35 MMA Bears Five - Part 3

"I've never seen anything like it," replied Marlow, holding back tears of his own. "The Elder fought off more reptilian guards than you could ever think possible. It was glorious."

Jackson smiled. "I just wish I could have made amends with him."

"Then, perhaps this will help," Jackson pulled out white envelope from his bag. "Your father left this in his will."

Jackson cautiously opened the letter. No one else read it, but it can be said that it gave Jackson some peace. Words from a father to a son, no doubt of forgiveness. And in those words, something stirred Jackson. A desire to return to Swiftclaw, to do what was right.

Sharon sat down next to Jackson and saw the look in his eyes. Gently, she held his hand. "Whatever you decide, we're with you."

"I have to save my people," said Jackson. "But I'll buy that house on the outskirts of the forest we were talking about, and I will return to you, my love."

They kissed as tears rolled down Sharon's cheeks.

Bran stood up, motionless for a moment.

"What is it?"asked Gage.

"Someone is coming…" said Bran, wary.

Then, in the distance, Gage heard it too. A helicopter. As its engines neared above, the noise split into many. Gage ran outside and looked up to the sky. "I count five at least!"he screamed.

"We've been followed!" shouted Marlow, before turning to Jackson. "We have to get out of here, Sharon and Tom too!"

"The river is our best best," said Jackson.

"What's happening!?" screamed Sharon, as thirty or so men began to abseil down from the helicopters above.

"It's the Cabal. We must move! Tom, Sharon, climb on my back and don't let go!" Jackson yelled over the noise of the helicopters.

They hung on for dear life as Jackson turned into his magnificent beast form. "To the river!" he growled.

Four mighty bears now broke through the doors of Jackson's once peaceful home. Jackson himself, followed by Gage, Marlow, and Bran. They galloped towards the river at the rear of the house, their paws making huge indentations in the pristine lawn. Bullets began to rain down from above, and Bran had to swipe two of the gunmen aside as they were about to aim at Marlow.

"I'll catch up!" shouted Bran. "Run!"

The rest continued to the river's edge, as Bran punched one of the gunmen, complete in black SWAT gear, off his feet into a tree. Gage turned to look at his young friend.

"Keep going!" Bran screamed as he leaped into the forest for cover behind a huge sprawling redwood.

Jackson jumped into the water, and headed straight for the torrential currents which they would usually avoid. "Hold on!" Jackson shouted, as the water buffeted his body against a giant rock. He cringed in pain as it knocked the wind from him, but Sharon and Tom were still safe on his back.

Gage followed, as did Marlow. While strong, the river was stronger as it swept them down stream violently through rocks and rotten trees. Men opened fire from the river banks, bullets ricocheting everywhere. Gage took one in the leg. Marlow another in one of his paws. Jackson shielded Tom and Sharon with his body, but managed to avoid being shot.

Gage hung onto a huge rock. "There's a copter overhead. We'll be sitting ducks if we continue!" Blood poured from the wound in his leg, mixing with the icy water.

He was right. The helicopter had positioned itself between them and the rest of the river. Then Gage saw the greatest show of strength he'd ever seen. Jackson pulled and heaved at a huge boulder, half the size of a car. It must have weighed several tons. He tore it out of the ground from beneath the rushing water, and hurled it at the helicopter, letting out a ferocious roar which even frightened Gage. The boulder flew through the air and smashed into the helicopter. Its blades falter, smoke bellowed, and the helicopter then crashed into the water with an explosion as the fuel caught fire.

Marlow ducked as one of the broken blades shot through the air, missing him by an inch and embedding itself into a rock behind.

"Go, now!" Jackson shouted.

They let go of the rocks, and now continued carried by the ever ferocious stream. Now, another helicopter appeared. A gunship! The crew inside the helicopter pointed its machine guns directly at Gage, but as they did, something else came flying through the air towards them. It was Bran! He'd charged through the forest along the riverbank.

He leaped and crashed into the side of the helicopter, tearing at the insides with his teeth and claws. He grabbed the pilot and threw him through the windshield. As the helicopter began to plummet to the earth, he leaped into the water with his friends as they carried on down the stream.

Jackson was impressed, but he knew that the danger was not over. They had left the Cabal and their soldiers behind, but mother nature had something else in store for them.

"Waterfall!" Marlow shouted.

They were being drawn towards it, but in a moment of quick thinking, Marlow grabbed hold of a huge tree which hovered over the water surface. Then, Bran grabbed Marlow, Gage grabbed Bran, and finally, they all pulled Jackson, Sharon, and Tom to safety.

Moving between the trees so that they would be out of sight, they disappeared into the thick forest. Drenched and exhausted, they sat for a few minutes, panting and regaining their breath.

"Are you both okay?" said Jackson to Tom and Sharon.

Tom gave a thumbs up and said "aye aye captain'", to which the whole group laughed. Sharon kissed her son, and then Jackson, who, like the others, was now in human form.

"We need to keep moving, the Cabal will be combing the forest for us," said Marlow.

"Agreed," said Gage. "Jackson, you know these woods better than the rest of us, which way?"

Jackson stood up and stretched his back. "We must first see to your wounds.." Jackson disappeared for a few minutes and then reappeared with various herbs, plants, and roots. There, he made a dressing for the wound in Marlow's hand, and one Gage's leg. Luckily, it was just a flesh wound and he could still walk.

"There is a place I sometimes frequent… Well… I used to when I was lonely," Jackson smiled at Sharon. "Before I met these two."

"Is it safe?" asked Gage.

"It will give us a chance, should we be followed."

And so, they followed Jackson for a couple of hours. They wandered through the woods, trying to hide their tracks as best they could. Occasionally they'd hear a helicopter in the distance, but it seemed that the Cabal were currently searching far away, further down the river.

"They think we went over that waterfall," said Marlow.

"Might buy us some time," said Bran.

"Nice going with the helicopter, by the way. Next time, try to commandeer the thing and land it, we could have used one," joked Marlow.

"I would have, but I was too busy being awesome," said Bran.

They all laughed quietly, and in the gloom of the forest, the feeling of sanctuary began to fall upon them.

Finally, the land began to rise up. A large hill lay in the forest, covered by a thick blanket of trees, and its peak, a strange ruin. Cobbled stones, relics from something long forgotten. Broken pillars half stood, and as Jackson led them underground to a safe chamber, complete with torches, blankets and food ready for them, Marlow recognized the carvings on the walls.

"This was built by Blackbloods!" Marlow said enthusiastically.

"Yes, I believe so," said Jackson. "I believe it's why I was drawn to these woods. Something called to me. When I found these ruins I left provisions and some equipment here in case I ever had to abandon my home. I didn't know why at the time, but it feels as though fate were guiding my hand somehow.

They settled down, and warmed themselves by a fire pit. Jackson cooked some food on the fire, and they ate well, felt warm, and talked of the task ahead.

"So you think you're a Blackblood?" asked Gage.

"I know I am," laughed Jackson. "When I was a little one, I hurt my knee. I panicked when I saw black blood come out of it, but my father told me that it was our secret. And that one day, I would know why I was different. I guess now I do."

"Then you will help us fight the Cabal?" Gage asked.

"Of course! I will not abandon my people. But… Something worries me deeply…"

"What's that?" asked Sharon.

"How did the Cabal know to find me?"

"They must have just followed us…" said Gage.

"Do you really think you could have so easily been followed?" asked Jackson.

"I've been thinking the same thing," said Marlow. "Something was wrong about this."

Gage shifted uncomfortably. "There are so few of us against the Cabal, I don't think it will do us any good to start questioning loyalties, we must stand together."

"Gage," said Marlow. "All my life you've been the fighter. Bran here is also an excellent warrior, but you know that the Elder did consult me because he felt I could see things… Figure out a strategy, so to speak."

"Yes, this is true… But…"

"I see it clearly, now. Someone has betrayed us. How else would the Cabal have had all of those soldiers and helicopters on standby, ready to ambush us. We'd have heard them coming unless they were already stationed here in the forest somewhere." Marlow rubbed his forehead as if nursing a headache.

"It took us months to find this place," said Bran. "How would they know?"

"We've been searching this region for three weeks, that's long enough for the Cabal to create a covert base somewhere in the mountains," said Marlow. "But they'd have to know this is where we were, first. And only a few people were privy to that information."

"Then what do we do about this traitor?" asked Gage.

"We will have to be very careful," answered Jackson. "I know each of you are trustworthy by your deeds today, but perhaps it is prudent to be careful of those we share our plans with?"

"Agreed," said Marlow.

"I can't believe someone would betray us like that…" said Gage, thinking out loud.

"It's the only explanation," answered Marlow.

There was a silence, before Gage asked another question of his younger brother. "But who would do such a thing?"

"That's the question, Brother," said Marlow. "That's the question…"

That night they slept by the fire pit, beneath the Blackblood ruins. They took watch, but the Cabal appeared to overlook that area in their search. Whether by accident, or for some other reason. Jackson felt that something was guiding him, and that his lineage, the reason he was a Blackblood, was finally to be revealed. He wondered what it would mean for Swiftclaw. For his people. For Sharon and Tom. He loved them all dearly, and in the silence of those ancient ruins he knew that his only option was to be committed to everyone, as his father had been committed before him.

LoHawk may have been elected as the new Elder, but in spirit, Jackson was coming of age. Tomorrow, he would say goodbye to that forest, his adopted home for many years. He would make the arduous journey back to his ancestral home of Swiftclaw. He would be reunited with many friends, but casting out LoHawk and destroying the Cabal seemed like an almost impossible task.

He lay and listened to the sounds of the nocturnal forest. Its depths spoke to him. They spoke of hope. Of strength. Of something ancient which had now awoken. The return of the Blackbloods was nigh, and he would stop the evil of the Cabal, or die trying.