Afraid of the Forest

10

Bill tensed up because of the last time he had looked at those creatures the wrong way, they chased him for hours. Fortunately, neither the babies nor the adult creature pounce on him. Dipper gently pet one of the babies again and all the adult did was look at him with seemingly pleading eyes not to hurt it's kin. It looked like a hybrid between a polar bear, a tiger, a penguin, and a cougar. It had the build of a polar bear, but it had the face and colors of a big cat and the slick feathers of a penguin. Dipper gently looked the creature in the eyes and reached out to softly stroke the side of the cat-like face. Tears finally spilled over his cheeks as the weight of the animal's head was placed into the palm of his hand.

"Come on, Pine Tree. Lets just-" Bill peaked over at Dipper's face as he was speaking, but as soon as Dipper made eye contact with Bill, he lost the need to speak.

"I-I can't leave them like this, Bill." He tried to keep his voice calm. "I won't let them suffer alone."

"Alright, alright, Pine Tree." Bill gave up quickly; he was unaware of how long he could go without crying himself. "Come on, I'll even help you carry one of them back."

"Thank you, Bill." Dipper sniffled as he slowly lowered the animal's head to the dirt and plucked one of them up. Sadly, it didn't fight back like any normal animal would. Bill did exactly as Dipper did and the second one didn't fight back either. As they made their way back to the Mystery Shack, Bill had nuzzled his way into Dipper's side. About half way back, Dipper glanced over to see that Bill was softly petting the animal's back.