Kreigh tied the bandanna in a tight knot just below his knee and sat for a few seconds. He waited to see if his foot turned cold.
It did.
He loosened the makeshift tourniquet just a bit, trying to balance a complete shut off of blood with the need to stem the flow of the venom throughout his body. Finally, he achieved what he hoped was the proper compromise. He sat back, a wave of exhaustion flowed through him.
Suddenly he leaned forward and wretched the dried fruit he’d consumed just before stepping on the copperhead. Whether it was due to his own frightened condition or the venom potentially coursing through his body, he wasn’t sure. What he WAS sure about was the need to get to help as quickly as possible.
No easy feat, since he left on this hike in the hills eastern Oklahoma two hours ago, and now he was walking on a sore leg, which was getting stiffer by the minute, and fighting the effects of snake venom.
Kreigh was no stranger to survival training. Five years in the Army will teach you that. In great detail. He loved the outdoors, under wide open skies. Why he chose to live in the hills of eastern Oklahoma, instead of his home territory of the Pacific Northwest, he still hadn’t figured out. OK, he loved his wife and this is where her family lives. He just didn’t share her love of staying indoors so much
He still had enough water left. Enough, that is, if he could make good time back to his car. The thought of his children Kimberly and Erin, gave him more resolve. He looked up. Few clouds filled the sky and heat exhaustion could be a problem if he ran out of water.
With each step, his thirst grew. He knew that was as much from the effects of the venom as it was from the heat of the day. Before he realized it, he was down to only a few ounces of water. He’d better start conserving it.
Water he could conserve. Energy he couldn’t. His feet and legs felt as if they were made of lead. He stumbled and bumped the bite area onto a rock. The pain caused him to become so light-headed, he collapsed.
He started shivering. Kreigh knew it was from shock. He couldn’t wrap a blanket around himself, but he could elevate his legs. He laid his feet on the very rock that had slammed into his wound.
Visions of his girls floated in and out of his memory. There was so much he wanted to share with them, to teach them.
Looking up at the sky, he noticed a pair of vultures carousing in the sky. Carousing? Cruising the sky. Can birds carouse? he wondered. They don’t drink, but they might get into an over-ripe berry bush that had started to ferment.
Vultures! Were they waiting for him to die? He looked at his leg, elevated on the rock. It suddenly dawned on him that raising the leg would cause the venom to flow downhill to his heart. He sat up quickly – too quickly – and felt his head swoon again.
He needed help and he needed it fast. Looking around, he noticed the rotting log of a long-fallen tree. Maybe, if he started a fire, someone might see the smoke. Kreigh half crawled, half dragged his throbbing leg to the log. He stuffed some dry grass inside one of the hollow ends and lit it with his last match. It caught fire, and it rapidly spread throughout the parched log.
Kreigh crawled back as far as he could and waited, before exhaustion set in. There were more vultures in the sky. They were definitely waiting. One seemed to swoop down at him. The shadow covered his face. He closed his eyes, waiting for the sting of the sharp beak.
“Everything is going to be fine. What is your name? What happened to you?”
Kreigh managed to focus his eyes on the ranger’s hat, then his badge. “Snake bite, copperhead,” he whispered, then his head fell back to the sand.
Kreigh could feel them lifting his body into the back of the van. He wasn’t sure if he helped them or just laid there. “Luckily for you, we saw the smoke. Your leg is so swollen, another hour might have been you last.”
Kreigh looked up at the sky. Not a vulture in sight.
What a beautiful, blue sky.