The Bear

Waking up the next morning, everything went smoothly. I was a little later to wake up than some of the others and caused a slight panic when Mr. Smith and the others couldn't find me. Luckily the noise woke me up, so I called down to them from the tree before landing just outside the area they were standing. After some exasperated sighs were directed my way, we ate breakfast, packed up our quilts, and set out through the forest again.

Things were uneventful for the next few days, the journey was smooth, and nothing eventful or out of the ordinary happened. However, I did overhear and partake in some interesting conversations. I overheard Jake complaining to himself, "I'd rather be at home. Why do I have to do this? Why did my dumb parents think this was a good idea?"

So that explains a lot. I thought he had a poor attitude towards this trip, but if his parents forced him into it, it makes sense. I also overheard Madeline talking to Troy about me, and not in a good way. But it was less like a conversation, and more like Madeline was just talking at Troy, but anyway, the conversation went something like this:

"…I can't believe he's like this." Madeline said, which piqued by interest in the conversation.

"I don't think—"

"He's always so smug and confident. Just because you have so many roles doesn't make you a more important person."

"Doesn't it though?"

"And he's always smiling. How? It's lonely out here. We could die out here."

"Mr. Smith said he has—"

"And what's with him sleeping in the trees. Are the quilts on the ground not good enough for him?"

It was around this time Troy noticed I was listening and said, "Maybe you should stop complaining and ask—"

"I wasn't talking to you."

Madeline then moved to the back of the group and Troy looked defeated and sighed. I didn't hear anything directly from Madeline about me, so I'll just pretend I didn't hear anything. Maybe I'll have a chance to clear up these misconceptions later. Don't want to have unnecessary grudges, especially not with people I'm gonna be around for a while.

Putting my eavesdropping aside, I was talking to Mr. Smith about the end goal of the trip, and what would happen once we got there.

"Hey Mr. Smith," I said when he drifted up to the front of the pack one day, he does this regularly to make sure everyone is doing well and to liven things up, "what is the long-term plan for this? I know we're building shelters to last a few months, and you wanted to prepare for future trips, but it's a little far to be going back and forth all the time, don't you think?"

He smiled when he responded, "Well Prestin, I was thinkin' we establish a new town while we're there. Especially if the mine's good and rich."

He dropped that bombshell so casually, as if he was talking about the weather. I expressed as such, but he kind of shrugged me off saying, "It'll be fine. 'Kay?" with a smile as he went back to his rounds. I was shocked that he dismissed concerns so quickly, but he was happier on this trip than I had seen him all my life, so I decided to help him with his town founding in any way I can.

After a while on the fifth day, a little after my conversation with Mr. Smith, I decided on another flat-ish area between the trees to set up camp. I made sure there weren't many protruding roots or anthills and helped set the carts into place to form a fort in case it rained during the night, an idea proposed by Holly yesterday when it was overcast. It didn't rain, but in case it did we decided to make the quilt fort each night, then if it did rain we could squeeze out some fresh water from the quilts.

When we woke up in the morning, it went like the others, but as we started our trek for the day Mrs. Smith spoke to Holly and Madeline about our food situation, "We're starting to run low on long-term foods. I'm glad we've been able to find things as we've been going along, but I'd like to save more of the dried meat for emergencies. Could y'all go when we settle for the day and find some food for the next day or so?"

Holly chimed in cheerfully, "Of course Jane, I'll find as much as I can for you." While Madeline nodded and plainly said, "You got it."

I kept this on my mind as we went throughout the day, and I told everyone we could stop a little early for a hunting/gathering session if they wanted. Mrs. Smith took me up on my offer and Holly said, "Thank you Prestin, I was a little worried about wandering around in the dark."

I smiled with a slight nod, hoping for some response from Madeline, but nothing. I kept on leading the group around the trees and once the sun had risen enough to be out of our eyes, I started looking for a spot to stop. I eventually found one just over a hill with a steep drop. We had to haul the carts around it, which took a lot of effort, but the area was very nice. There were plenty of trees on and around the hill we could use for firewood when we cook what we find.

We set up the carts away from the hill and dug a hole where we would make the fire. Mr. Smith then asked everyone to gather around, so he could give out assignments for the preparation. He assigned Jack and Bravo to cut firewood, Holly and Jake to get berries, and asked Madeline to hunt but, "I want everyone to go in pairs, so" then he looked around and pointed at me, "Prestin, you go with 'er. This way y'all can track something for a while if need be, an' ya won't get lost."

"Yessir Mr. Smith." I responded, but Madeline didn't look so happy about it. I didn't expect her to be overjoyed or anything, but don't make me feel like you'd stab me in the back.

Before we head out, I asked for some rope, made a notch in the top of my walking stick, and tied the flint to it to make a makeshift spear. I thought it would be best to have something over nothing, but it's not my best work. Either way, Madeline was looking impatient, so I headed over and she walked into the forest without a word. I just followed behind and, not wanting to get in the way of her hunting, tried to make my footsteps as quiet as possible.

After walking for almost an hour, she turned right, looked back at me, and almost jumped as she let out a "Gah!" I strained to not smile as she did this, but then she said, "You're still here! I thought I lost you forever ago."

It left me dumbfounded for a moment, was I being that quiet? I know I had accidentally stepped on a stick a few times, so it could've been that. "No," I responded slowly, "I've been here the whole time."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want to interrupt your hunting."

"I wasn't hunting, I was trying to..." she trailed off, mumbling to herself.

"You were trying to lose me. Right?"

She looked annoyed.

"I don't think you could lose me, it's my job to not get lost."

"And why do you think you're so special?"

I felt rather offended by this. I didn't think anything I said would've equated to that. Now or in the past. "I never said I was."

"I know you didn't, but I know you do."

I didn't understand, so I let her rant about how shitty a person I am, and even though I stopped paying attention at some point, here are the main takeaways: I'm apparently too good for the group because I'm always off by myself, when traveling or sleeping and I'm a know-it-all that is trying too hard to be important on this expedition.

I tried to explain that I was off in the front of the traveling pack because I was charged with navigation, and that I was charged with navigation due to my experience in exploring forests, but I don't think that was a satisfactory answer for some reason. I didn't see why I needed to explain more than that and was about to voice my complaint when something happened. I didn't know what, but something felt off, and I motioned for Madeline to be quiet, and she did not take kindly to that. She started yammering, probably about me, but I couldn't hear her exact words, as my eyes were on an over-8-foot-tall bear standing over the corpse of a wild boar. When it turned towards us and I saw its almost solid red eyes and foamy saliva, I knew we were screwed. The bear had eaten a rageshroom.

Rageshrooms are a very rare type of mushroom, but I learned about their affects from the Doctor: "They appear as light brown pointed capped mushrooms with red spots, so they're easy to identify. When touched they adhere to the target's skin, and when ingested they increase the diameter of the blood vessels in a creature's body and cause their body to produce more blood and their heart to pump it faster. This results in the individual having their physical abilities temporarily heightened, but can interfere with the brain, causing aggression and violent tendencies, usually followed by either a prolonged period of intense exhaustion, seizures, or death." The Doctor used a lot of large words I didn't understand, but the only part of his explanation that I needed to understand was to not touch or eat the rageshrooms and to stay away from those that have eaten the rageshroom.

Now there is a crazed, super-strong bear in front of me, and a person not paying attention blabbering on about stuff behind me. I didn't think there could be a worse situation to be in.

"Psst. Hey" I whispered, keeping my eyes on the bear, "don't panic, just back away slowly."

"Hold on, I wasn't done talking to…" Madeline trailed off as she noticed the bear, and then a smug look crossed her face, "Ah perfect! Now we have something to hunt."

"Uh, no we shouldn't hunt that thing."

Madeline scoffs, "Yeah ok, whatever."

I grab her by the wrist and try to lead her away, but she pulls away and draws her bow. The bear hadn't yet decided to attack us, so to someone who is used to hunting, this must seem like a normal bear, but once she fired her arrow, it was obvious this was a bear we shouldn't poke. When her arrow, after flying gracefully through the air and aimed to kill, struck the bear, nothing happened. The bear didn't roar in pain, or even flinch. It just stared back at us for a moment, got down on all fours, and charged at us.

"What the hell?" Madeline exclaimed, clearly shocked her shot did nothing to it. I grabbed her wrist again and pulled her along as I ran. After a few seconds she broke free and kept pace with me running, but I looked back and the bear was gaining.

"We gotta go faster." I said to her, loud enough that it should be audible above the wind rushing past our ears.

"What! I can't run faster."

"You'll have to!" I said as I slowly increased my pace, and for a bit she managed to keep up, but after I accelerated to as fast as I could go, she started falling behind, and the bear was still gaining.

Now I, by myself, could've probably outrun the bear for a while, but the bear would eventually catch up as I tired. But if I could gain some distance, I could lose the bear. I debated letting the bear eat her so I can get away, but only for a moment. I knew that if I let her die, people would be hesitant to help me with any future plans, so I decided to risk my life for a girl that annoyed me to no end.

I stopped abruptly and took out my makeshift spear, pointing it at the bear. I waited for it to swipe at me and ducked around its paw to stab it under the arm. It was a clean hit, blood spraying from the wound, but it missed the key points to disable its arm. I jumped back a bit, staying barely within range, but just before I went to strike again, I heard an arrow whizz through the air and embed itself deep into the right eye of the bear, removing me from its line of sight. Now that it couldn't see me, it went after Madeline, to my right. She shot again, hitting the bear's nose. The bear didn't react, and by the time she had another arrow drawn, it was too close to get away.

In a moment of I-don't-know-what, be it bravery or stupidity, I ran up and lunged at the bear's back. I pulled on its head with my free hand, keeping my spear in the other. As I pulled it away, Madeline took another shot, hitting the bear in its left eye, blinding it. Gripping the fur on the bear's head, I thrusted the spear downward with all my strength, feeling the resistance of flesh, bone, and finally, air. I jumped back as the bear fell and hearing the splintering of wood, I knew my spear was broken. But for the moment we both stood where we were, unmoving, breathing heavily, covered in blood.