Survivor Type

Infobox short story |
name = Survivor Type
author = Stephen King
country = United States
language = English
genre = Horror short story
published_in = "Terrors" (1st release),
"Skeleton Crew"
publication_type = Anthology
publisher =
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pub_date = 1982 (1st release)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Survivor Type" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the 1982 horror anthology "Terrors", edited by Charles L. Grant, and collected in the 1985 volume "Skeleton Crew".

Plot summary

"Survivor Type" is written as the diary of a disgraced surgeon, Richard Pine (real name Richard Pinzetti), who, while attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin on a cruise ship, finds himself marooned on a tiny island in the Pacific with very limited supplies and no food. A self-proclaimed "survivor" type, his diary entries documenting his day to day activities become more and more disjointed and raving (similar to the writing technique used in "Flowers for Algernon"), revealing his slow mental decay and eventual insanity caused by starvation, isolation, and drug use. Determined to hold out for rescue, he goes to horrifying lengths to survive, using his surgical training to amputate his own limbs to use as a food source, ingesting the heroin for anesthesia during the operations. His last few diary entries, barely comprehensible, indicate he has cut off and eaten everything below his waist, as well as his ears, and drools uncontrollably as he ponders which body part to consume next. The diary entries end when he cuts off his left hand to eat. ("lady fingers they taste like lady fingers").