Chapter 7 Teddy

The rest of the day, the boys took turns in sitting with Logan, while starting to pack up their stuff. They planned to leave the next morning. When the sun came up, James awoke to a strange sound coming from outside. When he peaked his head out of his tent, his eyes widened.

He quickly moved to Kendall and started to shake him.

"Kendall, wake up." He whispered with fear in his voice. Kendall just moaned and swatted his hand away. "Come on, you have to wake up."

"What is it?" Kendall quietly asks without opening his eyes.

"There is a bear outside."

"You woke me up for that, just go back to…" Kendall started, before shooting up, wide awake. "There's a bear outside?" He asks. He now also pokes his head out of their tent and watches as a large brown bear is sniffing around their camp. Kendall watches in fear as he starts to sniff around Logan and Carlos' tent.

"Oh my god… What are we going to do?" James asks, slightly panicking.

"We have to get him away from that tent, right now…" Kendall starts, before moving outside.

"What are you doing? Are you insane, you can't go out there!" James warns him in a whisper.

"I have to, he might hurt Logan and Carlos." Kendall adds. Then he grabs a rock and throws it at the bear. "Hey, teddy. Over here!"

"Kendall, stop!" James warns him again.

Kendall keeps taunting the bar, throwing rocks at him and making a lot of noise. The noise awakes Carlos, who rubs his eyes and quietly goes to see what is causing all the noise. He pokes his head out his tent and then panics, when he comes face to face with a very large brown bear.

"Come on, teddy. There aren't any treats in there, come over here!" Kendall yells. Finally the bear starts to turn around.

Kendall smiles and keeps shouting at him. "Yeah, that's right. Just come over here."

Carlos looks on in fear as the bear roars and starts to head towards Kendall.

"Kendall, don't move, I'm coming!" Carlos shouts at him. Then he moves into his tent and grabs his helmet. He puts it on and slaps it, before heading out of the tent. He gets ready to run, head first.

"No, Carlos! Stay there. I'm going to lure him away from you guys. You just start packing with James. That way we can leave the minute I get back."

"Kendall, no. I can help you. Just don't move!" Carlos gets ready again.

"I don't need your help, Carlos!" Kendall yells at him as he starts to walk backwards.

"But.." He starts, but James puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's just do what he says, Carlos."

"What? You can't be serious James. There is a bear after him. We can't just let him go by himself." He says and starts to run into the direction Kendall and the bear went.

"Carlos!" James kicks a rock in frustration, then holding his foot in pain. He wants to go after them, but then remembers Logan is still in the other tent.

Meanwhile, Carlos is still running, trying to find Kendall and the bear. Suddenly, he sees them. Kendall is leading the bear towards the river.

"Kendall!" Kendall makes the mistake of looking up, momentarily losing focus as the bear swats him. He falls to the ground and winces. "Kendall, no!" Carlos yells as the bear picks him up and throws him back down. He starts to slash his skin as Kendall tries to protect himself.

Carlos starts to make a run towards the bear.

"Carlos, stop" Kendall tells him from the ground. "I can handle the bear, just go back to the camp and help James pack up!"

"I am not leaving you here while a bear is hurting you!"

"I am fine, Carlos, I don't need your help!"

"You do need my help, Kendall. I am not going to let you die!" Carlos adds, sounding determined as he watches the bear pick Kendall off the ground and holding him tight in its grasp. Then he starts to run once again, screaming as he runs at the bear headfirst.

"Carlos, no!" Kendall yells. Carlos runs into the bear with all his might. The bear roars. It drops Kendall and then turns around, swatting Carlos with one paw.

The force sends Carlos' helmet off his head as he didn't fasten it. Carlos himself falls to the ground, smashing his head into a rock and then lies still, out cold.

Kendall watches as the bear heads for the unconscious Carlos. He tries to get up, but winces as he feels the deep slashes the bear left on his chest, arms and legs. He watches helplessly as the bear moves towards Carlos, but passes him rght then.

Kendall is confused and stares as the bear walks towards Carlos' helmet. It grabs the helmet and starts to smash it into a rock, while roaring. Kendall quietly gets up, wincing as he does, but moving slowly towards Carlos.

Just as he is finally standing, the bear turns around. He closes his eyes and waits for more pain, but nothing happens. He opens his eyes and is relieved to find the bear is hurrying away from them.

He then slowly moves to Carlos and gets on his knees.

"Carlos? Can you hear me?" Carlos doesn't respond. Kendall groans, but slowly gets up and tries to scoop Carlos up from the ground. He winces as his body involuntarily touches the bleeding slashes on his chest and arms, but he starts to walk anyway.

Back at the camp, James has started to pack his things into a bag, when he sees Kendall coming out of the woods. His eyes widen and he rushes over to his friends as he sees the state they are in.

Kendall hands Carlos to James. "Get him inside the tent, he hit his head pretty hard. I think it's bleeding." James carefully heads to the other tent and lays Carlos down on his own sleeping bag. Just then he sees Logan's sleepy eyes watching him. His eyes widen in shock as he sees Carlos. He moves to get up.

"No, stay down. We got this." Logan lies back down, but he shoots James a questioning look.

"There was a bear at the campsite. Kendall lured him away, Carlos went after them. I don't know what happened after that, but Kendall looks worse than he does." Logan wants to get up again, swaying as he does. "Again, stay. We got this, you just get better and watch Carlos. Apparently he hit his head." Logan wants to protest, but James hurries out of the tent to help Kendall. He can't do anything but watch Carlos with concerned eyes. Where is his helmet?

"What happened?" James asks Kendall, who has gone to sit down on one of the logs, groaning as he does. He grabs the first aid kit and starts to help Kendall clean up his wounds.

"The bear got me. Then Carlos showed up and ran into the bear, who then swatted him and he fell against a rock." Kendall winces as James touches one of his wounds.

"Wow, he got you good."

"I just can't believe Carlos showed up like that. What was he thinking?"

"uhm, he was thinking about saving you."

"He didn't have to, I was handling it just fine." He winces loudly as James presses into one of his wounds a little too hard.

"Yeah, that's how you got all of these wounds, right?"

"I didn't need his help. Why didn't he just listen to me and stayed here with you? Now look what happened."

"Yeah, you're both still alive." James tells him. Kendall just shoots him a glare.

"Yeah and Carlos is out cold. He could have brain damage or something!"

"This is Carlos we're talking about. He's got a thick skull, he has hit his head so many times, I've lost count. He'll be fine."

"I just don't get why he has to act so stupid all the time. I wish he would just grow up!"

Meanwhile in the tent, Carlos drifts in and out of consciousness. He starts to come to and then hears James and Kendall shouting outside.

"Carlos? Are you awake?" Logan quietly asks from the other side of the tent. But Carlos ignores him. All he hears is one of his best friends calling him stupid and immature once again. He decides he doesn't want to wake up yet and lets himself fall back into the darkness.

"Carlos?" Logan asks again, before giving up and thinking his friend is still out cold. He slowly closes his own eyes, worried for all four of them making it out alive.

So, it happened again. Stay tuned for the next chapter and I'll try to come up with ways for James to get hurt as well. He is just too okay right now ;)

Anyway, thanks for the reviews and ideas. Some of you really think the same way I do, I just love it! Keep it coming and I'll keep on writing!

Love, Baxxie