It was in the middle of the night when we finally took of from that forsaken airport. I had been waiting for hours for the plane to be de-iced and fueled up, sitting in that tiny terminal. But now, we were finally up in the air, and I was getting off this cold, depressing island in the middle of nowhere Canada. I as I fell asleep, I thought about how I was leaving this place for good.

I grew up here on the island, born and raised in a small town called Milton. I hated always hated it here, everyone knew everyone’s business and people became bitter and desperate when they thought the country had forgotten about the. I tried to escape to the mainland at 18, went to work in the city as a courier, it was good work and I enjoyed it. Then Dad got sick; I had to return home to help take care of him. I worked the docks at the whale processing factory till that shut down, then as a climbing instructor in the mountains.

Dad passed away when I was 23, I would have left again but by that point I was trapped. I had met a girl and got her pregnant. We had moved into my Dad’s place after the baby was born, it was going well but rapid inflation caused expenses to soar. We needed more money to survive so off I went to work in the mines.

The mines paid well, gold and coal, respectively but it was hard, dangerous, and physical work. They were also in a far-off territory of the island; I would need to go out for three months at a time. Living in crew quarters and not being able to see my now wife and child was difficult, but we needed the money. A few years later, the first accident occurred, a cave in down the tunnel from where I was working. It trapped several miners; some never made it out. A year after that, poisonous gases killed several more.

Being home became more and more difficult. My wife started to become distant, and I barely recognized my son, he grew so much between work breaks. One day, after another three months on the job, I came home to an empty house. There was a note on the table saying she was getting off this island with our son and had emptied our bank account. The bank foreclosed a month later, boarding it up. I went back to work in the mine, just living permanently out of the crew quarters.

Then one day, the emergency sirens woke me from my bed. A toxic gas cloud had released through all three levels of the mine. Many men were killed, and the mine ultimately closed. I was hired on as security while many of the tools and supplies were stripped. There was only a small team of us, then less, and then finally the site was completely abandoned.

That’s what finally got me on this flight to the mainland, with the mine closed, there was no industry, but forestry and summer tourism left so the fully collapsed and most of the population left, save for a few in the service industry and tourism. It was winter so there would be no jobs for months, and even then, just temporary, low-paying jobs.

I was roused from my sleep by a bout of turbulence, the plane seemed to drop a few feet before stopping. The seat belt buckle-up light came on so the few passengers on the plane sat up and clicked in. A stewardess who had been passing the drink cart ran past to get into her jump-seat. She looked young and nervous. I looked across the aisle and saw an older man praying. As I was looking in his direction, a strange light from the windows caught my attention. It was green, white and silvery lights in the shy. I opened my window and saw the same phenomenon. It looked like the aurora borealis, but at this time of year, in this part of the country, that didn’t make sense. There was a strange crackling sound in the air, like running your socks over carpet and touching metal when suddenly, everything went dark.

There were screams of panic and terror as the plane fell out of the sky. The only visible light was from the aurora shining through the tiny cabin windows of the plane. My heart raced and I gripped the chair hard expecting these to be my final moments on this earth. In a minute that felt like hours, we hurtled towards the ground. I remember the sound of snapping wood, like someone breaking branches outside, and then a bang as I blacked out.

I woke up to the feeling of both extreme heat and cold. My eyes stung as I opened them, I didn’t know how long I had been out for, but the sun was starting to rise on the horizon. I instinctively unbuckled my seat belt and looked around. My head turned to where the old man had been, but there was just an open hole in the plane. Fire engulfed much of what remained of the wings and some of the cabin. The only person I could see was that of the young flight attendant I saw earlier, still in the jump seat.

I struggled to get out of my seat and head towards her, walking was difficult as it seemed the plane landed at an angle. Managed to fight my way to her and checked to see if she was still alive. She was still breathing but banged up pretty bad. Smoke filled the shattered cabin as I unbuckled her and pulled her from the burning wreckage. I looked around at the crash site, the tail of the plane had snapped off completely and lay near the top of what looked like the impact point. Suitcases and a few bodies littered the ground.

There was some light snow in the air and the winter was cold, we needed to find shelter in case a blizzard started up while we waited for rescue. I carried the injured woman over my shoulder, even though one side of my hurt. I likely had some injuries from the crash myself, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. I found a cleaning between the debris and headed away from the crash. A few hundred meters away, I found a small cave that would hopefully keep us safe. I placed the stewardess towards the back of the cave, where it would be the warmest and most sheltered while I went back outside to find wood to make a fire.

I always carried a book of cardboard matches with me from my time as a smoker, this time it might save my life. Around the plane crash, I found a lot of sticks and broken wood that would help get a fire going. I pulled some birch bark off a tree to use as tinder and headed back to the cave, I could always go back out to get more when I needed to. I picked up a few small stones and made a crude firepit inside the cave. I built up the sticks and tinder into a small pyre and struck a match, the tinder caught, glowed but ignite the wood.

“Why didn’t that work?” I said out loud. I made some more tinder and tried again.

“Common little fire,” I said to the fire gods, luckily this time the sticks caught too and there was a small fire to help warm us. I threw on a couple of the larger pieces of wood, some fir and cedar, and went to the back to check on my patient.

She was still out cold, so I carried her closer to the fire to keep her warm. She was wearing her blue stewardess uniform, a white button shirt, and a matching blue skirt. Not great clothes for winter survival, I didn’t have my jacket either. It was in the overhead compartment on the plane. Hopefully rescue would come soon otherwise, I would go back to the crash and check the area for some warmer gear.

I noticed as I moved her, that she had a name tag that read ‘Stacy’. I decided to try calling her name.

“Stacy ... Stacy ... wake up Stacy.”

She started to stir, “Wha ... What happened? Who are you and where am I? Ouch.” She said, she said as she tried to move.

“Stay still, there was a plane crash, we survived but no one else did. My name is Max, I pulled you from the plane and brought you to this cave. Where does it hurt?”

“My shoulders and chest. My waist too, pretty much everywhere.”

“Ok, hopefully nothing is broken, it was probably from the seat belts. Just stay still and keep warm by the fire. I’m hoping rescue will come for us soon.”

“What are we going to do about food?” she asked.

“Well, I was thinking of checking to see if there is any edible food around the crash site, maybe look for some clothes too.”

“Could you check for some painkillers? Just something to get me through till I can go to a hospital.”

“I’ll see what I can find. Keep an eye on the fire, there’s some more wood beside you.”

I left the cave and headed back out into the snow. It wasn’t far to the crash site, there still wasn’t any emergency teams anywhere and it was daylight now. The smoke still poured into the sky; someone surely would have noticed it by now. There were still some flames, but a fair amount was smoldering now, I had to be careful not to get burned.

Seeing the devastation clearly now, in daylight, I was surprised we both made it out of there alive. I began rooting through the scattered suitcases on the ground, collecting a wool toque, some fleece mittens, a small pair of jeans, and a ragged sports vest. I found a backpack on the ground that was still in good shape, so I packed the clothes into it. I also found some still sealed airline food, a fish and a vegetarian one. There were a couple of intact sodas in the snow, a grape and a Summit soda. I didn’t have any luck with medication though. Last useful thing I discovered was a couple of tin cans, I could melt some snow with those for water if needed. My summers spent with my crazy trapper Uncle near the lake was coming back to me.

On the way back to the cave I gathered a handful of cedar branches to help make a more comfortable seating position that just sitting on bare rock and dirt. I also saw a few rosehip bushes just outside the cave, I remember my Uncle saying they have some medicinal properties for reducing pain and inflammation. I gave Stacy some of the clothes I found, the jeans, the vest and the toque while I attempted to heat up the food near the fire.

Luckily most of the clothes fit, although the jeans were loose. She put the jeans on underneath her skirt and used that to try to keep them on. I boiled some snow and crushed up the rosehips with a stone, then set it to boil as a tea in the tin can. The food was warm, I let Stacy choose which she wanted, she chose the vegetarian and the grape soda, I ate the other one.

It was now mid afternoon and there still was no sign of help. I was starting to wonder if maybe we should try to find our way out of there ourselves. We couldn’t have bee up in the air that long, we might still even be on the island somewhere. I left the cave again to get more wood and told Stacy to drink the tea, it should help with the pain. I also wanted to scope out the area to see if maybe there was someplace to go before night fell and it got too dark and cold to venture out.

I wandered out, away from the plane, collecting sticks and wood in my backpack and ended up at a small ledge. Looking out, I could see what looked like an orchard and a farmhouse in the distance. Just up the hill a bit, it looked like there were some burned down or collapsed buildings. I carried the wood back to see what Stacy might want to do.

“How are you feeling? Did the tea help?” I asked.

“Surprisingly yes, it tasted awful but I’m feeling a little better. Did you find anyone?”

“No, I did see a farmhouse in the distance we could walk to tomorrow and there were some damaged houses close by. There might be someplace to stay around there, or we could stay here tonight in the cave and just try to keep the fire going. What do you think?”

“I think we should check out the buildings, there could be a basement or maybe someone near by who could help us. Worst case we head back to this cave.”

“Ok Stacy, can you walk?” She stood up with a little difficulty but was able to move around without too much struggle. We packed up everything we could and headed towards the damaged ridge houses. It was only a few minutes walk from the cave when we found two burnt structures. We looked around to see if there was anything to salvage from it when Stacy found an entrance underground. I started to head in that direction when loud breathing caught my attention.

I turned, slowly, and was face to face with a large brown bear. It was scarred and had arrows stuck in it. Stacy screamed as the bear swiped at me. It knocked me down and ripped up my pants and light jacket I found. I had lacerations on my arms as it clawed and bit down on my left bicep. Stacy threw a rock at it and distracted it while I scrambled into the basement with her.

“What the hell was that?!” she cried, the sound of the bear banging on the cellar doors caused us both to jump.

“A big, angry old bear. Ahhh...” I said as I peeled the ruined jacket off my bleeding arm, blood drained out until I put pressure on it.

“Look around, see if you can find any first aid or cloth for bandages.” I said, trying to keep my cool. Panicking would certainly not help in this situation. She scoured around and then returned quickly.

“I found a first aid kit, there’s antiseptic and some bandages. Oh God, there’s so much blood.”

“It’s ok, just pour the antiseptic on the wounds and then wrap up the area with the bandages, just stay with me Stacy, you’re doing great.” She did as I asked and it helped slow the bleeding, allowing it to hopefully clot naturally.

I eventually sat up and looked around the cellar that kept us from becoming bear chow. There was a washer and dryer, a fridge, an orange case, and a few random plastic containers. The fridge didn’t have too much, just a can of peaches and a soda. The containers had a mouldy chocolate bar and some cloth. The washer and dryer had a pair of combat pants that didn’t fit either of us, and a jacket that could go over my ruined one.

But it was the orange case that would be the most helpful. It contained a flare gun and five shells. They would be useful to try to signal for help or to maybe scare away another predator like the bear. I loaded a shell into the gun and put the other four shells in a close pocket in the backpack so we could get them easier in an emergency.

We spent the night huddled together on the floor. It was a cold concrete floor and there was no place to sleep so when dawn broke, we were exhausted. During the night, we changed my bandages a few times, cleaning the wounds, and dressing them back up. It took a while, but it eventually clotted and stopped bleeding. We also stopped hearing the bear after a few hours. Hopefully, it moved on to eat something else. We ate the little food we had and decided we needed to get out of there; try to make it to that farmhouse.

When it was time, we gathered up all the supplies we could carry in the backpack, slowly peeked out the door and headed outside. There was no sign of the bear at that moment, but I kept the flare gun in my good hand just in case. It was still snowing, a little heavier than the previous day, so all tracks had been covered. We headed down a slope, past some more collapsed houses, and onto a frozen lake. There were a few cattails along the water, I collected those for some food and the heads to be used as tinder if needed. Cattail stalks are tough but edible.

As we travelled along the frozen river, it forked off in two directions. I could see a small bridge down one and guess that might be the correct way. My arm sore, carrying the pack added extra weight to my exhausted body but we needed to bring what we had. Since no one came looking for us, we weren’t sure if anyone was still living in that farmhouse, but we had to check.

We reached the bridge and climbed the bank to have a look, I was right, there was the farm I saw earlier. It had a barn, a silo and the farmhouse surrounded by an orchard. As we approached the house though, within a few hundred meters, we heard a howl. We stopped dead in our tracks searching for what made that sound. Suddenly, three more howls answered the first. There were wolves around; at least four of them.

We got low to the ground and slowly moved toward the closed in porch door of the house. Now within a hundred meters, we spotted the first wolf on the far side of the house. It had it’s back to us for the moment, so we quickly rushed to the door and tried to open it. Thankfully it was unlocked, and we hid inside as the wolf rushed past the door. Wolves don’t usually try to attack people, something strange was going on. We tried the door to get into house, but it was locked, looking around though, we found a prybar in the snow near a broken window. After a few good pulls, using my back for leverage instead of my bad arm, the door popped open.

“Hello? We need help, is anyone here?” Stacy called out.

We had entered the kitchen; wandering around the first floor, it looked like the place was abandoned recently and in a hurry. Drawers and cupboards were open, and some food supplies were still strewn about the counters. One of the first things I checked was if there was electricity and running water, unfortunately, there was neither.

What we did have was what looked like a working woodstove for cooking, a few cooking pots, an oil lantern and with fuel, and a hunting knife. We should be able to make some water and store it in some empty water bottles that were scattered about. We found some food, some oats, flour, more soda, a can of coffee, some salty crackers, tomato soup, Zak’s Snax trail mix, cooking oil, and some maple syrup. That should be enough food for a couple of days if rationed.

We scoured the rest of the main floor house, we found more mittens, a worn winter jacket, some wool socks, and a pair of women’s hiking boots. I gave all those items to Stacy to see if they fit, while went to the basement to see if there was anything useful there. I found a vegetable bin with some edible food, a first aid kit with some painkillers, we’ll both needed those now, and a box of wood matches. On the upper level I found an old hunting rifle with a few bullets in the chamber. At least we had a way to defend ourselves now.

I knew we needed water soon, so I filled up the cooking pots with clean looking snow and brought them into the kitchen. I made a fire in the woodstove and started the process of boiling it so it would be drinkable. Each pot could hold a few liters of water, so I would make as much water as possible while we had the fire going. I made the first batch and bottled it, when I went outside for more snow, a blizzard had hit. We were going to be here for a little while.

Stacy asked if she could use some of the water to wash herself, I gave her a couple of bottles while I made more. She was just going to sit in the tub and wash herself down, it was a good idea, I might do that later too. I just put on a new batch of snow to melt when I thought I should check on her.

I went upstairs to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

“Are you ok in there, Stacy?”

“Yes, come in.”

As I entered, the light from the lantern illuminated her body. She was naked, sitting in the tub with a small washcloth in her hand. As I approached, I could see dark bruising from the shoulder straps of the plane seat belt on her shoulders, down her chest and medium sized breasts to her waist where more bruising was located. She must have been in a lot of pain, but she tried not to show it.

“Max, could you wash my back? I can’t reach and with no running water, it’s very difficult.”

“Sure, no problem. Are you ok? You look pretty banged up.”

“I’m no worse for wear, considering everything that’s happened.”

I took the washcloth from her and started carefully washing her back with the small amount of water available. It was strange to be so close to someone I had only known for a few days. Growing up as I did, there were no clubs or bars to hook up for one-night stands. I couldn’t help but be aroused by the young woman naked in front of me. Apart from the bruises from the crash, her skin was soft and blemish free.

I ran my hands down her back, washing carefully around her midsection, where the seatbelt left bruising. My hands travelled further down to her lower back, above her ass cheeks. From the limited light and what I could see, they must have been very nice. I brought my hands back up along her sides, washing her hips and then she lifted her arms so I could get under them. My large hands brushed past her soft breasts a couple of times, but she didn’t protest. Finally. I figured we were done.

“Want me to get you too? I’m sure you could use it with your shoulder wound.” She asked.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose.”

“Impose? You saved my life. No imposition at all. Strip.”

I carefully undressed, my shoulder sore and raw from the bite wound. Stacy had to help me with my pants as I couldn’t undo the belt and button on them. She pulled them down and my erect penis popped free in front of her.