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Brian boards plane
The crash had simularities with the crash in the book HatchetBrian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old from New York City, boards a plan headed from Hampton, New York to the Canadian north woods to visit his father. The pilot was experiencing increasing pain in his shoulder, arm, and stomach. At first Brian did not think it is very serious, but as the pilot began jerking in his seat it became clear that he was having a heart attack. The attack stopped and the pilot was dead. The plane crashed and brian was stranded in the Canadian woods. -
Porcupine
Brian constructs a shelter and in the middle of the night he hears a noise. A porcupine has entered his shelter and Brian throws the hatchet in its direction. It shoots its quills into Brian's leg, causing him severe pain. -
Suicide Attempt
A plane flies overhead but does not see him, leaving Brian devastated and hopeless. He attempts to commit suicide by cutting himself with his hatchet, but survives the attempt and emerges from the experience determined to get out alive. -
Tornado
A bad storm tore through the forest and destroyed Brians camp site. -
The Dive
Brian retrieves the survival pack from the plane. At one point he drops the hatchet to the lake's bottom, but retrieves it with a long and deep dive. On his way back up to the surface, Brian sees the dead pilot's head underwater, half eaten by fish. Brian gets sick in the water but is able to make it back to his camp site to get some sleep. -
The Rescue
The next morning Brian opens the survival pack, which contains many useful items. However, there is freeze-dried food that he decides to cook right away. He also finds something labeled "Emergency Transmitter." He plays around with it but it appears not to work. As Brian is preparing his much-anticipated meal, a plane lands on the lake to rescue him. the over all theme of this story by Gary Paulson is that positive thinking and self determination can get you out of alomst anything.