My name is Thomas Carter, I am 17 years old, I live in L.A, and I am very rich. I have a total lack of supervision because my dad was shot and killed a couple of years ago and my mom is about 500 pounds and rarely moves from her bedroom.

I have a sister who does things around the house like cooking and cleaning. I would cook but if I cooked something I would probably burn down the house. I am also horrible at cleaning and if I tried I would end up damaging my house.

The nice part about being rich and living in L.A is you can basically do whatever you want. I don’t go to high school I just hang out with my friend Idiot and my friend Tad.

Tad is one of the smartest people I know but he does not apply his knowledge to everyday life. Idiot is not smart. His real name is Pang Walker, he lives in a house no bigger than my closet. His house is high in the mountains surrounding L.A. Idiot lives with his Mom who seems to be much too nice to be Idiot’s parent.

Tad lives with his aunt and uncle near the beach. Tad is from a very poor family in Compton. Tad’s mom lost a long battle to cancer and Tad’s father was a drug dealer and is now in prison.

So anyway Tad and Idiot came to my house today to hang out and we decided to go on a hike in the mountains. I hopped in my car and drove up into the mountains. We stopped in the bottom of a deep valley. Idiot yelled out to the world “I am the king right here and now”. I smacked idiot because he sounded stupid and we started hiking.

About halfway up Idiot made an awful gargle noise and said “Mountain Lion”.

I looked up and to my horror I see a galloping jungle cat coming straight for my heart. It stopped about 10 feet away from us and stared into my soul. I didn't know what to do. Here was this scary little beast that could definitely eat me. Idiot pointed and let us know that there was a mountain lion staring at us by saying “look at the fuzzy monster.”

Tad bent over and grabbed a long stick and tried to smack the beast but it just dodged the stick and inched closer. Idiot tried to slap the beast but it bit his hand he yelled “bad critter” and ran back down the mountain. Tad did the same. Apparently I was just going to have some alone time with Mr. Lion.

I woke up in a cave and I was bleeding from my head. I realized that I had been dragged by the mountain lion into its cave. I could see outside but it was dark. I sat up but then froze because the scary death critter was watching me with glowing eyes.

It snarled at me and walked over. I think it is possible that I lost too many brain cells from being with Idiot because what I did next was supremely stupid. I grabbed the Death Cat and bit the fiery death molecule directly on the neck. It returned the favor with sharper teeth and on my shoulder. I let out a scream of pure terror and shoved the pure death critter out of the way.

I didn't stop and when I got to the cliff I continued to run. That did not work out well. I fell a long way and landed on my feet. The pain shot through my entire body as my leg collapsed. The cliff was not all that big, about 30 ft high but it was big enough. I knew I couldn't stay where I was or I might be found by the death creature or worse yet I might be found by one of the natives of the mountains AKA crazy hillbillies of death.

The natives of the mountain were well known for being certifiably insane and if they found you in their area they would do horrible things to you. It was amazing the entire L.A police force wasn’t after them considering they had captured about 10 people over the past 5 years.

I tried to stand but there was no way I collapsed immediately the pain was just too much. I tried hopping on one foot but that didn't work because it required lifting my left leg up. It dawned on me that I was going to have to drag myself.

That night it was cold and I was really not doing well. I finally fell asleep only to wake up to foot steps. It was still dark but I could see about 25 ft away from me there were 3 shadowy figures. The one in the middle was holding a knife and the two others had nets. They hadn’t seen me wake up or at least I hadn’t thought they had. I tightened my grip on a rock about the size of my fist and threw it at the one in the middle. He fell hard. I didn’t see him move but one of the other two men grabbed his knife and ran at me.

He was almost upon me when I grabbed another rock and threw it at his head. He ducked but it still caught him on his temple and he fell and wasn’t moving, I grabbed the knife and the other guy ran.

I woke up with the sun beating down on my face. I remembered the encounter that I had with the natives the night before and used that as incentive to get out. I was sunburnt and in pain. I began to drag myself but it was a long way. I knew that Tad and Idiot would be gone but I just had a little hope that they might be there. The spot where we had parked was about 4 miles from where I was and I knew I could get there.

I was wrong by the time it got dark I was not at the car or the place the car was I was exhausted and super thirsty in my backpack I had packed a couple granola bars and some waters but I had drank the water and I had one granola bar left. I ate the granola bar that night.

I woke up because I heard something it sounded like a plane it was light now and I was sure that the person in the plane could see me. There were no roads or just about anything ahead of me. I was alone. Except of course for the sound. It came over the mountain peak its engine rumbling over all of the valley. It was a small plane but it could be rescue I thought. I waved my arms up and down I screamed but I was to small to insignificant for any plane to see me or hear me. The plane never showed any sign of seeing me it just continued going over all the mountains until at last I could no longer hear it.

    After the plane left I felt crushed my entire will to survive was gone my one chance of rescue had flown off far away having no idea that I was down there. If I had any shred of hope it was very small. It was very hot and my thirst was kicking in I was very dehydrated and was desperate for water.

    Near the end of the day i was still crawling around looking for water but I had found nothing. I was very sunburnt and I had no hope I was done. It was night now and the cold set in no longer was dehydration my biggest issue it was surviving the cold it was probably about 30 degrees but I couldn't stand it I was sure I would freeze to death.

    I fell asleep on a steep incline it was a precarious situation but I had to stop there because I could not go any further from where I was. I remembered Falling from where I was in the night but I was sure it was a dream. However when I woke I was no longer on a steep incline. I opened my eyes and my senses began to work again but I was still dehydrated. I heard a dripping behind me. I turned my head and to my absolute gratitude there was a small stream with clean looking water.

    I moved myself over to the stream and drank from it. The water was cold it felt like the greatest thing in the world as I drank liters and liters of water. I had a new hope I could make it out with this new energy. this was my 4th day at least that was what I thought I was sure that with this newfound energy I could make it out.

    At about midday I came upon the dirt road that we had taken into the valley. I followed this road at a slow pace because of my broken leg. It was not a long road and soon enough I came upon a more traveled road. I stood where I was thinking about how I had come all this way and I wasn't out yet.

For the first time in a long time I was in the shade covered by a thick canopy of trees I heard a noise up ahead and saw the car come around the bend it stopped about 5 ft in front of me. A woman in her mid thirties with dark hair stepped out she spoke with a deep southern accent and said

“You look like you might need a ride home.”

I said “No don’t drive me home take me to the Hospital or I might die as you can see I am not in great physical shape and am in no position to be anywhere but the Hospital!!.”

She said “well ya didn't have to be so harsh about it.”

I apologized for being so mean. When she dropped me off at the Hospital I thanked her for taking me there and crawled my way to the Hospital.

I thought it was a bit odd that she didn’t help me into the hospital but she was gone before I could ask for her help. When I entered several nurses went to help me they put me on a cart and wheeled me into a room they put a mask type thing over my face and everything went blank.

I awoke to a light room my sister was standing next to my bed and Tad and Idiot were standing across the room. Idiot ran to me and yelled “you're alive.”

I told Idiot to shut up because I was obviously alive. Tad walked over to me and said “How did you make it out.” I told him my story and he was shocked at how I had made it out with a broken leg and truthfully I didn’t know how I had made it out.

The doctors and nurses told me that I was having surgery on my knee. When they brought me to the operating room I was knocked out by a gas mask and then they operated on me.

I woke up suddenly and I was back in my room with Tad and Idiot. A nurse told me I would be discharged in a couple hours. They gave me a pair of crutches and I walked right out of the hospital and down about two blocks where I found my home.

When I entered my house my mother who had not done much of anything to help me in my time in the Hospital didn’t bat an eye when I walked into the house. She acted as if I hadn’t ever been gone and as usual she ignored me and sat in her chair, which besides her room was the only place you would find her. Finally she looked up and asked “is there something you are expecting from me because if not you can leave.”

I heard those words and didn’t say anything for a couple minutes or at least it felt like it. I felt the anger surge in my body who was she to say this I thought. I turned around and walked out of the house in a hurry I was so angry I didn’t even look back.

My family. I did my weird limp run for a very long time not in going to any particular place I just wanted to get away.

I found myself on a beautiful beach that my dad had taken me when I was young it reminded me of him and made me feel a little bit better. I sat on the beach and just watched the sun go down. I curled up under a big tree and went to sleep.

I woke up to the sound of the ocean continuously pounding the beach. I walked along near the water. I was still just so angry. I sat down right at the water's edge there were no people to bother me or any mountain lions to eat me. I was wrong about the mountain lion part.

I heard a snarl about 20 feet away and I turned around, I thought about running but decided against it because it would catch me. I stared into the death creature’s eyes and it started running at me. When it got closeI saw the scar on its neck from me biting it this was the one who had tracked me down. This mountain lion was back for blood.

There was a stick behind me, I grabbed it and smacked the critter in the face. The hit on the creature barely did anything it just continued coming for my throat. I dodged to the right and it nicked my leg and I fell. It ran at me and bit my neck. I couldn’t move as I felt the blood run out of my neck. I struggled to block the blood from leaving my neck but as I tried everything went blank.