Chapter Eleven

Sarah curled up against the bear, enjoying the soft coat of fur pressed against her body.

She had been up for a few minutes now but couldn't bring herself to leave her comfy and warm bed, that she could feel rise and fall with every deep breath the bear made while sleeping.

She groaned, "ten more minutes."

She peeked her eyes open to see the sun was well past the horizon now and sighed.

She got up begrudgingly, still standing on the bear, she began to stretch, releasing the tension from her joints.

She was halfway done with her stretches when she noticed something peculiar. All around her and the bear were a mountain of sticks that almost buried the bear entirely. When she got a closer look at one of the sticks, she noticed that it wasn't tree branches surrounding the bear; it was cut vines.

"How strange," she walked around in a circle on top of the bear, taking everything in.

Her eyes caught sight of a man lying on the ground face down, and it looked as though the man had fallen from the top of the pile of vines and landed there.

Could this man have saved my life? She couldn't think of any other scenario. Why else would a pile of vines be around her and the bear if not for this man?

Sarah leaped off the bear and landed right next to the man, who was a couple of feet away from the pile of vines, lying face down on the dirt.

She gingerly shook his shoulder, "are you alive down there?" She asked while shaking him.

There was no reply, and her heart sank when she didn't even get a reaction from him.

Sarah went down on a knee and gently turned the man over onto his back, not to accidentally harm the guy if he was injured by jostling him too much.

She got a good look at the man's appearance; he was handsome, not beautiful like a woman, but in a masculine way, with a square jawline and sharp features.

He looked to be in his mid to late twenties, with dark brown hair that almost reached his eyes and tanned skin as though he was in the sun a lot.

Sarah laid her head on the man's chest, listening for any signs of life.

Thump, thump, thump, she could hear the man's heart thumping against his chest as it rose up and down to his breathing.

She inspected every part of his body, lifting clothes out of her way where needed, to see if she could find any visible injuries.

Aside from his well-toned body, nothing was out of the ordinary on him, no bruises or scratches to be found.

When Sarah was satisfied nothing was wrong with the man, she went to rouse the bear from its slumber.

"Hey, Big Bear, it's time to get up,"

Sarah said cheerfully.

The massive pile of vines shook and fell away from the bear as she got to her feet.

The vines almost buried the man as it fell away from the bear's body, but Sarah scooped him into her arms and carried him away from the avalanche of vines.

The bear looked at the vines curiously before sniffing them; she must not have been interested in them, though, cause soon she was walking out of the pile towards Sarah, sending vines in all directions with every step.

The bear looked at the man she was holding in her arms, eyes narrowing.

A deep growl escaped the bear's lips as it stared at the unconscious man.

"You can't eat him. I'm pretty sure he saved our lives," Sarah said defensively, gripping the man against her chest tighter, like a mother trying to protect her son.

The bear stopped growling at her words and looked at her doubtfully before shrugging its shoulders in dismissal.

"Is that your way of saying you won't carry him?"

Sarah and Big Bear were running through a field of weeds that went up past her knees. They finally left the barren, dead wasteland that seemed endless half a day ago.

A man could be seen in her arms as she carried him in a princess carry, his head resting on her shoulder, still unconscious.

Sarah only hoped the man did not wake up while she was carrying him like this. She figured it would hurt his pride as a man.

Sarah noticed the bear was falling behind; a grin formed on her face as she turned around facing the bear while still keeping her pace as she ran backward.

"Come on, Big Bear, I know you can do better than that," Sarah said in a teasing voice.

The bear glared at her; it roared and put on a burst of speed, overtaking Sarah's lead in an instant.

Sarah laughed as she turned around and put on her burst of speed, catching up to the bear almost instantly.

The bear looked behind itself with a pleased grin, only to find Sarah right next to her matching its pace. Its grin vanished, replaced with an annoyed look towards the girl that seemed to defy logic and kept pace with her even though the girl's legs were so tiny in comparison.

Sarah noticed a patch of trees in the distance and could swear she could hear running water from that direction as well.

"Hey Big Bear, I think there's a source of water in those trees over there," Sarah said while pointing towards the trees left of them. The bear turned its gaze in the direction she was pointing; the bear gave a sniff of the air, and a look of excitement could be seen on its face as it veered off course towards the trees. Sarah wondered why she could hear running water when the trees were at least 2 miles away.

Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, and I only think I hear water.

She would know soon enough, for they were already at the edge of the forest.

Big Bear slowed her pace to a walk, and Sarah followed suit.

The bear knocked down trees as it went between them, as the gaps in the trees were not wide enough to fit its massive frame.

After about a couple hundred yards of traveling, they came across an opening in the forest.

The center of the opening had a perfectly circular lake with a small waterfall running down a rocky ledge and a little stream running on the other side, draining the excess water.

There were lily pads strewn about in the lake, with red and white flowers around the surface of the lake.

Sarah's eyes widened as she took in the beautiful scenery. It was so different from the barren land she had woken up to that it made it all the more beautiful to her.

"Let's set up camp here for tonight, Big Bear," Sarah said, as she walked towards a decent spot to set the man she was holding down.

She set him down next to a rock in the shade and went over to the water to check it out.

Sarah could see to the very bottom, the water was crystal clear, which had rocks all across the bottom with green weeds growing between the cracks.

The bear was already dipping its head in and taking huge mouthfuls of the water.

She took that as a sign that it was probably safe to drink and began taking mouthfuls of her own.

The water was cool and refreshing like it was fresh spring water.

Sarah glanced towards the unconscious man and frowned.

She didn't think it was a good sign to be unconscious for that long, even after the long run she had with him in her arms.

Sarah started stripping her clothes off when she didn't think the man would be waking up anytime soon.

After running through long weeds for several miles, she had stickers covering the entire lower end of her dress.

And my underwear too, she noticed as she stripped off her dress.

She took the underwear off too so she could wash them as well and walked into the water. The water on the edge of the lake was a lot further down than she realized.

Her first step into the lake sent her tumbling into the water, head first. She shrieked when her foot did not reach the bottom like she was expecting.

Her head broke the surface of the water, and she coughed out water.

The fall took her by such surprise that she got water down her nose, which was now sore as she blew the water out of it.

The water felt cold on her naked body as she fell in, which had a lot to do with the fact she accidentally got water up to her nose. Still, by the time her head poked through the surface, it didn't feel cold anymore. It felt warm and refreshing.

The water went past her chest only a few feet into the lake. She had no idea the water was this deep from the view she had from the top of the lake.

Sarah washed her clothes in the lake, but she figured out she had to pull all the stickers out of her clothes by hand, as the water did little to get rid of them.

After Sarah had gotten rid of all the stickers in her clothes, she wrung them out and set them on a tree to dry, over by the unconscious man. She knelt by the man and placed her hand on the man's forehead, checking his temperature. There were no signs of a fever; his skin wasn't clammy or hot to the touch.

Sarah sighed and then began removing all the man's clothes.

She didn't have a chance yet to look over his entire body for any wounds that he may be suffering from.

It wasn't like the man had anything she hadn't seen a million times before anyway.

She removed the man's dark grey cloak he had draped over his shoulders, then removed his top.

The garment covering the man's torso was light and soft, like the smoothest piece of silk she had ever felt. It also felt far tougher than silk, like it was made out of fine steel threads, but was also stretchy and was likely to fit many different sizes.

The man's pants were also made out of the same material as the top. Just the cloak seemed like it was made out of some kind of cloth. When Sarah removed all the man's clothes, she began checking his body over.

She made sure to inspect his body thoroughly to be safe. If the man was bit by a snake or something else, that would leave a small bite mark.

After looking from top to bottom and not finding anything, she tilted the man to his side to check if there were any injuries on the man's back.

Sarah stared at the man's chest, which was rising up and down at a steady pace, not sure what she could do for the man.

She saw a raindrop fall onto the man's chest, then another.

She looked up at the sky above but couldn't see any clouds in the sky.

She frowned and looked at the bear, but she was sitting by the pond, taking a nap.

Her hand touched her cheek, and she was surprised to find tears rolling down her cheeks. Why am I crying? I don't even know this man. This was new to her. In her past life, she didn't even shed a single tear at his grandparents' funerals, and they were the ones that raised him after his parents had passed away when he was little.

It wasn't like he never got sad before; he just found crying about something pointless and never solved anything.

However, it was like she could not contain the tears from falling, no matter how many times she wiped them away.

Carson

Carson woke up, his mind spinning as he tried to remember the events of the previous day.

He opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. I'm by a lake...well, that would explain the sound of water splashing against each other, I guess.

He got to his feet, taking in all his surroundings, his eyes alighted upon the massive form of the Behemoth Bear, the girl named Big Bear, first.

It was sleeping by the lake, not moving, so Carson didn't think that it would cause him any problems at the moment.

He did not spot the red-headed girl anywhere, though, but his eyes did catch sight of clothes hanging on a tree that oddly looked like his.

He glanced down at his naked body.

His cheeks heated out of embarrassment at the thought of the girl undressing him.

Why did the girl undress me? Was it payback for all the times I saw her...wait that can't be it, how would she know I have seen her without clothes on? I was invisible the whole time, he thought as he reached for his clothes.

He noticed his clothes had been washed clean and set on the branch to dry.

He also noticed a blue dress on the branch beside his clothes, which looked oddly like the girl's dress she was wearing before he passed out.

He blinked and surveyed the clearing, still not seeing the girl anywhere.

The pants and shirt of his were already dry, but his cloak still felt damp.

The cloak wasn't given out by the Hero organization like his other clothes, so it wouldn't dry nearly as fast.

Carson decided to wash himself off in the lake before putting his clean clothes back on.

The bear noticed him, lifting its head off the ground briefly, but closed its eyes shortly after laying its head back down, losing all interest in him. Carson shook himself like a dog when he exited the lake, not having a towel to dry himself with.

He put on his clothes and was just about ready to go looking for the girl, who hadn't shown up since he awoke, when he could hear trees snapping in half as something approached the clearing.

Sarah

Sarah was walking through the forest, looking for something to bring back to camp to eat.

She needed to get away from her thoughts, so hunting was a way to clear her mind.

She was enjoying the sound of the bugs and birds singing in her surroundings. It was a nice change to the depressing silence in the barren land she had been traversing.

Sarah enjoyed the sounds of nature when something appeared in front of her, growling loudly with drool leaking down its massive canines.

"Nice doggie," Sarah said while taking a step back from the wolf that towered over her.

The wolf was near twice her height on all fours, with teeth the size of her fingers and claws that looked like they could cut through steel.

The wolf stuck its head into the air and howled.

Sarah wasn't stupid and realized almost immediately that the wolf was calling for backup.

Wolves were known for always traveling in packs.

Sarah took another step back, fear filling her insides and knotting her stomach into twists. She realized that she just went from the hunter to the hunted.

Something about how the wolf stared at her sent fear down her spine. It looked like it wanted nothing more than to tear her limb from limb.

She didn't feel this afraid even when facing Big Bear.

Sarah heard rustling behind her. She turned her head to look while keeping the wolf in front of her in view.

There were two more wolves directly behind her, and her heart hammered against her chest when she realized she couldn't make a run for it now.

Two more wolves showed up shortly after appearing on both sides of her, surrounding her.

"H-help," Sarah said in a quiet voice that cracked from her throat constricting out of fear. Sarah wasn't aware of this, but the mutated wolves in these parts, also known as Terror Wolves, had an ability they used against their prey.

It was called absolute fear, and it rendered their victims from doing much other than trembling in fear.

Sarah could hear, smell and even sense the wolves around her. It was a strange feeling for her to sense things around her like she could see them, but not with her eyes.

That was why she knew the two wolves behind her started dashing toward her in a sneak attack, while the front one didn't even make a move.

Sarah's instincts kicked in, overpowering the fear she felt by a small margin.

Her legs still trembled, and her breathing was shaky, but she was able to think and hopefully react in time to the attack.

Her body blurred as her foot spun around at the very last second, right before the wolves could tear her apart.

Her right foot slammed into the wolf, directly in the center of its head.

The kick knocked the wolf off its feet, sending it tumbling into the wolf beside it and crashing against a tree a couple of dozen feet away.

The wolf let out a whimper before laying there unmoving. However, the wolf that was hit with the other wolf's body was getting back to its feet, growling at Sarah ferociously.

Sarah was gloating over her victory internally when she felt a sharp pain on her back and was sent flying face-first into a tree.

Her face was imprinted into the tree as she impacted it.

She got to her feet, and the pain in her back throbbed as she did so.

The wolf that attacked her was already in mid-leap, claws out ready to strike her.

Sarah watched as the wolf got closer to her with a calm face. The pain on her back had momentarily knocked the fear out of her.

Right before the claws could strike, Sarah's body moved around the claws.

The way she dodged the claws was smooth and elegant, like water flowing around an obstacle in its path.

Her foot kicked straight up, hitting the wolf on its belly.

The wolf's body flew straight up into the air, going well past the tops of the trees, before falling back onto the ground unceremoniously. The wolf did not move after, more than likely breaking every bone in its body with the fall.

The other three wolves charged towards her at the same time but froze when they saw the look Sarah gave them.

Her eyes seemed to glow with power, and her body seemed to radiate power in waves around her, making the wolves that attacked her feel fear for the first time in their lives.

All three of them took a step back before turning around and fleeing at the same time. Sarah watched them go with a blank face, but a whimpering sound off to the side made her look away.

The wolf that she had struck first was still laying by the tree, where she had left it.

The wolf's eyes were open, staring at Sarah with fear in them.

Sarah knelt next to the wolf, lying there unable to move, and ran her fingers through its nice and soft fur around its neck.

"It's alright, Mr. wolf, everything's going to be ok," Sarah said in a soothing voice as she stroked the wolf's fur gently.

A tear rolled down her cheek as she scooped the head of the wolf onto her lap and against her chest. She twisted the head, making a loud snapping noise and the wolf's eyes slowly shut. Guilt and sorrow filled her chest as she cradled the wolf's head against her chest.

She knew she was just protecting herself, but the way the wolf looked at her towards the end of its life, like she was the monster who took one of its family's life, was more than she could take.

After Sarah got herself under control, she picked the wolf up off the ground and slung it over her shoulders.

She went over to the other wolf and grabbed it by the paw, intending to bring it back to camp as well.

She figured Big Bear wouldn't mind some food after all.

Some of the trees broke and fell over as she walked through areas that couldn't fit the wolves she was carrying back.

Sarah approached her camp, making her way through the last of the trees before the clearing.

Her eyes instantly caught sight of a man holding a sword facing her, ready for a fight, and a massive bear right beside him, looking ready to charge at any given moment.

The bear noticing it was her, walked away looking disappointed.

The man, however, turned bright red in the face and turned his head away.

"Oh, you're awake. I'm glad."