May Dawney - Survival Instincts

Dani’s bravery—and absolute stupidity—had spooked the bear, but instead of running away upon hearing the racket, it had charged her. It was a massive animal with matted and muddy fur, half an ear missing and dark wetness coating its flank. She looked upon its broad back as it stood on its hind legs, front paws on the bed of a rusty pickup truck.

As Lynn watched, Dani climbed onto the cabin, knife in hand, and turned to lock gazes with the bear. She crouched and held her abdomen with her knifeless hand.

The only reason Dani wasn’t dead yet was Skeever, who hung on to the back of the bear’s leg and prevented it from putting its paw on the bed by providing a counterforce.

As Lynn watched, the bear jerked its leg hard enough to shake Skeever off.

Skeever jumped back right away, and his teeth renewed their hold, but the damage was done: the bear was able to push up. The rusty metal creaked, and the bed sank down under the weight.

Dani wobbled and winced as she sank down to her knees. She raised the knife and set her jaw.

“Jump!” Lynn had meant to shout, but the word came out a broken croak instead. She realized the advice was bad anyway—if Dani jumped the six feet to the ground, she wouldn’t be able to walk on her knee, let alone run, and the bear would be upon her in seconds.

Dani was trapped.

Lynn’s hand shot down to her tomahawk, but it was going to be useless against something as massive as a bear. Instead, she twisted her body to locate Dani’s spear. Her heart sped up into an even more frantic gallop as she located it perhaps five feet off. The tip was stained; Dani had already drawn blood. She reached out and closed her hand around the cool metal. As she did, her head throbbed in the same rhythm as her screaming shoulder. She drew the weapon to her and had to pause and squeeze her eyes shut for a second to clear the sparks that exploded behind her eyelids. When she opened her eyes again, the sleeve of her right arm was slowly turning red. Time was running out quickly—the more blood she lost, the more of her meager energy reserves would go with it.

The bear growled and lowered its head, getting ready to pounce.

Dani gripped the knife harder.

Lynn forgot about her pain in the face of certain death for Dani and pushed up. She forced her legs under her, but they almost gave out right away. She used the momentum of her failing muscles to stumble forward and inhaled sharply. “H-Hey!”

The bear ignored her.

“Lynn! Help!” Dani was pale as a sheet. When the bear tried to rake her with its claws, she nearly tumbled off the cabin as she scooted back.

There were maybe twenty feet between Lynn and the pickup, but it could have been a mile for all the progress she was making. Her entire body felt broken and bruised, and she could barely feel her legs. Adrenaline kept her pushing forward, even though her path wavered. “Drop!”

Dani shook her head. There was sheer panic in her eyes.

The bear planted its front paws on the cabin, put its back paw on the side of the truck bed, and pushed up.

Skeever barked and renewed his hold, jerking savagely on the bear’s flank.

“Drop! Now!” Lynn reached the back of the truck. Just four or five feet separated her from the bear, but she needed to get closer than that to do damage. She needed to get up. With a pounding heart, she slid the spear onto the bed of the truck, then used whatever power was left in her muscles to push herself up. Her right hand was covered in blood and left a handprint. She ignored it and looked up to check on Dani, who slashed at the bear’s paw when it lashed out. “Roll off!”

Dani nodded once and slid off the cabin. She landed with a thud.

The bear pushed up heavily and sniffed the cabin top. Its massive head swung from side to side, searching.

Skeever’s nails scratched along the metal as he pushed himself between the bear’s flank and the side of the truck bed. His bloody teeth sank into the soft skin where the front leg met the torso.

The bear roared and finally focused all its attention on Skeever. It waggled back, then twisted to snap at Skeever, who scrambled to stay clear but held on.

Lynn finally managed to crawl up the back of the truck and stood on legs almost too weak to take her weight. She sucked in a breath. Her lungs burned; her ribs extended with lightning bolts of pain. She forced herself to pick up and raise the spear. “He-Hey!” She planted her feet more solidly and took a deep breath. “Hey!”

The bear looked up, but its jaws continued to snap. It shook itself to get Skeever off. When he refused to budge, the bear threw itself against the side of the bed.

Skeever yelped as he smashed into the metal and let go.

Before Lynn could react, the bear’s jaws snapped shut around Skeever’s paw, and it jerked its head up. Muscles rippled under matted fur, and Skeever went flying. He landed out of view beside the truck and whined once, then went silent.

Intense hate flared through Lynn. “You fucker! Yeah, look at me! It’s j-just you and me now!” She swayed as she gripped the spear with both hands.

The bear turned in the narrow space and faced her. It shook out its massive body and growled.

Lynn stepped back until she no longer felt the truck bed under her heels. She crouched despite the pain. The spear reflected the blood-red sunlight as she leveled it with the bear’s chest. “I’m here, asshole. Yeah, now you see me, don’t you?”

Dull brown eyes fastened upon her, and its jaw flapped as it growled. It struck out with a blood-covered paw.

Lynn weathered the threat; the bear was too far away to hit her—and too far away for her to make the kill. Where’s Dani? She hadn’t seen her run away. And Skeever? She jabbed with the spear, only barely grazing the bear’s forepaw. Worry threatened her focus, but she couldn’t afford to let it: she was tempting a bear.

It struck out again, then stepped closer, covering half the width of the bed in a single move.

That’s it. Come here! She jabbed again, and now she drew blood.

The bear jerked and shook its entire body before it finally did what Lynn had been both hoping and dreading: it tensed and pounced.

Lynn had exactly one second to panic, then she clutched the shaft of the spear between her side and her arm, tensed all her muscles, and let herself fall backward off the truck.

Too late.

Razor-sharp claws grazed the front of her thighs as the bear landed on the edge of the bed. Its momentum caused it to slide forward.

Lynn landed roughly on the concrete, her fall only slightly broken by her backpack. She managed to hold her head up and kept her grip on the spear.

The bear slid over the edge.

Lynn adjusted the angle of the spear as best she could to hit it square in the chest.

The weight of the animal as it landed on top of her was crushing. The bear howled and trashed. Claws raked across the ground next to her head.

Lynn made herself as small as possible and weathered the assault. The weight on her pain-ridden body made her scream. Warm wetness ran down her arm and chest. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Her heart galloped in her chest as hot breath rushed over her, rank and putrid. She shuddered.

The bear whimpered. Its breathing halted, restarted, then stopped. The weight increased.

Seconds ticked by, and Lynn craned her neck, searching for air.

Silence settled over her like a heavy blanket. Her vision swam. She took a tiny breath, as much as her chest would expand. Another. Panic clawed its way up her chest. Dimly, she realized she wouldn’t be able to get enough air into her lungs while trapped. Unlike when Dean had tried to choke her, she didn’t panic this time. She forced herself to remember all the times she’d held her breath until her lungs nearly burst and forced the panic down. With as much calm as she could muster, she took another shallow breath and tested if she could move anything. Eventually, she found a way to plant her foot against the wheel casing of the truck and use it as leverage to slide out past the shaft of the spear—the only place where something other than Lynn’s body held up the dead animal. It took every bit of energy she had, and no amount of worry about Dani or Skeever could get her upright for at least a few minutes.