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but I continued to try to strike.  Each attempt grew weaker.  Regaining my footing was difficult due to the rocks on the shore.  They were slippery with blood.  Gravity put me flat on my back.  I tried to call out but could not as the numbness came into my neck and shoulders.  The creatures were starting to eat my flesh as my strength left me.  I lay there panting and almost paralyzed.  The numb sensation turned slightly euphoric as it allowed the creatures to ease me gently toward death.  My arm dropped to my side, struck a rock, and started to bleed.
    My other hand found its grip somehow and closed around the sharp stone.  I mustered everything from deep within and sat up.  Swinging the stone, I smashed the creature’s skull with devastating force.  It let out a short cry and fell limp, releasing its grip on my leg.  Teeth slid down my flesh, tearing me open even more.  The creature gently bobbed and floated away once it let go of my destroyed leg.
    The second of the two beasts saw these events unfold and renewed its claim on my right arm.  Very little strength remained as the damage worsened.  My right leg was no longer recognizable, and my arm was practically down the creature’s throat.  It did some sort of frenzied move, as if to swallow my entire arm.  I was thankful for the numbness now, since such pain would certainly have caused my body to shut down and go into shock.  Getting up on my left elbow was more than a chore and I tried to find another sharp rock, but to no avail.  Blood flowed freely from my right forearm and made it hard for me to grip anything. 
    Seconds rolled by and panic was setting in.  The adrenaline finally hit me while the anger and the sheer force of will were fighting to stay conscious long enough to kill the thing.  If that succeeded, I did not know.  Self-doubt hit.  I worried that walking was not going to be an option and camp was not even close.  For a moment, I wondered where my damn teacher was and how this could have happened after everything I had learned.  Finally consumed and digested by something unidentifiable was irony within irony.
    Refocusing yielded a stone and the strength to swing it mustered in my core.  The blow glanced off the creature’s thick hide, making it squeal again.  Yet it kept chomping away on my arm.  Swinging repeatedly, I saw a few chunks of its scaly, thick hide break off.  Blackish, rotten-smelling blood oozed from the creature.  Nearly spent and out of strength, I started to believe I was about to fail and lose this fight to something that was even lower on the food chain than I was. 
    Blood covered the shoreline, theirs, and mine.  A vile stench overcame my senses and the need to vomit struck.  Breakfast came back up and it hit the creature right in the eyes and splattered all over its face.  Howls of pain ensued as the acid and food particles got into the sockets and began to burn.  It thrashed around for a few seconds before I lost sight of it and passed out.  Blackness must have taken me suddenly, for I had no memory of hitting my head on the ground.
     
    *     *     *
     
    The wind blew gently across my face causing goose bumps to rise up, which, in turn, caused pain in the damaged areas of my body.  I felt cold all over.  My eyes barely saw the sun setting in the sky, and the brightness that shone on the hills intensified right at dusk.  Everything hurt.  Lying there, my other senses began to register the feelings of more pain and cold and wet.  It took a moment to orientate myself to my surroundings.  My brain even hurt with sickness and I felt dizzy with weakness.  The lingering taste of my breakfast reminded me that I had released it into the face of a creature.  My throat burned from not getting a chance to rinse it out.
    Hard to do that when you are out cold.
    I tried to raise my head, but more pain followed, then nausea.  I fought to hold down what food remained in my stomach: food that