The last thing he remembered; he had been running for his life from a black bear. Now he was lying dazed and confused on the ground, the pursuing animal nowhere in sight. His rucksack lay to the side of him, one of the straps torn and broken, but otherwise undamaged. What had happened to him? Crunching upwards into a sitting position, Austin rested his forehead against his knees and tried to remember.
The back of his head ached like he had been hit with a mallet. It throbbed like a heartbeat that filled Austin’s ears and echoed through the forest, a steady and constant reminder that he was still alive. Focusing on the heartbeat, Austin closed his eyes and remembered running through the forest. Samuel had tripped and the bear was closing in on him, so Austin made himself the target and stole the bear’s attention away. But then he had been forced to run.
He darted through the trees, hearing the sound of the bear behind him as it ran on all fours, its heavy paws padding through the undergrowth with ease and precision. Unlike Austin, the bear didn’t have to look out for protruding tree roots or fallen branches, it knew the forest and could sense its path, running without hesitation or hinderance. Austin didn’t have that luxury and he knew he needed to act fast to even the playing field or fall victim to the bear’s sharp and deadly claws.
The Glock 19 jabbed against his spine as he ran, jolted by each movement of his rucksack slamming into the small of his back. Wearing it there as he walked didn’t bother Austin, but due to his increased speed and the uneven terrain, his rucksack slammed into his body much harder, pressing the cold metal of the handgun into his skin. It was a painful but welcome reminder of the weapon he carried there. Without slowing down, Austin reached around his body with his right hand and grabbed hold of the weapon, looking back at the charging animal at the same time and realizing he had precious seconds left to act.
The gun was already loaded, all Austin needed to do was aim and fire. He was a half decent shot, but he wasn’t going to pretend he was capable of hitting the beast without stopping. He needed to make this moment count and he needed to hit the target.
It all happened so fast. Austin dropped to one knee and aimed the weapon at the bear, firing off all eleven rounds that were still in the magazine, plus the one in the chamber, right into the animal’s face. It visibly wounded the creature, but it didn’t stop it. The animal continued forward, teeth gnashing at thin air like a rabid dog as it hurtled toward Austin, the man now left defenseless as he didn’t have time to reload. The bear was going to crash into him; he was going to die and his body would be abandoned in a forest, his family never finding out that he was coming to save them.
Then – just as Austin thought it was all over – the bear collapsed, the effect of the bullets Austin had fired finally flooring the beast and bringing its rampage to an end. Though not before slamming into Austin and sending his body flying backwards, his head smacking into the base of a hard tree truck and knocking him cleanly unconscious, leaving his head blanketed by the shrubbery that surrounded the tree at its roots.
As the memory returned to Austin, he opened his eyes and looked around him, fixating on the body of the bear just a few feet to his right. The animal lay motionless in the soil, the greenery around it damped with red from its blood. It was dead, a fact that Austin took great solace in knowing.
Standing up he groaned once more, his body aching from the impact of both the bear and the tree he had been thrown into. That part had happened too quickly: the bear almost dropping its shoulder and colliding into him like a football player with their opponent, flinging Austin backwards as it lost control of its limbs and slumped to the ground. As he stood over the animal and picked up the handgun from beside it, Austin swallowed and slowly came to terms with what had just happened. Thankfully that was one battle he had won, but looking around the forest now, Austin could see nothing but trees in all directions. He had no clue which direction he had come from and no clue where the road or his companion were. He might have survived the battle with the bear, but he was now engaged in a fight against time to find safety again before darkness fell. There was maybe an hour until the last of the sunlight left the forest floor, time wasn’t on his side.
“Samuel! Samuel, where are you?”
He was well aware of how much more danger he might be putting himself in by shouting and making his location known to whatever or whoever was lurking deeper within the forest, but as desperation took hold of him he also knew he had to do everything within his power to escape. He shouted for his friend at the top of his lungs, picking a path through the forest that looked somewhat flattened already. Austin hoped that was because it was where the bear had torn through, making an educated guess and following it. But as he walked, Austin knew he could well be heading in the entirely wrong direction. Without a compass – the one item which Samuel wore tied around his neck – Austin had no way of knowing if he had chosen the correct path.
Meanwhile, by a stroke of sheer luck, Samuel Westchester had managed to find his way back to the road. But darkness was creeping in quickly
