Sign of the Times (Arthur Morgan x Reader)

Chapter Twenty Three

            I was unprepared as Charles pushed hard against my arm, shoving me out of the bear's path, and onto the ground as she rushed past us, stopping short, and revolving back, turning her lethal intent towards Charles.

"CHARLES!" I screamed.

He could only throw his bow up in front of him in an attempt to block the bite of the bear as she knocked him to the ground, and attacked, situating her entire weight on top of him, and biting into the dense lumber that Charles's bow was made from. As sturdy as the bow was, it wouldn't last long against the bite force of a grizzly.

My shaky hand quickly managed to notch an arrow within my bow. I pulled the string back as far as I could before taking aim and firing.

I knew the arrow had found its mark when the bear cried out, and threw her head back, backing her body off of Charles.

"You alright?!" I asked.

"Fine... she just knocked the wind out of me..." He coughed. The bear cried out in both anger and pain as she rolled around in the dirt, attempting to remove the arrow from her eye. I crouched down next to Charles to help him up.

"WATCH OUT!" Charles shouted suddenly, and I looked up just in time to see the bear charging towards us once again. I managed to notch an arrow into my bow, but I wasn't quick enough at pulling back on the string as the bear collided into me with all of her weight, effectively pinning me to the ground, and knocking my bow out of my hand.

The bear roared loudly, the moist heat from its breath saturating my face as I turned my head to the side, and squeezed my eyes shut.

I managed to wriggle my right hand from beneath me and reach my knife that I kept on my side. A rush of adrenaline overtook me as I gripped the knife tightly and began haphazardly stabbing it into the side of the bear's neck with all the strength I could muster.

The bear bellowed out in pain and sunk its teeth into my shoulder as I continued to stab it with the knife repeatedly.

Moments passed but felt like ages as I felt the bear's grip on my shoulder loosen. However, this only made matters worse as the bear went limp, and its entire weight now rested wholly on my chest.

"Charles...!" I wheezed, trying to push her off of me, but she wouldn't budge. I heard Charles coughing as he was beside me in a moment.

"Hold on...!" He grunted a bit before finally moving the bear off of me just enough for me to roll out from under her. I hissed in pain as my face was now pressed into the dirt, the taste of both blood and mud evident on my tongue.

"Jesus... you're losing a lot of blood..." Charles panted, helping me up, and stretching my good arm around the back of his neck to keep me steady.

By the time we made it back to camp, I had become extremely lightheaded from the blood loss. Charles sat me down in the nearest chair and quickly bound my shoulder to keep anymore blood from flowing.

"My God, what happened?!" I heard John's voice ask suddenly.

"Bear attack... came outta nowhere." Charles said, grunting as he tightened the strap on my arm. I felt myself slowly coming back to my senses as I began to inhale through my nose, and exhale through my mouth, slowly.

"(F/N)! Dutch's voice boomed within my pounding head as he and Hosea along with Susan rushed over to crowd around the chair. Dutch kneeled in front of me, looking over my injuries, and giving me a concerned look.