Cold Spell
Chapter 4
"I am really beginning to hate this place," Joe groused an hour later. He was getting exhausted from navigating the uneven tundra terrain, a horrid wasteland that afforded him very little progress and was even less accommodating!
He now understood why Frank, even after a return trip of two hours, hadn't actually gone very far from camp earlier that morning when he went looking for firewood.
At first glance the ground appeared level but it wasn't.
The rocky surface soil had thawed under the constant sun to varying depths. Joe would take one step and he'd be fine, and then the very next would sink him ankle deep - and even knee deep on a couple of occasions - in bog; wet, cold, miserable bog!
Arctic willow overhung cracks that had been formed by the constant freezing and thawing of the ground - a twisted or broken ankle just waiting to happen, the teen had also found out the hard way.
He was just lucky the insulated boots he was wearing were waterproof hiking boots and had saved his ankle, but unfortunately the knee deep excursions into the bog had left him wet from the ankle up to his knees. And that, he was paying for!
His eyes strained as they scoured safe paths for his feet. A couple of times he'd stopped to rest on a large flat rock to take stock of things, and he didn't really like what he saw, as he was making far less progress than he'd been hoping….The tundra just stretched forever without any signs of an aircraft!
The wind cut through his jacket, and he now regretted not taking Frank's when he offered it, but he hadn't expected things to be like this. He was hoping that he'd keep up a good pace, and that would generate enough heat to compensate for the wind chill, but he was wrong.
At least Frank would have had the refuge of the burrow….
And if the wind increased, dipping the temperatures to below freezing, the boy knew he would have some serious problems – he needed to find those kits, and soon!
Stopping to get his bearings again, Joe looked down at his wristwatch and sighed dejectedly. A birthday gift from his father, the watch was not only waterproof and had a little alarm but it also had a built-in compass! The only problem was, they were so close to the magnetic North pole that Joe couldn't trust the readings. So all he could do was use the watch for time…and use the sun for direction.
Trying to keep his heading as northerly as possible, the teenager rubbed his forehead absently as he tried to ignore his body's plaintive pleas for food. He was hungrier than he cared to admit, the breakfast of 'sticks' and berries a distant memory, and he scanned the area for something else to eat.
A natural athlete, he had a high metabolism which required almost constant fueling; and it didn't like having gone almost twenty-four hours with little in the way of sustenance.
Joe had hoped to find the survival kit by now, knowing it would contain packets of high energy food – probably granola or protein bars. But as the minutes stretched into hours, and his progress was painstakingly slow, the realization that he might have to spend the night without it was becoming very real.
Shivering as a gust of wind blew through him, intensified by his wet legs and sweat dampened clothing, the teen was frustrated. He couldn't believe this was happening!
It was Sunday afternoon! He and Frank should have been back at home right now, with their biggest worries concerning sun block usage at the beach….But no, they were stranded in a cold, hostile place that was anything but Bayport!
"Should have waited for a commercial flight," he sighed as he absently kicked a small stone out of his way. But like Frank, he'd been anxious to get home to see everyone; Vanessa Bender in particular, so had thought it was a great idea when their father gave them the go-ahead to rent a small plane, after an overbooked flight would have delayed them two extra days.
They'd puddle-jump to Canada and then connect with their commercial flight from Calgary to Bayport. But things didn't quite work out that way….
The only reason why either boy was anywhere near dressed for the weather was that they had spent the last month near Qaanaaq, Greenland, visiting old friends of the family, at the US airbase at Thule, before heading home to spend the remainder of their summer holiday lazing around.
But while the younger boy had immediately ditched his winter parka for a lighter jacket for flight comfort, Frank had kept his on.
Joe was just thankful for two things: first, that he hadn't traded his insulated hiking boots for sneakers, like he'd been planning on doing; and secondly, that Frank didn't say 'I told you so,' after they crashed and realized Joe's jacket disadvantage.
But to his older brother's credit, Frank had said nothing about it, except when he tried to use 'coat-logic' in their 'debate', probably because his earlier remark before they had taken off, when he saw Joe put on his lighter jacket of "What are you going to do if we have to make an emergency landing?" was now about as foreboding as Joe's response, "Freeze."
The blond teen repressed a shiver – he should have listened to his brother.
Two hours later, things were getting a bit better walking-wise. Joe had become very good at reading the terrain and hadn't gotten wet in a while!
The wind was getting stronger now, though, and Joe felt it slice through his body as if he was wearing nothing. He picked up the pace – if he didn't find those kits soon, he was going to have very serious problems….
Stopping every now and then when he found some edible berries, Joe was heartened when he finally started to see twisted pieces of metal, and other debris indicating he was close to the ruptured section of the plane.
"Yahoo!" he cried out, sure the survival and first aid kits were nearby.
His voice resounded loudly across the barrens as he turned his face away from the biting wind.
And that's when he noticed that he wasn't alone!
Standing about 150 yards behind him was a large grey wolf!
"Oh crap," Joe whispered, suddenly feeling very exposed and very palatable.
The male wolf was large, standing about 30 inches at the shoulder – four inches taller than a large German Shepherd – and weighing close to 175 lbs.
"Nice doggy," Joe said, slowly backing away from the large predator.
The wolf, mostly white with grey streaking his fur, watched him with something akin to curiosity. The teen had no way of knowing, but he was the first human this animal had ever seen, and it was not quite sure what to make of Joe yet.
Still backing up, Joe's eyes were firmly fixed on the wolf and he wasn't watching where he was going!
His foot sunk into a bog spot and he toppled backwards, landing hard on his butt!
"Yeow!" he howled as he quickly regained his feet and rubbed his sore bottom. Glaring at the wolf, which had done nothing during this display, he quipped, "Now see what you made me do! Shoo! Go away and find something else to eat tonight! Trust me, Joe Hardy does not taste like chicken!"
The wolf continued to watch him, eerily still.
"Fine, but I feel it's only fair to warn you…I know karate!" at which he went into a stance, but then grimaced as his body did smart a bit.
Putting his leg back to the ground gingerly, he muttered, "And judo, and a lot of other martial arts type words!"
Encouraged by the canid's apparent intention not to eat him, yet, Joe went back to the task at hand, finding the kits, although he did keep a very close eye on his 'tail.'
Although it had only been about four hours since Joe left the camp, he felt like it was an eternity ago that he'd said good-bye to his brother.
Cold, wet, exhausted and lonely, he was beginning to feel like he was the only person left on the face of the planet…him and 'Pup,' as he'd nicknamed the wolf.
The animal continued to follow him, keeping about the same distance away.
Joe knew that wolves were pack animals, and he wondered where the rest of this animal's 'family' were. Every few moments, he would whip his head around just to make sure he wasn't being stalked, but so far, the only wolf he'd seen was Pup.
"So Pup," he said as he crested the top of small knoll, "You didn't happen to have seen a plane around here anywhere did you? It's kind of white and all broken up—"
His words dropped off… as there it was! About 200 yards north of him!
It was the tail end of their plane!