The Woods - N W (bookstand for reading TXT) 📗

Final Draft

Noah Ward

The Woods

The gentle breeze was weaving between the trees. The beautiful red, orange, and yellow maple leaves were rustling in the wind. Deer were frolicking around on the crunchy ground floor. The birds were chirping to a soft tune. Fall had arrived.

“Time to wake-up Son; we need to get moving.” His Dad whispered.

“Can’t I sleep just a bit longer Dad. What time is it?” Ethan questioned.

“It’s 4:15. Shooting hours are in about an hour and a half. We need to be out in our stands in the next 45 minutes. Let’s not be late otherwise we won’t see a thing.” His Dad replied.

“Alright, I’ll be ready in a few.” Ethan muttered.

Ethan and his Dad just pulled up in their truck to their 100 acre wooded property. They have spent countless hours planting food plots that summer for the deer. They planted a couple plots of corn, a plot of sugar beets and oats, and a plot of alfalfa. They have several hunting stand locations scattered around those plots.

“Okay Son, now we have to be very quiet when walking through the woods otherwise we will scare all the deer away.” His Dad whispered quietly.

“Alright Dad, but what if we step on some crunchy leaves? Won’t the deer hear that?” Ethan replied.

“They will, but there is nothing we can do to prevent that. Just try to be stealthy when climbing into your deer stand. If you are quiet the deer won’t know where you are, but if you make any noises the deer will know your location and won’t walk by your stand.” His Dad explained.

“Alright, no deer will hear me climbing into my stand.” Ethan stated.

“Good luck Ethan!” His Dad exclaimed.

“Good luck Dad!” Ethan replied.

Ethan and his Dad walked along a path for a little while until they branched off in separate directions to go to their deer stands.

When Ethan arrived at his deer stand he had to maneuver around groups of leaves, but in the process he didn’t notice a small branch and stepped on it. When he did so he heard something to the right of him get up and run away.

“I had one task and I already blew it!” Ethan angrily whispered to himself.

As Ethan’s Dad was walking to his stand he could hear footsteps behind him and thought it was a deer. As he kept walking he noticed the footsteps had stopped, but could hear a branch crack on a tree ahead of him. He thought it was nothing at first until he felt a piercing pain in the back of his neck. A cougar had jumped on his neck and thrown him to the ground. The claws of the cougar had embedded themselves into Ethan’s Dad’s neck.

“HELP! HELP!” Ethan’s Dad screamed.

When Ethan first heard that scream he noticed how bloodcurdling it was. Ethan went into panic mode. He raced down his stand and loaded his gun because he remembered his Dad used to tell him stories on the cougar sightings in that area. He ran for about 500 yards before coming to a slow stalking position and weaving his body in and out of the trees. He crept up on each tree like he was a stealthy ninja. When Ethan got close enough to see the cougar he was behind a massive white oak tree. When he peered around the corner he accidentally stepped on a twig and the twig cracked. The cougar turned around and that’s when Ethan made eye to eye contact with it. He described it as “A devil inside a monster.” The cougar decided to go after Ethan and started charging after him. When the massive beast did so Ethan raised his gun and looked down is wobbling sight and took aim at the cougar.

“BANG…BANG.”

Two shots rang off. The woods were silent. No birds were chirping nor were the leaves rustling. Ethan was motionless, standing there with his gun still drawn and his face pale. The cougar was laying stationary with its eyes open. Ethan had made two clean shots.

When Ethan was brought back to reality, he realized that his Dad was just attacked by a cougar and he had just killed it. His first instinct was to run over to his Dad. When he did so he saw that his Dad laid motionless, but was still breathing. He noticed that his Dad had various bit marks on his body with blood oozing out everywhere. Ethan ripped off his backpack and searched franticly to find his cell phone. He called 911.

“Hello, what is your emergency?” The dispatcher said in a calm voice.

“My, my Dad was just attacked by a cougar and needs paramedics right away!” Ethan shouted.

“Could you give me your location?” The dispatcher questioned.

“All I know is that we are in the town of Emerald and we are in the middle of the woods.” Ethan replied.

“Okay, we will ping your cell phone’s GPS location. In the mean time you are going to stay on the line with me and I will walk you through how to stop some of the bleeding until the paramedics come. How old are you?” The dispatcher questioned.

Seven minutes have now passed and the paramedics have just arrived. The dispatcher and Ethan exchanged several words before the paramedics arrived to reduce his Dads blood amount.

When the paramedics arrived in a helicopter one perSon pulled Ethan to the side to see if he had any visible wounds and tried to distract him from seeing his Dad. The paramedic that pulled Ethan to the side described Ethan as a “Ghost with puffy red eyes.”

“DAD, DAD!” Ethan bellowed.

“Your Dad is in good hands. They will do everything they can to stop that bleeding. Your Dad will be taken to the hospital in the helicopter and you and I will walk to get your belongings at your stand and will get a ride in the ambulance to the hospital.” The paramedic stated.

“But I want to go with my Dad!” Ethan shouted.

“You can’t go with your Dad in his condition. He replied back. The paramedics need to focus solely on him right now. Alright, let’s go and get your things so we can get to the hospital sooner.” The paramedic replied back.

Ethan and the paramedic were walking to the to his stand when they stumbled across the lifeless cougar’s body. The paramedic looked at where Ethan shot the cougar and was impressed.

“You made two great shots on that beast when he was charging at you.” The paramedic said confidently.

“Thanks, I’m just lucky I didn’t miss.” Ethan replied softly.

When Ethan and the paramedic arrived at the hospital Ethan saw his mother and ran towards her as fast as he could. Tears between Ethan and his mother were exchanged. Ethan told his mom how it all went down and how he killed the cougar himself. His mom was impressed, but was still very shocked at was has happening. Ethan and his mom stayed in the waiting room for about three hours before a doctor came out to talk to him.

When the doctor approached Ethan’s mom, tears rolled down her cheeks. The news that they received was hardening, but it could have been worse. Ethan’s mom was now full on crying with Ethan joining her. They received news that Ethan’s Dad was paralyzed from the cougar breaking his neck on impact. Several ribs were also broken along with an arm and a leg. The doctor said that it will take several months for his Dad to recover.

It wasn’t until a couple days later when Ethan and his mom got to see his Dad. When they first walked in they noticed how Ethan’s Dad had a neck brace and multiple casts on also. Ethan described his Dad as “A mummy.” His Dad had been wrapped from head to toe in bandages. Tears rolled down both faces as they approached Ethan’s Dad. Ethan’s Dad was unresponsive when Ethan tried to talk with him. Ethan got kind of frustrated with himself because he was wondered why it had to happen to his Dad.

After several minutes of just sitting there, Ethan and his mom sitting there they decided that they would go and get some food to eat from the cafeteria. When they opened the door Ethan heard something.

“Hello Ethan.” His Dad whispered

Publication Date: 05-14-2017

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