Scenic Route •A Bear Grylls Fanfiction•

Chapter Six: Encounter

After a chilly night of kissing, warming up by the fire, and telling stories, Bear and I settled down to try and sleep against a thicket of ferns as the water lapped against the rocky shoreline nearby. I snuggled up to Bear as he ran his fingers through my hair, kissing my temple gently. I smiled to myself, wrapping the blanket around my shoulders, inhaling his masculine scent.

Bear brought me so much comfort at a time like this. I nearly died today and if I didn't have a person like him by my side to help me through the rough patches and support me, then I would be long gone by now for sure.

I soon found myself drifting off to sleep, mentally preparing myself for the early morning we had ahead of us in just a few hours.

Daybreak was cloudy and the lake was shrouded in a thick, disguising mist, causing me to want to get out of there as fast as possible. We found no food the following morning as I pulled my flannel over my arms and stepped into my hiking boots, which had dried out in the night. I tossed my pack over my shoulder as we headed out, Bear stomping on the flames of the dying fire.

We trekked on through the trees as a tear dripped down my cheek. I swiped it away with the cuff of my shirt before Bear could hear me sniffling behind him as my feet dragged through the mud. I missed my family and friends. Where were they, and what were they doing? I had no idea how long we had been lost here, but I was almost positive I was supposed to be back in England by now, and I wondered if my family was curious as to why I hadn't called to tell them about the trip to Oregon yet.

It was nearly one o'clock when we finally found a rabbit hole hidden underneath the gnarled, twisting roots of a cypress tree. Bear set a trap while we hid behind a nearby maple tree, waiting for an unsuspecting rabbit to pass through the entrance to the underground burrow. Suddenly, after nearly 20 minutes of waiting, a tiny pink nose peeked out from inside the dim tunnel. Two tall brown ears poked out behind it. The rabbit stood on it's hind legs, sniffing around in the air.

I felt bad. It hadn't caught our scent, so the rabbit proceeded to step out from under the roots, catch it's foot in the string trap Bear had set, hidden beneath some twigs and leaves, and the trigger was released, tightening the loop around the rabbit's leg with a jerk as it was dragged into the air backwards. The rabbit let out squeaks for help as it struggled, hanging from the branches. Bear approached it, wrapping his hand around it's soft belly fur.

He pulled his knife out from his belt, turning to give me a sympathetic look as he slid the blade from it's pouch. I covered my ears and looked away before I could see it happen.

An hour later, we sat around a smoky fire, munching on roasted rabbit meat, which was surprisingly tasty. I licked my lips as Bear smiled, standing up to go collect the small string he had used to make the rabbit trap. I tossed dirt on the fire and we headed off, back down the mountain towards the valley at the bottom.

We crouched under branches and hopped across bounders as we talked about what we wanted to happen with our lives after college. "I plan on becoming a dancer for this ballet company in New York City so that I can be close to my family and do what I like at the same time." I said. Bear gave me a tender glance before saying, "That's really wonderful, Lynn. I've always wanted to become an author, have kids, travel the world, and teach others by speaking out about how survival has strengthened me and shaped me into who I am today through the experiences I've Had, and this is definitely one of those trying times, if I do say so myself haha." He looked ahead and kept on going forward.

I had no words. The only thought running through my mind was that I wanted to be that person right by his side on all his travels. I wanted to have kids with him. I wanted to edit the books he wrote. I wanted to support him in everything he did.

Didn't I?

It seemed crazy, absolutely crazy. I hardly even knew him and I was already imagining having his children someday when we hadn't even done more than kiss. I was insane. The dehydration and stress on my aching muscles was probably making me hallucinate and have crazy thoughts. It was way too soon, and there was no way Bear would ever want to take that step with me.

Would he?

I shook the thought from my mind and continued on ahead, when suddenly, Bear stopped, reaching a hand out, signaling me to stop. He put a hushed finger to his lips and dashed behind a tree. I quickly followed behind as he pointed ahead. Through the distant fog, a little ways down from us, a huge, black, lumbering figure slowly trodded through the trees, weaving it's way around shrubs, rocks, and logs in it's path.

My breath hitched in my lungs as I wrapped my arms around my bent knees as I crouched, pulling myself tighter into a ball. I think we both began to suddenly feel very, very vulnerable. The bear slowly moved to the left of us, not even 100 yards ahead. Bear whispered to me, careful to be quiet, "This is serious. We have to plan this carefully so it doesn't spot us or charge. Black bears are native to this area, and have been known to be aggressive and attack, possibly causing a fatality, depending on your injuries."

A lump formed in my throat as my eyes widened. Tears threatened to fall, but I fanned my eyes and took a deep breath, struggling to listen to Bear as he came up with a game-plan. "Okay, I think this will work. Got it?" I hadn't even been paying enough attention to realize that Bear was addressing me. "Oops, I got none of that. Sorry." Bear let out a soft chuckle. "It's okay. At least you know how to relieve stress in a situation like this. Just follow close behind me, and step only where I step. We have to be quick and quiet so we can get away from here undetected as fast as possible, yeah?"

I nodded briefly before we darted out, leaping onto silent pine needles and slipping on slick moss as we raced down the mountain. My foot slid out from beneath me, causing me to slam back onto my butt, painfully rattling my bruised tailbone. I jumped back to make feet, running ahead and gripping Bear's shaking hand in mine. We can for dear life, when suddenly, Bear stepped on a old, fallen branch, setting off a loud crack, echoing throughout the valley.

My head shot towards the left, and my eyes locked with the black, emotionless eyes of the bear. The bear stood on it's back legs, making it nearly seven feet tall from the looks of it. The bear let out a deafening roar as it ran at us. I screamed, frozen in place as Bear took off running in the opposite direction, away from the bear, dragging me behind him. My muscles burned as water and mud were spattered across my legs. My hands were sweating profusely as we charged ahead, tripping and skidding over leaves and soggy dirt.

Bear was gasping for breath, struggling to keep ahead of the black bear that was gaining on us. I turned to see that it was not far behind, maybe 40 or 50 feet. I sprinted as fast as my tiring legs could carry me and adrenaline coursed through me beneath my crawling, sticky skin. There was a trembling roar behind me as I struggled to not scream out. The ground shook beneath the bear's massive paws as it grunted, running behind us.

My Bear, not the animal chasing us (lmao), took a sharp left, darting between thin trees, attempting to lose the raging beast hot on our trail. I turned behind me to see if we had lost it yet, when suddenly, everything happened in an instant.

My eyes were met with bared, yellow teeth. I gasped, tripping backwards over a stick I didn't see in my way. My arm pulled on Bear's as I fell, hard, on my back on the ground. Before I could even regain my thoughts, I felt a searing pain down the side of my calf. I cried out as I saw crimson red gush out of my leg and pool on the ground. My leg went numb. I hardly felt any pain as my flesh bled out. My lip quivered as I went into shock. Three long, ragged gashes tore through my tan skin as I gaped at the fresh, sliced muscle beneath my ripped skin. Blood trickled out of the wounds as Bear scooped me up into his arms, and took off running.

My head bounced in the crook of his neck as I struggled to feel, see, hear anything around me. Everything felt still and silent. I looked up into his eyes as a stray tear dripped down onto my neck. I felt my eyes roll back into my head, as suddenly everything faded and went black before me.

This was it.