Amy spotted the flare gun just in time, near one of the two tires still on the road. She thought twice, but in the heat of the moment, she lunged for the gun just as the SUV came crashing down. She grabbed the gun and rolled out of the way, the vehicle smashing down onto the dirt road, landing just inches from her legs.

She kept rolling, clearing the SUV and pushing herself to her feet. Amy was dizzy and tired, adrenalin pulsing through her. She wanted to run to Camden to nurse him, but the bear’s growl was getting louder and Amy knew the big female was coming for her.

Gotta get her away from him, Amy told herself, make sure that bear doesn't go after Camden instead to finish him off.

She did come galloping around the side of the SUV, and Amy drew her back around to the other side, making sure the vehicle was between the bear and the men. The bear roared, frustrated and furious as it came around the side of the vehicle and Amy backed up, drawing the beast further and further while she aimed the gun.

Amy had one shot. She knew if she missed, the bear would easily overtake her, later to go back and finish Camden off as well. It all came down to that moment; everything she’d been through, everything she’d learned. From damsel to heroine, from afraid to live to being the only chance at life and the very hand of death itself; kill or be killed, the moment of truth.

The bear seemed to know it too. The bear reared up on her hind legs, tall, blotting out the sun, looking down at her with a horrific, throat-rattling growl. The two females stood face to face, each the apex of her species, neither one ready or able to back down.

Amy waited for the bear to drop back down onto all fours. But once she did, the shot didn't come. The bear looked into Amy’s eyes and Amy back into hers, the two of them seeming to communicate without words. Suddenly there was a loud shot in the distance, hunters nearby.

The bear immediately spooked, darting and disappearing among the cedars and cypress trees, a final huff punctuating its exit.

Amy stood stunned, hands still on the flare gun, before her brain kicked into action and her legs jumped obediently to carry her around the side of the SUV to Camden's side. Amy fell to her knees, Camden laying with his foot in a pool of his own blood, her T-shirt soaked with blood. She took his head into her lap, stroking his black hair, his blue eyes looking lazily up at her.

“The … the bear?” he barely managed to ask.

“Chased her off,” Amy said in a soft, reassuring tone. “She won’t bother us again.” Camden smiled, but it didn't last. He looked over at Harvey, laying dead only a few feet away. “I’m sorry, Camden. He was very brave, a good man.”

“He was,” Camden said. “I’ll give him your regards.”

This sank hard and deep into Amy’s heart. “What? No, Camden, no, you're staying here with me! You’re not going anywhere.”

“You’re right, Amy, I’ll … I’ll always be with you, no matter where you go.”

“No, Camden! Damnit, I said no!” She said firmly.

Camden smiled, wincing in pain, his big hand reaching up to trace her cheek with the back of her hand. “Bear hit an artery, Amy, I’ve lost too much blood.”

“No, Camden!”

“It’s okay, Amy, it’s all right. We have to let go of the lives we have to have the lives we want.”

“No, Camden, that's wrong! It’s just a stupid saying!”

He smiled. “Joseph Campbell, The Hero of a Thousand Faces.”

Amy’s tears came fast, pushing out of her eyes to obscure her vision. She raised his hand to her cheek, wiping her tears on the backs of his fingers. “My hero only has one.” Tears poured down Amy’s cheeks, lips twisting in a tortured frown as she caressed Camden’s face. “Don’t die, Camden, please don’t! Please don’t leave me, Camden! I … if you die, something in me dies too, something I need to keep going, Camden.”

He looked up at her, eyelids flickering, blood draining from his face. “Love.” he said.

“Yes,” Amy said simply, “love.”

She held him tight, rocking him gently as he shuddered with a wave of cold passing over his body.

Amy grabbed the flare gun, raised it over her head and shot, the flare launching out of the wide, round barrel and into the air above them, bursting in an orange cloud a few hundred feet high. She knew the hunters nearby would see it, hear it, and be quick to respond. Everything would be ok.

Amy dropped the gun and started stroking his face. He looked up at the burning flare with a vague smile. “The brightest star in the sky.”

Amy smiled, but it was bittersweet, tears already pouring down her reddening cheeks. “Yeah, Camden, you can be whatever or whoever you want to be.”

He smiled. “Yours.”

Tears came faster, harder. “Always.”

Together they watched the flare burn out, leaving only a trace of smoke carried away by the autumn wind.