A Bear Named Boo

Mans

Tight cords of pain grew in my paws as I fought to keep my hold in the wood. My branch bobbed with my weight every time I shifted, trying to see what was happening below.

The sun stared directly into my face, blinding me and cooking my nose dry. The air itself was melting, swimming upwards in oily waves, and that smell – that tangy, hot, metallic smell – had followed us up here.

It was the same smell that lingered after a hunt. The smell of blood.

There were more Mans than before. They peered up through the branches at us like foxes hunting a squirrel.

"They aren't leaving, Boo," Cari rasped.

"They will." My voice squeaked several octaves higher than I'd intended.

Shifting painfully, I growled down at the Mans. It did nothing to scare them away, but it did clear my throat and I was able to lose the high squeak as I turned to Cari again. "They can't wait forever, right?"

But they had no intentions of leaving – or of waiting. One Man marched directly to the trunk of our haven as though he was going to climb after us. He disappeared beneath our paws. A moment later, a dangerous, sputtering growl unlike anything I'd heard before suddenly rose through the branches. It changed pitch and seemed to flow through my body. The tree itself was vibrating.

Mama, save us – please, I thought blindly, my heart pecking at my ribcage now like a bird demanding to be set free. I cast my eyes towards the spot where Mama had fallen, and then leaned perilously out from my branch, trying to see the Man through the thick boughs.

A terrible cracking noise splintered the air. I glanced up at Cari and saw my horror reflected in his face. I dug my claws into the core of my branch as the entire tree swayed and bucked. My back paw slipped, tearing bark from the branch.

Beyond the crown of our tree the clouds suddenly rushed sideways. My heart took flight, hanging in the air as I dropped away from it –

Branches snapped in every direction, flinging me against the ground. Dizzy, I struggled to my feet, noticing a fresh green carpet of pine needles in the grass.

A tall figure loomed above me. I launched myself away, sending broken twigs flying, but something dark and thick fell from the sky. I struggled uselessly against the heavy material until, to my revulsion, I felt strong limbs wrap themselves around me.

Howling for Mama, for Cari, for anyone, I felt myself lifted from the ground. I twisted with all my strength – and suddenly squinted against a bright shock of sunlight. The Man had released me.

Before I could struggle free of the thick blanket, a wall of silver mesh swung toward me and clicked into place. I wheeled around, finding nothing but smooth walls surrounding me in every direction. Through small, perfectly round holes the size of my nose, I stared out at the pieces of the mountain I could see. Dark cliffs, far away, and pointed green treetops – and a small box right beside mine with a dark body hurling around inside.

"Cari!"

I could see his black nose through one of the holes in his wall, and then his white-rimmed eye.

My box was lifted from the ground, swaying with my every movement, and then lowered onto a flat, dark surface. Cari's box clattered down beside mine, and a second mesh wall of impossibly shiny sticks banged shut in front of us.

We flinched together as the ground began to growl and vibrate. Disbelieving, I watched through the mesh as bushes and clumps of grass swept away from of us only to be replaced with the smooth, black river. Long rectangles the color of dandelions spurted out from under our paws, growing longer and less vibrant as our speed increased. The wind whistled loudly through our crates, licking the fur on my back.