Trek On The Mountains

Dave lost his footing. He reached for a tree and missed. He tumbled down the hill for a third time. Catching an overhanging branch he steadied himself. He groaned and winced. On the upside, he had covered a long distance and had hit hard ground. On the downside, he had rolled a long distance and had hit the ground hard. And it hurt.
Dave was on holiday. He had decided to go trek up and down a mountain near the hotel. That was two days ago. He had told the hotel staff about it. They would have definitely reported it by now. His best chance was to keep going downhill where the forest was less dense giving search parties a better chance of spotting him.
But for now he needs food. He had bought enough for a normal meal. Rationing stretched it to 5 meals. On the second day he found some edible berries and ate them instead. He now has 3 rationed meals. 4 if rationed further.
While he ate he took stock of his supplies. He had matches to light a fire and a knife. He still had a bottle of water and four more empty ones. He had brought five because they were small and light but held decent capacities. He also had a whistle to attract search parties.
Having finished his meal, he continued downhill and finally reached level ground. Looking at the time and the Sun gave him his bearings. He knew that a river lay east. It was well into the afternoon, the Sun should definitely be setting by now so he simply had to walk in the opposite direction to which it was.
He walked slowly and steadily, keeping pace. With his frugal meals, he couldn't afford to tire himself out, especially with no idea when he would get out of this predicament. As such, it was getting dark and still no sign of the river. He decided it was going to be another day in the wild. He scouted the vicinity for a cave. There wasn't one. That meant he would have to sleep on a tree, which meant no fire, which meant a cold night.
He cut off a vine, tied one end around his waist and wrapped the other around the tree. Now by jumping while leaning back and forth he was able to climb the tree, albeit rather painfully. The tree branches were rough. He opened his bag to get his jacket. It would be a tough night.
The next morning he woke up, sore in the back. He climbed down the tree, feeling cold as well. Reaching the ground he began to jog to loosen up as well as to warm himself up. As he jogged he began to hear a faint whooshing. Stopping, he listened carefully.
Cresting a nearby hill, he found what he was looking for. The river. He took a moment to wash his face and to refill his bottles. He would need to disinfect them, but he had an idea for that. Looking into the river gave him an idea for food as well.
Having found the river he now proceeded to travel along its bank. Traveling along the river bank he came across a tributary. The forest had also thinned out a little, and there was a cave nearby. Dave decided that this would be a great place to set up camp until any rescue force came along. He set to work to make the place more suitable for himself. First he piled some leafy branches into the cave to make an improvised bed, he covered the cave opening with some more branches to keep out the weather.
He then went to make a fish trap. Finding a secluded pool connected to the river by only one side he proceeded to close off that side with bundles of sticks. After doing so, he removed the central bundle. Now he just needed a fish to blunder into the pool, then he would close the pool off and trap the fish in. Now for the hardest part: fire, or it should have been.
Thankfully, because the hotel staff advised him to, he had a matchbox. So he had tinder. Straying away from the river and into the wood he found an abandoned bird's nest, kindling, and some dead sticks and bark, fuel. The rest felt like child's play. He lit a match and set the nest on fire. He then fed the flame some sticks, one by one at first and then he piled a whole bunch onto it. As the sticks went alight he finally added the pieces of bark and the flame properly burst into life. No cold night tonight.
It was becoming dark again. Dave went to check his fish trap- no luck. Dejectedly, he returned to the cave and decided there was nothing for it, he needed to ration his food further. After eating, adding a little more bark pieces to the flame and making sure the smoke wouldn't blow into the cave and suffocate him, he went to sleep.
The next morning he felt grateful to both the leaves and the fire for giving him the most comfortable night since this predicament began. He looked at the fire pit, there were still some embers. Worse comes to worst, he still had more matches. He went back to his fish trap, hoping and praying all the way. And he seemed to have lucked out.
A fish was swimming in the pool. Not to let the chance get away, he quickly closed the trap. He then picked up a branch and quickly sharpened it at one end. Then he slowly entered the pool and waded his way toward the fish. As it came within striking range he stopped. The fish was still swimming about happily. Dave closed his eyes, muttered an apology and lunged. He had snagged it.
Stepping out of the pool, he threw the branch down with the fish still wiggling on it. He reached for his knife and drove it through the gills. And the fish stopped moving. He sat back and muttered another apology. The rest of the day was going to feel rather solemn. He opened the trap again before heading back.
Reaching his cave he put the fish on the stick aside, then took his whistle out of the bag. Stepping back out he blew on it thrice, waited a moment, then blew on it three more times. No answer. He stepped back in to keep the whistle back. He took the final sip of water from his original supply, then prepared to disinfect the river water.
Stoking the embers he brought them back to life. Then he picked up a couple of pebbles and placed them by the embers. When they began feeling hot, he used some sticks and dropped them into the bottles. The water sizzled as each pebble fell in- a good sign. He left the bottles aside then just stared out of the cave at the river.
Then he heard some rustling. He leaned over to see what it was, then shuffled back in fright. A bear was making its way to the cave, probably smelling the fish. Dave needed to think fast, if the bear made it to the cave he would not be able to fight it off.
Then he had an idea. He took his whistle again, took a deep breath in and blew onto it as loud and long as he could. As he did he heard a growl from the outside followed by some more rustling. Dave closed his eyes, ready for the worst. After what felt like hours, he opened one eye and scanned the cave, everything was just how he left it. He then summoned the courage to look outside, and sighed with relief. The bear was gone, frightened by the noise.
He figured the fish was too dangerous to leave aside any longer, and in any case it was getting dark again. He took the fish to the river, cleaned it up a bit, then brought it back into the cave to cook. While it roasted on the fire he had lit up once again, he took one of the bottles and took a taste. It didn't taste odd, which to him was a good sign, he almost swallowed the pebbles though.
The cooked fish now beckoned to him. He took it off the flame, cut a piece off, and took a bite. It revitalised him. He soon wolfed it down. Then he took the bones and fish head and guts a discrete distance from the cave and buried them. He wasn't keen on having a bear visit him at night. For good measure, he covered the cave entrance. Even though that meant completely putting out the fire so that he didn't suffocate, he would much rather spend a cold night alone than a warm night with a bear.
The next morning he opened up the cave and took a look around. It looked like nothing had creeped nearby overnight. Letting out a sigh as he stretched himself, he reached into his bag for his whistle once again. He blew on it thrice, waited a moment, then blew on it three more times. Once again, no answer. He thought about trying again but decided against it.
As Dave walked back into the cave, he heard three faint whistles from further in the woods. Unsure and daring not to hope, he blew on his whistle three more times. No sooner had the reply come than he had charged back into the cave, hastily packed his bag, then burst into the wood in the direction of the sound blowing on his whistle again. Alternatively, Dave and the unknown other repeatedly blew on their whistles. Slowly the whistles started sounding louder and louder until finally cresting a small rise in the terrain he almost ran into four men in green uniforms and wearing rucksacks.
The men explained to him that they were a search party who were to find him and escort him back to his hotel. Unable to hold his happiness and relief he hugged each of the men before they began the journey back to the hotel.
Dave had a renewed spring in his step. He was smiling again and was feeling much more lighthearted. The thought that all this was over hung on his mind with a happy disposition. But it was soon replaced by the thought of the two remaining days in his vacation, during which he could eat proper meals and sleep in a warm bed.