The vehicle jostled around them, she and Camden rolling hard to the side. Amy righted herself as quickly as she could and bolted back to Camden, pushing himself up to relieve the pressure on his injured leg.

“Are you okay, Camden?”

“Fine, I’m fine.” He grimaced, and turned his head and shouted, “Step on it, Harvey!”

“It won’t go any faster!”

The bear hit the side of the SUV again, even harder than the first time. They werved hard, very close to dipping into the trench on the other side of the road, the woods stretching out on both sides. Harvey wrestled with the steering wheel, shooting furtive looks at the bear while he returned his attention to the road, back and forth.

“Shit, man, shit,” he called out, “that thing won’t leave us alone!”

“Ram it,” Camden said.

“Right, right!” Harvey looked back and ahead, judging the bear’s proximity. He took a sharp turn to the right and then another sharp left kept them on the road. Harvey tried again, a dull thump on the side of the vehicle telling Amy and the men that their SUV was no good as a weapon, defensive or otherwise.

The bear, on the other hand, was better equipped and getting angrier by the second.

Amy shouted, “Where’s the flare gun? Shoot it with the flare gun!”

The bear roared out what sounded like a pooling of its angry energy before another hard ram hit them from the side. The vehicle jostled again, a hard swerve to the left that almost tipped them over.

It was Harvey’s overcorrection to the right which caused them to tip over. At first, it seemed to happen in slow motion. Amy leaned hard to the right as the SUV tipped around her, holding Camden down as the tilting vehicle reached that point of perfect balance on its two left tires. But the crash came hard and fast, Amy and Camden were thrown hard against the driver’s side. She hit her head hard, Camden falling with her, on top of her, all around her. Her ears were ringing, eyesight blurred and wobbly. The SUV finally skid to a halt across the mountain road, the windshield smashed, a light-blue slab of spiderweb cracks and tiny chunks held together by an invisible film.

Amy tried to push herself up, but her body was aching, her limbs intertwined with Camden’s.

“Camden? Camden!” But he was unconscious and laying on top of her, a new and bloody cut on his temple. Amy cradled his head, pushing his lids open to look into his eyes. “Shit! Camden! Come back to me, Camden!” But there was no reaching him. Amy tried to lean over to get a view of Harvey, who was also unconscious, on his back against the driver’s door window, body crumpled, legs folded over his crumpled torso. “Harvey! Harvey, where’s the flare gun?”

But the bear was the only responsive member of the group, and it was so excited by having brought down the vehicle that it seemed all the more determined to claim its prize. It could smell human blood inside, Camden’s blood, Amy was certain of it. It didn’t take much guesswork once the bear started circling them, sniffing and grunting. The battered SUV rolled a bit as the creature tested each side, looking for the easiest way in.

“Harvey, Camden, wake up!” But the two men lay there, both unconscious. Amy knew if she couldn’t rile the men, they’d both be killed, and she would likely be too. It didn’t matter because she wasn’t about to leave Camden behind. She didn’t want to live without him, and she wasn’t about to stand by and let him be devoured by that enraged creature.

Unfolding was a moment of her worst nightmares, the thing she feared most of all, being unwilling and unable to fight.

But everything had changed.

But as Amy tried to push herself up she realized she was pinned by Camden’s bigger, heavier frame, more than two hundred pounds of muscle and hard bone. But even that was no match for the bear, who had found a way into the SUV.

The shattered windshield pushed in with ease, then tore out without the slightest effort from the bear’s long, black claws.

Harvey was only then beginning to stir, groaning, his head lolling on the driver’s door window, his body folded above him. “Www … what the … ?”

“Harvey,” Amy shouted, “where’s the flare gun? We brought it, get it before — ”

But the bear’s roar cut her off, filling the SUV with volume and terror. Harvey screamed, Amy’s view obstructed by the driver’s seat. But she could see his kicking legs and his thrashing arms and head, swatting at the bear as it bit and grabbed at him. “No … no! Get off me, get off!” His high-pitched cries reverberated straight to Amy’s core, and she struggled with all her might to push Camden off her. Amy barely managed to push herself far enough to be able to peer out over the top of the seat and through the opened windshield to see the bear drag Harvey out into the road.

Terrible as it was, Amy couldn’t take her eyes off it.

Harvey screamed as he thrashed at the bear, its jaws clamped on his arm. He tried to yank it free, hissing his agony with every wrench, kicking and punching at the bear’s face until it finally let go. Harvey staggered back as the bear shook it off and advanced again.

Harvey tried to face the creature down, ducking one way and then the other, the bear second-guessing him, deciding where and when to strike. It seemed to know Harvey was helpless and useless, and ready for the taking, and he knew it too.

Harvey glanced at a path around the bear, scuttling and ducking and finally bolting for it in a desperate bid to escape and outrun the animal. “Harvey!” Amy shouted, knowing he wouldn’t respond even if he cared to. Dust kicked up under Harvey's feet as he made his break, body low to the ground, head ducked.

But the bear was ready for him, and after a just a few strides and a small jump, the bear pounced on Harvey and had him quickly pinned. “No, oh no!” Harvey shouted and screamed as the bear jabbed its massive head down onto the back of Harvey’s neck. “Oh God no, help me! Somebody help me! Mommy! Mommmeeeeeeeee!”

The bear wrenched her head upward, quick and hard, and Harvey’s body suddenly went limp, arms hanging idle, legs twitching with the pull of the death nerve.

Amy’s stomach sank, tears welling up in her eyes. She’d misunderstood the man every step of the way, misjudged his willingness to help them both escape. He’d given his life to try to save hers, her kidnapper turned her rescuer. But Amy knew she still had Camden to rescue, not to mention herself, and as the bear sniffed at Harvey’s lifeless body and stepped away from it, Amy knew she had precious little time to do either one.

“Camden,” she whispered as loudly as she could, “Camden, wake up!” He stirred but didn’t wake, and even slapping his cheek several times in quick succession did little to bring him around.

Amy reviewed her scrambled memory. Where did he put the flare gun? I know we brought it with us. In the glove compartment? I didn’t pay attention! Damnit!

But there wasn’t any more time to think about it. The bear left Harvey’s body behind and was striding back to the windshield. Amy screamed, unable to help it. And that only encouraged the beast, tickling its primitive killing instinct. The bear’s head rammed into the opened windshield cavity, biting at Amy’s arms and head, poked over the top of the empty driver’s seat. It came close, but couldn’t manage to get a hold of Amy even though she did land a few good shots on its terrible face. It's coarse hairs stabbed at Amy’s fists as she swatted at it, unable to drive the beast away.

Instead, it refocused on Camden’s legs on the other side of the driver’s seat, one of them still badly bleeding. It was an easy choice, its jaws locking down again on his bloodied leg, bringing him instantly to wakefulness, underscored by his own horrific scream.