Rescue

The call for help, a harrowing attempt in a harsh, unforgiving land.

I get a call over the radio at around one a.m asking for help, a driver is out of fuel far from any garage or station.It is morning shift and I am the only means of rescue for another 4 hours at least. In this rugged terrain anything can happen, roads flood and wash away tracks of trucks,rivers and crossings can rage at the blink of an eye causing a load to come loose which can damage a truck or worse kill people.

Right now though the forest is calm and quiet almost as if it knew something is amiss, dark and warm outside I make my way towards the rescue truck. It is a beast of a thing, large over sized tires that are built to withstand anything thrown at or under them, pure heavy steel with a few touches of cancerous rust poking and flaking about.Its old and has been through more than most can handle, but regardless of its past this six wheel drive behemoth surprises me every time.
Working the worn grooved key into the door it turns with ease in this summer morning warmth, grabbing the handle I pop the door open and hoist myself onto the drivers seat. This truck has an attitude about it, like a mind of its own,one must be gentle bringing it to life.

"Alright now Bessy, do me proud once more." I say while rubbing my hand across the dust on the dashboard.
Sliding the ignition key into the dash on the left side of the wheel I turn it two clicks and wait for the tin buzz that lets me know its alright to crank that massive motor over or try to at least. She cranks four times before catching and roaring into life.I shouted " WHOOO! Damn I love this truck" I can feel the sheer torque shaking the cab waiting for me to release the brake and get the gear going but shes old and needs a minute to warm up.
Pushing in the clutch I catch first with a little shove of the stick and let go the brake.

I know my way around this dense forest and most of the paths we use are deeply worn in place, so I follow the path assigned to the fuel-less driver. Branches break,twigs snap and this truck sinks just a tad everywhere she goes under its heavy weight. The path twists and winds through stagnant ponds and waist high mud pits, powering through that is easy with axles locked and all wheels powered.
Water and mud splash and fling while creatures of all sorts are quick to flee from the oncoming noise and diesel smoke.

 Coming out of that and into the next corner is a sheer drop cliff that has taken the lives of many careless drivers who chose speed over caution, the view is amazing as I come to a near stop and admire the sun coming up in the distance over the trees, birds flying as the forest wakes up. Not forgetting someone is waiting for me I slightly push the accelerator pedal and lift up on the clutch but something is wrong, the truck lurches forward quickly without warning.

The truck goes too far and both front wheels drop off the curve of the cliff, bracing for impact I shut my eyes and expect to roll down and meet my maker.
I feel a crash and my head hits the hard roof, slowly opening my eyes I look out the window to see that the truck bottomed out right under the door.

Letting out a sigh of relief I wipe the sweat from my brow and take a second to get off the adrenaline high. Very slowly I open the door and release the seat belt. I can feel Bessy shifting in the dirt on all that weight with every movement I make.
Swiftly leaping from the truck I hit the ground knees first and yell in pain.

"Aghhh!!" The truck makes no movement as I thought it would go over for sure. Rolling off my back and standing up I limp over to the edge, rocks fall and dirt crumbles down the drop off to a pit of massive boulders, trees and rusted out shells of trucks that met ill. "That coulda been us Bessy, damn now I cant go blamin you either, we are in this together." I yelled at the truck.

I walk around to the rear of the truck examining everything over to make sure  nothing else broke. " Looks good to me girl, now how are we gonna get out of this pickle?" I whispered out loud. The winch..YES the winch, Its there for a reason and ive got one in front and back.

Carefully I flick the winch into neutral, grab the heavy cold metal hook and pull the line of braided steel about ten feet out of its reel. Looking around and about out of breath I spot a very well rounded aged Pine tree, so I pull out more and hook that line onto itself near the base of the tree.
Walking back to the truck Im imagining  all the things that could go wrong just as I start pulling that winch line back in, that tree could fall and crush us, man and metal together in the end.

Focusing on my goal I shake those thoughts away and push the drive on the winch, it groans and whines as the reel starts to wind up,the tree makes a few unnerving sounds as the braided wire tightens around it, bark falls and crumbles to bits. That great big tree holds its roots well into the earth though as Bessy starts rolling and sliding away from the cliff edge " YES! SHES GOIN! SHES GOIN!" I yelled and hopped into the air a bit.

Up off the cliff with the winch wound back up and Bessy still running I take a deep breath and continue onward.

Author's Note

W.I.P

Reviews

[Jessi]

This is a fine piece. You are very descriptive. I can see it all so clearly. A little editing would polish it up a bit, but aside from that it is very good.

[edaC]

Thank you. I'm working on it as we speak so stay tuned!