Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
The fall slowed him down immensely, and just when I thought he wouldn’t make it to me, he did.
Only when he was close enough that I knew my bear spray would work, did I use it.
That’s about the point in time that I thought…maybe I should run.
This bear didn’t look right. Didn’t act right. And…
Before I could do much more than have the thought cross my mind, the bear attacked.
I curled up into a fetal position, closed my eyes, and prayed.
The bites, swipes of claws, and overall brute force shocked my body to the core.
I knew with the first swipe of the powerful paw against my left arm—which happened to be covering my face—that my arm was broken.
I didn’t open my eyes to see, but there was no doubt in my mind.
The attack continued for what felt like hours, until suddenly, the bear just wasn’t attacking anymore.
I could hear him snarling and snuffling, but I didn’t so much as make a move to look around and see.
I could feel hot blood seeping into my clothing and dripping into my ear, letting me know that I was really hurt.
The adrenaline was pumping now, so I wasn’t hurting, but I knew without a doubt in my mind that I was probably mangled.
The bear roared somewhere near me, and I felt something hot drip down onto my head.
Probably my own blood dripping from his teeth.
The bear roared again, and this time, it sounded from farther away.
I lay there, perfectly still, for so long that the pain started to make itself known.
I was hurt.
Badly.
I chanced a move of my left arm, likely the only thing that didn’t hurt on me right now, and depressed the button on the side of my watch with my nose.
Then, Siri, the loud ass bitch, said, “How can I help you?”
I breathed out a shocked breath before saying, “Call 9-1-1.”
Thankfully, the watch worked, and within seconds, I could hear a female’s voice say, “Jesper County Sheriff’s Department.”
I swallowed hard and whispered, “I was just attacked by a bear.”
The “bear” was drowned out by the bear roaring again.
Thankfully still as far away as it’d been earlier.
“Can you repeat that?”
“A bear. I was attacked by a bear.”
I knew my voice was trembling.
I could hear the terror in my own voice as it shook like a leaf.
“A bear?”
“A fuckin’ bear!” I hissed.
The roaring stopped.
Oh, fuck.
“Where are you?” the woman asked.
I swallowed the bile that was threatening to spew from my throat. “It’s coming back.”
“Where are you?”
I couldn’t answer because I could hear rocks sliding as the bear started heading back that way.
“Ma’am…”
I cursed and prayed that she didn’t say another word as the bear roared so loudly that it shocked my ears.
Then all of its weight came down on me like he was using my body as a trampoline.
I smothered a pained whimper as the bear roared.
I felt something in my upper arm snap, followed by a couple of ribs.
I felt like I could physically hear them breaking.
I wasn’t sure how long I lay there, the bear using me as his own personal jumping pad, but the sweetest words I’d ever heard was a man bellowing from the distance.
“Bear!”
Oh, thank god.
“Here, bear!”
The man continued with his bellowing.
The bear pushed off me, letting his claws scrape me as he left, and I couldn’t stop the whimper from leaving my throat.
The bear took off in a spray of gravel and dirt, and I felt it coat my body and stick to my wounds.
The shot sounded as the bear got far enough away from me, and I started to cry.
I don’t know when the man got to me, but his “oh, sweet fucking Jesus” didn’t give me much hope.
I was probably not coming back from this.
There was no way.
I could practically feel the tears in my skin from his claws.
The broken bones were starting to get to be too much.
“Hold on, darlin’,” I heard the man say. “We’ll get you some help.”
The last word I remember saying was, “Weaver.”
Twelve
Bears wondering what they did wrong to be compared to men.
—Eddy to Weaver
Weaver
“It’s bad.”
I looked at my friend. “How bad?”
Creed shook his head as he uncrossed his arms. “Romeo was out walking with Brawny, his dog. He saw the bear attacking something, and at first he thought it was an animal. When he got closer and realized that it was a woman, he started getting the bear’s attention. He shot him once he got him away from her. Bear is dead. He got rescue there within ten minutes, and they air-lifted her off the mountain and brought her here. I followed behind with a sample off the bear…they think the bear had rabies.”
I closed my eyes.
As if things couldn’t get worse.
“She asked for you just before she passed out,” Creed murmured.
“They’re testing it?”
“Yeah.” Creed cleared his throat. “It’ll be positive, though. I got a few reports of a bear sitting in the area that was exhibiting erratic behavior. I was out searching today, which was why I was able to get to the scene so fast.”