Primal Encounters

Chapter 7: Eruption

Decker steps over a log, approaching the river. They come up on the riverbank, where the current is low enough to cross. As they cross, the water goes up to their knees. When they get on the other side, Decker notices something. He bends down to inspect further. He realizes that he is looking at a set of tracks.

"Hey doc, come take a look at this." Decker calls out.

"What is it?" Dr. Smith asks.

"What animal do these tracks belong to?" Decker asks.

"They belong to the Terror Bird." Dr. Smith Responds.

"Oh great, not those guys again." Dr. Prendergast whines.

"Well head for those trees." Decker says, pointing to a nearby tree line. "We will follow it from here back to base camp."

"Well, let's not sit around and wait for those Terror Birds to find us, let's get on the move." Dr. Smith says.

The group makes a b-line for the cover of the forest, continuing their trek for base camp. About 15 minutes later, Tobias and Dr. Dells walk along the same location as Decker and the others crossed the river. They are inspecting the mud looking for signs of that the others crossed.

"I think I found something." Tobias says. "I found three sets of boot prints."

"Can you tell which way they are headed?" Dr. Dells asks.

"Looks like they are headed for the tree line." Tobias responds.

"Then let's go." Dr. Dells says.

The two of them head back to the Tacoma, to follow them before something else does. Walking along the tree line, they have almost reached base camp. Decker gets a whiff of something rotten. After a little while more of walking, they come upon a carcass. Dr. Smith inspects it closer, seeing that its some kind of deer. Decker looks out toward the field to their right, and sees something big coming toward them. He pulls out his small binoculars and takes a closer look. He sees a massive bear coming at them.

"We got to leave now." Decker says.

But before they can leave, the massive creature is upon them. It immediately goes on the offensive. Decker empties his Spas-12 at the bear, it stumbles backward from the shock. But it suddenly lunges forward and swipes the Spas-12 from Decker's hands, bending the barrel in the process. The bear starts to walk toward Dr. Smith, Decker runs in front of it, screaming and waving his arms in an attempt to keep it focused on him. It looks back and forth, as if deciding who it wants. It then lunges after Decker; Decker runs for it. But the bear is faster than Decker. He darts to the left to get out of the way. He then notices that Dr. Prendergast is running toward the forest. The bear has noticed this as well, and is pursing. Before he can do anything about it, both Dr. Prendergast and the bear are in the forest. Decker draws his Beretta, and follows them in. He follows the trail the bear left in its wake. He then hears a scream not too far ahead of him. He rushes forward, pistol at the ready. Once he gets to the spot where the scream came from, he looks for signs of Dr. Prendergast. He notices that there is a pool of blood at his feet. He follows it, until he reaches another clearing. He scans it, and sees the bear running off, dragging something with it. Decker takes his Binoculars and sees that its Dr. Prendergast. He heads back to where Dr. Smith is. Once he gets there, he sees that Tobias and Dr. Dells are also there with Dr. Smith.

"Looks like we've been rescued." Dr. Smith says.

"Where's Dr. Prendergast?" Tobias asks.

"He's dead." Decker says with a shake of his head.