Misadventures

Bears Beat Battlestar Galactica

What do I know about bears? My dad always told me to play dead but I don't think this bear is going to fall for it if I 'die' now.

I'm staring into it's eyes, I try to make myself smaller but the bear just growls even more ferociously. I've managed to bend my knees, I'm leaning forward a bit and the sharp sticks are still under my left armpit. Whether playing dead helps or not, I'll encounter this bear again if I try to reach that tree. I must defeat it now or never.

And what can a 12 year old girl do?!

I don't know but I'll find out eventually I guess. The bear suddenly stands, I don't know what happens next but I don't waste time. I jam my sharp sticks into  the bear kicking it's stomach making the bear loose its balance and earning a slap of claw marks on my arm.

I remove one stick and jam it again to his left side, hopefully I got his heart. The bears is wounded but still moves fast enough to scrape its claws on my back. I move away from the bears paws and jump forward trying to avoid his teeth but my bad foot gets caught in its mouth. I scream in pain and kick its face successfully removing my foot my foot but also damaging it more in the process.

The sticks from my foot get in the bears mouths and I'm helplessly crippled. The bear begins to turn around and stand. I grab one of my little sticks and jam it in its eye before the bear stand son its hind legs. I don't waste time and stab the other eye. I grab the fallen bloody stick and force it through the bears throat. It was still moving but dying slowly. The whole thing freaked me out but I had bigger problems.

I've gotten alot of claw marks and scratches which shredded my clothes. I wrap the strips of clothes I had around my wounds. Tightening them to stop the blood from spilling. But I had to many scratches and I didnt realize I've gotten a huge gnashing wound on my leg. My foot was bloody too and I was in an increasing pool of blood. My vision is blurring, I'm getting really cold. My strength is depleting.

Am I dying? Is this what it feels like to die this way? Well at least I fought a bear. Tyler, my best friend was dead. And I could see him walking toward me. I'm glad I got this far, now I cab truly rest in peace.

-

Opening my eyes again, I expected heaven to be more... white. But what I saw was trees and smoke. I can't move, I feel paralyzed. It's like having sleep paralysis, is a demon going to haunt me instead?

I can see a man wearing bear fur walking around me. I can predict I'm on a flat surface, but the way this guy is looking at me- is like a doctor examining a miraculous germ.

Am I really alive?

I couldn't move my neck and the guy didn't look at my eyes, even when I'm staring him down wide-eyed. I am stuck. All of my other senses were working though, I could smell incense, blood and something unfamiliar. I could feel him pick up my arms and poke my skin. I could only see as much as my eyes can go and I have a weird taste in my mouth but I couldnt do much about it.

I could hear all the conversations going around me as well, "She will live." The guy doctor said.

"I can't beleive she actually fought a bear!" Another person said.

"Neither could I. Arthur said she would definitely die in the Labyrinth." The doctor left my side but I try to remember their voices as they continue the conversation.

"Do you think she could stay? I mean she probably thinks I'm dead but if I tell her I'm alive we could be friends-"

"You know Arthur wants her dead." The doctor interrupts.

"But why?!" I'm curious to know the face of this persistent voice.

"She has seen too much already. Lou and Copper raised that girl and she must be eliminated." The doctor responded. If I should be eliminated why am I alive doc?!

"But I was spared-"

"You are a brethren to Arthur, he owes you a debt. He does the things he does for a justifiable reason and we must not go against them."

"So what is it this like Bear Code?" The person sarcastically asks.

"No... what is that?"

The other person sucks his teeth and moves from his spot. I could hear his feet shuffle and creak from the loud floor, he is suddenly in my line of sight. I widen my eyes in shock, so much it felt like they were going to pop out.

He must've noticed because he looked down at me and then back up, "I think she's up! Gabriel come look!"

The doctor who is named Gabriel rushes to me and examines me again, "No, she isn't. The movement must've been unconscious. Her heartbeat and blood flow..." his words are drowned out when I focus my eyes on my dead friend.

I can't beleive it. I went looking for him and I didn't find him. I was told his body was mangled and disoriented! I saw him dead in the coffin! How? How is he alive?!

Neither of them know that I'm consciously aware of their presence. But why? Will I get up from this state? I want to see if the person I'm looking at is really Tyler or not. But it's useless against my paralysis.

A horn is blown from the distance. Both of their heads snap to the direction of the noise and leave like their on a trance. Tyler looks down at me with an unreadable expression then leaves promptly.

I try to move my body as much as I can but I feel useless, is all I can do is wait?!

Moments later I move my fingers, which surprisingly makes me feel like I can move my whole arm. I managed to lift it only to have it slam back down in paralysis. That's weird.

If it's wearing out I need to wait to move until I could feel my whole body. Maybe then I can quickly get off the surface and find Tyler.

But he looked completely different. His once dark skin has an odd leathery tone similar to the doctor. His hair was longer than usual but it was covered with a... a...a bears' head? I just realized the doctor had the same thing.

His forearms had designs just like the ones I saw on that tree but they were also different somehow. He looked taller and bigger, almost like an old man. But most importantly he didnt look, sound or act the same.

I may have seen Tyler but he has definetly changed. Just like the doc said, Arthur will deal with me. I don't know who he is but with my little experience I'm sure that means I'm dead.

I must escape - like I haven't been trying-  but that horn meant something if both of them left me here unattended, and whoever this Arthur guy is they must listen to.

My thoughts were going haywire I barely noticed how much of my body I could feel. I take a deep breath and prepare to move.