Kurt Ralls is content with his life, he is a strong man with a build of 6’1 and 193 pounds.

You would never forget his face with his deep green eyes, thick brown beard and a smile that

warmed the room. He is an avid outdoorsman and works at the local lumber mill in greenwood

Iowa. If you ask Kurt what is his favorite thing to do you will get the same answer every time

and that is to put his kids in the back of his Dodge Ram and take them to get ice cream every

friday. Kurt went to at 9:00 pm same as every other night but little did he know what he would

wake up to. It’s a blistering 103 degrees out and the heat stirs Kurt from his sleep. “Why is it so

damn hot! it’s the middle of winter, I must have the heat on ” Kurt thinks to himself. “I’m

turning turn the heat off.” he says to his Wife. No response. he reaches over to wake her up but

nobody is there. His eyes flash open and he jolts up, looks around and nothing looks familiar first

off he is outside and and he knows for a fact he went to sleep in his house. He turns around to

stare at his house but there is nothing but tall trees and shrubs, then it clicks Kurt was no longer

in Iowa but judging by the heat and humidity , lack of light, high trees and tropical wildlife Kurt

understood that he had been dumped in the middle of an unforgiving rain forest. Kurt wanted to

know how, who, when, what, where and why but he put these questions aside because he knew

he had to survive. He had been left wearing a t-shirt, jeans and boots in his pocket he had a flint

and steel, two water purification tablets and a hand scribbled note that said good luck Kurt Ralls.

Kurt pockets the message, he knew someone wanted him to suffer but he had no enemy’s

he desperately wanted to know why but that was the least of his worry’s at the moment. He knew

he should get moving but he didn’t know what direction to go, everything looked the same. So

he closed his eyes and spun around in circles he quickly opened his eyes “this way it is” said

Kurt, and he quickly trudged off into the tropical wilderness. The environment was awful, it was

blistering hot and extremely humid and the ground was damp and muddy Kurt felt like he was

walking through glue with every step. Even though it was hot it was also dark the forest canopy

made a massive shadow over Kurt. After a few hours the day begins to fade into twilight, Kurt

quickly realizes that he will need to gather materials to build a fire before the darkness engulfs

the forest. He threw himself on the ground frantically searching for anything that will burn, he

placed all his materials in a pile and lit them with the flint and steel, Kurt blew into the fire to

give it oxygen and his little spark instantly sprouted into a roaring fire. Relief washed over Kurts

eyes as he rested against the tree behind and faded into a blissful sleep. Kurt woke up at dawn

and he got up immediately he looked down and saw his fire had dwindled to dust but that didn’t

matter because Kurt had to keep moving, he continued in the same direction as he was headed

yesterday. After a few hours Kurt despair grabbed the reins and Kurt wondered if he would ever

see his family again, but he kept walking. Kurt began to notice that the ground was getting wetter

and that vegetation start growing on the forest floor, he started walking faster and then started

running. Then to his complete and utter joy Kurt stumbled upon a river and this meant one thing

all rivers lead to the ocean and the coast means civilization. Kurt began walking fast up the river

he knew he couldn’t be far, after a few hours Kurt stopped and felt the ocean breeze wrap around

him. He began sprinting forward and follows the last bend of the river and … BOOM he sees the

majestic ocean and just his luck he sees a small village in the river delta, Kurt’s struggle was

finally over. Kurt make a beeline for the nearest hut and begins pounding on the door: “ anybody

home!” “somebody help!” yelled Kurt. Suddenly an old man opens the door “ do you speak

English?” demanded Kurt. “Angel!” yelled the man and what appeared to be the man’s grandson

came to the door. “I Speak English sir” “who are you?” said the boy. “My name is Kurt Ralls I

am from the US and I don’t know where I am or how I got here, please help me.” “Sounds like

you got a lot on your plate, my name is Angel.” exclaimed Angel. “Nice to meet you Angel” said

Kurt. Well you are in the country of Ecuador, I’m going to leave it to you to figure out how you

got here but I suppose you will need me to drive you to the embassy in the city? proposed Angel.

“I don’t know how to thank you Angel” said Kurt. “There’s no need I am happy to do it, my

truck is out back we should hit the road, the city is 2 hours away.” The pair hoped in the truck

and took off on the dirt road towards the city.