Hatchet

Brian recounts “First Arrow Day […] That brought First Rabbit Day” (138). Now he can catch birds, rabbits, and fish. Even though nothing fully satiates his hunger, he feels better with all these options. One day while cleaning a freshly hunted foolbird at the lake’s edge, Brian is suddenly attacked from behind by a moose. The moose uses her hooves to shove him into the lake and hold him down. Each time he resurfaces, ribs badly injured, she attacks again. He finally finds a way to move slowly enough not to spook her, slinking out of the lake and up to shore. He is seriously injured and exhausted from holding his breath and fighting for oxygen for so long. He drifts in and out of sleep, thinking about how random the attack was: “just madness […] so insane” (143).

That night Brian endures another random attack, not from an animal but from the weather. A tornado hits and destroys his shelter, whipping him “against the front wall of the shelter like a rag” (145). Brian thinks about how confident and happy he was that morning, only to be taken out by a moose attack and a tornado. He notes, “there is a difference now […] When the light comes I’ll start to rebuild.