Within Striking Distance, Revised- Akua Tuta

**** This story has survived the revision process, I hope :p This is another story that I am hoping to get published. Hope you guys like it!

Within Striking Distance

Andy Maine sat upon a mountain top with a cup of hot, bitter coffee grasp in her chilled fingers and watched as the sun raised it’s sleepy head and illuminated the earth with it’s radiance. Slowly, night began to release it’s hold upon the world and the air around her reluctantly began to warm. Perched still as a statue, Andy soaked in the sunrise and allowed her thoughts to seek out the memory of her beloved father and of the mother she’d never known.

Due to complications during Andy’s delivery, her mother had died, shortly after her birth. So, essentially, from her first breath, she’d been Daddy’s little girl. Her father, a good man with a passion for nature, had named her Andrea, after her mother, and fondly nicknamed her Andy. She’d grew up with a great love for life, spending her childhood tagging along with her father on long hikes through the wild and over the years, Andy learned to revel in the majestic beauty of nature. Then, her life had changed dramatically, five years before. She’d been a Junior in college, working towards her Master’s degree in Wildlife Biology, when, without warning, her father had suffered a massive heart attack and died instantaneously. Losing him had almost shattered her sanity, but slowly her grief had faded and she’d learned to live without him in her life.

Coming back to reality, Andy noticed that the sun was steadily climbing into the sky and decided that she needed to get going if she was going to make her next designated campsite by dark. Anticipating the rough terrain that lay ahead, she felt a sense of adventure flow through her. Actually, she knew it was a particularly dangerous route to take alone, even for an experienced hiker such as herself, but her father had always stressed that although braving the wilds could be potentially dangerous, were precautions that could be taken where it could be done safely. So, before leaving for the trip, Andy had left a detailed map of her chosen route with her roommate and stressed to her that she only expected to be gone for three days. With her, she carried a mini survival pack, which contained a cell phone, a first aid kit, and a G.P.S. locator, this, along with her .22 rifle, made her feel prepared for anything that mother nature could throw her way.

Finishing off her coffee which had grown cold, Andy slowly stood, stretching out her cramped legs. Making her way back to her campsite, she promptly brushed her long, honey colored hair, placing it into a tight french braid before hurriedly gathering her belongings, cramming them into her metal framed backpack. With excitement nipping at her, she slipped into her bulky back pack, slung her .22 over her shoulder and headed out on the second day of her hike.

At first the going was rough, the strenuous hiking the day before had left her stiff and aching but soon the minor jabs of pain lacing her body began to slowly, fade away and Andy’s pace picked up considerably.

Midway through the day, when the sun was positioned directly over her head, Andy sought out a patch of shade beneath a massive Douglas Fir, and took a quick, well deserved break. Splashing some ice cold water from her canteen onto her sweaty face, she found it particularly pleasing when a delicious chilly shiver coursed down her spine. Laying back upon the cool earth, Andy gazed upward at the large evergreens that towered over her like silent sentinels as a gentle summer breeze, wafted through their grand branches and whispered mysteriously to her. She only allowed herself a few minutes of rest, before she hastily scarfed down a snack and eagerly resumed her hike.

The afternoon slowly stretched on and it’s lazy sun blazed tirelessly down upon her as she fought her way over the challenging terrain. The heat did nothing to dampen her spirits though, she was having a wonderful time! She savored every moment of the lovely day like sweet chocolate. Nature was in full glory, the sky a brilliant blue and the smell of the earth and pine trees, mixed with that certain hot restlessness that wafts through the air during a hot summer day. At one point, late in the day, she noticed dark thunder heads rumbling far in the distance but she calculated that wind was pushing the storm away from her, not towards her, thus giving her nothing to worry about. Realizing this, she felt relief sigh through her; she absolutely hated getting stuck in storms. Especially since, she’d spent far too many miserable hours huddled beneath trees while the pregnant skies above had decided to dump a deluge of rain down upon her. Later, when the day began to cool and the world hesitated on the threshold of evening, Andy began having quite a peculiar feeling. Deep within her, she instinctually felt as though something were terribly wrong and the hair on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end. Abruptly, she came to a halt and glanced around in bewilderment for the source of her unease. Then, with a brilliant flash of light, Andy fell into a thick darkness and knew nothing more.

Pain. Excruciating, teeth-bearing, unbearable agony was the next thing Andy became aware of. Desperately, she tried to sit up, but even the slightest movement stoked the fires of hell which now lived within her skin. All she could do was continue to lay motionless, listening to her own labored breathing as it rattled in and out of her chest. Struggling to draw in even the slightest sip of air, it felt as though there were a rock sitting atop her rib-cage.

Sighing noisily, she slowly opened her eyes, only to see nothingness. Fear mingled wickedly with her physical anguish and a jolt of panic shot through her with the thought of being blind. Blinking rapidly, her eyes focused upon infinite darkness smeared with fanning, blurred white streaks. Dimly, Andy realized it was nighttime and she was looking heavenward. Yet something, still seemed to be disturbing her vision and she found that she couldn’t focus upon the stars that studded the velvety sky above her.

Tears leaked silently from the corners of her eyes, which felt gritty and raw as though fine glass were embedded beneath her eyelids. Confusion threaded through her mind like a thick fog, it was as though her brain was short circuiting and she could no longer seem to form a full, functional thought. Then, without warning, Andy suddenly fell back into the restless, oblivion of unconsciousness.

The next time she opened her eyes, daybreak was upon the world and an agonizing snake of pain, held her tightly within it’s coils, making itself known with every twinge of her cold muscles. Shivering violently in the cool morning air, a vicious headache mercilessly thrummed within her skull as sharp pains shot through her right ear.

After a few moments of blankly staring up at the dawn’s rosy sky, she slowly raised her head and looked around. Although, her vision was still blurry and she found it difficult to focus on her surroundings, she recognized that she was in the middle of nowhere. The thick woods surrounding her were silent in the soft early morning light and only an occasional muffled bird call broke the stillness.

Suddenly, fear rose thickly in her throat when she realized that she seemed to be deaf in her right ear. There was a dim roaring sound and it felt as though it were stuffed with cotton. Andy lowered her head back to the earth and slowly closed her eyes, trying to remain calm as she searched her mind for an answer to her whereabouts. Through the mists of her muddled memory, she remembered that she was on a hiking trip but the last thing she could recall was taking a break. But what on earth had happened? Why was she in such torment?

Trying to smother the panic that threatened to swallow her whole , she began worming her way out of the tangle of her back pack and rifle shoulder straps. Every movement though, brought a new wave of nauseating anguish crashing into her and it took her nearly ten minutes to finally struggle free. Then, moving as gingerly as possible, she scooted her self up into a semi-sitting position with her back propped up against a rock. Doing this made the world spin madly and Andy closed her eyes, fighting the urge to retch.

Eventually, when the bright bursts of light blossoming behind her closed lids gradually faded, Andy slowly reopened her eyes. Gasping, her breath was suddenly stolen from her, when she caught site of her own body.

Every inch of her exposed skin was an angry red, blistered with second degree burns. On her arms, her right in particular, she had painful burns that seemed to oddly resemble delicate body art, being fernlike in appearance with fractal shaped patterns. There was a small, yet deep burn seared into her shoulder. Andy’s clothing hung upon her body in useless scorched, tatters. Her jeans remained mostly intact except for a little singing at the hems but her light, cotton T-shirt hung uselessly around her neck in a unrecognizable mass. She was missing her right hiking boot and on the inside of her foot, the sock had been blown away, revealing an identical burn to the one on her shoulder. An uncomfortable numbness and tingling ran the entire length of her right leg and her muscles yelped with pain when she tried to move it.

Shocked, she stared down at herself for a long time, desperately trying to gather her sluggish thoughts together. The only logical explanation for her present state that Andy could think of was that she must have been struck by lightening. Not only would this explain the burns, but it would be about the only thing that would do this kind of damage.

Andy sat quietly for several minutes lost in awe, trying to fully grasp her situation. Although she didn’t know the full extent of her injuries, she did know that it was pure torment to move. This certainly meant that she was not going to be getting out of the woods on her own, she was going to have to be rescued. She figured she must have been struck on the afternoon of the second day of her hike, that meant she was expected back early this afternoon, but her roomate probably wouldn’t start to get worried until late this evening. Groaning at the prospect of lying out in the woods, hurting like she was for hours on end seemed like her idea of hell and unfortunately it was exactly what she was facing.

Coming to this realization, Andy decided to evaluate what she had to work with to survive. Moving gingerly, she sifted through her scorched belongings. The metal frame of her back pack had been severely warped by the lightening strike and she strongly suspected that it was one of the reason’s why she was hit; wearing it had been like strapping a lightening rod to her back. Glancing to her rifle, she was amazed to find that the coursing electricity had actually heated the gun enough to warp the barrel, thus making it useless. With trembling fingers, she unsheathed her hunting knife from it’s buckskin holster and studied the weapon. Light glinted off the warped blade, the ravenous heat had slightly bowed the steel, but it would still serve it’s purpose.

Turning to her backpack, she clumsily dumped it’s items out onto the ground. With a heavy heart, Andy found that the relentless dragon of electricity had licked hungrily at it’s contents; completely destroying her cell phone and G.P.S. locator. Her hope dwindled as she studied the noticeably warped electronics, without these things, she had no way to contact the outside world.

However, the remaining salvageable items Andy had to work with was promising. Her metal canteen was slightly distorted, but still intact and nearly full, so she would at least have water for a few days. Andy’s light sleeping bag and flint for making fires was still functional, so staying warm would not be a problem. Troublesome, though, was her meager food supply. Usually, when out camping, she caught her own small game such as quail or the occasional hare and supplemented it with the few food items she brought along with her. She found that she only had a few crackers, an energy bar, and a small bag of venison jerky, which seemed for the most part, relatively untouched by the heat of the strike. She estimated she had about 2 days worth of food and water which she prayed would be more than enough. Pain was her constant companion as Andy stared up at the blue sky above her and contemplated what she should do next. Fifteen feet to her right there was a rotten log, she could use to serve as a shelter of sorts but the only problem was, getting there would mean a fair amount of torment.

After weighing the options, she clenched her teeth and slowly began to drag herself and her backpack, towards the crumbling form. With her body screaming with every muscle twinge and it took her nearly a half an hour to crawl the short distance. After lying, panting with exertion next to the log and allowing the beastly pain to tame down, she beared her teeth once again and drug herself into a semi-sitting position with her back against the damp wood.

At least the clearing in which she’d fallen in was perfect for a rescue. Located on a sloping peak, she could see for miles and which meant she could be easily spotted by a search team. Although the sunshine warmed her, it also stung her burned skin and did nothing to touch her bone deep chill. Andy knew she was slightly hypothermic from the burns and decided to crawl into her sleeping bag. Unrolling it, she found that the zipper had fused shut and had to use her knife to cut it open before she could struggle into it.

Next, she pulled out her small, two man tent, and quickly constructed a sturdy lean-to using the stump as the base. Bringing the material a good foot above her head, it created a shelter from the sun’s rays and the bright blue tent fabric marred the surrounding landscape perfectly, it would not be missed. Exhausted from the job of setting up camp, Andy allowed herself to close her eyes and fell into a fitful sleep.

Waking as the sun dropped below the horizon, her body screamed with pulsing agony making her vision blur. Stiff from sleeping in such an awkward sitting position, her scorched skin felt like a million razor blades were stabbing it at once.

Tears began coursing down Andy’s cheeks as she wondered why this was happening to her. Was she even going to live through this? Despair lay heavy upon her as she sobbed into her sleeping bag. The sobbing made her hurt even worse and she soon quieted; her breath hitching every so often. Night had descended during her cry and the moon began to peek above the surrounding peaks, painting the surrounding forest with a silvery haze.

Without the sun, the temperature quickly dropped and Andy began to shiver violently. Grabbing her hunting knife, she started prying large chucks out of the stump against which she leaned. When she finally had a sufficient pile of the rotten wood collected, she quickly built a fire using her flint and warped blade of her knife. Soon, the warmth from the little licking flames reached her, yet her shuddering continued.

The cold seemed to reach her into her bones, touching her very core. Drinking some water, she ate a little of her food and struggled to keep it down as nausea rolled over her in great waves. After successfully winning the battle with her cranky stomach, Andy curled up into her sleeping bag and prayed that she would make to morning.

Throughout the night, Andy’s entire body screamed with a twisted combination of pains as she slid in and out of consciousness and eventually she allowed her small fire to go out. Without the heat from the small flames, Andy shuddered uncontrollably with the cold. She fought long and hard against the exhaustion waiting to claim her but eventually she gave in and allowed herself to fall headlong into a dreamless sleep.

During the early hours of the morning, before the sun rose on the third day of her ordeal, Andy began to hear a voice, reaching into the foggy mists of her unconscious mind.

The familiar voice was reassuring, but persistent, “Andy, sweetheart, wake up, you got to wake up, listen to me kiddo, WAKE UP!”

Jerking violently into consciousness, Andy whimpered quietly as pain sliced through her body. Disorientated, her thoughts were slow and muddled and she couldn’t grasp where she was or why she was in pain. Dimly, Andy became aware of the feeling someone softly holding her. Opening her eyes slowly, she looked up into a face she hadn’t seen in five years, yet was as familiar to her as her own. The man’s kind blue eyes shone with love as he stared down at her and Andy found it odd that the man seemed to glow slightly in the surrounding darkness.

Then, Andy’s thoughts began to sharpen and a dread settled upon her when she finally grasp the situation.

“Daddy......”she croaked, “Your dead....God, Am I dead?”

Shaking his head, he smiled, “No Sweetie, your not dead, but you are close, that is why I am here. You need to stay awake, you cannot go back to sleep.”

Andy blinked slowly, trying to get her muddled thoughts together, “I’ve missed you so much, Daddy.”

He smoothed her hair down lovingly, “Ah sweetie, I have missed you, but I cannot stay. You must promise me before I leave to stay awake.”

Tears began coursing down her cheeks, “No, please don’t go. Daddy, please, I need you, I love you.”

Smiling softly down at her, he answered, “Ah, Andy sweetheart, I love you as well, but I cannot change this I must go.”

His image began to shimmer slightly and he urged, “Andy, please, stay awake, you must stay awake, please promise me”

With tears leaking from her eyes, she nodded slightly, whispering, “Okay Daddy, I promise”

“I love you sweetheart, one day we will be together again, I promise you that” and with these words he faded away, leaving Andy alone once again.

Although her mind was a distorted web of confusion and pain, Andy kept her promise to her father and struggled to fend off the fatigue that threatened to consume her. Reluctantly, she acknowledged that she had probably hallucinated the encounter with her father but she held on to his words nonetheless and fought to stay awake.

Trying desperately to ignore the relentless anguish her body was enduring, Andy fell into the depths of her mind and allowed her thoughts to stray aimlessly.

Soon, the sun began creeping over the land, slowly peeking through the thick, grey murkiness that had settled upon the forest during the night. The early morning sunbeams, sliced cleanly through the fog and restored color to the world around her. With the dawn, the world began to awaken and soon the air was filled with the incessant twitter of song birds as the busy chipmunks, began scampering from tree to tree with their tails held high.

Dazed, Andy watched the animal activity around her in a dreamlike state. Suddenly, she was jerked back into reality when she detected a faint thudding beneath the songbird chatter and continuous, dull roaring in her right ear. At first, she thought she was hearing her own heart thundering, but then she realized that the sound was gradually growing in pitch. Holding her breath, Andy listened intently to the rhythmic throbbing and it slowly dawned on her that the sound she was hearing was an approaching Helicopter.

Andy’s heart leapt into her throat, ignoring the screaming protests of pain, she brought herself to a semi sitting position and scanned the misty horizon for the craft. Visibility was low and she suddenly became terrified by the chance that she would be missed in the fog.

Panicked, she knew she had to attract the aircrafts attention in some way. Mustering the very last of her strength, she hastily grabbed her remaining pieces of wood and began struggling to make a fire. After hastily arranging the rotted pine, her fingers shook with uncontrollable tremors, making it extremely difficult to light the fire with her flint. Finally, when the tiny sparks started to take took hold and the wood began to smoke, Andy blew softly through her cracked lips to accelerate the combustion and soon small flames erupted.

Sobbing with relief, Andy fell back, her strength completely gone, and slipped into a semi-conscious state. Staring blankly towards the sky, it wasn’t long before a red and white rescue chopper filled the heavens above her with a wash of wicked wind. Then, like an angel materializing from thin air, the next thing Andy knew there was a young man’s face hovering above her.

“My God,” he stuttered as he examined her. With wide blue eyes he gazed into her own and asked, “Andy, Andy Maine? What on earth happened to you? How long have you been laying here?”

Nodding slightly in response, she croaked, “Lightening.........2 days”

A great spasm of pain suddenly jolted through her and she fought to keep her hold on consciousness. Seeing her distress, the young man shook her slightly and urged, “No Andy, You gotta stay with me honey, come on, open those eyes.............yes that’s it, look at me”

Quickly, her rescuer proceeded to secure her tightly into a litter that had been lowered down from the hovering craft. After tucking her tightly into the confines of the plastic cocoon, her rescuer’s face reappeared and looked down at her with respect in his eyes, “You’re a tough girl, Andy, but your safe now and all this is almost over. This here contraption I’ve placed you in will lift you into the Helicopter so we can get you out of here and too a hospital. So you just hold on now, Okay?”

Mustering a small smile, she nodded and suddenly she became weightless. Leaving the ground and her ordeal behind, she floated into the grey sky and slowly rose towards the rescue chopper. Staring up towards at the blur of thrashing blades that spun above her, Andy suddenly knew within her heart everything was going to be okay. Her prayers had been answered; she was alive.

With a renewed sense of life and love, her future ahead was bright and brimmed with many beautiful possibilities. Andy’s mind staggered by the mere fact that she was still living She had been granted the greatest gift of all, Life and never again would she waste another minute of it; not a single moment.

THE END

********If you liked this story, these are a few more I have just recently revised.

WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS http://unsolvedmysteries.com/usm359731.html

GRADUATION DAY http://unsolvedmysteries.com/usm359777.html

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my stuffs I am so very appreciative!! Take Care!!!

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