Page 117 of Tangled up in You

Slowly backing toward the clearing where the men were, she tried to get their attention without drawing the as-yet-unseen sow’s attention.

Because where there was a cub therehadto be a momma bear.

“Psst! Chrissssss! Mark!”

Chris responded. “What—oh,shit! Jesse, stop moving.”

She froze.

CHRIS

Our luck just ran out.

Mark had disappeared into the trees on the far side of the mules.

Chris stepped forward, the radio in his left hand as he fumbled for the can of bear spray on his right hip. He still didn’t see the sow but the cub was young, too small to be on its own. “Jesse, stay right there, and don’t turn around. Mark!”

“What?”

“Get out here!” Chris had lucked out that while he’d seen bears in the field countless times, he’d never had a close enough encounter where he’d had to use his bear spray. He was usually with a group of several people who could make enough noise to send bears running.

“What do I do?” she hissed.

“Get your bear spray out and slowly back away.” He heard snuffling noises beyond the cub, but couldn’t see the sow yet. The cub had frozen, staring at Jesse. Now the mules were snorting, stomping, whinnying and making their fear known.

Chris moved forward at an angle, to intersect Jesse’s path. “Hey, bear!” he screamed, holding his arms up. “Go away, bear! Mark, get the fuck over here!”

“Shit! Coming!”

That’s when the sow emerged, directly behind the cub, and Chris wasn’t sure his heart might not stop right there, becauseshe was huge. He didn’t risk glancing behind him. “Jesse, keep moving. Just go. I’ll catch up. Don’t turn your back to them or run yet. Hey, bear!”

The sow stepped forward as the cub scampered behind her. Then she reared up on her hind legs, taking another couple of steps toward him.

“Yah, bear!” he screamed. “Mark where thefuckare you!”

The bear dropped onto all fours and headed toward Chris.

Backing up, he reflexively lobbed the radio at her while activating the bear spray and praying he wouldn’t nail himself with it.

That’s when he heard Mark run up, bear spray in one hand and gun in the other, and they both continued screaming until the sow let out another growl, but she didn’t leave.

“Go, Chris,” Mark said, stepping in front of him. “Follow Jesse.”

“But—”

“Fuckinggo!”

He glanced behind him and started moving.

CHAPTER 11

MARK

He desperately didnotwant to shoot this goddamned bear. Especially when he spotted the radio collar around its neck.

Goddammit.

“Go away bear!” he yelled, blasting another shot of bear spray at it when it took two steps toward him.

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