by Amira Rain
Maybe ten feet up the tree, a girl of about eleven or twelve was hugging the trunk, trying to shimmy even further upward. I recognized her as a friendly, smiling girl named Kaylee who lived with her parents in a bungalow just a few down from mine.
She dug her bare feet into the fairly smooth trunk, moving one hand over the other, while glancing down at the shadowy bear. "Help!"
"I'm coming, Kaylee! Just hang on!"
Since the bear had already seen me, I figured that shouting wouldn't matter, but now I regretted it, because it seemed to make him angry. He roared, turning his attention from Kaylee to me. I didn't stop in my approach, though, and within a few steps, I was entering the palm copse, not more than a dozen feet away from him. To my growing horror, he was clearly becoming less shadowy and more solid by the second. He snarled, revealing very sharp, yellowish teeth.
Shaking like a leaf, I came to a stop mere feet away from him, maybe only six or seven feet away, and brandished my garden trowel and pruning shears. "Think you're going to attack a little girl? Think again. I'll cut you to ribbons before you can even get near her."
My words sounded stupid and pathetic even to me. I knew I was just an average woman with very insufficient weaponry. I knew I was likely going to be injured or even killed before I could cut the bear to ribbons or even take a good stab at him. Still, I wasn't sorry I'd rushed out of the clinic to help Kaylee. Maybe during the time that the bear was attacking me, she could get away.
As if wanting to mock my words, the bear, now in completely solid form, suddenly turned from looking at me and head-butted the trunk of the palm, hard enough to send it swaying. Grabbing at the trunk, Kaylee tried to hold on, but she couldn't. The bear's blow had been too powerful. She fell from the swaying tree and landed on her back in the sand.
Immediately, I leaped between her and the bear, brandishing my trowel and shears. "Take one step toward her, and I'll kill you,” I cried.
I knew I would sure try. I'd at least buy her some time.
With a low, menacing growl, the massive black bear began ambling over to me, dark eyes glinting in the sunlight, his razor-sharp claws sinking into the sand with every step. Within a half-dozen paces, he would be on me, likely clawing my throat out. I'd been breathing in rapid gasps, but suddenly, I felt like I couldn't breathe at all, or speak any more, either. Though somehow, I managed a shaky squeak, without taking my gaze from the shaggy black bear.
"Run, Kaylee."
Almost instantly, I heard the soft sound of her feet pounding the sand. The bear paused maybe two feet in front of me, so close I could feel his warm breath when he roared. I could see every single one of his enormous yellowish teeth. I knew it would do me no good to run. He would be faster. He rose up on his back two legs, pulled one mighty paw back, and began sweeping it forward in a downward arc, presumably to slash my face or throat.
Though terrified, I didn't even take a step backward. Willing my muscles to work in spite of my fear, I thrust my trowel forward, intending to try to stab the bear in the heart before he could hurt me.
However, before I could connect the sharp point of my trowel with his chest, something curious happened. Something I couldn't even comprehend at first. I heard a loud bang, and the bear fell backward, roaring. His right shoulder began pouring blood. Confused and shocked to the point of being dazed, I looked at the trowel like an absolute idiot, not even knowing what I expected to see. That was when I heard Bev shouting, twenty-some feet to my left.
She stood in her white lab coat, one hand cupped around her mouth, and the other holding a gun at her side. "Now, run! I'm out of bullets! That was it!"
Instantly, I did as I was told and broke into a sprint. I didn't get very far, though, before I felt something grab or trip my ankle, and I went down in the sand, face-first. Yelling, I flipped myself over and got on my knees. And saw the bear. Still bleeding from his shoulder, he was now on all fours, growling. I'd dropped my trowel, but I still held the pruning shears. Amazingly, I hadn't stabbed myself with them when I'd fallen.
I began trying to stab the bear with them, but none of my stabs seemed to even penetrate the thick black fur covering his face and neck. After making a deafening roar of anger, he bared his teeth and put a paw on my chest, growling, knocking me onto my back. I screamed, still trying to stab at him with the shears. A split-second later, I heard another growl, though this one didn't seem to have come from the bear. It had come from some distance away, maybe twenty or thirty feet. My first thought was that another Gray Form had come to join him for the kill.
But it wasn't another Form. Stopping in his attack on me, the bear looked up, and I followed his line of vision.
*
As Eric and at least a dozen members of his pack charged out from the jungle, the bear looked at them with his eyes glowing red. A low, buzzing sort of hum, like one a high-voltage power line might make, filled the air.
To my complete astonishment and horror, Eric and all his men suddenly dropped to the sand in mid-charge. To my left, Bev fell, too, as did several shifter guards who'd come from the direction of the huts further into the village. It was obvious to me that the bear's red eyes had put some sort of a spell or something on everyone, though not me for some reason.
Now on my feet, though weaponless, because I'd let go of the shears when Eric and his men had charged in, I looked at the bear, hardly daring to breathe, and he looked back at me, teeth bared. The faintest of low, menacing growls rumbled in his chest. I didn't need to hear or see any more. I turned heel and took off running. Without my weapons, I knew getting to safety was my only chance for survival. My only slim, probably one-in-a-million chance, I was sure, but still a chance.
However, I was soon tripped again by a paw swipe to the ankle. For the second time in as many minutes, I flipped onto my seat to try to defend myself, though this time only with my bare hands. I didn't even have long nails. I'd always kept them carefully painted, though short, which I now deeply regretted. Not that having long nails probably would have been that big of a help anyway.
I had an idea to try to gouge the bear's eyes with my fingers, but before I could, hope for help swelled in my heart. A loud growl came from somewhere to my left, immediately followed by another, then another. Eric was up, as was Nate and another wolf I recognized as Matt, Laura's husband. However, it didn't appear that they were in top form. It looked like they were trying to charge over, though they were more staggering forward, weaving a bit, as if drunk. It was clear that whatever the bear had done with his eyes, it had weakened them, or done something else strange to them.
However, it didn't seem as if the bear had dismissed them as threats. With his eyes still glowing red, though not as strongly or brightly now, he backed away from me, his gaze on Eric, Nate, and Matt, who were still lurching forward, seeming as if they were trying to run but just couldn't.
With the bear distracted, I took my opportunity to flee. Bare feet flying, kicking up sand behind me, I took off, heading toward the clinic. Just a short distance in front of it, Bev was curled in a ball, moaning, her gun in the sandy, rocky soil beside her. She was moving slightly, trying to lift her head, though her eyes were closed. I knew I had to get her back inside the clinic, and myself as well. I just didn't know exactly how I was going to do that. Bev wasn't a large woman, but she was fairly tall, and I knew I couldn't just pick her up and carry her like a baby. Even if I could pull her up and into my arms, I was afraid I'd drop her and hurt her. I didn't want to hook my arms under her armpits and pull her, either, for fear that I'd hurt the backs of her bare legs by dragging them over the rocks. She was only wearing a very thin, knee-length floral-print skirt.
While precious seconds ticked by, I contemplated a few other ways I might get her in the building, but as sounds of a shifter fight began intensifying behind me, I knew I had to do something, and I had to do it quickly. I decided I'd just hook my arms under her armpits and pull her, figuring that a few possible scrapes and cuts on the backs of her legs w
ould surely be preferable to her losing her life.
I rolled her onto her back, hooked my arms under her, and began pulling her backward, toward the clinic, seeing that Eric, Nate, and Matt were now battling the bear just a short distance away from the palms. They seemed to have mostly recovered from whatever had happened to them, though maybe not completely.
They were biting at the bear's legs, trying to take him down to the ground it seemed like, though there was something that was just a little off about their movements. Something a little slow. Just that morning, I'd seen Eric playfully sparring with some of his men while in wolf form, and he'd been lightning-fast then. Now he wasn't. However, his bites still seemed to be effective, as did Nate and Matt's, if growls of what sounded like pain coming from the bear were any indication.
By the time I got Bev to the clinic, several more of Eric's shifters had also gotten to their feet and were now coming to help Eric, Nate, and Matt, though like the three of them had been, they were lurching and weaving, seemingly dazed.
Meanwhile, Eric had seemed to recover most of his strength and speed, and Nate and Matt looked nearly there, too. The three of them had managed to pin the great black bear, who was struggling beneath them, roaring. From what I could tell now, being as far away as I was, his eyes were still glowing red, though just faintly. They mostly just looked dark now, how they'd been before Eric and his men had arrived.
Scared of what might happen to them if the bear's eyes became bright red again, I wanted to stay outside the clinic to make sure everyone was going to be okay. However, I knew this would be pure idiocy. For one thing, God forbid Eric and his men weren't okay, there wouldn't be much I could do to help. For another thing, I needed to get Bev to safety.
Besides, the thought occurred to me that if the bear could do whatever he'd done with his eyes again, he'd was already doing it, trying to break free from being pinned. After one last look at Eric and Nate, both of them large and silvery in their wolf forms, I began pulling Bev again, realizing that thankfully, I wasn't going to have to pull her all the way to the main entrance of the building. There was a side door we could use, which I hadn't even remembered when I'd left the clinic.
"Just hang in there, Bev. You're going to be just fine."
I really hoped she would be, but it seemed as if she should have been coming around at this point, since all the wolves now had. I wondered if the fact that she wasn't a shifter had made her less able to withstand the effects of whatever thing the bear had done with his eyes.
Though just then, right after I'd spoken, she moaned, opening her eyes just a crack. "Help. Get me inside."
Her voice had come out barely louder than a whisper.
"Don't worry, Bev. I'm pulling you in. We're almost around to the side door."
The muscles in my arms, legs, and back were burning, crying out for a rest, but I knew I couldn't stop. It looked like Eric and his men had the bear fully subdued, but on the off-chance that the bear broke free, I wanted Bev safely inside the clinic.
I continued pulling her, and maybe ten feet away from the door, a few wolf shifters came streaking past us, coming from the direction of the village, and one of them stopped and shifted into human form to help. As if she were light as a feather, he scooped Bev up, carried her inside while I held the door, and gently set her on the floor before racing back outside and shifting again.
I shut the door and locked it, then went back to Bev and knelt by her side. "Are you okay? Can you talk?"
She slowly opened her eyes and spoke in a stronger voice than what she had outside the building. "I'm okay. Are you?"
I looked myself over quickly before responding. "I'm fine. I don't even have a scratch on me."
Somehow, probably miraculously, I really didn't.
Bev moved her head in a nod. "Good. Go ahead and leave me while you lock the main doors and all the windows."
After asking her if she was sure she was okay, and her answering that she was, I zipped through the whole clinic as fast as I could, locking the main doors and closing and locking all the windows. Once the task was complete, I grabbed a pillow and a bottle of water, and jogged back to Bev. To my surprise, she was sitting up, though looking a little shell-shocked.
She turned her face toward me, actually attempting a smile. "Just a few very minor scrapes on the backs of my calves, but that's all, thanks to you. Could have been a lot worse."
I knelt beside her again, weak with relief. "How do you feel?"
She looked at me with her eyes wide. "Can you believe that was only the second time in my life I've ever fired a gun? I wish I'd gotten him in the head or heart, but I have to admit, I was pretty surprised I even got him in the shoulder. Only having one bullet like that, I was terrified I'd miss, or accidentally hit you, even. The army scientists used to keep a few guns locked away in cabinets here, and I was able to find the one, but only one bullet in the chamber, and knowing time was of the essence, I didn't have time to search for extras. I just prayed I wouldn't miss."
Filled with gratitude and a rush of emotion rising in my chest, I wrapped my arms around Bev and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you for what you did. You probably saved my life."
She hugged me back, her arms seeming to be working just fine. "Just like you probably saved Kaylee's. I saw her running past, looking scared but unharmed."
Soon Bev was up and walking around, seeming no worse for the wear. After making her drink some water and sit down to rest again, I called Laura to check on her and her little son, Ian. Since we'd only had a few appointments at the clinic that day, she'd taken the afternoon off to take him to the beach.
To my great relief, she answered the phone on the first ring, and after I asked her if she and Ian were safe, she told me that they were, and that they'd returned home from the beach just as a few Gray Forms had entered the village.
"We got home with probably only a minute to spare before we heard yelling and shouting. I don't know how in the hell the Forms got past the guards all around the village. I know Eric left plenty of guards today. But somehow, a few Forms got past them, obviously, though I think the guards have them all under control now. One of them stopped by to check on us a second ago and said that no one in the village seems to be injured. Very thankfully."
She asked how I was doing and where I was, and I briefly filled her in on everything that had happened. She was understandably very concerned about Matt, but I told her that he, Eric, Nate, and the other wolves seemed to have the bear under control.
After that, I told her I should probably go. "Bev's up and walking around again, so I'm going to go sit her down somewhere and get her comfortable, then I want to go look out a window to see what's happening. I'll text you with news."
A few minutes later, I was standing at one of the windows in my office, texting Laura what I could see, which was nothing, but not because I didn't have clear view of where the fight had been taking place. All the wolves, and the bear, were simply gone.
I went to go check on Bev, who I'd sternly ordered to lie down on an exam room to rest. She was still doing okay, saying that she felt like she'd regained all of her strength.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly pulled herself up to sit. "I think after all our heroics, all we have to do now is wait here until one of the shifters comes to tell us the coast is clear."
We did just that for about ten minutes, until Eric called me, asking where I was and if I was okay. I dashed out to meet him at the main doors, and once I'd unlocked them and pushed one open, he immediately pulled me up and into his arms, lifting my feet off the ground.
"Thank God you're all right. I'm so sorry, Liz. I'm so sorry."
I lifted my face from his shoulder. "For what?"
He scoffed, squeezing me even tighter. "For allowing myself to be struck down by whatever that Form did with his eyes, of course, leaving you to deal with him by yourself for a few seconds."
"Yeah, a few seconds. And then you did come to my rescue, and I lived. Please don'
t be sorry."
"Well, I still am. I feel terrible about what you went through, and about the fact that the Forms were able to get past me and my men and get into the village. Apparently, the bear disabled all the guards with whatever he was doing with his eyes, which we've never seen before. He's gotten stronger, and we're not sure how."
"Did you kill him?"
Eric winced, his deep gray eyes becoming filled with what appeared to be embarrassment and pain. "He escaped while Nate and I were taking out a wolf Form that had come over to help him. I thought my men could finish him off, but I think they were still weakened."
Eric soon put me back on my feet, and we talked just a bit longer. I told him everything that had happened before he'd arrived, and I assured him that Bev was all right.
After that, he told me that the village was clear, and Nate would escort me home. "I have to go sort my men into patrol shifts, then some of us will be doing surveillance a little deeper into the jungle to make sure that all the Forms have returned to the lake and aren't still lurking around, waiting to attack again."