Kyle
It must have been midday, for the sun was high in the pale blue expanse above me, though it brought little comfort. The cold was chilling through my thick winter coat, and the night would bring a severe decline in temperature.
I trotted in the shadows of the forest, my paws digging into the frosted earth that lay beneath a layer of snow. I had a dusting of snow and ice on my coat, a sort of wild camouflage.
Currently, I had my sights set on a rocky outcrop in the near distance. I’d been watching it for days now, tracking the movements of its inhabitants. A mother bear and her cubs dwelled in a cave towards the top, only emerging during the day to quickly hunt and feed. And day now, they wouldn’t reappear. It was hibernation season for bears, and this family was an anomaly – surprisingly late to commence their deep slumber.
Today, they were yet to come into sight. If my suspicions were correct, the mother had gone into hibernation and her cubs had followed suit. They’d be helpless and vulnerable – which would be the perfect time to attack.
Navigating the steep slopes was a difficult task, and one that I had to tackle slowly but surely. One wrong footing and I’d easily slip, tumbling to my death from the hundred or so metre drop. My claws dug into the rock and I leapt onto a nearby ledge, with an avalanche of rock fragments showering from where I’d previously been standing. The process continued for another hour before I was on relatively flat ground. The cave mouth was within sight, and I slunk towards it with caution. With my nose to the air, I scented the female bear to be nearby, and the slow breathing of at least three cubs was audible.
I was as silent as the night as I crept through the entrance. The whole cave reeked of the smell of bear, and I scrunched up my nose involuntarily. A large brown shadow was heaped in the corner, its chest rising and falling evenly. At my entrance, one of the cubs woke and shuffled around, looking up at me with large black eyes.
I struck quickly and quietly. The cub’s life slipped away in my jaws as I shook it, and the noises it let out before death awoke the mother. One large eye opened and appraised me for less than a second before the bear launched to its feet to protect its kin.
The bear roared, and the deafening rumble echoed around the cave. Standing on all fours, the mother was slightly larger than me, though I was confident I could win the fight. Wolves were never so ambitious to attack a bear alone, let alone a large, angry and protective mother. The sheer madness of the situation was beginning to set in. The adrenaline rush was incredible.
With the dead cub at my feet, the female rushed me with anger. Her massive paws took a swipe at me, and I quickly ducked out of the way. If one of those were to make contact with me, I’d go flying into the cave wall. Bears were dangerous, with powerful forearms. A forceful blow to the head would knock me out, and potentially kill me.
I lunged at her from the side, and bit into her flank. She twisted away and lumbered closer, trying to herd me away from her cubs who were watching, frightened in the corner. With another roar, she leapt at me again, and this time, I felt the force of her blow to my hide. Thankfully, she hadn’t hit me with a clean swipe, she’d only caught the edge of my body, but the force was enough to knock me to the ground, winded. It took a good few seconds for me to recover and breathe somewhat normally, and to regain my vision. By then, the bear was inches from my face, her jaws agape and ready to tear me to pieces. I wiggled free and beat her to the chase – nipping her on the nose and jumping to my feet when she recoiled. I attacked again, aiming for her front right paw and meeting my mark. I clamped my jaws over the flesh and felt my teeth sink down o the bone, with blood rushing into my mouth and through my fur. The bear howled in agony and tried to shake me off, but I held tight.
