pain and adrenaline clear my senses….though only for a moment.

Limbs flailing in a desperate attempt to reach the surface and fill my burning lungs with much needed oxygen.

I burst through the raging rapids and acquire the air I sought. Gasping for breath I fail to notice and avoid a few incoming rocks.

The pain of my body lessens as a new sharper agony courses through me accompanied by loud SNAP!! I don’t have time to cry out as my consciousness is again cut short.

Day 2

Blood and water spew out of my mouth. My body lies on a rocky surface failing to respond to my meager attempts in directing it.

In danger of choking on the blood pooling in my throat and mouth my cloudy mind tries to regain its command over my unresponsive body. My gag reflex acts accordingly and pulls my body out of its stupor and into a fit of hacks and coughs

My vision and awareness slowly adjust as I resist the pain. I gaze around doing my utmost to limit my movements. Why? because every time i shift myself to look around me, i’m racked with pain, though I know if I let the pain cripple me i’ll slowly die without even trying to do anything.

From what I can feel and see, i’ve seemed to have not broken anything too badly. By that I mean I don’t have bones sticking out of me. I still have a dislocated shoulder, fractured arm, leg, few ribs, and judging from the blood I coughing up earlier I can assume internal bleeding as well.

Aren't i lucky. (sarcastically).........well considering where I fell from, just having internal fractures and mild internal bleeding is pretty good. If any of my injuries were more severe and pierced through the skin, besides the scratches and bruising, i’d have no way to treat myself and would surely die; blood loss, infection I don’t even what to consider my chance at survival now let alone with worse injuries.

My injuries are manageable. The problem is winter is only a few months away and if I don’t set up a camp by then i’m dead……...not to mention that even if I treat my wounds, getting food will pose a problem without my full mobility and I have no way to defend myself from wild animals……...so many ways to die (sigh).......surviving just gets harder the more I think about it.

Ok let’s stop with the morbid thoughts. At least my location is decent. Im at the bottom of a ravine which although blocks out a lot of the sun, also restricts harsh weather conditions…..besides flooding.

I seriously have to stop with the 100 ways to die thoughts. Think positive, I have fresh river water which means I can catch fish……....eventually ...and I won’t die of dehydration! I should also be able to survive without food for a while, hopefully until my wounds get a bit better.

The cave in front of me also looks promising, oh, did I not mention that; yes, I seemed to have washed up in front of a cosy looking, dark damp ecosystem, full of who knows what; Hopefully creatures, that I will call food for the better part of my stay.

Now ignoring the direness of my situation for a bit, I should put together my priorities. First I have to do is treat my wounds. In my inspection of the surroundings, I had spotted some medicinal plants, reeds and sturdy enough looking branches. This is convenient………

Im about to attempt to crawl over to my soon to be splints until i am reminded about my dislocated shoulder.

“%!^%*##*!%#*^#*! Arg, that hurt!!”

Falling sideways because the pain in my body numbed the pain of a dislocated joint, I forgot I couldn’t move. Well that's a drawback. It seems I need to fix this arm before I attempt any more movement.

Since I can’t stand. I staggered onto my knees again, knowing I need force in order to pop my shoulder back into place. I adjust myself trying to get the angle of my arm right to increase my chances of successfully pulling this off. Cringing i grit my teeth and brace myself, forcing my arm to the ground.

“AAAAARRRRRGGGGG!! @%#^#@#^ DAMNIT TO HELL! (SOB) FUCK!!”

It didn’t work. Coupled with low height and weight, I couldn’t generate enough force to pop my shoulder back into place. I lie on the rocky ground screaming, not only did I fail but I ended up causing more damage to myself, reigniting my almost numbed pain sensors.

I know why I failed, but I still need both arms functioning to have a chance at survival. When the hurt dulls I look for a ledge or boulder, something to give me enough height to generate the force I need. ‘kind of ironic how I need to fall in order to fix part of myself’. When I spot my ledge I slowly drag myself over, readjust, and drop. Pain racks my body for the second...or is it the third time?……… well i’ve hurt a lot recently. I scream, curse and get over it; luckily, this time my pain paid off as my arm is back on hinge and working.

Finally! I can crawl...somewhat. I can ignore the pain of my ribs by not moving my torso much but crawling really doesn't help my leg and arm fractures. I try to keep my weight off them...but...that doesn’t really help.

I make my way over to any solid branches I find washed up on shore and any stick i’m able to snap loose of brush and low enough trees.

I was only able to get two larger sticks that can be used alone as a bracer. The rest of the small branches I collected were weaved together with reeds to make them solid enough. I then took the branches and bound them tightly against my fractured leg and arm.

The rough wood against my tender skin is really uncomfortable, not to mention the pain I experienced when binding them to my leg and arm but at least this should somewhat protect me from worsening the fractures.

Most of the day was spent tending to my wounds, so when I had finished I went right to sleep. I was too tired to even worry about the dangers that plagued my mind all morning, and curled up in a corner of the cave.

Day 3

Unfortunately the pain of my ribs made it impossible to gain a good nights sleep. Every time I took a breath, pain would shoot from my chest. I ended up waking up with hot sweats multiple times.

I lie on the cave floor motionless, every breath I take strained and shallow as to avoid more pain.

I spent my day practically motionless except in altering my position a few times; Going down to the river to drink enough water to keep me healthy and distract myself from my hunger. I did eat any (non poisonous) bugs I came across……...who came across me but they barely helped.

Two weeks was spent this way. I lost strength due to lack of food but because I rarely moved I was better off than I thought I would be. My dislocated shoulder is almost fully healed, another week and it should be fully functional. The medicinal plants I found really helped with the swelling.

My fractured ribs and limbs need a bit more time but the pain has gone down significantly. I probably need at least 3 more weeks before attempting to walk but for now I can get started on making tools to acquire food. ‘Finally graduating from bugs!’.

If I wait any longer I won’t have the energy to do what I need to, before winter comes.

The cold's already starting to settle in......I have to hurry and prepare.