The Far Away Bear (mxm)

Chapter 1- The Trail

Pov: Jaden

I'd be lying if I said I knew where I was going. I really didn't. I had no idea where I was going, I barely knew what part of the country I'd stumbled into.

All I had was the bag of supplies I needed on my back, my worn down hiking boots and a dumbass drive to keep going up the next hill.

The forest around me was thick and dense, sounds of birds chirping and the occasional rustle of a startled animals kept pace with me as I strayed off the trail and into the brush.
I always hated following the manicured trails the park rangers liked to maintain, nature wasn't meant to be packaged and primed up all proper.

It was meant to be wild.

I wouldn't find my reasons to keep on going if I followed the dusted path, I needed to be in the real world.

Branches kicked up and smacked at me as I crunched down on stems, whacking them out of my away with my hand as I cursed under my breath.

"So many..." I gritted my teeth and shut my eyes to protect them, pushing them away. My hoodie sleeve snagged on a series of thorns and ripped, leaving a small chunk of red fabric behind.

"Ahhh shit.."

Stumbling out of the thorny area I caught my breath, flicking the brown strands of my hair from my eyes, a clear beaten down natural trail ahead of me. I couldn't help but smile, feeling at ease. This is more like it!

I looked up to the sky, the evening was already beginning to close in and I'd need to make camp soon or I'd be setting up in the dark. This place was as good as any other from what I'd seen, a fair canopy of leaves to protect from the rain, dead wood around to collect. I dropped my bag on the dusty forest floor and got to setting up.

Tents don't take that long really when you've gotten the hang of it, mine was one of those idiot proof kind of tents too. Really seperated out the neanderthals from the homosapiens.

The fire I'd started with my tinder box, flint and steel well before the final ray of sunshine disappeared behind the forested walls. I sat by the stone circle, my eyes on the embers flickering around a can of soup.

It was nice to be out here again.

"You would've liked this place.." my hushed voice whispered, listening to the sound of crickets chirping away "it feels real..."

He would've liked it here.

When I left home I'd just backed up and walked out, and he never came after me. He said 'Jaden, you wanna make you're own way that's fine by me, but don't you come back here cry'n when the cold gets colder'. That was my old man, a hard ass. But he was a realist. He was right.

Now the cold was always colder, and I'd taken for granted the times we had that were good.

I'd lost track of time, and time caught up with me. Now, it's been years.

It's too late to find lost time, you just lose more of it.

I snapped out of my thoughts in a darker forest, and I called it quits after eating, curling up in my tent and zipping it shut.

Just another night in the wilderness, me, myself and my regrets.

My head hit the pillow hard and I was out like a light. I'm not sure how long I was gone for, but when I opened my eyes it was still dark outside, the moonlight casting sillouette's of branches and dancing leaves across my tent walls. I was about to drift back off when I realised why id woken up in the first place... It was nothing.

That's right.

Nothing.

I furrowed my brows in confusion and sat up in my sleeping back to listen. The insects weren't making sounds, the birds weren't chirping.

It was silent.

I panicked, maybe I'd gone deaf somehow. My fingers reached for my ear and I snapped them. The sound made me jump and echoed throughout the tent and clearing, filling the dead space.

It wasn't my ears then, the woods really had gone deathly silent.

Suddenly my breathing felt too loud and my sleeping bag rustled too much when I moved, I felt like a fly trapped in a web, staring blankly at my tent walls.

My stomach lurched into my throat when the figure in front of my tent stood up outside, casting a shadow right in front of me. I was frozen in place, staring dead ahead as the huge beast made a huffing grunt and nudged it's massive snout into the side of my tent, the mist of it's hot breath floating by the cracked opening of my zipper.

A huge brown bear.

There should've been no bears anywhere near this mountain, maybe I'd walked too far in the wrong direction, I couldn't think straight. It was right ontop of me, and I didn't even have a gun.

The only item I had to help me was a small hunting knife my dad had given me, and I knew that wouldn't do shit.

The bears claws eerily ran down the curve of the outer wall, sliding along the nylon fabric making a hissing 'zzzz' sound as it threatened to rip open and expose me.

I clutched the handle of knife in my hands, gripping it tightly in my lap. The beasts nose shoved at the zipper and to my horror it pushed inside, the muzzle of the massive animal sniffing and grunting.

Don't ask me if it was smart or foolish, but I did what I did. I swung my knife across the giant bears muzzle, the animal gave a great wailing cry and fumbled backwards with shock, dragging the zip up and falling away with a bloodied face. The bear took off into the dark forest and I shot out of my busted tent like a lightening bolt, climbing the nearest tree I could find, clinging to the bark until morning.

The first chapter is done! I've already changed some ideas I had the characters decided they wanted to go a different direction lol