A Survivalists Tale Read online

  This is why I wasn’t happy; I told my group it is the most dangerous place on earth, there is every chance you won’t survive in there, but the group wanted the chance to try, their argument was if they crashed in a place like that, could anyone survive. They wanted to be the first all of them but they wanted me along as well, I couldn't allow them to go alone. I asked them how many had fired a rifle, they admitted that none of them had ever fired a rifle nor even held one. I told the producers we would go but before we did anything, the two groups would have to meet on neutral ground and everyone should be given lessons on firing the rifles no lessons, then, no me, simple. They agreed far too quick and said they would give us all a week to get used to the rifles, we flew out of there two hours later and we were all sad to see the end of our little community.

  We all met at a marine camp, somewhere near the coast, our helicopter landed near a two stories building and a firing range just off to the left, this looked like it had been thrown up for a small group of marines to train on. We would get instructions from trained weapons instructors; we would all be using the FN Scar MK 17.

  The reason they were giving us these weapons were, they were easy to use and get used to and be quickly adjusted to fit anyone’s arms. They let us practice the first day with military ones, however anyone who fires a rifle regularly will tell you, you can never fire another man’s or woman’s rifle, as they are actually set up for individual users, the sights and the stock being the most obvious. On the second day, we started to use our new ones, which were black, we were getting along well with Carols group, which were a lot like my team always interested in new techniques and very willing to get on with any job, no matter what. Out of the twenty-two people in the group, everyone bar five of them could use the rifles and hit the targets at a hundred yards. I convinced the producers to give them pump action shotguns instead, and within the last two days, they could obliterate anything in front of them. We were all set the instructors gave us a nice going away party with a few beers thrown in, both Carol and myself told them no more than three beers each as we were flying out early. We had a good time I found out Carol had been a fan of mine since she was ten, we were also the exact same age, when I had done my stint with the survival competition when I was ten, she hadn’t even been allowed out the yard and was very much wrapped in cotton wool, figuratively speaking. She had used the competition to bring to her dads and mothers attention that here was a ten-year-old boy on his own, surviving on an island and she wasn’t allowed to leave the yard. Her father was a soldier and her mother was so worried all the time he was away, she had become over protective. At first, her father said it was just a stunt and they would have a full crew there to look after them, so I pointed out to my father in no uncertain terms, that they couldn't have as the internet cameras were everywhere and you could jump from one to another in seconds. She said I told him there was no place to hide a crew, as you could see everywhere, my dad became fascinated with what you were doing and even had my mum watch what you were doing. Thank god, they hadn’t seen your stupid move with that first pig trap, or I would never have convinced them, but after that, my father started to teach me how to do survival. In addition, he agreed if I went to self-defence classes, he would allow me more freedom. My mother even agreed, so ever since then I have had you to thank for my freedom, I said you were welcome, but I think you would have eventually talked them around. Carol and I also discussed the type of shelter we would build in Africa, we would go kind of native, but with air and light being important to us, this is the kind of shelter we would build.

  In the type of environment, we would be in this type allowed an all around view and we could catch as much air as we could, but by building a type of blind just like people have in modern houses we could also make it safe against attack by wild animals too.

  The team now consisted of Carol, Amanda, Sharon, Babs, Clair, Jess, Mike, Peter, Tom, Jack, Joseph, Ian, Dave, Paula, Magret, Jake, Steve, Abraham, Sandra, Betty, Hellen and me Nathan.

  They flew us to somewhere in Africa in a private jet and the we were taking the rest of the way on a chinook, this time we only had our rifles and a new machete, they droped us at the top of a hill so we could get a better look for a acamp.

  It wasent that hard to pick a sight for they had already covered all the places in cameras, leaving only one place for us to go, fortunately they had been watching and learned to spot the best sight, all by themselves. Leaving as I said one place by the river but far enough to avoide mosquitoes and river insects, the view that evening at sunset took most of the teams breath away, it was stunning.

  We could hear lions roar and calling to each other and about a hundred other things joining in, we set a two man guard and built fires all around in a circle each watch would be for two hours only and mostly for keeping the fires well lit. we set no shelters that night and all slept prety badly due to the noise and the fear of the lions coming too close to camp. You could hear them just beyond the fires, I tried to calm everyone down explaining they were just being nosey neihbours and would get hungry and go hunting. I reminded the guards to not forget the fires all around and not be sucked into watching just the lions at the front, then went back to sleep.

  I came awake just before dawn, with the feeling something was wrong and it was, I had just had a quick look around and the fires were way to low. Just of to the side I saw three big lionesses and they were stalking the guard, the big lead female had gone down flat on her belly gathering her muscles ready to rush the sleeping guard. So way to late to try and scare her, it would just spring into the attack with the shock, I quickly sat up and at the same time grabbed my rifle and aimed it at the lioness and hit her right in the head at the exact second she tried to rush. The biggest problem was the other two had been watching her for the start of the attack and when she went for it they were right behind her. They passed her and didn’t even realise she was dead, they were soley focused on the guard, my second bullet took the one on the left, in the chest and burst her heart. I had no time for another shot. But the third went down with a shot through its head and knocked the sleeping guard rolling along the ground with her on top. Carol had taken the third one out and we jumped up to find the whole camp had been surounded by the pride of around fifteen liones, which were now scranbling to get away as fast as possible.

  The team were slowlly waking up for it had been a long night and most hadent got to sleep, untill a couple of hours ago, just then the sun arose and it was a beautiful sight but no one was paying it any attention, due to the guard shouting in panic from under the lioness.

  Well I took time to have a quick look around and then gave the sunrise my full attention, Carol took control and checked no one was hurt and two off the ones who hadent moved, turned out they were both still sound asleep and snoring lightly. Once I finished enjoying the sunrise and the whole area was now lit up by the dawn, I slipped out my skinning knife that they had allowed us and went to work on butchering the liones for meat and their skins. Every one was still to wound up by the near thing and Carol had to explain what happened before they calmed down. Once they realised how close they came, they were at first angry at the guards, untill I pointed out to them, that what if it was them who had fallen asleep on guard how would they want to be treated, for they could fall asleep we were all just humans and shit happens. They soon calmed down and started to help them get over the shock, I also said when you are all finnished we will have lion meat for breakfast, but it wouldent butcher its self. So they all came together and some made a decent fire to cook steaks on others started a couple of smudge fires and others built smoking shelters to jerk the meat. Carol got started on helping with the butchering along with Ian who was the one on guard who had almost been attacked, Ian tried to appolagise to me and say thanks for saving his life. That’s when I stopped him, I told him are you feeling ashamed of something, he addmited he was, he should never have fallen asleep and put everyones life in danger.

  So I explai
ned to him, you never put anyones life in danger, we had all volunteered to put our own lifes in danger, the fact was everyone falls asleep on guard when they are tired, soldiers, security guards, everyone, that’s just a fact of life. I have seen pepole walking around on guard that had no idea that part of them was asleep, you can walk up to them and ask them a question and they will jump and say where did you come from. They never realised they were sleep walking, I was taght this at a very young age from a very tough sergeant. Don’t beet yourself up about it sometimes we get away with it and some times it costs life, remember their were two of you on last night and everyone was so tired both of you fell asleep, shit happens, I was just glad I woke up in time, so try not to let it happen again. Ian looked a bit happier, one thing you do need to do Ian, he looked at me confused, get that bloody beast skined and butchered it will not do its self. Once we had all three lionesses skined and butchered the smoke sheds were going, my team was working well with Carols team and they were both showing each other different things they had learned. Instead of normal situtions happening like oh Rick showed me this way so this is how it must be done for he knows more and the other replying something like oh but Carol showed me how to do this and it works better so we should do it this way. Oh no they were working how sane happy people should, like that’s good what if we done this could it improve the whole thing, yeh that could work lets try it, you never know we might find its better. So I was more than happy, the day was started after breakfast, we built a baricade around our camp that we would use and it was bloody big.

  Because of the dangers in the area, I had three people in each group that worked out side the camp, two to work one to watchout for danger. No one but no one was to go without their rifle, I made slings so they could put their rifle on their back and still work, they also had to be able to get at their rifle quickly. I also made them stop mid day for a rest in the meeting shelter, the very first building to be built. Both Carol and my self put this together, just so it went up quickly, I did notice they werent as happy here as they were in America. For two days we worked like mad and had the camp finished, well enough to give us all a shelter and a hut of our own, we could finish them of properly in our own time, but now it was time for hunting and again traps were even more important here. Especially the ones that got the prey up and out the way of lions, hyenas, wild dogs, Baboons, Cheetahs, and Leopards so we had to have rope again, this time I showed them how to make rope from long grasses as well as the bark. As the team worked around doing what needed done, they were picking berries and gathering roots to be checked later, to see if they were edible or medicine, or just poisonous. We were just getting really settled about two weeks in and by this time we were trapping small antelope like the Klipspringer and the Bay Duiker, we had not attempted any of the bigger antelope, for we had just finished our bows and arrows. Carol came over about four o’clock in the afternoon and told me there was a storm heading our way, I said yeh its going to be an electrical storm, she said, how on earth do you know that. Trade secret, I said then laughed, I said go and have a look at the feather on a thread I have hanging up in my shack. She walked over and looked in my shack, she came back smiling, how the hell did you work that out, she had seen my little feather I had found lying around and I had tied the thick part to thread then hung it in my shack and at the moment it was trying to stand up. I told her a friend who is a scientist showed me the trick, neat though isn’t it, she smiled and said does it tell you how bad it will be, it does actually, the more it tries to lift the end the worse the storm. This one will be spectacular and it will knock out all the cameras to, how long do you think it will last Rick, could be two or three days could be ten minutes, I would say though this one should be a cracker as I have never seen it go past halfway. None of us was ready what followed and had I known or even suspected I would have called for a full evac. An hour later and we were watching the lightning hitting the trees not far from us; we were all a bit worried for the last hunters weren’t back yet, it was Tom and Ian that were still out, Carol was wondering if they had got a decent sized gazelle or antelope and were having trouble carrying it back. They had taken their new bows and arrows to try them out so I didn’t recon they would have got anything that large; I thought I had heard gunshots earlier. I couldn't swear to it for it was just after that the thunder and lightning started, I decided to take no chances and told everyone to get their rifles ready. Carol looked at me and asked what do think might be wrong, so I told them, I thought I heard shots earlier but what I was more worried about just now was, if the lightning had stated a fire. It could be pushing a stamped of animals our way, as the wind was gently blowing towards our camp, so best prepared. I had noticed all the cameras we could see from the camp had no lights on; you can generally see the little red working light on each camera.

  Just then, Joe and Sharon gave a shout they could see someone running towards the camp, it was still light enough to see by, it was Tom, and he looked hurt, we ran forward to help him when I noticed a bit further back two more people running after Tom. When they saw the group, they stopped and I saw one raise something to his shoulder pointing it towards Tom. The team couldn't believe their eyes when Tom flew from his feet into the dirt face down and the shots that followed. I shouted at the same time Clair and Jack did for everyone to get down, they must have seen the men as well, I dropped to knee after skidding to a halt and aimed at the two bastards who shot Tom. I took careful aim and fired of four shots at the one who shot Tom and he crashed over backwards, at the exact same time I heard some others shoot and the other who had turned to run went down also. The team got up and ran to help Tom, I was bloody glad we had two doctors with us, as Amanda and Abraham bent over Tom. I sent Paul back for the first aid kit, when I was sure the doctors were doing what they could for Tom. I raised my rifle and went to check on who had shot him, it was a couple of rough looking natives with Kalashnikovs I was stunned there was supposed to be no natives for miles around. I took their rifles and knifes and they had a couple of pistols, I also took what ammo they had and they had a surprising amount for a couple of natives. I had to admit the team could shoot for they were both dead and I don’t think many bullets missed their mark.

  I went back to see how Tom was doing and saw the group was helping him back up to his feet, Tom was saying get everyone back to camp there is a lot more of them and they murdered Ian. The two biggest men, Steve and Jake crossed their hands forming a seat for Tom to sit on and ran him back to camp with one of his arms around each of their necks, the rest followed. I threw a Kalashnikov to Carol and said if anyone turns up let Carol and myself shoot, we don’t want them to know how well we are armed. I then told the others make a gate at the back and one at the riverside, just wide enough to squeeze through and no more. I asked Abraham how was Tom, he said he was hit three times, he has a small flesh wound just above the hip, he was hit in the left shoulder, that was a through and through and square in the back that’s when you saw him go flying. So how bad is the wound in his back, oh there’s no wound in his back just a bruise his rifle though is dead. Therefore, he isn’t too bad at all, I gave him something for the pain and Amanda is setting him up on a drip to replace some of the blood he lost. He wants to get up and get the bastards that shot Ian, he said they didn’t even give him a chance, they were hidden in the bush as we stalked closer they shot him they then came out and looked down at him lying there wondering what happened and then shot him in the head. How did Tom escape, he stopped for a piss behind some bush and couldn't believe what he saw, he then empted his rifle in to the group, he’s not sure how many he hit but knows he hit some. He also said as he was running back he passed a dead Elephant with its tusks cut out, so he reckons they are poachers. Damb it is a lot worse than I thought, get everyone together and tell them to start packing anything they can carry, only essentials. Ten minutes later, we heard two land rovers and saw headlights a bit further out than Tom had been shot; they were looking for the tracks. I said to t
he team, listen what I need for you all to do is you remember the ravine running down the hill we came down, they all nodded, I need you to go through the trees trying to leave as little tracks as possible and head up that ravine to the top. When you get there set up a firing base, pile rocks and anything around in a circle for protection from bullets, if we can hold out until this storm blows over, the producers will see what’s going on and send help. I need Carol with me, so you guys will have to work together, we will meet you there as soon as possible, we will try and head them of in a different direction, so carry what you can. Carol and I headed out the gate towards the river, we ran as fast as we could bent over in the grass for cover, it was getting very dark now and I reckoned they would have night vision goggles with them, which was soon confirmed when they headed in our direction five minutes later. They were still a distance of when we caught a break; the two jeeps were smashing through some bushes when one went nose down in the ground, they had found the ditch, that the water had formed during flooding as it ran to the river. The other had piled into the back of the first, as they had been going a good thirty odd miles an hour they were in the shit. Carol said we should get as close to the river as we can, I said no, they will be shaken up, we should head for them and not let them get organised, so we did as fast as we could, we could see them in the headlights of the jeeps. There were four of them two in each jeep; the driver of the first jeep looked in a bad way, he mustn’t have been wearing a seat belt, what was I thinking, none of them would have been wearing seat belts. One saw us just as we got close, he swung around and let of a full clip at me, god knows where his bullets ended up for they weren’t even close. I stopped took careful aim and shot him twice, I then put three in his mate as he stood up to see where I was, Carol shot the other two. We got lucky they were all dead, I grabbed a pair of night vision goggles from the head of the first one I killed and quickly had a good look around, there were no other heat sources close to us, so I threw a pair to Carol and switched the headlights off, we could now see a lot better. I said to Carol we will take the jeep that’s not in the ditch and collect all their weapons and supplies, which there was quite a lot, we piled it in the jeep and I disabled the other jeep so that even if they could get it out of the ditch, they wouldn’t be able to use it. I cut the diesel injector pipes which are metal but very thin and then stabbed holes in the engine sump to let out the oil, I also stabbed the engine management system. This jeep wasn’t going anywhere fast, we started the other jeep and noticed water leaking out from the front; I reckoned it had burst the radiator; well it only had to get us up the top of the hill. I drove up the river, which wasn’t that deep and help keep the engine cool, until we reached the bottom of the hill and then engaged the four-wheel drive and drove to the top. I had aimed to the left of where the team would be and when we cleared the top, we carried on over until we were out of sight and drove along the other side until we reached close to the team. Then we started to shout that it was us so we didn’t get shot at by our own team, we soon found out that shouting had saved our lives for four of the guys had came along side ready to shoot us. Even with the NVGs (night vision goggles) we hadn’t seen them sneak along the other side of the hill, the guys were fucking smart, which was such a relief. The storm was really was starting to get going full blast now, so once we had unloaded everything from the jeep we could, we let of the hand brake and let it roll down the hill on the opposite side from the poachers. David asked why did I keep the battery and the headlights from the jeep, so I showed him, I said put the NVGs on and look at the end of the flint, when he was ready I struck a spark and he ripped the goggles of, he said fuck me for a second I was totally blinded. I said well imagine if they had NVGs on and were sneaking up the hill and some rotter flashed the main beams at them a few times, kind of ruins there advantage. I said we put them out on the sides, away from anyone and when they shoot at them, less chance of any our team being hit, that’s why I grabbed so much wire from the jeep.