First Flight Real Fright

By Sue Barber

This is a suspense-filled story of survival. John A. Childress takes his first airplane flight with his hunting buddies. A long-awaited hunting trip is turned into a survival trial. The plane which was flying the four young men across the country has trouble. After being separated, do they survive an unfamiliar swamp filled with dangerous animals, snakes, and alligators? They have only themselves to rely on and their hunting skills. Do they all survive? This is their story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Dec 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483420653

Book preview

FIRST FLIGHT

REAL FRIGHT

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Sue Barber

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Copyright © 2014 Sue Barber.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2066-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2067-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2065-3 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 12/1/2014

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my family who are a blessing to me.

Chapter 1

O utside the sun was shining brightly. It was a perfect autumn day. Soft, white cumulus clouds floated high in the cool blue sky.

This was going to be an exciting day for me, John A. Childress. I was going to be taking my first, my very first, airplane ride. I wasn’t afraid when I thought about flying, about leaving the ground and being high in the sky above the world. This was something I had dreamed about for a long time. I was walking back and forth across the bedroom floor, going from backpack to suitcase. Every few seconds I looked out the window. I was checking carefully to make sure everything was packed for this trip. Across the bed lay: the hunting rifle in a brown vinyl case, leather high-top hunting shoes and thick socks, boxes of ammunition for the 30/30 rifle, a sharpened skinning knife in its sheath, special high-powered field glasses, and camouflaged coveralls and gloves. Each thing was to be placed in a particular box, bag or suitcase.

Months of planning, saving and preparation had gone into this long-awaited trip. My Aunt Lois and Uncle Willie Hatfield live in Glendale, Arizona. They also own a cabin in the mountains of Show Low, Arizona. They have invited me to come out there many times. Uncle Willie had talked very often about all the deer and bear they would see each time they stayed at their cabin. They asked me, Why don’t you come out here and stay at our cabin on your vacation? You can bring a couple of your hunting buddies with you. You would have a great time hunting up there. So I made plans to take them up on their offer. Two of my friends and a pilot friend of ours were going with me on this special trip.

My friends, Joe Messick and Alan Smith drove up. Joe honked the horn and I stuck my head out the door and motioned for them to come in. The three of us loaded my belongings into Joe’s truck. I locked the door to the house and climbed in beside Alan and Joe in the pick-up truck. We were on our way. Joe was driving his blue, 4x4, Ford truck. Alan, the comic, laughed and joked every mile as the three of us rode to the airport.

We laughed and talked about all we were going to do while we were on this vacation. The fifty miles to the airport seemed short. After paying and leaving Joe’s truck in a special parking area, we headed to the plane. We climbed aboard carrying our hunting gear and luggage. We were aboard a small silver, twin-engine plane. The three of us had hired Mack Jones, a private pilot and friend, to fly us across country. A hunting vacation in the mountains of Show Low, Arizona, was our planned destination. The plane was up in the air! I let my breath go. I had been holding it for what seemed like a long, long time.

I was constantly looking down through the small window of the airplane. I was truly amazed at the view below.

Chapter 2

H ow long have we been flying? Joe asked.

One hour, answered Alan, as he reached for the food pack. He had brought along sandwiches and other snack food for the six hour trip.

Constantly, I looked out the small window of the plane. Below, all I could see was timber land for miles and miles. Areas of what looked like swamp land covered much of the land that was left. I didn’t see a house or building anywhere.

What’s down there, John? asked Alan, as he