Imagine this.

You're on a long, exhausting drive home from a relative's place in the middle of a forested mountain miles away from the urban jungle you're used to. Your eyes feel heavy, the dash-board lights become dreamy blurs in your night vision and the clock on the radio seems to have gone back in time. What time was it when you last checked the time? How much further do you have to go? How was your wife's day? You imagine laying in bed with her--your fingers running through her silk-like hair. She smiles and you smile back. Then all of a sudden the loudest explosion you'll ever hear wakes you from your slumber and your vehicle tumbles down a steep decline at the side of the highway you were just driving on.


Tossing and turning, vertigo kicking in, you don't believe how many curse words you've repeated in a span of thirty seconds and then suddenly...things stop, just as fast as they started. Obviously, you're awake, dazed and confused; wondering what the hell just happened. A small fire bursts from the crumpled front end of your jeep and adrenaline kicks in. You struggle to undo the seat-belt, at this point not even caring how the hell the fire started but the belt's jammed. You groan and curse and yell as you struggle to free yourself.


But out of the blue your thoughts calm and instinct kicks in.

Your knife.


Fumbling for the Spydero clipped inside your pocket, you flip out the silver blade that glints in the light from the fire and slash at the fabric running across your chest and hips. Unraveling the belt, you attempt to move only to feel a shocking pain shooting up your spine from your right leg. Taking a quick glance, you notice that you're bleeding from just below the knee cap. The fire begins to engulf the remainder of the engine block and it creeps forward towards you. You respiratory and circulatory rate shoot up, your vision narrows and the pain in your leg suddenly subsides. You even have the foresight to grab your Maxpedition backpack out from behind the passenger seat. Just as you begin to crawl out of the already broken driver's side window--you notice that the fire is moving faster and faster at you.

Without another thought you hoist your self up by grabbing the top of your door and with all your might you extricate your self out of the vehicle as if you've done it millions of times. Those hard early mornings of jogging and weight lifting pays off doesn't it?

Tumbling onto the dirt, you notice that your jeep is now in flames and you know you have to move. Picking yourself up, you jump down into a small dip in the ground by some roots of a tall Grand fir tree. Another explosion--your vehicle is gone. But hopefully it's just a matter of time until someone sees the flames.

A sudden tickling feeling felt on your right leg and you realize that the bleeding hasn't stopped on its own. Rolling up your jean pant legging you realize that there's a rather nasty gash and a steady flow of crimson coming out of it. Instincts kick in. You dig into the breast pocket of your jacket, fish around for the Z-Pak gauze pack and field dressing you taped together and separate the two. Opening up the vacuum-sealed pack of gauze, you press it into your leg. A white hot stinging pain is the consequence but you know you have to do it. Keeping direct pressure with the gauze on your leg, you tear open the field dressing with your teeth and place it over the packing gauze and tie the bandage tails.

You think you're in the clear but something tells you to just make sure. Pulling out your SureFire E1B flashlight from your pocket, you use the deadly bright 200-lumen LED to shine at the environment around you.

Nothing but continuing darkness and trees.

Laying onto your back, you take one deep breath and wait for rescue. You got enough supplies in your backpack for about three to four days, including enough light and other resources to ensure you are picked up by the authorities.

One last thought enters your mind before rest. What's your wife going to think after you blew up the jeep?

-----------------------

Just a short story I decided to write. It comes as a situation that can happen to any of us, no matter how well aware you are. Life is short, and it can be shorter. Make sure you live it fully to the end.

Streamlight Stylus Pro

Honestly one of the best Everyday Carry lights available in the market, the Streamlight Stylus Pro runs at 48 lumens of light capability to allow the user to see things in the dark. Light enough in your pocket and the same length and width as a regular Sharpie pen, you may forget that it's there until you actually need it. The case material is aircraft-grade aluminium with a MIL-spec coating that reduces the chances of having abrasion marks and its tough poly-carbonate lens makes it even stronger if and when you drop it, allowing it to protect the C4 white LED. It's run-time is 6.25 hours and the LED itself has 30,000 hours of use. It also comes in a green LED at 5 lumens to save night vision and lasts 50,000 hours.

The tail-cap switch is both momentary and click-on for constant use. Momentary, best suited for quick searches, and the click-on / constant for bigger tasks. It's unbreakable clip next to the tail-cap allows you to clip it into your pocket instead of fishing around for it.

One great thing about this light, aside from all the other great features; the batteries. Simply pick up two AAA cells, slip them in and you're ready to shine this little thing. It doesn't need the expensive SureFire CR123A batteries that almost costs a fortune. It's available in matte black, silver, green, blaze orange, blue and red.

This light is best suited for law enforcement / security, health-care professionals, industrial workers and mechanics and a simple everyday carry item.

The one reason why I prefer this over it's smaller brother (Streamlight MicroStream, which I'll do a review later on), is that it still gives me that option of a point-impact weapon against an assailant if need be.

Be it a power outage, a back-up light source or just to find your house keys that you may have dropped in your car you will want this in your possession. Costs around $20-30 CAD.