Chapter 7 - Chase
Chase had no intention of going back to the cabin. When you run away from your killer, you don’t go running back to them. That was true for normal killers and especially true for one that could transform into a bear at any moment and rip out your throat. Chase was absolutely sure of the survival strategy to be employed. It didn’t involve playing dead but running as fast as humanly possible in the opposite direction of the ravenous teeth and razor sharp claws.
From the tree he could see that Bruin had actually left him. He’d thought that Bruin would wait to ambush him in the forest, but a hundred or so yards away he could see Bruin walking up to the cabin. He could also see the trail Bruin left, a deliberate pathway in the snow back to the cabin. It was like a trail of breadcrumbs leading to the rattrap. Bears must not be too bright; especially not this one if he thought Chase would follow the trail to his death.
Chase looked out in all directions as the cold began to bite. Fuck, he thought, at the cold, at his predicament, and at the realization that the cabin was the only thing he could see besides the forest of trees. He wondered where they were. Was this Graylakes? This wasn’t a city at all as there were no other buildings. Maybe this was Graylakes national forest? It didn’t matter.
He looked around again. Where would he go? He couldn’t go back to the cabin.
He caught sight of a girl about 50 yards in the direction opposite the cabin. Thank you Lord, he thought. “Hey! Hello!”
The girl in the distance didn’t seem to hear him. What was a girl doing out there alone?
He didn’t care. They could find her parents together and both be saved. Luckily she wasn’t a victim of Bruin’s.
He yelled again as he dismounted the tree. He’d plotted a path while still aerial and was now running on foot in the girl’s direction. “Hey,” he continued yelling while running. “Help!” He yelled for help thinking he and the girl both needed it.
Panic began to overtake him when he reached the spot where the girl was. There were tracks from shoes in the snow, but then there weren’t. Worse, the girl’s clothing was on the ground, ripped, and suddenly there were no more tracks from shoes, but from paws.
The lightbulb came on in his mind as he realized the danger he was in. Was this some forest of were-shifters? Did they all dine on human flesh? This must have been why everyone in the bus was so afraid. How had everyone known about this but him?
He didn’t care or want to know the answer. What he cared about and wanted was to be safe. And alive.
He turned back and followed his trail back to the tree. He’d go back to the tree, then follow the trail back to Bruin’s. Better the devil/shifter you know…
He froze when he got to the clearing and saw the tree.
A bear stood at the base of the tree sniffing. It sniffed around the base of the tree then rose onto two legs to sniff the air up the branches. It cocked its head as if it had just gotten a fresh whiff of the scent. Chase saw its nostrils flare just as he realized the black eyes of the bear had locked on to his.
Fuck.
Was this Bruin? Was it the mother of the little girl? It was much too big to be the little girl herself. “Bruin?” he called. “It’s me.”
The bear rose to its feet and roared.
Chase ran the other way, not sure of the bear’s identity. It didn’t matter anyway, since it seemed to want to eat him.
He glanced behind him as he ran, just long enough to see the bear gaining on him and to be blindsided by the branch of a tree.
He’d been clotheslined, as if it were Monday night and things had just gotten raw.
Fuuuuuuuck!
The pain shooting through him left him unable to form words. His mind spoke to him in blaring images, in vibrant oranges and reds, like an intense pain of burning fire all throughout his body. He struggled to catch a breath, his lungs refusing to expand.
The image of the bear chasing him clawed through the pain. He struggled to find his footing. He crawled on his hands and knees in the snow, unable to get up but unwilling to lay there and die.
He managed to his feet as the bear got closer. The shock and lack of oxygen must have gotten to him. Did the bear stop chasing him?
He continued to back away, then realized the attention of the bear was on something behind him.
Chase was afraid to turn, afraid to be mauled in the back as soon as he turned his head. But more concerning was what was behind him. What could stop a bear in its tracks?
Chase chanced a glance, looking quickly over his shoulder. He turned when the full on sight had set in.
He was suddenly light headed, now definitely unable to catch a breath.
Fuck, he thought, as the world began to spin. He tried to count the bears, like a kid counting sheep before going to sleep.
He passed out as the bear count reached twenty.