"Beep, beep, beep, beep", my alarm clock woke me up. I had to set it to go off earlier this morning so we could get a head start to Tennessee. We have been planning a seven day camping trip all week. After all the things were packed, we were on our way.

It was still dark when we left, so we couldn't do anything except sleep. I slept for half the ride. When I woke up, I saw a sign that said we were in Alabama. By then it was day and we were almost there. Then I fell back asleep.

When I woke up the second time, I saw that we were parked. Then I looked out my window and I saw nothing but woods and mountains. I felt like jumping up and running around.

When we cleared an area for our camp site, we began unloading the car. All of a sudden the car started rolling down the mountain! We got what we could out of the car, but the only things we got were some clothes, a box of matches, the tent, a jug of water, and a couple of ropes.

"Well, that's the end of our trip", my brother complained.

"Let's go set up what we have for now, before it gets dark", said my mom.

When we had the tent set up, we made fishing poles out of sticks and some of the rope we pulled out of the car. We caught about five fish and then we started a fire and cooked them.

After dinner we went to bed, but I was still hungry. So I started looking for berries or something. It was dark and I couldn't see a thing, so I headed back. But there were two trails. One with a bridge and one that led through a swamp. I decided to take the one with the bridge.

I walked and walked, and I was getting very tired, so I stopped and rested in a tree by a cave.

I soon fell fast asleep. When I woke up, I heard bushes rattling. I suspected it to be my brother or somebody looking for me. I walked over to where I heard the noise. I saw a black figure roaming around. When I walked closer, I saw a huge bear! Suddenly I saw nothing but blackness.

When I came to, I saw that my leg was cut open on a rock. I leaned forward, held my leg and started calling for help. The only answer I got was my own echo. I was still hungry and tired.

Meanwhile, my family was setting out to find me. It was getting dark. I was at least twenty miles from our camp site. Bob and Joe, my two brothers, went on the trail with the bridge while my mom and dad went through the swamp.

By ten o'clock, I heard sticks cracking and breaking. I began to think of my leg and the bear attack. I became very afraid.

"Hey Joe, come over here. I found him!", yelled Bob. I hopped out of the cold, wet tree, but forgot about my leg. It hurt even more and I fell to the ground. I got back up and grabbed a stick and started limping toward my brothers.

My brother Bob, wrapped my leg in a torn piece of his shirt. Then we all fell asleep on the cold, wet ground.

I woke up and found that I was very cold and wet from the ground. At about eight o'clock, my brothers woke up too.

"Well, we found you but there's still one problem, we're all lost now!", said Bob.

"Well, we can wait until it's dark and make a big fire so someone will see it", said Joe.

Well, it seemed like a good idea but we forgot how to start a fire without matches, so we couldn't. As the day went on, we climbed higher and higher on the mountain. By sundown, we finally made it to the top.

"Wow, we can see everything from up here!", said Joe. Joe was the youngest of our family and he usually didn't care about anything except toys, but this time he did look a little worried.

By dawn, we could see a gray object below. It looked like a pile of junk, but then we noticed four black round objects on each end.

"Hey, that looks like our car!", yelled Joe. Suddenly a rock broke loose under his feet, and Joe slipped. Then we couldn't see anything so Bob and me went down and started looking for Joe.

It just so happened that it was the car and the roof was smashed in. Suddenly, we heard a moan. We looked in the car and it was Joe lying on the seat of the car.

"This seat broke my fall", Joe said, "I was real lucky, too!"

By the time night came, we had almost everything out of the car. Flashlights, clothes, bandages, more ropes, even a spare tire.

Suddenly while we were getting ready to lie down, we heard a thumping. It was the sound of a helicopter.

We jumped up and ran to get the flashlights. We turned them on and started waving them around. The helicopter pilot saw the lights and started to land.

When the door opened, there was my mom and dad sitting in the back!

"Well, there you are!", said my dad, "We were looking all over the place for you!"

We rode in the helicopter for about six hours. The pilot said we had hiked all the way to Kentucky.

My legs were sore and my leg where I cut it was really hurting. I was muddy, wet, and tired. Also, very hungry.

I soon fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in my bed in my room. I was wondering if I was dreaming. So I walked into the dining room. I opened the back door and our car was gone.

It wasn't a dream! I was finally home. Now I could finally get something to eat!

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