Harvey glanced at a path around the bear, scuttling and ducking and finally bolting for it in a desperate bid to escape and outrun the animal. “Harvey!” Amy shouted, knowing he wouldn’t respond even if he cared to. Dust kicked up under Harvey's feet as he made his break, body low to the ground, head ducked.
But the bear was ready for him, and after a just a few strides and a small jump, the bear pounced on Harvey and had him quickly pinned. “No, oh no!” Harvey shouted and screamed as the bear jabbed its massive head down onto the back of Harvey’s neck. “Oh God no, help me! Somebody help me! Mommy! Mommmeeeeeeeee!”
The bear wrenched her head upward, quick and hard, and Harvey’s body suddenly went limp, arms hanging idle, legs twitching with the pull of the death nerve.
Amy’s stomach sank, tears welling up in her eyes. She’d misunderstood the man every step of the way, misjudged his willingness to help them both escape. He’d given his life to try to save hers, her kidnapper turned her rescuer. But Amy knew she still had Camden to rescue, not to mention herself, and as the bear sniffed at Harvey’s lifeless body and stepped away from it, Amy knew she had precious little time to do either one.
“Camden,” she whispered as loudly as she could, “Camden, wake up!” He stirred but didn’t wake, and even slapping his cheek several times in quick succession did little to bring him around.
Amy reviewed her scrambled memory. Where did he put the flare gun? I know we brought it with us. In the glove compartment? I didn’t pay attention! Damnit!
But there wasn’t any more time to think about it. The bear left Harvey’s body behind and was striding back to the windshield. Amy screamed, unable to help it. And that only encouraged the beast, tickling its primitive killing instinct. The bear’s head rammed into the opened windshield cavity, biting at Amy’s arms and head, poked over the top of the empty driver’s seat. It came close, but couldn’t manage to get a hold of Amy even though she did land a few good shots on its terrible face. It's coarse hairs stabbed at Amy’s fists as she swatted at it, unable to drive the beast away.
Instead, it refocused on Camden’s legs on the other side of the driver’s seat, one of them still badly bleeding. It was an easy choice, its jaws locking down again on his bloodied leg, bringing him instantly to wakefulness, underscored by his own horrific scream.
Chapter 34
Amy
The bear yanked hard on his pant leg and Camden’s body was quick to react. Camden’s eyes went wide as the animal pulled him easily up and over the side of the driver’s seat. Camden was yanked between the driver’s and passenger’s seats, turning and pressing his hands against the backs of both seats. He kicked with his other foot, grunting and hissing and screaming as the bear yanked at his leg, inching Camden further away from Amy, closer and closer to his terrible death.
Camden slid even more with another tug from the bear. Camden’s arms were pressed against the backs of the seats, his face clenched as he held on, the bear still pulling and wrenching and tugging, his other leg still desperately kicking to free its partner.
Amy wrapped her arms around Camden’s, struggling to hold him. She pressed her feet flat against the backs of the chairs to support her efforts, holding onto Camden’s upper body while the bear tried to pull him by the leg through the windshield and out to his death.
Amy knew she’d be next.
Another hard tug inspired another pain-filled hiss from Camden’s clenched jaws, his body pulled past the two front seats, arms straight as he held on, Amy’s grip slipping down his arms to his wrists, clinging to him for dear life. Camden looked up at Amy and she down at him, and she could almost see her own reflection in his eyes. He said, “Run, Amy, save yourself!”
“No, Camden, no!”
“I love you, Amy.”
“Camden!”
With that, Camden turned his attention to the bear and let go of the SUV’s front seats, the creature yanking him out through the windshield and out onto the street.
“Camden!”
Amy was freed of Camden’s weight and could reposition herself to climb into the front seat and search for that flare gun. It was a long shot, but it was the only shot they had. I know we brought it, Amy told herself, it must be up here somewhere!
But her attention was stolen by Camden’s struggle, kicking the bear’s face until it finally let go of his leg. The bear lunged again but, to Amy’s amazement, Camden threw a hard punch, a right cross, and connected precisely on the beast’s snout. It barely registered, but the bear did shake her head in surprise and took a moment to re-assess her adversary. In that sliver of time, Camden rolled over to Harvey's body and pulled his belt buckle open.
Amy shouted, “Over here! Hey, you stupid bear, over here!” The bear turned, snorting and looking back between Camden and Amy in the crippled SUV.
Camden pulled the belt out of his partner's pants just as the bear decided to return her attention to him. He pushed himself to his feet, leaning hard on his good foot and swinging the belt, swatting the bear straight in the face with the buckle. The bear didn’t quite understand what had hit it, though it clearly wasn’t damaged by the little hunk of metal. Another strike further annoyed the bear, but at least it held the creature at bay.
Amy knew Camden’s time was running out, and it snapped her back into action. Gotta find that flare gun!
Amy climbed over the front seat and leaned up to the glove compartment. But when she opened it several registration papers fell out, a few pens and a road map, and nothing else. The bear roared outside, growing more annoyed and impatient and Camden growing weaker with every bleeding minute.
Amy checked under the driver’s seat and found a plastic box with a handle and buckles.
Bingo!
Amy pulled out the box and opened it, the flare gun and two shells locked in place. Amy crouched on the door of the side-tilted vehicle as she pulled out the gun and the two shells and tossed the plastic box away.
She tried to open the gun, wrestling with the latch and dropping the shells. Amy looked down to find the lost shells, one rolling into the recessed area of the armrest. She searched for the other, the bear roaring and Camden calling, “Get outta here, Amy, run!”
Amy found the other shell just behind the seat and, crouching low, made her way out of the SUV and through the cavity that once housed the windshield.
Amy’s legs were aching, her eyes squinting in the light as she emerged from the SUV and tried to stand. She found the latch and the flare gun opened in the middle. She shoved one shell into her pocket and the other into the gun, the only way it could reasonably go. The gun clicked shut.
“Hey,” Amy shouted, grabbing both Camden and the bear’s attention. “Get away from my man, you bitch!” Amy shot the flare, the projectile curving even on the short trip from the gun into the bear’s side. It hit hard and burst into a hot eruption of orange smoke and sparks. The bear turned and roared, backing up even as the flare bounced off the animal’s fatty hide, a small flame clinging to the creature’s oily hide before dying out, gray smoke drifting up from the superficial wound.
Just like Harvey said, Amy thought, but that was all the time she had to reflect.
The bear howled and turned to chase her, anxious for her revenge. And for Amy, it was fight or flight, and she had no choice.
She flew.
The bear chased her around the vehicle, her scream involuntarily leaping out of her throat, the bear answering with a blood-curdling roar. Amy gained a little ground by circling tighter to the vehicle, the bigger bear having to make broader turns. Once she reached the destroyed windshield she saw her chance and jumped up in a scrambling climb to get to the exposed side of the SUV, facing upward.
The bear arrived and swatted at Amy, the tips of her claws hitting her shoe, just an inch from taking her foot off completely. But Amy managed to back up to the center of the SUV’s side, now its roof. The bear reared up on her hind legs, roaring at Amy. It was just short of big enough to jump onto the v
ehicle, screaming at Amy again before lowering back down onto all fours.
She pulled the second shell out of her pocket and flicked the gun open. She slid the shell in and closed the gun, peeking over the side of the vehicle to track the bear’s movements. One shot, she told herself, but if I can hit her in the head, the eye, that big ugly mouth, that’ll do it. Can’t miss, have to wait ’til she’s close enough.
The bear’s roar came an instant before her massive head lurched up at her, jaws clamping shut, just inches from her face. Amy fell back, heart nearly bursting with fright. She landed on her ass, nearly falling over the side of the SUV. But the gun did fall out of her hand, bounce across the vehicle’s exposed side, and to the ground on the other side.
Oh shit!
The bear started pushing against the SUV, the square vehicle rocking hard. Amy looked around, confused and panicked, two thoughts bursting in her brain. If that bear knocks me off this SUV, I’m dead; unless I can get that gun, but it’s sure to be impossible to get to, once it rolls.
The bear roared as it pushed the SUV harder, Amy knowing what she had to do but terrified to do it.
No, she told herself, don’t freeze up; not again, not now!
Amy jumped over the other side of the SUV. She hit the ground hard, feet instantly throbbing, legs aching from the vigor of her bondage the day before. She looked around quickly, the vehicle rocking next to her, the flare gun nowhere in sight.
C’mon, c’mon, it’s gotta be here somewhere!
Time was running out, the SUV rocking harder, just inches away from falling and crushing Amy in the process. Even if she ducked it, the gun would be lost, and so would her life and Camden’s.
Camden!
Amy looked over to see Camden laying on the road, once again unconscious. But it proved to be what could be a fatal mistake as the SUV came teetering down upon her, blocking out the sun, ending her life.
Chapter 35
Amy
Amy spotted the flare gun just in time, near one of the two tires still on the road. She thought twice, but in the heat of the moment, she lunged for the gun just as the SUV came crashing down. She grabbed the gun and rolled out of the way, the vehicle smashing down onto the dirt road, landing just inches from her legs.
She kept rolling, clearing the SUV and pushing herself to her feet. Amy was dizzy and tired, adrenalin pulsing through her. She wanted to run to Camden to nurse him, but the bear’s growl was getting louder and Amy knew the big female was coming for her.
Gotta get her away from him, Amy told herself, make sure that bear doesn't go after Camden instead to finish him off.
She did come galloping around the side of the SUV, and Amy drew her back around to the other side, making sure the vehicle was between the bear and the men. The bear roared, frustrated and furious as it came around the side of the vehicle and Amy backed up, drawing the beast further and further while she aimed the gun.
Amy had one shot. She knew if she missed, the bear would easily overtake her, later to go back and finish Camden off as well. It all came down to that moment; everything she’d been through, everything she’d learned. From damsel to heroine, from afraid to live to being the only chance at life and the very hand of death itself; kill or be killed, the moment of truth.
The bear seemed to know it too. The bear reared up on her hind legs, tall, blotting out the sun, looking down at her with a horrific, throat-rattling growl. The two females stood face to face, each the apex of her species, neither one ready or able to back down.
Amy waited for the bear to drop back down onto all fours. But once she did, the shot didn't come. The bear looked into Amy’s eyes and Amy back into hers, the two of them seeming to communicate without words. Suddenly there was a loud shot in the distance, hunters nearby.
The bear immediately spooked, darting and disappearing among the cedars and cypress trees, a final huff punctuating its exit.
Amy stood stunned, hands still on the flare gun, before her brain kicked into action and her legs jumped obediently to carry her around the side of the SUV to Camden's side. Amy fell to her knees, Camden laying with his foot in a pool of his own blood, her T-shirt soaked with blood. She took his head into her lap, stroking his black hair, his blue eyes looking lazily up at her.
“The … the bear?” he barely managed to ask.
“Chased her off,” Amy said in a soft, reassuring tone. “She won’t bother us again.” Camden smiled, but it didn't last. He looked over at Harvey, laying dead only a few feet away. “I’m sorry, Camden. He was very brave, a good man.”
“He was,” Camden said. “I’ll give him your regards.”
This sank hard and deep into Amy’s heart. “What? No, Camden, no, you're staying here with me! You’re not going anywhere.”
“You’re right, Amy, I’ll … I’ll always be with you, no matter where you go.”
“No, Camden! Damnit, I said no!” She said firmly.
Camden smiled, wincing in pain, his big hand reaching up to trace her cheek with the back of her hand. “Bear hit an artery, Amy, I’ve lost too much blood.”
“No, Camden!”
“It’s okay, Amy, it’s all right. We have to let go of the lives we have to have the lives we want.”
“No, Camden, that's wrong! It’s just a stupid saying!”
He smiled. “Joseph Campbell, The Hero of a Thousand Faces.”
Amy’s tears came fast, pushing out of her eyes to obscure her vision. She raised his hand to her cheek, wiping her tears on the backs of his fingers. “My hero only has one.” Tears poured down Amy’s cheeks, lips twisting in a tortured frown as she caressed Camden’s face. “Don’t die, Camden, please don’t! Please don’t leave me, Camden! I … if you die, something in me dies too, something I need to keep going, Camden.”
He looked up at her, eyelids flickering, blood draining from his face. “Love.” he said.
“Yes,” Amy said simply, “love.”
She held him tight, rocking him gently as he shuddered with a wave of cold passing over his body.
Amy grabbed the flare gun, raised it over her head and shot, the flare launching out of the wide, round barrel and into the air above them, bursting in an orange cloud a few hundred feet high. She knew the hunters nearby would see it, hear it, and be quick to respond. Everything would be ok.
Amy dropped the gun and started stroking his face. He looked up at the burning flare with a vague smile. “The brightest star in the sky.”
Amy smiled, but it was bittersweet, tears already pouring down her reddening cheeks. “Yeah, Camden, you can be whatever or whoever you want to be.”
He smiled. “Yours.”
Tears came faster, harder. “Always.”
Together they watched the flare burn out, leaving only a trace of smoke carried away by the autumn wind.
Epilogue
Amy
In white lace and a veil, Amy felt like the picture of blushing bride straight out of a fairy tale. A pastor stood in front of them, a copy of the Holy Bible in his hands, a stately chapel their elegant setting.
Camden’s father sat alone in the front row, happy and proud, impressive in his Boston PD dress uniform.
The pastor said, “Then by the power vested in me by the County of Los Angeles, I now pronounce you man and wife.”
Camden leaned forward and Amy looked up, the two kissing for the first time as a married couple. The crowd applauded, Amy and Camden smiling at them to share their new-found happiness.
Rosa and her family clapped, a happy clan finally reunited, matching faces and smiles radiating gratitude and joy. It was a day to celebrate union and family, and few had more reason to celebrate than the Robles family.
Isla clapped, smiling and waving from the crowd. She was sitting next to agent Lew Weiss, and as Amy glanced at Isla, Isla tilted her head toward the nerdy older man, rolling her eyes and biting her lower lip. This move grabbed Lew’s attention, however, and he looked at Isla with a kind of professional distance. The
n he looked Isla over and smiled, and when Isla’s eyes caught Lew’s, even Amy could feel the sparks between them.
Amy and Camden shared a quiet moment outside the church while their friends collected and chatted, making new friendships and strengthening old ones. It was a new family, brought together by two solitary souls, each uniquely suited to the other. He held her from behind, arms wrapped around her in a loving embrace, his hands on her little baby bump. He kissed her cheek from behind and she turned, her lips meeting his.
Camden set his hand on her belly, the bump not yet showing. She set her own hand on his and they looked at one another, a loving gaze that bound them together, unbreakable.
“I love you so much, Amy, I … I can’t find the words.”
Amy smiled. “Sounds like you haven’t thought it out very thoroughly.”
They shared a little chuckle and a kiss. Neither one needed to think anymore. For the rest of their lives, they would feel.
A variety of people were at the wedding, all of them personally known to either Amy or Camden without a hired place-holder in site. Nobody in the Dey family would be calling Central Casting again. And two of the invited guests included the mysterious and lovely Tia McBride and her short female assistant, Shin Lu.
After the ceremony, Tia and Shin Lu approached Camden and Amy, Amy tensing with her intimidating presence. Tia was resplendent in a black dress, making her red hair and pale skin even more prominent. Little Shin Lu wore what seemed to be a permanent scowl.
“Camden, Amy,” Tia said.
“Ms. McBride,” Amy said. “Shin Lu.” Shin Lu nodded politely but offered no response.
“Tia,” Camden said.
“Congratulations Amy, Camden. I’m quite happy for you both, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little disappointed. I thought we’d be working together for years, Camden.”
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