Survivor

35| Feelings for you (pt. 1)

"Stay very still," Cam whispered as he held me.

The bear took a step closer. I had a very bad feeling. If it came at us now, it was purely to hunt. There weren't any cubs in sight and we were not acting like a threat. "Cam, I think it's going to charge."

"If it does, we need to run. There's a tree just a short ways back that's not an easy climb for a grizzly; we can make it."

"I don't know if I can. My ankle isn't 100% for fast running or climbing," I admitted. I may have sounded calm and quiet, but my mind was going crazy with curse words and horrible scenarios—all ending with me being mauled.

"Just trust me," he whispered, squeezing me tighter.

"What about playing dead?"

"It's different. It's like the last case we discussed. I know we can make it and this bear, if it charges, is going to attack. I don't think it's going to just leave if we play dead. I can't risk it when it comes to you," Cam explained. I nodded my head to let him know I understood.

Then, suddenly and just as I had predicted, the grizzly charged.

"Cassie run!" Cam shouted, pulling me along with him. I wasn't sure where he was going exactly, which made it hard for me to follow, but we didn't go far. As he was running, he shifted the backpack to his front. "Jump on my back! Now!" He commanded.

Normally I would question this or feel self-conscious or something, but given the situation I didn't hesitate in the slightest. We barely stopped running when I launched myself up, latching my arms and legs around him tightly like I was a starving monkey and he was the last banana.

I was too nervous to look and see if we were still being chased, but my gut feeling was screaming that we were. Cam picked up his speed, running right towards a tree with oddly spaced branches.

He didn't stop, instead running and leaping, kicking off of the tree trunk to launch us up to the first branch. He used his arms to pull us the rest of the way up, swinging a leg over the branch, and quickly scrambling to his feet. He didn't stop to let me off of his back as he climbed at a quick pace up the tree. I was surprised by the ease and agility at which he climbed, and admired the way he took complete control of the situation.

He finally let me slide off his back when we were about half way to the top, and I took the opportunity to glance down to the base. Sure enough, the grizzly was there. It let out a loud roar, clawing at the tree. We were seriously lucky that the bear was as far away from us as it was at the start, or it would have caught up to us. No doubt about it.

"Cassie come on, keep going. We need to get to the top," Cam panted, holding a hand out to me from the branch above. I placed my hand in his and let him pull me up next to him. This tree was pretty bare and the branches were very spaced out. I supposed that's why Cam picked this one, but it made it awfully difficult for me to climb. Some of the reason was because of my ankle, the other was just that I was much shorter than Cam, and also I wasn't as agile as I liked to think I was.

We went up a few more branches before Cam found a spot he thought was safe. He sat on the thick branch with his back resting against the trunk. "Whew..." he breathed, wiping an arm across his brow, "that was really close."

I pulled myself up to the branch next to him, sitting on it and holding onto the thin one above me. "Too close," I replied, "and it's still down there." I watched as the giant bear paced below us, stomping it's feet and snarling.

"It'll get bored and leave eventually. It's definitely not going to climb up here or it wouldn't be pacing like that."

I shuddered hard as I watched the bear below me and my nerves kicked in. I was shaking so bad I was moving the branch above me and it made it difficult to keep my balance in the tree.