Tainted

Chapter 38: Can I Pet It?

"Ok ready," I start as I hold the watch in my hand, "Starting now!" I exclaim as I press the watch and the minute begins to run down as John sprints towards the bear den that took about an hour to find. We all stand at a somewhat safe distance of 30 feet while John stands at the entrance of the den and peaks his head in.
"Holy shit there's actually cubs in there!" he shouts while placing his hands on his knees and peaking in.
"Guys if the mother comes back I'm dead!" John screams at us and I glance at the watch.

"Forty five more seconds!" I shout through the woods scaring a few birds away.
"Kira I swear if I die I will come back and haunt your ass!" he exclaims as he nervously bounces up and down by the bear's den. That's when we see it, about 50 feet away stands an all black bear trudging towards the den with it's nose held high in the air.
"Thirty seconds!" I shout as all our eyes stay glued on the bear, well all eyes except John who seems oblivious to the bear that's about to eat his face off. Dang we're stupid.

"John!" Naomi screams and points behind him. A look of confusion crosses John's face before he turns his head and his entire posture stiffens, soon an echoing shout of fear fills the forest as John yells at the top of his lungs. That only causes the bear's head to perk up to look at John and when she sees that there's a man by her den she let's out a low grunt, most likely a warning grunt before galloping towards us at full speed.

Soon we're all screaming and shouting while bolting in different directions of the forest, confusing the bear even more.
"I hate you Kira!" a shout fills the air no doubt from John as it seems to come from all directions not giving away John's actual location. My body follows Jesse as I notice him bolting back to the path that we seemed to wander so far from which should be our safest bet and soon the path is in view and our feet are padding on the small rocks.

"Whew!" Chris breathes as he wipes some sweat off of his forehead, "Well that was fun."
"Where's John?" I ask almost immediately once I notice his absence from the group. Soon we're glancing around the pathway and shouting his name into the forest waiting for a response but getting none.
"The bear went back into her den so if he's not getting mauled by a bear then where is he?" Jesse comments as he glances down at me.

"NAOMI!" a scream fills the air from down the path and we all exchange a quick look before bolting towards the source of the noise only to see a rather strange sight. John clings to a small tree, the trunk being maybe 5 inches thick, and a large moose is rubbing it's antlers on the small tree making it shake and John with it.
"Help me!" he screams loudly as he clutches tighter to the tree that sways with each small movement he makes.

Instead of anyone actually helping him we all tend to stare at the majestic creature, Naomi especially who seems to have her eyes glued to it in a magical trans.
"Can I pet it?" she whispers so softly I almost don't catch it. That's when I realize that her arm is extended and she's heading straight for the 7 foot giant wild animal.
"Oh no, no, no," I comment and grab her shoulders to keep her from continuing towards the beast.

"Guys please it's gonna eat me!" John screams and throws a leaf at the moose.
"Oh please moose are omnivores the worst it could do is trample you to death," Jesse comments making John's face contort in fear.
"John maybe if you come down slowly it won't attack you, just kinda shimy down the tree," I suggest. Glancing over at me John's face forms a frown before he comments, "This better work."

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"My head hurts," John whines as he holds the bag of ice closely to the large bump on his head.
"Wow, I never knew that moose would head butt other creatures," Chris murmurs in awe as he stares at John who's sitting at one of the picnic tables. I glance over at the darkening sky as the sun is slowly setting in the west and feel two arms wrap gently around me.
"I feel like we never get to be alone anymore," Jesse whispers in my ear as his breath tickles my neck.