Leave it to my brain to analyze stupid things when I should be running.
He didn't waste another second, scrambling away as best he could. His right arm caught on trees and limbs, flopping uselessly to his side again. He brought his left arm around to hold it down, barely registering how wet and sticky it felt. The whole thing was surreal, like he’d fallen asleep in the woods and was having a nightmare.
Another whimper pealed out, and Jace hesitated, glancing back. The wolf was on its side, breathing hard but not getting up. Part of him—a largely irrational part, it seemed—wanted to turn back and help the wolf.
But the grizzly bear . . .
Jace tripped over something, sprawling onto the ground. Dirt and pine needles stuck to his face, his hands. He groaned as he flipped onto his back. The bear neared, huffing and pawing at the ground. It clicked its teeth between steps. Click. Huff. Clack. Grunt. The sound conjured images of the bear feasting on Jace’s flesh.
Jace shuddered, his teeth chattering.
He felt the ground around him with his good hand, desperately looking for something, anything. His fingers closed around a stick. It wouldn’t help anything, he was sure, but if all else failed, he’d fight.
And then he went limp. It was excruciating, fighting every instinct just to lie still. The bear's musky scent filled his nostrils, its teeth likely close enough to count. Sharp, dangerous teeth. Jace tried not to envision his own death at the muzzle of that beast. It wasn’t working.
“Don’t,” the feminine voice said. She sounded so close—and a little winded. Funny that he’d run into this situation to try to save her, and now he was the one who needed to be saved.
The bear let out an angry rumble, and the warmth hovering over Jace’s chest swept away. Was it leaving? Did his mystery girl have some sort of sway over these creatures?
He dared to crack an eye open, only to see the bear coming down again, his teeth bared.
Jace squeezed his eyes tight, but it did nothing to stop the bear from landing astride him once more.
“No, no, no! Fight! You have to fight him,” the mystery girl called out.
There was a dark chuckle, the male voice from earlier sounding like it was coming from right in front of Jace. “That’s right. Fight.”
Jace resisted the advice. Everyone knew you didn’t fight a bear unless you had to.
A huff of air blew over Jace’s face again, sending a cooling sensation through his sweat-slicked hair. And then a deep breath in. What does this thing want? his mind screamed. Being so close, staring death in the face while pinned to the ground was worse torture than being chased. If it wanted to kill him, why didn’t it just do it?
“Pee?” the male voice rumbled, followed by more laughter.
Jace wasn’t surprised to find his pants were wet. But what brought warmth to his neck was knowing that someone was out there, maybe even close enough to touch, watching this mess and doing nothing to stop it, even taking pleasure in what he was witnessing. Jace would’ve screamed if it weren’t for the one-ton bear on top of him.
The bear clicked and huffed, its teeth snapping close enough that he could feel the fur brushing against his nose. It placed a hefty paw on Jace’s right arm and eased down. The sickening crunch, like rocks in mud, increased with the pressure.
Jace cried out, and he was met with a triumphant roar.
Screw it. I’m dead now no matter what I do. Jace opened his eyes and swung for the bear’s face, letting out a holler.
The bear swatted the stick aside like a toy.
Jace panted, his life flashing before his eyes. This was it, the moment he died. He hoped his parents would be okay, that his friends wouldn’t find the same fate, that the rangers would come and take care of these monsters.
The chuckling intensified, and Jace found his anger building once more.
“Get this thing off me!” he shouted. If this bear was some sort of pet, the owner must be a sociopath, watching and doing nothing like he was. Or calling the shots.
He looked around wildly, but he could hardly see anything past the bear in his face, the massive jaws opening, lowering almost gently over his left arm.
“That’s enough!” mystery girl said, her voice pleading.
The bear huffed, sounding amused.
As tooth pressed into flesh, the wolf lunged, a fierce growl coming from its glistening jaws.
Jace watched as if in slow motion as his body was shoved between the two animals. Claws poked from behind while fur and blood and teeth filled his vision. He threw his good arm over his head and tried to scrunch into a ball, but there wasn’t enough time.
A vice-like grip clamped around his chest, followed by a popping sensation. The wolf let go immediately, jumping back with a yelp. Jace was dropped to the ground, and the wolf lunged at the bear again.
Jace took a wheezing breath, then coughed and coughed some more, the air his body wanted at war with his body, itself. He wanted to roll away, but he couldn’t even do that.
He was batted sharply away, forcing an oof from him. As he lay there, listening to the creatures battle, his eyes wandered to the dark sky shrouded by an even darker canopy. The pain he should’ve been feeling finally caught up with him. Branches and needles nettled his skin, along with a myriad of gritty, dirt-covered wounds he didn't recall receiving. But the stabbing pain in his arm and chest blared like sirens through his senses.
He was dying. And there was nothing anybody could do about it.
His vision wavered and bled together. A metallic scent hung in the air, along with an acrid ammonia, overpowering the almost minty smell of the pine forest. He tried to cry out, but his lungs refused to produce more than a squeak. And the angry growls and snaps swallowed up his feeble attempt to call for help, providing a haunting melody that echoed through his pain.
Dark comfort pulled at his consciousness, and he let it, embraced it. At least he wouldn’t feel anything else before he died.
“What’s wrong with you?” the feminine voice said, barely piercing the misty haze.
“Don’t get in my way again,” the male voice countered.
They were fighting again. He was dying at the claws of angry beasts, and all those two idiots could do was fight.
The words “twice,” and “help” floated through the air before Jace’s consciousness gave up trying to make sense of it all.
Chapter 3
A persistent beep flicked through his murky mind like a mosquito flying in and out of range. There was a steady hum behind it that seemed to grow louder with each passing second.
Jace looked at the darkness, then scrunched his face as he realized his eyes were closed. He cracked them open, an unfamiliar room coming into view, fuzzy as it was. He blinked, and the blur eased, a tv and a dimly lit room coming into focus.
Jace tried to lift his leaden head, but the effort only made him groan.
“Jace?”
He rolled his head toward the sound of his mother’s voice, and it took another long moment for her concerned face to come into focus. Warmth wrapped around his hand a moment later—her touch.
“Jace, honey, how are you feeling?”
He took a moment, but choked as he tried to swallow the Sahara Desert that had become his mouth. “Thirsty,” he croaked.
“Okay. Let me call the nurse for you. The doctor will probably want to know that you’re up, anyway.”