Jerry is an ordinary man who longs for freedom. He wants to escape from his house and into the woods.

Escape
Jerry got ready to prepare for the sixteen hour flight from San Francisco to Nepal. He was a young man, had a good job, and was handsome. He had just gotten his master’s degree from a good college. He wanted adventure in his life. He went camping frequently to escape from the dull, tame city lifestyle and wanted to run away into another world, where he didn’t have to listen to his boss, only to nature. Jerry remembered his mother, who had passed away four weeks after his graduation. Her last words were

“Remember that I will be always with you, and I will always love you.”

Just thinking of that made Jerry tear up. He blinked away the tears and thought about the hard, punishing work that climbing Mount Everest would be. He called a taxi, went to the airport, and went past security. He bought his favorite food, pizza, knowing that this would be his last pizza in a long time.

Jerry climbed onto the plane. It was only a two seater. The pilot was an old man,like a sailor, with salt and pepper hair. He was smoking a cigar, and the whole plane reeked of smoke that Jerry could barely breathe. As they started to take off, he heard a slight cough from the captain. During the flight, he thought of his mom. He clutched onto the last thing she’d given him. It was a small hunting knife, used by his father, who passed away, in the Vietnam War. He noticed that the world was sort of falling. The pilot was choking! The plane veered off course into a tree, and the world went black.

Jerry woke up in on the moist dew of the grass. He was stuck in the forest! He found his hunting knife, and went to start building a fire, learning from Survivor Man, but he failed miserably. It started to rain. Jerry ran to shelter, which was a small cave. It was pouring for half the day, and Jerry was starting to get hungry. All he had that day was a small pizza before the flight. Suddenly, the rain stopped. He sprinted back the smoking ruins of the plane. He found a small flare gun, a first-aid kit, and some dried food. He pocketed the food because he would save it for emergencies.

Jerry thought of an ingenious idea. He would set the flare for a fire, not to send for help. After all, getting food and warmth was more important than getting help. Even if Jerry got help, it would have taken at least a day for people to get over there. By then he would be dead.

Jerry got dried sticks and big logs from the storm the previous day. He shot the flare at the sticks, and it caught fire! He rushed quickly to put more sticks on the fire. Jerry was hungry, he needed food desperately. He went fishing by using some of the dried food he had, and he put it on his shoelace with a makeshift hook. He caught two fish that day, and dried some so he could use it for bait. The rest he ate ravenously. He had never been so hungry in his life.

The next day, he was focused on hunting animals. He attached his hunting knife to a long, sturdy stick. He was planning to use it as a spear, to hunt animals. He was tracking a small rabbit, so he could eat it for dinner. Also, he could use that warm, fuzzy rabbit skin for cold days. He glanced at the sun. It was getting dark. He put some more wood into the fire. He lied down on the cold rock of the cave, and fell asleep.

“I need to get out of here.”

Jerry woke up the next day by a strange noise.

“Hey, I’m Thomas. I saw the smoking wreck of the plane, so I went there to take a look. My horse left me while I was hunting and now I’m lost.”

“Finally! Help! I needed someone to talk to.”

Jerry and Thomas walked down to the wreckage of the plane.
“We need to fix this plane. We have to go back to our homes.”

“I’d like that,” grinned Jerry.

“So would I.”

Thomas brought a gun, for hunting. However, he only brought a dozen bullets so they had to conserve ammunition. They both had their experiences with hunting. Thomas ran back into the cave with Jerry preparing to get more food so they could eat. Jerry had literally no food left, besides the dried food because he had to share his food with Thomas.

The next day, Jerry tended to the fire, while Thomas tried to make a bow. Thomas used deer sinew from one of Jerry’s successful hunts.

Jerry set out into the woods with Thomas. They completely ran out of food. They had carried everything with them, including most of their tools. They started chatting about their lives and compared them with others. They found out that they lived in similar places, with huge skyscrapers piercing through the clouds, and people busy on the streets with cars honking and driving down the freeway.

They both hated it. They both wanted new lives. Jerry and Thomas were debating whether or not they should stay here for the rest of their lives or send for help. They decided to stay. They slept on the soft, cool grass in the night. Jerry was tending to the fire and Thomas was telling stories about his adventues in his life. They had been following a wild deer part of the day, but they could not kill him. Without the gun or with. They heard a small running sound, like an engine. They were curious so they came to look, and it was a man in a plane.

Jerry and Thomas walked to the plane and found that the man was sleeping, so they woke him up. They brought all their belongings and went to Jerry’s apartment.

The next day, stories of Jerry and Thomas had made the news. They were famous and they didn’t want to be. They needed privacy and peace. That night, they decided that the urban cities were too boring. They escape into the woods, and they lived there for the rest of their life.