Escaping Paradise

By JEFF WEAKLAND

Husband and wife, Marcus and Nora, are headed for the South Seas to the Cook Islands for a long overdue trip into paradise when tragedy strikes. As a result of an unexpected accident, Marcus starts an adventure of a lifetime. Not a young man, Marcus uses his instincts and knowledge gained through life experiences to navigate the many trials placed before him. Although at times he questions whether or not he has what it takes to survive, he realizes he must continue for love of life and his family. He is pushed further than any other time in his life, even more than when he served in the US Marine Corp. Through the course of his adventures he faces surviving the elements, violence, corruption, and international intrigue. Each in turn gives him the fight of his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Dec 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781426967719

JEFF WEAKLAND

Jeff Weakland lives in a small town outside of Portland, Oregon. He and his wife Nancy built their current house 1997 overlooking a beautiful vista. Jeff and Nancy have two boys and four grandchildren. Jeff is currently retired and is an avid reader with a personal library of over 2000 hardcover books. He is aspiring to be an author, and this is his first book.

Book preview

Contents

PROLOGUE

Part One

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Part Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Thirty-Two

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Five

Thirty-Six

Thirty-Seven

Thirty-Eight

Thirty-Nine

Forty

Forty-One

Forty-Two

Forty-Three

Forty-Four

Forty-Five

Forty-Six

Forty-Seven

Forty-Eight

Forty-Nine

Fifty

Fifty-One

Fifty-Two

Fifty-Three

Fifty-Four

Fifty-Five

Fifty-Six

Fifty-Seven

Fifty-Eight

Fifty-Nine

Sixty

Sixty-One

Sixty-Two

Sixty-Three

Sixty-Four

Sixty-Five

Sixty-Six

Sixty Seven

Sixty Eight

Sixty-Nine

Seventy

Seventy-One

Seventy-Two

Seventy-Three

Seventy-Four

Seventy-Five

Seventy-Six

Seventy-Seven

Seventy-Eight

Seventy-Nine

Eighty

Eighty-One

Eighty-Two

Eighty-Three

Eighty-Four

Eighty-Five

Eighty-Six

Eighty-Seven

Eighty-Eight

Eighty-Nine

Ninety

Ninety-One

Ninety-Two

Ninety-Three

Part Three

Ninety-Four

Ninety-Five

Ninety-Six

Ninety-Seven

Ninety-Eight

Ninety-Nine

One Hundred

One Hundred One

One Hundred Two

One Hundred Three

One Hundred Four

One Hundred Five

One Hundred Six

Epilogue

From the Author

For my wife.

How often we forget all time, when lone,

Admiring Nature’s universal throne,

Her woods-her wilds-her waters-the intense

Reply of ours to her intelligence!—Lord Byron

PROLOGUE

Where do I begin? Here I stand on this beautiful, deserted, tropical island paradise, wondering again at the events that had transpired since my exit from the airplane. I take in the peace and quiet of this isolated beach and think of the great adventures that I have survived. But I’m sad and lonely and I miss my family.

I turn and take in the view of the island. The cliff on this side of the island all but reaches the beach. From it cascades a small ten foot waterfall, which has given me daily fresh water and a shower every time I’ve emerged from the lagoon. The lagoon is in the shape of a perfect arc and it’s crystal clear water is mostly five to six feet deep, with some deeper holes for fishing. The middle of the island has a five hundred foot mountain, which takes up most of the island. I am tanned from this endless summer and lean from my limited diet of coconuts, fish and fruits. This has been my home for a long time now, but now my thoughts turn toward true home.

Part One

The only kind of courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one minute to the next.—Mignon McLaughlin

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One

Marcus

It all started almost a year and a half ago, according to the hash marks on my rock. My wife, Nora, and I were sitting around one night and she asked, So, where are we vacationing next year? I said, Let’s call Paula and Jim, and so we did. Paula is Nora’s younger sister and best friend, and Jim is Paula’s husband of eight years. We frequently traveled together and especially loved to visit tropical locations. It was decided that we would get together the next weekend and talk about where we would go next year. The next Saturday we drove over to their house for the evening.

As we were playing our regular card game of canasta, we were bantering about ideas regarding places to vacation. Jim said, Let’s go some place in the South Pacific. I said, Yes, but where? Paula suggested the Cook Islands. As we played cards we pushed that idea around, and before the night was over we had decided that we were going to the Cook Islands around May of the following year. We would take a two week vacation in the tropics. In the ensuing weeks, Nora, Paula and Jim kept logging onto the internet and eventually they found the perfect vacation package. We had booked a flight to the Cook Islands, in the South Pacific. We were looking for a new paradise. We had been to Mexico and Hawaii many times, as well as the Caribbean, but we were looking for a new adventure. We had found the perfect island and a great place to stay. The cabins were on a pier over the lagoon. Perfect.

The months sped by, and before we knew it, it was time to start planning the itinerary. We made plans with our neighbor’s young daughter to take care of our cats for the duration of our trip. As usual, we waited until the last minute to pack and get all the details for the trip and the house ready. We had next to no sleep the night before our flight. The day finally came and we were at the airport waiting in line to get through security. We made it through smoothly and had time to stop for breakfast and a drink before we boarded. When we were seated and waiting for the door to close, I looked over at my wife and thought, as I usually think, I was the luckiest guy in the world because she married me.

We were flying in a very big and very beautiful brand new jet plane. We were about eight hours into an almost a nine and a half hour flight and had just finished eating lunch when the flight attendant cleared away our trays and we were served some drinks. We were making small talk, but we were all tired from the long flight so far. On flights I usually read, wandered, or drank because most in-flight movies are not my type.

All of a sudden we dropped a couple hundred feet. Then I heard a crack and felt a slight vibration coming from the aircraft. It was as if the sound was all around us. Everyone in the plane either yelled, or sucked in their breath. Things were flying about. Then everybody went quiet and you could hear a pin drop. Nora grabbed my hand and looked at me with concern in her eyes. She is a very confident person, and wasn’t yet scared, just concerned. The pilot turned on the seat belt sign and the flight attendants went about checking everyone to make sure all seat belts were on. We then hit some more turbulence and started bouncing around pretty regularly.

I was sitting next to the window and I could feel the vibration on the wall. I know a little about aircraft design and construction and I knew that wasn’t right. Nora saw me looking at the wall and running my hand around feeling the wall and also listening. She asked, Marcus, what are you doing? I said something like, I hear something, that’s all. Then they looked at me (Jim, Paula and Nora) and a chorus of What’s wrong? rang out. I said, Shush! The vibrations and the noises were starting again and I think they heard it too. They gave me worried looks. I said, I don’t think it’s anything, so don’t worry. The turbulence was getting stronger by now and people were getting excited. I felt the wall again and I felt a little draft and a slight hiss, then I became worried.

I said to Nora, I’ll be right back. I took my seatbelt off and stood up; I moved out to the aisle and started up towards where the flight attendant was and he came over and told me to sit down and buckle in. I told him I needed to talk with him alone and maybe the pilots as well. He looked at me like maybe I was a highjacker. I leaned close to his ear and whispered, No it’s not that, there is something wrong with this aircraft. He responded with a startled look and I said, I need to talk to you or the pilots. I started getting a little upset with him. He was about five eight and one hundred sixty pounds; I was six foot and two hundred pounds. I felt maybe I was saving his life and he was giving me a load of crap. We both settled down and he said, Follow me. We ended up in the crew galley and he closed the curtain. He turned and asked, What?

I explained to him what I had observed from my seat; the noise and vibration coming from the wall of the aircraft and my fears that maybe there might be some structural damage occurring. I told him of my aircraft training. He looked as if he wasn’t sure if I was sane or not.

He said, Let’s go back and take a look.

It’s your call. What about the passengers? What will they think when you’re sitting in my seat and inspecting the wall and ceiling?

I need to look at it first, and it’s better if I look, then I can make an assessment.

Okay.

So we went back to my seat and he had Nora move to another seat and asked her to put on the seat belt. He sat down in my seat and started looking and feeling the wall and as predicted the people around us started talking and getting excited. He turned and stood up and said, Okay people, settle down. I’m just being overcautious about a noise. Mr. Winthrop thinks he heard an unusual sound, but believe me when I say that this is a brand new aircraft and there is nothing wrong with it. Again, I am just being over cautious.

All of a sudden there was a loud explosion. I felt myself being sucked forward. There was bedlam all around, things not nailed down started flying around and being sucked out of the hole that had appeared next to my seat. The oxygen masks came down, adding to the confusion. I could see daylight through the side of the aircraft and I became very scared. It was like slow motion, that I was being sucked towards the hole, like a vacuum. Things started hitting me and flying by me into the hole. I could see Nora trying to grab me. The flight attendant was looking at the hole in the wall next to my seat and the horror was evident on his face as he realized he wasn’t strapped in. In an instant, he was sucked to the hole and was stuck for a second and then with a bang, he was gone. The hole was now bigger. I had time to think as I was being sucked toward the hole, that this was a hell of a way to die. I know we all have to die sometime, but I felt cheated dying this way. Nora and Jim grabbed me and tried to keep me from being sucked out. But I knew if she didn’t let go of me, she in turn might be going out too. So I grabbed her hand and pulled her hand away from me and I mouthed the words, Let me go. She looked at me for a second and pleaded with me to hold on. I shook my head and yelled, I love you. Then I was through the hole and was outside of the aircraft. I noticed right away how cold it was and I couldn’t breathe. Then I passed out, thank God.

Two

Nora

I was screaming and trying to hold on to Marcus’s hand or body to prevent him from going out the hole in the aircraft. I was yelling, No Marcus! Hold on! In that brief moment Marcus turned towards me and it felt like it was all in slow motion. As he was moving in the air towards the hole, he turned his head and looked me right in the eyes. His face was only two or three inches from mine as he mouthed the words, Let me go, you must hang on yourself. It’s okay, you’ll be okay. I love you. Out the hole he went and that’s the last thing I remember for a while.

I learned later that Jim and Paula both were hurt from flying objects and couldn’t get to me after I was hit by a flying object, so they just held on. It was a scene of pure bedlam in the plane during the descent to below 10,000 feet. The plane was shaking very badly and lots of people were screaming and hanging on to each other. One more passenger and another flight attendant were blown out of the hole before some larger objects were caught in the opening, causing the force of the air rushing out to decline.

The pilot took control of the aircraft and the copilot started his assigned duties in this situation. Both the copilot and the pilot put on their oxygen masks. The copilot called the aircraft controller on Cook Islands and started issuing his distress call, Mayday. Mayday. This is flight 3516 out of Hawaii to the Cook Islands, heavy. We have lost cabin pressure and are going to 10,000 feet. We will need emergency and medical assistance upon landing.

It seemed to take forever to get down 10,000 feet in altitude, but after several minutes the pilot leveled out the airplane. The pilot came on the intercom a few minutes later and told the flight attendants to take stock of the passengers as the copilot came back and was taking a look at the damage. I found out later that they moved me from my seat and put me in another so they could add some more debris to keep the hole from getting larger. When I awoke a short time later I found they had put a wet cloth on my head and the attendants were busy accounting for the passengers. They worked to straighten out the mess in the main cabin. The pilot came back on and said, This is Captain Minton. I just wanted to let you all know that we are in contact with the tower and we are about one hour away from landing. With this aircraft we need a 10,000 foot runway and Cook Island, our original destination, is the nearest one, so just hang on and we will get there soon. There is an aircraft carrier in the area and they are going to send up two F-18 Hornets to escort us in. The aircraft carrier will proceed to the site where the four people were lost and start searching. Please hang in there people and we will get on the ground as soon as possible and get medical assistance as needed.

Three

Marcus

The next thing I knew it was nearly dawn and when I first woke up I didn’t know where I was. I started shaking; I felt dizzy and I started screaming and going crazy. I felt things crawling all over me and I was spitting out stuff from my mouth. I was pulling stuff from my hair. I tried to stand up, but felt an excruciating headache that brought me to my knees again. I staggered up and was dizzy and disoriented. I ran around, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. Sand, water, palm trees—where the hell was I? I remembered very little as to what happened, but when I sat down and tried to think it started coming back to me. I remembered about the airplane and the hole that was blown out next to my seat and I remembered the flight attendant getting sucked out and the hole getting bigger. I remember seeing Nora trying to hold on to me as the vacuum started pulling me towards the hole. I saw things being sucked out and then the oxygen mask popped down and the noise was horrendous. Nora was trying everything she could do to save me, and I yelled at her to not release her seatbelt. I held on to whatever I could and I knew I was in trouble as I pushed Nora’s hand away so I wouldn’t take her with me. Then I remembered being sucked out of the aircraft and I was screaming and tumbling. It was so cold that I must have blacked out. It appeared I had landed on a beach somewhere. I started slowing down, and letting my heart go back to normal. I looked around to see where I was and tried to understand, why I was still alive?

I then took stock of myself. I was covered in injuries. My headache was hard to bear; I felt a hot point of pain centering on my nose which I guessed to be broken. There were abrasions covering the left side of my body which reminded me of descriptions of ‘road rash’ commonly experienced in cycling accidents. I noticed dark bruising on several places; it looked like I had been beaten with a club. I had bite marks over all of my body. I looked around and I saw many sand crabs running all over the place, then I realized what that meant. They must have thought I was dead and they started eating me. I shuddered at the thought.

I realized I was saved for whatever reason, because of the good Lord Jesus Christ. So I got down on my knees and started thanking the Lord for saving me and I prayed the plane stayed in one piece and nobody else was lost from the aircraft. I had always thought that I had one powerful guardian angel as I have been in one tight spot after another throughout my life, but for some reason I always made it through. I was not sure why I had been spared again, but I prayed to give thanks. I prayed that Nora was okay and had made it to the ground safely.

I got up and started looking around, the sun was rising and I could see things now. I still was pretty upset and shaken and probably still not thinking straight, but I gave it a good try. My injuries were dulling my senses and the pain was overwhelming me at this point. I instinctively lay back down and curled into a fetal position. Blessedly, I must have lost consciousness again.

I woke up with the sun in my eyes and the warm ocean breeze in my face. I sat up and I looked around, and yes, I did see lots of sand crabs but they seemed to have kept their distance this time. But I noticed the sandy beach; I saw that the beach was about twenty-five feet wide to the shore line and only about a football field long. The sand felt warm and not coarse and the ocean was blue and not very deep for a ways out. There was a roar from the surf about six hundred feet out and I thought it must be a coral reef out there, so by the time the waves got to me it was very gentle. I waded out into the surf for a short distance until the water reached my waist. I dropped down and started swimming and seeing lots of fish and marine life about. I popped back up and at first my cuts and abrasions were stinging which I hoped would help heal my wounds. I decided not to push my luck and headed back to the beach because I wasn’t the best swimmer. I got out of the ocean and headed up the beach towards a waterfall. I saw something dark and small lying in the water at the bottom of the small waterfall. As I got closer it seemed to be trying to move, and on closer observation it was shivering. It was a baby monkey. I knew that monkeys are pack animals and they could be very ferocious, so I backed up and was looking around for the pack and listening, but all was quiet. Why had he been left behind? I cautiously went up to the little guy and stooped down and pulled him out of the water onto the soft, dry, and warm sandy beach. He hissed at me and tried to get away but he was too weak to even go a few inches. So I left him for a few minutes to warm up and I went over to the waterfall. I reached up and tasted it, and it was fresh water. I had fresh water!

I needed to know where I was. There were no people or signs of civilization in sight, so I set out in search of something or someone. I needed help and I needed to try and get in touch with my wife. I started walking up the small valley and moving to my right, I hiked for about ten minutes and climbed a small ridge. Then I saw why, by the grace of God, I had lived through falling from thirty thousand feet. The top of the mountain like I previously had seen was at about five hundred feet and sloped down at a thirty degree angle, with a heavy growth of jungle. I could see broken branches which I took as evidence that this had been my path. I figured I had hit the razorback ridge going at about 125 mph, but the steep incline slowed me down rather than stopping me dead, literally. As I slid rapidly down the steep incline I must have hit vegetation and debris which further slowed my descent. Near the bottom of the mountain the angle of the slope changed and became less severe, almost like a ski jump. I slid down that, over a small cliff, and through some more trees and then into a deep pond. It must have been deep enough that I was able to avoid impact with the bottom. I must have come up for air and then dropped over the waterfall, which drops about ten feet onto the beach. Wow! I couldn’t believe I was still alive. But I was still worried about Nora and prayed to God the plane had held together.

I wanted to get to a high vantage point so that I could determine which direction to go in search of people, so I started to climb the mountainside. But my injuries were crying out. I could go no further at this point, so I turned around and started back down the mountain. I gingerly made my way down the hillside. I had no shoes and was wearing only shorts. I guess the rest of my clothes blew off when I was blown out of the aircraft. As a result of the loss of my shoes, my progress was even slower. I finally made it down to the beach and walked a short distance to the waterfall. Much to my surprise the little monkey was still there, he just lay there looking at me. Maybe I could get him to drink a little coconut milk. Right from the start I had seen that I had plenty of coconuts, I just had to figure out how to split it or put a hole in it to drink the milk. I was hoping the little monkey would drink that in the place of his mama’s milk. I found a coconut nearby and used a large rock to smash the top. It took a while and was more difficult than I thought it would be. I peeled out the broken pieces of shell and broke through the white flesh beneath. I made more of a gaping hole than I had meant and much of the milk spilled out. I held the little bit of coconut milk I had managed to salvage from the broken coconut up to his lips. He didn’t take to it right away but I coaxed him into taking some of the milk from my finger. Once he got a taste, he did well on his own and he drank until he looked like he was full. I was wondering as he drank the milk if I was doing the best thing for him. How would a little monkey survive without a mother after I wasn’t here to help him? Perhaps I was just delaying the inevitable. But the soft side of me couldn’t bear to see him sit and starve to death.

With no idea of where to go for help, and with the knowledge that I probably couldn’t get there even if I tried due to my injuries, I decided that I should first find something more to eat. Then I knew that I would need rest before venturing back up the mountain to get a better view of where I was. I knew I had all the fresh water I could drink. I began looking for food; I looked toward the trees and immediately saw bananas as well as some other fruits that must surely be edible. This was truly a paradise. I knew I had to be careful with all fruit plants for snakes, poison spiders, and God knows what else could be lurking there. The last thing I needed was a poisonous bite on top of all my injuries. I made my way over and picked some bananas. I was careful to check for spiders as I gathered the bananas. The bananas were green, but edible. I ate my fill and made my way back to the beach to rest. My headache was beginning to subside, but I would need sleep to recover enough to make it up the mountain. I laid down and drifted off to sleep at once.

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Four

Marcus

I awoke, and it was early morning. I had slept through the rest of the day and through the night. My headache had improved immensely, and I was left with only a dull ache. Despite the stiffness of my body, I felt ready to make the hike to determine where I needed to go for help. I looked up at the mountain before me and decided that if I could reach the top I would have a good view of where I was.

I went over and drank some water from the waterfall and took a shower to clean off my body of all of the stuff imbedded into my skin from the fall. It was very painful and I was cussing and squirming as I did that. Then I thought the salt water in the ocean would be helpful, so I waded out into the surf and swam around for a bit and then climbed out; that too was very painful. I didn’t wash off the salt water for a few minutes to help it heal. After I rinsed under the waterfall again I felt better but I was very fatigued so I laid down and fell asleep again for another few hours. When I woke up again I knew I was going to have to look for food for the hunger was gnawing at my stomach. I went into the jungle and right away I saw a banana tree and I ate my fill. I broke open a coconut and drank some coconut milk and I felt better. I found an aloe plant and tore it apart and put the inside of the leaf against my injuries to help heal my cuts.

Now I felt I could try and climb up to the top to see how big the island was and maybe see if there was any civilization on the other side. I could see now there were other islands nearby, unfortunately not close enough to